by Sara Daniel
Olivia took one last look at herself in the mirror. The classic black dress played down her curves so she didn’t look overly lumpy. The stylist had swept up her hair into a smooth and sophisticated ’do without a strand out of place. Not bad for a lowly country innkeeper. She plastered a smile on her face and opened Ethan’s front door.
Caleb stood on the other side, shifting his feet. He stopped when he saw her. “Is Penelope ready?”
So he was going to pretend she looked the same as always. Fine. She hadn’t dressed up for him anyway. No, that was a lie. She’d done it all for him, no matter how much she might wish otherwise.
She started to comment on his impeccable appearance before she realized he didn’t look impeccable. His tie was hanging outside his suit coat. There was a coffee stain on his shirt. The front pocket stuck out of the right side of his pants, and the left pant leg was tucked into his sock. His hair hadn’t been touched by a comb since they left the inn. He hadn’t shaved since they’d made love. She squeezed her thighs together and refused to indulge in the steamy memories. “Come in and sit down. Penelope will be ready in a minute.”
He came in. She expected him to stand stiffly. Instead, he collapsed into a chair.
She sat on the edge of the couch, facing his chair. “Are Maude and Liam all settled in your apartment?”
“Yeah, she’s completely taken over. She’s great, though. I should have taken her to the office with me today, so she could have taken control there too.”
“Rough day?” Obviously, it had been. She wanted to touch him, to comfort him.
“Ethan left my company for Penelope’s. Then my right hand man slammed me in front of my employees. After he was done, he took me aside and announced he not only wants my position in the company for himself, he also wants to buy out the company ownership from me.”
“Maybe it’s time.” She gave in to her need and covered his knee with her hand. The thought of Caleb free of his restraints made her giddy. The two of them might actually have a chance.
“Forever is mine. I built it from the broken dreams of two miserable childhoods. It’s my life, my legacy.”
“Liam is your legacy. This guy who wants to take over still believes in the product you built. You have good points to offer. Handing it over doesn’t mean you failed.”
“You just want the satisfaction of seeing me unemployed and desperate.”
She had wanted that very much before she knew him, before she’d understood where his feverish convictions came from. Now she got no satisfaction from the possibility. “Your passion is for kids. You built all your marriage theories around them. You should deal with kids directly and help the ones who already need you, instead of obsessing about the ones who might or might not need you in the future.”
He turned his body away from her touch. So much for her attempts to reach him.
After a moment of silence, he said, “I spilled something on my shirt. Do you think anyone will notice?”
“People are definitely going to notice your appearance tonight,” Olivia said. The stain wasn’t the least of his problems, but it was something she might be able to fix. She crossed the room to the end table where she’d left her purse and rummaged through the contents for a detergent wipe.
“I carry them around because of Austin,” she explained, since she didn’t want him to think she’d anticipated his needs while packing her belongings. She walked back to where he was sitting in the chair and leaned over him, rubbing the cloth against the stain.
“How is Austin doing? The only thing missing from my day was having my shoes tied to a chair.” He touched his thumb to the dull lump on his forehead.
“He’s skiing like a champ, eating like a horse, and infuriating Bryce by telling him he wants to build airplanes when he grows up.” She unbuttoned Caleb’s shirt button and slipped her fingers under the fabric to better attack the stain.
“What are you doing? Get your hands off my chest.” He didn’t shove her. He didn’t touch her at all. In fact, he wouldn’t even meet her gaze.
Her patience frayed. She was cleaning his shirt, nothing more. He couldn’t recognize the difference between that and her making a play for him. “I’m feeling your heartbeat. That means you have a heart. And since you have a heart, you’re capable of love.”
He jumped to his feet and stumbled backwards over his chair. Olivia let her arms fall to her sides. The detergent wipe fluttered to the floor, while her own heart plummeted to her toes. Whether she was trying to nurture him or come on to him, she had to stop throwing herself at Caleb. He didn’t want her. He’d made his feelings clear.
The bathroom door opened as Ethan walked down the hall of his condo. He stopped and stared at the woman stepping toward him. She looked nothing like the frazzled scientist who haunted his dreams. This woman had taken the red and sexy look to a whole new level. He nearly dropped to his knees and worshipped.
Her shoulders and neck were bare. The tiny straps of her dress begged for some lucky bastard to peel them off her. She filled the bustline with mouth-watering — but not tacky — cleavage. The crimson fabric fit snuggly on her slim waist and hips and stopped high enough on her thighs to send his imagination into overdrive. The ensemble finished with matching stiletto heels.
“Done ogling yet?” Penelope asked.
“I, uh…you combed your hair.” That was a complete understatement. Soft, pretty blond curls framed her face.
“My stylist told me about a hotel that wants to sell Penelope’s Pleasures in their gift shop.”
He focused on her lips as she talked, not hearing or caring what she said. She was wearing makeup, making the most of her big blue eyes, high cheekbones and kissable red lips.
“Did you hear me?” She snapped her perfectly manicured fingers in front of his face. “The gift shop manager is going to call you in the morning.”
“You are the most perfectly packaged advertisement for your perfumes.” He could only be thankful she didn’t recognize the absolute power she wielded over him.
“Coming from a marketing guy, I’ll assume that’s high praise,” she said drily. “Olivia’s ready. She’s probably waiting in the living room.”
He had no idea who she was talking about, but he followed her like the loyal dog he was. As soon as they arrived in the living room, a very scary-looking, rumpled Caleb came over and took Penelope’s arm.
“You’ll ruin your hot, sophisticated image hanging around a guy who looks like he got run over by a cab,” Ethan pointed out, in a last ditch effort to have her turn to him with her big red kissable lips and say, in that case, I need you to be my date.
“As soon as I walk ten steps in these shoes, I’ll trip and fall on my face,” Penelope said instead. “Caleb and I will fit together just fine.”
Ethan relaxed. He still wanted to yank her away from his brother and keep her to himself. But even though she looked like a walking wet dream, she was his vulnerable Penelope inside. He would stand guard to make sure Caleb remembered that.
Olivia’s stomach felt queasy as she watched Penelope walk out the door with Caleb. Her sister and Caleb had made their choices. Now she and Ethan had to live with them. Before she could fix a smile on her face and turn to comfort her date, her cell phone rang inside her purse.
“Answer it. It’s probably Penelope.” Ethan was immediately at her side.
She looked at the display. “My mother.”
Ethan sighed and backed away as she flipped open the phone.
“Where are you?” Mom demanded. “I know you’re not home. I called there first. Who do you have watching The Scot’s Mansion? They’re not answering the phone.”
She squared her shoulders and prepared to be scolded. “No one’s watching it. I put a closed sign out.”
“But — but — your grandmother — ” Mom sputtered.
“I have no reservations until this weekend. I’ll be back by then. I left a note directing walk-ins to the Shelby place.”
�
�What are you going to do next? Take out ads encouraging everyone to go to Shelby’s? This is not what we had in mind when we entrusted you with your grandmother’s business.”
Olivia was tired of guilt and obligations taking precedence over her wants. She couldn’t do anything about Caleb’s choices, but she could control her own destiny with the inn. “Then you come back to Illinois and run it, Mother. Austin went away for a few days with his dad. Penelope and I are taking a well-deserved vacation.”
“I didn’t say you didn’t deserve a vacation and I sure don’t want The Scot’s Mansion back. Are you kidding? The highlight of my life was unloading it on you when you got married.”
“Then stop criticizing everything I do with it.” The unfairness burned her gut. She didn’t want to wait twenty years to saddle Austin with a burden he didn’t want. “It’s not my dream either.”
“Yes, it is. You’ve been groomed for it since birth.”
“Just because I know how to do it and can do it well doesn’t make it my dream. My dream is to take in foster children and provide a family and a home for them.”
“That was a side thing you wanted to do to earn some extra money.”
“No. The inn is the side job. I’ll keep it open to support my dream, but my heart is with the kids.” Finally, she said it. She braced herself for her mother’s wrath.
“Unbelievable,” Mom said. “Your grandmother wanted a houseful of kids so badly. She insisted on building that big mansion to hold everyone. Of course, her husband — your grandfather — died when your dad was a baby. So, she threw all her effort into turning the mansion into a B&B.”
Olivia had heard the story of Grandma building the B&B out of nothing but hard work and determination when her father was a baby, but she’d never heard any mention of the first wish before. “Are you sure? I thought she was cursing me from the grave.”
“She made the guests who stayed in The Scot’s Mansion part of the big family she always wanted. If you have a better way to make her dream a reality, we’re behind you one hundred percent.”
She hadn’t expected acceptance, let alone support. Knowing she was doing something Grandma MacDermont would have approved of made it all the sweeter. She turned and smiled at Ethan. This evening wasn’t completely tragic, after all. Her heart might still be hurting, but it was considerably lighter.
Caleb stepped out of the limousine in front of the Manhattan restaurant where he was holding the private dinner and held out his hand to Penelope.
“How about we hang out at Starbucks for a couple hours and then I can catch a cab back to Ethan’s?” Penelope proposed. Her words and actions made her seem like the same girl he knew, but she was dressed in something Jennifer might have picked out.
After his employees’ reaction this morning, her suggestion to ditch dinner with them held a lot of appeal. But even though his career and dreams were melting faster than snow in July, he couldn’t stop himself from trying to give them new life. “I set up this party. I need to at least make an appearance here.”
“My philosophy has always been no appearance is better than a bad appearance.”
“If you let Ethan take over the image of your company, that’s going to change.”
“He’s already taken over. There was no ‘letting’ involved.”
Considering Ethan had walked away from his company for hers, Caleb had no reply, so they walked in silence into the restaurant. Once inside the door, the first people they ran into were John and Debbie Winston.
“Caleb.” John stretched out his hand in a firm handshake. “Have you thought over my offer?”
He should have taken Penelope’s suggestion to go to a coffee shop instead. He wasn’t up for chitchat and social niceties, let alone hard-nosed questions about his future. “I’m a long way from considering anything so drastic, but I did bring someone I’d like you to meet. This is my date, Penelope MacDermont.” He turned toward Penelope, only to find she’d vanished from his side. He looked around and spotted her across the room, wobbling on her heels as she piled a napkin with hors d’oeuvres. “The woman in the red dress.”
“Oh no.” Debbie gasped in the properly shocked way only a sweet, grandmotherly type could pull off. “You need to concentrate on friendship. You can’t build a Forever relationship if you’re constantly thinking about sex. Take some time to find a nice, young woman and work on implementing the Forever rules in your own relationship.”
Caleb was too horrified to reply. This was sweet, demure Penelope. No one was supposed to question their motives for getting together.
John looked him over critically. “It looks like you enjoyed the limo ride here just a little too much. Think about the journalists you invited to this dinner. Couples are counting on us. If you’re not up to being the kind of role model they need, at least let them know they can look up to me and Debbie to show them the way.”
Penelope was right. No appearance was better than a bad appearance. He was taking her to Starbucks. He stepped toward her, but then the crowd closed between them. The band started playing and he lost sight of her. He detoured to the bathroom to straighten himself up before he tried to track her down. He couldn’t let anyone else reach the same conclusion as the Winstons.
Olivia enjoyed speaking with the nice couple near the door, but Ethan had wandered off while they’d been talking. She looked around for him, but the first familiar person she saw was Caleb, who seemed to have lost his date, as well.
“Where’s Penelope?” she asked.
“Not with me.” He’d reknotted his tie and fixed his pant legs. His suit looked marginally less rumpled, and his hair was slicked down with so much water she suspected he’d stuck his head under the faucet. He looked around. “There she is; my brother’s trying to steal her away.”
Olivia followed his gaze. Penelope was talking animatedly to someone, while Ethan passed a napkin piled with hors d’oeuvres onto the tray of a passing waiter. “He’s not. They’re making a perfume sales pitch.”
Caleb pushed his way through the crowd anyway. She watched as he joined Penelope and Ethan. After a minute, he turned to glare at her.
Ethan left them and weaved his way to her side. He grinned at her. “I knew you would be my saving grace at this party. Penelope wants to share a fancy dinner in the big city with her sister, which means a couple of journalists are being relocated for us.”
Ah, that explained the glare. But Penelope had suggested it, and how often did they get the chance for a plush dining experience together where Olivia didn’t have to act as the chef and the wait staff? She smiled back at Ethan. “Lead the way.”
Despite the fact that nearly a hundred people were in attendance, the dining room was set up with square tables for four. Olivia positioned herself across from Penelope, leaving the seats on their sides for the men. After the entire party settled and wine was served, Caleb stood and raised his glass. He addressed the entire room. “A toast. To Forever. May it rebound and give children a stable environment to grow up in.”
He thrust his glass high, and then lowered it to clink against Penelope’s. Olivia held her glass back. His suggestion wasn’t just offensive. It was a direct slap in her face.
Ethan rose to his feet next and proclaimed to the entire room. “To Penelope’s Pleasures, the perfumes taking the universe by storm. And to the beautiful talented woman behind it all.”
“Here, here.” Olivia was happy to join in that one.
“To opportunities I never dreamed I’d have,” Penelope said softly and she clinked her glass around the table.
All three of them looked at Olivia expectantly. She looked in each face and spoke her deepest wish for all of them. “To love. May it blossom in even the hardest heart.”
“Love.” Ethan clinked with her and then with Penelope.
Caleb held his glass far off the table so no one could touch it. “Petty comments just because you didn’t get your way aren’t appropriate for a toast.”
Making a toas
t to love was considered petty. She already knew he thought she was a horrible, selfish person for loving him. Not that it had stopped him from sleeping with her, of course.
Caleb set his glass back on the table and turned to Penelope. “How do you feel about spouses being friends?”
She looked surprised. “I don’t know why anyone would want to marry someone they couldn’t be friends with.”
“Excellent,” he said as if she’d just aced a pop quiz. “How do you feel about the other points of Forever?”
A Forever test. Olivia had already flunked out of that school.
“They haven’t applied to me so far in my life, but I think they all make sense. If my spouse doesn’t treat me with respect and understand my world, who else is going to bother?”
Caleb smiled broadly. “You, Penelope MacDermont, are wise beyond your years. I can feel the beginning of a very strong friendship.”
Olivia wasn’t sure where he was headed, but she was very sure Caleb had a plan, and whatever it was, she wasn’t going to like it. She tried to avert the impending disaster. “Penelope, who was that guy you were talking to earlier?”
“Some journalist tried to pick her up,” Ethan grumbled.
“And I sold him my perfume instead,” Penelope finished triumphantly. She clinked her wine glass to Ethan’s and drank a hefty swallow.
“I worry you’re taking on more than you can handle,” Caleb said. Olivia wasn’t sure if he was referring to the wine or her perfumes. He reached for Penelope’s hand. “You already work yourself day and night. I want to you to spend time with me at the end of the day.”
She blinked at him. “You do?”
“Remember what I said about the start of our friendship?”
“Well, yes, but — ” She looked flustered. “You want to be more than friends?”
Olivia reached for her wine glass. This conversation definitely was one she needed a drink to get through.
“I want to marry you,” Caleb said.
