Feel The Fire (Unforgettable Series)

by Adrianne Byrd

  Feel the Fire

  By

  Adrianne Byrd

  Prologue

  Raleigh, North Carolina

  It was going to be a beautiful wedding.

  Too bad thirteen-year old Alyssa Jansen was going to miss it. Being the daughter of the hired help meant a lot of things, but it didn’t mean one was automatically invited to the social event of the year.

  Far from it.

  However, she could still enjoy the magic drifting in the air. Weddings inspired such hope and wonderment about the future and this one had Alyssa dreaming about her own.

  One day Quentin and I will walk down aisle.

  Sighing dreamily, Alyssa twirled around with her arms stretched high above her head. Quentin Dwayne Hinton, her real life prince charming. True, all the Hinton men were handsome. But Quentin had something extra special.

  Dizzy, she giggled aloud and then bumped into her father. “Oh,” she gasped. “Sorry, Dad. I didn’t see you.”

  Alfred Jansen, Roger Hinton’s personal chef, was a six-foot-four robust man with a long, silver mane of hair and matching goatee that made him look more like a mountain lion than a man. His commanding presence immediately garnered respect and he certainly ran the Hinton’s kitchens with an iron hand. But underneath, everyone knew this lion was nothing but a kitten at heart.

  “Alyssa, honey. You have to get out of the way. We’re trying to get ready for the wedding.” Alfred smiled despite the reprimand. He’d always found it difficult to scold his daughter and everyone knew it.

  “I’m sorry, Dad. I’ll get out of the way.”

  The florist and her assistants rushed around the father and daughter, setting up the arrangements, while one guy ran past with a cage of doves.

  “Oh, Daddy, look. They’re going to release birds.”

  “Uh-huh.” He grabbed her by the hand. “Too bad you’re going to miss it.”

  Alyssa poked out her bottom lip. Why did he have to remind her?

  “Do me a favor,” her father said, directing her back toward the kitchen. “Stay out of the trees.”

  “What?” she asked, horrified. She was a natural monkey when it came to climbing and she already had her mind set on perching in her favorite Southern red oak tree with her binoculars and a bag of Cheetos. “But I wanted to see the wedding.”

  “You can listen to it from your bedroom.”

  “Listen to it? That’s not the same thing. One doesn’t listen to a wedding. You see a wedding. You experience it.”

  Her father shook his head and remained firm. “You fell out of that large oak last week and almost experienced a broken neck,” he reminded her. “Case you haven’t noticed, I have enough to worry about around here. Like trying to feed twelve hundred guests.”

  Alyssa clamped her mouth shut.

  “Promise me,” he said.

  She groaned, wishing he hadn’t added that. What girl could resist watching a fairy-tale wedding in her own backyard? Didn’t he know he was asking the impossible?

  “Ally.” He stopped and spun her around by the shoulders. “Promise me,” he insisted.

  Alyssa sighed and dropped her head. “I promise,” she mumbled to her feet, but kept her fingers crossed behind her back.

  “Hmm. Something smells wonderful in here.”

  Alyssa and Alfred turned to see Quentin enter the kitchen and make a beeline toward one of the long silver trays.

  Alyssa froze.

  Quentin, Q as his friends called him, wasn’t as tall as her father; but at six-foot-two, lean, and with a beautiful butterscotch complexion, it was no wonder why women practically drooled whenever he was around.

  Alyssa included.

  “What’s in here, Alfred?” Q asked, lifting a tray cover.

  “Ah, ah, ah. Master Quentin. Those lobster pot stickers are for the wedding.”

  Q quickly swiped one and plopped it in his mouth with a wink.

  Alyssa stifled a giggle at his playful antics.

  “Mr. Hinton, please,” her father begged. “Everything must be perfect or Sterling will have my head on one of these silver platters.”

  When Q laughed, Alyssa thought it was the most beautiful sound on earth.

  “Oh, loosen up, Alfred. Knowing you, everything will be more than ‘perfect’. Relax. Personally, I can’t believe Jonas is crazy enough to give this whole marriage thing another try. Who knows? This time we might even reach the ‘I do’ part.” Q laughed heartily and to Alyssa’s amazement, his eyes landed on her.

  “Oh, hello, Alice.” He headed toward her.

  Alyssa’s eyes bugged and her tongue glued itself to the roof of her mouth.

  “My, my. Aren’t you a tall weed?” He looked her over. “How old are you now?”

  She blinked while her mind went blank beneath his twinkling brown eyes.

  After a lengthy silence, Quentin frowned. “Alfred, I think there’s something wrong with your daughter. She’s not a mute, is she?”

  “No...uhm. She’s shy.”

  “Oh.” His gaze raked over her bony legs, flat chest, and large eyes. “You better watch out for this one,” he told Alfred. “She’s going to break plenty of hearts when she grows up.” He tweaked her right cheek. “Mine included,” he added for her ears only.

  Never!

  “Don’t I know it.” Her father winked at her from over Q’s shoulder, oblivious to the youngest Hinton’s teasing.

  “There you are!” Sterling Hinton burst into the kitchen. “I’ve been looking all over the place for you.”

  Quentin swung his arm around Alyssa’s shoulders before turning to face his older brother. “You know me, I can’t stand to be apart from beautiful women.”

  Alyssa’s face flushed with heat. His arm is around my shoulder!

  “Don’t you think Alyssa is a little too young for you?”

  She frowned at Sterling. Who was he to come rain on her parade?

  “First of all,” Q’s said, waving a finger. “Her name is Alice. Second of all...Well, there’s no second.”

  “Have you been drinking?” Sterling asked, suspiciously.

  “There’s no law against it and it’s well past noon. At least five minutes or so.”

  Fire lit behind Sterling’s eyes and Alyssa cowered. Sterling didn’t explode often; but when he did, watch out.

  “If you ruin this day for Jonas,” Sterling seethed, jabbing a finger into the center of Q’s chest. “I swear I’ll kill you.”

  Q’s arms fell from Alyssa’s shoulders as he smiled in an attempt to tame a dragon. “I resent that. I was on my best behavior at Jonas’s last wedding and I will be so again tonight. But if there’s a third one, all bets are off.”

  “Smart-ass.”

  “Hey, hey. Watch the language in front of young Alice.” Q looped his arm around his brother and directed him out of the kitchen. “The poor girl is painfully shy.”

  When the Hinton brothers disappeared out of the kitchen, Alyssa’s small shoulders slumped forward as her tongue finally unglued itself. “My name isn’t Alice.”

  “Tough break, sweetheart.” Her father tugged her fat pigtail. “At least this time he paid you a compliment.”

  “Some compliment.”

  “He basically said one day you’ll be so beautiful you’ll have your pick of any man, if my heart can take it, and the ones you don’t choose will be heartbroken.”

  “Then I choose Quentin.”

  “Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll have him.” He sighed. “But you should keep your options open. Wide-open.”

  Alyssa knew her father didn’t approve of Quentin, but he never came right out and discouraged her from her lofty claims to marry the man.
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  Mainly because Q was a playboy. Yes, she knew what a playboy was. Thirteen didn’t mean she was naïve. Besides, it didn’t matter. When she grew up, Q would only have eyes for her. She would make sure of it.

  A line of servers bowled through the kitchen’s swinging doors and nearly knocked Alyssa over.

  Her father cocked his head and gave her a pleading look.

  “I’m going. I’m going,” Alyssa said, dejectedly, and shuffled out of the kitchen with her head down. She headed out the main house by the back door, hoping to catch one last look at the beautiful preparations.

  Her frown drooped to an all time low as she crept across the yard toward the servants’ quarters. However, to get there, she had to pass her favorite oak tree. As she approached, a pair of male voices drifted on the afternoon air.

  “Are you sure you’re ready to do this again, son?”

  Alyssa recognized Roger Hinton’s voice. She crouched down behind a line of shrubbery to eavesdrop.

  “There won’t be any surprises at this wedding, will there?”

  “I can only hope not,” Jonas joked with a nervous titter. “I think this time I picked someone who really wants to marry me.”

  “Good. Good.” Mr. Hinton encouraged. “That’s always a good strategy. Well, at any rate. I’m glad you chose to have the wedding here at the house. I can’t tell you how much it means to your mother. Of course, she’s hell-bent on getting the other two married off.”

  Jonas’s gruff laughter rumbled around the men. “Good luck with Quentin. Mom might have to hog-tie him and drag him down the aisle.”

  “True. The boy is stubborn as a mule. He inherited that from your mother’s side of the family.”

  Offended for her future husband, Alyssa rolled her eyes. There was no one more hardheaded than Roger Hinton. A man who built a real-estate empire by never accepting the word no and greasing a few pockets to make sure that he never would.

  “You know, son. You never did tell me how you come to meet this new bride of yours.”

  “Didn’t I?”

  “No.” A long puff of his cigar trailed his clipped answer and then, “There’s even talk around the house that she dated Sterling for a minute.”

  Alyssa’s eyes widened at that revelation.

  “I didn’t you know you listened to idle gossip, Dad.”

  “I’ve always found there’s a little truth to gossip and I have to say I’m mighty curious. Me and your mother. Who is she? Where did come from? And please tell me you had the bride sign a prenuptial agreement this time around. There are rumors you don’t like those things, as well.”

  Jonas chuckled. “I’m not going to answer the prenuptial question, Dad. But it is sort of an interesting story on how Toni and I met...”

  Serendipity

  Chapter 1

  Then, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

  Flight 1269 for Los Angeles was delayed. Toni Wright entered through the lobby doors of the cocktail lounge of the airline’s Crown Room in desperate need of a drink. Instead her eyes zeroed in on a handsome brother at the bar who looked like he wanted to drown his sorrows in his glass.

  Fleetingly, she wondered what could be so bad, but the last thing she wanted to do was play Dear Abby to some stranger. At the bar, she ordered a Cosmopolitan. As she waited, her gaze drifted back to the man.

  He was tall, just like she liked them, and well dressed. In fact, he had a certain aura of power and prestige. That was definitely a plus.

  Toni wished he would look up so she could see his eyes. She had a feeling they were beautiful.

  “Here you go, ma’am,” the bartender said.

  Toni smiled and laid down a tip. She turned to walk away but then felt compelled to make small talk with the brooding brother. Why not?

  “A penny for your thoughts,” she said, and then cringed at the campy line. When he didn’t respond, she felt like an idiot. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Toni settled into the chair next to him.

  It was a good thing, too; the man’s heavenly scent was seductive enough to melt women’s panties.

  He reached for his glass and drained the rest of his drink.

  “Buy you another?” she asked.

  Finally, he glanced her way. Just as she thought, he had beautiful eyes.

  “I always thought that men were supposed to do the asking, not the other way around?”

  Toni’s toes curled at the velvety smoothness of his voice. “I figured we could make an exception, seeing how you look as if you needed it.”

  A corner of his lips curled and an adorable dimple appeared. “That’s very kind of you, but-”

  “And if it makes you feel better, you can buy my next one.” She winked and flashed him her best smile.

  He hesitated, looked her over and then nodded. “Deal.”

  While Toni signaled for the bartender, she could feel the man’s eyes linger. She hoped he liked what he saw, but there were no guarantees, since she’d dressed down for travel.

  “You’re a lawyer,” he said flatly.

  Astonished, she glanced back at him. “How did you know that?”

  He smiled again. “You have that look about you.”

  “Oh?” She crossed her arms. “And what look is that?”

  “The I-can-eat-anyone-alive-and-still-have-room-for-dessert look.”

  She laughed and managed to maintain eye contact. “Does that look scare you?”

  “Very little scares me.” His smile diminished, but he remained polite.

  “Another scotch on the rocks for the gentleman,” the bartender announced.

  For a few minutes after the drink was delivered, Toni found herself at a loss as to how to keep the conversation going. She had already used the penny-for-your-thoughts line, and she just wasn’t willing to demean herself by asking for his zodiac sign.

  “Thanks for the drink, but I don’t think I’m going to be very good company,” he said.

  She considered him for a moment and warred with herself whether to stay or leave. “You know, I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener,” she said. “And it looks like I have plenty of time to kill.

  “You don’t want to hear my sob story.”

  She smiled. “Maybe I can help.”

  “Trust me. I’ve heard it all. Trouble don’t last always. This, too, shall pass. Or my personal favorite—there are plenty of fish in the sea.”

  Genuine concern crept into her voice. “So someone broke your heart?”

  “That’s putting it mildly.”

  Toni drew a deep breath. “Who was she?”

  “Someone...very special,” he whispered. “Someone I loved the moment I laid eyes on her.”

  She waited for him to continue, but she saw she had to nudge a little more. “Does this woman have a name?”

  He nodded. “Yes. Ophelia Missler. I guess you can say that it all started at a wedding...”

  Toni remained true to her word and listened to the man’s heartbreaking story about a love gone awry. There were parts that were funny, sweet and endearing. The only problem was that it was a love story that involved three people-one too many by her count.

  A couple of hours into the story, Toni thanked the bartender for another round before settling her gaze back on the handsome man beside her.

  “So far this sounds like one hell of a triangle.”

  “Sometimes love gives you more than you bargained for,” he said despondently.

  “So I’ve been told,” she whispered taking a sip of her drink and watching with concern how he downed his own.

  “You’ve never been in love?” he asked.

  The question threw her off guard. Toni had dated many men—from all walks of life. Some men had showed her a good time, others had taught her life lessons and the rest she’d rather forget.

  “I’m going to take that as a no.” He chuckled.

  “Well, it’s not that I don’t believe in love or anything,” she said, “but I’ve never experienced a lightn
ing bolt or stared into the depths of a man’s eyes and felt beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’d met my soul mate.” Toni laughed, but then she was crushed by a wave of disappointment. She had come close once, but close didn’t count.

  “Then consider yourself lucky,” he mumbled.

  She didn’t feel lucky. While she was out leaping tall buildings in a single bound, most of her friends had settled down and started families. Meanwhile, she couldn’t decide whether owning a dog was too much of a commitment.

  And yet, she was okay with being single. Preferred it, really, when she considered the hell her parents’ marriage was. “Flight 2193 is now ready for boarding. Flight 2193.”

  Toni sighed. At this rate, she could have taken a taxi to Los Angeles. “So what happened?” she asked, reaching for her glass. “I have to admit I’m intrigued.”

  “And here I thought I was boring you.”

  “Not hardly.” She nudged him. “Go on. I’m dying to know how this all played out.”

  He glanced at his watch and gave a half shrug. “All right. Let’s see. What happened next?”

  Toni huddled closer as her handsome stranger continued his story: boy gets girl, boy gives girl an ultimatum to get rid of the other boy, but things start unraveling at the seams.

  “I think you’re purposely drawing this story out to keep me on pins and needles,” Toni complained after another hour had rolled by. “When are we going to get to the wedding?” She gasped. “Wait. Was there even a wedding?”