The Playboy (7 page)
“Well, you can’t mean to
sell
your aunt’s house. It’s your heritage!” Raina didn’t understand all the undercurrents going on, but she couldn’t believe Crystal’s niece would give up her inheritance.
“It’s none of your business what Kendall does with her property, Mom,” Rick said.
Kendall sighed. “It’s hard to even think of having a heritage when I spent my life moving from place to place.”
“Oh, yes. Are your parents still abroad? Crystal used to tell me about their travels.” Raina tapped the table with her fingertips, thinking. Transience wasn’t a helpful trait but perhaps Kendall wasn’t like her wayward parents.
“They’re archaeologists. Somewhere in Africa now.” “And your sister? How is she?”
“Hannah’s in boarding school in Vermont. She’s okay. I’ve gotten a call or two leading me to believe she’s a bit of a troublemaker, but she’s always been spirited. I plan to go on up there and have a talk with her myself once things settle here.”
Raina shook her head. “Sad when a family doesn’t live like a family.”
“Mother.” Rick reprimanded her with his tone. “Kendall just lost her aunt. She doesn’t need you hassling her. Her life and what she chooses to do with it is none of your business.”
Protective, Raina thought, and though Rick had that streak by nature, this time she sensed his defense of Kendall had a more personal side. A sense of satisfaction pulled at Raina as she watched her son.
“Rick, I don’t mind explaining. Most people don’t understand my lifestyle. Truthfully, if I didn’t live it, I probably wouldn’t understand.” She smiled at Raina. “Considering what an obviously warm, loving family you have, I’m sure my family’s life seems strange to you.”
“Nonsense. Well maybe,” Raina admitted, opting for honesty. People could change, she thought, given the right incentive. “I want you to consider yourself a part of our family. Crystal would want that and so do I.” More than Kendall knew.
From what Raina had seen so far, Kendall Sutton wasn’t only beautiful, she was warm, compassionate, and intelligent. She also had a mind of her own. And Raina assumed her independence held the most allure for her son who’d been bombarded with more domestic-minded women. Raina had only herself to blame for that, but things had changed now.
Rick obviously had fallen for Kendall even if he didn’t know it yet. Maybe if shown love and tenderness, Kendall would learn to love the stability she’d missed out on as a child. And who better to teach her the value of family than the Chandlers? Rick especially.
“That’s so sweet. I don’t know what to say.” Kendall’s eyes held a bright sheen.
“I do. You’ve been conned. By the best in the business,” Rick said wryly.
Raina scowled at her son.
“What business?” Kendall asked.
“The marriage business.”
“Ah, yes.” Kendall leaned forward in her seat and grinned. “I heard all about your matchmaking tendencies, Mrs. Chandler.”
“And I heard all about your auspicious arrival. Now tell me how you ended up on the side of the road in a wedding gown of all things?”
“Mother—”
“It’s a fair question, Rick.” Kendall’s cheeks turned a shiny pink, but she carried on like a trooper. “I was supposed to get married this morning,” she said, embarrassed at admitting she’d been an hour away from saying “I do,” when things had luckily fallen apart. “But we both realized marriage would have been a mistake and my fiancé and I parted ways.”
Raina had been happily married for almost twenty years before John died. She couldn’t imagine agreeing to marry someone she didn’t love or ending things so abruptly. “To call off a wedding so suddenly. Did he cheat on you?” Raina asked, appalled and affronted on Kendall’s behalf.
Rick kicked her lightly under the table.
Kendall shook her head. “No, but we were more good friends than anything else. He’d done me some favors, bailed me out by getting me some modeling jobs to help pay for Aunt Crystal’s nursing home, and I felt I owed him. Things just got carried away from there, but we realized it in time, thank goodness. I was so relieved I didn’t really think. I just walked out, got in the car, and drove.”
The impulsive act shocked Raina, who’d spent her whole life in the same house doing the expected things in life. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Raina blinked, stunned. But since she’d gotten this much information, she might as well get it all. “And the pink hair was for a modeling job?”
Kendall raised a hand to the pink strands. “I wish. Actually it was an impulse.”
“Another one?” Rick asked, devouring Kendall with his gaze.
Raina wanted to clap for joy.
“Last night I panicked. I stood in front of my bathroom mirror and I just . . .” Her eyes seemed to glaze. “Panicked. I couldn’t imagine marrying Brian. I love him as a friend, but I’ve never been tied down to anyone or anything in my life. I saw my reflection and I was afraid I couldn’t go through with the wedding.” Her voice dropped. “But I’d given my word, I’d promised, and he’d been so good to me. I thought maybe if I didn’t look like me, the new me could take on this new life.”
“So you bought pink dye?”
She laughed. “No. I had red dye in the closet at home. Cherry Cola actually, but I’ve got pale blond hair and the color just didn’t take the way I thought it would. Instead of cola-colored red, I got pink.” She shrugged. “There are worse things.”
“I should have known you were really a blonde,” Rick said, his voice deep and husky.
“Because of my impulsive, ditzy behavior today?” Kendall asked, laughing.
“Because he has a thing for blondes,” Raina offered helpfully. “And if you ever want to change back, I could take you into town and introduce you to Luanne and her daughter Pam. They own Luanne’s Locks. The only hair salon in town.”
“You’re supposed to stay off your feet,” Rick said sharply.
Dammit, Raina thought. This fake heart condition would be the death of her yet. She hated putting her boys through the charade, hated the crimp it put in her social life, but it was necessary. She’d concocted the idea after she’d been rushed to Emergency a few months before with a diagnosis no more dire than indigestion. But her boys didn’t know the truth and Raina had used the situation to help her show them the error in their bachelor ways.
She’d allowed them to think she was seriously ill and in return, they’d grouped together to give her her fondest wish. Roman had been the son designated as the one to give her a grandchild. Raina still held out hope he and Charlotte would do just that, though Roman insisted he and his new bride needed time alone before starting a family.
But grandchildren weren’t all Raina desired. She wanted her sons settled, living happily ever after with the woman of their dreams and families of their own. She didn’t want them living lonely lives. She was one-third of the way there. Chase and Rick were next.
“Are you sick?” Kendall asked, concern in her voice. Raina drew a deep breath and covered her heart with one hand. “I had an episode a little while ago.”
“A weak heart,” Rick explained. “She’s got to watch her routine and her diet and that’s just a start.”
“So Norman’s been delivering meals and the boys hired a housekeeper.” While Raina had been keeping a bank account to pay her sons back when this charade was over. She hated their stubborn refusal to let her pay for her own care. And she was growing to dislike their hovering more and more.
But she’d created this situation and she’d see it through. So far, Kendall seemed like her best prospect for daughter-in-law number two.
“You’re lucky to have such devoted sons, Mrs. Chandler.”
“Raina, please, and yes my boys are the best. They’ll make wonderful husbands too. Just ask my first daughter-in-law. She nabbed Roman, the world traveler. Rick’s a little easier since he doesn’t have to be convinced to settle down. But you—”
“Ahem.” Rick cleared his throat loudly. “Mom, I like to romance women on my own, without your help.” Rick squeezed Kendall’s hand and she blushed a shade darker than her hair.
“So you admit to a budding romance?” Raina asked, pleased.
“Just leave the dishes, Mom,” Rick said, ignoring her. But Raina wasn’t deterred. Rick had never brought a woman to their family dinners before and Kendall’s presence spoke louder than anything Rick could have said.
“Cynthia will be here first thing in the morning to clean. Meanwhile, Kendall and I need to get going. I promised I’d help her bomb out a room or two so she could sleep in a clean house tonight.”
“Nonsense. She’ll stay here,” Raina said in the voice that shook her sons’ composure when they were young boys. “That place is a pigsty, not fit for a human being and a couple hours’ worth of cleaning won’t change that. No insult intended, Kendall.”
The young woman shook her head. “None taken. But I can’t impose.”
“You’d never be an imposition.”
“You’re sweet, but I’m used to being on my own.” “And you young people want your privacy?” Raina guessed, relieved Kendall had turned her down. With a house guest, she’d have killed her prime opportunity to walk the treadmill when her sons weren’t around. When she’d concocted this scheme she should have labeled herself a heart patient, not a patient with a weak heart who had to curtail activity, but she hadn’t been thinking ahead.
Rick rose and Kendall followed. Then he placed a lingering hand on the small of her back. “We’re not going to answer anything private, Mom.” He leaned over and kissed her good night.
Long after Kendall had thanked her and gone off with Rick, Raina’s joy remained, making it difficult to wind down. She hadn’t seen her middle son laugh so freely in ages, not with a woman as the reason, anyway. Not since that Jillian had broken his heart. But that was the past.
Kendall was the future. And though Rick didn’t believe he’d marry again, Raina knew better. Thanks to Kendall and her impulsive nature, Rick would come to believe it too.
Rick held the car door open for Kendall, then strode around to his side and got in, buckling his seat belt before turning toward her. He held his hand high and she slapped it in return. “Mission accomplished.”
“You think?”
“I know my mother and she definitely believes she saw sparks flying between us tonight.” Because they had been, Rick thought.
But that was for another time. Shadows tinged the fragile skin beneath Kendall’s eyes as exhaustion obviously set in. She needed rest.
“She’ll call off the push for a daughter-in-law?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say that.” He twisted his wrist and the ignition kicked in. “If anything she’ll step up her campaign.”
“So what was the point of tonight?” Kendall asked. “She’ll no longer be pushing other women on me. Instead she’ll focus all her attention on the one with the most potential.”
He glanced over in time to see her open and close those lips that tempted him so.
“You mean me?”
He grinned. “I most definitely mean you.” But Rick sobered fast because he had something more pressing to discuss with her. “Kendall, what kind of relationship did you have with Brian?”
She stiffened in her seat, laughter replaced by intensity. “I don’t think that’s relevant.”
“Sure it is. You said he did you favors and you felt you owed him.” Shades of their bargain had risen when he’d heard Kendall’s description, making him uneasy. “We’re entering a similar arrangement. I just don’t want you uncomfortable with me.”
“If you’re worried my past dealings with Brian will affect me pulling off the charade with you, don’t be. At this point I’m a professional,” she said wryly.
That’s what had him worried. In Kendall’s eyes, Rick didn’t want to be another man using her for his own gain. “I know he got you modeling jobs to pay for your aunt’s care. What did you give him in return?”
Kendall rubbed a weary hand over her eyes.
He grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight.
“Brian was coming off a broken relationship. He’d been hurt badly by a model whom he had to face often at industry events. He wanted what he called a pretty woman by his side to show his ex he was over her. He needed me to pretend to be his . . . ”
“Lover.”
Pretend to be my lover, Kendall.
Rick had asked her to do the same thing.
The same thing that had sent her running from New York City in a wedding dress. And because she was desperate, she’d agreed. Which made Rick feel like a shit for putting her in the same predicament again.
He exhaled hard. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. I don’t do things I don’t want to do,” she assured him. “And believe me I’m getting plenty out of this arrangement too.”
“Besides my wonderful company?” He forced lightness into the conversation.
“Yeah, besides that.”
She laughed, warming him inside and out. “What would that be?”
“By the time you’re finished fixing up my aunt’s house, I’ll be on my way to a brand-new life.” She leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, satisfaction and a smile on those lips.
Well, he’d asked and she’d answered. Too bad for him if he didn’t like her reply.
F
or the duration of Rick’s “off” days, Kendall and Rick cleaned, fixed, and focused on making the guest house livable. Dust and dirt flew fast and furious along with the sexual tension and incredible sparks. Sparks they did their best to ignore or avoid. Kendall had a hunch they were merely tiptoeing through a minefield that was destined to explode anyway, but once Rick returned to his shift, she was given a reprieve.
Left alone, she turned her sights to the work area for her jewelry designs. Apartment living in New York City had offered her unnatural light that hampered her color choices and hence her designing ability. When her jewelry and a suitcase full of clothes arrived courtesy of Brian, she scoured the house for the optimal working environment, and upstairs in the musty attic she found large windows that let in beautiful natural light.
Excited and working on adrenaline, Kendall spent an entire day bombing the attic, removing the dirt, and setting up the card tables stored there. Hours later, her plastic containers filled with materials had been strategically placed, beads organized by size and color, and her tools laid out for easy access. She stepped back and eyed her handiwork. The attic had been transformed into an artist’s dream.