Pretty Packages (30 page)

Giada nodded. Velicity had a point there. Fabian had been very understanding about her grieving process. He’d even bought her a special journal so that she could process her feelings about her loss on paper when the need arose.

“Maybe Fabian has turned over a new leaf, too. You certainly have.” Velicity chuckled. “The old Giada and I would have
never
been friends. Now look at us, going to lunch together and everything. We even stayed together for a little while.”

Giada laughed, too. “What are you, on Fabian’s payroll or something? You sure are trying to sell him pretty hard to me.”

“I
wish
I was on his payroll.” Velicity smiled. “I’m just trying to get you out of this funk you’ve been in for the last three months. Cutting yourself off from men altogether may have worked for Mrs. Jones, but I don’t think that it’s the best thing for you. You’re supposed to be somebody’s wife, somebody’s mother, Giada. I’m reminded of that every time I see you with Mercedes.”

Giada’s eyes welled up again as she was suddenly reminded of that open-eye vision. She had been somebody’s wife in that vision—
Kentucky
’s. She had been somebody’s mother—the mother of
Kentucky
’s offspring.

What happened to that vision?

It perished with
Kentucky
.

“Will you at least think about it, Giada?” Velicity said, dragging her friend from her deep thoughts.

“Yes,” Giada replied, blinking her eyes free again. “I’ll think about moving on with my life.”
Even though I definitely don’t want to,
she added to herself.

* * * *

Giada’s first official date with Fabian was far from private. Everywhere they went there were cameras. This was so different from how it had been when they dated the first time. Back then Bartley used to make sure Fabian entered every event alone with Giada showing up later and using side entrances. Now she walked the red carpet alongside Fabian.

Speaking of Bartley, he had been demoted to just manager. After withholding that information about
Kentucky
and Giada all those months ago, Fabian hired someone else to be his assistant. That new assistant was a gray-haired woman he’d gotten from an agency. Mrs. Williams knew how to do her job well. Most importantly, she knew how to stay out of Fabian’s personal affairs.

Giada actually had fun on her date with Fabian, or as much fun as she could have considering her lingering grief. At the end of the date, she agreed to go out with Fabian again. It was kind of hard to refuse after he presented her with the deed to her old house.

It turned out that Fabian had been behind the sale of Giada’s house on
Wilmington Street
. He had a real estate agent outbid all other offers on the house to make sure he personally got it.

“Why did you want my house so badly?” Giada asked as they sat in the black limo outside of her apartment that night.

“I bought it out of concern for your financial welfare,” Fabian replied. “I knew you didn’t have any close family. I didn’t want you to suffer any hardship while you were still in school.”

Giada nodded, though she didn’t fully believe that his intentions were that pure. If they were, why hadn’t he presented her with the deed before now? Why wait and use it as a bargaining tool to get another date?

“So I’ll see you next Friday at seven?” Fabian asked, leaning toward her for a goodnight kiss.

“Y . . . Yes.” Giada cleared her throat and then braced herself for a kiss that she absolutely didn’t want. But then again, how could she refuse? The man had just given her the deed to her
Wilmington Street
house.

Allowing Fabian’s kiss, Giada determined how far it would go by pursing her lips tightly together. There would be no French kissing of any kind tonight. It was still too soon for her.

As Giada quickly said goodnight to Fabian and prepared to exit the limo, she realized that it would take some more time before she was ready to start fully kissing another man.
Kentucky
’s brand was still too heavy upon her lips, upon her whole body.

Sometimes in the stillness of the night, Giada could vividly recall how it felt to kiss her deceased fiancé, how it felt to make love to him. Tonight was one of those nights.

Giada thought about making love to
Kentucky
all through tonight’s shower and even as she prepared for bed. The tips of her bosom became taut at the memory of
Kentucky
’s lips. She recalled the unique way he had of tasting them, making her hotter than hot and wetter than wet every time.

Giada’s inner muscles clenched with need at the memory of what it felt like to slide down
Kentucky
’s length. The man had been big everywhere, and she’d loved every tanned inch of his beautiful body. It hadn’t mattered where they made love, in a shed, in a friend’s Jacuzzi, or on a lounge chair on his patio, it had been great every time.

“I miss you so much, Kenny,” Giada whispered into the quiet room.

Hearing her master’s voice, Mercedes lifted her head from her doggy pillow in inquiry.

“Go back to sleep. I’m still not talking to you, young lady,” Giada scolded. Her passion waned as she was reminded of the cell phone Mercedes destroyed tonight.

Thoroughly rebuked, the dog whimpered and put her head back down on her pillow. Fortunately, everything would be right as rain between them again by the morning.

With her mind now free from all erotic thoughts, Giada focused on business matters instead. Tomorrow she would get the house on
Wilmington Street
officially and legally turned back over to her. From experience she knew that Fabian always acted in Fabian’s best interest, even in his gift-giving. Giada wasn’t about to give him legal room to take the house back just in case she decided to cancel her second date with him.

Sighing wearily at even the thought of going out with Fabian again, Giada’s mind returned to
Kentucky
.
I really miss you, baby,
she mused, speaking that lament in her heart.

* * * *

Thousands of miles away and across a wide ocean, someone was missing Giada. That someone was
Kentucky
.

That’s right, Kentucky Jones was
not
dead. In fact, he was in the jungles of
Africa
, tying down the legs of a wild boar right now.

Three months ago,
Kentucky
was almost as dead as the wild animal he’d just killed. Yet he miraculously survived that hard blow to the head and a near-fatal bullet to the chest.
Kentucky
also survived the raging fever that accompanied those injuries and the months of amnesia when he didn’t even know who he was, much less who anyone else was.

Now that
Kentucky
’s mind was clear again and his strength well enough to travel, he was making arrangements to go home. He was going home to his stepmother . . . home to Giada.

Yet before
Kentucky
could get to either of them, he had to say a proper good-bye to the old medicine man who had taken care of him these last three months. This was the same man who discovered Kentucky’s body still breathing among a pile of corpses prepared to be burned, took him home, and nursed him back to health.

Despite their different ethnicities, Malik treated
Kentucky
like a son during the months of his memory loss, renamed him Kosey, aka Lion, and instructed him in the ways of their village and herbal medicine.
Kentucky
could never repay Malik for what he’d done. Yet he certainly would try as soon as he got back to civilization.

If only that track back to civilization didn’t require a long ride to the nearest city on the back of a donkey. After that, another hundred fifty miles to the nearest
U.S.
embassy.

I don’t care how long it takes. I’m getting back to the women I love,
Kentucky decided as he turned and made his way back to Malik’s hut.

The large boar he carried on his back would feed many families tonight. This included the family of the arrogant young protégé who had recently replaced Malik as head medicine man, although he couldn’t speak fluent English like his predecessor nor did he have the same level of experience.

Before
Kentucky
arrived, Malik had to fend for himself in the war-ravished village of refugees. Having lost his wife to disease a year after he lost his son, Malik soon found himself losing the faith of the people in his healing abilities. The chief even demoted him to the task of herb collector.

When Malik proved that he could bring someone as big and as gravely ill as
Kentucky
back from the brink of death, people started to have faith in him again. As a result, instead of leaving the village in shame when
Kentucky
eventually sent for him in
America
, Malik would now be able to leave with honor.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The first person Hannah thought of when she received that fateful call from
Kentucky
was Giada. But with all the recent publicity surrounding Fabian and Giada’s romance in the press, Hannah didn’t dare get in contact with her. She didn’t want to disturb the young woman’s newfound happiness. Plus, with Giada only maintaining contact twice a month instead of twice a week like before, Hannah truly believed that there was little room in Giada’s life for any of the Joneses these days.

Hannah also didn’t dare tell
Kentucky
that Giada was no longer waiting for him. She didn’t want to devastate her stepson over the phone. She didn’t want to devastate him at all after all he’d been through in
Africa
, but some things were inevitable.

Thus Hannah would wait until
Kentucky
got back to the States to tell him the sad news. She would break it to him as easily as possible, then stand by his side and do whatever she could to help him recover from that hard emotional blow.

* * * *

Kentucky
came home three days later. He smiled as soon as he saw his stepmother at the airport. Lifting Hannah’s petite frame into his arms, he gave her a big bear hug and whispered how much he loved her.

As soon as
Kentucky
put his stepmother down, he asked, “Where’s Giada?” He turned hopeful eyes to the crowd of people around them, scanning for any signs of his fiancée.

Hannah took a deep breath, blew it out, and said, “She’s not coming, son.”

Kentucky
frowned. “Not coming?” he roared. “What do you mean she’s not coming?” he continued in a lowered tone after drawing unnecessary attention their way. “Didn’t she
want
to come?”

Hannah took another deep breath. “I didn’t tell her you were alive, Kenny.”

Kentucky
pulled his stepmother off to the side for more privacy. “Why, Mama? Why didn’t you tell Giada about me?”

“She went back to him, son,” Hannah said, deliberately not referring to Fabian by name.

“Him as in Fabian Flow?”
Kentucky
asked, needing to be sure.

“Yes. Their relationship is all over the newspapers, on magazine covers, and on TV. Truthfully, I thought telling Giada about you would only cause problems and more pain for you. After all you’ve been through in your life, I wanted to spare you as much new pain as possible.” Hannah took another deep breath and exhaled. “I’m so sorry, son.”