That Carolina Summer (North Carolina) (9 page)

“I'm sorry, Dad.” Annette realized she had to summon some enthusiasm for the party, regardless of her personal mood.

“Open mine first,” Marsha urged.

Her smile was plastic as she took the box from her sister and began loosening the bright ribbon. Marsha's expression was alive with animation, her blue eyes sparkling like sapphires. Annette couldn't help thinking how beautiful Marsha was when she forgot to be self-conscious.

“It has to be clothes.” Annette started the guessing game their family always played while opening presents. “I'll bet you bought me something blue—so you can borrow it."

“Wait and see,” Marsha laughed.

When she lifted the lid, Annette discovered she had been half-right. A soft summer lilac slacks-and-top set was hidden in folds of tissue. “It's beautiful,” she said, assuring Marsha that she liked the gift, and added a laughing, “And it isn't blue."

“Now it's my turn,” Robby insisted. “Open mine!"

Sensitive to his fragile child's ego, Annette went through the full wide-eyed pretense of guessing what was inside the paper-flat package. Robby was giggling wildly at her absurd guesses. He'd drawn her a picture of Wrightsville Beach, complete with the two of them in a pedal boat. Not that Annette recognized either of the stick figures, but Robby pointed them out and identified them for her.

“I'll hang it up on my bedroom wall when we get home,” she promised. “We'll make a frame and everything for it.” And Robby was certain he had given her the most prized gift of all. He couldn't know the scene contained bittersweet memories.

“Here.” Her father placed a small gift-wrapped box in front of her. “This is from Kathleen and me."

“I can hardly wait until you open it,” Marsha murmured anxiously.

“Do you know what it is?” Annette asked.

“Yes. Daddy showed it to me,” her sister admitted.

“Something this small has to mean jewelry.” She glanced at her father, then Kathleen. Both watched her. “It can't be a watch. You gave me one for graduation."

When she snapped open the jeweler's case, Annette didn't have to pretend surprise or delight. Her response was genuine as she gazed at the diamond stud earrings inside. She looked at her father.

“Are they real?” she whispered.

“If they aren't, they are very expensive imitations,” he declared.

There was a small lump in her throat when she glanced at her stepmother. “It was your idea, wasn't it, Kathleen?” Annette stated with a knowing smile, and felt the comfortable encirclement of family love. “I'm glad we picked you for a mother."

“Now wait a minute, Annette.” Her father reached out to curl his fingers possessively around the hand Kathleen rested on the table. “I know you like to take credit for finding Kathleen, but I ultimately did the picking."

“Dad, you're just like all men,” Annette declared with a faint sparkle in her eyes. “You have to be prodded once in a while."

“Is that a fact?” He eyed her with amused tolerance.

“It is,” she stated. “A woman has to put ideas in a man's head. There might have been only four of us sitting at this table tonight if Marsha and I hadn't put in a request for a brother."

“As I recall, I was thinking about little boys long before you mentioned that,” her father chuckled.

As Annette removed one earring from its velvet bed, Marsha volunteered, “Let me help you put them on."

With her sister's assistance she didn't need a mirror, but she wished for one. “How do they look?” She had to rely on her family to admire the results.

“Fantastic!” Marsha assured her, and the others added similar praise.

Pushing out of her chair, Annette walked around the table to her parents. “Thank you, Daddy.” She bent down and kissed his cheek, then turned and hugged Kathleen. “Thank you both."

When she straightened and turned to walk back to her chair, Annette found herself face to face with Josh. For a heart-stopping second the smile on her lips froze in place as she stared into his enigmatic brown eyes. Tension seared the air between them, heating her blood. It thawed her expression, as she was unable to deny the raw pleasure that seeing him gave.

Her gaze wandered over his handsomely hewed features and lingered an instant on the strong line of his mouth, remembering how his kisses had destroyed her preconceived notions of love's feelings at their last meeting. She became conscious that he was dressed in a dark evening suit and tie, his white shirt contrasting sharply with his sun-browned skin. The formal attire gave him a worldly air, a male urbanity that excited and challenged.

All the while Annette had been observing the changes in him, Josh had been noticing her sophisticated appearance. He took special note of her hairstyle, dress and makeup. When his inspection was concluded, cynicism flickered in his expression and Annette realized he considered her appearance to be an adolescent's version of dress-up.

She was reminded of her parting declaration to him two days earlier that she wasn't a child. Fate was offering her a ready-made opportunity to prove it.

There are occasions when time has a way of appearing to stand still. Although it seemed they had looked at each other for long minutes, in fact, only seconds had passed.

“Good evening, Annette.” Josh broke the silence initially.

“Good evening.” She nodded demurely, poise sweeping through her with remarkable strength. The moment of pleasant revenge was at hand and she didn't intend to let it escape. “I'd like you to meet my family, Mr. Lord."

A dark eyebrow arched briefly at the formal term of address, cool amusement glinting in his eyes. Then Josh was dragging his gaze from her and turning to speak to someone else.

“I'll join you in a few minutes,” he said, drawing Annette's attention to the two middle-aged men in business suits standing patiently beside him, while the restaurant hostess hovered close by to show them to their table.

Before that moment she hadn't been aware anyone was with him. It staggered her to discover she could be so unobservant, but Josh's presence had a way of blinding her to everything else. There was a murmur of acceptance from the two men as they moved away to follow the hostess.

With a graceful turn, Annette included her family in her meeting with Josh. Courteously her father stood up as she began the introductions, beginning with him.

“Dad, I'd like you to meet Joshua Lord.” Then she reversed it. “Mr. Lord, this is my father, Jordan Long."

The two men shook hands, exchanging polite phrases. Her father was unusually reserved, his gray eyes sharp in their inspection of Josh, measuring him without revealing his ultimate conclusion. That in itself warned Annette that her father was not favorably impressed with Josh. It made her a little uneasy.

She continued the round of introductions, progressing from Kathleen to Marsha and concluding with Robby. It was her little brother who introduced, in his ingenuous way, the information she wanted Josh to learn.

“Are you here for Annette's birthday party?” Robby wanted to know. “Did you bring her a present?” He didn't wait for an answer. “Show him what I made you, Annette."

The line of Josh's mouth was half-curved in a smile when his dark gaze met hers. It slid to the table and the abandoned gift wrappings at her place setting.

“You did mention you had a birthday coming up,” Josh remembered. “I didn't realize it was today. When you're young, it's a cause for celebration. Happy birthday, Annette."

“Thank you.” Inwardly she raged at his reference to her being young, but she concealed it, except for a brief silvery flare of temper in her eyes.

“Show him what I gave you,” Robbie repeated his request, paying no attention to Kathleen's attempts to hush him.

“Robby drew me a picture.” Annette reached across the table to pick up the drawing, motivated by her own self-interest to keep the subject of her birthday alive.

“It's very good.” Josh obligingly admired it.

“She's going to hang it on her wall when we get home,” Robby informed him proudly.

“Robby, can you tell Mr. Lord how old I am today?” Annette asked, and slid a complacently mocking glance at Josh.

“She's twenty years old,” her little brother readily supplied the information. Josh studied her with a sharply narrowed look. “I can count to twenty,” Robby declared. “Do you want me to count it for you?"

Annette held Josh's gaze, partially screening it with her lashes. “Out of the mouths of babes,” she murmured for his ears alone.

While Marsha was convincing Robby that it wasn't necessary for him to count all the way to twenty, a mixture of reactions ran across Josh's features—skepticism, shock, irritation and a glittering kind of amusement that promised to get even.

“So you're twenty years old,” Josh murmured.

“It's hard to believe, isn't it?” she smoothly taunted him.

His mouth twisted dryly. “I guess daddy's little girl has grown up."

“In some people's eyes, we always remain little girls.” Annette was subtly asking whether Josh still regarded her in that light.

Her father inserted an agreement with that opinion, simultaneously confirming her age. “Ten or twenty, Annette will always be my little girl."

“Since I'm not in your position,” Josh told her father, indirectly responding to Annette's subtle question, “it makes a difference."

Her father's gaze narrowed in veiled suspicion, sensing some silent message had been passed. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Lord, but we shouldn't keep you from your guests any longer."

It was easy for Annette to read between the lines of her father's polite words. Josh was being invited to leave. She didn't offer any objections, her purpose achieved. Josh appeared to take the dismissal well, although his eyes mocked her slightly because her father was still vetting the men in her life.

“Happy birthday, Annette,” Josh repeated, then moved away to rejoin his party.

From her chair, Annette had a clear view of the table where Josh was seated at right angles to her. She could observe him all evening without half trying.

“Is that man your boyfriend?” Robby asked.

“I wouldn't exactly call him that, no,” Annette replied, aware of her father's studied look. “He's a man friend."

“It's getting late.” Kathleen deftly altered the subject, which she realized was a sensitive issue to her husband, by reminding him that Robby's bedtime was quickly approaching. “Perhaps we should order."

“Yes, of course,” he agreed absently, and signaled the waiter to bring menus to the table.

While the waiter was passing the menus around, the wine steward approached the table with a wine bucket and stand—and an iced magnum of champagne. He set it next to Annette's chair. Her father's gaze narrowed on it with displeasure.

“We didn't order that,” he informed the steward.

“No, sir,” the man agreed, and expertly popped the cork. “It's compliments of Mr. Lord.” With a towel wrapped around the bottle, he splashed some in a glass for Annette. “Madam?” It was a veiled request for her approval.

As she looked across the dining room to Josh's table, she lifted the glass to her mouth. Josh was watching her, their eyes meeting across the distance. Annette held the glass close to her lips, not immediately sipping the champagne as she inhaled its heady bouquet and let the bubbles tickle her nose.

Josh raised his drink in a silent toast to her. When he took a drink of it, Annette quivered with the disturbing sensation that he was drinking the essence of her. A little shaken, she lowered her gaze and sipped at the champagne, its alcoholic effervescence tingling down her throat.

“It's very good,” she commented, assuring the steward of the champagne's excellence.

After he filled her glass, the steward poured champagne for the others. Robby fussed because he didn't get any, but Kathleen distracted him with the menu, helping him choose his evening meal.

“You're looking quite pleased with yourself, Annette,” her father remarked with narrowed interest.

“It's my birthday,” she reminded him, as if that were the reason.

But he wasn't buying it. “That didn't seem to matter earlier."

“That was before I opened my presents,” Annette countered.

“That was also before Joshua Lord stopped by the table,” he murmured.

“Daddy, you sound just like a father,” she chided.

The waiter returned to take their order, and Annette was relieved to have the conversation changed. Her father remained quiet throughout the meal, but he didn't mention Joshua Lord again. He was never out of Annette's mind, however, or her sight. And more than once, Josh looked in her direction, which only added to the soft glow about her.

When it came time to leave, the magnum of champagne was still more than half-full. “Would madam like to take it with her?” the steward inquired with exaggerated formality.

“Please,” Annette answered with a nod.

“What are you going to do with that?” her father questioned with veiled sharpness.

“Take it back to the room and celebrate my birthday,” she answered him with breezy innocence. “The night is young. Who knows how late Marsha and I will stay up?"