Tropical Storm (20 page)

Storm realized that Briggs, bless his soul, was giving her an out. One she couldn’t take with Cairo by her side.

Storm’s smile was forced. “Thank you for the suggestion Uncle Briggs but that won’t be necessary, Cairo is right. It’s what we both want.” She lied.

“Are you sure?” He persisted gently having been privy to the battles she had fought with her parents on the topic of marriage.

“She’s sure!” Cairo burst out standing up and yanking Storm to her feet obviously aware of the silent
undercurrents in the room.

“She wants a divorce. If you can’t take care of this, we will find a lawyer who can.” Cairo abandoned cordiality as it became clear that the lawyer might be an obstacle to his plans.

Briggs threw one last searching look at Storm whose eyes beseeched his. He drew his generous frame from the leather chair and extended his hand. “Mr. Kane, Jessica,” he addressed them formally. “If it is a divorce you want. I’ll take care of everything.”

Storm burst out of the revolving doors of the glass office building as if bursting out of the gates of hell. As soon as her feet hit the sidewalk, she took a deep breath of air to still her nerves. She was still shaking; still mentally exhausted with the knowledge that she had only barely averted disaster. Every minute she stayed in New York she was one minute closer to losing everything she held dear. She couldn’t wait to jump on the first plane back
to Jamaica. She was safe there and she had time to explain to Cairo in her own way about the secret she continued to keep from him.

“When will we be returning to Jamaica, Cairo?” Storm asked the minute she had steadied herself enough to speak. “Now that Uncle Briggs has agreed to proceed with the divorce there’s no need to stay here. We can catch the next plane out.”

“I’m not leaving quite yet. While I’m here I have some unfinished business to attend to.” He declared ominously.

Storm heard the strange inflection that had entered his voice and was instantly alert.

“What could be more important that getting back to our son?” In her desperation Storm had no shame.

Cairo slowly turned to look at her and what she saw in his eyes made fear take up residence in her heart.

“We’re in New York and we’re getting married. There are a few people who should be notified firsthand.”

“Who?” Storm was almost afraid to ask.

His smile looked almost sinister. “Your parents and your husband of course.”

“You can’t be serious?” She gasped, the color draining from her face.

“I’m dead serious.” He answered, his mouth set in a hard line. “We are not sneaking off like we did the last time. You’re going to be my wife and this time we are going to do it right.”

“You don’t need their permission to marry me, Cairo.” Storm declared passionately. “What
we
want is all that matters.”

“I’m not asking for their permission.” He argued. “I didn’t ask for it then and I’m not asking for it now. I’m giving them fair warning that I’m going to be a permanent part of your life. As for your husband, I’m just giving him fair warning that you now belong to me.”

Storm grabbed his hand and held it against her heart. “Please Cairo, I’m begging you, don’t do this. We don’t need to involve anyone in our lives. Let’s just go back to Jamaica and forget about James and my parents.”

He dragged his hand away from hers. “I can’t do that, Storm. I won’t do it. We are doing things the right way this time or not at all. Do you understand me?”

“Yes.” The words were no more than a whisper.

Cairo gently lifted her chin with his fingers. “Hey, what’s this all about anyway?” His confusion was clear. “Nothing will go wrong this time. If you really love me then there is nothing in this world that can keep us apart. What are you so afraid of?” He asked gently rubbing his lips across hers.

“Nothing.” Storm denied softly. But she was lying. She was afraid of everything, absolutely everything.

“Jessica, I would like to say that it’s nice to see you but I won’t. That would be a lie and I’m too old for tales.” Pamela Storm said as she sailed into her living room.

She hadn’t changed a bit, Cairo thought as they regarded each other with the same old animosity. She was still a beautiful woman. Her silver gray hair was now cosmetically enhanced with light blond streaks. Her flashing hazel eyes still held their same hard brilliance. Her wide mouth still twisted in a hateful line of displeasure as she looked at Cairo. Despite her detractions, her beauty was timeless and he saw in her profile a hard-edged version of what Storm would become.

“I see you have gone slumming again, dear.” She continued eyeing Cairo disdainfully.

Now secure in himself Cairo ignored the taunt. He was older now and had the power and the confidence to fight a woman like Pamela Storm on her own level. He crossed the plush white carpet in two strides and sat dangerously close to his soon to be mother in-law. He deliberately allowed the length of his thigh to touch hers.
He was good enough. She would see.

“Hello, Pamela.” He drawled softly his breath ruffling her hair.

Pamela drew back in shock, her eyes widening at his proximity.

“How have you been?” He continued in the same tone, grasping her diamond laced fingers in his. Pamela began to struggle but Cairo held on tight, caressing and twisting the diamond on her hand. “You know, I’ve thought about you a lot over the years. Have you thought about me?”

“No!” Pamela denied emphatically a flush stealing up her cheeks.

Cairo’s eyes captured hers and grew languorous as he watched her, his lips forming a mocking smile. “C’mon Pamela, admit it. You’ve thought about me, haven’t you?” He pressed.

This time Pamela said nothing and he watched her bosom rise and fall in agitation. But he wasn’t finished; he playfully captured a strand of her hair and twisted it gently between his fingertips. As if mesmerized, she watched his large calloused hands as it worked itself leisurely through her hair.

“Cairo.” Storm warned standing stiff as a statue at the doorway as she watched the interplay between her mother and the man she said she despised.

Cairo’s eyes never moved from his target. Pamela sat motionless on the couch an unwilling captive under his spell.

“Tell me, Pamela, why did you
really
object to me?” He asked as if only mildly curious. “Your daughter loved me; I could have made her happy.”

Some of the flint returned to her eyes. “You couldn’t have made her happy.” She argued. “You wouldn’t have known how. Jessica is from a good family and is used to luxury. You couldn’t have provided any of these things. Not to mention that you had no family to speak of and your bloodlines were atrocious. Two dead parents of a questionable background and an old black
man you call grandfather was hardly an acceptable heritage.”

“I see your point, madam.” Cairo said quietly, too quietly.
There it was again, the doubt.

“You had nothing to offer, nothing to give, nowhere to go and everything,
absolutely
everything to gain.” She continued cruelly. “We couldn’t let Jessica ruin her life. We tried to stop her, but she ruined it anyway. She married you and had a child.”

Horrified at her slip, Pamela’s eyes shot to his and she covered her mouth with her hand.

He pried her hand from her mouth and kissed the wrist gently. Pamela flinched but didn’t pull away.

“Don’t worry, I know all about Shane. Tell me, what do you think of him?”

She waved a dismissive hand. “Why I barely see the child. Just because I tried to tell Jessica to end the pregnancy or give him up for adoption, now
she refuses to let us have anything to do with the boy. He is a willful and opinionated youth with a hint of wildness in him. Sometimes he reminds me of . . . ” Pamela trailed off refusing to say more.

“Who?” Cairo demanded.

“He reminds me of
you
.” She flung at him. “He reminds me of how you were the last time I saw you. You were so wild and emotional, so headstrong. I’ve never been able to forget that day and how you behaved. You were like a wild animal.” Pamela shuddered at the memory.

Cairo inched closer to her dominating her with his physical size and overwhelming her with his presence. “Maybe it’s my wildness that attracted your daughter to me.” He suggested. “Maybe she liked that I wasn’t like all the other men that she knew. Maybe I pleased her in ways that the prep school boys like James never could.” His voice deepened with sensuality.

“Cairo!” Storm shouted sharply as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d never seen her mother act this way before, and she’d never seen Cairo use his sexuality almost like a weapon. She wasn’t quite sure whom she was more shocked by. As she stood there watching them, she wondered why it had never occurred to her that her parents’ marriage might not be a happy one. She was now witnessing her mother’s obvious attraction to Cairo override her disdain for him.

Pamela looked hard at Cairo for several long moments. Her eyes traveled up and down the length of him as if weighing and testing his worth. Cairo was as still as a statue under her examination until she
finally spoke.

“You’ve changed a great deal. I can see that.” She admitted condescendingly. “You have acquired some polish and a modicum of breeding. How did you come by this transformation I wonder: drugs, gambling, prostitution? Men of your background hardly ever come into money
honestly. So tell me, how did you do it? I’m dying to know.”

The smile Cairo gave her was without humor. “I came by my money honestly, more honestly than your husband has because I worked hard for mine. It wasn’t inherited. Now that we have that clear, let’s get down to business. I want your daughter. I have always wanted her. Despite what you think, I would have made her happy.
There it was, the certainty.
I was good enough for her then and I’m good enough for her now. The only difference is that I can afford her now.” For the first time in years he felt the truth of the statement settle, stick and hold.

“Please,” Pamela sniffed, her voice mocking. “You can hardly afford Jessica, even though she does apparently come cheap.” She ignored her daughter’s gasp of outrage at her dig. “You’ve only been gone several years, hardly enough time to amass a fortune.”

‘That’s where you are wrong, madam. I had some strong motivation. Not only have I amassed a fortune, I have made enough money to rival all this.” He waved his hand around the room.

Pamela narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “I don’t believe you. Nothing good could come from you
—
that much I’m sure of. All of this is just a misguided ploy to gain my acceptance. If that’s the case you’re wasting your time. I don’t accept you and I never will. You’re not good enough for my daughter. One can attain money but you can’t buy class. Sorry.” She laughed and leaned back into the couch watching him with what seemed like anticipation.

Cairo smiled wickedly at the challenge. He leaned back in the chair as well and prepared himself to launch yet another attack. Pamela gave him an answering smile and Cairo knew it was just a matter of time before he had yet another Storm eating out of his hands.

That’s when the door opened and then slammed shut.

“What the hell is going on here?” Nigel Storm yelled, his words threatening to lift the roof from its rafters. In one quick look, he observed his wife lounging comfortably on the couch and his daughter standing frozen in the doorway. “What the hell are you doing Pamela and what is this degenerate doing in my house!” With lightning speed that belied his fifty-five years, he crossed the room to the couch. He then towered threateningly over Cairo as if he meant to do him physical harm.

“Move away from my wife and take yourself out of my house while you still can.” He threatened.

Cairo leaned backed insolently on the couch and spread his thighs wide so that they grazed Pamela’s leg. Slowly, brazenly, he spread his arms over the back of the chair.

“Threats so soon?” He mocked his disrespect obvious. “I’m a man now and you can’t fight me. I came here in peace. Let’s not make this into a war that you cannot win.” His words were purposefully impertinent.

Fury filled Nigel’s face with blood so that it distorted the smooth, almost unlined face that his plastic surgeon had worked hard to achieve. He threw a furious look at his daughter who stood frozen, all color gone from her face.

Storm widened her eyes in alarm.

“Why have you brought this loathsome creature here?” He spat at her.

“I couldn’t stop him from coming, daddy.” She explained clearly horrified by the unraveling events in front of her. “He insisted on coming.” She added as if that was explanation enough.

Before speaking, Nigel pinned his wife with a look that had her scrambling up from the couch. He then turned back to Cairo. “What do you want? If it’s money you want, you won’t get it from us. Wherever you’ve been hiding for the past seven years, you can crawl right
back there.”

Cairo smiled mirthlessly. “Look at me, Nigel. Do I look like I
need
your money? I’m wealthier than you are. I have a hotel empire that I built from scratch and a list of investments that would make your accountant salivate. So no, I don’t need your money. I could buy you twice over. The only thing I
need
of yours is standing by the door.”

All eyes turned to Storm who still stood motionless in the doorway, seemingly in shock.

Nigel curled his mouth in derision. “You want Jessica? You should have asked for money, it would have been of more value
—”

Before the sentence was even completed, Cairo was standing with Nigel’s shirt crumpled in his fist. He vaguely
heard the women screaming in the background.

“Forget that she’s your daughter, that’s my future wife you’re talking about. Apologize to her before I forget that you’re her father and break your neck.”

Nigel struggled and made a valiant attempt to twist free but Cairo’s grip was absolute. That he was younger, stronger and angrier lent him power. “Apologize!” Cairo demanded, shaking the older man as if he weighed nothing.