Runaway Vegas Bride

by Teresa Hill

  Eighty-six and still going.

  On the other hand, he could really go for Leo moderately drugged and confined to a deliberately sabotaged wheelchair in an all-male home right now.

  Did they have those? All-male homes? Wyatt would have to look into it, if he couldn’t salvage this situation.

  “Look, these women…He swears he doesn’t make them any promises. No commitments. I told him he had to make that clear up front, so no one would get hurt.” He’d thought about actually drafting a release, spelling it out in writing. No expectations of any permanent arrangement. And getting them all to sign before Leo got too close. “I mean, surely women still aren’t looking for a long-term commitment in their eighties? Please tell me they’re not?”

  Ms. Steele looked aghast.

  “He can’t help it if women like him,” Wyatt said.

  “The women here got along just fine with each other until he came,” Ms. Steele reiterated. “So I don’t think the women are the problem. He is. And if he causes any more of an uproar here, he’s gone. I mean it. And you’ll have to take him out of state to find him a new home. I won’t have him doing the same thing to anyone I know in this business.”

  Okay, so…it wasn’t that bad yet? They still had a chance. What a relief!

  “He’ll be great,” Wyatt vowed. “Quiet, kind—without being too kind. Friendly without being too friendly. A model resident. I promise.”

  Bigger lies had seldom fallen from Wyatt’s lips, he feared.

  He wrapped up his meeting with Ms. Steele and went to find his uncle.

  Remington Park was actually a series of small cottages, each housing eight to ten residents who had their own bedrooms and shared a common kitchen, living room and dining room. Those cottages were set around larger, more traditional assisted living apartments and a nursing home facility for people who needed a higher level of care. Once they could no longer live in the cottages comfortably, they could move next door to assisted living or the nursing home, without leaving all the friends they’d made within the community.

  The whole complex also had extensive walking trails, gardens, a few small shops, a pool, a rehab center and cafeteria, and boasted of the fitness and activity level of its residents.

  Wyatt thought it seemed homey, those little cottages—kind of like old-fashioned boarding houses. Plus there were the more traditional care options. He hadn’t thought, as he clearly should have, that with the place being this big, there were bound to be tons of women.

  As he walked down the path that led to Leo’s cottage, he saw them. Some of them frail-looking and hunched over, some of them glossy, white-haired, beauties-in-their-day women, bare arms pumping with each step, wearing walking shorts, their toned, tanned legs moving at a pace that might even leave Wyatt breathless as they went about their exercise.

  As Leo liked to say, eighty was the new sixty.

  Wyatt just shook his head and thought he had to get to the gym more. He could take out some of his frustrations over Leo there, and he wanted to be in good shape, still able to chase women if he wanted to when he was in his eighties.

  He got to Leo’s cottage, then to Leo’s room, but seeing it was empty, went to the kitchen and asked the young woman in the cheery yellow polo shirt the staff wore where his uncle was. But she wasn’t sure.

  “He doesn’t spend much time in his room,” she said, looking like she was trying to be diplomatic and maybe was a little scared.

  Wyatt wondered if she was the one who had squealed on Leo to the dragon-lady administrator. Poor girl. She didn’t look like she was much past twenty and certainly no match for Leo at his most charming or most manipulative.

  “Do you have any idea where he spends most of his time, if not in his room?” Wyatt tried.

  “Well, he has a new lady friend,” she admitted. “I mean…at least one new one that I know of. It’s hard to keep up, you know?”

  “I know,” Wyatt admitted.

  “There’s a bench on a little hill in the formal gardens overlooking the outdoor pool. You know where the outdoor pool is?”

  Wyatt nodded, remembering from the tour.

  “I’ve heard him say how much he likes that spot.” She leaned in closer, whispering. “The view…of the ladies at the pool, sunbathing…You know what I mean?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  Bathing beauties had always done it for the Gray men.

  “You might try there,” she offered.

  Wyatt thanked her.

  He found the gardens, followed the sound of low laughter and a faint blend of ’40s big-band music to the little hill overlooking the outdoor pool.

  There was the bench, but no Leo.

  Then Wyatt heard giggling.

  Leo had always had a knack for making the women laugh.

  Around a bush, a cypress tree and a decorative rock wall, there was a more secluded bench and Leo with his arms around a lovely white-haired woman, her head laid back against his arm as she gazed up at him adoringly. He bent down to kiss her, his hands starting to wander.

  “Leo,” she said, still giggly, pushing one wandering hand away. “We just met!”

  Wyatt rolled his eyes and swore under his breath.

  Leo copping a feel at eighty-six, just like a damn teenage boy with more hormones than functioning brain cells.

  Was there some sort of anti-Viagra? Something they could slip into Leo’s nightly bourbon and Coke? Maybe that would do the trick.

  Wyatt strode forward, calling out to his uncle as he did. The lady jumped up and away from Leo, blushing like an innocent young miss.

  Leo got to his feet, too, smiling for all he was worth. “Wyatt, my boy. What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, I think you know,” Wyatt said.

  Chapter Two

  Leo introduced his lady-friend, Kathleen, who shook Wyatt’s hand and said, “Leo’s told me all about you. He just adores you.”

  Wyatt smiled as best he could, put an arm around Leo’s shoulder that left no doubt Leo was to stay right there. “Leo’s a real character, isn’t he?”

  “I hope you’ll be joining us for dinner,” Kathleen added. “It’s lasagna night, and we could all get to know each other better.”

  “Mmm,” Wyatt said, making no promises.

  Although maybe he could prevent a fight from breaking out over dinner, if he stayed. Leo had a bad habit of inviting more than one woman to share the same meal with him. It wasn’t a forgetfulness-that-comes-with-age thing, either. He’d been double-booking himself for decades.

  “Well,” Kathleen said, looking from Wyatt to Leo and then back to Wyatt again. “I suppose you two could use some time to catch up. Leo, I’ll see you at six o’clock at my cottage. Don’t you forget this time or I’ll have to come find you.”

  She gave him a kiss on the cheek and then walked away.

  Leo watched her go, trim, toned legs in neat, short socks and sneakers. He’d always been a leg man.

  Wyatt just shook his head. “For a woman you just met, she sounds a tad possessive. She’s ready to hunt you down if you don’t show up on time for dinner.”

  “Damn, that’s a pretty woman. You should see her in a bathing suit,” Leo confided, shaking his head appreciatively. “Seventy-six, and she’s still got it.”

  “She’s lovely,” Wyatt agreed.

  “Kind of reminds me of your father’s third wife. What was her name? Elaine?”

  “No, Elaine was number four. I can’t remember number three’s name at the moment. She was the one who only lasted a few months. I was at boarding school practically the whole time.”

  “Oh, yeah. The redhead. I’d forgotten about her,” Leo said, then had the grace to look a bit sorry. “So, the Dragon Lady summoned you, boy?”

  Wyatt nodded. “And it only took a week. That’s a record, Leo.”

  “Yeah, that woman really needs a good man to loosen her up, make her smile once in a while, you know?”

  Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’r
e going to fix everything by taking the Dragon Lady out for a spin, so to speak?”

  “No, no, no. Not me! I’m just saying, a good roll in the sack would do wonders for her.”

  Wyatt sat down on the bench and buried his face in his hands. The men in his family tended to think good sex fixed everything, when it was usually the beginning of all their problems. How could they not know this by now? Especially at Leo’s age?

  “I’m not here to talk about the Dragon Lady’s sex life or lack of a sex life.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know,” Leo grumbled. “Bunch of damn uptight prudes! They expect a man’s life to be over at my age. Well, I’m tellin’ you, boy. Leonardo Gray’s life is far from over! And I intend to enjoy every last minute of it.”

  “Well, if you want to enjoy it here—” Wyatt began.

  “I do. I like it here. Beautiful women all over the place. Women who really know how to take care of themselves, too. Did you get a good look at my Kathleen? Great legs.”

  “Yes, she has gorgeous legs,” Wyatt agreed. “And if you want to be here to admire them, you’ve got to tone down the charm, Leo. The flirting with everyone you see. You know how women get their hopes up when you’re around. They tend to always think you’re offering them more than you are. Things more permanent than you want.”

  Leo made a disgusted sound. “Permanent? What the hell is permanent when you’re eighty-one—”

  “You’re eighty-six, Leo.”

  “I know that! Don’t you think I know that! But I can’t be saying it all the time. Otherwise, I might forget and say it in front of the women. They get a little squirrelly at the idea of a man not that far from ninety. Not that I’m scared of it. Hell, it’s just a number. If I’m still around, I’ll still have it when I’m ninety. You wait and see!”

  Wyatt just groaned at the idea of Leo the Ladies Man, still havin’ it at ninety.

  Jane arrived promptly at five minutes to six.

  She prided herself at being on time, always, which she accomplished by consistently being five minutes early for any appointment. Being on time was a mark of respect for others and a sign of good organizational skills, she thought, both virtues Jane strived to portray to the world at large.

  She walked into the cottage Gram and Aunt Gladdy shared with four other women, all friends from childhood who’d grown up together in Maryland and even if they’d moved away at times, came back home in their later years.

  Gram could have lived independently, but she and Gladdy had shared a house off and on for sixty years. In fact, the first apartment they’d ever lived in on their own had been in the same boarding house. They were both attending secretarial school in hopes of snagging their rich bosses as husbands, something they both had managed to do, although neither one’s marriage had lasted long. They happily moved in together again and again, as various entanglements with men began and inevitably went bad over the years.

  When Gladdy broke her hip a year ago and was facing a couple of months in rehab, maybe more, Gram missed Gladdy so much, she moved into Remington Park with her. Once there, they found so many old friends in residence, they didn’t want to leave. Gram said it was like being back in the boarding house and twenty-one all over again. It was the homeyness of that little eight-person cottage that did it, that and all the activities.

  Gram said she hadn’t realized how much fun it was to have people around all the time and to have so many things to do, right there where they lived. She and Gladdy had always been social creatures, and as long as they were happy, Jane was happy.

  She’d never expected anything like Gram falling in love.

  Jane said hello to Gram’s friend Ms. Bea, who was knitting in her favorite chair in the corner of the living room, and Alice, who was heading for the door in a terry cloth swimsuit cover-up, blowing kisses at Jane as she went.

  The cottages’ favorite aide, Amy, was in the dining room setting the table. Amy was twenty-one and had a five-year-old of her own, Max, who all the ladies of the cottage adored and secretly looked after on days when Max didn’t have kindergarten or Amy’s babysitter was a no-show.

  “Hi, Amy. Dinner smells delicious,” Jane said, putting a bakery box on the counter. “I brought cupcakes for everyone, including you and Max.”

  Amy beamed at her, grateful for every little thing anyone did for her and her son. “Jane, you spoil us.”

  “And you spoil everyone here, so we’re far from even. But I have to try,” Jane said, more grateful than she could ever express to know that Gram and Gladdy were so well taken care of and happy here. “So, given any thought to my offer to help get your application together for the culinary arts institute?”

  Amy made a face. “I told you, this is the best job I’ve ever had. These ladies are sweet and happy almost all the time, and they take care of me and Max as much as I take care of them. I worked a lot harder than this at home when I was twelve taking care of my younger brothers and sisters for free. This is a piece of cake.”

  “But you’re such a wonderful cook—”

  “And I cook here, and people love my food,” she reasoned.

  “But, I know the pay for aides in a retirement community is not good.” Abysmal, actually. How could any woman live on that, and the workers here were primarily female, as the lowest-paid workers most usually were, Jane knew.

  “Yes,” Amy admitted. “But all I have is my GED. You don’t make a lot of money with a GED.”

  “Which is why going back to school is so important,” Jane said.

  “And costs a ton of money. Where would I get the money?”

  “There are programs to loan money to people who are furthering their education. I’ll bring the paperwork here. We can fill it out together.”

  “And then what? Classes at night? Working all day? When am I going to see Max? I’m all he has. And I can’t afford to pay someone to take care of him all the time.” Amy looked tired suddenly, taking care of too many people for too long with no one to help her.

  “Do it now, and you’ll be grateful for the rest of your life and Max’s. No more living paycheck to paycheck. Think about it. Job security, health insurance. You can do it. I know you can,” Jane promised, trying not to break into her basic speech on education and financial well-being with all the bells and whistles, the cheerleading, the chants, the whole bit.

  She tended to do that, even when she wasn’t on the podium conducting a seminar, and it made some people uncomfortable.

  “I’ll think about it,” Amy said. “But I just don’t see how I can make it work.”

  “I do. I’ve helped thousands of women just like you get back to school and get good jobs—”

  “Jane?” Gram said, as she and Gladdy came around the corner and into the kitchen. “Don’t nag, dear. Amy loves it here, and we can’t imagine this place without her.”

  “Sorry, Amy.” Jane took a breath and hoped she truly did look sorry.

  Gram thought Jane was too militant in her ways, crusading for women’s financial freedom and security.

  Of course, Gram and Gladdy’s idea of financial security was a man, a well-to-do man. Jane had finally convinced them to at least ask for gold and diamonds as gifts from their various admirers. Gold and diamonds held their value quite well and could always be sold, if need be. Stock certificates and bonds in divorce settlements worked well, too. They’d been involved with enough men, by this age, to have accumulated smartly diverse and extensive investment portfolios, something of which Jane, who’d handled their finances for years, was very proud.

  “Don’t worry.” Amy laid her hand on top of Jane’s. “It’s fine. And it’s nice to have someone who cares.”

  “I do,” Jane promised. “If you ever decide to leave here, or they catch you bringing Max to work one day, promise to call me.”

  “Jane!” Gram said again.

  “You know the administrator would fire Amy if she ever caught Max here during Amy’s working hours,” Jane argued in her own defense.

&nb
sp; “We love Max and Amy, and we are very good at hiding Max when necessary,” Aunt Gladdy said. “Plus, we have our eyes out for a nice young man for Amy. We’re going to find her someone fabulous!”

  Jane groaned, then looked pleadingly at Amy. “A man is not the answer.”

  “They are to some things,” Amy countered. “I’ve been alone a long time, if you know what I mean.”

  “Okay, men have their uses,” Jane admitted. “Limited at best, but they are not the answer.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” a lively older man claimed, smiling as he took his place by Gram’s side and leaned over to give her a little kiss on the cheek. “I’d have to say it depends on exactly what the question is.”

  Though he looked younger, Jane would bet money he was at least eighty, maybe older, just because she knew men seemed to think they were entitled to a younger woman, the younger the better.

  Her father had already married and divorced two women younger than Jane. Why was that, exactly, that they thought they were entitled to younger and younger women? Didn’t they know how ridiculous they looked? Running around with wives younger than their daughters?

  Jane had never been able to figure that one out.

  And she feared she disliked Leo Gray on sight.

  Gram gave him a dazzling smile, which faded fast after Leo greeted her and then turned to give Gladdy the same treatment, little kiss on the cheek and all. Gladdy glowed for a moment, then caught Gram’s look and eased maybe an inch farther away from Leo.

  So…Gladdy liked him, too?

  Not good, Jane thought. Really not good.

  She tried to comfort herself by remembering that in all their years together, Gram and Gladdy had never fought over a man. Surely they wouldn’t start now.

  Gram put her hand on Leo’s arm and said, “Leo Gray, meet my favorite granddaughter, Jane Clayton. Jane, darling, this is Leo.”

  Jane held out her hand, only to find Leo clasping it in both of his and slowly bringing it to his lips for the barest hint of a kiss. “Well, she is just as adorable as you said, Kathleen. I can see now what you must have looked like as a girl, you gorgeous thing.”