Cherish Page 8

  “I could ask you the same thing. Seems to me like I was a big surprise to everyone in your family.”

  “Touché,” he said. He glanced over at her. “Let’s make a pact that we will not allow family interference to get in the way of you and me having the time of our lives.”

  “If we had a little champagne, I’d drink a toast to that,” she agreed, reaching for his hand. “Sometimes it seems you know exactly what’s on my mind.”

  “Because we’re more alike than you want to admit. Now let’s forget all our cares and take in this beautiful scenery. I’m sorry Dana wasn’t at church so we could borrow her car, but spring’s putting on a show for us just the same. And I, for one, don’t want to miss it.”

  Elizabeth released his hand and looked out the window at the budding trees about to burst forth with dogwood blossoms. Bright yellow forsythia spilled over split-rail fences. Purple and white lilac scented the air.

  “I’d forgotten how beautiful it is here in the spring. We have a change of seasons in California, but it’s not nearly as dramatic. Everything is bright and bold there, almost the whole year around. Here you go from dreary grays and stark browns to pastels. I guess it’s sort of like comparing the soft colors chosen by Monet to the brilliant palette of Van Gogh or Gauguin.”

  “With that kind of poetry in your soul, you’ll love the place we’re going for lunch.”

  “Tell me,” she urged, her voice laced with curiosity. She’d always wished for the time to discover romantic hideaways. David had been content with bland, ordinary restaurants and hotel chains.

  “I’m not spoiling the surprise. You’ll have to see what I mean when we get there.”

  They reached the inn a half hour later, a huge old clapboard house painted white and trimmed with black shutters. A weather vane on the roof twirled in the breeze. Though it was lovely, it wasn’t until they were inside that Elizabeth could see what Brandon had meant.

  The entire back of the house had been redone with French doors that were glass from floor to ceiling. Beyond the doors was a patio that had not yet been opened. It was edged with honeysuckle tumbling over a white picket fence. The scent was sweeter than any air she’d breathed in years.

  Beyond the inn’s yard, the hillside spilled into a valley that was brilliant with thousands of tulips, daffodils and the bright green of new grass. If they’d taken a patch of the Netherlands in springtime and transported it to this site, it could not have been more beautiful.

  Elizabeth drew in a deep breath of the air coming through the open doors and smiled in delight. She looked over and caught Brandon’s gaze pinned on her.

  “You like it?” he asked anxiously.

  “I’ve never been anywhere like it. Thank you for bringing me.”

  “I didn’t bring you just because of the picturesque view. The food is marvelous here, too.”

  Everyone seemed to know Brandon well, from the hostess to the waitress to the owner, who stopped by to ensure that everything was to their liking.

  “You must come here often,” she said, realizing as she said it that she sounded oddly miffed.

  “Once or twice a year,” he said.

  “Then you must tip very generously to warrant all the attention.”

  He grinned so broadly that she felt color flooding into her cheeks.

  “Jealous, Lizzy?”

  “No, I am not jealous,” she snapped. Then because her tone made it sound more like a confirmation than a denial, she added, “It’s certainly none of my business what you’ve done.”

  “That doesn’t keep you from being a mite curious. Am I right?”

  “Absolutely not!” she said with as much conviction as she could muster.

  “I should let you go on trying to squirm off the hook, but I’ll have mercy on you,” he teased. “The owner is a client. Halloran provides all the custom fabrics for the place—from the draperies to the tablecloths to the seat cushions. Notice how they pick up the colors from outdoors and bring them inside.”

  “Oh, my,” she said with delight as she caught the similarity. “Brandon, you amaze me. I should have guessed it was something like that.”

  “Instead of the wild, clandestine rendezvous you were imagining? Made me feel young again, just to know you thought me capable of such carrying on.”

  She gazed boldly into his eyes. “I don’t know why I let you agitate me so. You always did love to tease me.”

  “Do you know why?”

  Her breath seemed to go still. “Why?”

  “Because you blushed so prettily. You still do, Lizzy.”

  He reached across the table and took her hand in his. She told herself she ought to draw away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. His hand was warm and strong, a hand that could comfort or excite. She recalled that all too vividly despite the time that had passed. Foolish notions, she chided herself.

  “Lizzy, do you know that not once in all the times I’ve been here did I bring another woman with me. Not even Grace.”

  “Why?”

  “Because from the first time I saw it, it made me think of you.”

  Emotions crowded into her throat and tears stung her eyes. “Oh, Brandon, even if they’re lies, you do say the most romantic things.”

  “It’s not a lie,” he said softly.

  Whether it was or it wasn’t, Elizabeth knew she didn’t dare allow herself to fall for the tender web he was trying to spin around her heart.

  * * *

  It worried Brandon that Lizzy didn’t trust him, especially when he knew he had only a short time to convince her of his sincerity. He wined and dined her. He wooed her with flowers. They shared quiet evenings at home and passionate arguments after movies. He tried to convince her to move into one of his guest rooms, but she was adamant about staying on at the hotel. He guessed that had as much to do with caution as it did with her sense of propriety.

  In between, there were frantic calls from Kevin, who’d managed to dream up more questions about the running of Halloran Industries than he’d asked during the entire decade they’d worked together.

  “Dad, can’t you come in tomorrow? I think we should meet on the new contracts.”

  “You’ve been negotiating those contracts on your own for the past five years. You know I don’t like to mess with that sort of detail. I was delighted to have you take it off my hands. Why should I want to change that now? Besides, Lizzy and I have plans.”

  “What plans?”

  “None of your business,” he said, because he was thinking of taking her to Maine for a nostalgic visit to the place they’d met. He intended to ask her tonight. “Kevin, I trust you to run Halloran Industries. I really do.”

  Kevin merely sighed in defeat and hung up.

  That night Brandon took Lizzy dancing, though he stopped short of trying some of those fancy new steps that looked more suited to a bedroom than a public dance floor. In his day a man could have gotten his face slapped for some of those maneuvers. Damn, but they looked like fun, though.

  Back at his place, he turned on the stereo and shot a glance at Lizzy, who’d ended the evening with her hair mussed and her cheeks flushed. He held out his arms.

  “What do you say? Want to try one of those newfangled dances we saw tonight?”

  “Get out of here, Brandon Halloran. We’re too old.”

  Despite the protest, he saw the hint of curiosity in her eyes. “Not me. I’m feeling chipper as the day we met. Come on, Lizzy.”

  Breathless and laughing, they tried to imitate the intricate steps they’d seen earlier. As their bodies fit together intimately, the laughter suddenly died. Lizzy’s startled gaze met his and years fell away.

  Brandon touched his lips to hers with surprising caution, almost as if he feared a ladylike slap in response to a daring kiss. There was tenderness and longing in the tentative, velvet-soft kiss and the first breath of a passion that both had thought long over.

  The flowery scent of Lizzy’s perfume took Brandon back
to the first time he’d dared to steal a kiss.

  They had been in the garden behind the Halloran mansion, surrounded by the scent of spring and the gentle whisper of a breeze. He’d wanted Lizzy to meet his family, to see his home back then, too, but she’d been afraid. A little awestruck by the size of the house, she had come no farther than the garden before being overcome by second thoughts.

  “They’ll love you,” he’d vowed, ignoring his own uncertainty to quiet hers.

  “You can’t just spring me on them days before you leave. They’ll be certain you’ve taken leave of your senses.”

  “Do you love me?” he’d asked her quietly.

  “Oh, yes.” Her blue eyes sparkled like sapphires when she said it.

  “Then that’s all that matters.” His mouth had covered hers, stilling her trembling lips.

  There had been so much hope, so much sweet temptation in that kiss, he thought now. Was it any wonder she’d remained in his heart?

  Brandon felt the stir of those same fragile emotions now, an echo that reverberated through him. They gave him the courage to speak his mind.

  “Marry me, Lizzy,” he said impulsively. “Don’t let’s make the same mistake twice.”

  Before the words were out of his mouth, he knew he should have waited, knew he should have settled for asking her to go back to Maine with him. There was no mistaking the flare of panic in her eyes, the way she trembled in his arms.

  It was the sort of careless error that a man new to making deals might make, misjudging the opposition. Brandon cursed the arrogance that had misled him into thinking her misgivings were of no importance. Only a man totally blinded by love would not have seen that Lizzy wasn’t ready to consider marriage.

  Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to withdraw the proposal, because more than anything he wanted her to say yes to it. But once the words were spoken, he could see that he’d made a terrible mistake. He’d underestimated her fears and exaggerated his claim on her heart.

  Brandon’s breath caught in his throat as he waited to see how much damage his impetuous proposal had done.

  Chapter Eight

  Elizabeth was caught off guard by Brandon’s proposal now, just as she had been all those years back. For one crazy split second, she imagined saying yes. The word was on her lips as she thought how wonderful it would be to know that this strong, exciting man would spend the rest of his life at her side. She indulged herself in the fantasy that they would have a second chance at all the happiness they had lost.

  As she struggled against her powerful desires, she was vibrantly aware of the ticking of an old grandfather clock, the whisper of branches against the library’s glass doors. Everything seemed sharper and somehow dangerous as she flirted with Brandon’s tempting offer.

  There was no denying that it was romantic notions like that that had pulled her back to Boston in the first place. Yearnings, aroused by this compelling man, had kept her here beyond the scheduled end of the trip, but marriage? She had never really considered that an option because she knew it could never be. Never. Far too much was at risk. Once again she realized she would have to disappoint him—and, perhaps even more, herself.

  She touched her fingers to his cheek. His skin was tanned and smooth with fine lines fanning out from the corners of his clear blue eyes. She recalled as vividly as if it had been only yesterday the first time she had dared to touch him intimately, the first time she had felt the sandpaper rasp of his unshaven face after they had lain in each other’s arms for nearly an entire night of daring, blissful pleasure before parting discreetly before dawn. Then, as now, there had been as much sorrow as joy in her heart, knowing that their time together was drawing to a close.

  “Oh, Brandon,” she whispered now with a sigh as she tried to find the right words to make her refusal less painful for both of them. “You are such a dear, sweet man to ask. You almost sound as if you mean it.”

  “I do mean it,” he said, radiating indignation. “I’ve never meant anything more. We’re still good together, Lizzy. You can’t deny that.”

  She tried to counter passionate impulsiveness with clear, cool reason. “No, I can’t deny it. But you have your life here, and I have mine in California. This has been a wonderful time for us, but we can’t go shaking things up so drastically. Not overnight like this. What would our families think?”

  “That we’ve waited entirely too long,” he said flatly.

  How could he not see, she wondered, that what he said was only partly true? “Jason, perhaps. He’s young and newly in love himself. Kevin is another story. Even you must recognize that. He sees me as an intruder, I’m sure.”

  “He’d see any woman who stepped into his mama’s place that way. He’ll come to terms with it. Besides, what does it matter what he thinks? If his attitude upsets you, I’ll have another talk with him, explain the way it is with us. I won’t allow him to make you feel uncomfortable.”

  Elizabeth laughed at his conviction that he could mold people’s thoughts and deeds so easily. “Brandon, you might be able to force him into polite acceptance, but you can’t very well change the way he feels. And isn’t that what really counts?”

  For an instant Brandon looked defeated, then his expression brightened. “I’ll just remind him of how foolishly I behaved when I refused to recognize how important Lacey was to him. That’ll make him see things more clearly.”

  “And what should I tell Kate? She’d be no happier to learn of our relationship than Kevin.”

  “Tell her that you love me,” he said simply.

  “I’m afraid she thinks that love is an illusion. At our age, she’d probably consider it insanity.”

  “Then we’ll just have to show her otherwise. Lizzy, we can’t let our children dictate our lives, any more than they allow us to interfere in theirs.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t deny she was tempted, but she knew that part of the temptation for her—and for Brandon, whether he wanted to admit it or not—was based on memories that had managed to intertwine with the present. Those memories had given each moment of the past few days a bittersweet poignancy, had heightened every thrilling sensation. The tenderness, the laughter, the joy, how could they possibly be sure any of that was real?

  Besides, she had meant what she’d said about their having separate lives. It was hard to get much farther apart than Boston and California. She couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing her grandchildren.

  And for all his stubborn denial, Brandon wouldn’t like being separated from his family, either. Not that that was even a possibility. She would never have him in Los Angeles. The strain of it would kill her, though she couldn’t tell him that. He’d guess in a minute the secret she was determined to keep to her death, no matter the cost to her personal happiness.

  “What’s the real reason, Lizzy?” he said as if he could see that she was dissembling. “You afraid to take a chance on a man my age?”

  She scoffed at the ridiculous notion. “Brandon, you have more energy than men half your age. You’d still be running me ragged when we both turn eighty.”

  “I know that,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. “I just wondered if you did.”

  She raised her concerns about life-style and distance. But he shot each down promising to charter a jet if he had to to take her back and forth to California.

  “So, you’ve assumed we’ll settle here,” she countered. “There you go again, making plans without a thought to what I might want.”

  “No, indeed. The only thing I care about is what you want. I’m just not sure you recognize what that is.”

  “Brandon, I do believe I know my own mind.”

  “Then say something that makes sense,” he snapped impatiently.

  His tone set her teeth on edge. “Just because you don’t want to hear what I’m saying doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense. Don’t you think deciding where to live is critical for a couple our age?”

  “I don’t aim on settling anywhere. I’m th
inking of seeing the world, getting myself out of Jason and Kevin’s hair. Think about it, Lizzy. Have you been to Rome? Paris? Tahiti?”

  Naturally Brandon would hit on an almost irresistible lure, she thought irritably. Just the sound of all those fascinating places thrilled her. They were rich with culture she’d only read about in books. She’d promised herself that one day she would see them all. Time was running out, but this wasn’t the answer. They couldn’t roam the world as if they were rootless, when the very opposite was true.

  “Tahiti?” she inquired quizzically. “Isn’t that a little exotic for the likes of us?”

  “Why? I’ll bet you still cut a fine figure in a bathing suit.” His mood obviously improved, he winked when he said it, then sobered and added more seriously, “Besides, there are a lot of books I’ve been wanting to read. A month or two on the beach would help me to catch up.” The twinkle came back. “Unless you’d prefer to lure me off to our room and have your way with me.”

  “Brandon!” Despite the stern disapproval in her tone, she couldn’t banish the devilish quickening of her pulse. Brandon did have a way of saying the most outrageous things to shock her. Was she going to let silly fears and practicality stand in the way of happiness again? Perhaps a compromise was possible, a way to snag a few weeks or even months of pleasure.

  “I’ve always wanted to run away to a tropical isle with a handsome stranger,” she admitted, not even trying to hide the wistfulness.

  Brandon’s big, gentle hands cupped her cheeks. “We’re hardly strangers, Lizzy. We’ve known each other our whole lives.”

  “But we’ve only been together less than a month, counting these past few days. Isn’t that part of the appeal? We’ve never had time to recognize all the little idiosyncrasies that might drive us crazy.”

  “Is there anything important about me you don’t know?”

  “No,” she had to admit. But there were things he didn’t know about her, could never know. She could have a few more weeks, though. Just a few weeks of stolen happiness. They deserved that much.