Touch of Love (12 page)

‘Adam, you’d better come
.’ Green eyes wide open, she looked positively panicked. The cool punk girl from before was completely gone and had been replaced with a worried teenager who didn’t know what to do. ‘Your dad sent me to find you guys. He needs you back at the house.’

‘
What for?’ Adam shrugged, his eyes teasing. ‘We’ve just left. Tell him I am about to impress Elly with his theater stage. He should like that… You know how he likes to brag about his
arbiter elegantiarum status
, Steph.’

She didn’t smile.
Elly felt sorry for Stephanie, whose discomfort was almost tangible.

‘
No, you have to come,’ she insisted, her fingers twisting the beads of her jade bracelet. ‘You need to talk to Bianca.’

Elly
felt as cold as if the brilliant sunshine had disappeared behind the clouds. She watched Adam’s face darken, the light in his eyes dimming into understanding.

‘Bianca?’
His perfectly measured voice made her think of ice. Cool and deceptively calm, his words betrayed nothing of his agitation. ‘She’s here?’

‘
Yeah, your dad was just talking to someone when suddenly, she showed up. She’s talking to your parents and other guests.’ Stephanie nodded, her reddish hair reflecting the sunlight as if it were on fire. ‘You need to come. Please…’

He nodded. She could only walk with him, listening to Stephanie’s rambling explanation. She was pretty sure Adam didn’t even register
the girl’s nervous chatter. His face was closed up and foreboding.

Elly
guessed he was thinking of the woman he’d loved and had stood him up.
Is he remembering the way they were?
There was no anger in his face.

Their walk back to the house seemed much shorter
than the walk away had been. She appreciated Adam’s attempts to carry a conversation, probably mostly for Stephanie’s benefit. She seemed shaken by Bianca’s presence, which had wiped away the feistiness of her slim, pale face. Elly was curious about this woman who walked out on Adam, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Her overactive brain supplied pictures from the fairy tales she’d watched as a child—a gorgeous, sexy temptress with lethal eyes and smile that could turn men into pigs easier than Circe ever could. After all, she had been Adam’s fiancée. That would put her into a category of her own, his appreciation for beauty making it an easy guess what she would look like.
Impossibly beautiful and strong, just like Adam…

They passed groups of
cheerfully chatting guests with no clue about the drama that could potentially throw the party off course if Adam didn’t act quickly. He must have been thinking along the same lines because his impatient stride closed the distance between them and the small gathering on the terrace in just a few final steps. Elly felt ridiculous trying to keep up. Her strappy sandals weren’t made for such escapades. And her luck decided to abandon her just as they were mere meters away. Her sandal caught in one of the cracks in the slate-paved path. She would have fallen if not for Adam. As preoccupied as he seemed, he still reacted just in time, his strong hand supporting her elbow as she wobbled and finally freed her heel, her face burning in humiliation.

‘Are you ok
ay?’ His dark eyes met hers, ignoring everything else. ‘I am so sorry to have dragged you here like that. You should’ve yelled at me right at the start, Ells.’

‘It’s all right
. That’s my fault,’ she mumbled, her face hot.
Talk about a dramatic entrance.
She looked around at the people waiting for Adam. Their faces blurred into one confusing picture, but she spotted Jake and David. Adam’s father and stepmother were there, as well, both looking as uncomfortable as Elly felt. His outspoken aunt seemed to be faring better. Her small pinched face, which still carried remnants of the beauty she must have once possessed, glowed with excitement and anticipation.
Go figure,
Elly thought, annoyed with the way the old woman’s eyes narrowed in on her elbow that was still supported by Adam’s strong fingers. She could feel her skin heat up under Laura’s ministration, not really daring to even imagine what she was thinking.
Nothing good, probably…
Her eyes shifted, eager to avoid the steely stare, and then her breath caught, her eyes widening in surprise.

The girl in the soft, poppy red silk dress was absolutely beautiful
. Delicate and very slim, Bianca was nothing at all like what Elly had expected. Her waist-long pale-golden hair framed a perfectly oval face with huge blue eyes that could have belonged to an angel. Bianca’s small nose and lips that begged to be kissed made Elly realize how ridiculously imperfect she herself was and would always be. Elly didn’t see any of the aggressive sexuality she’d expected, only ethereal beauty and a very special sense of helplessness that usually sent all the men to the rescue, eager to please and be rewarded with a smile.

But then Bianca’s eyes traveled to
Elly and Adam, who were still touching, and her perfect façade slipped just long enough to reveal the real Bianca beneath the illusion of absolute perfection. A quick flash of anger darkened the cornflower blue of her eyes, and the luscious pink lips pressed into a grimace of pure malice. It was gone in a flash, but not before Elly caught it, her equilibrium reinstated. Nobody was perfect after all…

‘Hello, Bianca.’ Adam’s calm and measured
voice cut into Elly’s musings, and she felt his hand leave her skin, the warmth of his fingertips lingering in the crease of her elbow for another second. ‘Where’s Marcus?’

A
pink hue spread over Bianca’s ivory cheeks, making it obvious whom he meant.

‘I
’m alone.’ Her voice matched the rest of her, soft and feminine. ‘I tried to call you, but you never pick up or answer my messages.’ A flutter of her curly, ridiculously long eyelashes followed before her lovely face folded into a grimace of utter disappointment and gentle resentment.

‘I didn’t think there was anything left to discuss
,’ He shrugged, apparently unimpressed with the show put on for his benefit. Or maybe he had seen it many times before.

‘
There’s plenty.’ A note of urgency colored her voice. A new, stronger woman replaced the helpless damsel. This new woman was used to getting her way, too, and was totally aggravated by the fact Adam wasn’t more forthcoming. ‘I came to talk to you.’

The brilliant smile exposed her perfect teeth that must have cost her parents a fortune.
She had apparently expected her news to cheer him up. The slight smugness in her face made it clear she felt pretty good about her plan to surprise him.

‘
Well, this isn’t the best of times, as you can see.’ He gestured around, refusing to lock his eyes with his ex-fiancée. ‘This is my father’s party, and I don’t believe you’re on the invite list.’

T
hat was harsh.
Elly felt almost sorry for Bianca, whose perfect double-bow lips quivered in response. The rest of his family refused to budge. The gathering reminded Elly of the tableaus used by the French in their garden performances ages ago. Judging by the tense figures, they had nothing good to say to this woman with the face of a fairy and a heart of stone. Bianca was probably counting on their presence to make Adam more civil, but she seemed to have gotten a nasty shock to find that he didn’t really care who was listening. She recovered with admirable speed, the moisture glistening in her eyes forming two tears that slowly trickled down her soft, delicate cheeks. Elly couldn’t help but wonder if she could really be such a great actress.

‘I left
Marcus.’ Again, if she was waiting for some strong reaction, she was disappointed.

‘I am sorry to hear that
.’ Adam shook his head with offensive indifference. ‘Given the fact that you said only weeks ago you couldn’t live without him, that’s pretty surprising.’

‘I made a mistake, all right?’ Bianca’s voice rose, her outburst finally alerting other guests of the drama that was unfolding.
Heads turned their way, and Adam’s dad put a reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder. Suddenly, Elly understood why the family had kept so quiet. With the photographers still lingering, they couldn’t really afford to handle it any other way. And from what Elly had seen so far, Bianca didn’t intend to go down calmly.

‘I came to apologize, Adam.’ Her voice cajoling, Bianca pleaded
again, ‘I realized I made a horrible mistake. I know we can work it out if we want to…’ Her eyes went around the gathering, searching for support—in vain, it seemed.

‘I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t think I want to try
.’ Adam shrugged in a gesture that was as finite as the tone of his voice. ‘I really think you should leave. I don’t have anything else to say, not now and not later. Right now, my family and I need to get back to our party.’

‘Is it her?’
The three short words carried an amazing amount of venom. Bianca’s merciless eyes made sure Elly knew she’d been assessed and found wanting. Her slim, rather plain form had been exposed, and the structure of her bones and flesh had been judged harshly and deemed pitiful. Elly found herself stripped naked by the blue gaze. Her instinctive response urged her to shrink back and disappear. She resisted the urge, lifting her chin in a desperate attempt to hold her ground.

‘Did you find a replacement for me already?’
The aggressive question hung in the air for a second, the audacity of it making any response redundant.

Jake stepped forward, his six fee
t and four inches radiating resentment all the way to where Elly was standing. ‘I invited Elly to join us at the party, if you really need to know. Do you have a problem with that?’

N
obody expected what followed next, especially not Jake. Otherwise, Elly couldn’t imagine he would’ve opened his mouth in the first place. Bianca burst out laughing, the pearly sound drawing attention, which was exactly what she wanted.

‘That’s precious,’ she managed to spit out between fits of laughter. ‘You
, of all people, invited… Elly.’ Bianca made her name sound like a dirty word. ‘What would you do with her, might I ask?’

Elly
watched with sick fascination as the other woman shook her head in reproach. Jake’s jaw tensed when he realized his fatal mistake—too late.

‘
You might want to cover up for Adam, the good brother you are,’ Bianca continued, her voice getting even louder. She knew she had a growing audience and enjoyed it. Her diabolical smile became triumphant. ‘Still, you need to be reasonable, Jake. You can’t go around making up such fairy tales if you want anyone who knows you to believe them. Or did you suddenly see the light? Was your show rubbing off on you to turn you into a ladies’ man?’

‘
That’s enough,’ Adam interjected, his face pale. He must have known where she was going, but his determination to stop her from causing permanent damage was just a second too late. Like an avalanche roaring down a slope, destroying everything in its path, Bianca wouldn’t be stopped unless he physically subdued her. He must have considered this option, his hands balling into tight fists as he struggled with the temptation to get rid of the woman who seemed bent on ruining the day.

‘Why?’
Tossing her mane that rippled down her slender back like a river of pale gold, Bianca shrugged, her eyes locking with his for a second. Then she spoke up again, and a hushed silence fell over the crowd. ‘Why are you so afraid to be honest, Jake? This hypocrisy doesn’t really suit you. You know that. Why not come clean and admit who you are? A gay man who is pathetic enough to act straight to save his career. Did you really ask this girl to be your cover for the party? You should have at least picked someone better looking.’

How could anyone be that malicious?
Elly couldn’t look at her friend’s face. Her heart tightened into a painful knot of misery she felt responsible for causing. If Bianca hadn’t been so absurdly suspicious about Elly’s presence, she wouldn’t have gone so far. She likely would have pleaded with Adam and made a spectacle of herself, but she wouldn’t have hurt anyone else.

Jake
received reinforcement from the most unexpected place ever. ‘You take your filthy mouth and leave our property right now, before I make sure you can’t use your legs for a very long time!’ Like a lioness on the prowl, Aunt Laura stepped forward, her tiny frame seething with rage. Five foot one of pure fury could look very intimidating. Bianca stepped back, her eyes uneasy. Elly could understand her fear; the old lady looked as if she were about to go straight for Bianca’s throat.

‘You’re
in no position to tell your ex-fiancé if he can date someone else or not.’ Blue eyes as hard as steel bore into Bianca’s red, uncomfortable face. The delicate blush had been replaced with two feverish stains, definitely less attractive. ‘I’ll say good for him if he moved on after the trouble you’ve caused us all. You’re not even half the woman she is.’ Her smile hit Elly like a bullet as she stood frozen in sudden shock, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Does Aunt Laura really think Adam and I have something together?
Probably not.
Given her cunning nature, Laura was most likely just trying to humiliate Bianca and distract everyone from the explosive news about Jake. It was working, for all she knew. People turned their attention to her, and a murmur of voices rose all around her. Bianca looked utterly lost, and for a second, Elly felt almost sorry for her. She probably hadn’t expected the reaction she’d received. Her delicate throat moved convulsively as she tried to swallow, her eyes darting between Adam and his parents.

‘
You can’t really mean it,’ she managed to whisper hoarsely, her lovely features looking much older and tired. ‘You can’t be serious about this girl, Adam…’

W
hy is she talking about me as if I’m not here?
Elly’s sympathy disappeared, giving way to anger.
I have a name for God’s sake!
And if Bianca had something to say about her, she should have at least had the decency to look her in the face.

Adam must have felt the same, because
Elly felt his hand descending on her arm, where the warmth of his fingers dissipated some of the cold. It wasn’t a lover’s touch, by any means, more of a friend’s caress, reassuring and calming at the same time.

‘
It’s none of your business.’ He looked at Bianca with a mix of disgust and pity. ‘None at all. You should really leave now. You’ve already gotten us into tomorrow’s gutter press, just like you wanted.’

She looked as if she wanted to fight him or burst into tears
, maybe both. Yet she managed to compose herself and leave, her red high-heeled shoes making small clicking sounds as she walked away in a melodramatic, lonely exodus captured by the photographers.

That’s p
robably part of her plan, too
.

Aunt Laura wasn’t done yet
, though. Before anyone could say a word, she turned to the gawking crowd, her blue eyes brilliant with pride. ‘My nephew doesn’t have to pretend to be anything he isn’t, just take it from me. We are all very proud of him, gay or straight. If anyone has something to say about it, go ahead.’ The challenge hung in the air, vibrating with energy that could set the world on fire. There were no takers. ‘Now that the show’s over, why don’t we get back to having fun and head for the buffet.’ Aunt Laura’s bony hand, decorated with rings, rose to point to the tables with food. A hushed whisper of relief followed, dissolving the uncomfortable silence into eager chatter as groups split up and eyes turned away.

‘
Halfway through their luncheon, they’ll probably forget most of it, Ron.’ Suddenly looking much older, Laura turned to her brother, her blue eyes reassuring. ‘But this little beast gave us a run for the money, I’ll say so much.’

‘I’m sorry
.’ Jake shook his head, his voice subdued. He still looked a bit stunned. Elly guessed public talk about his sexuality had shaken him up more than he was letting on. ‘I should have come out a long time ago. I planned to do it as soon as possible, after the whole hubbub with the party. David’s arrival made me see how ridiculous this charade really is. I do love him and he loves me. That’s all that matters and there is no reason to pretend otherwise, career or not. Just not like that, ruining your day…’ He looked pleadingly at his stepfather. The anxiety in his eyes tugged at Elly’s heart.

‘
Rubbish,’ Aunt Laura interrupted again, her face pinched into a sour expression. ‘It’s not like we all didn’t know you’re gay, my boy. Yes, even me…’ She laughed at his stunned expression. ‘Did you think I’m blind or something, Jake? From the first moment I met you, I knew very well who you are. I’ve never seen a better dressed man in my life, the way you were spruced up for your mother’s wedding. As for your career, they are lucky to have you and if they don’t see it, screw them all.’

She managed to bring a ghost of a smile to everyone
’s lips. Her acerbic words failed to hide her real emotions. She cared for Jake, more than she was willing to show. Her brusque tone was nothing more than camouflage for a softer, kinder soul.

She turned to
Elly, her hawkish gaze uncomfortably perceptive. ‘As for you, young lady, I did you a favor. If our beloved Bianca had it her way, you’d be featuring in the press as the beard, if I recall the term correctly. I think you’ll agree that being Adam’s possible love interest sounds better?’ She watched Elly expectantly, looking very pleased with her own deduction. Since Elly struggled to come up with a proper answer and Adam seemed equally flabbergasted, the old lady kept going. ‘It kills two birds with one stone, too. You just got rid of those blasted paparazzi following you around to write their nasty little stories about you being alone and dumped, still brooding over your engagement. Don’t tell me they didn’t drive you crazy, AJ.’ She shrugged her thin shoulders with a fatalistic gesture that left little for discussion. ‘Wasn’t that the whole reason Jake turned up with Elly? To provide them with something else to try figuring out? Well, now you’re off the hook as the dissed groom and back in the saddle.’ She smiled a thin-lipped smile, her eyes going over Elly once again. ‘Pretty, yet unknown, with no strings attaching her to any scandal. Perfect for a fresh start, I think.’ She glared expectantly at her brother and his wife. ‘And now I am going to have some of those wonderful hors d’oeuvres, before they all disappear. Care to join me? I think we should leave the young people to sort out their very interesting lives themselves.’