“Lately, I have a hard time remembering how much I love my brother and how good he’s been to me,” Lucy said in a whisper, as though Noah might be standing out in the hallway, his ear pressed to the door. “I swear, most of the time now I never want to speak to him again. But I know I need to try harder to get through to him before I do anything drastic.”
Alice didn’t like the sound of that. “Drastic. Like what?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“But, Lucy—”
“Trust me. It’s better if you don’t know. It just puts you in the middle of this more than you already are.”
“All right, now you’re scaring me.”
“Oh, please. It’s nothing that awful.” Lucy knocked back a big gulp of ginger ale. “And I’m twenty-three years old. If I want to walk out of here and not look back, he can’t stop me. But I don’t want to do that.”
“You want your brother’s blessing,” Alice said gently.
“Yes, I do. And that means I’m going to have to talk to him some more. I’m going to have to try again to get him to see that he has to let me go.” She waved a hand. “Oh, not tonight. Not with the big party and all, but tomorrow or the next day. And I know, a minute ago I said you shouldn’t be in the middle of this. I do totally get that it’s not fair to ask you, but will you maybe just think about backing me up?”
Alice had no idea how to answer. She felt a strong sense of loyalty to Noah. But she also sympathized with Lucy. Noah
was
too protective and Lucy deserved her chance at her dream.
Her indecision must have shown on her face because Lucy groaned. “Okay, never mind. It’s not your battle, I know that. Like I said, I shouldn’t have asked.”
And Alice found herself offering limply, “I’ll...do what I can.”
Lucy jumped from her chair, grabbed Alice’s hand and pulled her up into a hug. “Oh, thank you. And whatever happens, I’m so glad you came here—selfishly for me because I like you a lot and you’re so easy to talk to. But also for Noah. I’m so glad he found you and I hope you two end up together in, well, you know, that forever kind of way.”
Alice eased from Lucy’s grip and set her soft drink on the side table next to her chair. Then she took Noah’s little sister by the shoulders and gazed into her wide brown eyes. “I can’t say for certain yet what will happen between me and your brother. But I
can
say that you are absolutely marvelous.”
Lucy giggled. “I try.” And then she grew more serious. “I worry about Noah. I do. Before our mom died, he used to be...softer, you know? At least, he always was with me and Mom. I was sick so much and Mom, well, she was so sad all the time. Noah said she missed our dad. I remember him then as so sweet and good to us. He would do anything for us back then.”
Alice reminded her, “I think he would do anything for you right now.”
Lucy made a scoffing sound. “But you see, the point is, there are things he
can’t
do for me, things I need to do for myself.”
Alice had to agree. “All right. I see what you mean.”
Lucy dropped back into her chair again. She kicked off her shoes, drew up her feet and braced her chin on her knees. “All those years ago? Before Mom died?”
Alice knew she should be getting back to her room to prepare for the evening ahead. Michelle would be waiting, growing impatient. But then again, this right now with Lucy, was a lot more important than primping for a party. She sat down, too. “Tell me.”
“Well, Noah also had a wild side then, when I was little.”
Alice wasn’t surprised. “I believe that.”
“Outside the house, he was big trouble. He didn’t fit in and he used to get in fights all the time. It got worse as he got older. He didn’t make friends easily. He was an outsider. And he never backed down, so every night was fight night. I guess it’s kind of a miracle he never got shot. He did get knifed a time or two, though.
That
was really scary. He’d come home all bloody and Mom had to patch him up. He barely graduated high school. And then somehow he got into business college and found this job working for this guy who flipped houses. Mom was pleased he was working and actually getting a little higher education, but every day she worried he’d get kicked out of college for bad grades or lose his job for fighting. She had that sadness inside her, and it got worse because she feared for him, for his drinking, for his being out all night, being out of control. And then we lost her....” Lucy shut her eyes and dropped her forehead down on her knees.
Alice sat in sympathetic silence, hoping that she would go on.
And she did. She lifted her head and straightened her shoulders. She stared toward the open doors to the balcony. “And that was it. After the day Mom died, I don’t think he ever got into another fight. He got control of himself scary fast. He started getting straight As at his business school. I never saw him drunk again. I mean, that’s good, I know, that he isn’t out beating people’s heads in, that he’s not a drunk. That he’s focused and determined and a big success and all that. He’s come so far. I get that. I’m proud of him. But he’s definitely not as sweet as he used to be back in the day, when it was just us at home. He’s not as understanding, not as open-minded.” She turned her head, looked at Alice, then. “I’ve done my best, I promise you, to keep him real, to remind him that he only
thinks
he owns the world. But I really am well now. I’m one of the lucky ones. And I have my own life I have to live, you know?”
“Of course you do....” Alice felt strangely humbled. She’d thought Lucy childlike at first. But today she saw the wisdom in those innocent eyes.
Lucy reached between their chairs and squeezed Alice’s arm. “Noah desperately needs a person like you in his life, someone he can’t run all over. Someone who isn’t the least impressed by his money, someone who really cares about him and who can stand up to him, too.”
Alice hardly knew what to say. “You make me sound so much more exemplary than I actually am.”
“That’s not true. You
are
exemplary. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to my brother, and I only hope he doesn’t blow it and not let you into his heart and end up chasing you away.”
Chapter Nine
W
hen Alice got back to her room, Michelle was waiting, tapping her foot in irritation. “What am I going to do with you? Is that hay in your hair? The party starts at eight. Have you forgotten?”
Alice didn’t even argue. She headed straight for her bath.
She was ready at a quarter of eight, fifteen minutes before the guests were due to start arriving. She followed the sound of music down to the first floor. A quartet was warming up in the wide curve at the bottom of the stairs—a grand piano, bass, drums and a sultry singer in a clinging blue satin dress, her blond hair pinned up on one side with a giant rhinestone clip, her lips cherry red.
Alice had a look around. In the living room, two full bars had been set up, one at either end. The dining room was one fabulous buffet, set out on the long dining table and on each of the giant mahogany sideboards. She moved on to the family room, where the doors were wide-open on the loggia. Outside, there was more food and yet another full bar.
Noah appeared from the foyer. He was looking cool and casual in an open-collared dress shirt and dark trousers.
He swept her with an admiring glance, head to toe and back again. “You look incredible in that dress and those shoes.” She wore a short strapless black cocktail dress, her classic red-soled patent leather Christian Louboutin stilettos and the hammered-gold necklace he’d bought her. He put an arm around her, drew her close and whispered, “So how come all I can think of is getting everything off of you?”
She laughed and leaned against him, the things Lucy had revealed to her earlier foremost in her mind, making her feel tenderly toward him—and sympathetic, too. He’d been through so much and come so very far. She would try to remember to be patient with him. She teased, “I think I’ll keep my clothes on, if that’s all right with you. At least until the party’s over.”
He handed her a glass of champagne and offered a toast. “To when the party’s over.” They touched glasses, sipped and shared a quick champagne-flavored kiss.
The doorbell rang and the party began.
Alice met a whole bunch of handsome, athletic people, most of whose names she promptly forgot. A lot of them were horse lovers. Many knew of her and her family. And she could tell by the gleam in more than one eye that several of them had read of her exploits over the years. Yes, she did feel a bit like Noah’s newest acquisition—a famous painting or a champion racehorse brought out and paraded around, yet more proof of Noah Cordell’s enormous success.
But she didn’t let it get to her. She’d spent too much of her life with people staring at her to become all that upset if they stared at her some more. She didn’t let the ogling bother her, only smiled and tried enjoy herself.
Her second cousin, Jonas Bravo, and his wife, Emma, arrived around eight-thirty. It touched Alice that Noah had thought to invite them. She sat out by the infinity pool with them for over an hour, catching up a little. Emma and Jonas enjoyed a great marriage. They loved their four children and they were clearly blissfully happy together. It always made Alice feel good to be around them. They encouraged her to come visit them at their Bel Air estate, Angel’s Crest, anytime she could manage it during her stay. She thanked them and promised she would try.
They went back inside together, the three of them. Alice excused herself to mingle with the other guests. She visited with a couple of minor celebrities who lived in the area and chatted with a lovely older lady about the best local beaches and the fine gardens at Mission Santa Barbara. Then she joined Noah, who was talking horses and polo with three of his neighbors. The nearby polo and racquet club was deep into its fall schedule of polo tournaments. After half an hour of that, she excused herself and went upstairs to freshen her lip gloss.
At the top of the stairs stood a tall, attractive fortyish brunette in red silk. “Your Highness. Hello. I’m Jessica Saunders.” Jessica had very angry eyes.
Alice was tempted to simply nod and move on past. But she did want to get along with all of Noah’s friends. So she paused when she reached the landing and returned Jessica’s greeting.
Altus was below her, following her up, staying close as he always did when there were strangers around. She gave him a quick glance and a slight shake of her head to let him know she was fine. He continued the rest of the way up, passing between her and the other woman, stopping farther down the upper hallway, where he could keep her in sight.
Jessica sighed. “Leave it to Noah to bring home royalty.” She delicately plucked the cherry from her Manhattan by the stem and popped it into her mouth. Her red lips tipped upward in a smile that managed to be both lazy and aggressive at the same time.
Alice resisted the urge to explain that her family was not strictly considered royal. Montedoro was a principality, not a monarchy. Her mother held a throne, but she didn’t wear a crown. It was a distinction most people didn’t get, anyway. Plus, in recent generations, with all the media hype, just about anyone with a title could end up mistakenly being called a “royal.” So never mind. Let Jessica call her a royal if she wanted to. “Noah didn’t ‘bring’ me here,” she said. “I arranged my own transportation, thank you—and the Santa Barbara area is so beautiful. We rode down to the ocean today. It was fabulous.”
Jessica was not interested in discussing the scenery. “Slightly, er, tarnished royalty, however. We’ve all read so
much
about you....”
Alice kept on smiling. “Tarnished? I’m guessing you must have grown up years and years ago, back when women weren’t allowed to be as interesting as men.”
Jessica took a large sip from her drink. “Humph. Being royalty,
I’m
guessing
you
know about Henry VIII.”
“Well, I did see
The Other Boleyn Girl.
I kind of have a thing for Eric Bana, if you must know.”
“I only mean, if you think about it, Noah is a little like Henry VIII, isn’t he?”
Alice wished she had a drink in her hand. She could toss it into Jessica’s handsome, smug face. “Excuse me?”
“Not that he’s ever cut off anyone’s head. It’s only that he becomes bored with his conquests so easily, wouldn’t you say?”
Alice gave up trying to play nice. “I’m sorry, Jessica. Could you try being just a little more direct? Are you telling me that you are one of Noah’s ‘conquests,’ and that he dumped you and now you’re bitter and out for revenge because he broke your heart?”
Jessica almost choked on her Manhattan. “No, of course not. It’s just what I’ve heard and what I’ve observed. I’m a
friend,
a neighbor. I have the next estate over to the north.”
“You don’t behave like a friend.”
“I’m only telling you what I’ve heard.”
“Only spreading ugly rumors, you mean—and trying to cause tension between Noah and me.”
Jessica huffed. “As I said,
Your Highness,
it was just an observation. There’s no need to get hostile.”
“Oh, I’m not hostile. I’m merely disgusted. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see no benefit to either of us in continuing this conversation.” Alice started walking. She didn’t stop until she reached her room. When she glanced back, Jessica was gone and Altus was right where he’d been a moment before, patiently waiting, ever watchful. She gave him a nod and shut the door.
Once alone, she fell back across the bed and stared at the ceiling and slowly smiled. Her mother would have been proud of her. She’d put Jessica Saunders in her place and then some. And she’d done it without causing her usual scene, without so much as raising her voice.
* * *
Later, when all the guests had gone home, Noah did what he’d been waiting all day and evening to do. He took off Alice’s black dress and her red-soled shoes and made slow love to her. It was even better than the night before.
She cuddled up close to him afterward, and he stroked her silky, fragrant hair and thought that even if she hadn’t agreed to marry him yet, things were going pretty well between them.
Scratch that. Things were going great.
Then she said, “Tell me about Jessica Saunders.” Her tone was a little too careful, too neutral.
He wrapped a thick bronze curl around his finger, rubbed it with his thumb and then let it go. “There’s nothing to tell. She’s always seemed friendly enough. She’s a neighbor, a booster of the new Carpinteria hospital—to which I have written more than one large check. She does like her Manhattans, or so I’ve been told. And she’s divorced. I heard she took her ex-husband to the cleaners. He left her for a twenty-year-old dental assistant from Azusa.”
“Ouch. I guess that explains the bitterness. At least to a degree. And she was drinking a Manhattan. Maybe she’d had one too many.”
“What bitterness?” He took her chin and tipped it up so he could see her eyes. “What happened?”
She wrinkled up her pretty nose as though she smelled something bad. “Jessica caught me on the stairs and told me that you’re like Henry VIII. You quickly get bored with your girlfriends and dump them.”
“What a bitch. I never realized.” He kept his hand under her chin so he could see her eyes as he told her gruffly, “Not bored. Never dumping you—but didn’t I tell you that weeks ago, on my last night in Montedoro?”
“You did. And your dumping me or not isn’t really what I’m worried about right now.”
“Good.” He waited. He wasn’t sure where this was going, but he already had a feeling it was in the wrong direction.
She asked, “Are you really
friends
with any of the people who came to the party tonight?”
“Not really, no. But I have a good time with several of them. I enjoy their company. Isn’t that enough? Do they need to be people I’d take a bullet for?”
She stacked her hands on his chest and braced her chin on them—and didn’t answer his question. “It’s beautiful here. I love it.”
“So, then, why do you sound like you’re leading me someplace I’m not going to like?”
She lifted up enough to plant a hard, quick kiss on the edge of his jaw. “I want to know more about you. I want to know
everything
about you.”
He scowled up at her. “Why?”
“Noah, come on. You’ve asked me to marry you.”
“Yeah, I have. And in case you’ve forgotten, you failed to say yes.”
“It’s not something a person should enter into lightly. We’re talking about a lifetime together.
And
about having children.”
“Exactly. So when are you going to say yes?”
She puffed out her cheeks with a hard breath. “A woman with any sense at all needs to know everything she can about a man before she says yes.”
“You already know me better than anyone else but Lucy—and maybe Hannah.”
“I believe that. And still, I don’t know you nearly well enough.”
He did love her mouth. He loved it even when she was saying things he didn’t want to hear. Idly, he rubbed his thumb across those lush, sweetly shaped lips of hers. “Believe me. You know me well enough.”
His assurances failed to shut her up. “No, I don’t. And what I’m trying to tell you is that I need to know more. I want you to take me to Los Angeles. I want to see the street you grew up on, the house you used to live in. I want to meet your childhood friends.”
That was not going to happen. “Where did you get this idea?”
She bent her head and pressed the sweetest, softest kiss to the center of his chest. “I was talking to Lucy yesterday. She told me a little about how it was for you before your mom died.”
He should have known. “Did she tell you that all I did was fight and drink?”
“More or less, yes. But she also said you had a sweeter side then and that you were more open-minded.”
He grunted. Of course Lucy would say that he
used
to be sweeter. And maybe it was even true. Being sweet and open-minded had not gotten him what he wanted and needed in life. “I don’t
have
any childhood friends, so there’s no one there for you to meet.”
“That’s all right.” She laid her head down, her ear against his breastbone. “I still want to see where you grew up.”
He eased his fingers under the warm weight of her hair and settled his hand around the back of her neck. He didn’t think he could ever get tired of putting his hands on her. It was another of the many things that made her perfect for him. “It’s a neighborhood of small older houses, California bungalows and little stucco Spanish-style homes. Nothing special. You’d get nothing out of seeing it.”
“Let me be the judge of that.” With her index finger, she traced a squiggly pattern along the outside of his arm. It tickled in a very good way. “You can take me to all the places you used to hang out.” She sighed, a tender little sound, and snuggled in even closer. “My sister Rhia met her husband in Los Angeles. Rhia was in college at UCLA and Marcus was on some special military fellowship there. They had a favorite hamburger stand.” She chuckled to herself. “I want to go to
your
favorite hamburger stand.”
He traced a slow path down the bumps of her spine—all the way to those two perfect dimples on either side of her round little bottom. “No, Alice. I’m not taking you there.”
She pushed herself up over him and then brought her face down to his, nose to nose. He could smell lilies. Also, sex. Her nipples were like little pink pebbles against his chest. He started getting hard again. She knew it, too. She smiled in that way she had, all woman and all-powerful. “I wasn’t asking your permission.”
“Listen to me.” He cradled the side of her face and gave her his most uncompromising stare. “No.”
“You don’t intimidate me, Noah. And you don’t get to be the only one in control. If you don’t go with me, I’ll only go without you.”
“What in hell did you and Lucy talk about?” he growled against those fine soft lips of hers.
“I’ll never tell.” She licked him, just stuck out that clever tongue of hers and ran it in a circle around his lips. He got even harder. And then he opened his mouth and sucked her tongue inside.
The kiss was long and wet and wonderful. Before it was over, he’d flipped her onto her back. And once he had her there, well, he had to kiss her everywhere.