Home at Rose Cottage (27 page)

He chuckled, even though it was plain she wasn’t entirely joking. “What are you really worried about, Maggie? That she’ll ask a question we can’t answer or that I’ll get tired of all the questions and take off?”

She gave him a surprised look, as if she hadn’t expected him to be so intuitive. “A little of both, I suppose.”

“Then you’re forgetting something. I’m a pretty jaded guy. I’ve been interrogated by tougher people than your sister. She doesn’t scare me. And you and I have a deal. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You could change your mind.”

“Not because of Ashley,” he reassured her. “You’re the only one who could get me to leave and only if you kick me to the curb and mean it. I’m not running just because things get a little sticky.”

His claim seemed to startle her. “Why not? Isn’t that what you do?”

The accusation stung, despite its accuracy. “Yes,” he admitted.

“Then what’s different now?”

“You,” he said simply. “You make the difference.”

She looked perplexed, rather than pleased. “How?”

Because she was so obviously struggling to believe him, Rick tried to find an answer that she would understand.

“For one thing, I have had more stimulating conversations with you than I’ve had with all those other women combined. Then there’s the work we’re doing right now. I’m enjoying that.”

“So am I, but it won’t last forever.”

“Okay, but there’s more. We have fun together, Maggie. And for another thing, being with you is easy.” He grinned. “At least when I’m not having to fend off your fiercely protective sisters.”

“But that’s precisely my point—” she began.

Rick cut her off. “Do I need to go on with all the other things that are keeping me here? Trust me, the list far outweighs the inconvenience of having to deal with Melanie and Ashley.” He studied her intently. “Are you really worried about me not being able to come up with the answers to pacify Ashley, or are you worried that you don’t have the right answers?”

“Me?”

He nodded. “I’m not the only one on the hot seat, you know. She’s bound to ask you if you’ve thought this through, if you’ve weighed the risks of getting involved with a guy with my reputation. Heck, she knows that’s why you took off in the first place.”

“I didn’t take off because of your reputation, at least not exactly,” she retorted. “I ran because of my own track record.”

“Which is?”

“I’ve told you,” she said impatiently. “I fall too hard, too fast. I can’t sustain a relationship. Add
that
to your track record, and it’s pretty much a sure bet that we’re headed for disaster.”

Rick nodded slowly. “Could be,” he admitted and saw
the instant hurt in her eyes. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It hasn’t happened so far, though. Would you rather not have any of this just to prevent some possible heartache in the future?”

She sighed at that. “I honestly don’t know.”

Rick felt his stomach clench. “If you’re not sure, then maybe we should forget about this. I’m a live-in-the-moment kind of a man, Maggie. It’s the way I grew up, the way I had to be to survive. I can’t promise you anything beyond right here, right now. If you don’t think that’s going to be enough to appease your sister, if it’s not enough for you, then I’ll finish this photo shoot tomorrow and take off.”

Alarm flared in her eyes. “No,” she said at once.

The quick and heartfelt response wasn’t enough to reassure him. “Are you sure?” he persisted.

“Yes,” she said, then shook her head. “No. It’s gotten very confusing.”

Rick had a feeling he should stop tormenting her and take the decision out of her hands, but he couldn’t seem to make himself do it. He had an undeniable weakness for Maggie that he didn’t understand and couldn’t explain. Every time he kissed her, every time he touched her, the need for her grew stronger. He knew that for as long as she was willing to have him underfoot, there was no place else on earth he’d rather be.

That could change tomorrow or the day after that, but for now this little nowhere town on the Chesapeake Bay was where he needed to be as long as Maggie D’Angelo was here, as well.

A
s soon as Maggie and Rick walked back into Rose Cottage, Maggie could feel the decided chill in the air, and it wasn’t due to the new central air-conditioning she’d purchased running on high. Ashley was waiting for them, her expression hard and unyielding, the way it was in the courtroom whenever she faced down a prosecutor. Maggie shivered, even though it was her own sister. She knew what Ashley could be like when she was in this mood. Something told her Ashley was disturbed about a whole lot more than discovering Rick in Maggie’s bed when she’d arrived that morning.

“Did you get any rest?” Maggie asked her sister.

“No.”

“Maybe I should send Rick home so you and I can have a long talk. Obviously there’s something serious going on with you.”

“Forget about me,” Ashley said. Her gaze shifted to Rick. “I think you should hang around for this.”

“Sure,” Rick said easily, sprawling in a chair opposite her as if that hard glint in Ashley’s eyes wasn’t the least bit worrisome.

“I’ll make some tea,” Maggie said. “Rick, maybe you should help me.”

Her sister’s lips quirked at the ploy. “Don’t even think about trying to hustle him out the back door. Let’s just get this out of the way.”

Rick leveled a calm look at her. “What’s on your mind? Is this about finding me here earlier?”

“No, that’s a whole other topic. Since then, you’ve had a phone call,” Ashley said.

Rick looked puzzled. “No one I know has this number.”

“Actually it was on your cell phone, which you’d apparently tossed aside at some point last night.” She paused as if to allow the significance of that to sink in, then added, “I picked it up by mistake, thinking it was mine.”

He shrugged. “Obviously, I forgot all about it this morning. I’ve gotten out of the habit of checking to make sure I have it since the reception’s so lousy.”

Ashley gave him a wry look. “It wasn’t lousy this morning. In fact the call came in quite clearly.”

Rick finally frowned at her. “So, you intercepted a call of mine by mistake and something about it has you all worked up. Am I with you so far?”

“You’re very astute,” Ashley confirmed. It didn’t sound like a compliment.

“Are you sure you weren’t deliberately spying on me?” Rick asked mildly.

He was one step ahead of Maggie. She’d been about to utter the same question. She didn’t like the way this conversation was going. She’d kept her mouth shut till now, but enough was enough.

“Back off, Ashley,” she ordered. “Rick’s phone calls are none of your business.”

“Sorry. I can’t pretend I didn’t take this one.” She gave
Maggie a commiserating look. “Are you aware that this man is supposed to be in Greece right now?”

Rick chuckled. “Actually, I’m not. I turned the assignment down. Is that what this is about? Did my agent call and go on and on about how your sister is interfering in my career?”

Ashley looked startled. “No, but that’s an interesting take on things. Actually this was your very good
friend,
Laurina. If she has a last name, she didn’t mention it. She seemed to think Laurina would be sufficient.”

Maggie knew the name even if her sister didn’t. Laurina was one of the top international models whose face Rick had immortalized on more than one fashion magazine cover. They’d definitely been an item a few months back. Just hearing the name was enough to send a chill down Maggie’s spine. She should have guessed the women from his past wouldn’t all be content to remain in the background. If she’d concluded he was worth fighting for, some of the other women might have, as well.

Rick didn’t seem to be rising to Ashley’s bait, though. He merely shrugged. “So? We
are
friends. We do talk from time to time.”

“Apparently you’ve done quite a bit more than talking,” Ashley said coldly. “She’s apparently expecting a little bambino. She thought you should know.”

Maggie felt sick to her stomach, but before she could bolt from the room, Rick laughed.

“You think this is funny?” Maggie demanded incredulously, waving off whatever comment was on the tip of her sister’s tongue. She could handle this part. “This woman is having your baby and you’re laughing about it?”

Rick returned her heated gaze without so much as a flicker of an eyelash. “If she’s having my baby, then it
must be by artificial insemination,” he declared calmly. He almost sounded believable.

“You expect us to buy that?” Ashley demanded, obviously unable to keep quiet despite Maggie’s warning look.

“I don’t expect you to do anything, except maybe to listen to both sides of the story rather than jumping to all sorts of wild conclusions,” Rick said mildly. “Shouldn’t an attorney, of all people, understand the concept of innocent until proven guilty?”

Before Ashley could respond, Maggie stepped in again. If she and Rick were ever to have a chance, she had to deal with this herself. Ashley would never be able to sit silently by while she tried, so she turned to her sister and said, “Ashley, I think you should go and pay Melanie a visit. I’m sure she’s anxious to see you.”

“But—”

“Go,” Maggie repeated. “I can handle this.”

“You can’t simply believe whatever story he decides to tell you,” Ashley warned. “I talked to this woman. She was very convincing.”

“About the fact that she was pregnant or about the baby being mine?” Rick asked.

Maggie waited as anxiously for the response as Rick did. Maybe even more so. For an instant, her big sister looked thoroughly flustered. Maggie seized on that. “You didn’t really ask, did you? You jumped to a conclusion.” The same way she had, in fact. “Let me deal with this, Ashley.”

Her sister nodded finally, then looked at Rick. “I’m very sorry if I got it all wrong, but if I find out later that I didn’t, there will be hell to pay.”

“Fair enough. You did get it wrong, but I can understand you wanting to look out for Maggie. Trust me when
I tell you that there is nothing remotely like this that’s going to come along to hurt her.”

“I hope not,” Ashley said, then left.

Maggie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then faced Rick.

“You are telling me the truth, aren’t you? Laurina’s baby isn’t yours?”

“There’s not a chance of that,” he insisted.

“But you were together,” she stated flatly. “We were
seen
together,” he corrected. “Often, in fact. Laurina’s been wildly in love with a man in Italy for a very long time. He’s very publicity shy. He wouldn’t commit to marriage to someone who’s always being trailed by the paparazzi, so she used me to make him jealous. We purposely got our picture taken all over the place for a few weeks. The tactic worked. He realized a few unwanted snapshots weren’t important enough to cost him the woman he loved. They were married, very quietly, two months ago. There wasn’t a paparazzo in sight.” He grinned. “And now she’s pregnant. I’m thrilled for her, for both of them.”

It all sounded so plausible, but could she believe him? Maggie wished she could be sure. She’d seen those pictures, too. They’d been very convincing.

Rick held out his cell phone. “Call her, if that’s what it will take to convince you,” he offered. “She won’t mind. I had to do my share of fast-talking to get her off the hook with Antonio. He wanted to carve me up when Laurina insisted I come to the wedding.”

“Did you go?”

“Yes.”

And he’d survived this Antonio’s scrutiny. That had to mean something. Maggie made a decision. If they were ever to have a real chance, trust had to begin sometime.
It might as well be now. “No. I don’t need to call her. I trust you.”

Rick regarded her with approval. “You can, you know. I won’t ever lie to you and I won’t sugarcoat the truth. Not every time I’ve been seen with a woman was as innocent as the times I was spotted with Laurina. We all have a romantic history of one sort or another, Maggie.”

She thought of her own less-than-stellar past. Her relationships might not have been as well documented as some of Rick’s, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t happened. He wasn’t cross-examining her about those.

She recalled what he’d said earlier about living in the moment. It had always gotten her in trouble before, but there really wasn’t any other way to live life. If she filled her head with regrets about the past or worries about the future, she would have nothing in the present.

“Let’s go to Melanie’s,” she said, standing up and reaching for his hand.

Rick looked momentarily alarmed. “You want to face both of your sisters down?”

She nodded. “We have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of.”

He laughed. “All right, Maggie!” he enthused.

She frowned at him. “Knock it off. This isn’t going to be a picnic, Flannery. Ashley may have been thrown off stride by discovering she might be wrong about Laurina, but she’s still not through with you.”

“Duly noted.”

“Why aren’t you quaking in your boots?”

“Because I think you’re tough enough to defend me.”

Maggie regarded him with surprise and the slow dawning of pleasure. She was tough, she realized. And getting tougher by the minute. The past had done that for her. It gave her a whole new perspective on all that heartache.
Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad thing, after all, if it had made her ready for a man as complicated as Rick Flannery.

“You’re still in one piece, I see,” Mike commented when Rick joined him outside at the backyard grill on which several steaks were cooking.

“Fancy footwork and the truth,” Rick commented dryly. “I imagine Ashley filled you in.”

“Actually, she didn’t. She muttered something about possibly having gone a little overboard. Closest I’ve ever heard the woman come to admitting she might be wrong.”

Rick glanced into the house and saw Ashley sitting quietly, while Melanie and Maggie laughed as they worked to get dinner on the table.

“I only met her once before she turned up here, so you know her better than I do,” Rick said, watching her thoughtfully. “Does Ashley seem okay to you?”

Mike stared in the direction of his sister-in-law. “She’s quieter than usual. Why? You think she’s here for some reason besides grilling you?”

Rick shrugged. “I would have bet on it this morning. Maggie picked up on it, too. I think she got temporarily sidetracked by a phone call of mine she intercepted, but look at her now. She’s way too quiet in there with those two.”

Mike studied her, then nodded. “You could be right, but thankfully, we can leave it to her sisters to wheedle the truth out of her eventually. We’re just men. They don’t expect us to be intuitive about this sort of stuff.”

Rick laughed. “That is a blessing, isn’t it?” Even so, he couldn’t quite shake the sense that Maggie’s sister
was bottling up something serious enough to require the support of everyone around her.

“Daddy,” six-year-old Jessie said impatiently, arriving with her hands on her hips and a pouting expression, “are we ever going to eat?”

Mike scooped her up and tickled her until she giggled. “Ten more minutes, kiddo. Your aunt Ashley is the only one around here who likes her meat raw. The rest of us have to wait till it’s cooked medium rare.”

Rick wished he had his camera with him. The look of adoration in Mike’s eyes as he gazed at his daughter was priceless. It was the epitome of what the love between a parent and a child ought to be. Too bad it was so rare in the world, he thought cynically.

He took another look at the happy scene inside and saw that her sisters had finally managed to draw Ashley into the conversation. Maybe close-knit families weren’t as unusual as he’d imagined. Maybe it was simply his own dysfunctional family that had colored his view.

“Mike, you’ve been around all of the D’Angelos. What’s that like?”

Mike regarded him curiously, but before he could reply, Jessie piped up, “They’re the bestest family in the whole world. I’m glad they married us.”

Mike chuckled. “There you have it, a thoroughly unbiased report. She’s right, though. They’re remarkable.” He gave Jessie a squeeze. “I’m glad they married us, too, short stuff.”

Something that might have been longing filled Rick’s chest at the testimonials. For the first time in his life being part of a remarkable family was within his grasp, if only he had the courage to reach for it.

He could choose to do that, just as Maggie had chosen to trust him earlier. He could step out of his comfort zone
and take a chance that something better was right around the corner. Or he could retreat and protect his heart the way he always did.

He bit back a sigh as an all-too-familiar panic crept through him. He didn’t have to decide tonight or even tomorrow, but the day would come. Maggie would lose patience with having nothing more than today. She would want a future. She’d been surrounded by people who believed that love could endure. Right now, this second, Rick wanted to believe that, too. Like capturing that image of the adoration in Mike’s eyes as he gazed at his daughter, having such strong faith in love would be priceless.

Ashley was tipsy. Maggie kept staring at her strong, invincible sister, trying to make sense of it. Ashley was never out of control. In fact, she rarely had more than a glass of wine with dinner. Tonight she’d had two glasses, maybe three, which was apparently more than enough to loosen her tongue and make her giggle at the slightest provocation.

“You’re riding home with us,” Maggie told her, steering her toward Rick’s car. There was no backseat to speak of, but she could manage in the cramped space for the few minutes it would take to get to Rose Cottage.

“I’m fine,” Ashley said, balking.

“You haven’t been fine since you got here,” Maggie retorted. “And now you’re drunk.”

“Uh-oh,” Rick muttered, apparently guessing that the accusation wouldn’t sit well with the always-in-control Ashley.

Maggie scowled at him. “Well, she is.”

“I am not,” Ashley said haughtily. “I am totally sober.” She proved it by tripping over nothing more than a loose
piece of gravel and almost falling facedown on the ground.

“Yes, I can see how totally sober you are,” Maggie commented.

Ashley tried to jerk away. She dangled her car keys under Maggie’s nose, even as she sank into the passenger seat of Rick’s car. “I have my car here.”