[The Sons of Lily Moreau 01] - Remodeling the Bachelor

by Marie Ferrarella

  Janice could feel her back going up. She didn’t welcome advice when none wasrequested, especially not when it came to Kelli.“I take her to the museum,”

  Janice countered. Lily was obviously unimpressed.“The visual arts,”she emphasized. She lookeddown at Kelli with tremendous approval.“You’re never too young to learn whatthe field is all about if you’re going to make a living in it.”

  “She hasn’t entered kindergarten yet,”Janice pointed out evenly.“I think it’sa little early to start giving her vocational guidance.”

  It was evident that Lily was not of the same opinion.“She has a gift, dear,” the older woman told her kindly, patting her cheek.“You shouldn’t keep it fromthe world—or the world from her, for that matter.”Lily opened her purse andtook out a mauve-colored card with the gallery’s name on it. She pressed it intoKelli’s hand.“Bring your mommy along. If she doesn’t want to come, Philippe canbring you along with him.”

  It still amazed Philippe that his mother never thought that people might haveother plans, plans that differed from hers.

  He moved closer to Janice.“That’s called kidnapping in some states, Mother.” Rings glinted in the sunlight as Lily waved a hand at him. There were times hewondered if she would be able to speak if her hands were tied.“Don’t be sodramatic, Philippe. Honestly,”she said to Gordon,“I don’t know where he getsit from.”She paused, the stranger’s face finally registering in her brain.

  Always intrigued by a good-looking man, she abruptly asked,“And you are?”

  “Really fascinated,”Gordon responded. He seemed overcome by this vibrant andflamboyant woman. Without realizing it, Gordon had chosen his words perfectly. Lily smiled broadlyand the years instantly melted away. She presented him with her hand. It tookhim a second before he came to and shook it.“Well, Really Fascinated, I hopeyou have the opportunity to come to the opening, too.”

  And then it was time to go. Lily turned to Philippe.“Tomorrow night. Don’tforget. The showing begins at eight. Try not to be late.”Her sweeping glancetook them all in just before she crossed to the front door.“Any of you.”

  “Can we go, Mama? Can we?”Kelli asked eagerly the moment Lily had left thehouse. She clutched at her mother’s hand with both of hers, fairly dancing backand forth. “Honey, that’s a little late for you.”

  “I’ll take a nap,”Kelli told her, her eyes wide with innocence.“A long one. Ipromise.”

  Janice sighed. She was really reluctant to go, but it was hard saying no toKelli.“We’ll see.”

  “I can pick you up,”Philippe volunteered.“That way, you won’t have to worryabout trying to locate the gallery in the dark.” Janice lifted her chin, instantly defensive after a lifetime of having to proveherself over and over again—and never being found good enough.“I have a verygood sense of direction, thank you. I can find my own way to—”She paused tolook down at the name on the card she’d taken from Kelli.“Sunset Galleries.”

  Philippe smiled, reading between the lines.“Then you’ll come.”

  Damn it, she hadn’t meant to imply that. Janice backtracked.“Maybe.”

  “Mama,”Kelli wailed, a pleading note in her high voice.

  “Maybe,”Janice repeated firmly, refusing to be pinned down or cornered by thishandsome man or his larger-than-life mother. On his way back to work in the kitchen, Gordon purposely walked by Philippe. Helowered his voice.“She’ll come. She’s a pushover for Kelli even if she tries tocome off tough.”

  Janice fisted her hands at her waist, the personification of feistiness.“Istill have my hearing, Gordon.”

  Gordon turned around and grinned.“Never doubted it for a minute, J.D.” “I’m sorry about my mother,”Philippe apologized to her as Gordon left the room.

  “She tends to be a little overbearing.”

  Now there was an understatement if she’d ever heard one.“You think?” Over the years, he’d ceased being embarrassed by his mother’s actions and hadmade a concentrated effort to understand her, to know the woman behind thedramatics.“But that’s only because she cares so passionately. And she reallydoes think that Kelli,”he ran his hand over the little girl’s silky hair,“shows a great deal of promise. I do, too. I don’t have nearly the eye that mymother does, but I’ve never seen that kind of ability in someone so young. Andin her own way, my mother’s right. Exposure to an art gallery might be good forKelli.”

  Janice stuck to her guns. Kelli was still four, not a junior in high school.

  “It’s past her bedtime.”

  He spoke as someone who’d never had an enforced bedtime.“Kids are flexible.” She tried to summon indignation and found it was more difficult when she triedto mount it against him. Something about Philippe Zabelle disarmed her. Whichfrightened the hell out of her.“And you would know this how?”

  The grin all but torpedoed her gut.“I put in my time as a kid. You’d besurprised what a kid can be capable of if the need arises.”

  She had a feeling he wasn’t talking about staying up past a designated bedtime.

  In his own way, Philippe’d had as unorthodox a childhood as her own. Maybe evenmore so. “We’ll see,”she repeated for the umpteenth time.“Kelli,”she instructed,“goback to your drawing. As for me, I have work to do,”she told Philippe.“You’renot paying me to stand around and grow roots.”

  There was that grin again. Was it her imagination, or was he doing that a lotmore lately?“I would if I could get to watch you do that.”

  She waved her hand at him as she turned away. But, walking into the kitchen, itwas hard to keep her mouth from curving into a smile.

  “Timing something?”Alain asked as he saw Philippe look at his watch for whathad to be the fifth time in a very short interval.

  Philippe dropped his hand to his side.“Just wondering where Mother is,”helied.

  Alain grinned.“Well, Mother is probably waiting to make an entrance.”Heglanced toward the doorway.“You know how she is.” “He’s waiting for the little fixer-upper to show,”Georges interjected justbefore he took another sip from the glass of champagne he was husbanding. Twowere his limit even though he had an evening off from the hospital. There wasalways a chance he’d be summoned and he liked being in control of his faculties.

  Alain looked mildly surprised. His question was directed to Georges rather thanPhilippe.“The Wyatt woman is coming?” Georges nodded, his attention temporarily captured by a canapé he’d snared froma passing waiter’s tray.“Mother thinks her daughter has possibilities. Bigbrother, on the other hand,”he inclined his head toward Philippe,“thinks thatshe might have possibilities.”Turning toward Philippe, his train of thoughthalted.“Wow, did you know that you look like thunderbolts could come shootingout of your eyes? Easy, Philippe,”he placed a soothing hand on his brother’sshoulder,“I think this is a good thing. I haven’t seen you interested inanything but a page of code for God only knows how long. Alain and I werebeginning to worry about you.”

  He loved his brothers, but his personal life was his own.“You go out withenough women to make up for the rest of the family,”Philippe pointed out. “Hey, speak for yourself,”Alain protested.“I need my own supply of women tokeep me going.”He grew just a tad serious.“And we’re both glad that yourinterest’s finally aroused.”

  He didn’t mind being teased, but they had hit a sensitive spot.“What the helldo you know about my interest?”Philippe challenged. Up until this moment, he’dbeen fairly secure of his discretion when it came to Janice.

  “They’re called eyes, Philippe. Alain and I both have them and we use them onoccasion,”Georges told him, quickly picking up another canapé before the waitermade his way to the other end of the gallery.“We saw you at the poker game thatnight,”he reminded Philippe.“You came to life when she showed up.”

  He hadn’t behaved any differently before or after she’d arrived. Georges didn’tknow what the hell he was talking about.“You had too much beer.”

  “I never have too much beer,”Georges t
old him.“And besides, it was thebeginning of the evening.” Philippe refused to admit to anything. Not until he decided where he wanted thisto go and if it was going to go anywhere.“Well, something definitely inhibitedyour perception.”

  “Denial is a sad thing to witness in a grown man,”Alain pronounced before hetook a long sip of his champagne. Georges was driving him home so he had noworries about needing to keep a clear head and, sometimes, his mother’s showswere better endured just this side of inebriated.

  “Speaking of grown men,”Philippe neatly diverted the conversation away fromhimself,“how long do you think it’ll take that one to reach maturity?”Henodded toward the young man who had entered the gallery with their mother on hisarm.

  “Long,”Georges murmured, shaking his head.

  This was a new face on him.“Who is he?”Philippe wanted to know.

  “Mother’s newest boy toy,”Alain replied with resignation.

  “Emphasis on boy,”Georges chimed in.

  Somewhat stunned, Philippe looked from the handsome baby-faced escort in theformal tuxedo to his brothers.“You’re kidding.”

  “If only,”Alain murmured.

  “What cradle do you suppose darling Lily found him in?”Georges asked. Absently,he took another sip of champagne.

  “Barely-legal-lovers‘R’Us?”Alain guessed. Philippe frowned. They were making jokes, but this could be serious. Just howold was this newest interest of their mother? Of the three of them, he’d beenthe one who’d paid the most attention to the men who had paraded in and out ofLily’s life. In the early days, some had been old enough to collect socialsecurity checks. Gradually, a trend took over. As his mother grew older, herlovers grew younger. For a while, her men had been the same age as she was. Butin the last few years, they’d been younger. This one, however, was the first wholooked as if he might be young enough to be her son.

  “What the hell is she thinking?”Philippe asked. Georges made a calculated guess.“Probably that the male of the species peaks ataround nineteen while the average female hits her peak somewhere in her latethirties.”

  “Nothing average about our mother,”Alain commented, watching the duo make theirway into the center of the gallery.

  Philippe shook his head.“Wouldn’t it be nice if there were?”

  Georges laughed.“Yes, but then she wouldn’t be Lily Moreau, would she?” “C’mon,”Alain urged, setting down his empty glass on the edge of a table.“Wemight as well meet this one before the poor slob becomes history like all theothers she’s put through the mill.”

  Philippe hung back for a minute. Alain’s words had more than a little truth tothem.“Why bother, then?”

  “Because she’s Mother,”Georges answered.“And underneath all that flamboyanceis a very insecure creature who needs as much of our support as we can giveher.”

  Philippe looked at him in surprise.“You really were paying attention in medicalschool.”

  Georges laughed.“Seemed like the thing to do at the time.”

  Philippe trailed after his brothers to greet not only his mother, who by now wasthe center of attention, but Kyle Autumn, the young man who looked remarkablycomfortable and at home with all this commotion. But just before he reached the outer circle around his mother, something out ofthe corner of his eye caught his attention.

  Automatically glancing in that direction, he froze, his mouth threatening tofall open like some cardboard rendition of a Venus flytrap.

  He recognized Kelli first.

  There was no missing the bright, animated face even though she wore a deep greenvelvet dress instead of her customary overalls and pullover shirt.

  The woman with Kelli, however, took his breath away and seriously threatened toshort-circuit his brain. In one heartbeat he realized who she was. The honey-blond hair was piled up high on her head, held there by fairy dust,magic and, he later discovered, a couple of strategically placed pins. Like thechild she ushered in before her, the woman wore a dress. A dress that capturedevery bit of artificial light within its silvery threads, casting thin, gleamingrays that preceded her. Formfitting, it adhered seamlessly to her body frombeneath her bare shoulders to the tips of her toes.

  She moved like shimmering poetry.

  Philippe found himself sincerely wishing that he could remember a line or two ofverse that would begin to do her justice.

  Wow seemed woefully inadequate somehow, but that was the only word that reachedhis lips, emerging in a soft, worshipful whisper.

  “Wow.” Not quite sure if Philippe had said something or if he was imagining it, Georgesturned first toward his brother, then in the direction that his brother waslooking to see what had caught Philippe’s attention so securely.

  Once he did, a low, appreciative whistle escaped Georges’s lips as pureadmiration slipped over his chiseled features. “Talk about cleaning up well,”Georges muttered under his breath, watching thewoman make her way into the gallery. He clapped his brother heartily on the backand declared with sincerity,“Philippe, I think you have a keeper there.”

  Only vaguely aware of what Georges was saying, Philippe began making his wayover to Janice on legs that felt oddly spongy.

  “You came,”he said when he reached her, not bothering to hide either hissurprise or his pleasure. In response, a somewhat self-conscious smile worked its way across her lips andthen faded a little. She wasn’t used to dressing up anymore. It almost felt asif she had on her mother’s clothes—if her mother had left any behind for her towear. This definitely wasn’t something that she’d have hanging in her closetunder normal circumstances. But after Lily’s comment about lending her suitableattire for the opening, she knew she had to find something that would knock thepins out from under the woman.

  And if, perchance, the gown managed to do the same with Philippe, well, therewas no harm in that, was there?

  “Looks that way,”she murmured, more pleased than she knew she should be by thelook she saw on Philippe’s face.

  “I came, too,”Kelli declared, underscoring her announcement with a firm tug onhis sleeve.

  There was warmth in his voice when he spoke to her.“So you did.”

  Bending down, Philippe picked the little girl up and was rewarded with a deepgiggle and a hug. He returned the latter, then set her down again. Try as he might, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Janice. Because he didn’twant to come off like a tongue-tied dolt, he said the first thing that came tohis mind.

  He repeated what Georges had said.“You clean up very well.”

  For a moment, she said nothing and he wondered if he’d somehow managed to insulther.

  And then he saw her smile. He wore a tuxedo, Janice noted, as did his brothers. She’d seen them first whilesecretly scanning the room for Philippe. Undoubtedly the tuxedos were at theirmother’s insistence. She had to admit that she found it rather sweet that thegrown men loved their mother enough to humor her.

  His brothers were good-looking in their attire, but Philippe surpassed that. Shefound him breathtakingly handsome.

  As if he needed any help to look that way.

  “You, too,”she murmured.

  Chapter 13

  “She’s getting too heavy for you,”Janice protested to Philippe for the secondtime in the space of half an hour. She, Gordon and Kelli had been there for almost three hours. For over half thattime, Philippe had been carrying around a sleeping Kelli in his arms. Gordon hadmade himself scarce within ten minutes of their arrival, but Philippe hadremained with them the entire time and Kelli had lit up like a Christmas treewhenever he spoke to her. As the little girl finally began losing her battleagainst drooping eyelids, he had picked her up. Kelli had been absolutelyecstatic, until she fell asleep.

  But this, Janice thought, was above and beyond the call. Despite the fact thatwatching him with her daughter tugged on her heart in the best possible way, shefelt guilty for putting him out like this. He should be free to mingle—without asmall girl in his arms.

  Although she put her arms
out to take her daughter, Philippe made no move tosurrender his soft load to her. Instead, he merely shook his head, trying to puther concern to rest.

  “I might not be a body builder,”he told her, his voice low in order not to wakeKelli,“but the day I can’t carry around forty pounds of sugar and spice withoutwheezing, I’m really in trouble. Besides,”he added with a dazzling smile,“aslong as I have your daughter, you can’t leave.”

  Why was it every time she was on the receiving end of one of his smiles,something fluttered in her stomach? She was a grown woman, not some starry-eyedteenager. Reactions like that should have been long in her past.

  But they weren’t.

  “So this is a hostage situation?”she asked wryly. He liked bantering with her. Liked everything about her. The one exception wasthe very real threat to his peace of mind that she posed. But he was learning todeal with that.

  “Something like that,”he acknowledged.“It’s working, isn’t it?” She laughed. Attending the show had been fun, but it was time for Cinderella totake her glass slippers and her coach and get home before she wore out hersupply of fairy dust and midnight arrived.“Really, I think it’s time I got herinto bed.”

  Funny, the same thought had been crossing his mind. But it had nothing to dowith the little girl he was carrying and everything to do with the woman whosepresence made him forget the rules he’d so carefully laid down for himself.

  Philippe watched her for a long moment. So long that it felt as if time hadsuddenly stood still. And all the while, he was debating the wisdom of what hewas going to say next.

  Wise or not, he couldn’t stop the words. Couldn’t annihilate the tiny slivers ofdesire that prompted him to speak. “Far be it from me to interfere with motherhood, but could I interest you instopping by my place for a nightcap? It’s on the way,”he added in case she wasgoing to say something about wanting to go straight home.