Fit for a King (6 page)

44

Diana
Palmer

Fit for a
King

45

"I
guess I can try," she sighed. "You lead; I'll follow."

Bess was
sitting on the edge of a chair, glancing
toward the hallway
when they emerged. The blonde's
very blue eyes narrowed and there was real
hostility in them for an instant before she skillfully erased it.

"I
didn't know King had a...a girlfriend," Bess
said, deliberately
hesitating over the word. She smiled
with sleek sophistication. "He
said you'd had a quarrel and went back to Florida. But you seem to have
made
up."

"Oh, in the most delicious
ways, too, haven't we,
darling?" she
asked King with a fluttering of her long
lashes.

He
chuckled. "I guess so," he mused, but he didn't look at Bess.

"Where in Florida do you live?" Bess continued.

"In Miami, most of the
year," Elissa replied. She
let go of
King's hand and smiled at the older woman.
"I understand you're married to King's brother?"

Bess
glanced down at the drink she'd poured her
self. "Yes. I'm
Bobby's wife."

"You're
cuuuuute!" Warchief burst out, circling
his cage with
appropriate whistles and clicks.

Bess stared
at the big parrot. "You flirt," she ac
cused the bird, forcing a smile.

Elissa
relaxed a little. Bess wasn't so bad; at least
she liked parrots. "He likes
women," she explained,

"but he's
really in love with King. When I take him
home, he mourns."

"Oh. He's yours?" Bess asked.

"Yes.
He stays with King when I'm in the States,
and I've only been
back since this morning."

King glanced at her quickly. "Want a drink?"

"Yes,
thank you," Elissa said. She read him very
well. He was warning
her not to let too much slip.
She smiled. "Do you have pets,
Bess?"

The other woman shook her head.
"No pets. No
kids." She sounded
oddly wistful. She laughed, a hol
low,
haunting melody. "No nothing. It's just me and
Bobby—when Bobby's ever home."

"Hard
times, Bess," King reminded her. "If he
doesn't keep on the ball, you'll have to
give up your diamonds."

"It wasn't the diamonds I
married him for, but he
won't believe
that," Bess replied. She looked up, her
eyes searching King's face with what looked like pure
longing. "Remember how it used to be, in the
old
days? Bobby and I would go to
amusement parks and
spend hours on
the rides. Sometimes you'd take an afternoon off and come with us, and we'd
stuff our
selves with ice cream and
cotton candy...."

"It
isn't wise to look back." He handed a vodka
and tonic to Elissa.

"It isn't wise to look
ahead, either," Bess replied
miserably.
"All I do is sit in hotel rooms these

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Diana
Palmer

Fit for a
King

47

days...or sit at home alone." She
glared at her drink.
"It's a miracle I'm
not an alcoholic."

"Don't you have a job or
anything to keep you
busy?" Elissa
asked without thinking. At Bess's ob
vious
chagrin, she hastily added, "I'm sorry, that
sounded like a criticism, but honestly it wasn't.
I just
meant, if you had a project or
a hobby, it might be
less of a strain
to be alone at times."

"I don't know how
to do anything," Bess said
sadly. "I married fresh out of high
school, so I never really learned how to do much...besides be a wife."
The irony of Bess's situation
wasn't lost on Elissa.
"We can all do
something," she said gently. "Paint or write or play an instrument or
do crafts...."

"I
used to play the piano," Bess replied. She
looked down at her hands. "I was
pretty good, too.
But Bobby resented the
time I spent practicing." She
laughed
bitterly. "How's that for a reversal?"

"I've
always wished I could play," Elissa said en
thusiastically,
glancing at King's set, solemn face and hoping to alleviate the tension Bess's
comments were
feeding.

"You
design clothes, don't you?" the other woman asked curiously, her eyes
faintly approving the jump
suit. "Did you design that?"

"Yes,
do you like it?" Elissa asked eagerly. "I
haven't shown this one to my parents.
They'd be—"
She stopped short, jamming
on verbal brakes as King

glared at her. "They'd be
delighted," she concluded
weakly.

"Of
course they would. They're very proud of
you," King said
quickly.

"What
do your parents do?" Bess asked politely,
raising her glass to
her lips.

Elissa
gnawed her lip. "They're...they're into an
cient history,"
she said truthfully. Wasn't the Bible a
record of human history, after all?

"How
interesting." Bess finished her drink, tossing
back her hair as she
glanced at the diamond-studded watch on her slender wrist. "Bobby's
late," she mut
tered.
"Another business meeting that ran overtime.
Or so he swears," she added under her breath. "Too
bad
I'm not a briefcase; I'd be swamped with affec
tion these days."

"It's a difficult time,
Bess. Subcontracting can be
extremely
time-consuming," King reminded her. "Jamaica desperately needs
outside investments, and the
hotel
Bobby's planning will employ a lot of people,
help the economy. But it has to be properly built.
These things take time."

"It's
been months already," Bess muttered dispir
itedly.

"It
will be over soon," King said, "and you'll be back in Oklahoma
City."

Bess
looked up. "Yes, I suppose I will. What a trip
to look forward to.
Instead of staring at hotel walls, I can stare at my own for a change,"
she said dully.

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Diana
Palmer

Fit for a
King

49

Her eyes searched
King's. "You never visit us any
more, Kingston. You spend most of your life here."

King
swirled the Scotch in his glass and stuck his
free hand into his pocket. "I like
Jamaica," he said.
He glanced
deliberately at Elissa. "A lot."

Bess took
an audible breath and drained her glass. "Pour me another, would you,
please?" she asked,
handing it to King.

"I
think you've had enough, Bess," he replied. He
took the glass and
put it aside, gazing down at a chas-
tened-looking Bess. She merely folded
her hands in
her
lap and looked defeated.

Elissa was
trying to decide what to do to cheer
them all up when a car came up the
winding sandy drive from the main road. A horn sounded, and sec
onds later, a car door slammed.

"It's Bobby," Bess said dully.

King strode to the door to meet
him, and Elissa
found Bess staring after him
with quiet misery in her
eyes.

Elissa
watched Bess watching King. "What's your
husband like?"
she asked, diverting her.

Bess
blinked, looking startled. "Bobby? He's...
he's a businessman.
He doesn't look much like King
ston, even though they had the same mother.
King
ston's father was Indian," she added.

"Yes,
I know." Elissa smiled at her. "You're very
pretty."

Bess's eyes widened.
"You're very frank."

"It
saves thinking up lies." She cocked her head
at the other woman.
"How did you and Bobby
meet?" she asked.

Bess
laughed softly. "You're so unexpected!
Bobby was our star
quarterback, and I was a cheer
leader."

"King
says you've been married about ten years,
yet you never had children," Elissa
mused aloud.
"Didn't you want any?"

Bess
sighed, looking at her shoes. "When would
Bobby ever have time?
He's always at the office or
on the phone." She pushed back her hair
angrily. "I
never thought it would be like this. I thought— Any
way, who
wants kids?" she murmured, avoiding
Elissa's eyes. She
shifted restlessly on the couch. "They just clutter up people's lives. I
would love to
go back to studying piano again, though. But my
practicing would disturb Bobby when he's trying to
work at home."

"How sad," Elissa
said, and meant it. "I think a
woman
needs fulfillment as a person, just as a man
does."

Bess
frowned. "It floored me when you asked if I
did anything. You
know, I never realized that I might
be able to do something with myself...."

Elissa
heard male voices; King and Bobby were
approaching, much to
her relief. She was finding this
hard going. It shouldn't have bothered her
that King

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Diana
Palmer

Fit for a
King

51

was in danger of
falling in love with this bitter, con
fused woman, but it did. It bothered
her a lot.

"How
long have you and Kingston been...been to
gether?" Bess
tried to sound casual, but there was
pain in her voice.

"Well..."
It was extremely difficult for her to fab
ricate, and Elissa
was grateful that King and a shorter
man suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"There
you are. Finally," Bess said as the younger
man came in a step
ahead of King. She looked at him
and then averted her eyes. "Did you get
what you
went for?" she asked. The question sounded innocent
enough, but Elissa sensed something in the blonde's
voice,
something faintly accusing. Perhaps she won
dered if Bobby's
"business" was really business.

"Of
course," Bobby replied. He gave his wife an intent appraisal, his gaze
both searching and faintly
defensive.

He wasn't
anything like King, Elissa decided. His
hair was dark blond,
and he was blue eyed. He wasn't
a bad-looking man at all, and he was slim
but well
built. He had a nice mouth, and he seemed pleasant
enough altogether. But he
looked weary and worn, and there were deep lines in his face.

"Your
husband has approved the subcontractors,"
King announced with
a grin. "And the bids were well
under budget. He'll make you a rich
woman yet,
Bess."

"How
lovely," she said carelessly. "I'll run right
out and
buy a new mink."

"You'd better get a strong
cage and some thick
gloves," Elissa
said with a mischievous smile.

Bess
looked up, clearly puzzled by the remark. She
frowned. "Cage?
Gloves?"

Bobby got
the joke and burst out laughing, in
stantly looking years younger and more
approachable.
"I'm afraid you've got it wrong," he told
Elissa.
"She doesn't want a mink kit. She wants the real
thing—a ready-made coat."

"Oh,
a fast-food mink in a manner of speaking,"
Elissa agreed.
"Got you."

King's
eyes sparkled as he watched her, his firm
lips tugging up in a
smile. "Watch this girl," he cau
tioned his half
brother. "She's got a quicker mind than I have."

"That'll
be the day you old—I mean, darling," she
drawled at King,
winking. "I happen to know that
yours is a genuine steel trap, always
set and ready for
business."

"A
better description I haven't heard," Bobby
agreed. "You must be Elissa.
Kingston's told me so much about you over the past couple of years that I
feel as if I know you already. Tell me, how in the
world do you put up with him?"

"Why, there's nothing to
it," Elissa said, glancing
wickedly at
King, and oddly pleased to hear that he
talked about her at home. "I got commando training