The Beach Bachelors Boxset (Three Complete Contemporary Romance Novels in One) (The Beach Bachelors Series)

by Pamela Browning

  "That's ridiculous," Alec said angrily.

  "Cara was one of the few weapons I could use against you. I thought she'd make an excellent counterspy."

  "I never took the bait," Cara said. "Blake, I told you I wanted to keep our association on a professional level, and I did."

  Alec blew out a long breath. "So you were hitting on Cara, Blake?"

  "Any man would want her. Any man could use her. Maybe we both did."

  "Did he, Cara? Use you?" Alec glared at her.

  After hearing Blake's discussing her as if she weren't even there, Cara felt like a nonperson. And Alec's questions seemed unwarranted, accusatory and out of line. Suddenly she'd had her fill of the sham of high society and was sick of hypocrisies and deceits. Being caught in the middle of this situation was far from what she had expected when she took this job.

  "I've had enough." she said in carefully measured tones. "I came here to do a job, which wasn't supposed to involve me in a family feud. If you two want to continue acting out your childish little games, you'll have to do it without me. I'm leaving Xanadu tomorrow."

  To his credit, Alec looked crushed. Blake, though clearly stunned, managed a bored what-would-you-expect smirk.

  Cara, wanting to insert as much space between herself and the two men, stormed from the room and slammed the door behind her. It echoed noisily through the long marble corridor.

  * * *

  That night Cara found it difficult to sleep.

  She hadn't realized when she'd run from the library that she'd halfway expected Alec to follow. Blake had insulted them both, and Alec could have aligned himself with her instead of accusing her. He could have called or texted her after she went back to her room. But her phone remained silent, as did the rest of the house.

  So it was over between them. Alec had probably decided that she wasn't worth the effort, that he didn't trust her after all, and maybe that was a good thing. They were from two different worlds, and she needed to move on with her life. In time, perhaps she'd recall her sojourn at Xanadu as a time of healing from her grief and a rare chance to experience a lifestyle that she'd barely known existed.

  But Cara couldn't help feeling sad. Saying goodbye to Xanadu also meant saying farewell to a man who had awakened something special in her.

  Alec Martyn had brought a new dimension into her life, a sharing and depth of feeling that might have become a serious relationship. It was hard to believe that she'd misread the promise in his eyes or that the attraction she felt was not mutual. But as the night wore on and Alec didn't contact her, she reluctantly accepted that any future they might have had together was utterly destroyed.

  The next morning, she paid Ingrid and Otto a visit and told them of her plans to leave Xanadu. They seemed taken aback.

  "We're so sorry," Ingrid said, placing a hand on her arm. "Is there any way we can convince you to stay?"

  Cara shook her head. "Thanks, but I can't. Not now." She explained briefly about last night's scene in the library. "I can't stay here now, and it's for the best," she said. Ingrid patted her arm comfortingly.

  Otto beckoned her to a small storeroom. Propped against a wall was a long, brown-paper package.

  "Look," said Otto as he pulled at the wrapping.

  "My sailfish!" exclaimed Cara. The fish had been expertly mounted to look as it had appeared in life, shiny blue and silver with a raised dorsal fin and a long bill.

  "It was delivered early this morning. Of course, you will want it shipped to your home in Chicago."

  Cara wrote her address on a slip of paper, and Otto assured her that he would oversee the packing and mailing himself. He urged her to join him with Ingrid at their kitchen table for a cup of tea, and Cara gratefully accepted.

  "Who will finish the inventory?" Ingrid wanted to know.

  "There will almost surely have to be one," Cara told her. "It's usual whenever property changes hands. Someone else can finish what I've started."

  Ingrid smiled. "There is an old Polish saying. 'Not my circus, not my monkeys.' It's particularly apt for this situation, don't you agree?"

  Cara had to laugh. It broke the tension.

  Otto said, "I will be happy to take you to the airport when you are ready."

  "I was fortunate enough to be able to get a reservation on a flight leaving early this evening," Cara said.

  "I'll arrange my work so that I'll be free to drive you."

  "One thing I must know before I go," Cara said. "Ingrid, have you heard anything about Tandy?"

  "I called her home this morning," Ingrid said. She shook her head. "Their housekeeper tells me that her mother intends to take her to Europe for treatment." She looked dubious.

  "Alec mentioned that she's been unstable for a long time."

  "Even as a child, she was unhappy. Tandy and Alec both had troubled childhoods, you know."

  "Alec mentioned that he had a hard time getting over his father's death. I'm guessing that Tandy is the female friend who was his only support. Am I right?"

  Ingrid nodded. "And he was hers. Those two, they were sad little kids. Alec took the loss of his father really hard. And Tandy, poor thing. That girl tried everything she could to get her mother to notice her. Good behavior, bad behavior, and nothing seemed to work. Then there were the different stepfathers that she competed with for the Princess's attention."

  "I can't imagine," Cara said. As the daughter of an involved and doting father, she didn't know what her life might have been like if she'd been subjected to a mother like Tandy's.

  She didn't have any trouble speculating, though. "When Coco escaped in the ballroom this time and was getting all the attention, perhaps something inside Tandy snapped."

  "That could be it," Ingrid agreed.

  Thoughtfully Cara sipped her tea. "Thank goodness Alec showed up when he did. He was the best equipped to handle Tandy."

  Ingrid nodded. "Alec often tried to help her. Why, he even gave Tandy shelter sometimes when she couldn't go home. They'd show up for breakfast, and I'd hear them talking about whatever precipitated her flight from her mother's house. One time it was her mother verbally attacking her. Another time, the Princess locked her out. They had many problems, that mother and daughter."

  Cara remembered the silk nightgown that Alec brought to her after he had rescued her from the riptide, and she felt her cheeks redden. Ingrid, noting her altered expression, leaned forward earnestly.

  "You mustn't think that there has ever been anything between them, Cara, despite Tandy's recent wishes to the contrary. Local gossip says that the Princess set her sights on Alec for Tandy, and I believe Tandy was trying to please her mother by becoming engaged to him. Somehow her mind filled in the blanks and led her to think that he loved her. But Alec has never taken Tandy's declarations of love seriously. He confides in me, and I can assure you that they are just friends."

  "This is too much girl talk for me," Otto said, though he had listened patiently until now. He slid back his chair. "Call me when you are ready to leave," he told Cara. "I'll help you with your luggage."

  When Otto had gone, Ingrid regarded Cara thoughtfully. "Something happened between you and Alec last night, didn't it?"

  "I wish I'd never met either of the Martyns, and that is the truth." Cara couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.

  "Alec likes you very much," Ingrid offered kindly.

  "I thought so at one time." Despite her efforts to control it, Cara's voice quavered.

  "Cara, perhaps when you get home to Chicago you'll be able to put things in their proper perspective. I've seen the way Alec looks at you and the way you look at him. I cannot believe he will let you go."

  Cara felt no such confidence, however. She smiled ruefully. "No, Ingrid, it's all over between us. Anyway, I'll need to concentrate on finding a new job during the next few weeks. Getting back to normal will help take my mind off all that has happened here. Right now it seems like the only good thing to come out of this whole brouhaha is that Xanad
u has been saved."

  Ingrid brightened. "Oh, isn't it wonderful? I would have hated to leave here or to see this house destroyed."

  "You and Otto will stay on?"

  Ingrid nodded. "Someone will have to care for Xanadu as it moves into the next phase. We'll be here as long as we're wanted. Let's hope it will be a long time and that we'll get to enjoy opening it to all the people who will admire this beautiful place."

  After an affectionate farewell, Cara took leave of Ingrid and walked randomly through the house, bidding it a silent goodbye. In the grand ballroom, she noted the missing chandelier prisms that had been thrown by Coco, and she hoped someone would remember to order replacements for the broken ones. As she passed the library she stepped inside for one last look at the scene of last night's debacle. When she closed the door behind her, she felt as if she were closing it on a chapter of her life.

  The drawing room caught her attention as the clock collection chimed its observance of the half hour, and she smiled to herself while she mounted the curving stone staircase. She was remembering her first day at Xanadu, when she'd followed Alec obediently up these stairs in her borrowed outfit of baggy blue jeans and pullover. Such a short time ago, and yet how long.

  In her room she threw open the closet doors and retrieved her luggage from the high shelf. Carefully she folded each garment and laid it gently in the suitcase. When she came to the lovely magenta and silver sari she hesitated. She held the soft folds of cloth to her cheek for a moment, remembering the ball. Did she want to take this reminder of that fateful evening back to Chicago with her, or would it be best to leave it behind and thus spare herself the anguish she'd feel each time she saw it?

  Then she recalled standing on the beach that night with the wind lifting her hair as she paused in the moonlight so that Alec could sketch her. No, there weren't only bad memories of that night. There were good things to remember, too. She folded the sari slowly, running her fingers along the silky folds before placing it in the suitcase.

  As she finished packing, Ingrid appeared with her lunch tray, and Cara pulled the table where she normally ate to the window where she could look out upon the ocean. She fastened the airy draperies to one side and opened the window, breathing the salt air deep into her lungs. While she ate she sequenced through the pictures on her phone. There was the sailfish she'd caught, and some of the peacocks in the garden. And the ocean, and the orchids, and Bernard's smiling face.

  She had time for one last stroll beside the sea before dressing to catch her plane. She was wearing a simple white cotton shift that hung loosely to just above her knees. Quickly she slipped on her shoes and let herself out the front door. One of the ever-present peacocks strutted up to her, perhaps hoping for a handout. "Go away," she shooed, and the bird retreated to the fountain where he spread the hundred eyes of his fan-shaped tail to stare at the afternoon sun.

  She picked her way through the orange grove, glancing for a moment at Alec's cabana. None of the windows were open and the draperies were closed, so she doubted that Alec was there. That was good. She had no desire to meet him before she left. She'd endured quite enough unpleasantness last night without providing opportunity for more.

  On the beach she turned south, away from the cabana. Here and there she bent to pick up a pretty shell and drop it in her pocket. The shells would make a pretty display for the bookshelves at home.

  Time passed swiftly, and she shaded her eyes from the sun as she looked up and tried to judge how long it had been since she'd left her room. Involuntarily she looked toward the minarets of Xanadu. They gleamed golden in the late afternoon sunlight, soaring against the radiant blue sky. And now they would never be replaced by impersonal glass-and-concrete towers. Perhaps someday she'd return to Palm Beach and, as a tourist, visit Xanadu when it had become a museum.

  She was so caught up in her daydreams that she didn't notice the tall figure in swimming trunks drawing closer behind her. He walked steadily, hands stuffed into the pockets of a bright blue windbreaker, his thatch of sun-streaked hair slanted across his forehead. When he reached Cara he stopped and joined her in her admiration of the tall minarets.

  "It is pretty, isn't it?" he said softly in her ear.

  Startled, she turned abruptly to find herself looking at Alec.

  "Yes," she said, overcoming her surprise. "I was gathering one last look to remember always."

  "You really are leaving, then?" His voice was sharp.

  "This afternoon. I've collected some shells to take back to the apartment with me, and I had to stop to admire Xanadu. I'm so relieved that you managed to save it, Alec."

  "Are you?" Alec's eyes captured and held hers. She looked away.

  "Of course," she said, avoiding his eyes. "But how did you do it?"

  "It was a stroke of luck. When I ran into Bernard after you left the ball, I mentioned that Marquis Development was buying Xanadu. He became agitated and said that it couldn't be true. As we talked, I learned that he and Winston Caylor were boyhood friends and that Caylor shares Bernard's interest in art and antiques." Alec shrugged. "You know the rest."

  "And the Princess got you in to see the governor?"

  "She reneged on that because Tandy saw us kissing on the beach and told her about it. Tandy was angry with me, the Princess was angry with Tandy because Tandy had lied and told her that we were romantically involved, and I despaired of seeing the governor at all. After Tandy called me to confess that she'd screwed up and made the Princess angry, I made a quick emergency trip to Tallahassee hoping to barge my way into the governor's office anyway."

  Cara stared at him wide-eyed. "Did you?"

  "It wasn't necessary. Ponce was already paving the way, and Bernard had called Caylor, who arranged a meeting with the governor as soon as he could. It was easy for him to do, since he was a major donor to the governor's campaign. I was cooling my heels outside the governor's office when I learned that he'd see me. Everything fell into place."

  "I'm happy for you," Cara said.

  "Luck was on our side. And Caylor and Bernard and Ponce." Alec chuckled ruefully. "They all came through at the last minute."

  "Friends in high places," Cara said.

  "I'll always be grateful."

  Cara tried to keep her voice from trembling. "Where will you go now? Will you have to leave the cabana?"

  "I'll stay on for several months. After that, I'd like to move to a loft apartment off Worth Avenue. Maybe it will be off one of those charming little courtyards and with lots of bright light for my work."

  Cara had a fleeting thought of brightly flowered vines framing elaborate iron gates and staircases winding to a spacious upper level, but she couldn't imagine Alec away from the beach.

  As though in answer to her question, he said, "A move won't mean the end of my seascapes. Anyway, now I feel freer, more willing to do other kinds of work. As you know, I have a portrait of a lovely lady that I want to finish."

  Cara felt uncomfortable under his gaze and wished he wouldn't turn the conversation toward her. She wished he would keep it impersonal and let her go home with a semblance of peace and dignity. She didn't want to be thinking of their moments together, at least not now. Those were memories that she wanted to keep intact and cradle close during the long, lonely winter nights ahead of her.

  When she didn't speak, Alec continued in a low voice. "You remember that I told you I didn't have a gift for portraiture? I was wrong. This portrait of you, Cara, is real. I believe that I've overcome my mental block about painting people, and it's all because of you."

  "You said you couldn't get to the heart of people," she said, her voice no more than a whisper.

  "You showed me your heart," he began, reaching for her hand, but she pulled away.

  "Really, Alec, I must go now. I don't want to miss my plane," Cara said, beginning to walk briskly toward Xanadu.

  He fell into step beside her. "You should know that I've had it out with Blake. I wish I could have made it less unplea
sant for you last night in the library, but it seemed at the time that nothing I could say would convince him that you weren't my spy. When I went to see him last night, I explained everything to his satisfaction. We talked and argued into the morning hours. He's bitter, of course, just as I would be in his place."

  "Has he forgiven you for preventing the sale?"

  "I doubt it. He's leaving Palm Beach to live in New York. There he'll be closer to his business interests and the social life he enjoys. Perhaps in time—" He broke off, then resumed talking. "Cara, I never used you. I never expected you to rat on Blake, and you never did. I respect you for that."

  Cara's thoughts whirled. "Why didn't you tell me this right away? Last night, for instance."

  "I didn't want to escalate the situation when we were in the library with Blake, and I suppose I was in shock. In a short period of time I'd dealt with Tandy in the tower, her awful mother, and the escaped monkey. Then Blake and I were arguing and there you were with an accusatory look on your face—it was a lot to absorb." Alec met her gaze with misery in his eyes.

  "You disappointed me, Alec," Cara admitted. "You were the one doing the accusing. It was hurtful."

  "I never want to hurt you," Alec said. "Not then, not now."

  She relented slightly. He seemed so sincere, and that look in his eyes was heartwrenching.

  "I thought we had something special," she allowed. "Something real." Her cheeks ached from the pressure of held-back tears.

  His eyes implored her. "Can you make an allowance for me? I was so tired last night. I wish I'd handled that conversation with Blake differently. If I'd found a way to diffuse his anger before he said all those things, you wouldn't have been involved. I dropped the ball on that one. I'm so sorry."

  "Oh, Alec." Cara was sure that she was feeling the same pain he was over their situation, but her feelings were too raw at this point to go on talking about it.

  "Cara, please."

  "I'd better go," she said. If she didn't, she might burst into tears.

  "I can't let you leave like this. You're the only woman I've ever felt comfortable with, the first I've really cared for and one of the few women of integrity that I've ever met. I love you, Cara. Don't stay angry with me!"