Lucky Charm (5 page)

“Dad, that's Grandpa outside the hardware store. Look!” Holly pointed at the window where his father stood talking to a bunch of older men. “Can I go say hi?”

Derek slowed the truck down and pulled over. Rolling down the window, he called for his father's attention. Hank waved, then returned to his conversation with Burt, the owner.

“If he's going straight home, I'm going to get a ride with him, okay?”

“Sure. Just make sure you wave, so I know it's okay with Dad. And remember to look both ways before you cross the street.” There weren't many cars, but he wanted to make sure she was safe. “In fact, let me help you—”

“Dad!” she said, horrified. “I live in Manhattan. I think I can handle Main Street.”

Beside him, Gabrielle chuckled.

“Sorry. I'm a parent. What can I say?” he said, spreading his hands out in front of him.

“Actually, I think it's sweet,” she said, her eyes drinking him in with a heat that hadn't been there while she'd been focused on his daughter.

But Holly was now leaving, and apparently, Gabrielle took that as a sign.

“I had such a good time. Can we take that trip to Target one day soon?” Holly asked Gabrielle.

She nodded. “You bet.”

Holly's eyes lit up. “Bye!” She leaned into the front and hugged Derek, her earlier mortification over his protective comments forgotten.

Then she was gone. He watched her look both ways before running across the street and exhaled a sigh of relief.

“She's amazing, Derek,” Gabrielle said, not letting an awkward silence take over.

“Thank you. I like to think so, but I can't take much credit for it.” As he watched, Holly spoke to her grandfather, then turned and waved, indicating to Derek he could leave.

Suddenly eager to be alone with Gabrielle, at least for a short time, he put the truck in Drive and pulled back into traffic. Maybe it would be easier to tell her more about his daughter while he was occupied driving.

At least then he wouldn't have to look into her beautiful eyes and admit the truth—he'd been a bad parent. “I wasn't there for her much,” he said, forcing the words out.

Gabrielle placed her hand on his shoulder. “I can't imagine that. Why don't you start at the beginning?”

He nodded. They both knew that their ending was his beginning and he drew a deep breath before diving in. “I was a mess after we broke up. I threw myself into partying at school, skipping classes…anything to forget.”

She leaned closer, her hand remaining on his shoulder. As a distraction while driving, it was a potent one, and he forced his concentration on the road where it belonged.

“And were you able to forget me?” she asked, her fingers stroking the sensitive spot at the base of his neck.

He shivered. “No,” he said, his voice hoarse. “But I wasn't functioning on all burners, either. I met Marlene, Holly's mother, at a party.” He swallowed hard. “She was fun and we had enough in common to stay together for a while…I eventually got her pregnant.”

“Turn left,” Gabrielle whispered, her breath warm in his ear.

He remembered where Sharon's parents lived, but he wasn't about to remind her and change the subject. He needed to get this story out.

“I did the right thing,” he continued. “I married her. Her mother was widowed and living in New York City, so she helped with the baby, and somehow we both finished school.”

“Turn right. Last house on the left,” Gabrielle said.

He flipped on his signal and turned. “I figured since we weren't in love in the traditional sense, it would work out. After all, the curse was supposed to only affect Corwin men who fell in love. Only it didn't turn out that way.” He pulled into the last driveway on the left and put the SUV in Park.

She hadn't spoken. “Are you still with me?” He turned toward her.

She still leaned close, her lips hovering near his. “Did you just say you weren't in love with her?” Gabrielle asked.

“That's exactly what I said.”

She unhooked her seat belt and it snapped back into place. “Thank God.” Her sigh of relief got lost as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He should have been surprised, but this was Gabrielle. His body had been primed since laying eyes on her, ready since she'd set her delicate fingers on the base of his neck. She'd always known just how to touch him to set him aflame.

Time hadn't changed a thing.

Her lips were full, warm, lush and welcoming. She kissed him as if she knew him inside and out, yet still had more places to find and things to learn. Her tongue slid back and forth inside his mouth, tasting and teasing. She nibbled his lower lip with her teeth, then soothed the sting with a silken slide of her tongue. And all the while, her fingers traced his face, as if relearning him all over again.

His body burned and he groaned aloud. Cupping his hand around the back of her neck, he tipped her head and took control. He'd never wanted a woman the way he did Gabrielle. He could make love to her once and want her again almost immediately. And if he thought their teenage passion had been something, the intensity of their adult need surprised even him.

His tongue tangled with hers and her body melted into him, as close as she could get with the center panel of the SUV lodged between them. She shifted and her elbow hit the horn, the loud noise jarring them both.

She jumped back into her seat, laughing. “Wow. I think I had more finesse when I was younger.”

He drank in her flushed face and red lips as he tried to catch his breath. “Oh, I think you still have plenty of finesse.”

She bit down on her lower lip. “You haven't lost your touch, either.” She reached across the divider and clasped his hand inside hers.

Her touch warmed him inside and out, but it wasn't just the sexual chemistry that had his head spinning and his mind filled with regrets—although that alone was enough to knock him on his ass. It was the woman herself that got to him.

She'd come back into his life after all these years and without any bitterness about the past, she'd accepted his daughter. Just like that. One quick meeting and she'd given Holly everything the girl was missing in her life without hesitation.

No man could walk away from a woman whose heart was that big.

He had no choice.

“Gabby…”

She tipped her head to the side. “Please don't tell me you still believe in curses.”

“How can I not believe in something that keeps proving itself over and over.” He reached out and stroked her hair. “How can I not want to protect you?”

“Derek, let me make something very clear. I didn't appreciate you making decisions for me when I was seventeen and I appreciate it even less now. Your kiss made it perfectly clear how you feel about me. Don't expect me to just walk away from you again.”

Before he could reply, she opened the door and hopped out. “Thanks for the ride,” she said, her voice cheerful.

Clearly she hadn't listened to a word he'd just said.

His body was glad.

His mind and heart told him she was better off without him.

He ran a hand over his eyes, then slammed his hand against the steering wheel. When in the hell would what
he
wanted count? Or was the fact that his last name was Corwin stronger than anything else in this world?

He put the SUV in Reverse and pulled out of the driveway, slowing to watch Gabrielle let herself into the car. She stopped to pull a flier from beneath the windshield, glanced at one side and then the other before she crumpled it in her hand and then opened the car door.

The cute convertible suited her personality, he thought as she waved, indicating he could leave.

He drove away, certain of one thing. No matter how difficult it would be, he had to keep his distance. He couldn't let the curse in his life destroy hers.

 

G
ABRIELLE TURNED ON THE
ignition and hoped the air-conditioning kicked in fast. Her car, which had been sitting under the hot sun all afternoon, felt like an oven.

Her heart was racing a mile a minute, but it wasn't just due to Derek's kiss, nor was it the heat. The note on her car made her uneasy.

She pulled out the paper she'd crumpled so Derek wouldn't think anything was wrong. But something was
very
wrong. The flier had been a threat. One side announced her talk at the library. The other had a handwritten warning scrawled in red crayon that read,
“Go home or else.”

Gabrielle exhaled long and hard. While she disliked being told what was best for her, threats and ultimatums really ticked her off.

As if she didn't have enough on her mind…After that kiss, did Derek really think she'd let him walk away? As long as she knew he still cared, she wasn't going to allow his ridiculous beliefs to stop them from being together any more than she'd let some coward prevent her from speaking out tonight.

When Gabrielle was told no, her determination merely grew stronger. She recrumpled the paper and tossed it across the car.

Watch out, Derek Corwin. Gabrielle was back. And she was going to get what she wanted.

D
EREK HAD NO INTENTION
of going to the library tonight. God knows, he didn't need to hear any more about a curse he was already intimately familiar with. Unfortunately, after dinner, which he and Holly had shared at his father and his uncle Thomas's house, Hank was still determined to go.

They were still sitting in the kitchen around the table. Derek rose to help his uncle clear the plates while his father began to rinse and place the rest of the dishes in the dishwasher. Holly had taken Fred for a walk, so when his father began discussing the library talk, Derek figured now was as good a time as any to get things out in the open. Derek didn't want Holly exposed to the details about the family curses at her young age.

“Do you really want Gabrielle going on about our family history in public? Dragging our dirty laundry through the mud?” Hank asked.

“Excuse me for stating the obvious, but would it change anything? Everyone already knows we're cursed,” Uncle Thomas said as he finished loading the dishwasher. “There's no reason to go to the library and provide people with a sideshow.”

When it came to the curse, Uncle Thomas had always been the more rational of the two men. Still, there was no question both brothers had suffered. Hank might have lost the woman he loved, but he'd been one helluva father. A little crazy on this one particular subject, but a solid man nonetheless.

Uncle Thomas had a more colorful personal history. He and Uncle Edward had both fallen in love with the same woman. But Sara Jean Wilder had been dating Uncle Thomas first and she'd stayed with him—out of obligation, Uncle Edward claimed. Uncle Thomas loved her, though. They had three children and remained in a marriage that even Derek knew had been strained until Sara's death from ovarian cancer two years ago.

Uncle Edward never forgave his brother. Surprisingly though, he'd moved on enough to fall in love with Derek's aunt Renee. But their marriage, too, which had started out with promise, had been tense. Renee hadn't been able to deal with Edward's gruff demeanor and unwillingness to forgive. Eventually, she began to believe rumors around town that she had been Edward's second choice. They'd had one son, but Aunt Renee had been miserable. They finally divorced. She'd moved on and remarried while Uncle Edward withdrew into himself and became the town loner.

The once-booming family construction business fell apart thanks to the rift between the brothers, resulting in bankruptcy. Afterward, the brothers earned a living by trade. Hank became an electrician, Thomas a handyman and Edward a plumber until he became such an oddity, people in town quit wanting him around. The Corwins had respectable jobs but no longer a thriving business.

Can anyone say
curse?

Derek glanced around the small kitchen at his father and uncle. “I agree with Uncle Thomas,” Derek said. “Come on, Dad. Let's stay home tonight. If none of us acknowledge the talk, maybe the gossip will die down sooner.”

“There's no chance. Not as long as that Perkins family draws breath,” Hank said.

“You're starting to sound like one of the Hatfields or the McCoys. Come to think of it, you're starting to look like one of them, too.”

Tonight Hank's hair was messier than usual. With his shirt buttoned incorrectly and hanging longer on one side, he looked as if he didn't give a damn about anything. He liked it that way. But he wasn't the most wild-looking of the brothers. That distinction belonged to Uncle Ed.

Uncle Thomas, on the other hand, prided himself on always facing talk, scandal or just life in general, looking his finest. When not working with his hands, he dressed immaculately in a collared, button-down shirt and Dockers.

Uncle Thomas chuckled. “You do need a haircut,” he said to his brother.

Hank scowled at him. “Why? Who's lookin' at me that I care about?”

“Your granddaughter,” Derek reminded him. “If nothing else, how about cleaning yourself up for her benefit?”

As if on cue, Holly ran into the room, Fred at her heels. “Dad, it's almost time for Gabrielle's talk at the library. I don't want to miss it!”

Derek winced. He hadn't anticipated Holly having any interest in the talk, but given her new obsession with Gabrielle, he should have.

“Listen,” he said, walking over to his daughter. “I don't think any of us are going to go tonight.”

“Speak for yourself,” Hank said.

“Can I go with you, Grandpa?” Holly asked, eyes wide and pleading.

Hank paused. “I don't know that the subject's one that you need to hear about,” he said kindly. Hank might be opinionated and outspoken, but he respected Derek's role as Holly's parent. “Who cares about curses and the like, anyway? Fred loves having you around. Why don't you keep an eye on him while I'm gone?”

She frowned. “Do you think I don't know about the family curse?” She propped her hands on her small hips.

“Just what do you know and how?” Derek asked.

“Just about everything!” She rolled her eyes in that adult way she had. “Mom told me that once a long time ago, a wicked witch named Mary cursed the Corwin men and ever since they can't fall in love or else they'll lose everything,” she said matter-of-factly. “Just like you did.”

“When did Mom tell you this?” he asked.

“While I was packing to come stay with you.”

Apparently marriage had mellowed his ex even more than Derek had realized if she was willing to blame their divorce on the curse rather than on Derek's workaholic feet.

“So can I go with Grandpa? Please?”

Derek groaned. If she knew about the curse, that was one less thing he'd have to explain to her when she got older. As for tonight, he was still on the fence. “Do you believe in the curse?” he asked.

She pursed her lips in thought. “I don't know. It seems kinda silly, but Mom pointed out how Aunt Ruthie and Aunt Allison are still happily married. It's just the men in the family who can't get it right.”

Derek exhaled a groan. “That's one way of putting it. But listen, you know how mean people can be? Talking and saying things they shouldn't?”

She nodded.

“Well, that's why I don't want you to go to the library tonight. If they're talking about our family, why should we go and listen?”

“Because it's about
us,
silly! We can go and either tell the true version or make sure they say nice things.”

If only it were as simple as that, Derek mused.

“I think Little Missy has a point. We should show up and hold our heads high,” Hank said. “Maybe that'll keep them from telling tales that aren't true, at least.”

Derek rubbed his hands over his eyes.

“Please, Daddy?” Holly said, eyes wide, deliberately batting her lashes.

How could he argue with his daughter's sweet face, his father's obstinate insistence or his own desire to see Gabrielle again?

 

G
ABRIELLE ARRIVED EARLY
at the library. She liked to see where she'd be speaking and get a feel for the place before she actually did her thing. It helped ease the jitters that went with public speaking. As her other writer friends liked to say, they preferred being behind the computer screen, not in front of a crowd. Gabrielle didn't mind the attention as much as some people, but she still appreciated time to warm up.

She stood at the small podium and was reading through her notes when the first guests arrived—an older woman accompanied by a younger one with a pad in her hand. Gabrielle didn't recognize either of them.

“Are you Gabrielle Donovan, the author?” the older woman asked.

Gabrielle put her papers in a neat pile and stepped down so she'd be on the same level as her visitor. “Yes. And you are?”

“Mary Perkins.” She shook Gabrielle's hand. “And this is my granddaughter and indispensable assistant, Elizabeth.”

Gabrielle shook Elizabeth's hand, too. “Nice to meet you both. It's Mayor Perkins, isn't it?”

The older woman nodded. “Of Perkins. My family founded the town,” she said proudly.

“And will continue its legacy in the next election,” Elizabeth said with certainty, her hand on her grandmother's shoulder.

Gabrielle smiled. “Nice to meet you,” she said, sizing up Richard's opponent and the woman who apparently struck fear in many.

It was hard to believe.

She couldn't be more than five foot three inches to Gabrielle's five foot five. Her hair was gray and professionally styled. She wore a tailored suit and what Gabrielle's mother would call sensible heels. The outfit complemented her conservative style. Her granddaughter was a younger version of the mayor. Her brown bob wasn't as chic as it was conservative. Utilitarian, even, along with her clothes. They'd both greeted Gabrielle with a welcoming smile—even though the subject of Gabrielle's speech tonight went against everything the Perkins family stood for.

“Congratulations on your success. I understand you're a fixture on the bestseller lists,” Mary said.

“Thank you. I feel very fortunate.” And at the moment, very off balance, Gabrielle thought. She wasn't sure what Mary wanted or what to make of her friendly overture.

“Nonsense. Never sell yourself short. Fortune occurs because of talent.” Mary reached into her purse and pulled out a paperback copy of Gabrielle's latest book. “I was hoping you would sign this for me.”

Gabrielle nodded. “Of course.” She accepted the book, opened to the title page and signed it as generically as she could get away with.
Best wishes, Gabrielle Donovan.

She placed the date below her signature and handed the book back to the mayor. “Thank you for asking.”

The other woman smiled. “My pleasure. I think it's wonderful that you're returning to your hometown to speak. Some people become famous and forget where they came from.”

Gabrielle forced a smile. She hadn't been back in years, and though she'd had her reasons, this woman's comment struck a nerve.

From behind Mary, Gabrielle noticed people were beginning to file into the room, filling the seats. “It was nice to meet you,” Gabrielle said, hoping Mary would take the hint and leave.

“You, too.” Elizabeth stepped out from her grandmother's shadow. “I'm looking forward to hearing you speak. It's fascinating how you debunk popular myths.” Her inflection never changed nor did her expression.

“I just write the facts as I see them, based on research, psychological evaluation. The theories, however, are my own.”

“Yes. We all have our own ways of viewing the same phenomenon, don't we? That's why so many people from both my town and Stewart are showing up to hear you.”

Gabrielle glanced toward the rapidly filling room where people—neighbors, friends—congregated. “I suppose you're right.”

Mary straightened her shoulders and Elizabeth followed suit. “Yes, we usually are. Well, best of luck.” She lifted the signed book in the air. “Thank you again.” They turned and walked away to find a seat.

Gabrielle shivered. “That was the strangest thing,” she said aloud.

“What did the wicked witch and her mini me want?” Sharon asked as she joined her.

Gabrielle hadn't seen her friend come in. “To say hello and have me sign a book for her.”

“That's odd.”

So was the way everyone in the room gave the older woman a wide berth. “For a woman who's been the uncontested mayor of Perkins for years, she doesn't have many people wanting to talk to her,” Gabrielle mused.

“There's a reason for that. She's not likable,” Sharon said.

Yet she had been very pleasant to Gabrielle. “I need to get ready.”

Sharon nodded. “You'll be great. And I'm here for support. So is Richard.” She pointed to her fiancé, who was meeting and greeting people in the audience. Since the towns of Stewart and Perkins were so close, their pasts so intertwined, people from both places wanted to hear what Gabrielle had to say.

All under the watchful eye of Mary Perkins, who was obviously staying for the talk. She and her granddaughter had taken seats in the back.

By themselves.

By the time Gabrielle walked up to the podium, the small library was filled to capacity. Chairs had been set out in rows and the crowd overflowed into the back hall. She was pleased with the turnout, especially since her latest book had been published last October. Normally, Gabrielle spoke only when she had a new book to promote, doing readings at local libraries, signings and chats at bookstores.

Tonight's talk was different. She wasn't here to sell books. She was here to use her expertise to sway people's thinking. She'd stop short of endorsing Richard Stern's mayoral campaign, and she definitely wouldn't mention the much visible Mary Perkins.

Gabrielle started on time. She'd watched the flow of people walk in, keeping an eye out for Derek or his gun-toting father. Thanks to that searing kiss earlier today, she'd been too distracted to ask Derek if Holly had been serious about her grandfather. But so far, neither man had showed.