Sophie's Playboy (15 page)

"How come?"

He lifted a shoulder. "More stereotypes, I guess? Biff is a spoiled, selfish playboy who doesn't care about anyone but himself."

"Are you talking about the name or the Senior?"

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He glanced at her. "Perceptive. My father epitomizes 'Biff.'

My mother always called me Biff, but as soon as Mare could talk she corrected everyone she met. But my father's personality is too strong for most of our acquaintances. He wanted me to be Biff, I'm Biff. I didn't mind it growing up," he added. "I wanted to be like my dad."

"You don't now?"

"No." The answer came quickly and without elaboration.

Sophie figured she'd better not press that button, so she tried another.

"What happened to your mother?"

Parker frowned. "Why do you keep assuming people are dead?"

"Because you keep talking about them in past tense!"

He sighed. "Mother is remarried to a count or something and living in France. I haven't seen her since I was ten. She and my father parted with the most animosity possible. I talk to her once every few months and only then if she catches me at home."

Sheesh, the man had family problems. "What happened between your parents?" she asked tentatively.

He shrugged again, this time in a very European manner.

"I'm not sure. I think Mom got too old for Dad, and Dad got too dumb for her."

"So you have a young stepmother," she prompted.

Sophie could see real affection in his smile. "Fawn's a sweetheart. Not the brightest candle on the wall, and not really a match for my father's lack of caring, but she's a nice lady. She tries very hard."

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"How old were you when your father remarried?"

"Which time?"

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh' pretty much says it all. Mom and Dad divorced when I was eight and Mare was seven. My mother is Mary, by the way, and I think that's why Mare doesn't like it. My father still speaks pretty derisively of my mother. Dad was alone for about ninety seconds. He married my first stepmother less than a year after the divorce. My mother was still around then, and had joint custody. Phyllis didn't like us too much.

She wasn't mean, just not used to children. She died when I was ten. Two months after my mother told us she was moving to France."

He quieted, and Sophie wasn't sure if she should pry any more. She was curious, though, about these people and their lack of concern for their children.

"I guess you felt pretty abandoned."

He nodded slowly. "I guess I did. I don't think I've used that word before. Phyllis didn't choose to die. I think she was taking some kind of medication and reacted badly. And at the time, my mother really seemed sorry to be leaving us." He thought a moment. "She cried the day she told us. She said she'd fallen in love and didn't think we'd like France. She should have given us a choice, but I always figured my father wouldn't let us go. She didn't tell us that, though. She never made him the bad guy."

"How come you haven't seen her? I mean, you don't sound like you blame her."

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His face hardened. "Oh, I blame her. Not for leaving us. I understood that. I was young enough then to believe in falling in love."

Ouch, Sophie thought.
I guess he doesn't now
.

"I blame her for not coming home. Not sending for us for a visit. I blame her for allowing her count to make her shut us out of her life."

"Did she have more children?"

"No."

Sophie reached across the gearshift and rested her hand on his thigh. "I'm sorry, Parker. No wonder you don't want to get married and have children. You don't have the best role models, do you?"

"You only know half of it." But they were pulling into the long winding driveway of a seaside house, cutting the conversation short. Sophie admired the trees lining the drive and the mansion that came into view, but she didn't gawk.

Even if she hadn't been to such places before, she knew a little of who lived there, and it removed some of the shine.

"Nervous?" Parker asked. He parked the Porsche instead of leaving it with the valet. Sophie waited until they'd climbed out of the car to answer.

"No. In my old job I had to meet crowds of strangers on a regular basis. I can handle it."

To her surprise, though, she knew much of the crowd.

Dave, one of the partners of MMT, was there with his wife.

Sophie saw a dozen other business acquaintances as soon as they rounded the corner of the house, and as they made their 139

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way across the lawn toward Parker's family, they were stopped as much for Sophie as for Parker.

"Love your show, Soph!" was a common refrain, as was

"When ya comin' back to the corporate world?" Parker got the same, as well as several business queries. Sophie learned more in those fifteen minutes about Parker's business holdings than she had in the entire time she'd known him.

"So you're a dabbler," she commented when they were momentarily alone by the buffet.

"I guess you can call me that." Parker lifted a chilled shrimp and fed Sophie a bite. "I do what interests me.

Fortunately for my diversification, everything interests me."

Sophie grinned, then turned that into a polite smile for the silver-haired giant coming toward them. Despite the bulk that Parker obviously hadn't inherited, Biff Cornwall the Senior looked just like him. Same color eyes, same basic shape to the face. Same charm, she noted, as he greeted the woman with his son.

"Ah, Sophie Macgregor. The Mouth of Boston, or something like that? You and Biff Junior have quite an entertaining show, I hear." He held her hand in both of his and gave her his full attention. It was a skill learned early by most business people, but Sophie suspected Biff put it to his best use when coming on to women.

She really hoped he wasn't coming on to her.

Sophie retrieved her hand and turned her polite smile to the waiflike woman next to Biff. Fawn Cornwall wasn't tiny, but projected an air of fragility Sophie didn't think was put on. Her perfect face displayed worry lines in her forehead and 140

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around her mouth that she'd tried to hide with makeup. But her pleasure was genuine when she accepted Parker's kiss on the cheek and greeted Sophie.

"Thank you so much for making the trip out here. It's lovely to meet Parker's partner. And so important to Biff to have his family around on the holidays."

Parker snorted behind Sophie, then turned it into a throat-clearing. Sophie hid her grin.

"Thank you for having me, Mrs. Cornwall."

Fawn tittered. "Oh, please, call me Fawn. There are four other women floating around who go by Mrs. Cornwall, not including my mother-in-law. I'd just as soon stay clear of that group." She glanced up at her husband and shrank under his air of disapproval. Biff only turned to Parker, however.

"Where's your sister? And the boys? She promised to come."

"She will, Dad. She'll be here. You know it can be crazy trying to get two young boys corralled."

From the look on his face, Sophie suspected Biff knew no such thing.

"She could have help." He scowled and motioned to a waiter passing by with a tray of wineglasses. "God knows I can hire someone for her."

"Mare wants to raise her kids on her own, Dad."

They each took a glass. Sophie noticed she was the only one who thanked the waiter.

"If it weren't for that no good jerk she married..."

"Old refrain, Dad. Here she comes." He pointed with his glass across the lawn. The boys spotted them and came 141

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running, dodging guests and staff, making a beeline for their family. Biff half crouched and held out his arms.

And the boys crashed into Sophie. They wrapped their arms around her legs and waist and jumped up and down, both talking at once. Sophie gave a rueful shrug at Biff, who luckily looked nonplussed but not angry.

"Hey, guys! Boy, do you look spiffy!" She hugged them both, then smoothed Josh's hair and straightened Timmy's tie. Timmy blushed and tugged it crooked again.

"Thank you, ma'am." Josh dissolved into giggles as soon as the proper words left his mouth.

"Well, at least he remembered to
try
his manners," Mare said, catching up with them. She looked coolly elegant in a high-waisted, sleeveless rayon dress that floated around her legs. She first kissed Sophie on the cheek, then her brother, father, and stepmother. "Quite a crowd, Dad." She watched her sons dash off after a group of kids that had converged on them. "Pool gate's locked, right?"

"Of course, of course. Safety first. This isn't a swimming party, anyway. Come, all, get some food before it's gone." He held out a long arm and ushered them closer to the buffet.

Sophie collected a plate and moved down the table, following the group until they split up at the end. Sophie found herself at a linen-draped picnic table with Mare and Fawn.

Then the interrogation began.

"So," Mare said, casually licking barbeque sauce off her thumb, "what made you agree to come today? Parker didn't think you would."

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"I wanted to get to know his family. We work pretty closely together. On the air we feed off of each other, and the better I know him, the better I can do that."

Fawn tilted her head at her. "You don't have any ...

feminine interest in our Parker?"

Sophie felt herself blush and focused on the German potato salad. "Of course not."

Both women burst out laughing.

"Sophie, dear." Mare laid her hand on Sophie's shoulder.

"That statement doesn't usually end with 'not.'"

"Every woman has a feminine interest in Parker," Fawn said. Her eyes sought him and when they found him, Sophie would swear the look on her face was maternal. Kind of absurd coming from a woman so young.

Sophie waited until they'd stopped chuckling. "I won't say Parker's not attractive. He's not my type, though." She kept eating. Fawn picked at her salad. Mare ignored her food and studied Sophie.

"I hope you're not lying to
yourself
that way."

Sophie frowned. "I like you, but you're starting to sound like my sister."

Mare grinned. "Good. I want to be."

Shocked, Sophie only stared. "What do you mean? You hardly know me."

"Parker talks about you all the time." Mare finally returned her attention to her plate. "I have a good instinct for people.

You're the one." She must have seen or felt Sophie's skepticism. "I knew what my ex was before I married him.

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he'd change for me. He told me he would." She shrugged. "He couldn't."

"So you see why Parker and I would never work, then."

"Why not?"

Sophie waved her fork. "You just explained it. I can't change Parker any more than you could change—"

"Ron."

"Ron. Parker doesn't want to get married and have children. I do. Therefore, we remain at friendship."

Fawn looked wistful. "Parker would make such a good father. It's our fault if he doesn't do it," she admitted. Now she watched her husband schmoozing a model ten feet away.

"We define dysfunctional family."

"Parker doesn't want to hurt anyone," Mare agreed. "And, of course, he doesn't want to be hurt. Our father hurt enough people to last ten lifetimes."

"Why?" Sophie looked over her shoulder at the charismatic man holding center stage. "Is he deliberately hurtful? Or just thoughtless?"

Fawn waggled her long red fingernails at her stepdaughter.

"I'll answer that one. Thoughtless is a good word for it," she said. "Not so much the way you mean, though. He can be deliberately hurtful. Not because he wants to hurt, but to avoid being hurt. Families don't become dysfunctional overnight. His father was a cold, hard man."

"I never knew my grandfather," Mare cut in. "How do you know that?"

"I'm Biff's wife," Fawn said. "Not to be snotty, but I know him better than you do. He talks to me." She looked sad for a 144

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minute, despite her smile. "He ignores me, too, and comes on to other women right in front of me. He's been unfaithful. But I understand him, and he needs that." She patted her napkin against her lips and set her plate to the side. It was immediately whisked away.

"Anyway, his father was cold and hard, his mother weak and cowardly. Biff wasn't physically abused, but he was neglected and often cut down by his father. Those were his role models." She turned to Mare. "Then there was your mother. She was graceful and strong and loving and smart, and that threatened the world as Biff knew it. So he retreated from her, from what could have been a good marriage. And, without knowing it, he consistently hurts the people around him. But he always feels good because he avoided being hurt."

Mare was staring at Fawn. "For a woman everyone considers a bimbo, you're one smart chick."

Sophie gasped, but Fawn chuckled. "I know."

"Why do you put up with him?"

She sobered, and the lines Sophie had noticed earlier seemed to fade away. She gazed at her husband, who turned toward her for the first time. "Because I love him." Their eyes met, and Sophie saw the connection zing between them. The model wandered off, and Biff didn't notice.

Well, well, well. Complicate the family dynamic some more. Sophie was fascinated by these people.

Before Mare and Fawn could attack her again, Parker approached and sat between his sister and Sophie.

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