"I'm talking about Harvey."
He needed to build a dog door: that was all there was to it. Much as he wanted to be a good companion to Harvey, he didn't want to give up on the sensations of awakening with a beautiful woman--and taking his time getting out of bed.
"I'll take him out."
"No. I'll go with you. We can go down to the park and try out your ducks. ."
"Leave your hair down," he said. "I love the way it looks."
"The wind will turn it into knots."
"Then I'll comb it out."
She looked at him, a hint of a smile on the very edges of her lips. "Promise."
"Oh, yes." A mental image of Courtney flashed into his mind. She'd be naked, of course, sprawled across his bed with her head in his lap as he combed out her mid-back-length dark-brown hair with its mysterious auburn glints.
He shook his head. He had to walk the dog and if he got any harder he'd have problems standing, let alone pulling on his pants.
Courtney noticed and her smile broadened. "Too bad we have to waste that." She bent over it, gave his erection a deep open-mouthed kiss, then reached for her jeans. "We'll definitely want to get back to that big guy."
Ten minutes later, he was dressed, outside, accompanied by his dog, but still hard and still very horny.
A vaguely familiar looking kid with an accompanying nanny met Courtney and Harvey at the gate to Tyler's estate.
The kid gave out a scream that, Tyler assumed, was pleasure at seeing Harvey and Courtney. He looked suspiciously at Tyler, though.
"You must be Barton Warrenson." Tyler held out his hand.
The little boy looked at it as if Tyler had pulled a knife on him. "Yeah? Maybe."
"I'm Tyler Atwood. "
"I remember you. You coming with the lady down to the pond?"
Tyler smiled. "You bet. I brought some ducks so Harvey can practice his retrieval job."
"Ducks?" The semi-scornful look vanished. "How could Harvey get ducks? Wouldn't he hurt them?"
Tyler showed Barton the pair of hand-painted ducks he'd bought and Barton laughed. "Those are so cool."
"I just hope Harvey likes them. He's had a tough time since my sister died."
Barton's smile faded. "Yeah. I know what he feels like."
Uh-oh. "Did you lose someone, Barton?"
"My father moved out." Barton looked confused. "My mother says he needs a trophy."
Cyrus Warrenson had seemed like the type to trade a wife in for a newer model. "Well, maybe you should come over sometimes and visit with Harvey, then, as long as Courtney is around to keep Harvey safe, anyway. Since I have to go to work during the week, I think he gets lonely, just like you. It would be a big help for him. If you wanted to, anyway."
A huge smile crossed the boy's face.
"You're kidding. Really? It would almost be like having a dog of my own. Could we, Rosie?"
"I'll have to ask your mother."
Barton seemed to think that was as good as a yes. "I'll come over every day, all right? It's winter vacation now, so I can come over any time I want. After New Year's, I'll be back in kindergarten so I'll have to come over after lunch. Would that be okay?"
"If it works with your mother and Rosie and Courtney."
"All right. I can hardly wait to tell Tiffany." At Tyler's blank look, Barton went on. "She's this girl at school. She's always bragging about her cat. And she's got blond hair and a little nose that sort of turns up at the end. She'll hate it that I got a dog."
Tyler tousled Barton's spiky hair. Guys always want to impress women, no matter how young they might be. Still, it was strange to think that, before Courtney, he had tended to treat women like Barton did--not badly, but as if they were entities from an alien species. Now, Tyler didn't care about impressing Courtney or overwhelming her. In fact, he wasn't sure what he wanted with Courtney. He was sure he wanted a lot of her.
* * * *
Something happened down at the duck pond. Tyler kept glancing Courtney's direction with a look she couldn't recognize. It wasn't lust--although there were certainly hints of desire in it.
Courtney found herself charmed by the way Tyler and Barton bonded. Tyler had won over the little boy despite Barton's initial jealous reaction. Although Tyler was all manly man, with Barton he exposed a boyish side--a side that shared a love for toys, an admiration for things that float, and something deeper.
Barton took the duck Tyler offered him, then seized Tyler's hand and led him to the pond, chattering all the way.
Tyler had acted like Barton's visits would help Harvey a lot--and it would. But Courtney's heart swelled at the realization that Tyler had seen the little boy's pain and had found something that could make the boy so happy.
Sending Harvey after wooden ducks didn't create the same sort of all-consuming pleasure that lovemaking had. It was a softer pleasure, one of warmth rather than burning heat. But it warmed her heart to see the two males bonding like that and to see Tyler's dog, content, for once, in his place in the pack.
For an instant, she let herself wonder how Tyler would be as a father--but she pulled herself back from that dangerous thought.
Harvey took turns chasing after the ducks launched by the two males, barked at a real duck that swooped down to see what the commotion was about, and managed to wet both Tyler and Barton with a particularly vigorous shake.
"I think we'd better get home and get dry," Tyler announced as he wiped the mud from the little boy's face with a clean handkerchief. "You wouldn't want your mother to worry."
"She just sits in her chair and looks at the driveway," Barton said. "If it wasn't for Rosie, I don't think I'd even get to eat."
"I'll bet she still worries about you, kiddo. And you wouldn't want to get her so worried that she wouldn't let you see Harvey, would you?"
Barton shook his head and scampered along with them, one of his small hands clutching Tyler's, the other holding onto a wooden duck as if it were the key to heaven.
It had been a perfect morning, Courtney reflected as they approached Tyler's mansion. Even Harvey seemed restrained, trotting along at Tyler's heel as if had never been a canine bad-boy.
"I'll whip up some waffles and I have some fresh blueberries--" Tyler's voice cut off in midsentence. "Uh-oh."
A bright yellow SUV sat in Tyler's circular driveway, steam puffing from its exhaust.
"Hey, that's a Porsche," Barton announced. "My dad has a Porsche. My mom says it's his, I forget the word. Midwife icies. Something like that. I'm not sure what an icies is."
Courtney was a bit young for midlife crises of her own, but she could see that the woman emerging from the SUV would be any man's cure.
She towered at least six inches over Courtney's five foot two, had blonde hair that curled and swooped and still managed to end up all the way down at her butt, and she wore a pair of breasts that seemed to strain to be released from captivity.
"Tyler, baby, I've been waiting for you." Without waiting for a reply, and definitely without asking for introductions, the stranger threw her body over his.
Tyler returned her hug with no apparent reluctance despite the audience, despite the fact that he had been draping himself all over Courtney just a few hours before. "You didn't mention you'd be coming over, McKinsey."
"Oh? I need an engraved invitation anymore?" She wiggled her lower lip so tragically that Courtney had to physically restrain herself from trying to yank it off. Why was it that men always fell for beautiful blondes with perfect figures and legs that looked long enough to--
"You know you're always welcome, McKinsey. McKinsey, these are my neighbors, Rosie and Barton. And this is Courtney. Courtney is--"
"Harvey's pet psychologist," Courtney interrupted before Tyler embarrassed her more than he already had. "I've been helping Harvey learn to deal with his loss."
"Poor Harvey. It's hard to believe that Amanda is gone." A tear glistened in her eye. Damn, this woman was good.
"Courtney is also my fri
end," Tyler said. "And Courtney, cut me a little slack, will you? McKinsey is my sister."
Busted. The green-eyed monster could be ugly. Of course McKinsey was his sister. Tyler had even mentioned her name.
So McKinsey's appraisal was that of a sister looking out for a sibling rather than a girlfriend protecting her mate. McKinsey still didn't seem to like what she saw. Of course, Courtney couldn't really blame her. Harvey had been desperate to go out and she hadn't even stopped for a shower, let alone makeup. McKinsey was in full warpaint.
"Nice to meet you, McKinsey," she managed.
"Likewise, I'm sure." McKinsey didn't sound sure at all.
The woman turned her attention back to Tyler, obviously dismissing Barton, Rosie, Harvey, and Courtney from her radar screen as inconsequential blips.
"I thought you were using Marcel Dupuis for Harvey. He's quite the rage in the better circles."
"Harvey did more damage on Dupuis's watch than he did when I left him alone. Besides, the man quit."
"Really? Well, I thought you needed to redecorate. You haven't changed your living room for months."
"I liked my living room."
McKinsey shrugged. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"We were just going in to have breakfast. I hope you'll join us."
So much for Courtney's fantasy about a breakfast of whipping cream and Tyler.
Chapter 6
They made their farewells to Barton and Rosie, encouraged Harvey to do his business one more time, and headed for Tyler's kitchen.
"You don't mind eating in the breakfast room, do you?" Tyler asked McKinsey as he set up a Kitchenaid mixer and a fancy waffle iron. "Mother prefers the dining room, even for informal occasions."
McKinsey looked up from the coffee grinder where she was scooping a liberal dose of Tyler's beans. "That's why I came here, Tyler. I can't believe you had mother arrested. I want the scoop."
Tyler gave his sister a shortened version of the break-in story ignoring Courtney's role in calling the police.
McKinsey poured the ground coffee into an espresso machine. "But why would mother break into your house?"
"She wouldn't say," he told her as he handed her a box of strawberries. "It's a bit strange."
McKinsey washed the berries while Tyler poured waffle batter into the iron and then whipped up an entire cup of whipping cream.
Courtney figured that McKinsey was several years younger than Tyler--about her own age. Still, the two worked together in the kitchen with an ease that probably came from countless midnight raids and with a comfort that indicated the two of them had no secrets from one another. Her first reaction had been wrong, darn it. McKinsey might be protective of her brother, but she was nice.
Courtney made herself smile and fought back a wave of concern. Tyler was including her with his family. This was a good thing, wasn't it?
After spending an hour with a little boy and then seeing Tyler and his sister working together in the kitchen, Courtney didn't need to be a psychologist to understand her feelings. Although her own family had been dysfunctional, she had grown up with the myth of the perfect family. Making love with Tyler, spending time with a little child, seeing this noncompetitive side of Tyler all made that naive part of herself long for the fantasy. And even though Tyler was including her in his family, she knew that she didn't really fit.
McKinsey dolloped strawberries, sugar and whipping cream on the first batch of waffles and passed them to Courtney. "Eat up. Tyler always makes too much."
"I'll pour the coffee," she offered.
"Already taken care of. And don't worry, we're used to this. Tyler and I used to get up early and make ourselves breakfast so we wouldn't have to eat properly with mother."
She couldn't be jealous of Tyler's sister, but she wished she'd had the kind of family where that style of easy cooperation had been possible. Instead, she'd had to scurry around seeing to the comfort the males in the family while they sat in front of the T.V. and drank beer.
"All right. Thanks."
"Come on, Tyler." McKinsey put her hands on her hips as if addressing a child. "You're only feeding the three of us. That's plenty. Let's eat."
The three of them sat at the table while Harvey crawled under it and rested his head on Courtney's feet.
"So, back to mother," McKinsey said. "Do you think she was checking up on Courtney?" She took a bite of waffle, and then shook her head slowly as she checked Courtney out. "I'm afraid you aren't exactly what she would specify when it comes to finding the perfect woman for Tyler."
"I'm here because of Harvey, not because of Tyler," Courtney claimed.
"I hadn't thought about that," Tyler answered, ignoring Courtney's statement. "Mother doesn't get a say in who I date. But she did seem curious when Courtney answered the phone the other day."
"Mother thinks she gets a say in anything we do," McKinsey corrected. "Speaking of which, I thought you'd decided against sponsoring the symphony."
Tyler shrugged. "I contribute half a million every year. I have since Atwood Steel took off."
McKinsey raised an eyebrow. "But mother told everyone that she's taking over the entire sponsorship. To the tune of a couple hundred million. They're flying her to Hungary or something to interview possible new conductors."
"Maybe she thinks she's going to guilt me into it."
"She's done it before."
He jabbed a fork into his waffle. "Not this time. I told you about the expansion we're planning? I'm plowing everything back into the company. It'll mean at least a thousand new jobs and give us a springboard to some really fabulous innovations. With my new steel, carmakers will be able to cut thirty percent off the weight of their cars with no loss of tensile strength or crash safety. In fact--"
McKinsey yawned ostentatiously. "He goes on like this," she told Courtney. "He's really only a nerd when it comes to his steel business."
Courtney froze. If anyone had ever interrupted her father like that, he would have flown into a violent rage.
She waited for Tyler's eruption.
Instead, he laughed. "I'm in love with my nerdy steel business. I guess it's in my blood."
"That's hemoglobin in your blood," McKinsey corrected. "Iron, not steel."
"Anyway, that's why I'm not interested in increasing my sponsorship. It isn't as if any of those musicians are starving."
McKinsey snagged a strawberry from Tyler's plate. "Maybe not, big brother. But the headline in tomorrow's Inquirer is that the symphony is going to be renamed the Eve Atwood Symphony Orchestra in honor of our mother's generous endowment."
She ran a finger through a mound of whipping cream and held it under the table.
Harvey's head vanished from Courtney's foot. Giving him food at the table would eventually teach him annoying begging habits, but Courtney found herself liking this energy-filled woman who seemed able to say what was on her mind without any fear of the consequences. So much for first impressions.
"Speaking of money," McKinsey began.
"Uh-oh."
"Some of the girls are heading to Paris to check out the spring fashion line."
"Sounds about as exciting as a sermon."
"To you, maybe. I want to go."
Tyler shrugged. "Will you be back in time for Christmas?"
McKinsey wrinkled her nose. "Maybe. But regardless, I need more money."
"Put it on your credit card."
"I can't. It's maxed."
Tyler looked mystified. "I fund your card thirty thousand a month and it's only the eighth. How could it be maxed?"
McKinsey yawned again. "Do you really want the details?"
He shook his head and pulled a checkbook and pen from a highboy. He scribbled something--Courtney could only see a five and a bunch of zeros without staring. She reminded herself this was none of her business. That didn't mean she wasn't interested.
"Seriously, McKinsey." Tyler was in lecture mode now although it was nothing like the way Courtney's fat
her had gone after her. "You've got to live with your budget. Most people would kill for thirty thousand a month in spending money."
"Thanks, brother. You're the best." She snatched the check from his hands and headed for the door. "See you around, Ty. Bye, Harvey. For sure, I'll be back for Christmas. Maybe we can hit the malls together, Courtney."
* * * *
Tyler watched his sister leave with conflicted feelings. He loved his sisters and Amanda's death had made each moment with McKinsey more precious. Still, he wished that she could be more financially responsible. He paid for the classy penthouse loft she'd moved into a couple of years earlier, kept up the payments on her Porsche--including outrageous vehicle insurance bills caused by her habit of pushing the engine to the max, and gave her thirty thousand a month spending money, yet she always seemed to need more.
Today, he had another reason to be happy that she was leaving, though. Because it meant that he was alone with Courtney. He and Harvey were alone with Courtney, at any rate.
"I think we had talked about combing your hair," he mused to Courtney. "The best place for that would be back at my bed."
Courtney was looking at him like he had grown horns. "I'm starting to see where Harvey's problems come from."
He looked under the table to see Harvey contentedly lying down, his body draped over Courtney's feet. "I thought you'd fixed his problems. He's got a job chasing ducks, he's got a little boy to help keep him from being lonely, and he hasn't destroyed anything for twenty-four hours."
"What did you just do with your sister?"
He shrugged. "I gave her some money to go to Paris. Nothing special."
"You were just saying you needed to plow everything into the company."
Tyler laughed. "Everything isn't a technical term. A couple hundred million is real money. Fifty thousand won't make any difference."
She gaped. "You gave your sister fifty thousand?"
"Paris is expensive." It was also romantic. Once he finalized the expansion deal, maybe he and Courtney could jet over to Paris for a week or so of solid luxury. Come to think of it, just about anyplace with Courtney would be romantic.
"I told you that Harvey has problems because he doesn't have any sense of responsibility."
CEO's S.O.S. Page 7
