Nothing But Trouble (17 page)

“Why?”

“Don’t you get it, you dope?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, let me just say this. It’s been fun, but it’s time to get back to the real world.”

“You’re on vacation. For now this is the real world.”

“Oh, please!”

“What happened between you and my mother?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit,” Brandon stated flatly. “Something had to happen to make you put on that little show down there.”

“Show?” she said, averting her eyes. “That wasn’t a show.

That’s who I am, where I’m from.”

Brandon took a deep breath. “You haven’t lied to me yet.

Please don’t start now.”

She met his gaze bel igerently, but then seemed to deflate.

“Please don’t fight me on this, Brandon. I want to go home. Now.”

“May I come with you?”

“No!” she practically shouted. Then she paused a moment before going on more quietly. “I’ve had a great time. Really. I’m glad we met, and I’m glad we got to know one another. But it’s time to get back to reality, that’s all.”

“Are you saying it’s over?”

“That’s what I’m saying, yes,” she whispered hoarsely.

“I can’t accept that.”

“You don’t have much choice.”

His hands dropped from her shoulders. “If you’d trust me with what happened, maybe we could work it out, Laura.”

She swal owed, shaking her head. “No. There’s nothing to work out, except transportation to the airport.”

A feeling of intense loss gripped Brandon, and he knew he had to do something—fast. He couldn’t even imagine life without her in it from here on. He tried one last time. “Would it make any difference if I told you I think I’m falling in love with you?”

“Oh, Brandon!” She covered her face with her hands for several excruciating moments. But when she let them drop, he knew he’d lost. “No. It wouldn’t make a difference, even if I believed it.”

Brandon wasn’t a quitter by nature. And most definitely not when it involved something he desperately wanted. But he also knew when to retreat and reload. He was going to get to the bottom of this. And then he’d know just what to do to get Laura Tanner back into his life. Permanently.

“Al right, sweetheart,” he said quietly. “Get your stuff together, and I’lltake you to the airport.”

BRANDON FOUND his parents sitting in the salon, just where he’d told them to be before he left to take Laura to the airport.

He strolled in, poured himself a snifter of brandy from the crystal decanter, sat down casually on the couch, and took a sip.

Then, as he let the liquid burn a path down his throat, he said, very calmly, “So why don’t you two tell me what the hel went on here this afternoon?”

His mother leaned forward and put a hand on his knee. “I had your best interests at heart, Brandon. As I always do.”

“What happened?”

Her eyebrows rose. “You mean Laura didn’t tel you?”

“The only thing Laura told me was that she wanted to go home.”

His mother sat back, almost slumping in her seat. It was so out of character for her that his father came to stand behind her chair and grasp her shoulders.

As angry as Brandon was, he too became worried at the glazed look in his mother’s eyes. “What happened, Mom?”

“She told me to go to hel ,” his mother said, her lips quirking up.

“She did?” Brandon and his dad said at the same time. And then, strangely enough, his dad smiled at that, when Brandon would have certainly expected him to be outraged on his wife’s behalf. “Why?” Brandon added.

His mother looked up, her eyes clearing. “You have to marry that girl.”

“Whoa!” Brandon said, laughing. “What in the world are you talking about?”

His mother leaned forward again. “Brandon, please forgive me. I was just looking out for you.” 

“How?”

“I was afraid she might be a gold-digger.”

“Uh-oh. What did you say?”

“It wasn’t what I said, it’s what I did.”

“And that was?” Brandon asked, fear tightening his chest.

“I wrote her a check to pay her to stay out of your life.”

Brandon shot to his feet. “You did
what
?”

“I offered her money to go away.”

Brandon slammed the snifter on the coffee table. “How could you do that? How could you interfere in my personal life?”

“I’m so sorry, Brandon.”

“She was the best thing that ever happened to me. She made me laugh, she made me think, she made me see the world from a completely different viewpoint.”

He began pacing back and forth. “Do you know that she grew up without a mother? And a father who saw her as nothing more than an inconvenience? She worked her way up from that to make her own life. And she started her own business. The place is classy and friendly and so is the clientele. And she wants to go to college. Did you know that? She’s saving to go to school because education means everything to her.”

“We understand, Bran,” his father said.

“No! You have no clue. Everything Laura has she earned honestly, with hard work and ethics that would shame a priest.

You know the only luxury she permits herself? Books. She loves books.

“She’s bright and sweet and beautiful, and she has the wackiest collection of friends you can imagine. And she’s the first woman I’ve ever met that made me think of babies.”

He looked at his mother, and al of his pain was reflected in her eyes. “Why, Mom?”

“I wanted to make certain she wasn’t another Beth,” she said softly.

“Beth? What does she have to do with it?”

“Unlike Laura, Beth didn’t tear up the check. She cashed it.”

Brandon sat down heavily. “You paid Beth to dump me?”

“I paid her not to marry my son, whom she didn’t love.”

He settled his head in his hands. “I don’t believe this.”

“Bran,” his father said, “don’t judge your mother too harshly. She just wanted to be sure that the woman who married you loved you, not your name, family, or money.”

Brandon looked up. “Am I that unlovable? You couldn’t trust that a woman might find something about me to love besides the Prince name?” He heaved a breath. “It might interest you to know that in Laura’s case, my name was a drawback, not a sel ing point. As soon as she realized I came from a wealthy family, she didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I had to
work
to get her to go out with me.”

His father came around the chair and sat down beside him.

“Have I ever told you about asking your grandfather for your mother’s hand in marriage?”

“You asked her to marry you on the second date.”

“I did. Before I had any idea who she was. She took me home to meet her parents right after that. Her father took me into the den and offered me fifty thousand dollars to leave her alone. He also told me that if she married me, he’d disown her.”

Brandon stared at his father. “What did you do?”

His father smiled. “I told him to go to hel .” Then John Prince glanced at his wife with a wealth of love. “I confronted your mother and told her she had a choice between rich daddy with al the comforts and poor me with only a dream. She chose me.” His father hugged him. “Don’t judge your mother too harshly, son. It’s those genes. She just wanted to be sure Laura wanted you, not Prince Shipping.”

“It appears Laura doesn’t want either of us.”

Brandon’s mother stood up abruptly. “Did we bring you up to give in at the first sign of trouble? For heaven’s sake, Brandon, fight for her.”

* * *

“YOU’RE JUST FULL of good cheer these days,” Hannah commented dryly.

Laura pressed her lips together, refusing to take the bait.

She’d been home for three days now. For the first two she tried to keep herself busy papering her bathroom, cleaning her closets, rearranging her furniture, hoping to distract herself from thoughts of Brandon. It hadn’t worked. Even though he’d been to her apartment exactly once, everywhere she looked she saw him, smiling at her, teasing her, touching her things.

On the third day she’d given up in disgust, deciding that the loneliness she was feeling had everything to do with her solitude, and nothing to do with the man who’d invaded her life and turned it upside down in just a few short days. So she’d cal ed her assistant manager, Kathy, and informed her that she’d be returning to work a few days early.

Surely, she’d decided, being surrounded by a bar full of patrons and friends would be just what she’d needed. Except that wasn’t working, either. Every time she’d walk through the bil iards room, her eyes would immediately be drawn to the exact spot where Brandon had kissed her for the first time.

Behind the bar she kept glancing at the stool where he’d sat and half expected to see him there.

He wasn’t going to be as easy to forget as she’d assured herself he would be on the flight home.

“It’s just a matter of time,” she muttered out loud.

“What’s just a matter of time?” Ali asked, coming to stand at the waitress station.

Laura glanced up, startled. “Oh, uh, nothing.”

Ali’s big, blue eyes seemed fil ed with worry, but she said nothing, bless her sweet psychic heart.

“It’s just a matter of time before she gets over her prince,” Hannah said. 

Laura scowled at her. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure. When are you going to share what happened?”

“Never. I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Maybe talking about it would help, Laura,” Ali said.

Laura shook her head. “Talking about it would make it hurt worse.”

Hannah’s eyes narrowed. “Need a hit man? I mean, I know some people . . .”

Laura laughed, almost desperately. “I’l keep it in mind.”

“Two drafts,” Ali said, but she stil looked upset.

Laura began fil ing a beer mug, but her head came up as the front door opened. Ned walked in, shaking raindrops from his jacket. He looked up, and when he caught sight of Laura, a look of shock came over his features, which was awful y strange. She could understand surprise, but he almost looked bamboozled.

And his quick strides had an urgency that also made no sense.

“Speaking of princes,” Laura said to Hannah, “here comes yours.”

Hannah glanced over her shoulder, then stiffened, and her nose turned up. “That’l be the day.”

Oh, boy, apparently something had happened there, too.

And Laura had been so busy wal owing in self-pity, she hadn’t even noticed. Add becoming a lousy friend to the growing list of the rotten ways Brandon Prince had affected her.

“Hel o, my beauty,” Ned said to Hannah.

“I’m not your anything, McGarry.”

“You will be.”

“In your dreams.”

“There, too.”

“What can I get you, Ned?”

“What are you doing here?” he asked bluntly. “You’re supposed to be on vacation.”

Laura shrugged. “I got bored.”

“You here al night?”

“No, I just came in to be sure I’d be here to serve you.”

“Ha ha ha,” he said, before bending and kissing Hannah’s temple. Hannah batted him away and tried to look thoroughly annoyed, but Laura saw the distinct softening in her eyes. “I’l take a draft,” Ned said. “Be right back; I need to, umm, use the men’s room.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Hannah said, “seeing as you’re so full of—”

“Now now,” he admonished. “Is that any way to talk to your future husband?” He winked at Laura over Hannah’s head.

“Do me a favor,” Hannah shot back, “and hold your breath while you wait for me to agree to that.”

Ned grinned and hurried away.

“Wel , now, wasn’t that interesting?” Laura observed.

“Seems plenty happened while I was gone that you haven’t bothered to mention yourself.”

“That man is impossible,” Hannah complained. “One short—wel , not so short—fling, and suddenly he’s jabbering on and on about commitment and al that garbage.”

Laura felt a rush of envy that shamed her. She should be thril ed for Hannah, not jealous of her. Laura had no doubt that Ned had the tenacity of a bulldog and would overcome Hannah’s resistance sooner or later.

Unlike one man she could name, who’d obviously forgotten about her the moment he’d dropped her at the airport. Deep in her heart she knew that every time the phone had rung at her house she’d been hoping it would be Brandon, saying that the events at his house had just been a horrible nightmare. That he couldn’t live without her. That he . . . loved her.

Which was absolutely ridiculous. And the moment she realized that for a certainty, she’d get over him.

With renewed determination, she put Brandon out of her mind and went to work satisfying the large crowd and keeping her bar area sparkling.

She watched the Booker twins working the room and tried to conjure the sense of home and rightness she’d always felt here. This was her place. Her regulars were her family in a sense.

Or so it had always seemed in the past. But right now she felt a sense of detachment instead. As if she were on the outside looking in, as if she were a stranger to these people.

Had Brandon robbed her of this, too? Had he stolen her solace, her pride in her best accomplishment? So many things to hate him for.

Then why couldn’t she bring herself to do it?

Laura signaled Ali over. “Watch the bar a second, wil you? I need to take a break.”

“Sure thing. But before you go, I need a screwdriver.”

Laura quickly made the drink, then ducked under the bar as fast as she could. She had the feeling she was about to cry, something she hadn’t done in a long, long time. She wasn’t about to make her hysterical female debut in the middle of a crowd.

She went to the office and shut and locked the door.

Leaning against it, she swallowed convulsively, trying to hold in the tears. But as she felt the warm trickles down her cheeks, she knew she’d failed.

Damn him. She’d been happy and content and wel on her way to achieving al of her goals, and then Brandon Prince had stepped into her life and ruined it al . Everything she’d always wanted was now spoiled, unimportant. Because she knew that not sharing them with him would always leave her unsatisfied.

What good was it if she earned a college degree someday, if she couldn’t proudly share that accomplishment with the man she loved?