“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he told me.
“I am,” I assured him. “Some things just need to be resolved, and I think I know where to go from here.”
He looked like he wanted to ask me, and I wanted to tell him, but instead he nodded. “Goodnight, Anabel.”
“Goodnight,” I wished him, and when he closed the door I was alone with my thoughts, and I lay awake for a very long time that night.
Chapter 33—Anabel
The next day I was moping in my bedroom when suddenly Matt burst in and threw a suitcase on my bed. “Do you ever knock?” I snapped.
He ignored that. “We’re going away for the weekend.”
“But Mr. Moore,” I pretended to protest, “we’ve only just met. Shouldn’t we wait to start planning holidays together?”
He ignored that. “Look, there are photographers camped out all around your property, and I’m tired of Jared calling here. So we’re going away.”
I brushed a stray hair out of my eyes. “Where?”
“To meet my parents,” he announced.
“Meeting your parents?” I echoed.
“You said you wanted to.”
“Well, yes, but hardly like this,” I told him, pulling myself off of the bed. “I mean, look at me.” I gestured at my belly.
“I do all the time,” he replied.
I stared at him.
“It’s my job, Anabel,” he sighed, frustrated. “Now pack.” He turned to leave, and then paused at the door. “I would bring some of your nicer stuff.”
“Why, are we going out?” I asked, eying my closet.
“My parents insist on dressing for dinner.”
I looked puzzled. “Don’t most people dress for dinner?”
He gave me a wry smile. “Yes, but my parents insist on nice attire.”
“Oh. Well then. I’ll be ready soon.”
“Call Jared so he doesn’t have a coronary,” he called over his shoulder as he exited the room.
As much as I didn’t relish the idea of meeting new people, I was excited about going away for the weekend with Matt. In spite of the fact that I felt like he didn’t particularly care for me, he did seem to be warming a bit, and I hoped that spending time away from the circus that was my life would maybe make our business relationship easier. I would try and ease up on the flirting and teasing . . . but it was just the way I was with him. I didn’t really know why he brought out that side of me. It wasn’t like it was with Jared on the island, where I couldn’t keep my hormones in check. It was just . . .
. . . I liked Matt.
I liked him a lot, and I wanted him to like me as a person. That was all, I told myself. I just couldn’t stand the idea that he may not like me, and I wanted to rectify that. I straightened and began packing while dialing Jared’s number on my BlackBerry.
He answered on the second ring. “Hey, Anabel.”
“Hey, Matt’s kidnapping me,” I sang. “He says we need to get out of town for the weekend so I can avoid the paparazzi. So I won’t be around.”
Dead silence.
“Jared?”
“Oh, I’m here, babe,” he told me, his voice cold.
“Don’t be like that,” I chastised. “It’s for my own good, if I say one more idiot thing to the press, Alexis will have my head chopped off.”
He chuckled. “Well, there’s a point. I just don’t like the idea of you leaving town.”
“I’ll be back soon enough,” I promised.
Jared switched on the charm. “Next time we get together I’ll make it well worth your while, Anabel.”
“Good-bye, Jared,” I replied, and I hung up.
Matt reappeared just as I was zipping up my bag. “Hey, are you ready to go?”
I nodded, pushing away hair. “Do I look presentable enough?”
He gave me a once-over, and I found myself feeling self-conscious. “You’ll do,” he pronounced. “It doesn’t matter, Anabel. My mom isn’t going to like you.” He grabbed my bag. “Let’s go.”
I chased him as best I could down the stairs and out to his truck. “What do you mean? What did I ever do to her?”
He sighed and turned on the truck. “Buckle yourself in and I’ll explain.”
I did so, glowering. “You’re so bossy.”
“So are you,” he returned. “Look,” he said, pulling out of my driveway, “you said on your birthday you wanted to meet my parents, so we’re going to do that. But as charming as you are, I don’t think my mother is going to care for you, and you really shouldn’t let it get to you.”
I was a bit stung. “Okay,” I managed.
“Anabel,” he sounded much warmer now, “it’s just one of those things.” He focused on the road. “It’s my fault, actually.”
“What do you mean?”
“Right before I took the job for Sam, watching you,” he explained, “I was going to take a job teaching, working for my father.”
“Oh.” I was at a loss for words.
“You know,” he said, and I almost caught a sneer, “an acceptable profession. But then Sam asked me to take care of you, and I couldn’t say no.”
“Why not?”
“After I met you, I felt I couldn’t.” He stared at the road. “But she blames you.”
“I see,” I commented, biting my lip and trying not to smile. “So I guess I can expect an equally frosty reception from your father?”
“My dad thinks you’re funny,” he admitted.
“Oh yeah?”
“He thought it was hilarious how you explained to your brother in front of the press why his economic policies didn’t work.”
My cheeks reddened. “I’m slightly ashamed of that.”
“Well, my father is a staunch Republican, Anabel. He thinks you’re golden.” Matt was smiling. “He thought it was genius how you revealed your pregnancy and informed me that nothing pleased him more than the look of abject horror on Jared Sorensen’s face.”
“Well at least somebody’s getting enjoyment out of this,” I muttered, slumping in my seat.
Matt’s arm reached toward me and he began rubbing my shoulder. “I know it’s hard, kid,” he consoled me. “But you’re doing a good job, okay? I just wanted to warn you about my mom, she’ll come around.”
I nodded, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach.
“Don’t be upset about this,” he attempted to reassure me.
“I shouldn’t be,” I muttered. “But I guess for some reason, I wanted her to like me.”
“Not everyone is going to like you.”
“I wanted Alexis to like me, too.”
“She’s an idiot,” he pronounced.
“Maybe she’s right.”
Matt stopped the car. “Anabel. Look at me.”
So I did.
“You know the only reason why she’s like that is she’s jealous of you,” he said. “If she could get over herself, she’d realize you’re pretty great and Sam couldn’t ask for a better sister.”
“All I ever do is make things worse for Sam,” I sighed.
“You could probably watch what you say more, but nobody doubts how much you love him,” he continued. “You okay?”
I nodded.
“We’re almost there.”
“Where are we, anyway?” I asked, adjusting in my seat. “This doesn’t seem like Virginia.”
“That’s because we’re in Maryland.”
“I thought it smelled funny.”
“What, you hate Maryland now?”
“Don’t you?”
He considered. “You got me there. But we’re almost to Potomac Prep.”
“Your parents live at a prep school?”
He shot me a sidelong glance. “My father is the Headmaster, Anabel.”
“Oh.” I slumped as far down in my seat as my pregnant belly would allow. “Right.”
We continued the rest of the trip in silence, and as I looked out the window I noticed that we were in a ni
ce area, perhaps almost as nice as Mclean. The grass was green, the people looked friendly, and I was just starting to think that this might be okay . . .
. . . And then I saw the school.
Potomac Preparatory Academy was absolutely formidable. The stone walls that encompassed the property reminded me of a prison. The dormitories that Matt pointed out to me were severe, and the young men walking across the campus all looked the same, dressed in uniforms that looked crisp and stern. I felt self-conscious of my messy hair and my dress that had begun to wrinkle. A few of the boys turned to eye Matt’s truck, causing me to look down and stare at my feet.
Matt made a sharp turn, and then we went up a pathway and then I saw it.
“The Headmaster’s House,” he announced.
“More like the Headmaster’s castle,” I gawked. “Did you grow up here?”
Matt gave a curt nod.
“Wow,” I managed, at a loss. This beautiful building put my sweet little house to shame. It really was almost a castle, built in the same stone style as the rest of the campus. It even had a couple turrets. I turned to Matt, wide-eyed. “Where’s the drawbridge?”
“It’s not like that,” he defended, and I detected a hint of embarrassment.
I slid my arm through his. “Oh come now, Matt. I grew up on a bloody island. You needn’t be like this around me.”
“I needn’t?” he grinned.
“No,” I returned his smile, and then it hit me again that I really, really liked him. I felt a faint blush creep into my cheeks, and I looked away as he led me to the front door.
“Anabel?” He rang the doorbell.
“Yes?”
“You may want to tone it down a little,” he suggested.
“Or I may as well accept the fact that your mother is determined to hate me.”
He nodded. “I guess there’s no point in pretending otherwise.”
I grinned. “Don’t worry, Matt. I know how to play the game.”
And so I did. When I first set eyes on Clara Moore it only took me half a second to ascertain that she did indeed despise me and there was nothing that I could do about it. So I sucked it up, smiled as widely as I could, and caught her off guard by giving her a warm embrace. “Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Mrs. Moore.”
She was stiff in my arms. “Dr. Moore.”
“Dr. Moore! How silly of me,” I admonished myself. I turned to Matt’s father. “And you must be the other Dr. Moore?”
There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. I think he saw right through my little charade. “I’m Geoff, Miss Martin.”
“Anabel.”
“Anabel,” he pronounced, offering me his arm. “You are everything I hoped you’d be.”
“And how’s that?” I asked, lowering my voice.
“Let’s just say I am now certain that this will be a highly entertaining evening.”
I shot Matt a backwards glance. I couldn’t quite read the expression on his face, but it looked like he was somewhat torn between mortification and amusement. So I winked at him and then smiled benevolently at his mother. “Such a beautiful home, Dr. Moore.”
“Thank you.” She nearly choked on the words. Geoff bit back a laugh. I might have some fun this weekend after all.
Clara showed me to my room, and I hurriedly unpacked, as she had informed me (in a very cold voice) that dinner would be in half an hour. I unzipped the garment bag and pulled out the blue sparkly dress that Charlotte had assured me would be fine. I liked it because it didn’t look like a typical maternity dress and it matched my eyes. Shimmying into it, I paused in front of the gorgeous antique mirror and laughed at myself. So silly, Anabel, I thought. I pulled a comb out of my bag and quickly ran it through my tresses and pulled some of it away from my face with a clip. Not bad, not bad. I turned sideways to admire my baby bump, and that was when Emma took the opportunity to nail me with a swift kick to the spine. “Ooof!” I gasped, bracing myself against the dresser.
Matt suddenly barged in. “Anabel? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I muttered, rubbing my back. “I’m just being castigated for my vanity.”
He raised an eyebrow, so I went on to say, “I was admiring myself in the mirror and Emma decided to punish me for it.”
He laughed a little. “You look nice.”
“Yeah?” I couldn’t contain the hope in my voice.
“Yeah,” he reaffirmed. “One thing though . . .”
“Stop flirting with your dad?” I grinned.
“Yes, that would be good,” he said, brushing some hair out of my face. “He’s already quite enamored, and Mom is already not thrilled with you.”
I laughed. “I’m glad he gets such a kick out of me.”
“There’s something else,” he added, and hesitated for a moment.
“I’m pretty sure he knows I’m not seriously interested in him. I won’t break his heart,” I teased.
“No, not that, although that is good to know,” he continued, and then hesitated again.
“What?”
“Well, Scott is here.”
“Your brother? I thought he lived in California.” I began digging through my bag looking for chapstick.
“He was visiting this weekend. I hadn’t realized. Look, the point is, my brother hates Jared Sorensen even more than I do,” he explained. “I can’t pretend like he won’t try something with you to get back at Jared.”
“Try something with me?”
“He might . . . hit on you. Or worse.” Matt’s brow was furrowed.
I started to giggle. “Are you serious?”
“I’m always serious, Anabel.”
I rolled my eyes. “Look, your sister was gorgeous, right? While that was what attracted Jared to her, it’s not really how it was with me. I just happened to be the only female on Caereon who was under thirty. So while maybe that was Scott’s original plan, I’m pretty sure that once he gets an eyeful of me he’ll drop that. Or maybe even run away screaming at the sight.”
“Oh knock it off. Being pregnant doesn’t alter the fact that you’re beautiful, either,” he said, and my heart did a flip-flop. “What? Don’t act so shocked. Your mother was gorgeous, and you look a lot like her.”
I looked at the floor. “That was the last thing I expected you to say.”
“I’m not blind, Anabel. It‘s a fact,” he continued. “Don’t you ever read what the papers say about you? Everyone thinks you’re beautiful. Including my mom, which is part of why she doesn’t like you.”
“She doesn’t like me because she thinks I’m pretty?”
He sighed. “My mom’s a bit narcissistic. She was prom queen at her high school and hates making way for someone who is younger, prettier, and more attractive to my father.”
“That last one is just silly,” I pointed out.
“That may be, but my mother is territorial. So play a little closer to the chest, okay?”
I nodded. “What’s for dinner?”
“Chicken and a million side dishes,” he said, turning. I trailed after him and he paused at the doorway. “Come on,” he said. “I can’t have you getting lost.”
“Okay,” I said, following him out. “I can’t believe you grew up here! This place is amazing. Sort of like a Jane Austen novel combined with Hogwarts.”
He chuckled at that. “No ghosts here, alas.”
“What about a three-headed dog?”
He looked solemn. “Don’t go in the basement.”
“Oh, Matt, I had no idea you had a sense of humor.” I lowered my voice to imitate him. “I’m always serious, Anabel. Stop being such a slut.”
“You’re not a slut,” he stated.
“No,” I mused. “No, I’m not. But I could behave myself better.”
“Where would the fun be in that?”
We sat down to dinner and I was seated between Geoff and Matt, which was a good thing, considering that the other two members of our dinner party were less than enthralled wi
th me.
Matt’s brother Scott was, as far as I could tell, his complete antithesis. He was blond and blue-eyed and rather brash. There was something downright sleazy about him, as he eyed me with speculative interest. I flicked my eyes over to Matt, and he shot me a look which made me decide that it might be best if I held my tongue.
As we dug in, Clara made some cool remarks about the weather, and asked Scott several questions about his trip down. It started to dawn on me with the pointed questions that she was asking Scott, she meant to snub us, and I started to feel a bit protective toward my bodyguard. My irritation grew as she then turned the conversation to Scott’s work.
“So how is the new software coming?”
“Fine,” replied Scott, taking a rather large bite of chicken.
Clara finally deigned to notice me. “Scott has been working on a project for a defense contractor. Once he finishes it, it will do a lot to protect national security.”
“Indeed,” I said, stabbing my carrots with my fork. “Is this project top secret?”
“But of course,” replied Clara. “Scott does important work.”
“Well, it can’t be that important,” I said. “Or you couldn’t have mentioned it to me. And if it’s that vital to national security, he shouldn’t have told you about it, now should he?”
Geoff snickered.
Clara bristled. “Perhaps you would know more about this sort of thing, Anabel, if you actually had a security clearance.”
“Well that could very well be, Dr. Moore,” I agreed. “But your oldest son has a security clearance, and he knows how it works. Besides, I think I’m the only person in this room who actually was a piece of Top Secret information, and based on that experience I know how vital it is to keep your mouth shut about that sort of sensitive material. I mean,” and I paused to shove another bite in my mouth, “my very existence brought down my brother’s presidency. What exactly do you think would happen if the information that you just shared with me got out?”
“Are you planning on leaking it to the press?” She was getting angry.
“Oh heavens no,” I replied. “The press and I share a common interest, which is me, so I think I’ll ride that puppy as long as they’ll let me.” Geoff was shaking with laughter, as I gave her my most benign smile. “Besides, Matt won’t let me do anything destructive.”
Anabel Unraveled Page 24
