An Act of Love
Page 21
"I knew you wouldn't approve," he said. Randy was amazed by how calm he could sound when she knew he was thoroughly rattled. "That's why I didn't ask you. I believe that Miranda has already explained why I thought she was Linda. And I certainly didn't intend to harm her—I just wanted to, uh, take her mind off Tom."
"Well, from what I've heard about it," Linda drawled, "you certainly would have succeeded!" She giggled again, then clapped a hand over her mouth. At this point it seemed that Roger Bennett couldn't contain himself a moment longer. He grinned from ear to ear and then burst out laughing.
Both Bill and Luke ignored the pair of them. In retrospect, Randy decided, the story was kind of funny, even if Luke didn't think so. But then, she wasn't the one her father had just called stupid, or the person who Linda and Roger were laughing at.
"Obviously," Bill said to Luke, "you didn't succeed in taking my daughter's mind off anyone by telling her to carry wood. I will therefore assume that you took a typical male approach and took her to bed."
Suddenly even Linda sobered up. Randy's hands clenched into fists, the nails of one digging into the palm of the other. She didn't want to see her father hurt, but even more than that, she couldn't allow Luke to be put on the spot this way. "Daddy…" she began.
Luke cut her off with a short, hard stare. "Obviously not," he said. "If I had, I would have known it wasn't Linda."
Randy went limp with relief, so sure that the worst was over that even when her father bit out the curt question, "And Philadelphia?" she paid very little attention to him. She'd intended to tell him about Sean Raley, but if Luke wanted to substitute a harmless little lie or two, that was all right with her.
"I don't think it's going to do our future relationship any good for me to lie to you," Luke said. Randy bolted up like a puppet whose strings have been yanked taut. He couldn't possibly intend to admit what had happened, she thought. But she was wrong.
"If you're asking me whether I've made love to Miranda, the answer is yes," he added.
"Then I trust that you have a solitaire diamond in your pocket," Bill snapped back.
Oh, no, Randy thought, here comes the shotgun. She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and then looked over at her mother, who shrugged helplessly. Emily's expression said that both men were crazy.
Luke glanced at Randy, saw that she was more exasperated than upset, and told Bill, "Not at the moment. Perhaps eventually."
Randy could see that her father was absolutely furious. He'd given his word not to interfere and had certainly intended to honor it, but Luke's clear admission of what had happened in Philadelphia was too much for him to swallow. "I strongly suggest," he said, "that tomorrow morning you take Miranda to Tiffany's, Luke."
"I'm busy tomorrow morning," was the measured response. "Maybe some other time."
Suddenly Randy had had enough of both of them. "Would you just stop it?" she yelled. "In the first place, Daddy, I have no intention of marrying a man who has to be backed into a corner before he'll agree, and in the second place—in the second place, this entire conversation is absurd. If you insist on getting out your shotgun, why don't you point it at—"
"That's quite enough, Miranda." The rather overbearing interruption came from Luke, who promptly turned his attention back to Bill. "Obviously we're upsetting her," he stated. "I suggest that we finish this conversation in the den."
But Bill had paid very little attention either to Randy's outburst or to Luke's quashing of it. He seemed to be deep in thought, lost in some world of his own. "I learned in California that you can be a tough negotiator," he finally remarked. "Do you happen to recall what Dunne Industries closed at this afternoon?"
"Thirty-two and a half," Luke answered.
"Exactly. I hold options to buy ten thousand shares at twenty-six even. I think that one thousand of those options would be a reasonable sum. And then there's the matter of the presidency. I've told you six years, but I could be persuaded to reconsider."
Luke settled back on the couch, apparently at ease now. "I'm listening," he said.
If Randy had been close enough to hit him she probably would have. How dare he negotiate with her father as though dowries were still in style? She heard another giggle from Linda, turned to glare at her and noticed the expression on her face. Over the years she'd learned that if Linda thought something was that funny, it probably was.
"Do you believe the two of them?" Linda asked Randy, still laughing. "They sound like two characters out of a Regency romance!"
Randy smiled in spite of herself. "Really, Luke," she teased, "those options are only worth, let me see, sixty-five hundred dollars. Don't you think you're worth a little more? I mean, it isn't every day a woman gets to marry—"
"Nobody asked you." Luke obviously saw nothing funny in the situation. "You were saying?" he asked Bill.
"I could be persuaded to give up the presidency in, let's say, five years."
Now Emily chimed in. "Luke, dear," she said solemnly, "I think you should hold out for stock. The problem is, my father and I hold most of the stock, so you really should be talking to me, not Bill."
"Mom, you're outrageous," Randy said, laughing along with Linda and Roger now. In fact, the only two people in the room who didn't find the situation amusing were Luke and Bill Dunne.
"I think," Emily went on, "that five hundred shares would be a very nice wedding present. And don't you dare try to bargain me up, Luke Griffin, because I won't have it. That's worth over sixteen thousand dollars, and even if you are the handsomest, most charming, most desirable man in Manhattan there's a limit to what you can extort from me."
"I wouldn't think of it," Luke retorted. "Thank you, Emily. It's a very generous gift." He looked back at Bill. "Four years. No longer."
"You've got yourself a deal." The two men stood up almost simultaneously and shook hands.
"I'll pick you up at ten o'clock tomorrow, darling," Luke said to Randy.
Darling? she thought. "What for?" she said aloud.
"Tiffany's," he stated.
"You're out of your mind." Suddenly Randy's sense of humor had fled. "I'm not going to be part of some—some financial package that you've negotiated with my father."
"Why not? In Philadelphia you told me—"
"Never mind what I said in Philadelphia! I'm not going to marry a man who has to be bought for me!" Without another word Randy turned on her heel and stormed into her bedroom, slamming the door viciously shut behind her.
Luke joined her within moments. The minute he walked into the room Randy rubbed the tears out of her eyes and glared at him. "What do you want?" she demanded.
"I have a proposition to make," he said, sounding utterly sane and reasonable. "I can understand that you wouldn't want to marry me under the circumstances we discussed in the living room, but you have to under-stand that only a fool would give up what I was offered. At the same time, though, I refuse to put myself into a situation where your father constantly interferes in our relationship. So if you don't want to marry me, you're going to have to live with me."
It took Randy less than five seconds to spot the flaw in his logic. "I'll get my own apartment," she said.
Luke shook his head, walking to the bed and sitting down next to her. "I'd be lonely," he murmured, trailing a finger down her arm. "My house is in Westchester and you'd be in Manhattan."
Randy edged away from him, unwilling to be talked into anything. But he put a hand around her waist to prevent further escape and went on seductively, "Do you realize that all night long I've been dying to do this?" Before Randy could stop him he'd slipped her gown off her shoulder and down to her waist. She wasn't wearing anything underneath, a fact that seemed to please him immensely.
Even though she arched away from him his mouth managed to imprison a nipple, nipping it until it was hard and then sweetly punishing its twin with equal effectiveness. The old familiar fire started to burn its way through her body, but still she resisted, trying to twist away.
When his lips brushed her mouth she shuddered with desire. Her hands dropped to her sides, then crept around his waist. After a smoldering kiss that said he wanted much, much more from her, he raised his head and murmured, "Okay?"
Randy looked into his eyes, too aroused and confused to think straight. "Okay what?"
"It would be easier to get married than to live together, Miranda."
Randy didn't answer, but as Luke captured her lips again she knew that she'd marry him if that was what he wanted. She wanted it too, so what difference did his reasons make?
Chapter Ten
Randy was looking at herself in the full-length mirror in her mother's dressing room, her hand shaking slightly as she smoothed the ankle-length skirt of her white silk dress. Although her wedding gown, with its mandarin collar, fitted lace top and long sleeves, looked enchanting on her, her face was almost as pale as the fabric was. She fingered the chain of her gold cross, which was hidden beneath the neckline of her dress, and wished for the tenth time that day that the ceremony was already over with.
Luke was more than half an hour late, and Randy became more and more agitated as the minutes ticked by. Ever since Friday, when she and Luke had picked out simple gold wedding bands and a ruby and diamond engagement ring, everything had seemed to go wrong.
After taking out a marriage license and lunching together in the city, they took the train up to Luke's house in suburban Westchester County. Luke had already warned Randy that he had a very busy schedule for the next few weeks; he was ostensibly showing her the house so that she could shop for mundane items like decent pots and new linen. Emily had promised to help him decorate, he said, but he'd never found the time to sit down with her. There was very little furniture as yet.
She loved the place on sight. It was a large, colonial-style home surrounded by shrubs and trees, sitting on almost an acre of land. They walked inside arm-in-arm, but Randy barely had time to glance into the nearly empty living room before Luke was lifting her into his arms and carrying her up the stairs. He made love to her with a burning passion, whispering how much he wanted her and how beautiful she was. And afterward, as she lay replete in his arms, he murmured a tender "I love you" and everything seemed perfect.
Unfortunately, Randy had seen Luke exactly once since that afternoon. When he wasn't working in the office he was traveling—first to Florida, then to Texas. They managed to have lunch together on Wednesday, but Randy's grandparents joined them so the meal was anything but intimate. The Conovers had interrupted their European trip to fly back to New York for the wedding, but were delighted to be thus inconvenienced. Randy smiled and thanked them when they announced their intention to give her and Luke a thousand shares of Dunne Industries stock as a wedding present, but she couldn't help adding in the gift to all the other assets Luke would derive from their marriage.
But the most stressful part of the whole thing was the way the wedding had snowballed from a quiet ceremony for the immediate family into a major affair complete with white gown, catered dinner and over a hundred guests. The whole reason for marrying so quickly was that Luke wanted something small and private, but the minute Jonathan Conover heard about the wedding he insisted that his family and close friends would never forgive him if they weren't invited. He knew perfectly well that his daughter was one of the few women in New York who could arrange dinner for one hundred in less than a week.
Randy didn't have to see Luke to know that he was displeased. They talked on the phone every day and he'd made his attitude crystal clear. Right now he was probably stuck in traffic on his way back from picking up his mother and stepfather at the airport. It was bad enough, Randy thought, that Linda and Luke's sister Annie were standing in the same room at this very moment, without adding in the presence of a mother and stepfather from whom Luke was quite obviously estranged.
She was looking at a chair, dying to sit down but afraid of wrinkling her gown, when Linda came into the room. "Luke just got here," she said. She took in Randy's frayed appearance, then added, "He looks even more wiped-out than you do. A huge truck jackknifed on the parkway and tied up traffic for miles. I think he's been sweating bullets, afraid you'd think he wasn't going to show up. Anyway, Dad sent him to your bedroom to change. He's not too pleased with the black tie routine."
"I know that." Randy brushed away a tear. "Lin, this is supposed to be the happiest day of my life and it's been totally awful. Luke is furious about the big wedding and upset about having his family here. I feel like I'm making a terrible mistake rushing into this, and, and…"
The next moment she was in Linda's arms, sniffing, "Lin, the dresses…"
"The world can survive a few wrinkles," Linda said, rhythmically stroking her neck. "Just take it easy; things will be fine. Luke loves you, he told you that."
Randy straightened and grabbed a tissue, dabbing at her eyes. "Me, my money, who knows what he loves? I wish he'd refuse it all."
Linda smoothed a few stray wisps of her french knot back into place. "That's what I told Roger," she said, "but he thinks Luke would have to be crazy. He says that if he were Luke he'd take you and the money and live happily ever after. Men think differently than we do. They're pragmatic instead of romantic."
When Linda saw how little her explanation helped, she went on, "At least I have one piece of news that should help you relax. I've just been talking to Annie Havemeyer. She's quite a lady. She came up, introduced herself and actually thanked me for trying to straighten out her husband. I stood there stammering like a ninny until Roger came along and rescued me."
The thought of Linda at a loss for words coaxed a slight smile onto Randy's lips. She turned to the mirror to repair her makeup and Linda left the dressing room, saying she would check on Luke's progress.
A minute later Randy heard someone open the bedroom door and walked out of the dressing room to find out what was happening. She froze in her tracks at the sight of Luke, thinking that if she excused his slightly skewed bow tie and wan complexion, he looked terribly handsome.
"It's supposed to be bad luck," she mumbled.
"Lin told me how upset you are." Luke walked up to her and kissed her gently on the lips. "Don't be. Everything will be okay." He caressed her face, then took her in his arms and parted her lips for yet another kiss, this one passionate rather than tender. "Come on," he murmured against her mouth. "Let's get this over with."
Despite Randy's fears, the ceremony and reception went very well. She'd noticed that Luke's mother looked uncomfortable in the glittering world where her son was so at home, but Emily made sure that she and her husband had plenty to eat and introduced them to some old friends who could be counted on to keep them entertained.
The first person Randy spoke to after the ceremony was Annie Havemeyer, who admitted rather hesitantly that she almost hadn't come to the wedding, but couldn't bear the thought of not seeing her brother married.
"I just want you to know—I met your sister Linda and I thought she was very nice. What I'm beginning to realize is that I used to run to Luke for every little thing, especially after he moved back to New York. It made Tom feel as though Luke were more important than he is, and between the problems with his job and my troubles with the kids, everything started to go wrong. Someday I'll tell you about it, but I guess you have a lot of people to say hello to right now."
Randy answered that the next people she wanted to say hello to were her two new nieces, who were standing with their grandmother on the other side of the room. When Annie introduced her mother and stepfather there was no hint of discomfort or dislike in her voice; she seemed to have put the past behind her, even if Luke had not. The couple seemed perfectly nice to Randy, and she was relieved when she noticed Luke talking easily wi
th them about an hour later.
Although everything went better than Randy had dared hope, she was more than happy to toss her bouquet to Linda, change out of her dress and leave the apartment with Luke. She fell asleep during the drive home, only waking up when Luke pulled the car into his garage. Carrying her in the back way wasn't exactly romantic, but Luke admitted that he was just too tired to walk around the house with her.
The next few days were as hectic as Luke had warned her they would be. He was out of the house by seven and returned late each night. He was tense and distracted, even when they made love, and couldn't or wouldn't respond to Randy's efforts to talk to him. She kept herself busy shopping and looking at furniture, but with every passing day was more unhappy and unsure of herself.
When Luke finally managed to make it home for dinner on Thursday she kissed him hello, served him his meal and kept the conversation light. But her feminine instinct to placate him was at war with her need for reassurance, and the latter finally won.
They were lying in bed together, watching a TV movie, when she asked softly, "Are you sorry you married me?"
Luke stared at the screen for several seconds, then looked at her like she was crazy. "What are you talking about?" he demanded.
His anger unnerved her. "You seem… unhappy," she stammered.
He sighed and reached for his cigarettes. "Miranda, I'm busy as hell; we've been having problems with the Dallas project contracts, and last week some teenager set off a bomb near the Florida store and knocked out half the windows. If I'm unhappy it doesn't have anything to do with you."
Randy wanted to believe him, but couldn't. "I feel as though you don't love me," she said. "Or at least that you have mixed feelings about the marriage. The fact is, if Lin hadn't said anything about Maine and if my father hadn't bribed you with things you wanted very much, we wouldn't be married at all."