At once Rafe was serious. "That's the most natural laugh I've heard from you in days." He leaned down to run his lips along her jaw. "I love hearing you laugh, seeing you relax." He reached for her, lifting her out of bed, then carrying her to the closet while he selected a terry-cloth robe for her. "I fully intend that you shall have the most relaxed pregnancy in the world."
"For our first, you mean?" Cady allowed herself to be dressed in the robe, feeling lazy as she watched him tie the belt at her waist.
His head jerked up at her words. "Oh? Are we having more?" The gleam in his eye made her redden.
"It seems like a good idea." She wanted to yell at him that she wanted ten children that looked just like him, but even if they had none, she wanted to be with him.
"I agree." He left her for a moment, then came back with a toga around his waist.
"You forgot our bathing suits, Rafe." Cady grinned at him.
"No, I didn't." His grin had that impish look. "We won't be using any."
"We can't!" Cady let him pull her down the hall to the back staircase. "What if Mrs. Lacey or Trock comes into the pool area?" She was whispering as they entered the large kitchen.
"Mrs. Lacey, we don't wish to be disturbed in the pool," Rafe informed the housekeeper, a smile on his face. "No calls, no visitors. Save everything until I come to tell you that I'm ready to take calls again."
Cady squirmed as the housekeeper nodded and smiled. "Time you two had some moments to yourselves." Mrs. Lacey nodded once, then turned back to the silver she had spread on the table in front of her, the polishing cloth in her hand.
The pool area had a damp, hollow-sounding atmosphere with the bubble spread over it. Cady had the feeling that she and Rafe were the only two people on earth.
They played like children for over an hour. Then they sat in the sauna for a short time. Finally Rafe insisted on giving her a massage. Cady felt cosseted and loved.
The word mushroomed in her mind after their shower as she watched her husband dry her with a fluffy towel. Did he love her? If he didn't, he was giving a very good imitation of it. All that remained was for him to say the words she longed to hear: "I love you, Cady."
That night they dined on broiled crab. Mrs. Lacey listened patiently to Rafe as he pointed out how important it was for Cady to have nutritious meals.
Cady looked from one to the other, bemused, as they discoursed on the efficacy of fruit with every meal and vegetables cooked al dente.
Rafe looked over at her and clucked. "Darling, you have butter on your chin." He dabbed at the melted butter, then kissed her in front of the indulgently smiling Mrs. Lacey.
The days passed in a euphoric wonder that awed Cady. She didn't seem able to stop smiling. She spent many happy hours Christmas shopping as the season advanced and the morning sickness receded.
When the day dawned for Emmett's Christmas party, Cady's nervousness had been considerably mitigated by Rafe's attentiveness and his obvious enthusiasm for the coming confrontation at Durra.
She was deciding what she would wear when Mrs. Lacey buzzed to say that Cady's brothers-in law were waiting for her in the library. Throwing on a pair of faded jeans and a roll-neck sweater, she strolled into the library and grinned at the twins. "So what bank did you—" Cady stopped in mid-sentence on seeing the unaccustomed sobriety on the twins' faces. For once it wasn't Gareth who jumped into the conversation.
"Cady, didn't you say that your father was coming in for Emmett's party?" Gavin was grim-faced.
Cady sat down and gestured to the twins to sit. Gavin did. Gareth prowled the library. "I think you'd better tell me what's wrong and what my father has to do with it."
Gavin leaned forward, rubbing his hands on his knees. "Your father has nothing to do with it, Cady. We just thought he might help us." He swallowed. "Some guy by the name of Todd Leacock says he has proof that Gareth tried to shave points in the Cornell-Notre Dame game." Gavin watched her like a cat watching goldfish.
"It's a lie," Cady said, watching as the prowling Gareth spun to stare at her, a misty look in his eyes.
"How do you know?" Gareth's voice was hoarse.
"Two ways." Cady smiled at him. "I know you. You're a brat at times, but you're honest." She stopped smiling. "And I know Todd Leacock. He's a heel who works for Bruno Trabold." She gave them a hard look. "You must have tweaked Bruno's tail once too often." At the murderous expressions that came over the twins' faces, she held up her hand palm outward. "Whoa. Don't get up a head of steam. Rafe is taking care of it. If you behave, I'll fill you in on the master plan. Dave and Harrison are already in on it." She smiled, urging them to sit down again. "It looks as though this will be a family affair."
By the time she was finished sketching the machinations of Bruno Trabold and being firm about refusing to show the twins the pictures, it was lunchtime. Cady had no trouble persuading the boys to stay.
As she passed them the platter of cold chicken and roast beef and the loaf-size rolls that Mrs. Lacey had made, the twins were relaxed and smiling. "Now tell me how you planned to involve my poor father in all this," Cady requested.
Gavin swallowed and took a drink of milk. "Well, he's been at the university for years. He would know about these things. We thought he could give us some advice."
Cady laughed. "About point shaving?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure he would know much about it, but I think he'd have put you on the right track. He would probably have sent you to Rafe."
"Or to you." Gareth saluted her with his glass of milk. "We knew you'd help us, Cady. You have so much courage—you're not afraid of anything."
The admiring glances turned her way made Cady glow inside. "I'm no heroine." Her smile widened. "Even though being married to Rafe has taught me what courage is."
"That's what he says about you." Gavin smiled at her.
"He does?"
"C'mon, Cady, you know how Rafe dotes on you," Gareth scoffed. "When he first met you, he acted like a guy who'd just had a lobotomy." He laughed loudly. "Remember, Gavin? He had just bought the Porsche and he would never let anyone near it. Then one day after he met Cady, you and I were over at his apartment in Georgetown admiring it. When I said—just joking, of course—that it would be nice to borrow the car for the evening, Rafe just gave me a glazed look and said, 'Sure, go ahead.'" Gareth threw back his head and laughed harder.
"I remember," Gavin said. "I asked him if he had lost his mind and he mumbled, 'No, my heart.' Then his face turned beet red and he walked back into his apartment."
"Did he really do that?" Cady asked dreamily, her chin in her hands.
Gareth scowled at her. "Damn it, Cady, don't be such a baby doll. You led Rafe around by the nose and he loved it."
"No!"
"Yes," the twins chorused.
Later, when they rose to go, they both kissed Cady on the cheek and told her to wear her prettiest dress that night.
"Always dress well for a hanging, Cady." Gareth gave her a look so much like Rafe's mischievous expression that she caught her breath.
That evening before Rafe arrived home, she was in the tub soaking in an exotic essence he had brought her from India, where he'd gone on a fact-finding trip. Unlike many of his political colleagues, Rafe had paid his own way and not charged the trip to the taxpayers. At the time there had been a decided coolness between him and Cady, and though he had given her a perfunctory invitation to join him, she had felt that he didn't really want her to come.
She stood in her terry-cloth robe, a damp towel arranged like a turban around her hair to keep it wet while the conditioner worked. Though she scrutinized each formal dress she owned, in her own mind there was no doubt what she would wear that evening—even though her prudent self told her to forget it.
She pulled the chocolate-brown sheath from the closet and held it up in front of her. It was watered silk, strapless, with a matching stole in the same fabric. There were tiny, deep violet flowers sewn at the breast and along the top of the
deep ruffle that edged the hem. Each of the small violet flowers had tiny brown hearts in the center. The dress was dramatic and had nothing to do with Christmas. But Emmett had an unwritten rule that the women who attended his Christmas soirees wear either green or red. The decorations at Durra would echo those colors.
Cady rubbed her body with perfumed lotion prior to donning the brown bikini panties that were the only garment she would wear under the figure-hugging silk. Her hair was left bouncing clean and fresh on her bare shoulders. Deeming the dress too modern to coordinate with her antique amethysts, she decided to leave her ears bare. She chose to wear a thin gold chain around her neck as her only adornment. She would take the stole even though she knew that Emmett kept the house quite hot. Emmett thought that energy conservation was for other people to worry about.
She was turning to look at her back in the three-way mirror when Rafe entered from the connecting bathroom, his shirt studs still undone, two boxes in his hands.
"I called Mrs. Lacey to see what dresses you had put out to decide among for tonight." He grinned at her. "When she mentioned that one of the dresses was neither green nor red, I took a chance you might pick it. Rebel." He handed her the larger of the two boxes.
As Cady lifted the cluster of tiny purple orchids from the box, she oohed her delight.
Rafe let his eyes rove over her in slow appreciation. "Where will you pin them, love? It seems there's a great deal of you showing." He let his forefinger trace the low-cut neckline, lingering with obvious pleasure on her creamy skin. "You're so very beautiful."
"I'll pin them at my waist," Cady breathed, feeling giddy because of the look in his eyes.
"Will you?" he drawled, his finger gentle in the valley between her breasts. "I'd rather stay home altogether and discuss where the flowers should go."
"You would?" Cady swayed toward him, then paused, sighing. "We can't. Your father will be expecting us, and my father will be here soon as well."
Rafe snapped his fingers. "That's what I wanted to tell you." He leaned forward and kissed her nose. "You're too distracting. Your father is here now. I knew what time his plane was coming in, so I picked him up on the way home. He's changing now."
"Rafe," Cady chided him as he rained butterfly kisses on her cheek, "you should have told me at once."
"Yes," he muttered, his attention seeming fixed on her ear. Then he jerked back from her. "That's the other thing I wanted to show you." He lifted his hand to caress her hair. "I didn't remember you having jewelry for this dress, soooo—I called Cartier's today..." He grinned like a boy as he popped open the other box in front of her.
Cady stared at the drop earrings that looked like braid— braid made up of amethysts. There was also a braided necklace of the same amethysts. She reached up to remove the gold chain, but Rafe's hands were there before hers. He fastened the necklace, then stood back to let her insert the pierced earrings. She looked at herself, then at the image of Rafe peering over her shoulder. "I love them."
"They match your eyes... but they aren't as pretty." Rafe slipped his hands around her and pressed his lips to her neck. He let out a gusty breath. "I suppose we have to go this evening, but I tell you now, love, if it weren't for pulling the rug out from under Bruno, we'd be staying home, even with your father here and invited to his party."
"Aye, aye, sir," Cady said with a mock salute.
"Brat." Rafe swatted her backside, then strode toward his own room, calling behind him to Cady to check if there was ice to make her father a drink before they left for Durra.
Trock had seen to the ice and had already handed Professor Nesbitt a glass of wine when Cady entered the room. She smiled as her father talked to the two dogs that lay sprawled at his feet.
"What do you think of those two now?" Cady walked into her father's arms.
"You'd never recognize either of them from the rag-and-bone condition they were once in." The professor sipped his wine, then nodded his thanks to Trock, who turned at once to fix a glass of mineral water for Cady.
"Trock." Rafe strode into the room, looking vital, strong, and very handsome, Cady thought. "I want you to accompany us this evening and bring the dogs," Rafe said calmly, making his father-in-law's brows arch and his wife gasp.
"You can't," Cady pointed out. "Emmett hates dogs. So does Bruno."
Rafe grinned at her. "So they do. And so does Greeley."
CHAPTER TEN
Durra was a Christmas fairyland of green and red. Green and red lights festooned the trees, the hedges, the colonnades, the windows. A huge spruce at the curve of the drive was draped in green and white with red. The rest of the decorations were all red and green.
"You'll be the belle of the ball, my love," Rafe whispered to Cady as she hesitated on the fan-shape steps leading to the front door.
"I'll stick out like a sore thumb," Cady gulped, glad of his hand at her back as they stepped into the foyer, which was also ablaze with green and red. Her father stepped forward first and shook Emmett's hand. He bent over Lee Terris's hand in a courtly manner. If he looked surprised at the effusive welcome the twins gave him, he quickly masked it.
"That's something I have to tell you, later," Cady muttered to Rafe. "Bruno and the twins." Rafe nodded, his face grim.
Then Emmett was looking at Cady, his eyes widening in shock. Before he could speak, Cady grasped his hand, shook it, said, "Nice to be here," and turned to Lee Terris. Emmett was still looking at her, open-mouthed, as his son wrung his limp hand.
"My dear Cady." Lee looked pained. "Has no one ever told you that we wear green and red at Durra?" She was dressed in red velvet.
"Has no one ever told you that being repetitive is dull?" Cady retorted. She gave Lee a wide smile and patted her on the arm, then moved toward the twins, who were grinning at the red-faced Lee.
When Cady heard Emmett bellow behind her, she braced herself and turned slowly.
"No, damn it, Rafe, you can't bring those mutts into this house. And what's he doing here?" Emmett fulminated, the angry red of his face fitting right in with the decorations. "What? What surprise are you talking about? What do you mean I'll understand later?" He glowered at his eldest son. "I don't like it. You'd better make sure neither of those mutts chews up my guests." He threw an angry glance Cady's way, then glared at the placid animals who were sitting on either side of Trock as he stood behind Rafe.
Since the long guest list for the Durra Christmas get-together made it more a mob scene than a party, Emmett was soon distracted from the dogs. A ten-piece band provided music, though most of the guests would wait until after dinner to dance. Still, a few couples had eschewed cocktails and were on the solarium floor swaying to the big-band sound.
"Shall we, Mrs. Densmore?" Rafe kissed her ear.
"I thought you would want to talk to some of your—" Cady was delighted when Rafe interrupted her by sweeping her onto the dance floor. Her heart was fluttering wildly when he began to sing the words to "Everything I Have Is Yours" into her ear, his sure baritone caressing and deep.
"I like it when you sing to me, Rafe." She leaned back to look up into his face.
"Do you, angel?" His eyes roved over her. "I like it when you do anything to me... except ignore me, of course." He pressed her closer. "Did I tell you that you're the most beautiful woman here?" He swung her away from his body as the tempo changed, then brought her back, dipped her, and swung her away again.
Breathless, Cady laughed up at him. "I never ignore you."
Rafe nodded, then caught her close to him again, concern etched deep on his face. "I forgot for a moment. Is it all right for you to dance fast like this?"
"Of course it is." Cady twirled around him. "Dancing is good exercise."
"Don't you whirl like that again. Your legs showed clear up to the thighs," Rafe growled, catching her close as the music died.
Dinner was a noisy gathering of round tables of ten each that filled the ballroom to overflowing. The centerpieces were spruc
e greens and red carnations. Some tables had red candles; others had green. Cady was seated at a table with Rob Ardmore. At a nearby table sat Todd Leacock, his smile knowing when he caught her eye. It was all Cady could do to keep a bland look on her face.
"That's Leacock." Cady smiled at Rob as though she were telling him a joke. "The one with the cranberry-color dinner clothes."
Rob smiled and lifted his glass to her to acknowledge that he knew whom she meant. "Bruno isn't here yet." Rob's smile widened. "I sure hope he gets here soon."
"He will." Cady's voice held more confidence than she felt. She had a shivery feeling that Bruno had somehow discovered their plans and was at that very moment winging his way to Katmandu.
Later Cady sipped her after-dinner Cointreau and listened to Emmett relate how well the merger between Densmore Ltd., a British affiliate, and Werrings Electronics had gone, that profits were up at every quarter.
Cady couldn't help but think her father-in-law looked like one of the strutting peacocks that roamed the front lawn at Durra. She had to fight back a laugh as his friend Greeley wiped crumbs from his portly front and announced that he, too, was proud of his efforts in the past year. Much of the legislation that his group of lobbyists had backed had been pushed through Congress.
"Great country, America." Greeley belched delicately.
Cady could feel Rafe looking her way, but she knew that if she looked at him she would laugh out loud.
Feeling more at ease now, Cady was not prepared for Bruno's entrance into the room. One moment she was sipping her liqueur and listening to Gavin talk about a course that was giving him trouble, then she looked up, choking on the hot, sweet liquid. Bruno! As he stood in the doorway leading to the hall, to Cady he looked like a vulture in a tuxedo.
She took a deep breath and glanced from Bruno to Todd, realizing at once that Bruno hadn't seen his cohort.
"Take a seat, Bruno," Emmett roared, flapping his hand to bring the man forward.
Bruno relaxed against the doorjamb. "I won't bother, since you seem to be through." He straightened from the door and left, presumably for the solarium.
Ann Cristy (Helen Mittermeyer) Page 16
