She calmed and took her seat. The attendant brought her a wine as she explained they were still waiting for another passenger.
“Not me,” Adam clarified. “I don’t want to be your rebound lover. I want to be your forever lover.”
“You already are,” she assured him.
“I will give you a hint. This is someone from your past, with whom you might enjoy a temporary fling.”
She pondered who the passenger might be, and thought of Sean—her difficult Sean, who had struggled with the concept of love that carried no strings or commitments. According to Adam, he had left the hospital the moment he’d learned of the extent of her injuries. He had made no attempt to contact her since. She had trouble believing he would return now.
“It is not Sean. I was very disappointed in him. For such a bully, he was an incredible coward.”
“Many bullies are,” she observed.
She hoped it wasn’t Chad, because she could never forgive him for breaking Luke’s heart.
“I would never consider such a possibility,” he assured her in a tone that left no doubt she had insulted him.
Of course he wouldn’t. Chad had tried to kill Adam. Chad was the last person Adam would call on.
Her contemplations ended when Mark Hammer lifted her to her feet and kissed her on both cheeks and then her lips. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For offering an olive branch,” he said as he sat down in the chair beside her.
“Olive branch?’
Mark’s smile disappeared. “When you offered me a ride back to Europe, I thought that meant you forgave me, but perhaps you just wanted to knock me about for five hours. Well, I deserve it, so go ahead. However, I would like to observe that marriage with Beth is beyond any punishment you could devise.”
She stretched her hand toward his face, and he flinched. When her hand caressed his cheek, he looked at her in happy surprise.
“Then you forgive me?”
“I cannot forgive you,” she replied, and before anguish could set in, she explained why. “I was never angry, so there’s nothing to forgive.”
They fell into silence as the plane rose into the sky. Amanda couldn’t imagine why Mark would think he had done something to anger her. Unlike Sean, he had sent her an adorable stuffed animal with a bandaged paw, telling her to get well soon. She had been surprised that he hadn’t delivered it in person, but Adam had explained he had to return to the US because Beth wanted to marry immediately. She hadn’t sent a wedding present, because she’d known Beth would throw out whatever she sent. Was that why he thought her angry with him?
“I’m sorry,” she declared at the exact time he said the same.
She laughed. “I’m not mad at you. Why would you even think that?”
When he snuggled beside her in the wide leather chair, he remained silent for so long she wondered if he’d fallen asleep.
“Mark?”
“I’m recalling the first time we flew over. God, it seems a billion years ago.”
“It does.”
“We were so young and innocent back then.”
She laughed. “I don’t recall you being all that innocent,” she teased.
“Oh, but I was. I believed I could get by on my charm. I could handle any problem if I just smiled a bit more.”
“Well, we’ve both had some hard life lessons,” she admitted.
“I really did love you,” he insisted, his face contorted with pain.
“I know,” she assured him. “And I hope you still do.”
He buried his face in the crook of her neck. “Always.”
“The same here,” she assured him, and kissed the top of his head.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the marriage. I tried to the night of your party, but I couldn’t tell you with everyone around, and I never got another chance to speak to you. Jules pulled my leash so short I couldn’t piss without his explicit approval.”
“Are you still with Jules?”
“No. Bresnan came through on his offer to get me an interview with Chevaux, and fortunately the man forgave my nationality, and thus when Jules arrived with my new and even more constricting contract, I told him I’d signed with someone else.”
“That must have been fun.”
“Truthfully, I was terrified. I’d seen what Jules had done to you, and heard of others who never worked again after they crossed him. However, since Chevaux is considered a step above Jules, any complaints would be considered sour grapes and unprofessional, so Jules left me alone.”
“Is your new agent easier to work with?”
“He’s more demanding on a professional level. If I’m not performing, I should be practicing. If I’m not practicing, I should be learning more from the masters. He doesn’t believe a serious musician can have a personal life, but he doesn’t actually forbid his students from having one. He certainly doesn’t tell you what to wear, or say who to sleep with. In fact, he ignores your private life entirely. You are judged by your performances, and as long as your playing shows continued improvement, he will retain you as a client.”
“He sounds like a good agent.”
“He’s very good for me. I was always rebelling with Jules. Now there are no ridiculous rules to thwart. Chevaux wants the same thing I want—perfection in my music. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass that my private life is utter hell. Or maybe he does, because he constantly books me in Europe, and Beth refuses to travel with the baby.”
“Baby?”
“God, you don’t know? That’s what I wanted to tell you. It’s why I had to leave school and return to the States. Beth was pregnant and needed a husband.”
“That sounds like you don’t think it’s yours?”
“I always used a condom, so I seriously doubt it, but her father showed me a paternity test, which claims otherwise.”
“Maybe you should have your own paternity test performed.”
“No money.”
“I would have paid for it,” she assured him.
He leaned and kissed her temple. “The truth is, Beth’s father promised me a ten-album record deal, which is almost unheard of. With Jules threatening to drop me if I didn’t marry Beth and her father threatening to bury me in a costly paternity suit, I decided to take the record deal and Beth.”
“I wish I could have been there for you. I’m sure Adam could have found you a better path.”
“Well, you were on death’s door at the time, and I’m guessing Adam was pulling every string he had to make you well. In comparison, my problems were insignificant.” Mark stared at her. “I’m convinced without Adam you would have died.”
She nodded. “Without Adam and Luke, I wouldn’t have recovered.”
“Luke—I can’t believe you had the Assistant Director of the FBI posing as your security guard.”
“He wasn’t posing. He was on a leave of absence, and when I told him I was concerned that the opera cast members intended to poison me, he came at once.”
“And failed.”
“That wasn’t his fault. I should have never taken the curtain-call bow.”
“Still, it must have killed him to realize he’d failed to protect you.”
“It did,” she replied, and burst into tears.
Mark gathered her into his arms. “Here, what’s this?”
“He can’t get over his failure. Now that I’m well enough to return to school, he’s broken it off with me,” she lied, covering the real reason for her tears.
Mark sighed. “You have crappy luck with men.”
“I do!” she admitted. “Except for Adam.”
“Right,” he said with pain in his voice.
“And you!” she insisted. “You’re still my friend, and you still care about me. I’m very lucky to have met you.”
“Nice recovery, but you were right the first time. I should have fought harder to keep you.”
“You were under contract,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, but so were you.”
“My contract wasn’t nearly as confining. Adam had removed most of Jules’ claws.”
“Then how was Jules able to dump you?”
“I probably could have contested it, but the truth was I was glad to be away from him. Despite not having any legal right to do so, he was determined to dig all ten claws into me. I believe it was his lack of full control over me that turned him against me.”
“Maybe, or it might have been Anon. From what I hear, Jules blames you for his affair with Anon, and if you think Jules hates losing control in an agent/client relationship, he really hated being forced into the submissive role in a homosexual trist.”
Amanda stared at him in shock. “I knew from the way Jules would allow Anon to boss him about the house they had to be sleeping together, but I had no idea Jules would blame me.”
“According to Jules, you forced them to share a room.”
“Well, he wasn’t forced. He could have left Anon in the dorms, or lived in a hotel,” Amanda replied. “It’s not as if I wanted either of them living in my house, but that was when he changed. Before that, I rather thought he liked me.”
“He certainly did when he first met you. I was very envious of your ability to control him.”
“I wasn’t trying to control him,” she protested.
“No, you were trying to befriend him,” Mark agreed. “But he had to be half in love with you if he allowed his contract to be renegotiated.”
“Well, I wish he hadn’t. I did not enjoy being under his thumb at all.”
“Nor I,” Mark admitted. “But it makes me work much harder on my music so that Chevaux doesn’t drop me. Being under Jules’, my father-in-law’s, and Beth’s thumb was more than even I could bear. Now I just have two of those nightmares.”
“I don’t know how you survive it.”
“I spend most of my time in Europe. I only go home to record my music. Then I’m paraded about like a fine pony for all to admire as I smile happily in pictures holding my beloved wife and my ersatz son.”
“Is Beth better now that she has what she wants?”
His face darkened. “There is no ‘better’ for Beth. There is no path to happiness. Now that I’ve dealt with her father, I believe he’s to blame for her mental instability. She only grows worse now she’s back in his loving arms.”
“Then you must focus on finding your joy of life in music,” she advised.
He groaned. “I wish I could, but everything is so technically difficult now. Were you able to find joy singing that impossible aria?”
“Yes, I was. Once I sang from memory, the technical difficulties disappeared and the joy returned.”
“Perhaps we can play together...”
“I don’t sing anymore,” she replied. “But perhaps I can write you a beautiful composition.”
He looked as if he were about to burst into tears. “But Adam said you were well and returning to school.”
“I am well, and I’m going to begin the long, arduous study of writing compositions.”
“And your voice?”
“It’s not what it was.”
“Oh, Amanda, I’m so sorry!”
“I’m not. I’d already planned to change my focus to compositions. This just makes it easier. No one can distract me with impossible arias again. To be honest, it’s not the scars in my throat that would prevent me from returning to the stage, it’s the scars of betrayal. I have a great fear of petty musicians and stagehands now.”
“You have just reason. You were treated abominably at the school, and then they attempted to murder you at the opera.”
“I would like to believe they only meant to sicken me. The girl was following instructions provided by others. It’s possible she confused the dosage.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Not enough to ever step on another stage.”
His fingers ran beneath her chin. “Having someone try to kill you has to be life-changing.”
“Yes, well, this wasn’t the first time someone has tried to kill me, but it was the closest I’ve come to actually dying. I’d rather like a career that keeps me safely in my house for many years. It will give me time to recover.”
“Would you welcome an occasional interruption from an old friend?”
“If that friend is you, absolutely.”
He smiled. “Remember when we flew together last time and you were so determined to dislike me and I was equally determined to prove I could be a gentleman?”
“Yes, and I’m glad I finally stopped being stubborn and let myself see that beneath your superficial charm there was a very good and lovable person.”
His hand slid onto her leg. “Who is once again struggling to be a gentleman,” he admitted.
She sighed and lifted his hand and kissed it. “I will never forget what we had, but we can’t go back. Our lives have moved on, and while I hope you will always be my friend, we cannot be lovers.”
“Because I’m married?”
“I don’t want Beth in my life ever again.”
He closed his eyes to hide his pain.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“No... I was being selfish and delusional. I love you, Amanda. The last thing I would want is for Beth to enter your life again.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
When they landed, Mark kissed her goodbye on the plane and waited another thirty minutes as he “assisted” the pretty flight attendant in her cleanup duties.
Amanda’s moment of sadness ended as she stepped from the secured area. A familiar mob of people waited to greet her. Andrew, Sondra, Martin, Bastion, Pinchot, Richart, Jacque, and Simon were all there to welcome her home.
To her amazement, they all managed to crush into the Rolls. Sondra and Martin rode up front with Andrew, and the rest rode in the back with her, fussing over her with such love and adoration she wondered if this was how a newborn baby felt.
When she stepped into her beautiful home, she noticed that the antiques were back in their rightful places. Before the opening night of the opera, Andrew had resisted putting them back, finding one excuse after another why that day was not suitable for the task.
“Finally ran out of excuses,” she teased Andrew as she picked up a statue.
Bastion removed the statue from her hands and rubbed it with his handkerchief as he scolded her. “Never touch the antiques unless you are wearing gloves. The oils on your hands could permanently change the color of the stone.”
“Were the antiques kept locked up to protect them from me?” she asked in surprise.
“No,” Bastion assured her. “Although had I realized you were prone to picking them up, I would have lectured you on the care of antiques before now.”
She laughed. “Well, can I put my hands on you?”
“Are you implying I’m an antique?” he challenged with his most stern and disapproving face.
“No, but you are valuable, and I presently want to hug you—or I did before you acquired that fierce glare. Now I wish to run from the room.”
His scowl disappeared, and before she could run away, he pulled her into his arms. “We have missed you so!”
“What? Was I not the most disruptive student you’ve ever had?” she challenged.
“Yes,” Simon agreed. “And it’s been terribly dull since you left.”
Bastion went to the cellar to select their wine and returned with a new lecture. “Now that you intend to live here, you have a responsibility to replenish the wine cellar.”
“Well, I hope you’re willing to assist me in the selection of wines, because I haven’t a clue.”
He sighed as if she had placed a great burden at his feet, then said, “If I must, then for Don Carlos I will see it done.”
She kissed him on the cheek and declared, “That was from Don Carlos.”
Simon laughed. “That was not how Don Carlos kissed.”
Bastion’s eyes flickered to Martin and back
to Simon with that fierce, scolding face. Simon grimaced and mouthed a silent apology before deftly turning the focus. “Amanda, I hope you have kept up with your lessons during your six-month sabbatical.”
She stared at him in shock.
“I can see the answer is no. Well, how much have you forgotten in that time?”
She frowned. This wasn’t exactly how she wanted her welcome home party to go, but before she could suggest they wait until tomorrow to begin torturing her, Bastion came to her rescue.
“If she forgot everything, then we’ll simply have to teach her again.”
All three of her professors insisted it was too much work.
“Well then, get some help. Find some students who like Amanda and will help her catch up on her studies!”
Amanda was about to observe that task would be harder than teaching her from scratch when Richart declared it a great idea and opened the door, letting in a small mob of smiling students.
Bresnan and his European group made up the majority of the mob, but to her surprise and concern, Amy was in the group as well.
She wished Luke were there to protect her, then wondered when Adam would stop torturing her and take his place.
“Well, if you had followed my wishes, Mark Hammer would be at your side right now,” Adam scolded.
I don’t want Mark. I want you.
“You aren’t ready yet,” Adam insisted.
I’m holding out for you, Adam, and I can be very stubborn.
“I’ve noticed.” He laughed. “But remember, you taught me much of what I know, so I believe I possess a formidable stubborn streak as well.”
She sighed and turned her attention to Bresnan, who approached her and kissed both cheeks. “You look very well,” he said. “I tried to visit you in the hospital, but the police would only allow people on a very short list in to see you. I, unfortunately, had not deserved the right to be on it.”
She smiled. “Well, I’m starting a new list, and the paper is very long this time.”
“How is your voice?” he asked, and she noticed Richart looked up from his conversation, clearly wanting to know the same thing.
She asked for everyone’s attention. “Bresnan just asked me about my voice. Since you are my friends, let me tell you all at once. My voice is adequate for speaking, but my range and tone quality have been greatly lessened. I do not expect I will ever sing again.”
Birth of Adam (Artificial Intelligence Book 2) Page 24
