What? Its not my family, is it? They havent reported me missing or anything, I hope. She wasnt in close contact with her parentsshe talked to them every couple of weeks. They wouldnt be worried about her yet.
When he didnt answer at once, she felt panic creeping over her. Bryan? What is it?
Its my grandparents. Theyre holding a dinner tonight at their house on Long Island. Its a command performance. We have to be there.
Oh. Word had apparently gotten out about Bryans new girlfriend, and she was being summoned for inspection.
The good news is, he continued, my cousins and aunts and uncles will be there, and theyre all at each others throats these days, so therell be lots of drama to keep everyone distracted. The focus wont be solely on youthough youll receive your share. Are you up to it?
Sure. As long as no one asks me how I got from Kansas to New York with no clothes.
Bryan waited nervously in the living room while Lucy got ready for dinner at The Tides, the home where hed spent a lot of his growing-up years. Shed been very nervous about what to wear when hed told her the Elliotts dressed for dinner.
His grandparents could be a bit pretentious, no two ways about it. And controlling? They gave new meaning to the word. The competition Patrick Elliott had set up among his children and grandchildren was a perfect example. He liked to make them jump through hoops.
Still, they were good people, and they wanted what they thought was best for their loved ones.
When Bryan heard Lucys bedroom door open and shut, his gaze went immediately to the corner around which he knew she would soon appear, and he caught himself holding his breath. Having seen some of the clothing Scarlet had picked out for his girlfriend, he couldnt wait to see how Lucy had tricked herself out tonight.
He wasnt disappointed. When she came around the corner, she wore a clingy halter dress in a muted, burnt-orange color. It came almost to her knees, the hem ending in a flirty little ruffle, but that didnt make it conservative. It showed every delicious curve of her body. Shed draped a silk fringed shawl over her bare shoulders, the color ranging from pale peach to a dark orange. A bold silver necklace called attention to her long neck and the enticing curve of her breasts.
Too slutty? she asked. I dont want your family to think Im easy, although if Ive moved in with you after knowing you only a couple of weeks, I guess I must be.
You look terrific, not slutty at all. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to untie the little bow at the back of her neck and peel that dress right down to her waist. He wanted to kiss the shiny gloss off her lips and tease her breasts until her nipples were hard against his palms
Bryan?
What?
Shouldnt we go? I dont want to be late.
Bryan forced himself to think about the time hed crash-landed a plane in a Greenland blizzard and had survived for two days on four granola bars. Cold, very, very cold. Hed gotten frostbite and had almost lost his little toe.
Better. Yes, lets go. He offered her his arm in a courtly gesture, and she took it, smiling uncertainly. You look like a goddess, you know.
Oh, stop.
You do. And its not just the designer clothes and trendy hair. Since your makeover, you carry yourself differently.
Its my inner Lindsay, she quipped, though he could tell she was pleased with the compliment.
On the drive out to Long Island, Lucy worked at memorizing their story. Theyd met at a Paris café where Bryan was swapping recipes with a chef. Shed gone there thinking she would write a novel but had found out she couldnt write. Now she was trying to find herself. Shed inherited a bit of money and so was in no hurry to get a job.
They invented fake names for her parents and a fake Kansas town as her home.
You can say you worked at a bank, since you know that world, but make it somewhere besides D.C.
What about my education? I have a finance degree.
Keep it, but say you went to I dont know. Loyola. None of my family has ever been near Chicago.
Ill just try to steer conversation away from me. Ill ask questions about you instead. That worked pretty well with Scarlet.
Oh, really? And what did Scarlet say about me?
Lucy put on her most innocent face. She said when you were a kid you liked to pull the wings off flies and burn things.
What? The look on his face was priceless.
Im kidding. She said you were the only one who didnt go into the magazine business. Why is that?
Id planned to. I actually studied finance, with some vague idea of working in the EPH home office. But the government recruited me before I graduated. I knew I couldnt tell my family I was training to be a spytheyd have gone through the roof. So I bought a restaurant instead.
Why a restaurant?
I met Stash when I was still in school. It was his dream, and I knew I liked food. So I bought the café and hired him to run it. I had no idea I would enjoy it so much. Id planned on being more of a silent owner, but it hasnt worked out that way.
Tell me more about your family. Who will be there tonight, besides your grandparents?
No telling. Most of the family comes when Granddad calls, unless theyre testifying before the Supreme Court or vacationing in Sri Lanka. But with everyone so tense these days, Im not sure.
Will either of your parents be there?
Not Mom. She doesnt set foot at The Tides. Dad will probably be there, though.
Your parents dont get along, then? Lucy was saddened at the thought of Bryan and his brother growing up with two feuding parents. Scarlet had let it slip that Bryans parents had split when he was about twelve.
Oh, no, actually they get along fine. Its Patrick my mom cant stand.
Your grandfather?
He nodded. I dont think shes spoken to him since I was a kid. Shes kept in touch with my aunt Karen, but no one else in the family.
Why the feud? Lucy wanted to know.
Bryan shrugged. She never said, but I think she blames Granddad for the divorce somehow. Like I said, he is controlling. And when I wasWell, you dont want to hear all that.
I do, really. Unless youd rather not.
He continued only reluctantly. When I was a kid, I had to have an operationthe kind our insurance wouldnt pay for because it was considered experimental. Granddad paid for itand Ill be forever grateful to him, because it saved my life, literally. But I think he felt my parents owed him after that, and he used that debt to keep them under his thumb. Ultimately, I think thats what caused the divorce.
Bryan looked so sad, almost shattered, that Lucy reached over and laid her hand on his arm. Surely you dont blame yourself. You were just a little boy. You had no control over a health problem.
I know. But the fact remains, if I hadnt gotten sick, our lives would have been a lot different.
And maybe you wouldnt have pushed yourself to become a super athlete, and you wouldnt have been recruited by the CIA, and you wouldnt have been assigned to my case, and whoever was watching me would have killed me. You cant play the what-if game. Its silly.
He looked over at her and smiled. Youre an amazing woman, Lucy Miller. He took her hand and squeezed it, then didnt let it go.
Lindsay Morgan. She felt the warmth of his touch all the way to her heart. If it felt this fantastic when he touched her hand, what would it be like if he touched her other places?
Dont go there.
He only released her hand when he had to shift gears, downshifting as he reached their destination.
The Elliott home was in the Hamptons, where else? Lucy had been to the Hamptons a few times for some wild parties, so she thought she knew what to expect. But The Tides, as it was called, shocked her nonetheless. The turn-of-the-century mansionno other word for itwas perched on a cliff above the shore. To get to it, Bryan turned his Jaguar down a private drive, where a guard waved him through.
A gated community, Lucy said. Nice.
Not a community. Just one house.
You mean that security guard sits there all the time to guard just one house?
Thats right.
Lucy thought shed seen wealth and opulence, but she was afraid her preconceived notions hadnt prepared her for the Elliott estate. As the perfectly manicured grounds passed by outside the car window, she wondered how she would measure up. Designer clothes and a chic haircut didnt change the fact she was a farm girl from Kansas.
The house up close was even more impressive than from a distance. The rusty sandstone monolith came into view as they rounded the last corner and drove onto the circular drive, and it literally took Lucys breath away. The high, peaked roof was gray slate, and there were so many gables and turrets and cupolas and multipaned windows that Lucys head spun.
Wow.
Bryan laughed. I loved this place growing up. Always so full of activity, laughing, fighting. Granddad has talked about downsizing now that its just the two of them most of the time, but I doubt theyll ever do it. Gram loves this place too much. She says the grounds remind her of Ireland.
Other cars had already arrived. Bryan parked and came around to open Lucys door, but she was already out of the car by the time he arrived. Again he offered her his arm. Remember, were smitten.
As if she had to struggle too hard. They walked up the brick stairs to the porch. Not standing on ceremony, Bryan opened the door and ushered her inside a marble foyer with a crystal chandelier twenty people could have swung from. Straight ahead was a formal living room; to the right, Lucy glimpsed a dining room with a massive table already set with linens, china, crystal.
Despite the luxury, the house exuded a welcoming warmth. Elegant and understated, the decor didnt scream professional decorator. Instead Lucy was willing to bet the lady of the house had decorated it herself. There were family photos and knickknacks everywhere, arranged in attractive groupings. The furniture, while upholstered in stylish colors, appeared to have been chosen for comfort and sturdiness.
A group was already seated in the living room, and the murmured conversation stopped the moment Bryan and Lucy entered. They all looked expectantly at the newcomers.
Bryan. A handsome man in his forties bounded up and approached Bryan with a hearty handshake. He looked too young to be Bryans father, but with the physical likeness between the two men, they couldnt be anything but father and son.
He focused on Lucy. And you must be Lindsay. Im Daniel Elliott, Bryans father.
They shook hands. I guessed as much.
Everyone, Bryan said, this is Lindsay Morgan. I would appreciate it if you didnt scare her to death. Remember, the Elliotts en masse can be a trifle intimidating.
Lucy was introduced to each Elliott in turn. His brother, Cullen, was easy to remember, because he looked enough like Bryan to be a twin. Cullens wife, Misty, was also memorable, mostly because she was close to six feet tall, pregnant and amazingly gorgeous.
Scarlet she knew, of course, but now she met her fiancé, John Harlan, an ad exec. And Scarlets twin sister, Summer, who was a carbon copy, if a tad less flamboyant. Summers fiancé, Zeke Woodlow, made a definite impression. Who could forget him? He was a rock star, and a golden god of a man even when he wasnt assuming his stage persona. He and Summer were on a break from touring, Summer explained, while she and her twin planned their double wedding.
But after a while, the names and faces began to blur. Trying to remember her cover story and commit names to memory proved too much for Lucys little brain. It wouldnt matter in the long run, she told herself. In a matter of weeks she would be gone, hardly a blip on the collective memory of the Elliott clan.
But it did matter. She wanted the Elliotts to like her. She wanted to be a positive reflection on Bryan.
Finally Bryans grandparents appeared. Lucy had never met a more intimidating man than Patrick Elliott. Though well into his seventies, he was still strong and vital, and it was clear his word was law around here.
So youre the new girlfriend, he said, giving her a once-over as if she were a horse hed bought at auction.
Bryan made polite introductions, but Patrick didnt do anything so modern as shake Lucys hand. He nodded brusquely.
Dont mind him, said Maeve, Bryans grandmother. She was a petite woman and still a beauty. Her mostly white hair, piled up on her head in an elegant upsweep, carried traces of auburn, and her nose bore a sprinkling of pale freckles. Her green eyes were sharp as a birds and missed nothing. Hes a gruff old goat, but deep down hes a charmer. Welcome to The Tides, Lindsay.
Maeve grasped both Lucys hands and squeezed them, and Lucy instantly fell in love with the woman. She was just adorable.
Though Lucy quickly ceased to be the center of attention, she could sense the Elliotts watching her at various times. When others arrivedBryans uncle Shane and his cousin Teagan and Teagans fiancée, Reneeconversations broke into small groups, and the talk focused on the magazines. Which was only natural, since almost all of them worked for EPH.
Even an outsider could see the tensions. Those who worked for the same magazine flocked together, sometimes with heads bent low. Sometimes voices were raised, then boisterous laughter would break out, a spontaneous hug here and there.
Lucy wasnt used to any family showing their feelings so freely. In the home where shed grown up, shed been taught to keep emotions in check. Voices were never raised, laughter seldom heard. And hugging? Forget it.
No wonder Lucy had rebelled so far in the other direction, allowing her life to get about as messy as one could get.
Let me refill that wine, Lindsay, Daniel said. Which one were you drinking?
Uh, red?
Burgundy? Or was it the pinot noir?
Lucy felt sure she should know the difference, but she didnt. Her parents hadnt allowed alcohol in their house, and In Tight had leaned toward beer and the hard stuff.
At her clueless expression, Daniel took her elbow and led her to the bar, where several bottles were lined up. This is the burgundy, he said, a particularly nice one from Australia. The pinot noir is a Chilean variety. Dry, but with a hint of floral and oak. He smiled at her. Pretend youre interested in my boring dissertation on wine, okay? Make me look good.
Lucy laughed. I am interested. I just dont know much about wine. I think I drank from the bottle with the green label.