Third Time's the Bride! (15 page)

He dropped a warm, wet kiss on Dawn’s wrist. When he straightened, the message in his eyes was only half joking.

“If this ugly one you have married does not fulfill your wildest fantasies, you will call me, yes?”

“No.”

Sighing at the blunt response, he turned the full force of his personality on Callie.

“How cruel your friend is,
mia bella
. But you have a kinder heart. I saw it in Venice, and again in Rome. Come away with me, and I will show you splendors such as you have never seen.”

“I don’t think so.”

The drawl came from Joe this time, and earned him surprised looks from everyone in in the foyer, Callie included.

“I beg your pardon?” she said coolly.

Joe flushed under his tan, which surprised the others even more. With his scar showing a darker red against that heightened color, he bit out a terse explanation.

“My people haven’t nailed the source of those emails. Until they do, you agreed to keep a low profile. Which
doesn’t
include jaunting around the globe with the paparazzi’s favorite playboy prince.”

Whoa! Her brows soaring, Dawn locked eyes with Kate. They’d known the soft-spoken, self-contained Calissa Langston since the third grade. The prince had pegged her right in one regard. She did have a kinder, more forgiving heart than either Dawn or Kate. But below that calm, Madonna-like exterior lurked a temper that could skewer an unsuspecting victim where he or she stood.

Her temper rarely erupted. The look Callie now turned on Joe suggested this might be one of those unforgettable occasions, however.

“I asked for your help,” she said in a voice that carried all the warmth of glacial melt. “And I appreciate what you’ve done so far. I honestly do. But I fail to see how ‘jaunting’ around the globe makes me more of a target for someone we both suspect is a bitter, angry Boston parent.”

“That’s one theory,” Joe retorted.

“Oh? You have a better one?”

His jaw worked. “Not yet.”

Brian stepped over the yawning crevasse. As concerned as he was about Callie’s emails, he had other things on his mind at the moment. Like the sexy redhead now wearing his ring.

“Okay. Well. Thanks again for everything.” With more haste than courtesy, he ushered Kate, Travis, Carlo and Joe to the door. “Good night.”

Callie followed the newlyweds back into the house but didn’t linger.

“I’ll say good-night, too.”

She peeled off, heading for the kitchen and the back door with its lighted walkway to the gatehouse. The two figures sprawled on the great room floor slowed her steps.

“Unless...” Her amused glance took in Tommy and the pup, both lying belly-up in total oblivion. “Why don’t you and Dawn occupy the gatehouse tonight?” she suggested. “Or boogie off to an extravagant penthouse hotel suite. I can stay with Tommy and his new best friend.”

“Thanks,” Brian said, “but we’ve got tonight covered. We’ll take you up on that offer in a day or two, though.”

“We will?” Dawn asked as Callie left and he untangled the limp twosome.

“We will,” he confirmed, passing her a sleepy little fur ball. “You promised me a honeymoon, remember?”

She cradled the warm, silky bundle in her arms while Brian scooped up his son.
Their
son. The thought made her heart sing.

“Addy took the puppy pen up to Tommy’s room,” Brian said softly. “He said he put some newspapers down in it. That should do the trick until we get the little guy housebroken.” His grin came out, quick and slashing. “Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long as it took to potty train Tommy.”

Smothering a laugh, Dawn followed him up the stairs. While he removed Tommy’s shoes and tucked him in, she reached into the pen and deposited the still-drowsy pup in the cloud-soft bed they’d bought for him. He twitched a few times before curling into a ball and made little whimpery noises until Dawn stroked him back to sleep.

They left a night-light on in Tommy’s room and dimmed the hall lights to a gentle glow. But when Dawn would have flicked on the lamps in the master bedroom, Brian’s seemingly inexhaustible store of patience gave out.

“We don’t need those.”

He turned her, his hands on her hips. She gave one fleeting sigh of regret for the sheer lace negligee still wrapped in tissue in the gatehouse. Then his head bent, and her lips met his.

There was no frenzy this time. No frantic jettisoning of clothes or keeping one eye on the clock. This time, Brian murmured when he raised her sweater up and over her head, they had all night.

And when they were both naked and stretched out on the satin soft sheets, they didn’t need lamps to see or stroke each other. The bright harvest moon sent a warm glow spilling through the fanlights above the tall plantation shutters. Heat curled in Dawn’s belly as she explored her husband’s shoulders, his chest, his flat belly and lean flanks.

He did the same to her, interspersing each stroke with a kiss. “I love your smile,” he murmured against her shoulder. “Your hair. Your toenails. Don’t ever go one color on me.”

“I won’t,” she promised, laughing.

When he contorted to kiss her breasts, the laugh caught in her throat. Tasting and teasing, he worked his way lower. The heat spread from her belly, until every square inch of her burned for him.

His body went as taut and eager as hers. Rolling onto a hip, he spread her gently. She opened for him, hot and eager, and when he slid in she hooked her calves around his and rose to meet him.

The ballet was slow. Timeless. Legs entwined. Hips moving to an ancient rhythm. Their bodies fused, their mouths feasting, they rode each other higher and...

“Daaad!”

Brian froze, his body locked with Dawn’s. He had to swallow, hard, before he could get the burr from his throat.

“What, bud?”

The patter of footsteps in the hall gave them just enough time to disengage and grab the sheets. Brian was up on one elbow, shielding Dawn while she covered herself, when the bedroom door opened and Tommy stood in the wedge of light.

“The puppy was crying ’n sort of thumping his leg.”

“He was just dreaming.”

“That’s what I thought, too, so I took him into bed with me.”

“Probably not a good idea until we get him house-trained.”

“I know. He just peed on me.”

Dawn bit her lip to keep from laughing as Brian swallowed what sounded suspiciously like a curse.

“All right, bud. Go change your pajamas and I’ll be there in a minute to change the sheets.”

“Okay.” He turned to leave, then turned back, his forehead puckered in a frown. “Is Dawn in bed with you?”

She raised up a few inches, the sheet clutched to her breasts, and sent a smile winging across the room. “Yep, I am.”

The boy’s frown deepened. “Are you ’n Dad gonna take a shower together, like Cindy’s mom and dad do?”

“Probably.”

He thought about that for a few moments, then shrugged. “Okay, but first we gotta change my sheets.”

Chapter Fifteen

A
fter hearing the details of the scrubbed Tahiti honeymoon that had landed Dawn in such financial and legal turmoil, Brian figured he’d better not spring any surprises on her.

As a consequence, he buzzed the gatehouse the next morning and invited Callie to join him and Dawn for breakfast. Tommy had already gulped down his cereal and was romping in the backyard with the pup while trying out various names on him to see how they fit.

Brian had explained that the pup’s mother was a champion and each of her offspring were AKC registered. He agreed with Tommy, though, that there was no way either of them wanted to whistle and call Lady Adelaide’s Pride to heel.

“He’s a boy,” Tommy had said, scrunching his nose in disgust. “He’s gotta have a boy’s name.”

So Dawn, Callie and Brian lingered over coffee and blueberry bagels and listened with half an ear to a litany of names that ran through the entire alphabet from Ares, Bear and Duke to Rocky, Shadow and Zeus.

“Ares?” Callie echoed, smiling over the rim of her coffee cup. “Zeus? Tommy knows the pantheon of Greek gods?”

“Only those included in the Zeus vs Monsters video game.”

“I know that game. It teaches great math skills as well as some history. It was one of the videos we kept in the office for kids to play with before or after we interviewed them.”

Glancing away, she set down her cup. Brian guessed she had to be thinking of some of the cases she’d handled. Or the bastard who’d sent those damned emails.

“Listen, Callie, I hope you know the gatehouse is yours for as long as you want it. Permanently, if that would work for you. I know Dawn would love to have you close by.”

Her smile came back, rueful this time. “Thanks, Brian, but that’s a little
too
close by.”

“Hey,” his bride protested indignantly. “Since when have we ever been too close?”

“Since never, and we need to keep it that way. As much as you and I and Kate love each other, we’ve always maintained a little bubble of private space.”

“True,” Dawn conceded, “but this is a pretty big bubble.”

“I appreciate the offer. I really do. And I’ll impose on your hospitality for a little while yet.” Her mouth tipped down. “At least until a certain high-handed security expert decides I can resume ‘jaunting’ around the globe.”

“Actually...”

A high-pitched yelp drew three swift glances to the window, where they took in the sight of Tommy holding a double-ringed tug toy above his head. The terrier made a leap for the toy, then plopped down on his haunches and let loose with a barrage of angry yips. Clearly repentant, Tommy lowered his arm. The yips cut off instantly, and the pup grabbed his end of the toy. Tail whipping from side to side, he emitted low growls as he engaged Tommy in a fierce tug-of-war.

“Hmm,” Brian commented. “I’m not sure who’s training who out there. But back to globe jaunting. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. You offered to stay with Tommy and his new best pal last night while Dawn and I snuck off to the gatehouse or to a hotel.”

He was still kicking himself for not taking her up on that offer. Changing sheets, washing and propping up a mattress to dry, then getting son and dog resettled in the guest room wasn’t exactly how he’d anticipated spending their wedding night.

Dawn had tucked Tommy in again and only laughed when they went back to bed and Brian grumbled about the interruption. Nothing about the wedding day had come off as planned, she’d reminded him. Why should the night be any different?

This one would, Brian vowed.
Very
different.

“If the offer still stands,” he said to Callie, “we’d like to take you up on it.”

“Of course!”

“Before you agree, you should know I’m talking more than just one night.”

“One, five, fifteen. Take as long as you like. Give Dawn the honeymoon she deserves,” Callie said fiercely.

“I wouldn’t lay two weeks on you. But one...”

“No problem. You’ll just have to print out Tommy’s schedule for me. Where are you guys going?”

“Wherever Dawn wants.” He turned to her and laid the world at her feet. “I called Ed Donahue, EAS’s chief pilot. He’ll have the Gulfstream fueled and ready to go by noon.”

“Today?”

“Today. You just need to decide our destination so he can file a flight plan.”

“Brian! We can’t just pick up and jet off to parts unknown!”

“Sure we can. LauraBeth, devious woman that she is, informed me last night that she kept my schedule light all next week. Unless you’ve got a project in the works that requires your physical presence in Boston...?”

“No.”

“Good. Anything else we can handle by videoconferencing if we need to.”

“If either of you needs videoconferencing,” Callie interjected drily, “you’re going at this honeymoon business all wrong.”

“But...” Dawn was still trying to wrap her head around the luxurious EAS corporate jet being fueled and waiting for them. “Can you use the Gulfstream for personal as well as business trips?”

“I can, as long as I reimburse the company for personal usage, which I do. So where’s it to be, wife of mine? Where do you want to...?”

“Rome.”

The swift answer surprised Brian. “We were just there a month or so ago. You sure you don’t want to explore somewhere different?”

“No. Rome. Just Rome.” She grabbed his hand. “Callie and Kate and I dreamed of meandering through Rome’s streets for years. Ever since we watched
Three
...”

“...
Coins in the Fountain
.” Grinning, he squeezed her hand. “I know. You gals have mentioned that movie often enough. Guess I’ll have to watch it and see what the fuss is all about.”

“Oh, you’ll watch it,” Callie warned. “At least once a year. It’s your wife’s number one favorite.”

“It is,” Dawn confirmed. “Although, as many times as I’ve watched
Frozen
with Tommy now, I may have to reorder the rankings.”

She stopped, gathered her thoughts and tried to explain Rome’s pull.

“The three of us—Callie and Kate and I—finally got to Italy. Like the women in the movie, our plan was to spend days exploring the capital, have dinner in little trattorias and fall hopelessly in love. And I did! I didn’t know it at the time, but I did.”

The white squint lines at the corners of Brian’s eyes disappeared, vanished by the smile that wrapped around Dawn’s heart.

“Same here.”

“The very first day we were in Rome,” she continued when she could breathe again, “Travis showed up. To make up for whisking Kate off with him, he got Carlo to offer Callie and me a villa in Tuscany, so we packed up and headed north. We headed south again only long enough for them to renew their vows at the Trevi Fountain.”

She curled her hand in his, heard the faint ping when their wedding rings clinked.

“So, yes, I want to go back to Rome. I want to stroll the streets arm in arm with you. Share a bottle of chianti and pig out on
spaghetti alla carbonara
at a restaurant in Piazza Navona. Make wild, passionate love in a room with a view of the Colosseum or Trajan’s Column all lit up.”

“Say no more. Go pack, and I’ll print up Tommy’s schedule for Callie. And you’d better call your mother. She said something about coming over this afternoon to spend some time with her new grandson. You need to let her know Tommy will be here, but we won’t.”

* * *

Dawn’s packing took all of twenty minutes. The agenda she’d proposed called for casual and comfortable, although she did toss in a black dress and a loose-knit cashmere wrap in case they decided on dinner at some place more upscale than a little neighborhood trattoria. She also tossed in a bottle of her favorite shampoo. Lemon and lotus blossom, with a touch of coconut oil for sheen. According to the Smell & Taste Research Foundation study, that particular combination of ingredients didn’t increase penile blood flow as dramatically as the lavender and pumpkin mix. But she knew now from experience that her groom certainly had no problem with penile blood flow.

Then she sat down to make some calls. The first was to Kate, who squealed in delight when she heard where Dawn would spend her honeymoon. The second was to her brother to thank him for flying in for the wedding and to let him know she and Brian couldn’t make dinner with him as planned.

“No,” she said in answer to his question. “We haven’t watched the video of the ceremony yet. We were a little busy after you left last night.”

She tried her father but got no answer, so she went to the last person on her must-call list. To her surprise, she punched the speed-dial key with considerably less reluctance than she normally felt when calling her mom.

Part of that, she realized, was due to her mother’s astonishingly casual acceptance of yet another botched wedding. Most, however, stemmed from the knowledge that her mom seemed to approve wholeheartedly of her daughter’s last—and final!—choice of mates.

Feeling warm and happy, Dawn waited while her mother’s cell phone rang four times, then her voice mail came on.

“This is Maureen McGill. Leave a message and I’ll...”

Her mother’s sleep-blurred voice interrupted the recorded message.

“Hullo?”

Surprised, Dawn glanced at the time display on her phone. The digital display read nine twelve. Hours later than her mother’s normal, get-up-and-get-it-in-gear regimen.

“Hey, Mom. It’s me. I just wanted to tell you Brian and I are leaving on a brief honeymoon today.”

“Have fun,” she mumbled, her voice fuzzy. “Bye.”

“Wait! You sound funny. Are you okay?”

She got a sigh, a rustle of covers and a hoarse, whispered, “I really can’t talk right now.”

“You didn’t forget to take your medicine last night, did you?”

“No, darling, I didn’t. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“I won’t be here later. Talk to me. Tell me why you’re still in bed.”

She heard faint background sounds. The swish of bedcovers, she thought, a muffled voice. A male voice!

“Good God, Mom. Is someone there with you?”

The reply was sharper, less fuzzed with sleep. “I hardly think that’s an appropriate question for you to...”

“Mo-
ther
!”

Carlo. It had to be Carlo.

Dawn’s relationship with her mother might be prickly at times. Okay, most of the time. That didn’t mean she intended to stand back and twiddle her thumbs while Italy’s most notorious playboy played games with her mother’s heart. She was within a breath of jumping in her Mustang, driving over to the Ritz and pounding the prince into the ground when an exasperated huff came through the phone.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Your father’s here. Not,” she added acidly, “that it’s any of your business.”

Dawn’s jaw dropped. She sat there, sucking air, until she dragged enough into her lungs to stammer, “Not...my...business?”

“No. Not yet, anyway. Now go,” her mother ordered briskly. “Give that handsome husband of yours a kiss from me and make his honeymoon one neither one of you will never forget.”

Dawn was still dazed when she rolled her carry-on over the flagstone path and found her husband and Callie going over a printed schedule of Tommy’s daily routine. Brian glanced up, took one look at her face and sprang out of his chair.

“What’s the matter? What’s happened?”

“My mother.”

“Is she all right?”

“Sort of. She and...and...”

When Dawn had to stop and drag in a breath, Brian fit the same piece into the puzzle she had.

“Your mother and
Carlo
? Did they spend the night together?”

“No. She, uh, spent it with my father.”

She heard herself say the words. Had heard her mother say them. And still didn’t believe them. Neither did Callie. Or Brian.

Dawn could’ve sworn she was looking in one of those trick carnival mirrors, the kind where you saw yourself distorted and reflected thirty or forty or fifty times. Her husband’s and friend’s faces showed the same goggle-eyed disbelief that had left her numb with shock. Was
still
leaving her numb with shock.

Brian, bless him, provided an instant antidote. With a roll of his shoulders, he consigned his new in-laws to whatever fate they were carving for themselves and whisked Dawn into the den to say goodbye to their son.

As she’d predicted, Tommy barely acknowledged their imminent departure. His overriding concern at the moment was the curly-haired terrier sprawled in blissful abandon, all four paws in the air, while Tommy rubbed his spotted pink belly.

“I was gonna call him Patches,” he informed them solemnly, “’cause he’s white ’n brown and sort of gray. But he likes Buster better.”

“So do I,” Dawn told him.

“That’s a great name,” his dad agreed.

The boy’s face showed the relief of a weighty problem solved. “You kin bring Buster a present from Rome, if you want. Me, too.”

“Will do. Bye, buddy.”

“Bye.” He rolled off the floor and barely grimaced as his dad and new mom gave him fierce farewell hugs.

“We’ll be just a phone call and a quick flight away,” Brian reminded him. “Be good for Callie.”

He nodded, his expression genuinely sincere. “I’ll try.”

* * *

After a last-minute check with Callie, Brian hustled his bride into the big black SUV. Forty minutes later, he escorted her into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s executive terminal.

As promised Ed Donahue had the Gulfstream fueled and his flight plan filed. He and the thin, ultraserious, young female aviator he’d tagged as copilot for the trip were waiting beside the stairs when their passengers walked out to the plane.

“Good to see you again.” A smile on his weathered face, Donahue held out a hand to Dawn. “Congratulations. I’m happy for you and the boss. Real happy.”

“Thank you.”

“May I add my congratulations?” the intense young copilot said. “I’m very happy to meet you, Mrs. Ellis.”

Dawn almost did a double take. This was the first time she’d been addressed as Mrs. Anything. She caught herself in time and beamed at the young woman.

“Please, call me Dawn. And you are?”