Not So Snow White (29 page)

She just squeezed his hand harder and said nothing. A quick glance showed her face to be every bit as battle ready as Gaby's.

He turned his attention back to the court and watched his sister bounce the ball on the grass surface.
You
can do
it
.

Come on.

She lofted the ball in the air, and it was as if every last person in the stands held their collected breath. She swung her racket with stinging precision and sent the ball screaming over the net. Kill the ball, indeed.

Miraculously, Inge guessed right and stabbed her racket out just in time to make contact.

Gaby was forced to run hard to the opposite end of the baseline, but made a blistering return.

Inge was there, hitting it right back.

"Pace it, pace it," Tess said. "Wait for your moment, keep her pinned back there."

And once again, it was as if the two of them had some sort of mental lock. Gaby did exactly that, running Hilstrom from side to side like a master puppeteer, until she was finally given a short ball to come in on, which she did with a vengeance. A split second later it was over. Gaby had won. In straight sets. She was in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Max and Tess leaped to their feet in exultation, pumping their fists at Gaby as she leaped about in the air. Then, as she jogged to the net to shake hands with her opponent, Max caught Tess up in an impulsive hug.

Somehow, with her eyes shining up into his, smile beaming so wide with absolute joy, he couldn't help himself. He was lowering his mouth to hers before he even considered what the hell
he was doing. Or more important, where. Even more shocking, she let him.

Which, perhaps, was why it went on perhaps a tad too long as the stadium rocked and rolled around them.

And it was a snapshot of that exact moment that ran next to Gaby's exultant leap in every paper in London the following morning.

Chapter
22

C
onfess, Tess!

Aurora scanned the screaming headline of
Good Day
and smiled. "Clever," she said, pushing it aside to look at the next paper. And the next. All featuring the same photo of Max and Tess in a hard-to-deny passionate kiss. Now that was chemistry. She sipped her morning tea and waited for one or the other of them to descend and join her in Sir Robin's breakfast room, still debating how she wanted to handle things this morning.

Gaby was the first to arrive. "Good morning, Aurora! Fantastic day, isn't it?" She all but skipped over to the sideboard where a buffet had been laid out for them, as it was every morning.

Now here was someone who knew how to seize the moment, Aurora mused. If only Gaby could get her older sibling to do the same. Well, do more of the same, anyway. Max had made the first move, after all. "Why, yes it is," she agreed cheerfully. "I
know we've gushed and gushed, but I must say it again, that was a tremendous victory yesterday, Gabrielle. We'
r
e all so proud of
you."

Gaby busily filled her plate until it was heaping. "God, I'm starving. I couldn't eat anything yesterday for fear I'd l
ose all of it. Then last night I
just couldn't settle down enough, which is a shame since that was such a great restaurant Max found for
out
celebration dinner. Now I feel like I could eat a horse."

Aurora paused in buttering a piece of toast, smiled briefly, and continued.
"Well, you need to keep up your
strength. Tomorrow is a big day, after all."

"God, I know." She twirled around, somehow managing not to lose everything on her plate. "Semifinals, can you believe it? I'm still not believing it." Gaby pulled out the chair across from Aurora and flopped down. "Has Max been down here yet?"

"No, not yet. Nor Tess."

"She won't be here this morning," Gaby said, crunching a piece of bacon. "I thought you knew." She polished off that piece and two more, then washed it all down with a half a glass of orange juice.

Oh
,
to be young and have that lovely metabolism again
, Aurora thought with an inward sigh. "No, dear, I didn't. Has she already gone out? I thought she'd barely gotten in."

Gaby nodded her head as she finished a buttered scone. "I was up early, couldn't sleep. I saw her heading out around seven. Said she had a meeting out at the grounds. Someone named Alan something or other." She shrugged. "Then she's going to watch Bobby and Tim play their match. I'm meeting her over there in between for some practice time. Then we might do a bit more here this evening when she gets back." When Aurora looked up, she added, "Don't worry, we have the second slot tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time to rest."

Aurora wisely said nothing, leaving that realm to Tess. She
reached for the teapot and refilled her cup, unable not to notice that Gaby was all but vibrating while she ate. Maybe it would
n't be a bad idea for her to burn
some of that excess energy off. Just sitting across the table from her could exhaust a person.

"So, has Max seen those yet?" Gaby asked around a bite of sausage. She reached across the table and slid one of the papers closer and skimmed the headlines.

Aurora should have been more circumspect, she supposed, but it wasn't like Gaby was going to get through the day without seeing them anyway. And, after all, she'd been there to witness it firsthand. Last night over their celebration dinner, Gaby had been anything but shy in her attempts to goad Tess and Max into a reprise of the now infamous kiss. Of course, Aurora wasn't entirely sure Gaby's motives weren't a bit mixed.

She really wished she'd had the chance to talk to Tess about Gaby's little conversation with her the other evening. She planned to talk to Max, too, as she'd promised Gaby she would, but she'd wanted Tess's input first. She'd hoped to find out a little bit more about the young man who'd caught Gaby's eye. However, they'd all headed off to dinner, with Tess and Max keeping about as much distance between them as humanly possible in a party of five. Disappointing, that. But Aurora wasn't about to let them safely retreat to opposite corners. Enough was enough. Tess had left straight from the restaurant, with Vivian in tow, and disappeared for the rest of the evening, and Max and Gaby had gone off to their wing shortly after arriving home.

So Aurora had reluctantly let it go for the evening, thinking she'd have plenty of opportunity today. Now, however, that wasn't looking too promising, either. How on earth was she supposed to play matchmaker if half of her match kept disappearing on her? Perhaps she'd just have to corner Max for a few minutes at some point and have a little chat. With Gaby twenty-four hours away from playing in her first grand-slam semifinal, probably the last thing on her mind was Royce, or Ranee, or whatever his name was. But Aurora would feel better knowing she'd spoken to Max about it. Besides, it would give her an opportunity to work Tess into the conversation, get the lay of the land, so to speak.

Feeling a bit cheerier about her day's prospects, she was just helping herself to a third scone when Max wandered in, fighting a yawn.

"Hey there, sleepyhead. About time," Gaby told him as she scooted her chair back.

Aurora was astonished to note that Gaby's plate was already empty. And she was heading back for seconds. Not an ounce of fat on her, either. Even as a teenager, Aurora had never been exactly willowy. Age hadn't helped in that department. She picked up her scone, then thought better of it and put it back on the tray with a resigned sigh.

"Good morning," she said to Max. "You still look a bit weary. I suppose it was hard to unwind after all the excitement yesterday." She was referring to more than Gaby's spectacular win, and Max likely knew that. Aurora hadn't been exactly shy in nudging the two together the previous night, every chance she got. And Vivian had been downright shameless. Stubborn, those two. Why they were fighting this so hard, she had no idea. Seemed like the perfect match to her. Half of England thought so, too, if the papers were anything to judge by.

Speaking of which, she noticed his gaze fall on the stack. She watched him closely, trying to gauge his mood as he skimmed over the top headline. Darn it, she wished Tess had stayed around this morning. Defenses were lower earlier in the day. Ah well, nothing worthwhile came easily, as the saying went.

"Cute headline, I thought," Aurora ventured, when his expression remained unmoved. "Though I rather liked that 'Mad
For
Max' line they used earlier in the week. Cheeky, those Brits, eh?"

"So are you going to ask her out or what?" Gaby said, now crunching apple slices.

Max blinked and looked up, seemingly coming out of a momentary haze.

That, at least, was promising, Aurora noted.

"Ask who?"

Gaby rolled her eyes. "Please. Tess, of course. Come on." She gestured to the papers. "You had her in a lip-lock in front of the entire country Don't tell me that was fabricated by the papers, because I was there, remember?"

"Oh, I remember, all right," he mumbled, then abruptly turned and shuffled to the sideboard, keeping his back to both of them.

Unlike most mornings, his hair was a bit mussed and he had yet to shave. He was usually casually but crisply attired at breakfast, in khaki shorts and a polo shirt. This morning he had on a faded U.S. Open T-shirt that looked like he'd slept in it. For that matter, so did the shorts.

Aurora sipped her tea to hide her smile. All signs of a restless night. And she doubted he'd lost sleep worrying about Gaby. Aurora knew he was thrilled his sister had made it this far. Which meant it was highly likely Max had tossed and turned thinking about something else. Or someone.

"Gaby, I called a car to take you over to the grounds for practice.''

Gaby paused midbite. "You're not going with me? We always drive over together."

"
I'
ll be over there, but I have a few other things to do this morning."

Gaby shot a wink at Aurora that her brother couldn't see.

"Okay, sure. Do you have a meeting with 'Alan
'
too?" she asked, making air quotes with her fingers,

He glanced over his shoulder. "Alan who?"

Gaby giggled. "Whatever. You go
to your 'meeting.' I'll be fine.
"

Max looked at her a moment longer, slightly bewildered, then shrugged and went back to staring at the sideboard. "Good," he said absently. "That's good."

Aurora noted he'd yet to put a single thing on his plate, Restless night. Distracted. Loss of appetite. Oh yes, her morning was getting better by the moment. Now she just had to track Tess down at some point. "Perhaps I'll ride to the grounds with Gaby. Maybe Tess can get me in to see Bobby's match. I'd love to get the chance to watch him play. And, of course, any excuse for another round of their delightfully sinful strawberries and cream."

"That would be great," Gaby said, bouncing in her seat. "Give us a chance to talk." She scooted her chair back. "I think I'll go take a shower." She made silent signals to Aurora, motioning to Max, still standing behind her, and mouthing, "don't forget to talk to him about you-know-who."

Aurora nodded and calmly sipped her tea as Gaby exited the breakfast room, leaving her alone with a still distracted Max. Looked like she had her day's work cut out for her. She smiled. Her favorite kind of work, too.

* * * * *

"
S
o, I can't promise who I'
m going to team you up with yet. I may end up using you down in the stands, on the grounds, doing one-on-one interviews with players, their friends, family members, what have you. I want you in the booth, too, don't get me wrong. We'll just see how everything plays out." Alan
grinned. "You were right, you are a hot commodity. Our ratings have never been better during the first week. I think if we play this right, we can have a long, profitable working relationship."

Tess tried to keep still in her seat, when what she wanted to do was dance and shout. "Speaking of profitable, Alan," she began, sending him her brightest smile. "You've obviously got me interested
, so why don't we talk numbers?
"
Play it cool, don't be too eager.
But it was darn near impossible. This was the answer to all of her prayers, and a few she hadn't even thought about.

Alan pulled his briefcase up and put it on the table between them. They were seated in a small office near the players' lounge that he'd borrowed from the Club so they could speak in private. "I was hoping to get the chance to talk to your business manager, or whoever handles these matters for you."

That
brought
her
up short, but only for a second. "Since retiring, I've handled my own negotiations. Of course, my attorney vets all my contracts." Or would. As soon as she hired a new one.

Alan perked up at that news. Corporate types hated working directly with the talent. They wanted their legal department to work with the people on the other end who spoke the same language they did. "Well, I'll get that information from you and get the paperwork sent out as soon as the event is over and we're all back in the States."

Tess's smile took on a sharper edge. "All wonderful, to be sure, but aren't we jumping the gun here a little bit? I'd like to know what the offer is exactly."

"Certainly, certainly." Alan snapped open his briefcase and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "I had this drawn up, preliminary figures, mind you, just to give you an idea of what we're looking at. Once your lawyer looks over the contract itself, we can certainly discuss any particulars that might concern you, but I think you'll be very happy with our offer." He slid the papers across the table.

Tess kept h
er game face firmly in place as she skimmed past the part that outlined the various events she'd be expected to attend. They'd already gone over most of that. She'd be on the road at least two weeks out of every month during the season, which lasted almost the entire year. At times she'd have to travel more often, especially in the weeks leading up to and including the four slams. She didn't mind. It wasn't much different than her life before, when she was still on tour.

Surprisingly, it wasn't flashes of her own career highlights that leaped immediately to mind, followed by the inevitable little clutch in her gut. No, the first image that had popped into her thoughts had been one of Gaby, yesterday, leaping around on the court, exultant, knowing she'd just earned a spot in the final four of her first Wimbledon. As hard as it had been for Tess to sit in the stands while someone else was down there fighting it out, there had been something intensely gratifying in seeing Gaby win.

There had been that moment during the match, when she'd come into the net as Tess had instructed he
r
to do, and won the point
…
then turned and immediately looked up into the players' box and locked eyes with Tess. That small grin they'd shared. Like no one else could possibly understand how great that particular moment felt but the two of them. And in that moment, Tess hadn't felt as removed from the battle as before. She'd felt
…
she'd felt as close to the game as she supposed she was ever going to feel again.

"So, what do you think?"

Tess blinked and looked up at Alan, nonplussed for a moment, before pulling herself back together. She quickly flashed him her trademark smile, then looked back down at the sheaf of papers. "I've learned not to skim the fine print."

Alan chuckled, but it was the confident laugh of a man who
knew he'd closed the deal, so was quite willing to be patient if need be.

And when Tess turned to
the next page and saw the number
of zeroes on the bottom line, she realized why he felt so sure of himself. She swallowed hard as the excitement of the moment once again threatened to overwhelm her. She hadn't realized just how worried she'd been that she wouldn't pull out a win when she needed it most. But now, seeing the result of all of her planning and strategizing since coming to London, and all the stress leading up to coming here, as she'd sold off everything she had to stay afloat
…
it was as if she'd just won the biggest grand-slam trophy of her entire life. And perhaps she had.

Somehow, she managed to keep her cool-and-casual demeanor, as if she fielded offers like this every day, Which, in the not so distant past, had actually been the case. "Of course, my attorney will have to go over this and decipher all the legalese and such." She looked up, flashed him a smile. "But unless there's something in here that I'm missing, it looks like we should be able to hammer something out."

She might have squandered her money once she had it, but she was no dummy when it came to making it. She was going to take this offer, and she was pretty sure Alan knew she was going to take this offer, but there would be some room for negotiation—there always was. So why settle? Neither side expected the first offer to be the binding one.

"I couldn't be happier," Alan responded, Translation: "I have a big legal department, too, fire when ready."

"Great. Can I take this with me?" she asked, picking up the stack of papers and pushing her chair back.

"Absolutely." Alan pushed his chair back, too, and they both stood. He extended his hand, and Tess enthusiastically shook
it. "I'm thrilled to have you as a member of our little network family."

"I'm thrilled to have the chance to join in the fun."

"We'll get in touch sometime later next week, once this hoopla is over and we're all back home for a short break."

"I'll be sure to get you the information on my attorney before I leave London." With this contract offe
r
in hand, hiring the best was not going to be a problem.

"Excellent." He walked around the table and motioned for her to lead them to the door. "So, I suppose you have a busy day lined up?"

"Yes, practice session with Gabrielle, then my brother is playing in the doubles semis this afternoon."

"Yes, yes, I noted that he and his partner were still very much in the thick of things here. Well done," he said, adopting the British phrase, despite the fact that he was from Los Angeles.

"I'm really excited for him," she said, as he leaned past her and opened the door.

"One thing," Alan said, stopping her just as she was about to step into the hallway. "Your business relationship with the Fontaines?"

"Yes?" Tess stepped a bit back in the doorway, as the noise coming from the players' lounge next door filled the hallway.

"I assume this goes without saying—and without knowing the exact nature of your agreement with them, you'll have to pardon me if I'm overstepping here—but we'll expect you'll be severing whatever business ties you may have with them before adopting your duties with us. Conflict of interest and all that." He smiled. "Not to mention we'll be keeping you a little too busy to be offering support to individual players."

"Of course," she said. It was something she already knew would be expected of her. "I'm only helping Gaby through this event. So by Sunday, whatever the outcome, we'll no longer be
working together." Again, there was that pang. But of course it was natural to feel a little sad. Tess had grown to care about Gaby, and she would definitely be following her career with a bit more personal interest than before. Fortunately, her o
wn new career would provide her
with ample opportunity to do just that. If she was lucky, perhaps she'd even get the chance to call one of Gaby's matches in the near future. It was a win-win, really.

So why was there a lingering twinge of melancholy at the thought of Gaby being out there on the court, looking up in the stands at some other coach? Of course, Tess would do her best to help Gaby, and Max, select a rea
lly good replacement. And yet…

"Excellent," Alan told her. "I'd best get back to the booth. Come up and see us anytime you get the chance."

She nodded as he snapped his briefcase shut and stepped past her into the hallway, With one last hearty handshake, he headed the opposite direction, leaving her thoughts still on Gaby. She stared down at the papers in her hand, and thought about everything this contract would mean to her. "Money issues all solved," she murmured. Still, she wasn't as completely thrilled as she thought she'd be, all things considered.

"Well, well, isn't this a delicious bit of a coincidence. Was that Alan C
hapman I just saw leaving you…
and with an interesting bit of paperwork, it looks like."

Startled, Tess snatched the papers up and turned around to face one of her least favorite people. "Why hello, Fionula, who let you into the chicken coop?"

As this was typical in tone of most of their off-the-record dialogue, Fionula merely smiled. "And eggs seem to be hatching everywhere today."

Tess kept her expression seamless. "No doubt. If you'll excuse me, I have a practice session to get to. A closed practice session," she added pointedly.

"No comment on your
tawdry little public display? Everyone is buzzing."

Tess bit the inside of her cheek, and hoped that it passed fo
r
a casual smile. "Only in your world would a sincere expression of emotion and celebration between two adults constitute as anything tawdry. Now if you'll excuse me."

Fionula shifted only slightly, but enough that Tess would have had to get her to move in order to get by her. "Care to comment on your little meeting? Tongues will be wagging."

By which Fionula meant that if Tess didn't explain, she would be more than happy to get those tongues wagging by speculating in print on what had gone on behind closed doors. And it went without saying her speculation would be far more sensational than anything that might have actually taken place. The word "tawdry" came to mind once again.

"No, I don't," Tess said. Alan would hold a press conference at some point, probably at the next event he was covering, to announce her joining the network sports team. He would love to do it here, however with only a few days left, they both needed more than a handshake agreement before making such an announcement. "But thanks ever so much for whatever yellow journalism you'll print to get the revenue up for your, gee, what was that word I was looking for? Oh yes, your 'tawdry' little paper."

"I'd hardly consider
Good Day
tawdry. We have a circulation of over a quarter of a million copies."

"Then I suppose we both need to reconsider our definition of the word, don't we?" Point to Tess, game over. She didn't wait for Fionula to move, but brushed past her and kept on walking.
Well
, she thought,
that was going to make for interesting reading tomorrow.

This morning's interesting reading floated through her mind. She'd loved seeing the picture of a beaming Gaby, fists
clenched in victory. She wasn't sure how she felt about the other picture. Hell, she still wasn't sure how she'd felt about the kiss itself. Or Max.

She hadn't expected it, which, along with being caught up in the moment with everyone else in the stands, was probably why she'd kissed him back. In some ways it had been over so fast, it was like she'd done it in a dream or something. But in other ways, when she let them, little things filtered into her consciousness. The way his mouth had felt on hers. Warm. Confident. Dedicated. And there was that thing he'd done again,
tightening his hold on her
, keeping he
r
where he wanted her when she might have shifted back. Or would have, probably, if he hadn't been holding her so tightly. She might have clung a little, too. She had a distinct memory of digging her fingertips into his back, which was more muscled than she'd have thought. But that had merely been for balance, because he'd caught her off guard and all.

Christ. Who was she trying to kid? She'd enjoyed every last second of it. And it was pretty much all she'd thought about since. She just didn't know what in the hell to do about it. In a few days the tournament would be over and they'd all go their separate ways. She would miss Gaby. More than she'd realized, if her reaction a moment ago had been any indication. And she'd miss Max, too. She felt like maybe she was just finally starting to get to know him. But that was life, right?

So, as per her usual modus operandi when it came to personal matters she didn't feel like dealing with, she'd just avoided the whole thing. Unfortunately, it wasn't like the old days when she could escape by hiding out on a court somewhere. Even when said court was in a stadium seating ten thousand screaming fans. She knew how to solve any problems she encountered out there. It was the off-court problems that gave her a little trouble.