“—Drew for you,” Katie continued. She looked at Courtney eagerly, eyes shining. “Do you like it?”
Courtney pressed the card to her heart. “It’s the most beautiful card I’ve ever received.”
And it was, because there was love in every stroke. At least on the front, she amended. She wondered how Katie had managed to convince Gabriel to write something on the inside. The little girl obviously had hidden talents that bore looking into.
Courtney sat down on the edge of the bed. “How did you know?”
Katie turning, pointing to her father. “Daddy told me.”
“Daddy?” Courtney looked at Gabriel. She wouldn’t have thought that he’d trouble himself to find out when her birthday was. “How did you—?”
John shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with the attention focused on his actions. “Mandy thought I should know.”
Mandy would. She could only guess what her best friend had said to him to get Gabriel to do this. Courtney flushed, feeling the need to apologize for Mandy. “You didn’t have to feel obligated to get me something.”
“I didn’t feel obligated,” he replied mildly.
If it had been presented as an obligation, he wouldn’t have done anything. But Mandy had painted a very convincing scene of a poor little rich girl and he’d had to admit that it had aroused his sympathies somewhat. He knew what it felt like to have your birthday overlooked. He’d spent most of his childhood that way, not really meaning enough to anyone for them to remember a day he had once thought was special.
John nodded toward the door. “Don’t you think you should be getting ready?”
As Courtney slipped her hand into her pocket, her fingers touched her gift. She took the box out and just looked at it. A card, and a gift, too. Just when she thought she had him figured out…
“Everyone always expects me to be late.”
His discomfort was growing in direct proportion to the emotion he detected in her voice. “Why don’t you surprise them?”
Katie scrambled forward. “Aren’t you going to open it?” Katie urged. She’d helped her father pick out the gift. It made her feel very important to be involved in such a grown-up decision. Her eyes eagerly anticipated Courtney’s reaction. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered solemnly.
Courtney held the box a moment longer, savoring the feel of it. He’d actually bought her a gift, she thought. After she’d said all those things to him. A more cynical person might have thought that he was just trying to win her over, but she knew there was no reason for him to. And something told her that he wasn’t like that.
“It’s nothing.” When he’d bought the gift, he’d been attracted to its simplicity. Now he wondered what the hell he’d been thinking. It wouldn’t be anything more than a trinket for her. She’d probably laugh at it.
Very carefully, Courtney removed the bow and then opened the velvet box. There, resting on an insert as black as the inside of midnight, was a thin gold braided chain.
It was stupid of him to feel this nervous. “You probably have a dozen like them,” he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.
She raised her eyes to his. Why had she thought she knew anything about this man? He was far too complex to be summarily dismissed with the few simple words she’d affixed to him.
“No, I don’t,” she whispered.
He blew out a breath, annoyed with himself for ever having gone out of his way. All he’d managed to do was make a fool of himself. There had been enough of that years ago. “Right, yours are all thicker and more expensive.”
“Will you stop?” The order was issued softly.
Courtney swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed. She could have bought herself anything she wanted to. But she couldn’t have bought herself this, for it came wrapped in feelings of inordinate sweetness. Sweetness that filled her heart and her very soul.
She bit her lip and looked at Katie, then up at Gabriel. “I don’t really know what to say.”
He wished she’d just hand him the damn thing and let him take it back. “’Receipt, please,’ comes to mind.”
This time, she wasn’t going to let sarcasm drive a space between them. Not when she was holding something precious in her hands. “Why?”
Avoiding the puzzled look in Katie’s eyes, he gestured at the box disparagingly. “So you can take it back.”
“I don’t want to take it back,” she insisted. She ran her hand along Katie’s hair. Katie curled into her touch. “I want to wear it.”
Why was she lying? The cheapest thing in her jewelry box probably cost three times as much as the chain in her hand. “No, you don’t.”
Courtney dropped her hand from Katie’s head and looked at him. Why was he finding her gratitude so hard to accept?
“Don’t tell me what I want, Gabriel.” She raised herself on her toes, the heat of her words giving way to another sort of heat The one she felt whenever she was so close to him. It seemed that no matter what she did, however much she tried to keep some distance between them, the very real, very strong attraction she felt just kept on growing. It was just a matter of time before it swallowed her up.
Just a matter of time before she gave in to it.
“You haven’t got a clue what’s on my mind now.”
He looked at her and saw something in her eyes. Something that mirrored what he was feeling. “Yeah,” he answered quietly, “maybe I do.”
The pregnant moment had nowhere to go. There was a child in the room. Courtney offered the box to him. “Put it on for me?”
Not waiting for an answer, she turned her back on him and then slipped her robe off her shoulders. Taking her hair in one hand, she moved it off her neck, giving him a clear field.
He wanted to press his lips to the slim column she’d exposed. To kiss her until the robe slipped down to her toes…
He pulled a ragged breath back into his lungs and removed the chain from the box. With hands that were suddenly clumsy, it took him a few minutes before he managed to secure the catch at the base of her neck. Finished, he stepped back, his hands raised in the air as if he were afraid that one more moment of contact would make him not responsible for his actions.
She turned around to face him, the thin Florentine chain gleaming at her throat. “It’s beautiful,” she told him.
Yes it was, he thought. But she was the one who made it beautiful.
He cleared his throat, finally finding his voice. “Mandy said you didn’t want anyone giving you anything, that you didn’t want them remembering it was your birthday.” His expression said that he didn’t believe that. “Everyone should have their birthday remembered.”
Because looking at the expression on Courtney’s face was messing with his mind, he turned away. He liked it better when she was angry at him.
She wouldn’t have guessed that he was the sentimental type. But then, he hadn’t struck her as particularly thoughtful, either. There was just so much she didn’t know about him. Beginning with his birthday.
“I don’t know when yours is.”
“May fourth,” he finally answered.
“I’ll remember it,” Courtney promised, her voice thick with emotion.
“Mine’s September fifteenth,” Katie piped up.
For a moment, she’d almost forgotten the little girl was in the room. Courtney smiled at her now, hugging Katie to her. “And we’ll have a huge party for you,” she promised, envisioning it. Her father used to throw the best birthday parties for her. “With clowns—”
John saw the look on Katie’s face. He knew how she felt, and knew that she was too polite to say anything. “Clowns scare her.”
“No clowns,” Courtney decreed instantly. She raised her brows questioningly. “Ponies?”
Katie clapped her hands together. Seeing her warmed John’s heart. And without his consciously realizing it, his daughter’s joy caused his heart to open for Courtney.
“I love ponies,” Katie exclaimed. Her father had never let her
sit on one, but she had lots of books with pictures of ponies in them and it was her dream to ride one someday.
“Then ponies it is,” Courtney promised, delighted to have found something that pleased Katie. “Lots of ponies.”
“We’ll see,” John told his daughter. After the operation, there would be time enough to make plans for activities that would no longer tax her. For now, he didn’t want Katie getting too excited.
There was something here, Courtney thought, something she didn’t quite understand. But she intended to get to the bottom of it…eventually.
She ran her hand along the necklace. “Well, I’d better go get ready.” She looked at John and smiled. “Might as well surprise everyone for a change.”
He nodded. “Might as well.”
No, he was definitely not an easy man to understand, Courtney thought, slipping out of the room.
“Do you like her better now, Daddy?” she heard Katie ask just as she’d reached the hall.
What she couldn’t hear was his reply. He’d shut the door before answering.
Her fingers skimmed along the necklace and Courtney smiled to herself. Maybe she had had a glimpse of the answer, anyway.
She shouldn’t have done this, Courtney thought, making her way across the crowded room. She shouldn’t have had this party so soon on the heels of the wedding reception. Thinking about it now, she didn’t know what had possessed her. She didn’t need to introduce John to everyone. Word of mouth would have spread quickly enough.
She looked over toward him now, feeling anxious. Like a mother hen, she thought, mocking herself. As if he needed her worrying about him. He’d probably resent it if he knew. John was blending in smoothly enough. The women around him saw to that.
But she could tell he was uncomfortable.
Funny how she’d become tuned in to his feelings all of a sudden, she mused. For now, she pushed the thought aside, not wanting to explore it.
Courtney managed to catch John’s eye before she reached him. She was too far away for him to hear her, so she nodded toward the patio. He looked relieved as he extricated himself from the group around him. All women, she noted.
John opened the door for her just as she reached him. The night air had a soothing chill to it. She let it wrap itself around her before she looked at John. “How are you holding up?”
He was surprised that she even asked. Leaning against the railing, he stared out into the darkness. A single silvery stream of moonlight cut through it. A symphony of crickets serenaded them. Their music rivaled the expensive band playing inside.
“I’ve been better. Kind of reminds me of old times.” He looked at her. “My ex loved parties. Insisted I be there to endure her friends’ scrutiny.” He looked away. He was talking too much, he thought. For some reason, he continued. “At least, in the beginning. After a while, she liked it better when I stayed away.”
Courtney tried to put herself in his shoes, to see her friends through his eyes. How would it feel, being the outsider, knowing that everyone was looking at you, evaluating you? She almost shivered. “They’re not scrutinizing you.”
She wasn’t being defensive, she was trying to make him feel better, he realized. “Aren’t they?”
He wasn’t the type to be lied to, or to find comfort in lies. “All right,” she relented. “Maybe they are. But it’s nothing personal. They scrutinize everyone.” Courtney thought about it, about the people she had known for most of her life. “I guess, maybe that’s their insecurity coming through.” She turned, leaning back against the railing, looking at him. He looked so rugged against the moonlight. She had to remind herself to breathe. “Being rich has its own set of rules, its own problems.”
As soon as it was out of her mouth, Courtney realized how self-serving that must have sounded to him. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he laughed at the sentiments.
But he didn’t. “Yeah, I know.”
He sounded as if he was serious. As if he really knew the inside of this world he was visiting. She tried to make some sense out of it. “You don’t think money can cure everything?”
John laughed softly, but there was little humor in the sound. “I was there. I know it can’t. It can’t make you happy, that’s for sure.” His ex-in-laws were living proof of that He sincerely doubted that between them they had known a happy day their entire lives.
Courtney didn’t understand. “Then why are you doing this?”
For a moment, he debated telling her. But that, he thought, was only the champagne and the moonlight clouding his mind. Common sense had taught him to keep his own counsel. That way, the facts couldn’t be twisted and used against him somehow.
“It can’t buy you happiness,” he allowed, “but it can buy you peace of mind.”
Could it? she wondered. Could it buy his? What sort of a price tag was attached to his peace of mind? “And what would it take to buy your peace of mind?”
He wasn’t about to tell her that, or to take the discussion any further than it had already gone. He’d said too much as it was, talked more than he had in years, even to his old college buddy, Rick.
John touched her chain with the tip of his finger. He watched her eyes flutter as he lightly skimmed the hollow of her throat. A look came over her face, a look etched in desire. He felt something tightening within him. A spring that was going to have to be released soon, before it exploded.
“You really don’t have to wear that, you know. You won’t hurt my feelings.” He grinned. “I’ve got a tough hide.”
She laughed. “Tell me about it.” They hadn’t moved any closer, yet the space between them seemed to be shrinking. “And as for ‘have to,’ I think you’ll learn that I never do what I have to.”
It might be what she chose to believe, but it wasn’t true. “You married me.”
Her eyes met his, whispering things that she couldn’t say out loud. Things Courtney wasn’t quite ready to admit to just yet, even to herself. But the thoughts were there, just the same. Waiting until she could unwrap them without fear.
“Yes, I did.”
Drawn to the softness he heard in her voice, John cupped his hand along her cheek and turned her face up to his. Lightly, he touched his lips to hers, then backed away, knowing it wasn’t safe to do anything else. Not yet, not when his own emotions were so scrambled.
There was surprise in her eyes, and wonder. He smiled. “Happy birthday, Courtney.”
It was one of the few times he’d actually said her name. And the first without sarcasm or defiance. She could feel her heart swelling. Part of her silently screamed, No! because she knew what would happen if she let go, if she allowed herself to feel.
And what would happen afterward.
But a tiny bit of her mourned. Mourned because she wanted it to happen so very badly. More than anything, she wanted to taste that heady feeling of falling in love again, of pretending that, this time, it had a prayer of actually working out.
Maybe she still did believe in fairy tales.
Courtney nodded toward the doors. “We’d better go back in,” she murmured.
He wasn’t going to argue. There was something about standing with her in the moonlight that sapped away his resolve, making him forget a past that should have taught him a lesson.
Reaching for the door, he opened it, letting her walk in first. As they entered, they overheard a fragment of a conversation. It took Courtney only a second to realize that they weren’t meant to overhear.
“Well, where do you think she found him?” Kimberly Weston asked the man at her side.
Harrison Chandler, the latest of Kimberly’s lovers, finished his glass of wine and picked another off a tray before asking, “Where?”
“In her own backyard.” Kimberly’s laugh sounded as if she’d spent time rehearsing the melodic sound to achieve just the right timbre. “The best that money can buy, so I hear.”
Harrison had been sniffing around Courtney’s boots not more than six months ago. Courtney c
lenched the hands at her sides into fists.
“Really?” Harrison’s laugh had a nasty edge to it. “I would have thought if she was in the market, she could have done a lot better.”
Like you? Courtney thought.
His mouth curved wickedly. “Someone said he was a carpenter.”
John took Courtney’s arm. He didn’t need to hear any more of this. He was surprised when she pulled her arm away angrily.
Rather than walk away, she thrust herself between Kimberly and Harrison. The latter almost dropped his drink. He had the good grace to look chagrined. Kimberly chose to brazen it out, meeting. Courtney’s glare with a show of innocence.
“He’s an engineer. Carpentry is his hobby.” Courtney’s eyes narrowed as she remembered Harrison’s clumsy attempts to seduce her. “And you’re not fit to clean his shoes, Harry.”
Kimberly laid a hand on Harrison’s arm. “Oh, Courtney, darling. I didn’t realize you were there.”
“Obviously, ‘darling.’” Courtney turned to John. “Let’s go, John.” Before he could respond, she took his hand. “The air suddenly smells of something sour.” With that, she turned away, all but burrowing through the crowd.
“Hold on.” John turned her around before Courtney had the opportunity to plow across half the floor. “This isn’t a race.”
She had gotten them to the dance floor without realizing it The band was playing a slow song. He did what came all too naturally to him. He took her into his arms.
Swaying, she followed his lead without being completely aware of what she was doing. She was so angry at Kimberly and Harrison she could scream. And angry at herself for inadvertently subjecting John to their mean-spirited drivel. He deserved better than to hear himself picked apart like that.
“I just wanted to get away before I hit her.” She bristled a little at the amused look on his face, then forced herself to simmer down. “I wouldn’t have re gretted it, of course, but I would have ruined a perfectly good manicure.”
He couldn’t help laughing. “I’ve never had anyone defend me before. Do you know your eyes blaze when you’re angry? I thought that emotion was strictly reserved for me.”
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