Business or Pleasure? (12 page)

“H
ello?” Even with the bathroom door between them, Daisy could hear the annoyance in Alec's voice.

She peered into the mirror and nearly jabbed the mascara wand into her eye. “Almost ready,” she sang out. Goodness, this whole girly thing took a long time. Hair, makeup, clothes, lingerie and, oh, Lord,
these shoes,
she thought as she reached down and adjusted one strappy heel. So damned uncomfortable.

She threw some of the cosmetics in her tiny bag and put on dangly crystal earrings, then adjusted her dress, sucked in her cheeks and struck a pose à la Marilyn Monroe.

“Pathetic, Kincaid,” she said to her reflection. “You look like a tomboy dressed up like a girl.”

“Daisy,” he said, and she could almost hear him looking at his watch. “Tell me the truth. Are we going somewhere tonight or—”

Daisy yanked open the door and tried to stand still as Alec perused her with a gaze so hungry and appreciative she felt like she was vibrating beneath the force of it. She distracted herself by checking him out just as thoroughly. He looked gorgeous in his tuxedo, like Cary Grant with a touch of Jimmy Stewart thrown in for flavor.

“Wow,” he said finally.

She smiled, relaxed, smoothed the fabric of her black satin, bias-cut, low-cut glamour gown over her hips. “You like?”

“Oh, baby,” he said, reaching for her, pulling her into his arms, bending her around the hand he laid at the small of her back. “Me like.” Then he kissed her with such attention to detail that she couldn't catch her breath. In the end she had no choice but to believe that she looked pretty damned good.

“Alec?” she gasped against his consuming lips, her heart pounding hard and furious. “Are we going somewhere tonight or—”

“I haven't decided. What do you have on under that dress?”

“White cotton granny panties and a sports bra.”

“Oh,” he moaned. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

She laughed and smacked him on the arm before pulling reluctantly out of his embrace. “Come on. We're late.”

“No one will notice if we don't show.”

“At a thousand-dollar-a-plate benefit?”

“Okay,” he conceded, smiling like the devil. “The caterer will notice.”

She grabbed his shoulders, turned him toward the door and pushed. “Chop, chop,” she said and he obeyed.

With the darkening sunset guiding their way, they walked
hand in hand to Paloma's largest venue, the Cosmopolitan Ballroom, to attend a benefit for Virginia's pet charity, the Santa Margarita Trust. As they walked, they passed legions of Saturday night revelers on the gas lamp lit sidewalks. But Daisy and Alec were so intent on talking, laughing and sometimes moving into the shadows to grope each other that they hardly noticed.

After a full week of working together by day and making love by night, Daisy could honestly say she'd never been happier. Things that had been missing her entire adult life—a sense of belonging, of being needed and desired and feminine—were now hers in spades. Her relationship with Alec was a big part of the changes in her, but she could also credit her new job responsibilities for giving her confidence and a sense of purpose. The only speed bump on her horizon was that it was all going to end long before she was ready.

Soon the Ballroom loomed up before them, a huge and imposing marble structure that housed, among other things, a movie theater, a bowling alley, a casino and a museum. Before they headed for the main entrance, they circled the building and Alec told her what he knew about its history, recounting with awe the engineering feats that made the hundred-year-old building legendary among architects.

She smiled up at him, loving his intelligence and wit and passion for his work. Loving him.

“I'm sorry,” he said when it was clear she'd drifted away somewhere. “This must be dull as all hell.”

She shook her head. “I'm on the edge of my seat,” she said and he kissed her and called her a liar in a fond voice before guiding her into the building with a strong hand at the small of her back.

Virginia and Joseph greeted them warmly and escorted them to their table. The sound of a live orchestra was filling the huge room with rich, gorgeous melodies as the guests mingled and waited for the dinner to commence. Slowly couples began to wander out onto the ballroom floor.

Alec held out a hand in invitation. “What do you say?”

“Why not,” she said, and thought,
Thank you, Arthur Murray,
as Alec led the way.

He took her in his arms and held her so close she could feel him breathing. Her heart thumped against his ribs, his pulse beat hard against her cheek. She wished she had some wood she could knock on because she couldn't stop thinking that her fantasies were working out just fine.

When dinner was announced, they returned to the table. Business associates and friends of the Baldwins had rounded out their table, leaving just one empty seat next to Alec.

The dinner passed in a blur of conversation and wine and exquisite food and high spirits. The ornate chandeliers above them cast prisms of light on the china and crystal and silver on the table, making Daisy think whimsically that she'd fallen into a sparkling fairyland. Occasionally Alec would reach for her hand under the table and Daisy's breath would hitch as he played with her fingers or traced a pattern on her palm, and all the while he'd carry on a passionate discussion with one of their table mates about design or architecture or history.

Her heart hurt just looking at him, but the pain was well worth the return. She squeezed his hand, smiled at her good fortune and loved him just a tiny bit more.

Alec looked over at Daisy, saw the emotion in her eyes. He leaned over to whisper in her ear, “You okay?”

She was nodded and whispered, “I'm wonderful,” and something powerful clutched at his chest when her hand trembled in his.

“I've been meaning to tell you something,” he said and he smiled as her brows drew together in a frown. “You look stunning.”

And she did, he thought as she smiled at him, clearly pleased. She was like one long, slim column of black magic, from her unruly curls that had been partially tamed into a sophisticated style to her toes which had been painted a very tempting ruby red. Later, he thought, he looked forward to finding out what she really was wearing underneath that incredible, sexy dress.

He looked into her velvet-brown eyes, then his gaze fell to the lush, red lips he couldn't wait to kiss and he realized it was time to go. She gazed back at him, a knowing smile curving her lips, and he experienced a moment of sheer expectation that shook him to the roots of his being.

It was in that perfect moment that she leaned over and whispered into his ear, “Let's go home now.”

They stood and thanked their hosts for a lovely evening and tried not to seem too anxious to leave. Virginia seemed dismayed at their early departure and begged for a private word with Daisy, who reluctantly walked away with the woman, casting a longing glance over her shoulder at him. He shot her an understanding grin and took his seat again.

It was only a moment later when a soft, bejeweled hand touched him lightly on the shoulder. He turned, smile still in place…and then his good mood died.

“Hello, Alec,” his mother said, her face composed into the same serene mask she'd been wearing all his life.

He cast one accusing glance at Joseph, who suddenly seemed engrossed in the tin tiles on the lofty ceiling. “Barbara,” Alec said simply. “What are you doing here?”

“Well,” she said as she slipped into the empty seat beside him. “I could tell you it's a wonderful coincidence.”

“But it's not.”

“No. The Baldwins told me you were here and I begged an invitation.”

“That was nice of them,” Alec said with another hard glance at Joseph.

“Yes,” she said as she leaned toward him. “I've been trying to get in touch with you for quite some time. I want to talk to you.”

He sat there, impassive beneath her waiting stare.

She cleared her throat and smoothed her perfectly done hair. “Can we go somewhere…?”

“No. I'm here with someone,” he said, looking around for Daisy. When he found her with Virginia several yards away, she was looking back at him with her brow furrowed, her eyes worried.

“Is that Daisy?” Barbara asked, and he was startled for a moment until he remembered that the Baldwins were blabbermouths.

“Yes,” he said, never taking his eyes off Daisy.

“I'd love to meet her. It looks like she makes you very happy.”

“We were just on our way out,” he said, hoping to cut this charade short. “So maybe another time—”

She dropped a hand onto his arm to stop him. “I want to apologize, Alec.”

Apologize? His mother wanted to apologize? He swiveled his gaze toward her. “For what?”

She glanced at the other guests seated around the table and then, apparently satisfied that they had good manners enough to mind their own business, she took a deep breath. “For being the world's worst mother,” she said in a rush of hushed words. “For leaving you with nannies while I went to Europe, for sending you to boarding school, for never coming to your crew races or your graduations or awards ceremonies. For never, ever being there when you needed me.”

Barbara closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she looked like she might cry, which was impossible because his mother never cried. Ever.

“I can still remember the look on your face,” she whispered, “when I told you I was going to miss the party for your seventh birthday. In my mind, I can still see the smudge of dirt on your cheek and the little scrape on your forehead. And I can still see your sadness and how hard you tried to fight back the tears. I'll never forgive myself for that, Alec.” She gripped his arm a little tighter. “But I hope someday you can.”

Alec felt the old anger flare bright and hot inside him. He was the only child of his parents' farce of a marriage. Once they'd divorced, he'd had little contact with his disinterested father and had seen the door close behind his beloved mother more often than not as she left for parties and trips and, later, for the never-ending work at the auction houses. As an adult, he'd opted out of relationships with both of them. Until a few years ago, it seemed to work for everybody.

Apparently, his mother had suddenly had an attack of conscience. About thirty-five years too late.

He stared into her eyes, the same eyes he saw every morning when he looked into the mirror. And for one brief moment he let himself wonder what it would have been like to
be a part of a real family, to live with people who loved him, people he could count on. He'd thought about it often as a child, but never as an adult…until recently, anyway. He cast another glance at Daisy, then turned back to his mother.

“What happened?” he asked. “What's bringing this on now?”

She looked down and flipped her slim, expensive purse around in her hands for a moment. “I sold my business a few months back,” she said and her voice was low and measured, calmer than he remembered. “Now that I have more time on my hands, I can see that I've been running in circles for decades. I can see that I've treated work like my family and my family like work.” She looked up, her eyes glistening, and her composed façade began to crumble. “In the process, Alec, I'm afraid I missed out on one of life's greatest relationships.”

He stared hard at her, blinked away an itch behind his eyes. “Well, thank you for the apology,” he said when he found his voice. “But I'm not sure what else to say.”

She reached out and squeezed his arm again, and he looked down at her hand, still cool and smooth just as he remembered. “You don't have to say anything now. But maybe we can have dinner later this week.”

“I don't know—”

“I know you're busy,” she said, and patted him awkwardly. “I'm staying with the Baldwins for a while. You can find me there.”

When Virginia and Daisy came back to the table a few minutes later, introductions were made, desserts were enjoyed, coffee was consumed. Later, when everyone moved to the casino's gaming rooms to gamble away enough money to fill the coffers of Virginia Baldwin's pet charity for another year, Alec and Daisy quietly made their exit.

“Virginia told me about why your mother came here,” Daisy said as soon as they stepped out into the cool, damp night air. “Are you okay?”

“Of course,” he answered but he wasn't sure it was true. In fact, his mother's apology had triggered something more troubling, something that was making him think that his relationship with Daisy wasn't going to be as easy to walk away from as he'd planned. “Sort of a too-little, too-late thing as far as I'm concerned.” As they strolled along the boardwalk, he took her hand in his, twining his fingers around her long, graceful ones.

“Oh,” she said. It was only one word, one syllable, but he couldn't fail to notice that it conveyed disappointment.

“I don't need my mommy anymore,” he said, and his voice was a bit too loud amidst the dinging buoys and the lapping waves and the soft music of the Paloma harbor. “But I'm glad she got it off her chest.”

She stroked his thumb with her own. “You know what, Alec? This is that arm's length thing again.”

“Oh, God,” he groaned.

“And I understand why you do it,” she said, ignoring him. “I really do. But this is your mother.”

“She hasn't been much of a mom. Ask her. She'll tell you.”

“Life is terribly short, Alec. And fickle.” She paused and was quiet for a while before she said, “You never know how long someone you love will stick around.”

She grew silent after that, and he was pretty sure he knew where her thoughts had gone. She'd lost her mother long ago, but the pain was still fresh in her voice.