Kate's Vow (Vows) (10 page)

“I think we’ve gotten off track here,” she told him firmly. “This weekend isn’t about you and me. It’s about you and Davey.” She turned on her heel. “I’ll send him out.”

Unfortunately Davey was already out and happily engaged in building a sand fortress with two boys from farther along the beach. That meant David hit the deck approximately fifteen seconds after Kate did. Alone.

“Shall I go drag him away from his new friends so he and I can share some quality time?” he inquired with a hint of mirth sparkling in his eyes.

Since she didn’t have a guidebook for this sort of thing, Kate had to go with instinct. As much as she wanted David otherwise occupied, it appeared she was out of luck. Sending him off to intrude on his son’s play wouldn’t accomplish a thing, except to force them into grudging contact. If Davey was content just knowing his father was nearby, wasn’t that good enough?

“There’s a ton of books inside. Grab one if you like,” she conceded. A man engrossed in a good book would not be ogling her the way he was now.

“I brought one with me,” he said. “But I think I’ll take a look at what you keep on hand anyway. Bookshelves say a lot about a person.”

“Then these will present a very confusing picture,” she retorted. “My collection represents the very eclectic tastes of previous guests.”

Undaunted, he retorted, “Better yet. You can always tell a person by the company she keeps.” He headed inside with a determined glint in his eyes.

He was back in half an hour, not nearly long enough for her to become so absorbed in the mystery that she was reading that she wouldn’t notice his arrival. The truth of the matter was that she’d read the same opening paragraph five times without one single word registering. Obviously, whether she liked it or not, David Winthrop was more fascinating.

“What’s the verdict?” she asked.

“A woman with this particular circle of friends probably ought to be in analysis,” he said dryly. “Do you know anyone who’s not in some sort of recovery program or obsessed with bloody true-crime cases?”

“No one I know is in a recovery program. That’s why they read so many of those books. They swear it’s cheaper than analysis and just as effective. As for the true crime, a lot of my clients are in the entertainment industry. They’re always looking for movie material,” she explained, then added as an afterthought, “Of course, I can’t swear that some of them aren’t considering techniques for murdering their spouses at the same time. I try to head that off by getting them very large settlements.”

“You obviously perform a great public service, in that case.”

She grinned. “I do try.” She glanced at the thick, dog-eared book he was carrying. “What are you reading?”

“My beach book,” he said without the least hint of apology. “I’ve been reading this for years. I usually manage about fifty pages per vacation. The rest of the year I don’t have time for it.”

“Must not be a terribly compelling plot, if you can put it aside for long periods of time,” she noted.

“Naval history. That’s the great thing about reading history. Once it’s recorded, not much changes. I could pick this up ten years from now and it would still be accurate, just farther in the past.”

“For a man whose life revolves around whimsy and make-believe that’s an awfully staid approach to reading material.”

“Balance,” he reminded her. “Isn’t that exactly what you’ve been trying to remind me about? We all need a little balance in our lives.”

“True,” she conceded, and wondered yet again if this wasn’t a lesson she needed very much to learn, as well. Perhaps, she thought for the second time that day, perhaps fate had delivered Davey Winthrop into her life not just because of what she could do for him, but for what he and his father might do for her.

* * *

Kate was standing under the hot spray of the shower Saturday night, when she heard someone knocking loudly on the bathroom door.

“Kate, phone,” David bellowed. “It’s long distance from Rome.”

Oh, dear Lord, she thought at once. Her mother! And
David
had answered the phone. As she turned off the water and reached for a towel, she could already imagine the mile-long list of questions his presence would arouse.

She pulled on a thick, terry-cloth robe and wrapped her damp hair in a towel. Then, and there was no way around it that she could think of, she opened the bathroom door to face David and her mother, in that order. For the moment he actually seemed less daunting, though a gentleman would have left her bedroom once he’d announced the call. He was lingering in the doorway, arms crossed, an appreciative gleam in his eyes.

“Go away,” she murmured as she reached for the phone.

He winked, but he did go away. In fact, she heard the hang-up click of the receiver on the living room phone before she’d even had a chance to say a breathless hello to her mother.

“Darling, how are you?” Elizabeth Halloran asked. “And who was that charming man?”

“Charming?” Kate repeated, hearing the distinct clang of warning bells.

“Absolutely. He asked all about our trip when I told him I was calling from Rome. He said he’d been here. He even remembered a little restaurant that he highly recommended. I think Brandon and I will try it tomorrow. Now, who is he?”

“It’s a long story.”

Apparently her mother knew her well enough by now to realize that further probing would be useless. “Well, I’m just delighted that you’re seeing someone. Brandon will be, too.”

“I’m not
seeing
David. He’s a client, actually the father of a client.”

“Oh,” her mother said with obvious disappointment. “Then I’m sure he’s probably too old for you anyway, dear. That’s too bad.”

Kate decided against trying to explain, since her mother seemed willing to forget whatever romantic fantasy she’d been dreaming up since David had picked up the phone. She was incredibly grateful for the reprieve.

“Are you and Brandon having a good time?” she asked.

Her mother sighed dreamily. “Darling, it’s the vacation of a lifetime. I can’t tell you how happy he has made me. Wait until you see all the pictures.”

“When are you coming home?” Kate asked, trying not to let a wistful note creep into her voice.

“Not for a while yet, dear. Brandon insists on going to Athens next, then Paris and London. After that, we’ll see how exhausted we are.”

Kate heard a murmured argument, then Brandon’s voice. “Katie, don’t you go badgering this woman to come home when I’ve finally got her to myself after all these years,” he teased. “Now what’s this I hear about a man being at your place when you’re in the shower? What are his intentions?”

She realized the inquiry was vintage Brandon. “I don’t think he has any intentions, at least where I’m concerned.”

She heard another murmured comment by her mother, then Brandon’s deep chuckle and a low retort that had her mother laughing.

“Your mother says he’s too old for you anyway,” Brandon said. “I just reminded her I’m old, and I wasn’t such a bad catch.”

“Ah, but you’re one of a kind,” Kate teased him, finding that despite her reservations, she couldn’t help liking the man who was making her mother so happy. “If I could find someone like you, then maybe I’d find marriage more appealing.”

“You just sit tight, then, young lady. As soon as I get home, I’ll find you somebody who’ll treat you the way you deserve to be treated.”

Since she didn’t have an answer to that except to scream a fervent
no,
Kate muttered a hurried goodbye and prayed that this honeymoon would turn out to be the longest one on record. Knowing Brandon’s penchant for meddling, though, he might very well get it into his head to cut it short just to fix up her love life, especially if he sensed it would make her mother happy to see her settled.

She was still sitting on the edge of her bed contemplating the horror of that prospect, when David tapped on the partially opened door and stuck his head in.

“Is that what you’re wearing to dinner?” he inquired hopefully.

She glowered at him. “We’re casual out here, but we usually do insist on clothes,” she retorted. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

He regarded her quizzically. “Want to tell me why you were looking so sad just now? The call wasn’t bad news, was it?”

“Not unless you consider the prospect of a stepfather arranging a marriage for me to be bad news.”

David looked incredulous. “You’re joking, right?”

“You don’t know Brandon. He’s getting worried that he’ll have a spinster stepdaughter on his hands. If I’m not careful, when they get to Greece he’ll provide a herd of sheep and a grove of olive trees as a dowry in return for some suitably old-fashioned Greek husband for me,” she said with what was probably only minimal exaggeration. “He’ll drag him home along with the more conventional souvenirs.”

David gave her a thoughtful look, one that suggested he was considering whether she was worth more or less than that herd of sheep and an olive grove.

“If it comes to that,” he said finally, “you tell him to speak to me first. I’ll take you without the sheep. I think there’s a law against them in Bel Air anyway.”

She scowled at him. “I’ll keep your generous offer in mind,” she retorted dryly.

“On the other hand,” he said, “I could use a good dairy cow.”

Kate threw her silver hairbrush straight at him. It didn’t do a thing to squelch his amusement, but it did get him to close the damned door.

Chapter Eight

B
ecause she did so much weekend entertaining during the summer months, Kate kept a standing reservation for four at Alice’s Restaurant on the Malibu Pier for every Saturday night. She called only to cancel or to enlarge the size of her party. She liked the food. She liked the people. And she loved the view, especially in summer when an eight o’clock reservation virtually guaranteed a spectacular sunset display except on the foggiest evenings. On Sundays when she had guests, she took them to Geoffrey’s for brunch in the lovely garden setting on a cliff overlooking the sea, but on Saturday night she liked the crowded, lively ambience of Alice’s.

Though the staff and many of the regular customers were used to seeing her here, she noticed a few raised eyebrows and speculative glances when she walked in with David and Davey.

Everyone knew that Kate Newton never dated. The painful love affair responsible for her solitude had long since ceased to be a topic of conversation, but it hadn’t been forgotten. At the time, almost everyone in certain Hollywood circles had seen the irony in the famed divorce lawyer being caught up in what had nearly become a highly publicized palimony scandal with the creep suing her. Knowing Kate as well as he had, however, had led Ryan Manning to settle out of court and slink off to prey on other unsuspecting women.

As a result of all that thoroughly dissected past history, had she been with David alone, everyone would have guessed him to be an exceptionally handsome colleague or a client and gone back to their dinners.

Davey’s presence changed all that. Kate rarely entertained children, other than her nieces. She wasn’t regarded as the maternal type, probably because of her cutthroat courtroom reputation. To see her here with father and son, especially this particular father and son, was clearly cause for fascination.

All during dinner people found excuses to drop by the table, angling for introductions, hoping to pinpoint the exact nature of the relationship. Some, she knew, genuinely hoped that she’d found a new, satisfying romance. Others had recognized David and no doubt knew the details of his tragic loss. They clearly wondered if his days of mourning were past.

Kate guessed there would be no fewer than half a dozen calls by Monday morning, at least one of them from a gossip columnist from one of the film industry trade papers. She could barely wait for the meal to end, so she could escape the unspoken speculation.

Davey, however, insisted on dessert. And David wanted coffee. Kate wanted to scream with impatience, but didn’t dare. Then she would have to explain exactly why she was suddenly so uncomfortable.

“Kate? Coffee?” David asked as the waiter jotted down the order.

“Please,” she said, though she couldn’t think of anything she wanted less. But if she had to sit here, she wanted something to do.

“You can have some of my dessert,” Davey offered generously. “I probably won’t eat it all.”

“Right,” his father said skeptically. “You never leave me so much as a crumb.”

“Because you always say you don’t want any and then you start sneaking in with your fork, and before I know it, it’s all gone. Then you call me a pig.”

Kate relaxed slightly as she chuckled at Davey’s indignation. Watching him, she felt a powerful, deep emotion that was entirely new to her. His usually neat hair was windblown. His cheeks and arms were tinted pink from too much sun. He had a scrape on one elbow from falling on the sand during a volleyball game. He had a streak of ketchup on his chin. He was so exhausted he could hardly keep his eyes open, but he looked the happiest she’d ever seen him. He looked like a kid again. The messy, energy-draining kind. The kind she’d always sworn she wanted no part of.

So why did she feel so contented? Why did she look at Davey and feel this gut-wrenching tug of tenderness stealing through her? True, Davey was a pretty extraordinary boy. He was bright, funny and compassionate. He was certainly bold beyond his years. In short, he had a lot of the same traits she’d had at the same age. Her niece, Penny, was similarly precocious. Kate wondered if her own kids would have turned out to be nearly as interesting. Maybe she ought to be grateful she knew kids like Penny and Davey and not even consider testing her own luck with the gene pool.

A rational plan, one she’d embraced long ago, when work had been a demanding, satisfying lover. Tonight, however, Kate wasn’t feeling rational. She looked at Davey and his father and wished with all her heart that her life had taken a different track. She sighed at the realization that it was rapidly getting too late to change directions, especially now that she’d been on this lonely course for so long.

“You look as if you’re a million miles away,” David said, interrupting her disturbing thoughts. “And wherever you are doesn’t look like a very happy place.”