“Even if he tried to, you said that some Weres you talked to mentioned that he died going after a woman. His parents found that out, I’m sure.”
“Probably, but if they never saw her… ” She continued to look hopeful that her plan would work.
“Do you resemble her?”
“Yes. I have her picture in my room at Whittier House. I look a lot like her.”
“In a way, that’s better than if you looked like their son. They’d pick up on that immediately.”
Luna glanced at the clock on the bedside table. “It’s almost nine. What should we do?”
“Get dressed.”
“Well, duh.”
He couldn’t help laughing. “I’m serious. Until you put some clothes on, you’re a walking temptation to forget all about this and take you back to bed.”
Her green eyes grew serious. “Maybe we should forget all about this. We don’t have to hook up with the Byron Reynaud Foundation. They may suspect something, but if I never go knocking on their door, they might not find out for a long time, if ever. They’re old, right?”
“Not that old.” He shook his head. “If you’re imagining you can wait them out, keep this under the rug until they die off, then—”
“Not exactly! Well, sort of, but I don’t want anything to happen to them. It’s just that… I’m scared.”
“I know,” he said gently. “But think of all the scary things you’ve conquered recently. Taking a risk and meeting them is just one more. What’s the worst that could happen?”
She took a shaky breath. “The worst that could happen is that the two living relatives who would understand my Were nature could be forever lost to me if they reject me and say nasty things about my mother. If I never go to them, then I can hang on to my fantasy that they would have loved me if given the chance.” She shrugged. “Maybe that makes no sense.”
“It makes sense. But it’s the coward’s way out, and you’ve proven to me time and again that you are no coward.”
She met his gaze. “Damn your hide, Colin MacDowell,” she said softly. “You expect so much of me.”
“Because I know you can do it.”
A smile tipped the corners of her mouth. “Sort of like having two cli**xes in a row?”
“Don’t you dare start talking about sex.”
“Who knows? Maybe, with the right circumstances, I could have three in a row.”
With a groan, Colin left his chair and grabbed his phone from the bedside table. He’d keyed in the number for the Byron Reynaud Foundation yesterday, and he clicked on it now.
“Want to have phone sex?” She left her chair and came over to stand beside him. “Go into the living room and I’ll call your phone from the one on the nightstand.”
“This is for your own good, Luna.” He put the phone to his ear and willed his erection to subside. He couldn’t make her go to see her grandparents, but he could set it up for her and give her the option of going or not.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Trust me.”
“That’s what they all say.” She looked worried.
A receptionist named Angela answered the phone. “Yes, Angela, this is Colin MacDowell, Laird of Glenbarra.”
“Show-off,” Luna muttered.
Colin ignored her. “I now own Whittier House in the San Juan Islands, and I plan to convert it to an inn. I’d like to make an appointment this morning for me and my associate, Luna Reynaud, to meet with Mr. and Mrs. Reynaud about having a benefit for their foundation on our opening weekend.”
“Luna Thisbe. ”
Colin turned his back on her while the receptionist put him on hold and quickly returned with a suggested time. “Yes, eleven would be fine. See you then.” He disconnected the phone.
Luna regarded him with a dark expression. “Now you’ve gone and done it. And you used my real name.”
“George Trevelyan knows your real name, so you might as well give up that idea.” He gazed at her and waited to see what she would do. “You don’t have to go. If it’s really that frightening, I can call back and cancel the appointment. But if I’m right about George and his strategic nature, you’ll have to face them, perhaps sooner rather than later.”
“And if I do it later, you won’t be here.”
“Probably not.”
She swallowed. “Then I want to go this morning, with you.”
“That’s my girl.”
“But if they’re mean, then—”
“If they’re even slightly mean, or the least bit rude, we’ll leave. I won’t let them tear you to shreds, Luna. That’s why I want to go with you, to be your backup.”
“What if it turns into a scandal and affects business at the inn before we even open?”
“I’m not a shrewd businessman like George, but I have paid some attention, because lairds are expected to do that. I’ve noticed that scandal doesn’t usually hurt business. If anything, it helps.”
“Oh, great!” Luna rolled her eyes. “Are you hoping for a scandal, then?”
“Of course not.” He set his phone on the nightstand and took her by the shoulders. As he did so, he told himself to resist the soft temptation of her skin beneath his fingers. “I want this meeting to go well, for your sake and theirs. But if it doesn’t, don’t worry about the inn. If I ever doubted it would be a huge success, George’s interest tells me we’ll have a booming business in no time at all.”
She held his gaze for several long seconds. “Then I guess we’d better get dressed, Your Much Honoured Laird of Glenbarra.”
He smiled, and because he couldn’t deprive himself completely, he gave her a quick, hard kiss before he let her go.
“You’re sure you don’t want to try the phone sex thing?”
He shook his head. “We can do better than that once we get back to the island, lass.” He was already anticipating the night ahead, and he refused to think about the possibility that it might be their last.
“Can I see their picture again?” Luna spent the cab ride to her grandparents’ house alternately checking her lipstick in a small mirror she kept in her purse and asking Colin for his phone so she could look at the picture of Edwina and Jacques Reynaud one more time. He always handed it over with a patient smile.
He kept his arm loosely around her shoulders during the ride. A couple of times she started to tell him how much that meant to her, but she was afraid she might get choked up if she started talking about… anything, really, but feelings in particular. So she squeezed his thigh and hoped he knew that his presence was the single most important part of the trip.
The house looked even more imposing than it had in the picture. It was on the right side of the street, and Luna had chosen to sit on the right side of the cab, so she had a fine view as the cab pulled up to the curb.
On a street filled with lovely big homes, all with groomed lawns and lavish flower beds, the Reynaud mansion was perhaps the most impressive. The paint seemed whiter, the drapes in the windows more elegant, the flower beds more carefully tended, the lawn more manicured.
Sidewalks flanked the street, along with several large shade trees. Their roots had buckled the sidewalk in places, which spoke of the age of the trees and the neighborhood, but other than the cracked sidewalk, nothing was out of place.
The homes suggested wealth without trumpeting it. If the owners drove Bentleys and Ferraris, they were tucked away in garages. No children played in any of the front yards and no dogs gamboling about fetching sticks. A couple of sleekly dressed runners jogging by on the sidewalk were the only people Luna could see.
She stared out the cab window and tried in vain to slow her racing heart. A little cottage would have been easier to deal with, although the people inside were the scariest part. Maybe the size of the house was unimportant. Geraldine had lived in a very large castle, and she’d been a sweetheart.
Luna glanced at Colin. “I know it will be expensive, but I’d like to have the cab wait for us, in case we need to make a quick getaway.”
“I can wait,” the driver said, looking back at them from the rearview mirror. “Long as you don’t mind the meter going all that time.”
“We don’t mind,” Colin said.
“Then I’ll just pull up under that tree and read my newspaper.”
Luna swallowed. “Then we might as well go in, I guess.”
Colin was out of the cab in a flash. “Let me get your door.”
His gallantry touched her. Yet this was the same Were who had backed her up against the wall less than three hours ago. She’d loved that, too. Whether he was treating her like royalty or coaxing her into a lusty round of sex, she felt like the luckiest female in the world to be near him.
She took his hand as he helped her out of the cab. “Keep holding on to me,” she said.
“You’re sure? I said we were business associates.”
She laced her fingers through his as they started up a flagstone walkway. Ahead of them, a balcony on the second floor shaded the carved entry door. “If George has blabbed to them, he’s probably told them we’re more than associates.”
“True.” He gave her fingers a quick squeeze. “That blouse looks great on you.”
“So you said when we bought it yesterday.”
“But not because it matches your eyes.”
“It doesn’t match my eyes?” She knew he was making conversation to distract her, and she appreciated that.
“Oh, it does match your eyes, but that wasn’t the main reason I like it.”
“What was the reason, then?”
“When you tuck it into your jeans, your tits look amazing.”
“Colin!” She laughed, and that was probably what he’d hoped for.
As he reached for the doorbell, the large door swung open before he could push the button. Edwina and Jacques Reynaud were framed in the doorway. Edwina, dressed in a pale blue lightweight suit, her hair perfectly styled, stood in front. Jacques, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and looking considerably more casual, hovered behind her.
Edwina stared at Luna. Slowly her mouth opened, but nothing came out. She seemed dazed and disoriented, and her hand went to her heart. Finally she spoke. “Sophie?”
Luna squeezed Colin’s hand so hard she felt him wince. “No, Mrs. Reynaud. I’m her daughter.”
Chapter 22
So they did know. Colin balanced on the balls of his feet, even though there would be no physical fight involving these two seventy-something Weres. But he wouldn’t mind fighting someone, if he only knew who deserved the blame for this cock-up.
He’d like to make George the culprit, but from the way Edwina had looked at Luna, there was no villain. Edwina would have recognized Luna as the reincarnation of Sophie no matter when and where they’d met. George might have planted the idea, but this mess had been created more than twenty-seven years ago.
Edwina’s face nearly matched the white exterior of her house, and she looked a little unsteady on her feet.
Colin stepped forward, drawing Luna with him, and cupped his free hand under Edwina’s elbow. “Maybe it would be best if we could all sit down,” he murmured.
“Yes,” Edwina said faintly. “Yes, it would.”
Jacques stumbled backward, and Colin hoped he wouldn’t have to hold him up, too, because he was running out of hands. He’d promised Luna he’d keep his connection with her, and she’d maintained a death grip on him that might leave a mark.
Fortunately Jacques got his feet under him and led the way down a hallway with floorboards so highly polished that Colin worried about everyone’s footing. The hall was wide enough for him to walk between the two female Weres. With one hand locked through Luna’s fingers, and the other supporting a wobbly Edwina, Colin felt like the conduit between two sparking batteries. Either one could short out at any second.
Now that Jacques was moving, he looked taller and more in command. His stride was firm, his shoulders back. Once, when he ran a hand over his thinning hair, Colin detected a slight tremble, but that was to be expected. These two Weres had just met their dead son’s child, one they’d had no idea existed before.
Jacques reached the end of the hall and turned left into a sunroom furnished in cheerful yellow and white. Colin thought it was a fine place to settle these jumpy people and bring peace to all concerned. He hoped it worked out that way.
“You three sit there.” Jacques waved them to a plump couch as if he assumed they’d all stay connected like Tinkertoys. “I’ll tell Bethany to bring us… ” He paused and peered at them through his bifocals. “What would you all like?”
“Vodka,” Edwina said.
Jacques blinked. “Vodka?”
She waved a hand at him. “You know. Screwdrivers. Vodka and orange juice. Have Bethany mix up a big batch.”
“But, dearest, it’s eleven in the morning.” Jacques gave her a tentative smile.
“I don’t give a good goddamn what time it is, Jacques! Byron’s daughter just arrived! That calls for something stronger than iced tea, don’t you think?”
Colin glanced over at Luna and she widened her eyes at him as if to ask, What the hell? He gave a little shrug. For now, he’d be the filling in the sandwich. He prayed he wouldn’t have to be the referee.
Edwina leaned forward, so Colin leaned back, allowing her to look at her granddaughter.
“Luna, is it?”
Luna edged forward a little and peered around Colin at her grandmother. “Luna Thisbe Reynaud. Although they never married, my mother took Byron’s name. She told me he was my father. But that’s… that’s all she told me.”
“She didn’t say he was Were?” Edwina flung the question as an accusation.