Finding Forever (5 page)

W
hitney didn’t see
the extra shine on the newly polished floors, and before she knew it, her feet flew out from beneath her, and the sound of her surprised yelp echoed through the hall as she landed hard.

Tears sprang to her eyes, but with nearly inhuman restraint she managed to push them back. She scooted backward against the wall and decided to stay put for the moment.

“Are you okay?”

Her head whipped up. Of course. It was the man who’d been making her feel unwelcome almost from the moment she’d entered the family home. Okay,
home
wasn’t quite the word. Maybe
estate
, or whatever. Rich bastards.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Go ahead and carry on.” She’d tried but failed to hide the pain laced through her voice.

“Most people learn how to walk by the time they’re one,” Liam said, but he reached out a hand.

She gasped. “You insult me and then offer to help me to my feet?”

“A gentleman would never fail to assist a lady when he found her in difficult circumstances.”

The sarcasm was oh too clear. He didn’t think of her as a
lady
at all.
Screw him. He was definitely no gentleman.

“Well, since we both know I’m not a typical woman, and certainly not in your class — whatever that is, though I have various thoughts on the subject — you’re free to be on your way.” She could do sarcasm too, though she was better at veiling it than he was.

But he just stood there with that same look of superiority, and she struggled to her feet. It seemed to take forever, and Liam, realizing she wasn’t going to accept his help, just stood there, damn his hide, looking down his nose at her.

“Are you sure you don’t want some assistance?” he asked, reaching for her again.

“I’ve got it.” Finally she managed to stand.

“My father would like to speak to you if you can follow me,” he said when the silence stretched on for what seemed an eternity.

“I would love to see him,” she replied.

“Right this way.”

She made sure to stay by his side. None of this two-steps-behind-richer-than-sin-monarchs crap for her. She’d prefer to walk ahead, actually, but she had no idea where they were going until they approached the large doors of what probably counted as the den — though who knew what these snooty people called it? No, it was probably the sitting room, or the parlor, because weren’t dens smaller? And this room wasn’t small. But it was still Whitney’s favorite room of the house, warm and cozy and with furniture that was actually comfortable. You couldn’t say that for most of the rest of this gloomy mansion.

When she and Liam walked inside, Whitney stopped dead, because a large group of people were sitting and chatting, and dressed to the nines. For just a moment she felt a trace of insecurity as she stood there in her sweater and jeans. But that was until she reminded herself that these people now looking at her in a most disapproving way would be nothing but memories in a very short time. They could all lead their incredibly boring, proper lives, and she could enjoy her freedom.

“Liam, where have you been hiding?” A woman looking to be in her mid-twenties — Whitney’s age, in fact, but clearly from another universe — rose quickly from her chair and rushed over. She gave Liam a chaste kiss and then returned to her seat, where she seemed to be holding court in the room full of people.

“Alexandra, I’m sorry,” he said coolly. “I didn’t realize we had guests.”

“How could you forget, darling? We’re supposed to be discussing the spring benefit for the opera.”

His gaze flicked upward, but the move was almost imperceptible. “You know I don’t get involved with that sort of thing,” he told her.

“I thought things were different now.”

The woman’s whine grated on Whitney’s nerves. But this blue blood was ignoring her presence completely, so maybe she could slip back out of the room unnoticed. She’d find Frederick later.

No such luck. Liam turned back toward Whitney, and much to her distress, she felt a little leap in her pulse as his sharp blue eyes focused on her. After his almost nonstop rudeness, she didn’t understand that leap at all.

“This is Whitney Steele. She’s the maternal aunt of my niece and nephew — I spoke of them earlier in the week. Whitney, this is Alexandra Masterson.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alexandra,” Whitney said, sticking out her hand.

The woman ignored the gesture and turned back toward Liam. “Let’s go talk privately.”

Before Whitney knew what was happening, Liam and Alexandra disappeared, and the chatting began again in the room, though of course it didn’t include her. She wasn’t sure if she should retreat or sit. Where was Frederick? Wasn’t he supposed to be meeting her?

Before she could decide what to do, Liam returned and, without even asking for her permission, he took her elbow and led her to a chair. Immediately, a maid offered her tea or coffee. Whitney chose tea.

The people were all so proper —hell,
tight-assed
was the way to describe it — and she found herself sitting there uncomfortably. Alexandra seemed to have a constant pout on her face while shooting Whitney a questioning look every once in a while. Who would want to associate with these people? To tell the truth, who would
ever
care to be around these idiots?

“Here are your finger sandwiches, sir,” said Mr. Dixon while setting down a beautiful dish on the antique table near Liam and Whitney before going to other groups in the room and placing refreshments. “I hope you enjoy them, Ms. Steele.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dixon. They look very … appetizing,” Whitney said, eyeing them with doubt. If she were being honest, they looked quite the opposite. Was that cucumber in small pieces of crustless bread? She’d heard of canapés like these, but didn’t understand the appeal.

Alexandra took the opportunity and pounced. “Have you not had a proper tea before?”

She could only be described as catty. But even the worst of cats were better than she was. The woman, that detestable woman, delicately picked up a tiny sandwich and didn’t even eat the whole thing. One minuscule bite, damn her. Alexandra then set it down and picked up her wretched porcelain cup of tea, her face sweet, almost angelic. Wow, if looks were ever deceiving …

“No, not really. I think the closest I’ve come is happy hour with barbecue wings and two-dollar drafts,” Whitney said with a smile. “If you don’t need at least five wet napkins, then you haven’t had very good wings.”

While Whitney delighted in the expression on Alexandra’s face, she was afraid to see how Liam had taken that outrageous remark. But when she heard him chuckle, she turned toward him in shock. He quickly covered up the short-lived amusement — he’d have probably called it
mirth
— by coughing, and then once again making his face a blank.

“Barbecue wings? Interesting. I’ll have to see whether the cook could prepare some for you.”

“Where are you from, Ms. Steele?” Alexandra asked.

“Oregon.” She wasn’t going to elaborate. She didn’t want to converse with this woman or with anyone else in the room. Including Liam.

“You’re a long way from home,” she said. “When will you be going back?”

Even though the woman managed to say it with a polite mask on her face, Whitney knew the question was in no way friendly.

“I’m not sure yet. The children are getting to know their family,” she answered after a moment.

“And you need to be here for that?”

Whitney looked over at Liam, but he clearly wasn’t going to do a dang thing to help her out. She was coming to dislike the man more and more, if that was possible.

“I’m their legal guardian, so, yes, I do need to be here,” she informed the wicked witch of the East Coast.

“Don’t you feel they would be safe with their grandfather and uncle? I mean, it’s not as if they wouldn’t have proper supervision, or be lacking in anything at all. They’d have everything they could possibly want at their disposal.”

“There’s more to raising and loving children than material things,” Whitney said. She couldn’t quite suppress her disapproval.

“I disagree. Children raised in better environments rule the world as adults. Consider Liam for example,” she said, and she turned to look at him, batting her eyes.

“Do you rule the world, Mr. Felton?” Whitney asked.

He was silent for a moment and she couldn’t read what he was thinking, but she waited to see what he would say. Alexandra started to interrupt and he simply held up a hand, stopping the woman instantly.

Wow. Whitney wished she could harness that power. She’d have far fewer arguments with her nephew — that was for certain.

“I rule my portion of it,” he finally said, the slightest of smiles taking over his lips. And a whole lot of arrogance shining in his eyes.

“I guess being raised in circumstances of wealth and power helped set you up for that. Nice job if you can get it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

“If you’d been born into poverty, you wouldn’t have been able to participate in the activities or to ‘network’ with the bigwigs that obviously helped you to succeed.” It was an insult and they both knew it.

“Whether I’d grown up rich or poor, I would still be where I am in the world, Ms. Steele, because I have ambition and drive. Those who succeed are those who want to.”

“So you think the poor choose to be that way?” she asked.

He gave her a curious look and seemed to actually think about his answer. She wasn’t sure if that was all for show or not.

“I think those who truly want to better themselves will stop at nothing to do it.”

“So, if you’re born into poverty and don’t have the opportunity to go to school, to follow your dreams, that’s all because of choice?”

“For some.”

“And others?”

“Why are you pushing this?” he asked, his irritation showing.

“Because I get sick and tired of people thinking they are so much better if they have money, especially if they were born to it and all its advantages. I’m a good person, have worked hard, but then my sister died, and I had to put a pause on schooling. Does that make me any less than anyone else?”

She could tell what Alexandra thought from the woman’s cultured snicker. It was a good thing that Whitney didn’t give a damn. Unfortunately, she did want to know Liam’s opinion.

“I will have to think on this. Let’s just say that you’re helping to open my eyes just a bit,” he said.

She didn’t know whether he was mocking her or not, so she decided this might be a good time to stop this questioning, though she might get in one final barb.

The fool really knew nothing about the way the world worked.
She’d had all the drive possible, all the ambition, but she had very little to show for it, except for two wonderful children.

“I’ll just finish by saying that if a determined person is going to make it no matter what, then it really doesn’t matter where Brayden and Ally are raised now, does it?” she told him.

Her words stopped him again, and his eyes narrowed once more. He didn’t like the corner she was backing him into. Whitney couldn’t help but notice the gasp wrung from Alexandra, but she didn’t turn to the woman and acknowledge her. Why bother?

Before anything else was said, a man who was obviously a member of the Felton staff approached her.

“Ms. Steele, a package has arrived for you.”

She rose slowly. “Are you sure it’s for me? No one that I know is aware I’m here.”

“Your name is on the box,” the man said. “It was left at the front door.”

“Um, thank you,” Whitney replied before standing and turning toward Liam. “Please tell your father I will look for him in a little while.”

With that, she followed the staff member from the room. She was more grateful to him than anyone she’d ever met before. That conversation had taken a lot out of her — much as she hated to admit it — and she was almost desperate to get away from both Liam and that awful, awful woman. Whitney prayed that fate would smile on her and she’d never have to meet Alexandra again.

“Would you like me to take this to your room?” the staffer asked once he showed her the package.

“No, I’m sure I can lift it,” she told him, and wondered what it could be. It wasn’t exactly heavy, but it wasn’t light, either.

When she got to the privacy of her room, she opened it and broke out in a smile. Several beautifully wrapped gifts sat inside the cardboard, and it took everything in her power not to tear into the wrapping without delay.

There was no return label, nothing to indicate where the package had come from. The gifts were addressed, variously, to the children and to her.

The holidays couldn’t come soon enough. Whitney wasn’t known for her ability to wait for anything, but for her niece and nephew she would.

Why go back downstairs to those wretched people? A nap seemed so much better. Whitney fell asleep within minutes — that hadn’t happened in a long time — and she immediately began dreaming of a man she didn’t even like, and most assuredly didn’t want to dream about.

I
’ve only been
on horseback a few times, and it wasn’t snowing when I did it. Plus, I think the horses were about twenty years old,” Whitney said. “You promise she won’t buck me off?” She glanced doubtfully at the mare, who was acting all too innocent as she munched on her hay.

“It’s a perfect day for a short ride, Ms. Steele. The winter landscape is pure and clean,” Mr. Smotter told her. “You said you wanted to do this.”

“That was yesterday,” Whitney said. “I was caught up in the excitement of watching Ally’s delight when she got a lesson.”

“I’ll be with you the entire time. You have nothing to worry about,” he assured her. “Besides, Penny is fifteen years old — that’s really not far from twenty — and she’s incredibly gentle. She’s perfect for an inexperienced rider like you.”

“Okay. I’ll do it.” Whitney had decided not to let her fears stop her from living her life. “But I
will
hold you to your promise, Mr. Smotter. If she throws me, I will remind you every day of the rest of my stay here that you were wrong.” She even winked at him, and her eyes held a wicked gleam.

“And if that were to happen — which it won’t — you would be more than justified in doing what you threatened,” he said with one of his rare and valuable smiles.

Just as she got comfortable in the saddle, she heard the voice that seemed to haunt her at every turn.

“Mr. Smotter, my father needs you. I’ll attend to Ms. Steele,” Liam said.

“Of course, sir,” the good man replied. “I’ll return quickly,” he told Whitney.

“We can reschedule for another time. I’m perfectly fine with that,” she said. Hey, maybe she was going to get out of this ordeal without looking like a wimp.

“Nonsense,” Liam said. “I’ll take Ms. Steele on a ride.”

Mr. Smotter turned and left without another word. If Liam said he was doing something, there was apparently no questioning it.

That didn’t sit too well with Whitney. “I really wasn’t that excited about riding. The ground is covered with snow —
obviously
— and I’m certainly no expert horsewoman. I don’t need to waste your time with this.” She began to swing her leg over to dismount.

Liam’s hand shot out to stop her. The feel of his fingers squeezing her calf sent a sharp pang of electricity through her.

“I insist,” he said. When he had Whitney settled again, he took the halter of a stallion one of the groomsmen had brought up to him.

Here’s what really shocked her. Her mare began moving obediently behind Liam’s stallion as they went out of the stable. She didn’t have to use the reins.

Neither of them spoke as Liam led her on a slow gait through the snow-covered pastures. Slowly, slowly, slowly. Finally, Whitney couldn’t stand the silence a second longer.

“Did you and your brother grow up here?”

Liam remained silent for a few heartbeats, and Whitney was beginning to think he wasn’t going to answer.

“Yes. It was a good place to grow up. This side of the country offers a lot of opportunities.”

“And you obviously had a lot of land to play on,” she said with a forced laugh. “Pretty impressive when you live on the East Coast. There aren’t that many wide open spaces around these parts.”

“Granted. Still, I’ve never quite understood my father’s obsession with owning property. So much of it.”

“Maybe because he likes the freedom it gives him,” Whitney told him.

“The man you’ve met is far different from the man I grew up with,” Liam said. “I don’t think it’s about freedom. I think having the home and land made a statement.”

“Why do you say that?”

She had been at Frederick and Liam’s place for only a week, and so much confused her. She had no doubt in her mind that Frederick loved his grandchildren, that he deeply missed the son he’d lost, and that he hoped for his other son to quit being so bitter. But she didn’t understand Liam at all.

“It’s nothing,” he told her as they and their horses went around a bend.

Another mansion, all kitted out with stables almost as impressive as the property she’d been staying in, loomed before them.

“Where are we?”

“This is my place.”

“What do you mean? I thought you lived with your father.”

He led the horses toward the barn, and there was nothing she could do to stop it from happening.

“I’m thirty-four years old, Whitney. Do you honestly believe I would still be living with my father? This isn’t that old TV show
Dallas
.”

As Liam jumped down, a man suddenly appeared and took the reins of his horse.

“I just … well, I assumed you lived there because you’re there so often, eating with us, and … I don’t know. You’re just always there,” she finished lamely as he held out a hand to help her dismount. “I really shouldn’t get off. I need to get back to the kiss … kids, I mean kids!” She absolutely didn’t want to go into this man’s home.

The look he sent her definitely told her that he’d caught her Freudian slip. No, nothing Freudian about it. It was a mere slip of the tongue, one that she couldn’t account for at all. She didn’t want to kiss this man. No way!

“The children are fine, as you well know. I need to make a few phone calls, and
you
need to warm up before we head back to my father’s place.”

How could Whitney argue with that? “I could just stay in the barn while you make the calls. It’s warm in here, and I can brush the horses down.”

“You can brush your mare when we return.”

He moved a few inches closer, and unless Whitney wanted an all-out fight, she had little choice but to go with him. He would have plenty of staff in his house, she was sure. It wasn’t as if the two of them would be all alone and he could have his wicked way with her.

She felt only a small measure of comfort at that, but she gave him her hand, this time more prepared as the tingling zip, the electricity, shot through her body at his barest touch.

They went quickly toward his house, and then they were out of the cold. He ushered her down a hallway, still holding the hand he’d grabbed when helping her from the horse.

He let go of her only when they entered a large room with a burning fireplace, the warmth drawing Whitney immediately to it. Still, a shiver traveled down her spine when he let his hands rest on her shoulders, and she had to fight not to turn around and propel herself into his arms.

“Consider taking off your coat. We’re going to be here a little while.” Liam’s breath brushed across her ear.

“I’m still a bit cold,” she said, barely able to get the words past the tightening in her throat.

He reached around her and began slowly unzipping her jacket. Her eyes were drawn to the movement as another shudder passed through her.

Liam pulled the coat off, sliding it down her arms and then tossing it to one side. It landed on a couch.

“I’ve waited long enough to do this.”

That was her only warning before he drew her around, then yanked her against his body. And now his lips were pressing against hers.

It took only milliseconds before she felt her lips parting, before he claimed her mouth and made her knees shake with the intensity of the kiss he was sharing with her.

Liam’s hands moved down from her shoulders, traveled to her back, and fell on the top of her nicely curved behind. He couldn’t help himself, and he followed the same journey up and back down again.

The kiss was all-consuming, and when he broke away, leaning back only a couple of inches so that when her eyes opened, she could clearly see the need burning in his, she wanted nothing more than to pull him back to her.

“Let’s go upstairs, Whitney. This has been inevitable since the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

It took a few moments for his words to sink past the lust-filled haze she was in, but when they did, she stiffened all the way through, and then her hand came up and she pushed against his chest.

He didn’t fight her when she drew away from him, and she was grateful for that.

“You’ve been nothing but rude to me from the moment we met, so why in the world would I ever think that?” she almost hissed. “And besides, nothing is inevitable, Liam. Nothing.” She was still trembling, but her temper helped her speak. “And, dammit, I’m most certainly not the kind of woman to jump into bed with a man just because he thinks it’s somehow inevitable.”

“Why would you resist? I can feel the way your body reacts to mine,” he told her. His eyes held no anger, only puzzlement.

“You kiss me once and then assume I’m ready to jump into your bed? What sort of world do you live in?”

“The real world, Whitney. If you don’t want me, that’s one thing, but it’s more than clear that you do.” He finally moved away to a cabinet in the corner. Pulling out two glasses, he poured them each a stiff drink of bourbon.

“I’m the one living in the real world, Liam. You live in some sort of fantasyland where you get everything you want at the snap of two fingers. And I’m not enjoying being here in your sad world. I would like to go back to your father’s house now,” she told him as he approached.

Just then a boom of thunder exploded right over them, or what felt like it, and the lights went out. A shiver of fear ran through her as she looked at Liam in the gray light coming in through the windows.

“It doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere for the moment,” Liam said, his smile of victory unmistakable.

“I think I’d rather face a storm than face the evening in here with you.” She was surprised, though, when she realized that she’d said those words aloud.

“You would probably be safer,” he told her before setting down his glass and moving back toward her.

Whitney had no idea what to do. She only knew that if he touched her again, she just might melt right into his arms, so she panicked and did the only thing she could think of — turned and ran.

She didn’t make it far before Liam caught up to her, and when he hauled her into his arms, his look was perfectly clear. He was willing to use any and all means to seduce her.

She hoped she had the strength to resist.