Invincible (26 page)

M
ax couldn't believe his nine-year-old daughter was handing his ass to him on the tennis court. He could see Kristin laughing behind her hand in the stands.

He should have paid more attention to the fact that Flick's grandfather was one of the best coaches in tennis. And the fact that Flick herself was the daughter of two world-class tennis players. Which meant she'd been born with great eye-hand coordination and stunning reflexes.

“Forty-love, Dad,” Flick said, announcing the score.

She'd already won the first set six games to four. She was up five games to three in the second set. And she had three of the four points she needed to win the sixth game.

He was proud of his daughter but flabbergasted at how easily she was beating the pants off him. They'd only been playing an hour. He was about to lose the match.

When they'd arrived at the court, they'd spun a racquet to decide who served first. Flick had called “Up”
and the W on her Wilson tennis racquet had been right-side-up when the racquet landed on the ground.

“I choose this side, Dad. That means you can serve first.”

Max realized he'd ended up on the side of the court that required him to look directly into the sun during his first service game. Nevertheless, he'd taken it easy on Flick. He didn't want a hundred-and-twenty-mile-an-hour tennis ball to hit Flick and injure her.

She returned his half-baked serve short and at such a sharp angle that the ball was off the court before he could reach it to return it. She did it four times in a row. He lost the first game love-forty.

It was her turn next. They had to change sides of the court between the first and second game. Max figured Flick would have the sun in her eyes, too. Then he realized she played tennis left-handed. Which meant she would serve with the sun at her back. Clever girl!

While he waited for Flick's first serve, Max wondered just how hard—how many miles-per-hour—a nine-year-old could hit a tennis ball. As it turned out, it didn't matter how hard she hit the ball, because she could place her serve wherever she wanted it.

She hit her first serve directly at his body. He couldn't get out of the way and returned the ball straight up in the air. She sent the second serve down the T in the middle and curving away. He never got a racquet on it. An ace.

She hit her third serve short and out wide. He got to that one and returned it crosscourt. She came in to the
net and returned the ball down the line on the opposite side of the court. He couldn't get across the court fast enough to reach it.

When Flick got ready to serve for the fourth time, Max glanced at Kristin and saw her beaming at their daughter. She grinned at him. Gloating. He was
not
going to lose a game forty-love to a nine-year-old.

Flick's fourth serve was so short—barely over the net—that he never got to it before it died.

Flick shot her mother a grin and announced, “That's game, Dad.”

He'd grabbed his towel and wiped his face to hide his chagrin.

Other than restricting the force of his serve, Max had played Flick as he would any other opponent. She'd shoved every serve right back down his throat and made her own serves impossible to return. He'd lost game after game after game.

Until he found himself in the spot he was in now. Which was to say, about to lose. He had one more chance to save this game. He bounced on his toes, then crouched down, ready to spring for the ball when it came at him.

Her serve went straight up the T. He never got a racquet on it. Another ace.

Flick came trotting to the net, her hand outstretched to shake his. “That's game, set and match.”

Max dropped his racquet on the grass, reached over the net and caught his daughter under the arms and lifted
her up into his embrace. “Brilliant game, Flick. You're bloody marvelous!”

Her arms circled his neck, tennis racquet still in hand. She stuck her nose against his sweaty throat and whispered in his ear, “Don't say
bloody,
Dad. It's a bad word in England. It'll make Mom mad.”

He laughed and swung her in a circle, making her giggle, and set her back on her feet. He caught her shoulders as he went down on one knee, so he could look into her sparkling blue eyes. “How the hell did you get so good?”

She grinned and looked back over her shoulder at her mother, who was making her way onto the court to join them. “I used to practice with the students at the Lassiter Tennis Academy. And with Mom, of course. And I played at school. After a while, no one wanted to play with me, though, because I beat them all.”

He was amazed she was so good, considering she'd been at boarding school since she was seven. And considering no one would play against her. He wondered why Kristin wasn't nurturing her talent. That was something he could help with for sure.

“Would you like to play competitive tennis?” he asked Flick.

She wrinkled her nose. “I don't think so, Dad.”

“Why not? You're really good.”

“It wouldn't be fun if it mattered whether or not I win.”

Kristin laid a hand on Flick's shoulder and said, “You did great, sweetheart!”

“I beat Dad, Mom!”

“You sure did!” Kristin said.

“Of course, he didn't serve hard, like Harry does,” Flick said.

“Your grandfather serves hard?” Max said.

Flick's brow furrowed. “He used to. Before his stroke, I mean. Usually ninety or a hundred miles an hour. No more than that,” Flick said.

“To a kid?” Max said incredulously.

Flick shrugged. “Like you said, Dad. I'm good. Thanks to Gramps.”

Max laughed. There was no false modesty in his daughter.

Her young brow furrowed and she said, “I wonder who's teaching all of Gramps's students until he gets well.”

Max turned to Kristin and asked, “Do you have any idea who's running your dad's academy while he's recuperating?”

“He has a few assistants keeping his classes going,” Kristin said. “That's all I know.”

“Who's going to take his place?” Max asked.

“As soon as Gramps is well, he's going back to work,” Flick replied. “He told me so himself.”

Max exchanged a look with Kristin. “Have you heard about this?”

Kristin looked appalled. “I had no idea, Max. I can't believe Harry thinks—” She cut herself off.

Max didn't need Kristin to tell him Harry wasn't going to be back on the tennis court—unless he was in
a wheelchair—anytime soon. He also knew why she'd cut herself off. Apparently, Flick had no idea her grandfather might very well be spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair or a walker.

“Flick, why don't you run ahead to the locker room,” Kristin said. “I need to talk to your dad.”

“Sure, Mom. I'm sorry I beat you, Dad. Promise you aren't mad?”

“I'm not mad,” Max promised. “I loved that you beat me.”

“You won't mind playing with me again?” Flick asked apprehensively.

“I look forward to playing with you anytime you like as often as you like,” he assured Flick.

The smile that appeared on her face made his heart leap.

She took off for the locker room at a run and shouted back over her shoulder, “I had a really good time, Dad! Thanks!”

As soon as Flick was out of earshot, Max said, “She's amazing.”

“Yes, she is,” Kristin agreed.

“I had no idea she had so much talent. It's too bad she doesn't want to compete.”

“You know what life on the tour is like, Max. All those weeks on the road, living in motel rooms, sitting on airplanes, the friction and competition between players. Would you really want her to live like that?”

“I guess not.” He toweled off his face and the
back of his neck. “Speaking of living lives of quiet desperation—”

“Is that what we did all those years ago?” she interrupted with a rueful smile.

He continued as though she hadn't interrupted. “Maybe you should have a conversation with Harry the next time you see him about what he wants to do with his academy. He's living in fantasyland if he thinks he's going to be on the court anytime soon. Unless he plans to show up in a wheelchair.”

“I don't want to discourage him, Max, by forcing him to acknowledge that his career may be over. He's having enough trouble dealing with his condition as it is.”

“How about a reality check?”

She looked pained. “I just can't. I think the hope of getting back on his feet is all that's keeping him going. As of this morning he's agreed to go to speech therapy, and I want to encourage him as much as I can to do as much as he can. Flick and I are going to see him later this afternoon.”

He smiled. “So your threat worked?”

She nodded. “I never thanked you for your support yesterday, getting Harry to agree to therapy. I appreciated it.”

“So I'm good for something,” Max said.

“Something,” she agreed.

Max recovered his tennis racquet from the ground and stuffed it in his tennis bag. “How about going out with me tonight?”

“All right.”

“Where would you like to go?” he asked.

She smiled and said, “You're the one who asked me out. What did you have in mind?”

He laughed and admitted, “I didn't expect you to say yes.”

Her smile disappeared. “I thought we could talk some more about…everything.”

He started to say “I'd rather not” but bit his tongue. The more time he spent with Kristin, the more time he had to convince her he was a man worthy of her trust. And her love.

“Sure,” he said at last. “We can leave the house around eight. I want to say goodnight to Flick before we go.”

“Flick would like that,” she said.

“Maybe tonight she'll let me check the closets and the windows and under the bed for her,” he said.

“After the solid trouncing she gave you this morning, I think that's the least she can do,” Kristin said with a laugh. “I'm going to go check on Flick in the locker room.”

Max watched her walk away. He realized there was a whole day ahead of him that they were going to spend apart, unless he did something about it. “Hey, Princess, wait up,” he called out.

Kristin paused and turned to wait for him.

He wondered at the tension he saw in her shoulders and the worry he saw in her eyes. What was it she feared? He was no threat to her. Except maybe to her peace of
mind. But he couldn't walk away. Not if he wanted a life with her and their child.

He put a smile on his face and asked, “What are you and Flick doing for lunch?”

B
ella was sitting up in bed with several pillows stacked behind her, engrossed in a Stephen King novel Flick had recommended to her, reading glasses perched on the end of her nose, when a soft tap came at the door. “Who is it?” she called.

The door opened and a small voice whispered, “Gram, it's me.”

“Come in, Flick.” Bella set her book aside and pulled her glasses off and laid them on the bedside table, so her arms would be free to hold her grandchild.

Flick climbed up onto the bed and right into her arms. The strange thing was, Bella had never done this sort of thing with her own children. She wasn't quite sure why. Maybe because her parents—and her aunt, once her parents were both dead—hadn't done this sort of thing with her. It had simply never occurred to her that children could, or should, climb into their parents' bed in order to cuddle with them.

“I thought I heard your parents putting you to bed,” Bella said.

Flick grinned. “You did. I had Dad check all the windows and look under the bed and in the closets twice. And I said my prayers with him and let him tuck me in, as though I were a baby.”

Bella chuckled. “You naughty girl. Making your parents worry that you're still traumatized by that burglary, when you've been sleeping like—dare I say it?—a baby for months without a single nightmare.”

Flick looked up at her with hope in her eyes and said, “It's working, Gram. Our plan is working!”

“I don't deserve any credit, Flick. It was your plan.”

“Mom and Dad have gone out. I think they're on a date,” the child said.

“I think you might be right. I can hardly believe you spent the entire day together.”

“After we visited Gramps, we had lunch at the fish counter at Harrods,” Flick said. “Then we went sightseeing to Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, where one of the Blackthorne dukes is buried. Then we went to the British Museum and saw the dinosaurs. They were pretty neat. Then we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant near the museum. I
love
Indian food,” Flick gushed.

Bella thought what Flick
loved
was enjoying a wonderful day in London with both of her parents. It had been Bella's goal since the day she'd left the hospital in Richmond to get her son together with the mother of his child. She'd been surprised to get so much help from Flick.

During the time she and Flick had spent together
when Flick first arrived at the Abbey, Bella had discovered how much her granddaughter missed living at home. And how much she dreamed of having a father. Bella had been as delighted as Flick when Max had shown up at the Abbey uninvited and met his daughter. Flick was nothing short of ecstatic when Max insisted on spending time with her.

Bella had felt vindicated in her efforts to arrange a marriage between her son and the mother of his child. But it was also clear that Kristin and Max had significant issues they were going to have to work out in order to make a halfway normal marriage possible. And plenty of pitfalls threatening to keep them apart.

This morning, the
Times
had broken the story that Max Benedict, youngest son of Bella and Bull, had a love child. The tabloids were having a field day betting whether Max would acknowledge the child or marry her mother. Max had made paper airplanes out of the lurid articles and sent them flying out the dining room window. But Kristin had been obviously unsettled by the vicious nature of the attacks on her good name.

Fortunately, Kristin had gotten some good news during this past week. The Shooting Incident Review Team had recommended no further disciplinary action. Her suspension was over. Her job with the FBI was secure. Which created as many problems as it solved, as far as Bella was concerned. How were two people with demanding careers on different continents going to manage to live together in the same house?

It was Flick who'd come up with the perfect solution.

“I dropped a lot of hints today,” Flick said. “I'm sure they'll figure it out soon.”

“Do you really think they'll go for it?” Bella asked.

“I could tell Dad loves tennis. I know Mom does. It's the one thing she always finds time to do, even when she's busy.”

“Do you think your grandfather will go for it?” Bella asked worriedly.

“I had a talk with Gramps today while Mom and Dad were talking to the doctors,” Flick said. “I suggested maybe Mom and Dad could help him out at the academy. I think he knows he's not going to be able to work as hard as he used to. I just hope Mom and Dad realize it's the perfect solution. If they helped Gramps with the academy, we could all live together in Miami and be a normal family.”

Bella hoped Flick would get her wish. She had her fingers crossed that Max and Kristin would discover for themselves the “perfect” solution to their problems that Flick had seen so clearly.

“Can I sleep with you, Gram?” Flick asked.

Bella realized the child might be more prone to nightmares than she was admitting to anyone. The bogeyman might have come into her room while she'd been gone.

“Of course, my dear.” The bed was large. It had been slept in by royalty, once upon a time. But Bella was sure her granddaughter was the most precious thing that had ever deigned to curl up in this old bed.

Flick turned onto her side facing away from Bella, then scooted around until her tiny rump was pressed firmly against Bella's hip.

Bella put her glasses back on and picked up her book.

Flick glanced over her shoulder and said, “Watch out for the dog, Gram. He's kind of scary.”

“Thanks for the warning, Flick.” Personally, Bella thought the situation between Flick's parents was scarier. She had five children to get married off before her heart failed. But she didn't dare leave London until she was sure Max and Kristin had resolved their problems. Maybe Emily could help. She would have to think on it.

She set her book and glasses aside for the second time and focused on her dozing granddaughter. She'd never expected, when she'd set out to help her children find love, that she would find herself wanting it for herself, as well.

Where are you, Bull?
she wondered.
What are you doing tonight?
She wondered if there were some perfect solution to their differences like the one Flick had found for her parents. She fell asleep trying to work one out.