Anabel Unraveled (30 page)

“I thought it smelled funny.”

“What, you hate Maryland now?”

“Don’t you?”

He considered. “You got me there. But we’re almost to Potomac Prep.”

“Your parents live at a prep school?”

He shot me a sidelong glance. “My father is the Headmaster, Anabel.”

“Oh.” I slumped as far down in my seat as my pregnant belly would allow. “Right.”

We continued the rest of the trip in silence, and as I looked out the window I noticed that we were in a nice area, perhaps almost as nice as Mclean. The grass was green, the people looked friendly, and I was just starting to think that this might be okay . . .

. . . And then I saw the school.

Potomac Preparatory Academy was absolutely formidable. The stone walls that encompassed the property reminded me of a prison. The dormitories that Matt pointed out to me were severe, and the young men walking across the campus all looked the same, dressed in uniforms that looked crisp and stern. I felt self-conscious of my messy hair and my dress that had begun to wrinkle. A few of the boys turned to eye Matt’s truck, causing me to look down and stare at my feet.

Matt made a sharp turn, and then we went up a pathway and then I saw it.

“The Headmaster’s House,” he announced.

“More like the Headmaster’s castle,” I gawked. “Did you grow up here?”

Matt gave a curt nod.

“Wow,” I managed, at a loss. This beautiful building put my sweet little house to shame. It really was almost a castle, built in the same stone style as the rest of the campus. It even had a couple turrets. I turned to Matt, wide-eyed. “Where’s the drawbridge?”

“It’s not like that,” he defended, and I detected a hint of embarrassment.

I slid my arm through his. “Oh come now, Matt. I grew up on a bloody island. You needn’t be like this around me.”

“I needn’t?” he grinned.

“No,” I returned his smile, and then it hit me again that I really, really liked him. I felt a faint blush creep into my cheeks, and I looked away as he led me to the front door.

“Anabel?” He rang the doorbell.

“Yes?”

“You may want to tone it down a little,” he suggested.

“Or I may as well accept the fact that your mother is determined to hate me.”

He nodded. “I guess there’s no point in pretending otherwise.”

I grinned. “Don’t worry, Matt. I know how to play the game.”

And so I did. When I first set eyes on Clara Moore it only took me half a second to ascertain that she did indeed despise me and there was nothing that I could do about it. So I sucked it up, smiled as widely as I could, and caught her off guard by giving her a warm embrace. “Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Mrs. Moore.”

She was stiff in my arms. “Dr. Moore.”

“Dr. Moore! How silly of me,” I admonished myself. I turned to Matt’s father. “And you must be the other Dr. Moore?”

There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. I think he saw right through my little charade. “I’m Geoff, Miss Martin.”

“Anabel.”

“Anabel,” he pronounced, offering me his arm. “You are everything I hoped you’d be.”

“And how’s that?” I asked, lowering my voice.

“Let’s just say I am now certain that this will be a highly entertaining evening.”

I shot Matt a backwards glance. I couldn’t quite read the expression on his face, but it looked like he was somewhat torn between mortification and amusement. So I winked at him and then smiled benevolently at his mother. “Such a beautiful home, Dr. Moore.”

“Thank you.” She nearly choked on the words. Geoff bit back a laugh. I might have some fun this weekend after all.

Clara showed me to my room, and I hurriedly unpacked, as she had informed me (in a very cold voice) that dinner would be in half an hour. I unzipped the garment bag and pulled out the blue sparkly dress that Charlotte had assured me would be fine. I liked it because it didn’t look like a typical maternity dress and it matched my eyes. Shimmying into it, I paused in front of the gorgeous antique mirror and laughed at myself. So silly, Anabel, I thought. I pulled a comb out of my bag and quickly ran it through my tresses and pulled some of it away from my face with a clip. Not bad, not bad. I turned sideways to admire my baby bump, and that was when Emma took the opportunity to nail me with a swift kick to the spine. “Ooof!” I gasped, bracing myself against the dresser.

Matt suddenly barged in. “Anabel? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I muttered, rubbing my back. “I’m just being castigated for my vanity.”

He raised an eyebrow, so I went on to say, “I was admiring myself in the mirror and Emma decided to punish me for it.”

He laughed a little. “You look nice.”

“Yeah?” I couldn’t contain the hope in my voice.

“Yeah,” he reaffirmed. “One thing though . . .”

“Stop flirting with your dad?” I grinned.

“Yes, that would be good,” he said, brushing some hair out of my face. “He’s already quite enamored, and Mom is already not thrilled with you.”

I laughed. “I’m glad he gets such a kick out of me.”

“There’s something else,” he added, and hesitated for a moment.

“I’m pretty sure he knows I’m not seriously interested in him. I won’t break his heart,” I teased.

“No, not that, although that is good to know,” he continued, and then hesitated again.

“What?”

“Well, Scott is here.”

“Your brother? I thought he lived in California.” I began digging through my bag looking for chapstick.

“He was visiting this weekend. I hadn’t realized. Look, the point is, my brother hates Jared Sorensen even more than I do,” he explained. “I can’t pretend like he won’t try something with you to get back at Jared.”

“Try something with me?”

“He might . . . hit on you. Or worse.” Matt’s brow was furrowed.

I started to giggle. “Are you serious?”

“I’m always serious, Anabel.”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, your sister was gorgeous, right? While that was what attracted Jared to her, it’s not really how it was with me. I just happened to be the only female on Caereon who was under thirty. So while maybe that was Scott’s original plan, I’m pretty sure that once he gets an eyeful of me he’ll drop that. Or maybe even run away screaming at the sight.”

“Oh knock it off. Being pregnant doesn’t alter the fact that you’re beautiful, either,” he said, and my heart did a flip-flop. “What? Don’t act so shocked. Your mother was gorgeous, and you look a lot like her.”

I looked at the floor. “That was the last thing I expected you to say.”

“I’m not blind, Anabel. It‘s a fact,” he continued. “Don’t you ever read what the papers say about you? Everyone thinks you’re beautiful. Including my mom, which is part of why she doesn’t like you.”

“She doesn’t like me because she thinks I’m pretty?”

He sighed. “My mom’s a bit narcissistic. She was prom queen at her high school and hates making way for someone who is younger, prettier, and more attractive to my father.”

“That last one is just silly,” I pointed out.

“That may be, but my mother is territorial. So play a little closer to the chest, okay?”

I nodded. “What’s for dinner?”

“Chicken and a million side dishes,” he said, turning. I trailed after him and he paused at the doorway. “Come on,” he said. “I can’t have you getting lost.”

“Okay,” I said, following him out. “I can’t believe you grew up here! This place is amazing. Sort of like a Jane Austen novel combined with Hogwarts.”

He chuckled at that. “No ghosts here, alas.”

“What about a three-headed dog?”

He looked solemn. “Don’t go in the basement.”

“Oh, Matt, I had no idea you had a sense of humor.” I lowered my voice to imitate him. “I’m always serious, Anabel. Stop being such a slut.”

“You’re not a slut,” he stated.

“No,” I mused. “No, I’m not. But I could behave myself better.”

“Where would the fun be in that?”

We sat down to dinner and I was seated between Geoff and Matt, which was a good thing, considering that the other two members of our dinner party were less than enthralled with me.

Matt’s brother Scott was, as far as I could tell, his complete antithesis. He was blond and blue-eyed and rather brash. There was something downright sleazy about him, as he eyed me with speculative interest. I flicked my eyes over to Matt, and he shot me a look which made me decide that it might be best if I held my tongue.

As we dug in, Clara made some cool remarks about the weather, and asked Scott several questions about his trip down. It started to dawn on me with the pointed questions that she was asking Scott, she meant to snub us, and I started to feel a bit protective toward my bodyguard. My irritation grew as she then turned the conversation to Scott’s work.

“So how is the new software coming?”

“Fine,” replied Scott, taking a rather large bite of chicken.

Clara finally deigned to notice me. “Scott has been working on a project for a defense contractor. Once he finishes it, it will do a lot to protect national security.”

“Indeed,” I said, stabbing my carrots with my fork. “Is this project top secret?”

“But of course,” replied Clara. “Scott does important work.”

“Well, it can’t be that important,” I said. “Or you couldn’t have mentioned it to me. And if it’s that vital to national security, he shouldn’t have told you about it, now should he?”

Geoff snickered.

Clara bristled. “Perhaps you would know more about this sort of thing, Anabel, if you actually had a security clearance.”

“Well that could very well be, Dr. Moore,” I agreed. “But your oldest son has a security clearance, and he knows how it works. Besides, I think I’m the only person in this room who actually was a piece of Top Secret information, and based on that experience I know how vital it is to keep your mouth shut about that sort of sensitive material. I mean,” and I paused to shove another bite in my mouth, “my very existence brought down my brother’s presidency. What exactly do you think would happen if the information that you just shared with me got out?”

“Are you planning on leaking it to the press?” She was getting angry.

“Oh heavens no,” I replied. “The press and I share a common interest, which is me, so I think I’ll ride that puppy as long as they’ll let me.” Geoff was shaking with laughter, as I gave her my most benign smile. “Besides, Matt won’t let me do anything destructive.”

Clara scoffed. “You clearly have a high opinion of yourself.”

“Somebody around here needs to,” I retorted. “I realize you don’t particularly care for me, Dr. Moore, and I’ve tried to be as nice as I can, but I’m not going to sit here and watch you praise your sulky little golden child over there and ignore your other son who is an amazing human being.” I felt Matt’s eyes on me, but I continued to maintain my glare at Clara.

“All you’ve ever seen him do is watch you, which only takes half a brain.”

“Oh be fair, I get myself into all sorts of trouble without trying. Matt’s ability to keep me alive is unparalleled.”

“Matt’s talents are wasted in babysitting for a spoiled little girl,” Clara snapped.

“That’s enough, Mother.” Matt was calm.

“No it’s not enough! You could have done so many things, and here you are, playing nanny to a Sallinger!”

“I’m not technically a Sallinger,” I remarked.

She ignored me and turned to her son. “You just let your skills waste away.”

“This isn’t the time or the place,” he said.

“Well I hope she’s worth it,” Clara huffed. “Because once these hearings blow over, Sallinger will drop you.”

“Well then I’ll retain him,” I declared. “Matt’s been invaluable to me.”

“Why? So you can try to get in his pants, since you’ve already been in—”

“MOTHER!” And now Matt was on his feet. “That’s enough,” he said, his tone heated.

I shook my head. “Everyone really does think I’m a slut.” I let out a dramatic sigh and stretched. “Well, I hate to miss dessert, but I think I’ll give you all some family time now.” And with that, I stood up, and stomped out of the room.

“She even makes a dramatic exit,” I heard Geoff say.

“She’s sassy,” came Scott’s snide remark.

“Stay away from her,” Matt retorted, and then I heard him chasing me, which only strengthened my resolve to make it to my room before he could see the fact that—

“You’re crying,” he noticed, catching my arm.

“No I’m not,” I denied, wiping away tears. “It’s just an allergy attack.”

“You are a terrible liar,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry, Anabel. I thought it would be slightly awkward, but I had no idea that this would happen.”

“I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut,” I admitted.

He put his arm around my shoulders. “You know, no one has ever done that before.”

“Done what?”

“Stood up to her. Defended me.”

“Not even your dad?”

Matt sighed. “He doesn’t like to get involved. He doesn’t love her, but he lets her run his affairs.”

“Well that’s sad,” I assessed. “It would be terrible to be married to someone you didn’t love. I mean, that’s why . . .”

“Why you can’t marry him?” he asked. “I know that’s what he wants.”

I nodded. “I guess I love Jared in a way, but I’m not really in love with him.”

“After what he did to you, you still have feelings for him?” I felt his grip on me tighten as we walked into my room.

“It’s complicated.”

“Sam says you have Stockholm syndrome.”

“Are you serious?” I started to laugh. “I don’t sympathize with Jared, if that’s what you’re getting at. It’s just messy,” I lamented.

“I see that,” he said, letting go of me and checking under the bed.

“We’re in your parents’ house. Do you really think—?”

“It’s my job to check,” he cut me off. “You know, I’m done with you telling me how to do my job.”

I was taken aback. “I’m sorry,” I stammered.

“What?” He sounded surprised.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be critical of you. I think you’re wonderful.” It all came out in a rush. “At taking care of me,” I added, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks.

Matt studied me for a minute and then cracked a grin. “You know, if anyone else ever criticizes you, you immediately get defensive. I get angry with you for a second and—”