A Fortune's Children's Wedding (21 page)

She patted Flynt's arm and leaned over to kiss Angelica's cheek. “I'm so glad you are here, my darling. And thank you for calling me Grandmother. It means more to me than you'll ever know. I'll leave you to your discussion now.”

Kate left the room, closing the door behind her.

“Did I call her Grandmother?” Angelica looked quizzical.

“Yes, you did. In the same sentence that you demoted me to security alarm salesman. Tell me, do I sell my product door-to-door or do I rely on telemarketing to make a sale?”

Angelica tilted her chin and held it high. “You don't have to stay if you don't want to.”

“Do you really think I'd pass up a chance to discuss home alarm systems with you? Especially after our stimulating discussion on the plane?” Flynt scooped her up in his arms.

Angelica gasped, then laughed and linked her arms around his neck.

He carried her to the bed and placed her on top of it. “Now where were we?”

She was already unbuttoning his shirt. “I don't remember. We'll have to start all over again.”

“With pleasure, my Angel.” He kissed her deeply, intimately and primitively, as if she belonged to him.

Her every feminine instinct gloried in his strength, and her submission was sensuous and sweet and totally fulfilling.

 

Immediately after saying good-night to Angelica, Kate returned to the master bedroom suite and called her son.

“Angelica has arrived safely, Brandon. She's such a lovely girl. You must be very proud of your daughter.”

“I am.”

Romina's voice sounded over the phone. “Hi, Kate, I'm on the upstairs extension.”

“Hello, Romina dear,” Kate greeted her. “I simply can't say enough wonderful things about the darling daughter you've raised.”

Sterling dropped the paperback he'd been reading and gaped at Kate. He mouthed the name “Romina?” but Kate merely gave him a small wave and continued singing Angelica's praises over the phone.

“I've noticed that Angelica is…quite close to Flynt Corrigan,” Kate said, directing a meaningful look Sterling's way.

“That has me worried,” said Romina. “They've been inseparable since he came to town. Angelica's never been like that with any man. If he dares to hurt my Angel—”

“He'd better not!” Brandon chimed in. “What if he does, Mom?” he added, his certainty dimming somewhat.

“I don't know why Flynt would want to hurt Angelica,” said Kate, attempting to reassure the pair on the other end of the line. “He seems equally besotted with her.”

“So that's what they're calling it these days?” Brandon laughed, but it was his cynical, jaded, seen-and-done-it-all laugh, the one that depressed Kate because it underscored the corrupt life-style Brandon had been raised to lead.

“My Angel doesn't sleep around,” Romina snapped, instantly defensive.

“Romina, my dear, nobody was insinuating such a thing,” Kate reassured her.

“Brandon was!” gritted Romina.

“Angelica is
my
kid, too,” Brandon said, a bit more forcefully. “So I decided I'd better look out for her like a dad should. And she
is
sleeping with Flynt, if that's what you want to call it. 'Course, neither of them got any
sleep
on that flight tonight.”

There was a speaking silence from both Kate and Romina.

“I know for sure that Angelica and Flynt are, er,
sleeping together because the steward told me about the evidence he found in the bedroom on the plane.” Brandon's voice rang with triumph as he told them what the steward had found while tidying up after the flight. “A box of condoms under the bed.”

“That creep called you and told tales about my baby?” Romina was incensed.

“I'm appalled by such indiscretion!” Kate said, coldly disapproving. “The steward shall be fired immediately. I am going to personally place the call the moment we hang up.”

“No, no, don't do that!” cried Brandon. “It's not his fault, Mother. I gave him a big tip in advance to check up on Angelica and Flynt, to tell me—you know, whatever he could about them. Romina and I both know how unreliable men can be, and if Corrigan's messing with my kid, I wanna know about it so I can—I can—”

“So you can what, Brandon?” Kate demanded.

“Can't I get his legs broken or something like that?” Brandon muttered sheepishly.

“Of course not!” Romina shouted. “And you didn't tip that steward, you
bribed
him! You bribed him to spy on our own daughter, Brandon Malone!”

“Romina is right, Brandon,” Kate interjected. “It was a reprehensible invasion of Angelica's privacy.”

“I am Brandon
Fortune
now, Romina,” Brandon said, an unaccustomed note of dignity in his voice. “And I'm trying to get the father bit down right. You said not to force my company on Angel, and I didn't. I hardly ever saw her! And I've been good with Casper, you said so yourself. Remember, Romi?”

“Well, yeah,” agreed Romina, suddenly, head-
spinningly amiable. “Kate, he's been great with my twelve-year-old. In fact, I don't know what I'd've done without him because Angel's been so busy, and I really couldn't tell her, anyway, because what he did was so awful that I was just sick about it. Thank God, he was here. And thank you too, Kate, for sending him down to me.”

“I wasn't any use to my own kid, but I could relate to Casper, Mom,” said Brandon. “If anybody knows what it's like to be messed up and twelve, it's me. I think I've been acting messed up and twelve for twenty years.”

“I'm afraid I'm not following, my dears,” Kate said gamely. “When you reach my age, you need to have things clearly spelled out for you. It is so very tedious. So, if you wouldn't mind telling me everything, from the beginning, and—not use any pronouns?”

“We'll be glad, too, Kate,” Romina said eagerly. “And then, maybe you could sort of help us figure out what to do?”

“I'll do anything I possibly can to help,” Kate promised.

“‘When you reach your age, you have to have things clearly spelled out for you'?” Sterling repeated later, after the phone call had ended. “Your mental acuity is as sharp as ever, Kate. On the other hand, a linguistics scholar would have difficulty deciphering Brandon at times. And am I suffering from a spell of dementia or did I hear you having a conversation with
Romina,
while you were on the phone with Brandon?”

“You are not suffering from dementia any more than I have to have things clearly spelled out for me—that is,
unless it's a conversation with Brandon and Romina.” Kate smiled. “It's true, Sterling, Romina and I have established a rapport over the telephone. Brandon has been spending almost all of his time with her, and during one of his phone calls to me, he asked if I would like to talk to Romina. Naturally, I said yes.”

“You've always been inordinately brave, Kate,” Sterling said drolly. “On the proverbial scale from one to ten, just how bad is she?”

“Romina can be…volatile…and opinionated, but she's tried to be a good mother. Actually, she's quite concerned with all children, which led to her controversial involvement in that fugitive underground in the first place.”

“Controversial? Kate, my love, when one interferes with custody laws, the word to use is
criminal.
And she's dragged us into the mire of liability along with her. Our legal team is hard at work filing motions to dismiss that excessive civil suit brought against us by the vengeful Mr. Carson. Keep in mind it was Romina's tie to Brandon that made the Fortune Corporation a target in the first place.”

“
You
must keep in mind that Romina's tie to Brandon happens to be their daughter, my precious grandchild. Besides, I think that Romina is good for Brandon.”

Kate gazed thoughtfully out the window, staring at the now-tranquil waters of Lake Travis. “Brandon is thinking of someone other than himself. I believe he genuinely cares for her and her children.”

“Are you sure Brandon went to Alabama and not Lourdes? That's supposed to be the place for miracles.” Sterling chuckled at his own joke.

Kate did not. “Unfortunately, there is also some…less pleasant news.” She turned to face her husband. “You see, Brandon has run into something of a problem while—”

“Forget a miracle personality change, Brandon remains the same, after all.” Sighing, Sterling closed his book and stood up. “That's what all the whispering at the end of your call was about, am I right, Kate? Well, what's Brandon done this time?”

“Calm down, darling. It's not what Brandon has done. This time the problem involves Romina's youngest son, Casper. He's something of a troubled child who—”

“Now Brandon is bringing a troubled child into our midst? His former girlfriend's troubled child?” Sterling searched for his antacid tablets. “Wait until Jake and Nate and the others hear this. The squawking will be unparalleled.” He quickly chewed two tablets and offered some to Kate.

She accepted.

 

Sunlight filtered into the violet and ivy bedroom through a small gap in the curtains. It was angled in such a way as to bathe Angelica's face in light bright enough to wake her up.

Her eyes snapped open, and she was instantly alert. She never hovered in the groggy realm between sleep and wakefulness, and this morning was no exception. She knew where she was—and who she was with—the moment she awakened.

She was lying in Flynt's arms in the middle of the king-size bed in her grandmother's house. Kate Fortune's mansion, Angelica quickly corrected herself.

A glance at the bedside clock caused her to bolt upright and gasp aloud. “It's nine o'clock! I never sleep this late.”

Flynt's eyes flew open. “Uh-oh!”

He threw back the covers and sprang from the bed, snatching up his clothes that had been strewn around the room last night when he and Angelica had playfully, lovingly, undressed each other.

“I can't believe it!” He heaved a groan, pulling on his shirt, a sock, shoving one leg into his jeans. “We were just lying there talking, we must've fallen asleep.”

Angelica watched him. He was upset enough for both of them, freeing her to view the situation—and his frantic attempts to get dressed—with humor.

“That's just what we can tell my grandmother—that we fell asleep during our home security alarm system discussion. It sounds plausible, the subject is boring enough to induce a coma. And then we can add, ‘much to our surprise, when we woke up it was morning'.”

“I'd only planned to stay until you fell asleep last night.” Flynt was dressed now, albeit rather sloppily put together. “Then I was going to call a taxi and leave.”

Angelica stretched her arms over her head, causing the sheet to slip below her breasts, baring them. “I'm glad you didn't go, Flynt. I liked sleeping with you. Literally and figuratively.”

Flynt's hands stilled on the buttons of his shirt and he stared at the alluring picture she presented. It took great effort to resume buttoning. “Angelica, I respect you and your grandmother too much to—well—to—”

She rolled onto her side, propping her head on her hand. “Too much to make love to me?”

Flynt frowned. “Honey, we're under Kate's own roof, and we shouldn't have—” Heat flashed through him. “Oh hell, I might as well be honest, I wouldn't have passed up last night with you for anything.”

She smiled seductively, nodding. “I feel exactly the same way.”

“But I should've stayed awake and left here last night,” Flynt reproved himself. “Instead of putting you in an awkward position by being here this morning.”

“There is nothing awkward about any position you put me in, Flynt,” she teased.

“Let me rephrase.” He was smiling despite his consternation. “I don't want to embarrass you or your grandmother by being here this morning. So I'll try to slip out of the house undetected. I can hike to the nearest phone booth and call a taxi or catch a bus or something.”

“Well, this place is big enough to be a hotel, so you probably can sneak out without being seen. But not yet.” Angelica extended her arm, holding out her hand to him. “Why don't you kiss me good morning, Flynt?”

Flynt was unable to resist her. He sat back down on the edge of the bed. “Good morning, Angel.” He took her into his arms and they kissed, a long passionate lovers' kiss.

Reluctantly he moved away from her, and she shivered at the loss of his body heat. “Cold?” he asked huskily.

“A little.” She rubbed her arms with her hands. “It's chilly up north, especially compared to Birmingham this time of year.”

Flynt wrapped the sheet around her and pulled her
close again, enfolding her in his arms. “Is this better?” His lips nibbled hers.

She nodded dreamily. “Much better.”

The nibbling led to more kissing. Both were so absorbed in each other that neither heard the footsteps in the hall or the doorknob turn or the bedroom door open.

But Romina's scream, which seemed to reverberate through the entire house, was too loud and too shrill to disregard. Flynt and Angelica jumped apart.

She lay back in bed and pulled the covers over her head; he crossed the room to stand in front of the window. He considered leaping out. It wasn't all that far from the second story to the ground.

“You seduced my baby!” Romina shrieked.

Angelica lowered the covers to her chin. “Mama, it isn't like that at all. We—”

“And you!”
Romina directed her wrath at her first-born. “You hop into bed with—with some guy in your grandmother's house on the very first night that you met her! She must think you're a little tramp who wasn't raised to know any better.”