The Billionaire's Gentle Rescue (The Sisterhood) (13 page)

That had her sitting up in her seat. “You want me to meet your sister? But we’ve already met!”

Marco chuckled. “Meeting Darcy DiAngelo at a public event is not really meeting my sister.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you telling me that the woman at that fundraiser is not your sister?”

“In a sense, that’s exactly what I’m saying. But there’s no way I can explain until we get to her house. But be prepared. You’re in for a shock,” he explained.

They were now on a country road where the late afternoon sunshine was dappling through the colorful autumn leaves and dancing through the branches. She looked around and noticed horses, cows and several dogs chasing each other through a large, open field fenced in beside the road. All the dogs were wagging their tails while the smaller ones chased the bigger ones, then reversing course and attacking the other animals. Zoe smiled at such a carefree existence and wondered what it would be like to live like this, without the stress of work or complications of relationships.

Before she was ready, Marco pulled into the driveway that led down a gravel road lined by boxwood hedges on both sides. The house at the end of the drive was extraordinarily lovely, with turrets and large windows.

As the car pulled up and parked behind a muddy Range Rover, a strikingly lovely woman opened the front door to the house. She wore a large Irish wool sweater, jeans that were too loose for her thin frame and Wellingtons that were more muddy than the Range Rover. Her brown hair was streaked with blond and pulled back into a loose pony tail high on her head. She didn’t wear any makeup, but she didn’t need to. The woman was breathtakingly lovely with her soft green eyes that looked like the early spring green of moss on a hillside.

Marco jumped out of the car and grabbed her, just as the woman threw herself into his arms. Zoe got out herself, grinding her teeth as Marco swung the gorgeous woman around in a circle as she laughed up at him. “It’s about time you got here! I’ve been waiting forever!”

Marco put her down and laughed. “You’re a mess,” he said but there was deep affection in his voice as he looked down into the woman’s features.

“Come on inside,” she said, glancing at Zoe. “Thank you for bringing him down here. I’ve missed him so much!”

Marco put his arm around the other woman’s waist as he came around the car, then stopped and held out a hand to Zoe.

Zoe ignored his outstretched hand, becoming more furious as she looked at Marco holding the other woman. In fact, never had she been angrier in her entire life. “May I speak with you privately?” she asked, obviously trying to control her temper.

The woman looked up at Marco, then at Zoe, concern etched on every part of her lovely face. Marco looked at Zoe, then down at the woman saying, “We’ll follow you in. Just give us a moment.”

Zoe watched with growing anger as the woman smiled tentatively, then walked into the house.

As soon as the door was closed behind her, Zoe turned the full brunt of her anger onto Marco. “How dare you bring me down here and slap another woman in my face like that. Just take me to the airport right now!” she said through clenched teeth and blinding fury.

Marco was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing. He came around to her side of the car where Zoe was standing with her fist clenched and her eyes shooting arrows at him. It took him a long time to stop laughing, during which time Zoe became even more furious with the man and his insensitivity.

“You don’t understand,” he said between gasps of laughter.

Zoe tried to pull away, but he grabbed her wrist and wouldn’t let go as he leaned against his car and bent over with laughter. “Please, Zoe, just…” he couldn’t even finish his sentence as a new burst of laughter hit him.

When he had his humor under control, he stood up and pulled her stiff frame closer. “Zoe, this isn’t what you’re thinking,” he started off.

She pulled herself away, but he only let her get a foot before he stopped her and pulled her back. “I can’t believe….”

“Stop! Before you say anything else, I want to remind you of what I said in the car. Remember I told you that I hadn’t really introduced you to the real Darcy DiAngelo?” he pointed out.

“Yes, but what….” She started to say but when his raised eyebrow went up she stopped, her mind going back to that first night at the museum, meeting a sultry brunette with stunning, sage green eyes and a clinging dress, three inch heels and shining, dark brown hair. “That’s….”

Marco nodded. “That’s my sister.”

She thought about it a moment longer, then shook her head. “The woman you just hugged like she was a long lost lover, is your sister?”

Marco laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t hug her as if she were a long lost lover but as a sister that I’d lost and only found a few months ago. We both had our own way of getting away from my father. Mine was to go off to college and start my own business. Darcy’s was to hide after college, popping up occasionally to appear in night clubs. She gave the clubs advertising and a stamp of approval, they gave her embarrassing sums of money, just for showing up and dancing.”

She looked at the house behind him, her mind spinning as she tried to marry up the woman in the huge sweater with the woman in the cocktail dress. “But the woman…”

“They’re one and the same. It’s all an image Darcy developed over the years so that my father wouldn’t marry her off to one of his lieutenants in the organization. Apparently Mafia bosses are a bit hypocritical. They want their wives pure while they go off to murder, maim and swindle.”

Zoe couldn’t meet his eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t believe I insulted your sister so horrifically when she did me such a huge favor a couple of weeks ago.”

Marco pulled her closer and hugged her gently. “I can guarantee that Darcy is probably inside right now laughing about it. Probably calling her husband to tell him as well so they can both laugh about it.”

Zoe pressed her face against his chest. “I’m so sorry!”

“I liked it,” he said softly and put a finger to her chin, lifting her face up to his. “It demonstrates that you care about me.”

Zoe panicked and pulled back, her worried eyes looking up at his. “I don’t…”

“Stop, you can’t take that back,” he countered, smiling slightly and shook his head. “How about if we go inside now? I’ll introduce you to the real Darcy.”

She smiled up at him and nodded. “I guess that would be best, as long as she doesn’t think I’m some sort of crazy person for my actions a few moments ago,” she said.

Marco laughed and put his arm around her shoulders, leading her into the house. “Don’t worry. She’s going to love you.”

Sure enough, as soon as they walked in, Darcy flipped her cell phone closed and approached the two of them again. “Zoe, I’m so sorry that Marco didn’t warn you,” she said, reaching out a hand in greeting. “Most people don’t see the two different images so it isn’t much of an issue. But I’m glad you’re finally meeting the real me and it’s very exciting to have you down for a visit. I love your dresses and was hoping you might give me a sneak peek at your new line?”

Zoe smiled gratefully and shook the other woman’s hand. “I’d love to, as soon as I design it.” She looked up at Marco, grimacing as she admitted, “I’m horribly behind since Marco came onto the scene.”

Darcy laughed and waved them to the back of the house. “I can imagine. He sort of takes over, doesn’t he?”

Inside, the house was lovely but didn’t appear to feel like a museum even though the furniture was obviously expensive. It all had a well worn look to it, but not shabby.

“Come on back to the kitchen. It’s almost meal time so prepare for a bit of chaos until I get the beasts settled,” Darcy said as she put a tea pot onto the stove. “Would you care for some tea?” she asked, looking directly at Zoe.

Zoe was grateful that the woman was being so kind about the whole misunderstanding. “That would be very nice. Thank you.”

“Just so you know, it’s herbal tea,” Marco warned and walked over to the refrigerator to grab a beer. “Darcy doesn’t drink anything that isn’t healthy for her. Thankfully, her husband isn’t so crazy.”

Zoe was confused initially but kept her mouth shut, trying to be polite. She’d read the tabloid headlines about Darcy’s drinking days and was completely dumbfounded by Marco’s comment. If Darcy didn’t drink anything bad for her, what had she been drinking all those nights in the nightclubs? It wasn’t like Zoe had actually read the articles. The tabloids were at the grocery store checkout lines and whenever Darcy DiAngelo went out to a night club, she made the front page of several tabloids. There were rumors of alcohol addiction, sex addiction, even some drug abuse in the last few months. But looking at this woman with her gorgeous skin and healthy, happy glow, she had to discount the rumors. They couldn’t be true, she thought, thinking of how rumors flew through the fashion industry, making or breaking designers regardless of the story’s validity.

Marco chuckled as he walked back across the tile floor of the kitchen. “I can see that brain of yours trying to figure out what’s going on so I’ll just help you out a bit. The night clubs… all an act. Darcy hired her bar tenders personally and ensured that only her employees mixed her drinks. The huge martinis she would down throughout the night, all water with a twist of lemon. The drugs? Basic over-the-counter pain killers because of a headache, most times because she’d been up for too long taking care of a sick animal and hadn’t properly prepared for a night of dancing.” He winked at his sister who was smirking as she poured hot water over tea bags. “And the men? They all contacted Darcy through her agent, signed a contract and played their part, also paying her to be a date for the night to further their careers or image. The actors as well, they all wanted Darcy on their arm for a night or weekend to help them land a part or get out of a marriage that was falling apart.”

He put an arm around a grinning Darcy and squeezed gently. “In reality, Darcy’s a babe in the woods, and perfectly content to stay hidden at home with her animals. All of whom are about to stampede through the door in a few moments so lift up your feet fast,” he said just as five animals barreled through a flap in the kitchen doorway, tongues hanging off to the sides, tails wagging without any care for possible breakable objects that might be in their path.

The pack of dogs were a range of crazy breeds, none distinguishable to any specific kind, one with a chunk of an ear missing, another with obvious wounds that had healed, but were still raw looking. And yet one more that, Zoe actually did a double take on this one, but the dog’s bottom was completely bare of all hair, although Zoe had no idea how that had happened. All the animals appeared to have been badly abused, but looked up at Darcy as if she were the best thing since bacon.

Darcy bent down low, greeting each one and introducing Zoe to the canine. Zoe slid off the stool and got down on the ground where she could pet each one as they were introduced and received several licks of approval for her efforts. Fred, Ginger, Moxie and two others that Zoe didn’t catch their names, all wagged their tails so hard in their excitement that the back half of their bodies also moved.

“Where are the cats?” Marco asked, scratching behind the ears of a large, grey dog with a bit of pointer, Shetland and possibly pit bull mixed in.

Darcy stepped over the smaller dogs and reached for the large bag of dog food, sending the animals into a higher sense of excitement as they anticipated their evening meal.

“Mitch gave them to Claire as a birthday present last month.” Turning to Zoe, she explained, “Claire and I have been friends since college along with Emma. Claire just married a guy named Mitch Sargent about three months ago.”

“And is probably driving him crazy with her curiosity,” Marco said from the breakfast bar, watching the chaos but keeping out of the way.

“Mitch loves it,” Darcy argued. “I think he even encourages it,” she said with a slight shake of her head.

“Of course he does,” Marco agreed. “He gets to catch her whenever she breaks into his house,” he said to Zoe.

Zoe looked at him, trying to understand. “If they’re married, why would she break into his house?”

“Because she’s trying to figure out how to do it without getting caught.”

Zoe continued to look at him blankly and Darcy laughed, a sweet, happy sound that rose above the scuttling of the dogs as they devoured their meals, pushing their food bowls across the room as they did so.

“It’s a long story. You’ll have to meet her one day.”

“No!” Marco said and stood up to wrap an arm around Zoe. “Zoe is never going to hang out with the three of you. Please, promise me that!”

Darcy laughed again, shaking her head. “I make no promises. Now, for our dinner,” she said, clapping her hands together and looking at the two of them. “How about spaghetti?”

Marco looked down at her skeptically. “Did you cook?”

She put her hands on her hips and glared. “Why would you ask something like that?”

“Because you burn water. So did you?”

She sighed and nodded. “Okay, you have a valid point. And no, I didn’t. Matt heard you were coming down for a visit and bringing a friend so he whipped it up this afternoon. All I have to do is heat it up.”