Anna Marie Sorenson's Secret Affair (13 page)

“About

what?”

“You don’t look a bit like your sister, at all.”

“Thank you,” Anna Marie said, somewhat dryly.

Secret Affair 78

“You’re welcome. I’m Serena, by the way.” She put her hand out. “I’m your sister’s

editor.”

Anna Marie took the long-fingered white hand and was given a faint, limp-noodle

handshake, which was odd for a woman with a forceful demeanor.

“Come on in. Pepper’s in the kitchen.” Serena did not wait for Anna Marie but stalked back to the kitchen.

Anna Marie hurriedly followed her. She couldn’t help but admire Serena’s well-defined buttocks as it undulated impatiently down the hallway.

“Pepper, your sister’s finally here,” Serena announced, walking through the swinging door and letting it swing closed before Anna Marie could step through.

Pepper turned away from the oven grill where she was grilling scallops, oysters,

langoustines, clams, and mussels. At one of the island counters, Cameron was mixing the drinks.

Pepper looked up at her sister and said with some sarcasm, “Well, thank you for showing up. I hope we didn’t put you out too much by making you come for dinner near dinner time.” Cameron handed Anna Marie a large glass of what looked to be a mai tai, giving her a friendly wink. With a grateful smile, she took the drink and took a large gulp, finding its tartly sweet fruit punch refreshing and the rum and curacaos just enough to give it a kick. Thank god for Cameron. His calm presence and quiet competence was always soothing and reassuring, his friendly smile and gentle diplomacy welcome buffer against his wife’s overbearing dominance.

He bent towards her to give her a kiss on the cheek. “You do work too hard at the

library, sweetheart. So, when is the big opening for the library’s gift and coffee shop?” Anna Marie grimaced. “Oh, so you heard about that?”

Cameron grinned, sipping a beer himself. “I ran into Broders at city hall two days ago.

He was only too glad to regale how he pushed his pet project through the county supervisors, over the protests of earnest civil servants, who, by the way, should consider themselves lucky that they have such cushy jobs for so many years at the expense of taxpayers’ money. His words, not mine.”

She shrugged philosophically and took another sip of her mai tai. “Can’t say I tried.

When I was in front of the board, I dragged out chart after chart to try to impress upon them the untold benefits of keeping the library a public domain. Do you know I even resorted to quoting the bible, the Constitution, even Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation? But all to no avail.” Secret Affair 79

Cameron laughed. “Of course it didn’t, sweetheart. That was your problem. The board is made up of philistines, just like the majority of the public. All that learned stuff probably only put them off your game. Hey, by the way, guess who’s here? Remember my brother, Dallas?” The kitchen door opened and in walked Dallas Trenton in his Navy whites. All the color drained out of Anna Marie’s face as she stared, stunned, into his enigmatic green eyes in his granite-like face. For several seconds, that was all she could do.

“Hello, Anna Marie,” Dallas greeted solemnly, although there was a glint of cool

amusement in the green depths. He took the beer that his brother handed him.

She continued to stare at him.

Cameron nudged her. “You remember Dallas, don’t you, Anna? You met him here over

six months ago. You drove him to his hotel afterwards.”

Anna Marie shook herself out of her stupor. “Uh, yes. That’s right. Six months ago. That was only six months ago.” Then she stared at him with helpless fascination and wonder, the same way that she had stared at him the first time they met. “You came back. So soon,” she said dumbly.

“I wouldn’t call six months soon,” Pepper said acidly.

“I…I mean, well…it was four years before you, Cameron, saw your brother the last time, wasn’t it?”

“Anna, what is your point, as usual?” Pepper said impatiently. “Cameron, can you get me the bowls behind you. The seafood’s about ready. Everyone, get to the table.”

Cameron pulled down a few of the large bowls from the shelf and helped his wife transfer the cooked shellfish form the grill to the bowls.

Anna Marie was still staring at Dallas who was staring back but without the alarm and shock, taking his time with his beer.

“What are you doing here?” she finally asked, her voice faint. The color had not come back to her face yet.

Dallas’s grin would have been easy and careless if his green eyes weren’t so intense and watchful. “I’m visiting my brother. Last time I checked, brothers do have that right.” Anna Marie opened her mouth and was about to point out that his sudden appearance at her sister’s house only six months after their torrid night was not right, that he was supposed to have disappeared for another several years before he came into town again. That’s what she had Secret Affair 80

counted on. That’s why she had been able put that night completely out of her head. She had counted pretty much on him not existing in life, except as someone she had met one time, long time ago, someone with whom she had some interesting experience, but one who was more or less out of her life for good. That way, she wouldn’t have to deal with anything that had to do with that night or with Dallas. As long as she thought she would never see him again, at least for several more years, she had trained herself not to dissect their night of sex, not to draw meaning from it. After all, by the time Dallas came back to town after another long absence, who knows where her life might be. She hoped she might be in Washington D.C., at the Library of Congress by then. She might even be married, happily so, and with kids. So, there would have been no purpose in making a lot out of their one night of raging passion.

But, then, six months later, here he was, standing a few feet from her in her sister’s kitchen where she first laid eyes on him, watching her with carefully hooded eyes while leisurely sipping his beer.

This wasn’t the way things were supposed to happen.

Anna Marie physically shook herself out of her stunned stupor, taking couple of deep, deep breaths. She forced a smile on her face. “Well, it’s good that you could come back so soon this time, Mr. Trenton, uh, Dallas, instead of waiting for another several more years. I…I hope your stay in town will not be so quick, this time.”

“No, I’m afraid Dal’s only in town for the night, like the last time,” Cameron said, pulling the cooked shellfish off the grill. “We’re pretty damn lucky that he was able to fly in on his way to Hawaii this morning.”

Anna Marie tried not to look too relieved. “Oh, so, you’ll be gone by tomorrow.” She could have bitten her tongue when a slow smile, that was rather fiendish around the edges, curved Dallas’s sculpted lips. “I mean I hope that your stay will be pleasant, as brief as it is.” He lifted his beer to his lips, his eyes never leaving hers, green glint dancing devilishly in them as he said silkily, “I have every intention of making it as pleasant as it was the last time.” Anna Marie’s eyes widened with some alarm at his words, making her breath hitch, but she told herself not to dwell on his meaning.

Cameron walked by carrying two bowls of the shellfish. “Everyone, to the table. Hey, Dal, I have something to show you before dinner.”

Secret Affair 81

Pepper, who had the wifely knack of hearing every word that her husband said, no matter how far away he was, said, “Cam, you can show your brother the Nolan Ryan’s no hitter baseball that you bought at a charity auction after dinner.”

Cameron good-naturedly rolled his eyes and but gestured to Dallas with his head to

follow him.

“Anna, come and help me with this Caesar salad,” Pepper ordered when the two men left the kitchen.

“Is there anything I can do?” Serena asked.

Pepper smiled at her. “No, darling. Just go and sit yourself down in the living room. Well be there with the dinner.”

Serena left the kitchen.

Pepper handed her sister a measuring cup full of liquid. “Here is the Caesar dressing. Can you toss the salad? And make sure you first drizzle the lettuce with olive oil to coat them.” The last thing Anna Marie wanted to do was to help Pepper with the final touches of the dinner. She wanted desperately to go home, to escape from her own confusion and shock of meeting Dallas. But she knew Pepper was not going to let her slip away without a good reason.

So, Anna Marie took the cup and lightly poured the olive oil into the bowl of lettuce and tossed it briefly as instructed.

“What do you think of Serena?” Pepper asked, rather in a conspiratorial manner.

Anna Marie looked at her sister, frowning. “I guess fine.”

“She’s single, divorced from her second marriage for a year now from a Hollywood

producer, got a whopping settlement from him, so she’s set for life. And she’s not even thirty.

But she’s successful in her own right as an editor of cookbooks. I thought she would be perfect for him.”

“For whom?”

Pepper blew out an exasperated breath. Why was it that her sister could never get with the program? “For Santa Clause, you idiot. I mean Dallas. I think they’re perfect for one another?”

Anna Marie shook her head, getting more confused. “Dallas? Who’s perfect?” Then her

sister’s words sank in. “Oh, you mean Dallas and your friend.”

Secret Affair 82

“Yes. I invited Serena because…well, why not? You have two very attractive, two very successful people, both single, unattached, no kids to hamper any budding relationship. When Cam told me that his brother was coming into town today, I quickly called her. It’s been an idea that I’ve been kicking around my head since the last time he was over here.”

“Oh,” Anna Marie said. She pictured the Amazon-like Serena with her intimidating

beauty together with the equally intimidating Dallas. “That makes more sense,” she said out loud when she had not meant to voice her thoughts.

“What?” Pepper said.

Anna Marie blinked, and then hurriedly went back to her task. “Uh, nothing.” She

carefully poured the dressing over the lettuce and began to toss again.

“Well, I decided that it’s time that Cameron’s brother start thinking about settling down.

You know, like you, he’s not getting younger. Although, there’s no age limit for men to be able to have children as there is for women. I mean, after all, as long as they can keep shooting…well, look at Tony Randall. He was a father at eighty. Although, I have to admit there is something rather unseemly about a man so well into his dotage having children. Anyway, perhaps the reason why Dallas isn’t married yet is because he hasn’t met a woman who would be right for him. And then, it hit me. I know plenty of beautiful, single women who are very successful.

Surely, he could fall for one of them.”

“Perhaps, he’s not married because he doesn’t want to marry,” Anna Marie pointed out carefully.

Pepper flicked her a look, disdain barely concealed. “He’s a man, isn’t? He’s successful, intelligent, well spoken, seems pretty decent. And he’s rich. Why wouldn’t he want to get married?”

“You mean a rich man must be in want of a wife as Jane Austen put it?” Anna Marie said drolly.

“Who? Is that one of your friends? Never mind. You’re over tossing that salad,” Pepper said impatiently. She took the bowl when her sister was in mid-toss, causing lettuce to fly all over the counter. Pepper stalked out with the bowl to the living room. “Come on, Anna, it’s time for dinner.”

Secret Affair 83

In the dining room, Serena was examining herself in a large mirror, checking her

makeup, making sure her lipstick had not been rubbed off, and readjusting her breasts inside her dress.

“You were right, Pepper,” Serena said. “He’s yummy. Those greens when they look at

you practically smolder. Every time he looks my way, I get kind of a tingly feeling in my tummy. ”

“I hope he’s not too much for you,” Pepper said. “For a lesser woman, I can see that he might be overwhelming.”

Serena tossed her hair so that it lay back down in artful disarray. “Oh, don’t you worry, I’ve not met a man who I couldn’t handle, yet.” Then she posed in the mirror, trying out different seductive looks. “By the time desert comes around, I’ll have him eating out of my hands.

Something tells me that he might be a handful in bed, though.”

“He is,” Anna Marie said without thinking. She cursed herself when they looked at her.

“I…I mean, you’re right, he probably is a handful.”

Serena rolled her eyes and she and Pepper exchanged pitying looks, both having the same thoughts. It was so pathetic the way wallflowers like Anna Marie tried to live their love life vicariously through women like them who were superior to her in so many ways, not the least of all in looks and attraction.

Pepper gently pushed her sister towards the kitchen. “Anna, darling, why don’t you go and get a pitcher of water. Make sure you use the bottled water and not the tap.”

“Now, honey, you would be absolutely gorgeous as a winter bride,” Anna Marie heard

her sister tell her friend as she went into the kitchen.

Secret Affair 84

Chapter 7

As always with Pepper, dinner was delicious, her guests dining on assorted grilled and steamed shellfish, Caesar salad, garlic French bread, sautéed vegetables with garlic and almonds.

During dinner, Serena was determinedly putting to good use her redheaded beauty,

pulling out all the stops in playing the siren to Dallas’s darkly dangerous hero. All her attention was directed at him, every look and gesture designed to draw his eyes to her lips, her eyes, and to her breasts. But for the most part, Dallas was unmoved, remaining detached, the impassive mask on his face immovable, and his eyes hooded. But this did not seem to deter the Serena.

Anna Marie did not know whether to laugh or choke on her food as she watched across

the table Serena make such an obvious play for the Navy SEAL.

“So, Dallas, your brother tells me that you’re a Navy SEAL. How exciting,” Serena said, her eyes warm, her lips curved invitingly, and her upper torso turned to his direction so that he could have the full advantage of her cleavage, as modest as it was.