The Glory Game (61 page)

After the soup course, the young maid carried in the large platter with the plump golden-brown turkey. Audra signaled her to place it before Ross Carpenter, Mary's husband. Now that Jake was no longer with them, on this second Thanksgiving since his death, and with none of her sons present, the duty of carving the turkey was given to her son-in-law.

“You don't celebrate Thanksgiving in your country, do you, Mr. Buchanan? It's a uniquely American tradition. But I think any occasion that brings a family together is a good one. My family is very important to me, but I am certain that is something you understand, being Spanish yourself.” Audra looked every inch the matriarch presiding over the dinner from her chair at the head of the table.

“I am Argentine,” Raul politely corrected her. “And I have no family, so perhaps my feelings are not as strong as yours.”

“How unfortunate that you have no one but yourself,” Audra said sincerely.

“In my profession, I have found it to be an advantage. I have to travel a great deal playing polo, which means I am away for long periods of time. This would be hard on a family.”

“But I understand you own a ranch in Argentina.”

“I do, but I am there only three or four months a year. I have a man who runs it for me. It is where I raise and train polo ponies, and conduct courses in polo, such as the one Rob took. It is a sideline of my work. That is all, Mrs. Kincaid.”

“I understood it was your home.” She frowned slightly.

“It is the place where I go,” Raul replied, and Luz considered that an accurate description. Although it was the closest he had to a home, she didn't think he had any real attachment to it.

“How sad. My home and my family have always been very important to me. My children know that my doors are always open to them. They always have a place to come. This is their home, too.” Audra expounded on her favorite theme while the maid brought the various dishes that accompanied the roast turkey to the table.

“That is what makes a family strong. Over the years others
have become a part of us.” Audra smiled benignly at the pudgy Ross, then looked rather pointedly at Raul. “But nothing comes between us.”

“Well said, Grandmother Kincaid,” Rob remarked. It was the first time since Raul's arrival that Rob had even hinted he still felt Raul could alienate Luz's love for him. Audra's message had been more subtle—Raul might join them, but she would not allow him to separate her daughter from the family, specifically herself.

Later, after dinner was over, the adults retired to the living room. Luz noticed Rob and Mary's teenagers heading for the enclosed stairs to the oceanfront cabana where they could play their music without being hassled about the volume. She moved to intercept him before he reached the stairwell.

“Rob,” she said to stop him.

A resentful look flashed across his expression. “I'll be right there,” he told the others. When the clatter of footsteps had receded along with the loud sibling banter, Rob turned to her. “I knew you were going to say something to me as soon as I made that remark.”

“Then why did you? I thought you understood—”

“I understand. I just wanted to make sure
he
did,” he retorted. “What is it? Do I have to watch everything I say around him or what?”

“Of course you don't.”

“Then what are you climbing on me for? I make one innocent remark and you turn it into a federal case,” Rob protested.

“I just want the two of you to get along. I thought you were—”

“We are! We're real bosom buddies—polo pals, okay? Satisfied?” It was an angry and impatient challenge.

“Okay, Rob.” It wasn't true at all, but Luz knew she would gain nothing from harping on the subject. At least he accepted the situation. She wasn't the only one who had to get used to having a man around the house. She just had to give them more time. “The others are waiting in the cabana for you. You'd better go or you'll miss refereeing their latest squabble.”

“How long are we going to have to stay? I'd just as soon get back to the stables.”

“Audra will expect us to stay another hour, minimum. We'll
go as soon as we can.” She straightened his shirt collar with affectionate care, wishing there was something she could say to this lean, raw-boned son of hers that would ease his mind.

“Okay.” He turned and headed for the stairwell.

Luz watched him run out of sight down the steps, and she sighed, vaguely discouraged. Rob was so touchy lately, not just with her but with everyone. Yet the other day, she'd seen him at the stables, happy as a lark. She had hoped these mood swings were an adolescent phase he'd outgrow. So far, it didn't appear that he had. If anything, they were getting worse.

“Something wrong?” Mary asked.

Turning, Luz shook her head. “No. It's just Rob.” And that said it all. She deliberately changed the subject. “Aren't you going to tell me what you think of Raul?” she asked dryly.

“I like him, actually better than I thought I would. He stood up to Audra rather well. I remember poor Ross the first time I brought him home. He was more intimidated by Audra than by Jake.”

“Weren't we all,” Luz murmured.

“I left Audra alone in the living room. I'd better be getting back before she thinks the entire family has deserted. Are you coming?” Mary paused by the door.

“Where's Raul?”

“Out on the sun deck smoking a cigar. Maybe we should take up smoking, Luz. I've never tried that excuse.” A grin stretched across her handsome features.

“And be lectured on the perils of getting cancer? Spare me,” Luz declared mockingly. “Tell Audra I'll be there shortly. I'm just going to check on Raul.”

As Mary headed back to the living room, Luz walked to the glass doors that led to the sun deck. Raul stood at the railing gazing absently at the waves rolling in from the ocean. A sea breeze swirled away the smoke curling from his cigar. The sound of her footsteps on the planked deck reached him, and he turned his head toward her. She walked over to stand beside him and leaned her hands on the rail.

“It was a good dinner,” he said.

“The food was excellent.” She still wasn't sure about the dinner. “The Kincaids can be overpowering at times,” Luz ventured to elicit his reaction.

“So that is your secret.” The grooves deepened near his mouth.

She laughed, suddenly reassured. “You've finally learned it's the Kincaid in me you find so irresistible.”

He removed his hand from his pocket and hooked it around her waist, pulling her against him. “Among many other things.”

She kissed him lightly, then pulled away to stroke the point of his chin with her finger. “We won't have to stay much longer.”

“You want to go?”

“I think you've been exposed long enough to Audra.”

“Hector would call her a formidable woman.” Raul smiled. “As he also once described you as a tiger cat protecting her kittens.”

“Hector?”

“You are like your mother in that respect,” he said.

“I'm going to have to think about that awhile before I make up my mind whether it's a compliment or not,” Luz accused.

“It is the truth, and truth can be neither flattery nor insult.” He kissed the corner of her lips to bring back their softness. “We should go back inside so your mother will not think me rude—or that I am stealing her daughter.”

“I suppose we must.” She sighed.

“Why do you come if you dislike it?” Raul frowned.

The question surprised her, forcing her to think about her answer. “I guess the truth is I do like coming. Outwardly all of us protest Audra's possessive demands, but we still come. We are all very close, and she's kept it that way. Maybe we don't see each other as often anymore, except Mary and myself, but when we need help, we always go to each other, never strangers. We Kincaids are a tight clique. I know Drew sometimes felt left out at the family gatherings. A lot of the spouses do. It isn't intentional. I guess that's what I came out here to say.”

“Perhaps we should go back inside then.”

“We should,” she agreed reluctantly.

With the holiday weekend over and December just around the corner, Raul spent the following week holding what Luz
could only describe as tryouts for the two remaining positions on the polo team he was putting together for Rob, and for himself of course. Many players of the caliber he sought were already committed to other teams. Most of his choices he had contacted while he was still in Argentina. This week he had narrowed that number to six.

“What do you think?” Luz asked as they left the stables to walk back to the house for lunch. Raul's arm was a heavy weight on her shoulders, indicative of the weariness she saw in his face.

“I think I am like a tired horse who needs a warm bath and a good rundown after a hard morning's work.” Even his crooked smile showed the strain of effort.

“I meant about the players, as if you didn't know. I thought Brubaker did well when you put him in the defensive slot.” She had watched most of the morning's workouts, during which Raul had played riders at various positions, sometimes switching them after a chukkar of play and changing sides occasionally.

“He is steady. He may make a good anchor.” But Raul wasn't prepared to commit himself. “I liked Masterson at the Number One position. He has a lot of flash. He could spark the team. However, Rob is against him. He claims Masterson wants to hog all the glory to himself. I admit he does have a tendency to show off.”

“Lawless has a good string of polo ponies,” Luz remarked.

“The decision is not an easy one.” The creases around his eyes crinkled in amusement when he saw her trying to weigh the various contributions each player might make. “Many factors must be considered—the player's skill, his style of play, whether it is compatible, his ponies or whether we must supplement his string so he is better mounted. But most of all, is he
simpatico?”
As they approached the French doors, he took his arm away from her shoulders so Luz could precede him. “After that we must consider how much we will have to pay him.”

“Then it comes down to the business of polo. And I wanted to sponsor a team.” Luz realized how much more was entailed than she had thought. “Do you want to work this afternoon on
selecting which tournaments to enter, so we can come up with a tentative travel schedule and estimate expenses?”

“Yes, and we need to make sure we allow time for the ponies to rest if we have to trailer them any great distance.” Upon entering the house, they walked straight through the living room to the foyer.

“That's what bothers me about going from Texas to New York. We might be wiser to catch the Oak Brook Tournaments. I—”

“Excuse me, Luz,” Emma Sanderson interrupted, coming into the entry foyer from the galleried hall. “I heard you come in, and I have Connie Davenport on the telephone. She is calling to find out why you haven't RSVPed her party invitation. She's concerned whether you've received it. What should I tell her?”

Luz paused and glanced at Raul. “It's her annual millioncalorie pre-Christmas party,” she explained while studying him with a considering look. “I suppose I can't keep you to myself forever, can I?” she said, half in jest, then responded to Emma. “Tell her we'll come.”

“Very well. I'll put it on your calendar for Saturday,” she said and retreated into the hallway.

“I hope you don't mind going.” Luz slipped her hand in his as they started up the great oak staircase. “I know you aren't much for parties.”

Strangely, she hadn't missed the social whirl. Once her world had revolved completely around it. If she hadn't been planning an event herself, she'd been going to this one or that Now her time was occupied with so many other things, most of it involving the business of polo, whether it was horses or players or the logistics of transporting ponies and equipment from one city to the next.

“Some parties are not as bad as others. It depends on the company.” Raul gave her one of his warm, lazy looks that always seemed like a caress.

“I know exactly what they're going to say when they see you with me. ‘That lucky Luz Thomas. You might know she'd find somebody like him. She's a Kincaid,'” she mocked. “Oh, the tongues will wag.”

Suddenly she was looking forward to the party. The revenge was going to be sweet after all the pitying looks she'd had to
endure when Drew left her. She could hardly wait to see their faces when they saw Raul. This was one party she was going to enjoy thoroughly. No more was she “poor Luz.”

Upon entering the bedroom they shared, she directed Raul toward the bath. “Take that hot shower. Afterward, we'll see about that rubdown.”

C
ars were stacked along the driveway, and the grand house blazed with lights. Garlands of green spiraled down the white columns of the front portico, and a huge wreath of ribbon-tied pine boughs hung on the door. Luz elected to stay in the car with Raul while he found a place to park instead of being dropped off at the entrance. There wasn't any way she was going to walk into the party without him.

Muffled sounds of the party in progress filtered through as Raul rang the doorbell. Luz ran an admiring glance over the flattering cut of his dark suit. She faced the door, feeling proud and confident.

One of the catering staff admitted them into the house. As Luz surrendered her long cloak to him, she was conscious of the flash of sequins that striped the red silk georgette of her tunic-style dress, the yoke beaded with linked squares. The eye-catching choice had been deliberate.

“Luz! It's been ages since I've seen you!” The gushing greeting came from the plump, rounded Connie Davenport, approaching to welcome them to her house. “You look stunning in that dress—all Christmas and glittery. And who is this?” she asked without drawing a breath, then murmured conspiratorially. “Is this
him?”