Kate's Vow (Vows) (8 page)

As if she’d already linked Kate’s request with that call to David Winthrop and sniffed romance as a result, Zelda immediately grabbed the appointment book and scanned the entries. “You don’t have anything in court. No depositions. It looks to me as if I can reschedule your appointments.”

“Do it,” Kate said, ignoring the speculative gleam in her secretary’s eyes. Going to Malibu first thing in the morning would give her a chance to make sure the house was in order.

It would also give her time for a long run on the beach, maybe a swim. Hopefully a little exercise would put an end to all these ridiculous fantasies before the object of those fantasies turned up.

Chapter Six

R
unning didn’t help. Neither did swimming. By seven o’clock on Friday night, Kate was as jittery as a teenager on her first date. Why, she wondered, had an intelligent, cynical woman become attracted for the first time in years to the one man least likely to offer himself heart and soul to a relationship? A man whose behavior toward his son represented the epitome of irresponsibility, if not outright neglect?

She tried telling herself it wasn’t attraction so much as determination to help Davey in any way she could. If that meant she had to insinuate herself into his father’s life to assure that David and his son forged a new bond, then that’s what she would do. She almost believed the explanation. It sounded noble, professional, compassionate. And, in fact, that much really was true. However, despite all the claims she’d made to Dorothy Paul, it wasn’t the whole truth by any means.

It was the lost, faraway look in his eyes, she decided after careful analysis. That sorrow hinted at a depth of emotion that some part of her desperately wanted to experience, at the very least wanted to comprehend. And maybe, in some small measure, it was his unavailability. Perhaps she was merely responding to the challenge of conquering that had appealed to men and women from the beginning of time.

The sun was sinking in a rare clear sky when she heard a car pull into the space next to hers along the narrow beachfront road that forked off Pacific Coast Highway. Barefoot and wearing loose white pants and an oversize rose-colored sweater, she walked along the side of the house to the back and opened the gate. She was just in time to see Davey bound around the trendy four-wheel-drive wagon parked next to her expensive low-slung sports car. The ultimate Hollywood, two-car family, she thought wryly, one practical vehicle, the other fast and sexy.

“This place is the best,” Davey announced, his eyes sparkling as he bounced up and down on his sneakers as if he couldn’t quite wait for the starting gun in a race.

She grinned at his exuberance. “You haven’t even seen it yet.”

“But I can tell already. Dad says you have a basketball hoop. Can I play? You and me against him, okay? He said you had games, too. What kind? Maybe we could play Monopoly after dinner.”

Kate grinned at his nonstop plans. “If you think I’m playing Monopoly with you again, you’re crazy, kiddo. You’re obviously destined to be some sort of real estate tycoon. My ego can’t take that kind of bashing.”

Just then David emerged from the car. He was wearing the same style of snug jeans he always wore, topped by a polo shirt in a soft jade green. Somehow, though, he already looked more relaxed, as if he had caught some small measure of his son’s excitement.

He surveyed her from head to toe, a surprisingly approving glint in his eyes. That glint told Kate she’d made a mistake when she’d dressed, after all. She’d thought the loose-fitting clothes would be less provocative.

“I suspect your ego could withstand all sorts of assaults,” he taunted.

The surprisingly lighthearted comment seemed to set the tone for the day. Kate’s mood shifted from anxious to something closer to anticipation.

“Surely losing a game to a mere boy wouldn’t be enough to shatter your self-confidence,” he added.

“Has your son ever bankrupted you twenty minutes into a game of Monopoly?” she inquired dryly.

“Afraid not. I taught him everything he knows.”

Kate scowled as both males grinned unrepentantly. “How about cards? I’m very good at rummy.”

“We have a whole long weekend to discover all the things at which you excel,” David retorted, his speculative gaze leveled on her.

Whatever distance he’d managed to put between them the other night went up in flames. The innuendo sent a shiver straight down her spine. Kate wasn’t sure which startled her more, the fact that he’d said it or her own immediate and unmistakably sensual response.

He glanced at her car, and his eyes lit up with an excitement that almost matched Davey’s for the house. “Obviously one thing at which you excel is your taste in cars. This is a beauty.”

He touched the finish with a certain reverence. Kate found herself envying the sleek metal bumper. He leaned down and peered inside.

“What’s it do?”

Kate assumed he was referring to speed. “On our freeways?” she said dryly.

“Yeah. You have a point.” With obvious reluctance he turned away from the car. “Davey, have you got all your things?” he asked.

For the next few minutes, they were busy unloading the car and settling the two guests into their rooms.

“If you’re hungry, I have dinner set to go,” Kate said as the long, empty evening stretched ahead of them. She wanted to cram those hours with activity so that lingering glances could be kept to a minimum, so that these little thrills of pleasure that shot through her at having the two of them there wouldn’t escalate into something more. There had to be some way to keep the weekend from ending with her yearning for things that could never be.

“Can we wait?” Davey begged. “I want to see the ocean. Please.”

David shook his head. “You’d think you’d never seen the Pacific before.”

“It’s been a long time, Dad. A really long time. It was before…” His voice trailed off and his father’s face went still.

Kate leapt into the sudden silence. “I think a walk on the beach would be the perfect way to work up an appetite. Let’s go before it gets too dark.”

With Davey running on ahead of them, Kate fell into step beside David. He’d shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. The sea gulls circled lazily overhead and a fine mist blew into their faces as they strolled by outrageously expensive homes crammed on the edge of a cliff. Most clung to just enough land to qualify as a homesite, with massive pilings shoring up the bulk of the house. Kate shivered as she considered what was bound to happen one of these days when a violent storm struck.

“Cold?” he asked, misjudging the cause of her trembling.

“No. I was just thinking of what a bad storm would do to this property. Actually, I like chilly nights like this,” she confessed. “It’s so miserably hot in the city this time of year that I find this thoroughly refreshing. Some nights there’s enough briskness in the air to justify a fire. That’s always seemed really decadent to me somehow.”

He studied her intently. “You love it out here, don’t you?”

She nodded. “You sound as if that surprises you.”

He shrugged. “I would have thought the rhythm of the city suited you more.”

She laughed. “I love that, too. I guess I’m just greedy. I want it all. I want days that are so crowded with work I can’t even find time to breathe, and then I want leisurely, do-nothing days that require nothing more than plunking into a chaise longue with a good book and a view of the ocean.”

“Be honest,” he said. “When was the last time you really had a relaxing, do-nothing day?”

Kate searched her memory. She couldn’t think of one, at least not recently.

“Stumped you, didn’t I?” David said.

His laughter caught on the wind. He seemed delighted by the discovery that she apparently never followed the exact advice she was giving him.

“I don’t have a son around who needs my attention,” Kate reminded him.

“Is that the only reason for time off? What about just restoring your own energy, pampering yourself?”

“No time,” she admitted.

“Then perhaps this weekend will turn out to be a lesson for both of us,” he said, his expression softening. “Now tell me what else you would do, if you really took a vacation. Mountain climbing? That seems like the sort of challenge that would appeal to you.”

“Afraid not. I prefer my dangers to come in the form of unexpected evidence. What about you? Mountains? Seaside?”

“No real preference. I live in a world of make-believe most of the time. Always have. I guess what always kept me grounded in reality in any way at all was family. It didn’t seem to matter where we were.”

“Were you an only child?” she asked, studying him with new perspective.

He regarded her with obvious amazement. “Now, how would you guess a thing like that?”

“It’s always seemed to me that an only child might spend a lot of time making up fantasy worlds. Am I right?”

“You’re right. And the make-believe worlds kept me from being lonely. Maybe that’s why I retreated into one job right after the other once Alicia died. Those worlds are safe, protected. And they’re mine to control. I can make them be anything I want them to be.”

Control, she thought. There it was again. It seemed to be something they were both intent on having in their lives. “But you have a son, and he didn’t get to go along,” she reminded him.

“No,” he said regretfully. “I suppose he didn’t.”

She thought she heard real sincerity in his voice and saw an opportunity to forge yet another connection between him and his son. “Could I make a suggestion?”

He grinned at her hesitance. “Nothing’s stopped you before.”

“If it’s still too painful for you to live in the real world full-time, couldn’t you take Davey into your world occasionally? I’m sure he would be fascinated to see the sets you create coming to life on a soundstage. He’d probably be the envy of all his friends for getting a sneak peek at movies that are already being talked about.”

To her relief he exhibited absolutely no resistance to the idea. In fact, he pounced on it.

“Would you come along?” he asked lightly. “Would you be interested in seeing my worlds?”

“If you and Davey wanted me to.”

He shook his head. “That’s not what I asked. I asked if
you
wanted to come along.”

“Yes,” she admitted, leaving it at that. She didn’t want him to see how very curious she was becoming about everything that made him tick. She pushed for a firm commitment, knowing just from what she’d observed of him so far that once he’d made one, he wouldn’t back down. “Next week?”

“I’ll set it up.” His gaze was suddenly warm and approving. “I’m beginning to think it’s entirely possible that I had you pegged all wrong,” he said slowly, stopping and turning to face her. He reached out to brush the windblown wisps of hair from her face.

Kate’s breath snagged in her throat. “Meaning?”

“I thought Davey was just another high-profile case for you, but you honestly care about his feelings, don’t you?”

As he spoke, his thumb almost absently caressed her lower lip. Even if she’d been able to form a coherent thought, she wouldn’t have risked speaking and breaking that gentle contact. She nodded finally.

“Why?” he asked, lowering his hand to his side with obvious reluctance. He looked almost as shaken as she felt.

Kate shrugged, unable to form a clear response. “I don’t really know,” she said finally. “He touched me in a way no client has before. I suppose all the people I usually represent are old enough to bear some responsibility for whatever plight they find themselves in. At least they chose their spouse. Davey didn’t get to pick his parents. I figure he got a raw deal losing one at such a young age. I couldn’t bear to see him losing the other one, especially when it didn’t have to be that way.”

David’s gaze lingered and then he nodded. “Point taken.”

She regarded him intently. “I hope so, David. I really hope so, for Davey’s sake and for yours. It seems to me you have a pretty terrific kid.”

“Yeah,” he said, his gaze fixed on the boy who was playing tag with the waves up ahead. “Yeah, I do.”

* * *

David wasn’t sure what name to put on the feeling that was stealing through him. Peace? Contentment? Maybe even a smidgen of anticipation?

Davey had trounced all over both him and Kate playing Monopoly. David blamed it on being distracted. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off Kate all evening. Now, with an exhausted Davey tucked in, they were alone. Each of them had retreated into work, after a flurry of nervous apologies.

He glanced over at her again. Her cheeks were pink, flushed first by their brisk walk on the beach, then by the color that rose every time she sensed him staring at her. Her hair was carelessly tousled in a way she would never have allowed it to be in the city. Whatever makeup she’d worn earlier had faded, until only her natural beauty showed through. Her bare feet, the toenails painted a soft, feminine shade of rose, were tucked under her. Her lips, curved down in a thoughtful frown as she concentrated on some legal paperwork, suddenly seemed exceptionally kissable. The script he’d been sent for an upcoming feature film couldn’t begin to compete for his attention.

He fought against an onslaught of guilt. Dorothy’s words came back to him, a reminder that Alicia would never begrudge him a future filled with whatever happiness he could seize for himself and his son. Still, a lawyer? Especially one with a go-for-the-jugular reputation?

And yet all night he had been forced to reassess Kate Newton. She’d been constantly surprising him, both with her compassion for Davey and with her insights. Now, as she sat curled up in a chair, she presented yet another image. Quiet, serene and approachable. All evidence of the prickly, consummately professional attorney had been softened, tempered in this comfortable environment.

Even the house had surprised him. He’d expected something huge and new, a showcase, something so modern and sterile that he would have worried about leaving fingerprints on all the glass and chrome.

Instead, the house was small compared to the newer monstrosities jammed on either side. The decor was an attractive blend of wicker and overstuffed cushions covered in a sturdy, simple Haitian cotton. Every piece of furniture invited relaxation. Colorful pillows added to the cozy allure. To a man sensitive to the uses of color and design, the house offered up the perfect casual, homey beachfront ambience. He wondered if her apartment in the city was the same or offered a contrast to suit her professional persona.