An Offer He Can't Refuse (44 page)

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Then, the metallic sounds still echoing in his head, she turned from him. She didn't run away, she walked, graceful and certain.

But certainly wrong.

Certainly
wrong.

But he'd been wrong too, he realized, his gaze unable to move off her. So wrong, he thought, as he watched her leave him in that flame-red dress.

He'd thought lust had driven him to take her to bed. And he'd thought he could scratch the itch he had for her and then somehow go on with his life.

But she'd scratched back. Scratched him, and then found her way beneath his cool, slick surface, and from there, beneath his skin.

She'd made it all the way to his heart.

Damn the woman, damn the woman
, damn
the woman
.

In his head, the curses crashed like cymbals.

Now he knew exactly why he'd gone against his con-science, his common sense, and his Magee Main Street morality. As fucking ironic as the truth was, he now knew exactly what had led him to betray Téa.

It was because he'd fallen in love with her.

"Bella Notte"

Peggy
Lee

Songs
from Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp
(1955)

Rachele sat with Cal at a table out of the reach of the party
lights. The band was playing a golden oldie that had the dance floor filled. The guest list had been something over three hundred and she'd be astonished to find out there was a single no-show. Drinks continued to flow, but dinner had been served—prime rib, lobster, and a selection of pasta dishes that even she couldn't have improved upon. All that was left was to light the birthday candles and consume the four tiers of layer cake.

"Which one is Téa's grandfather?" Cal asked. "I was hoping to meet a real live Mafia man."

"You've already met some real live Mafia men tonight," Rachele replied. "Remember Dom, Nick, and Brandon? They were the ones in the first tent shoving unopened champagne bottles under their coats when the bartender wasn't looking."

"They were Mafia? The ones yammering about their own private party later? They looked like your average young dudes."

Rachele shrugged. "Rumors are they're part of the Caruso crew."

"So you're not going to introduce me to the grandfather?"

She gazed around the party grounds, trying to spot Cosimo. "He's over there, with the police chief and the lady in the blue sequined dress."

"The white-haired woman with the shocked look on her face? Must be some conversation."

"Around here we call that woman's expression 'Palm Springs Surprise.' It's not the conversation, but the bill and the latest procedure from her plastic surgeon that has her all wide-eyed like that."

Cal grinned. "Hey, you're funny."

But she didn't feel so funny when she spotted her father in the crowd. Her heart clenched as she watched him move alone through the party, a champagne glass held awkwardly in his meaty hand. He wore his one dark suit and she knew for a fact that his white dress shirt wasn't pressed. Without her around, she doubted his socks matched.

He was getting closer, but she couldn't face any unpleasantness tonight.

"Let's go for a walk," Rachele said, jumping to her feet. She grabbed Cal's hand. "I want to be alone with you."

"You want to be away from your father," Cal said, after they were well clear of the celebration.

"I stayed with him too long as it was," Rachele said. All that time telling herself he loved her, when all that time he hadn't wanted love and hadn't wanted to give love back. What a fool she'd been.

"Let's think of something else," she said, tugging Cal down another path. "Let's think about the future. You can help me pick a career. What do you think I should do? Radio

DJ? Chef? Or should I fall back on my childhood dream of becoming a professional in-line skater?"

They'd reached the man-made lagoon that Téa had partially shielded with trellises to hide the crumbling retaining walls. Filled with nervous energy, Rachele jumped on top of the rock ledge and wavered to keep her balance. Cal grabbed her hand to steady her.

"Téa fell backward into the water here the first time Johnny and I met her," Cal said, squeezing her fingers. "You don't want to fall in her footsteps."

She smiled down at him. "Now you're funny." Then she sighed. "But to tell the truth, I'm actually thinking of
following
in her footsteps."

"How so?"

Twin moons reflected in Cal's glasses. Rachele hesitated. With her father's true colors now revealed, she hated the idea of losing the only other man in her life. She drew in a breath, let it out. "I've been thinking about going to design school in L.A."

The moonglow in Cal's lenses made it impossible to read his expression. "That's what Téa did?"

"Yeah." She started walking atop the ledge of the lagoon, and Cal walked beside her, his feet on solid ground.

"It would be hard to leave Palm Springs," Rachele continued, "and… everyone here." The valley had cupped her in its warm hands all her life.

"It's not far," Cal pointed out.

"A world away, if I lived on my own. Right now, though I'm out of my father's house, I'm practically living with Téa's mom, and she and her sisters are around all the time."

"They'd still be there for you when you need them." Cal walked a few more steps alongside her. "
I'll
still be there when you need me."

Rachele's heart bobbed down, then back up. "Really?" she whispered.

"Really."

"Do you think I should go?"

"I think you should do what you want. What will make you happy."

"But what if something goes wrong? What if I fail? What if I end up losing…" She wanted to say
you
but didn't have the guts.

"I'm a gambler by profession, Rachele. I make my living by calculating odds. Nothing's one hundred percent fail safe. You know that."

They were words that could have set her free. Should have set her free. Her father's love and his assumed loneliness had tied her to Palm Springs. But now that she'd seen his true indifference to her, she should be taking chances and making tracks from the place in order to make her own life.

But without any kind of tether she worried she might float away and never find her way back. Could she count on Cal or Téa and her family to be the anchor she seemed to need in order to fly free?

Her shoe wobbled on a loose stone. She wavered, then felt the ledge beneath her feet crumble. With a little shriek, she lost her balance. Cal caught her against his chest as rocks tumbled to the ground around his high-tops.

He felt solid and warm and she hung onto him. With her mother gone from this world and her father gone from her life, she probably clung too hard. Cal stiffened in her arms and she flushed, embarrassed by her neediness. She loosened her hold and struggled to get free of his clasp.

He swung her outward so that she landed safely away from the now-broken ledge. "Oh, God," he said, turning his back on her to look down at the destruction. "Oh, God."

Rachele frowned. "It's all right. Johnny has to have the lagoon repaired if he wants to keep it, Téa said. I didn't break it or anything."

When Cal didn't move, she put her hand on his arm.

He jumped, then spun toward her. "Let's get out of here, Rachele." His hands grasped her shoulders and he pushed her backward.

"What's the matter?" His shoulders were broad and she had to lean around him to assess the damage to the lagoon.

It didn't look any worse than it did on the far end, where other rocks had fallen as well. She squinted, something odd catching her eye.

"
Oh, God
," she said, echoing Cal.