Twenty Hours in Boston

by Priscilla Darcy

  Kaye answered the door and Gray blinked at her in surprise. “Hi."

  "Hi,” she answered. “I'm glad you're here. Your mother's pretty upset."

  "I forgot the two of you were working today."

  "Yes, well, we haven't really managed to get much done, as you can imagine."

  Gray was busy looking around the suite. “Where is my mother?"

  "She's packing."

  "Packing?” Gray echoed. “Are we spending a lot of time there?"

  "I think it's giving her something to do. You should probably talk to her. I'm going to—"

  "I need to talk to you for a second,” Gray told Kaye and, taking her arm, led her out of his mother's suite, clicking the deadbolt over to keep the door from closing all the way on them, and led her down the hallway a little bit. “I'm worried about Aubrey,” he told her.

  "Worried about Aubrey?” she repeated and folded her arms. “So am I."

  That seemed to give Gray pause. “You are?"

  "Yes. And as I'm worried about her because of you, I'm interested in hearing why you're worried about her."

  "You're worried about her because of me?"

  "Oh, wow. You've perfected that innocent tone."

  "Pretty easy to perfect an innocent tone when you are actually innocent."

  Kaye snorted. “You haven't been innocent since you hit puberty. And probably not since before either. I have done my homework."

  "Your homework?"

  "Let me tell you something, Gray Delamonte."

  Kaye was taller than Aubrey. When she stood right in front of him, heels and all, she was almost eye to eye with him. And she was able to very effectively tug his tie to bring him down so that they were exactly eye to eye.

  "Aubrey really likes you."

  She made it sound like a threat. He was inclined to think it was a threat. And patently untrue. Kaye was mistaken. “Aubrey really likes me?"

  "Yes."

  "Maybe we could—” He tried delicately to extract his tie from her death grip. “—talk about this calmly—"

  "Hey!” She jerked on his tie a little more. “I am calm."

  Gray decided she was insane. “Okay.” He stropped trying to extract his tie. “Okay. We're all very calm. That's what we are."

  "If you break her heart, I will castrate you."

  At that moment, Gray decided this was a definite possibility. She was certainly pretty close to choking him. He swallowed thickly. “I think it's important that we remain calm—"

  "I am perfectly calm. And I will remain perfectly calm, as long as you keep her happy. I don't want you doing your vanishing act, Delamonte. Do we understand each other?"

  "Uh, yes."

  Kaye narrowed her eyes. “That wasn't very convincing."

  "Kaye, really, I'm having a hard time, uh, breathing."

  Kaye kept her narrowed eyes on him. “What is it that you're going to do with Aubrey?"

  "Not ... vanish?” he answered hopefully.

  "And?"

  "Keep her happy?"

  "Right. Or?"

  "Threats, Kaye, really aren't—"

  "What are the two of you doing?” his mother's voice interrupted.

  Kaye let go of his tie and took a step away from him and smiled brightly at Moira. “We're talking."

  Gray loosened his tie. Considerably. “Are you ready to go?"

  "Yes,” his mother answered. “Kaye, I'm sorry you came all the way out here—"

  "Oh, it's fine. Tell Sophie I'm thinking of her.” Kaye narrowed her eyes once more at Gray. Gray took his tie off altogether. But Kaye just walked over to his mother and gave her a hug.

  Gray, rolling his eyes heavenward, pushed the button for the elevator. It came almost immediately and he turned to beckon to his mother, who walked onto it beside him. “How did Sophie sound?” he asked.

  Tears welled in his mother's eyes. “Oh, awful, Gray. She sounded terrified."

  "I don't get it. What happened?"

  "There were cramps. And bleeding. I guess it was a close call, I don't know. Sophie was a little incoherent. We need to bring her back here and make sure that she and the baby are safe."

  Gray, leading her grimly out into the lobby, decided that he was of the same opinion, and it was interesting how quickly he'd grown used to the idea of a niece or nephew. Of how quickly they'd all grown not only used to the idea but attached to it. “Of course. Did you tell Doug?"

  "I couldn't find him. He may have gone off again. You know how he is. I left a message on his cell phone. What was Kaye talking to you about?"

  "Kaye's insane,” he growled.

  "She's worried about Aubrey. She seems to think you're going to break her heart. It's only because she doesn't know you, Gray. Don't worry, darling.” His mother patted his arm in comfort. “I told her how Aubrey's different."

  * * * *

  Sophie was obviously thrilled to death to see them, and Gray was happy that they'd come. She threw herself instantly into their mother's arms and sobbed hysterically, sobs Gray knew were a delayed reaction to the fear, and Gray, feeling a little helpless, rubbed her back.

  After a little while, she stopped sobbing and sniffling, collected herself, and looked up at Gray, blessing him with one of those sunshine smiles. “Hi, Gray."

  "Hi, love,” he answered, feeling his heart actually aching with the emotion. “How are you doing?"

  "I'm better. I was really scared for a while. At least that means I'm making the right decision, having the baby, since I was so scared I might lose it."

  "Of course having the baby is the right decision,” Gray assured her.

  "Dirk was wonderful,” Sophie continued.

  "Dirk?” Gray and his mother echoed in one voice.

  For the first time, Gray became aware that Dirk was actually in the room with them. He had been settled in a corner, and Gray had been so focused on Sophie that he hadn't seen him. Now Dirk stood and smiled as if terribly proud of himself for his actions under pressure.

  "I mean, Dirk's so happy at how nice the two of you are being to us."

  Gray had no intention of being nice to Dirk, but he didn't really see how to extract himself from it now.

  "Sophie,” his mother was saying, “we think you should come home and stay with us. Forget about school for at least the semester. We'll figure it out after you have the baby. I just hate for you to be so far away while you're going through everything."

  Sophie looked gratefully at her mother. “I was going to ask if I could come home. I thought Gray would be disappointed.” She looked up at Gray with flickering uncertainty.

  "Of course I'm not disappointed,” he answered automatically—although he was wondering if Dirk was coming along to live at the Bienvenue too. Absently, he dropped a kiss on the top of Sophie's head. “I just want to make sure that you and the baby are okay."

  * * * *

  Aubrey wandered around the false canals that peppered the Venetian Hotel until she grew weary of avoiding the Bienvenue for fear that Gray would find her. Knowing Gray, he would probably be waiting right outside her door. Determined, the man was. Before his sexual appetite had been sated at least, she reminded herself dryly. After that, he was quite talented at disappearing altogether.

  She was genuinely surprised when she made it all the way into her room without encountering Gray, and then stumbled upon a small scattering of business cards just inside the door. She read them quickly. Will talk to you later. Sophie's in the hospital. Had to go see her. She was still standing there, reading the business cards with wide eyes, when Kaye walked through the open door.

  "Hey,” she said. “I've been trying to find you."

  "What?” Aubrey looked up from the business cards. “Oh. I've been ... trying to stay lost."

  "You even shut off your cell phone."

  "Yes. Trying to stay lost."

  Kaye closed the door. “I had a chat with your suitor."

  "Gray?"

  "Yes."

  "When did yo
u have a chat with him? Isn't he visiting Sophie in the hospital?"

  Kaye blinked in surprise. “How did you know that?"

  Aubrey held up the business cards. “He left me a note."

  "Several of them, by the look of things. I was with Moira when Sophie called. I stayed with her until Gray showed up. And listen to this. Gray tried to take me aside to tell me he was worried about you. Can you believe the nerve of him? Being worried about you? I told him I was also worried about you, because of him."

  "Oh, no. Did you say that?"

  "Of course I said that."

  "Kaye, I wish you hadn't said anything. There's no reason to worry about me. I wish you hadn't let him know that you think I'm vulnerable to him."

  "You are vulnerable to him. And if you think he doesn't know you're vulnerable to him, you're being naïve. He knows how to read women. You think he doesn't know how to read your terribly obvious I'm aloof and totally uninterested in you act?"

  Aubrey frowned. “I'm handling Gray."

  Kaye regarded her for a second. Then she laughed. “Do you really think you're handling Gray? You're already in love with him. That boat's already sailed. I figured you needed me to run interference. Is that the saying? The boat's already sailed?"

  Aubrey gaped at her wordlessly for a second. “I am not in love with Gray. Did you tell him I was in love with him?"

  "No. But I did tell him that if he hurt you I'd castrate him. If you tossed into casual conversation something about my checkered past, you could probably get a lot of leverage."

  "I can't believe you did this,” Aubrey said. Then again, “I can't believe you did this!"

  Kaye regarded her in confusion, waited her customary moment of silent comprehension, then said, “I didn't interfere with Paul. And I should have. Paul was never right for you. And I let you waste seven years on a relationship and a marriage that I knew was never going to make you happy."

  "If you knew I wasn't going to be happy, why didn't you say something earlier?"

  "Because ... because I was busy meeting and falling in love with and marrying Steven, and I thought that maybe I didn't think it possible for anyone to be as happy as I was. So I didn't interfere. And I was clearly wrong. Paul was always so wrong for you, Aubrey. So serious and pragmatic and, well, boring."

  "Yeah. Boring. Listen to what boring Paul has gone and done."

  "You've talked to Paul?"

  "Yeah,” Aubrey affirmed grimly. “I ran into him in the lobby. With his brand new bride Brandi."

  She'd managed to earn herself one of Kaye's rare exclamations. “His brand new what?"

  "Yes, you heard me,” Aubrey replied bitterly. “Bride. Brandi, his brand new bride. Boring, dull Paul eloped to Vegas. It took me six damn years of nagging to get him to the altar with me. And you're right. I shouldn't have wasted my time."

  Kaye reached out and gave her a tight hug. “Oh, honey. I'm so sorry. But you're rid of him. And he was an obvious fool who never appreciated what a prize he had in you."

  She'd heard the words a thousand times before, in all the comfort people had offered her right after her divorce. And she even believed them. She knew the failure of her marriage had not really been due to any shortcoming on her part, but more of a general incompatibility. But what really bothered her was the fact that she had been so stupid, so blindly stupid, as to think that Paul had been It. The One. How could she ever have thought that?

  "He just caught me so off-guard,” Aubrey admitted. “I don't blame Gray for being worried about me."

  "You told Gray about this?"

  Aubrey laughed dryly. “No, no. He was there. All I could think was that I wanted to make Paul jealous. There was Paul standing with his brand new model bride, and Gray came up, and all I could think was that he's sexy as hell and dressed in a suit that cost more than Paul's weekly salary and I ... kissed him."

  Kaye tilted her head in evident confusion. “You kissed Paul?"

  Aubrey scowled. “No. I kissed Gray."

  "I see."

  "I really think I alarmed him. And his telling you he's worried about me confirms that."

  "Why would your kissing him alarm him? I should think he'd be thrilled to death."

  "I don't usually go around kissing him. At least not in the current incarnation of our acquaintance. I was a little incoherent. Seeing Paul remarried to a model floored me a bit. I can't help but wonder what's wrong with me. I mean, who would want to live with Paul? Look at me! I'm cute and I'm ... delightful."

  "Yes, you are. And Paul may have caught himself a model, but she's a complete idiot. You have a guy chasing after you who's both attractive and intelligent."

  Both of those adjectives didn't do justice to what Gray actually was. But Aubrey left it alone. She just sighed.

  "You might be The One, you know."

  "The One?” Aubrey echoed blankly.

  "Gray's One. Every playboy has one. Stumbles across her unexpectedly. You could be her..."

  Chapter Eighteen

  Anyone who has spent five minutes listening to sports radio knows that to thousands of New Englanders, the Red Sox mean everything.

  —Scott Stossel, Boston Globe August 22, 2004

  Kaye was still feeling a little jetlagged, so she and Aubrey had an early dinner and called it a night. Kaye's husband Steven had called to say he was having trouble getting the baby to sleep and Kaye insisted on giving him detailed instructions on what to do, leaving Aubrey alone.

  Aubrey sat on her couch and sighed. She was concerned about Sophie and wanted to know what had happened but had no phone number she could use to get in touch with Gray. Then she remembered the key card Mark had given her, the one for Gray's suite. Surely it couldn't hurt to see if he'd made it back?

  She let herself in, feeling a little bit guilty. A quick glance around assured her that Gray wasn't there. She should have left. But there was nothing to do in her own room but wait ... so why not wait here? Besides, there was something so delicious about being in Gray's private suite, even if he wasn't there...

  An idea came to her then, and she flung herself into action. She'd cook dinner for him. Surely he was tired of the daily cheeseburgers, she thought as she inspected the contents of the refrigerator. His kitchen was appallingly ill-stocked. It made Aubrey wonder exactly when was the last time that he had eaten something that hadn't been prepared for him by room service.

  She stumbled across chicken breast cutlets in the freezer and defrosted them, made a breading for them, and stuck them in the oven with some potatoes and some random spices that she found in his cupboards. She threw more random ingredients together in a sauce that she hoped would turn out appetizing, and opened a can of string beans and left everything simmering on the stove or baking in the oven and found a vapid sitcom to watch on television to while away the time until Gray came home.

  That was when she heard the elevator doors open with a ding, and Gray walked wearily into the room. She thought that she had never seen him look so exhausted, and it occurred to her that that was because she had caught him off-guard. He had clearly not expected anyone to be in his suite. His suave mask of self-assurance wasn't fully in place. And he looked bone-tired.

  When he spotted her he drew up abruptly. “Aubrey."

  "Hi.” She sent him a sunny smile, feeling a twinge of sympathy. She had been exhausted like that before. It was absolute hell. “I hope you don't mind. I got your note. I was worried about Sophie."

  Gray looked as if he wasn't translating the words. He stared at her in silence.

  "I made you some dinner,” Aubrey informed him. “Are you hungry?"

  That got through. He brightened considerably. “Hungry? I'm starving. You cooked?"

  She unfolded herself from the couch. “Of course I cooked. My mother would have been ashamed to send a daughter into the world who didn't know how to cook."

  Gray had already wandered into the kitchen, had opened his oven and was staring at the food in amazement. “This is fantastic.
"

  "It's chicken. I found it in your freezer."

  "In my freezer?” Gray regarded it dubiously. “Are you sure it's good?"

  She smiled. “It looked okay. It should be done by now. I'll make you a plate if you'll get yourself something to drink."

  Gray, dumbfounded, watched her move around his kitchen with consummate familiarity, locating dishes and utensils. He shook his head but, as she did not vanish, he assumed this was actually happening, so he turned to his wine rack, selecting a white. He grabbed a corkscrew and two wineglasses and followed Aubrey into the dining room, where she put his plate down and then sat.

  He glanced back toward the kitchen. “You're not going to eat?"

  "I already ate. With Kaye."

  "Oh.” He stuck the corkscrew in the bottle of wine and extracted the cork. “Well, at least have some wine.” Without waiting for a reply, he filled a glass for her and pushed it toward her, then filled his own glass and sat. Then he dug voraciously into the food, practically inhaling it. Aubrey was sure he was barely taking time to chew.

  She waited a few minutes while he took the edge off his hunger before asking, “How is Sophie?"

  "She's okay. Luckily."

  "What happened?"

  Gray made a face. “Little foggy on those details. I am a man and therefore—obviously—it would be impossible for me to comprehend the mysterious workings of the female anatomy."

  By the way he rolled his eyes, he was evidently disgusted by this bit of stereotyping and she couldn't resist the jest. “Surely they realize how well you already grasp many of the mysterious workings of the female anatomy?"

  "I tried to tell them how much hard work and on-site research I've put into gaining such knowledge. They seemed skeptical. At any rate, this was apparently a false alarm. And that, Aubrey, was delicious."

  Aubrey smiled at the sight of his empty plate. “There's more, you know. In the kitchen."

  "Oh? Then excuse me just a second.” He disappeared, then came back with his plate heaping and announced, “I feel like I haven't eaten in days."