He dropped his hand. Sage wished she dared hold it to her cheek and soak up his warmth.
“Come on.” Joel stood and gave her hand a tug. “Rosemary’s cake is calling to me.”
Sage let him pull her to her feet and followed him upstairs. She felt self-conscious, but other than Harrison, who fussed over her, everyone seemed to take her episode in stride.
Rosemary simply brushed her apology aside. “Forget it. It’s a good thing you came back up when you did, though. Vince has been eyeing the cake and I have the feeling it wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”
“Hey, it smells terrific. No jury would convict me,” Vince said.
“No doubt.” Sage allowed her shoulders to loosen and smiled at everyone—though it took some effort. “Let’s cut the cake, then. I want to see what Rosemary’s always bragging about.”
She glanced at Joel, who was looking out the window, his posture stiff and aloof again, all sense of empathy gone. If she hadn’t seen it, didn’t still feel the brush of his fingers on her skin, she would think the scene downstairs wasn’t real. She swallowed, disappointment filling her as it always did when he skulked back into his shell.
Joel tapped his foot and looked at the video feed of Sage in her office again while he waited on hold. He’d been getting the runaround, first from Amazon, now from the credit card company as he tried to track the person who’d sent Sage the birthday gift. The person who had packaged the box probably thought it was sweet—birthday greetings from a fiancé, but it made Joel sick. He wasn’t sure if her stalker had intentionally left the packing slip in the box when he wrapped it to taunt him, or if it had been an oversight, but he’d grabbed at any lead to find who was doing this to her.
He remembered the letters she’d turned over to the police and the ones that had come in the months before her move to Colorado. The stalker had described what she wore, what she drank, a painting that hung on the wall of her apartment and said he liked her gardenia-scented perfume. Sage immediately threw out the perfume, a shame in Joel’s opinion as he’d been rather partial to it himself. He had copies of the letters in his home and had read them dozens of times, but never found anything to give him a clue as to the stalker’s identity.
The cameras in her place were movement activated and he had never caught a hint of an intruder while he watched her in California, so he was sure the guy hadn’t been into her place since April—until now. All of the girls were a little freaked out by the stalker getting into the house, and he couldn’t blame them.
He’d already passed along the word that all mail had to be screened through the security office and he or one of his guys had to be present for all deliveries made by shipping companies that weren’t contracted suppliers. Some people had grumbled, and it would eat into his time, but Sage wasn’t the only potential target in the building. The events of that summer were proof enough that all of the DiCarlo daughters could be at risk. Besides, sorting mail and checking packages for the whole family would keep Sage looking singled out.
A voice came back on the line and introduced someone from the credit card company. “I’m sorry, sir,” the woman from Visa stated when he’d explained the situation. “It was a prepaid card sold to Walmart in a lot of five thousand back in May. I can’t even tell you which store it went to.”
Wasn’t that convenient? “Thank you for checking. I appreciate your time.” He wanted to growl into the phone, but he said a polite goodbye and hung up. It was the same issue he’d run across with the flower shop order and gifts the stalker had sent before Sage had moved to Colorado. If he really worked at it, he could probably have gotten a subpoena for the exact card numbers and tracked them to the store where they were sold, but they could have been purchased anytime since May, and that was too much ground to cover.
Joel looked up and flipped through the cameras on his monitor, found one of his security crew walking past the outside door on rounds and was glad when Mick tugged on the spa doors to ensure they were locked. Joel found Sage a moment later sitting in her staff meeting. He turned on the sound and let her calm, soothing tones roll over him.
Over the past few months she had come to mean much more to him than he ever would have expected. Her father had hired him to protect her within days of her filing the police report.
From the first moment Joel had started watching her, she seemed to sense him. At first he’d thought it was that she was on edge because of the letters and emails, but he slipped some cameras into her apartment and treatment room at work. She didn’t seem to be edgy except when he was actually nearby. He still couldn’t explain it, but he’d come to accept it over the past months.
George hadn’t been very impressed with Joel’s stealth when she caught him repeatedly in the first three days after he started watching her. However, soon after that he’d commented on how Sage would always need someone to watch out for her and he was glad he’d picked the right man to do it. The look in his eye during the video conference had made it clear he wasn’t talking about guarding her, but something a whole lot more permanent.
While Joel could admit to himself that he was seriously attracted to the fairy-like woman who radiated soothing energy, years ago he’d decided long-term relationships, let alone marriage, were not in the cards for him—especially not for a sweet-souled pacifist like Sage. She deserved someone who could give her all of himself. He’d never be that man.
Her meeting ended and Joel realized he’d been staring at her for the past several minutes. He needed to get back to work, which included making the rounds. He would stop at her office to check on things, and feel her smile light up his soul, then he could focus on the other work he needed to accomplish that day.
Sage looked up and saw Cami come into the house, arms laden with shopping bags and a huge smile on her face. “Have fun?” Cami had taken the day off to go into Denver and start delving into wedding plans.
“The most fun! I found a fabulous dress, and the shoes—you have no idea how hard it was for me to settle on a pair of shoes. There were so many tempting options.” Cami dumped her load on the dining table, untangling herself from the bags.
“Did you buy three pair, then?” Sage smiled, amused at her sisters’ love affair with footwear. Sage liked a nice pair of heels herself—when the occasion was right—but much preferred the comfortable walking shoes she wore for work.
“Not this time. I stopped at two, but one is to go with the wedding dress—they hardly count. In retrospect, I showed amazing self-control in Nordstrom’s, don’t you think?”
“Hold on,” Lana said, racing up the stairs. “Did I hear talk of wedding shoes? And a dress?” She set her hands on her slim hips and looked at the pile of bags Cami set on the floor by the sofa. “Where?”
Cami chuckled. “The dress is being altered, but I have pictures. The shoes are in this pile. I’ll show them to you if you’ll go grab the rest of the stuff in the car.” She watched Lana’s red hair flip in an arc as she hurried toward the garage.
Jonquil appeared at the top of the stairs. “I thought this was just a reconnaissance trip?”
“It was supposed to be, but I stopped at this shop and they had this dress. Wait until you see it—it fits like it was made for me.” Cami’s blue eyes glowed and she wore a perma-grin.
Lana returned with a few more shopping bags. “All right, dig out those shoes.”
“And finding a dress deserves a toast, don’t you think?” Rosemary asked, wandering up from her room in the walk-out basement. “Only it’ll have to be orange juice because I think we’re out of champagne.”
“Works for me,” Sage said and moved to help Rosemary with the drinks.
There was much oohing and ahhing as they looked at the purchases and Cami showed off pictures of the dress. She stacked half a dozen wedding magazines on the table. “Vince wants to push the wedding up to next month—next month. Seriously.”
Delphi came up the basement stairs with a large carry-on. They’d called her up e
arlier but she said she was busy. “Is the man insane? It’s already the fifteenth.”
“I know. I told him I’d compromise with a date in mid-December, which gives us three months. What does the schedule look like for the conference rooms?” Cami asked. “And where are you going?”
Delphi set down her bag and pulled out her Galaxy phone, scrolling through a few things. “The ballroom is open on December sixteenth, that’s a Friday, but it’ll take a miracle to pull that off in such a short time period.” She did not look pleased—and since she would essentially be wedding planner on the hotel end, it did mean a lot of extra work for her.
“If there’s anything we’re capable of,” Lana said, “it’s miracles. We pulled off an awesome opening gala, didn’t we? Cami can check with Vince on the date and get back to you. Then we’ll start planning.”
Sage’s head spun a little as Rosemary talked cakes and food, Delphi grumbled about deadlines, and Jonquil scribbled ideas for flowers. Sage had never been so happy that events at the hotel didn’t mean a ton of extra work for her, personally, even if the wedding party all wanted pampering sessions.
“So Vince wants to rush things, does that mean you really have to?” Jonquil asked as she frowned at her list. “What’s the hurry?”
Cami wore a secret smile, happiness beaming from her face. “Why wait? I want to be able to live with him full time. This clause in the will about living here or with a husband makes a long engagement unreasonable. Besides, despite everything I ever thought before, I don’t need a huge monster event. Family and close friends will be there, and the rest is all frosting.”
Sage felt her chest tighten with happiness for her sister, and a longing for a similar joy of her own.
“Wait a minute—you’re not pregnant, are you?” Delphi asked. She stopped halfway through sliding her phone into her jacket pocket to stare at Cami.
“No. A hundred times, no. I’m just anxious to be with Vince and start our life together.” She eyed Delphi. “You still didn’t say where you were going.”
“I have one last wedding I need to help with back home this weekend. The bride is an old friend of mine and I couldn’t leave her hanging just because Dad planned all of our lives for us. It’ll give me a chance to tie up some loose ends.” She didn’t look at them, focusing instead on her things.
“That’s Delphi code for she’s missing her man and wants to get her bike ready to ship up here,” Jonquil clarified.
“Man?” Rosemary asked. “You have a man?” She crossed her arms over her chest and studied Delphi. “Why are you always so closed mouthed about these things? Spill.”
“I should have sent it back in July,” Delphi said of the bike, completely ignoring the question about her guy back home. “With my luck the snow is going to start falling next week and I won’t get to use it this winter.” Delphi’s obsession with motorcycles was a fascinating contrast to her buttoned-down, high-society image.
“Ah, and there’s another reason for me to move to Vince’s before too long,” Cami said as she pulled rolls of ribbon from a plastic bag. “Six garage bays, six sisters—and an extra motorcycle. Can you imagine the fighting?”
“Hello! Man? Details are needed,” Rosemary pushed.
Sage nudged Rosemary a little. “You know she doesn’t like to talk about herself. Give her a break.” She could tell Delphi was uncomfortable, and she and Rosemary never really got along all that well anyway.
“She thinks she has to be in our business. Why doesn’t she reciprocate?” Rosemary asked.
“And you share everything with the rest of us, do you?” Delphi turned it back on Rosemary. “Your trip to DC next week is to make nice with the mom who couldn’t be bothered to come to the opening gala, huh?”
Rosemary snorted. “As if. And if you’re going to keep secrets, I can keep my own.”
“You’re welcome to them,” Delphi snarled.
“Hey, I want to know secrets,” Cami said. “I have no juicy ones of my own, so you all need to share. Come on, spill.”
“And with that, I’m headed out. I’ll be back Sunday evening.” Delphi turned toward the garage. “You’re all a bunch of busybodies. Worse than my mom’s friends.” The door slapped closed behind her.
Sage sighed, wondering if Delphi and Rosemary would ever get along, and why they provoked each other all of the time.
“I need to get with you Jonquil,” Cami said, moving past Delphi’s tantrum. “Flowers are not my thing.”
“Rosemary already has plans for your cake,” Sage said. “You probably ought to discuss it with her soon.”
“Right.” Cami’s phone rang and she grinned, flipping her auburn hair back from her face and answering it, “Hi, sweetie. How does December sixteenth sound?”
Sage took her glass of juice back up to her room. She’d let everyone else chatter about wedding plans—she needed some peace and quiet. She hadn’t had a chance to meditate for a few days and an hour or two of quiet reflection was definitely needed after the angry vibes that had been thrown around the room. Confrontation always tied her up in knots.
“You should join us for dinner tonight,” Sage offered as Joel walked her out to his car after work Sunday evening. “Rosemary is making cannellini and promised there would be plenty.” She dangled the offer in front of him, knowing how much he liked Rosemary’s cooking. He been aloof ever since her birthday when he’d been sweet as she had her panic attack. She hoped with the others around, he’d relax a little, show his true self.
He lifted his brows. “Are all the sisters going to gather ‘round and talk wedding plans?” His tone said it didn’t sound like a party to him.
She held back a smile. “Could be. But Vince will be there, and I think Blake invited himself, and Jonquil told Harrison to come—she’s still irritated with Rosemary for tossing a box of Twinkies last week.” Sage thought it was funny that Jonquil used Harrison to get back at Rosemary. Sage knew Harrison and Rosemary would be perfect together, if they ever got past the constant bickering.
“And nothing says payback like inviting your brother to eat her masterpiece.” He grinned, then took a quick perusal of the parking lot. “I got the feeling that Rosemary and Jonquil got along okay.”
“They do, most of the time. But Rosemary has an irrational hatred of mass-produced snack cakes and Jonquil loves them. I think it’s mostly good natured sparring. And Jonquil rescued the Twinkies, anyway, so it’s not like there was permanent damage.” Personally, Sage thought the things were terrible, but she thought tofu was a major food group, so who was she to judge?
“And Harrison and Rosemary are fun to watch when they get going. For everyone who’s not you and doesn’t get hives when people fight.”
“You got it. I still haven’t figured out why they argue so much.” She tried to ignore the way he studied every room, every place they went, always looking for anything—or anyone—who didn’t belong. She did it sometimes, but he was a maniac about it. Sometimes it comforted her, to know he was watching out, and other times, like now, it put her more on edge.
“Chemistry,” he dipped his head to the side, still talking about her brother. “And a healthy dose of wounded pride, though I’m not sure where that comes from.”
“You read people pretty well.” Very well, considering how he didn’t notice her feelings for himself. Or had he noticed and pretended he didn’t, hoping he wouldn’t have to turn her down?
“I’m trained to notice cues.” His jaw twitched a little, indicating there was more to it, but he wouldn’t say, so she let it go.
“Seriously, I would have thought they’d get over it by now. It was the same way when we first met Rosemary.” She remembered that encounter vividly.
“It’s only been a couple of months, but they mostly avoid each other. It might get better.” He pulled out his key fob and unlocked the door when they were still a few feet away.
“No, I don’t mean from when they met in July. I mean when we met on the cruise ship whe
n I was eighteen.” Her father had put all of the girls in each other’s way once they had become teenagers, though he never mentioned it to them—they pieced it all together after they met again.
“Now that sounds interesting.” Joel opened the passenger door for her. “You’re going to have to explain. In detail.”
“My pleasure.” Sage slid inside and locked the door behind her. Joel nodded in approval, pulling out his cell phone to make a quick call as he came around to the driver’s side.
He stood outside his door for a moment to finish the call, then folded his phone away. “George sent all three of you on the same cruise?” he asked as he shut the door and locked everything again.
“Yeah. I think Mom was worried about letting me go alone, so Dad paid for Harrison to go with me. Though actually,” she said after a second’s consideration, “he paid for Harrison to do a lot of things so he wouldn’t be left out when I got to do fun activities. Dad kind of took him under his wing, treating Harrison like the son he never had.” Which made the secrets about the other daughters just as painful for her brother as it had been for her.
“He’s a man with a whole mess of daughters. You can’t really blame him for adopting a son into the mix.”
“I suppose not. Anyway, the first night we were on the cruise, we ran into Rosemary. Dad had booked the three of us in the same singles’ group, apparently wanting us to interact—even though we didn’t know about each other. I think he was hoping we would strike up friendships on our own or something. Rosemary had a permanent chip on her shoulder, even more than now. She took one look at us and hated us. She made some comment about me and Harrison said some nasty things back. The rest of the week they either sniped or pretended the other didn’t exist.”
“Pretty much like now.” Joel glanced into the rearview mirror.
“Yeah. Harrison can be a bit of a hothead. Especially when he’s defending me.” A trait she had by turns hated and adored.
“I’ve noticed,” he said. “I have to ask. What did she say about you?”
SEALed With Love (DiCarlo Brides book 2) (The DiCarlo Brides) Page 6
