This Holiday Magic (13 page)

Chapter 6

S
ince the summit didn't begin until their second day in Vienna, they had the next day to go sightseeing. They got up early and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, after which the driver who'd picked them up at the airport the previous night arrived to take them on a tour of the city.

Sage was wearing one of the outfits chosen for her by Ruby: black fitted slacks with a beige cashmere twin set, black leather riding boots with heels comfortable enough for walking and a shoulder bag to match. She'd combed her thick, black curly hair back, fastened it with a tortoiseshell comb and let the rest fall down her back.

Adam was casually dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved gray shirt and a black leather jacket. He wore black leather Italian loafers. He looked ruggedly handsome.

As they stepped outside, Sage saw the grounds of the
palais
clearly for the first time. The lawn was like a carpet in its perfection. Seasonal flowers abounded as far as the eye could see.

“Good morning, Mr. Benson, Ms. Andrews. I hope you had a restful evening,” the driver greeted them.

“Thank you,” said Adam. He smiled at the man. “I'm sorry. I didn't get your name last night.”

“My mistake, Mr. Benson. Last time I simply told you I was from the agency your assistant booked to drive you. I'm Franz Holtz. I'll be your driver for the duration of your stay.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Franz.”

“And I you, sir,” said Franz. “I'm a big fan of your work.”

“Well, thank you again,” said Adam.

He then turned to Sage. “Shall we go?”

Sage nodded eagerly. Adam helped her into the backseat of the luxury car. After Adam was also inside, Franz shut the door and then climbed behind the wheel of the car.

“I was told you wanted to sightsee today, sir,” Franz said.

“That's true,” Adam said. “But first I have a surprise for Ms. Andrews. We have a private viewing of the Lipizzaner.”

Sage couldn't believe her ears. Ever since she was six years old, she'd wanted to see the Lipizzaners live. She'd taken horseback-riding lessons from age seven to her senior year in high school. She still went riding whenever time permitted. Her favorite event was dressage. And the Lipizzaner was known for dressage.

All inhibitions gone, she threw her arms around Adam's neck and kissed him repeatedly on the cheek. “Oh, thank you, thank you, you sweet man, you!”

A few minutes later they were pulling onto the property that housed the Spanish riding school—Spanische Hofreitschule. The house and barn were both elegantly appointed. The fence bordering the property seemed to stretch for miles. Horses frolicked in grassy fields.

A man and a woman, both in their mid-thirties, came out of the house upon hearing a car in their drive.

The man introduced himself as Josef Aronsen, and the pretty blonde was his wife, Hilda. They were both horse trainers.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Benson,” said Josef, beaming. He was a dark-haired man of average height and weight with powerful thigh muscles. Both he and Hilda wore riding clothes.

“Please, call me Adam,” Adam said warmly. “And this is Ms. Sage Andrews. She's the horse lover. She's an experienced rider, and it's always been her dream to ride a Lipizzaner.”

“Ride!” exclaimed Sage, unable to contain her excitement. She'd thought she was there only to watch someone else ride the famous horses. She looked to Josef and Hilda for confirmation of Adam's words. They were nodding and smiling.

“Right this way,” Josef said.

Josef and Hilda led Adam and Sage to the barn where two more people, a man and a woman, were putting a stallion through its paces in a corral. The woman was riding the handsome Lipizzaner while the man walked alongside, calling out instructions.

Adam, Sage, Josef and Hilda walked over to the corral and Josef called, “Victor, Beatriz, bring Alexi over here, please.”

Victor and Beatriz were quick to respond. Victor took Alexi's bridle in hand and led the woman on the horse to the edge of the corral.

Josef made the introductions, and then Sage said, “I don't know about this. I'm nervous. Alexi will sense I'm nervous.”

“Alexi is used to people being nervous around him,” Hilda assured her. She patted Alexi's head affectionately. “He is such a pretty boy that he's used to people being intimidated by his beauty.”

Alexi whinnied and threw his head back, as if he agreed with her assessment of his character.

“Come,” said Hilda. “Get to know him before you mount him.”

Sage stepped closer to the beautiful white horse, which was a product of Arab, Danish, Spanish and Italian stock.

“What do you know about Lipizzaner?” Hilda asked gently as Sage caressed Alexi's mane and worked her way up to touching his mighty head.

“Just what I've read,” Sage told her. “The riding school was founded in the late fifteen hundreds, and the horses have been bred especially for beauty and strength and intelligence. And they can make those wonderful jumps because of their powerful hind muscles.”

Hilda smiled warmly. “You've done your homework!”

Sage wasn't listening because Alexi was looking at her and she was looking at him. His huge, beautiful eyes seemed to be assessing her. Then he bent his head as if he wanted her to pat him, and she did.

“He likes you,” said Josef, grinning.

Sage was glad. She'd never met a horse that didn't like her and had been hoping that Alexi wouldn't prove to be the exception to the rule. Arabians could be quite unpredictable, and Lipizzaner horses were part Arabian.

“But that doesn't mean he'll let me ride him,” Sage said from experience. Horses were like humans. They could have their moods.

“Let's give it a try, shall we?” said Hilda.

Sage was game. She removed her sweater and handed it to Adam.

She glanced down at her slacks and boots and realized that it was almost as if Ruby had chosen them for this moment. She looked up at Adam before she turned and followed Hilda into the corral, silently asking for encouragement. Seemingly reading her mind, Adam gestured toward the corral with a nod. “Go on. You can do it.”

Sage took a deep breath and stepped into the corral. Beatriz dismounted and offered Sage the use of her riding helmet. Sage gratefully accepted.

“Thank you, Beatriz,” she said softly.

“My pleasure,” said Beatriz with a smile. A short brunette with brown eyes, she looked around twenty-five.

Josef held Alexi's bridle while Sage mounted him, and then he and Hilda walked out of the corral along with Beatriz and Victor.

“Is it all right if I record this?” Adam asked Josef.

“Yes, it's perfectly fine,” said Josef.

Sage sat atop Alexi, patting his strong neck. “Take it easy on me, boy, all right?”

Remembering her dressage training, she began with the basic passage in which the horse moved forward in a rhythmic manner that resembled skipping. She was astonished when Alexi recognized her signals. She'd been afraid that he wouldn't. She had no way of knowing how his riders had been training him over the years. But either he was exceptionally trained, or she was actually remembering the lessons her riding teacher had taught her over the years.

Alexi trotted around the large corral performing one trick after another, while Sage marveled at the play of his powerful muscles beneath her. After a few minutes she got so bold that she was determined to try a pirouette. She gave the signal with a squeeze of her legs and a gesture with the reins. Alexi pivoted in a circle, his hind legs bearing the weight. He did it in such a smooth motion that Sage felt as if she was dancing with him.

Their audience enthusiastically applauded. Sage signaled for Alexi to stop pirouetting and walk over to the edge of the corral. He followed her instructions without a hitch.

She was beaming as they approached the others. “He's brilliant,” she said to Josef and Hilda. “Thank you so much for allowing me to ride him.”

“It was our pleasure,” Josef said, smiling warmly. “You have a great seat.”

Sage thanked him for the compliment, and she and Adam thanked them again for granting Sage's wish to ride a Lipizzaner. Then she and Adam said their goodbyes and were soon in the car again with Franz behind the wheel.

“Where can I take you next?” Franz wanted to know.

“Saint Stephen's Cathedral,” Adam told him.

While Franz drove them toward the center of Vienna, Adam and Sage relaxed in the back.

“You really do have a great seat,” Adam teased her.

“Oh, stop it,” Sage said, blushing. “You know he meant I'm a decent rider.” She looked him deeply in the eyes. “That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I'll remember it for the rest of my life. Thank you so much!”

“You're welcome,” he said simply, but his eyes were full of warmth and kindness. And something else that caused her to melt. It looked like genuine affection.

Sage kissed his cheek. “Now, no more spoiling me, okay? Just let me enjoy your company for the rest of the weekend without your playing fairy godmother—um, godfather, to my Cinderella.”

“I'm not making any promises,” Adam told her. “You wanted honesty. And, honestly, spoiling you makes me happy.”

Sage didn't want to argue the point. Instead she reached into his jacket pocket for the cell phone with which he'd recorded her ride. “Let me see it!”

Adam took the phone out of her hand. His fingers flew over the surface and he handed it back to her. There she was in living color, riding Alexi. The video on the four-inch screen was extremely sharp and the sound was excellent, too.

Sage looked at the screen, then at Adam. “You made this?”

“I didn't actually make it, but I invented it,” Adam said modestly.

“I've never seen a cell phone with such a sharp picture. This is high-definition, isn't it?”

“It's due to all the megapixels,” Adam told her. “Are you telling me you don't own one yet?”

“No, I'm mortified to say I don't.”

“I'm hurt,” Adam said. But the laughter in his eyes belied his statement. “Are you one of those people who are wary of new technology?”

“Not wary,” Sage said. “I just don't run out and buy every new gadget that comes on the market if my present gadget is still working fine.”

“Fair enough,” Adam said as he took the phone out of her hand and proceeded to demonstrate all of its features.

“It does everything except bring me breakfast in bed,” Sage quipped when he was finished.

“That's my job,” Adam said.

Sage laid her head on his shoulder and he put his arm around her. They didn't say anything for a few minutes. Adam gave her the phone again after pulling up her video. She watched it over and over, smiling the whole time.

* * *

Adam kissed the top of her head and held her securely in his arms. This felt right to him. He couldn't imagine why he'd foolishly stayed away from her for so long. No, he corrected himself, he knew why he'd stayed away: because he'd felt he had no right to reenter Sage's life after being the one to break off their relationship. She'd demonstrated by her avoidance of him over the years that she didn't want to pursue a friendship with him, and he thought the least he could do was honor her wishes.

But when he'd returned home and learned she was unattached, he'd allowed hope to blossom in his heart. The problem was, even with his supposed intelligence, he couldn't figure out a surefire way of winning Sage's affections again. So that was why he'd started jogging past her office every day. He'd wanted to stay in her mind until he figured out a way to get back in her heart.

Then the opportunity had just fallen into his lap. He saw it as fate intervening on his behalf. He hadn't known at the time that it wasn't fate at all, but Sage's mother who'd intervened. Wherever his good luck had come from, he'd readily accepted it.

Now he simply had to be careful not to mess it up.

He smiled as he watched Sage reliving her ride on Alexi. So far, things were going well.

Chapter 7

“I
t reminds me of Notre Dame with all the gargoyles,” Sage said as she and Adam stood in front of Saint Stephen's Cathedral. “I expect Quasimodo to put in an appearance at any moment.”

“Let's see how it looks on the inside,” Adam said, taking her hand.

They toured the inside of the Romanesque and Gothic cathedral, along with other tourists. Sage found the dark medieval atmosphere a bit depressing. But the sculptures and paintings with religious themes were interesting. To her they spoke of the glory of heaven and the tortures of hell. When Adam suggested a tour of the cathedral's catacombs, however, Sage declined. “No, thanks. I'm not fond of being underground, and the thought of all those poor plague victims' bones down there makes me uncomfortable.”

Adam admitted that he wasn't looking forward to it, either, so they went across the street to a sidewalk café, ordered coffees and watched the crowds in the plaza.

“We haven't talked about what our personal lives have been like since we last saw each other,” Sage said. She sipped her coffee. “I want to know what you do when you're not inventing clever cell phones.”

Adam's dark eyes were alight with humor as he regarded her.

“You already know I like to run.”

“Did you choose that route on purpose?” she asked. “Or is it a coincidence that it takes you past my office?”

“Of course I did it on purpose,” Adam said truthfully. “You weren't returning my calls. I wanted to stay on your mind.”

“Well, it worked. I could hardly forget you when I saw you practically every day.”

“What was going through your mind during my daily appearances?” He wanted to know.

“You irritated me,” Sage confessed. “And yet, I couldn't look away.”

Adam laughed. “And all those times I'd see you in church and hope that I could have a word with you, only to find that you'd disappeared?”

“I know every escape route in that church,” Sage said with a smile. “By the way, was joining my church another way to keep you in my thoughts?”

“You were there,” Adam admitted. “So that's where I had to be.”

She gave him an askance look. “Religion's interchangeable to you?”

“That's not it,” Adam explained. “I simply believe that we can find God in many places, and I could worship Him just as easily at your church. Besides, I like the sense of community your church exhibits.”

“I do, too,” Sage said. “That's one of the reasons I go to that church. They do a lot of good in the community.”

“Then it's all right with you if I continue going there?” Adam asked.

“Of course, and I won't avoid you anymore.”

“Maybe we can even share a pew,” Adam quipped.

“Now, don't get crazy,” Sage joked back. “What else do you like to do besides run?”

“I'm an avid reader. I like watching science-fiction movies and pointing out what's real science in them and what's fiction. I like video games.”

“Your company makes games, too, right?”

“We make educational videos so that kids can learn something while sitting in front of the TV.”

“But those aren't the kind you like playing?” Sage was guessing.

“No, I'm pretty much addicted to games that deal with outer space.”

“Do you want to go into space one day?”

“I haven't ruled it out.”

“I heard that for the right amount of money, you can buy a spot on a Russian or Chinese spacecraft.”

“I'm waiting until I can book a flight on an American ship,” Adam said.

“I have no interest in going into space. I find the world is enough.” She picked up her coffee, drank the rest of it and set her cup back down. Then she asked suddenly, “I know you said you haven't been in love with anyone since you and I broke up, but has anyone come close?”

“I thought so at first, but turns out she wasn't the woman for me.”

Sage's brows arched with interest. “What happened?”

“I caught her rifling through the dresser drawers in my bedroom.”

“Maybe she was looking for a T-shirt to put on,” Sage said.

Adam shook his head. “She was looking for valuables.” He met her eyes. “It hasn't been easy for me to trust anyone, Sage. These can be desperate times. You have people at the top who're making all the money, and a lot of people at the bottom who're just getting by. The system isn't equitable. That's what my company's foundation is working on, making society more equitable. Until everyone's needs are taken care of, you're going to have desperate people in the world who're willing to do anything to survive.”

“What did you do about the woman you caught going through your dresser?”

“We sat and talked, and I learned she'd lost her husband and had a two-year-old son. She apologized for attempting to steal from me, but she was getting ready to be kicked out of her apartment. So I paid her rent and got her in a job-training program with the company, and she's doing well now.”

“But you stopped dating.”

“Yes, because we were dating for the wrong reasons. I was dating her because I was lonely and she was beautiful. She was dating me because I'm Adam Benson.”

“I suppose it
is
hard for you to find a woman who wants to be with you simply for you and not for your money.”

“Yeah,” Adam said, sounding resigned to the fact. “I've learned to live with it. How about you, Sage? Have you been in love since we last met?”

Sage sighed. “I've dated some very nice men, but none I felt strongly enough about to take the relationship beyond just going out and having a good time. At first I blamed you—you'd broken my heart, and I wasn't about to let another man put me through that again. But then I realized I was being foolish. We were so young when we broke up. I couldn't continue to blame our failed relationship on the fact that I avoided commitment. If I was ever to meet a good man and fall in love and have his babies, I needed to put aside the past.”

“What year did you come to this realization?” Adam asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his generous mouth.

“Last year,” Sage said, laughing. “I know—I'm pitiful. My mom reminds me that I'm years behind schedule when it comes to making her a grandmother.”

“I get the same from my mother,” Adam confided. “When I told her I still had feelings for you, she was deliriously happy.”

“You told Miss Millie you still cared for me?” Sage said, shocked.

“I've always been able to talk to my mother about anything,” Adam said. “It's my dad I find hard to talk to.”

“It's his generation,” Sage said. “Give him a break. My dad doesn't handle emotional topics well, either. Back to your sharing how you felt with your mom—don't you think you're getting her hopes up? According to my mom, our breaking up was a tragedy for both of them. You know how they are. They're going to start planning the wedding, and we're just trying to get to know each other again.”

Adam nodded in agreement. He looked deep in her eyes. “I know, but what can we do? Mothers want their children to be happy. I've been productive. I've been successful, but I haven't been happy without you, Sage. You haven't been out of my mind since the day we broke up. I always carried you with me in my heart.” He grasped her hand in his across the tiny round table.

Sage was looking at him, tears glistening in her eyes. “I, on the other hand, did everything in my power to forget you. I dated men who I thought were direct opposites of you. I went through a ‘bad boy' phase, which didn't last long because who can put up with that nonsense when they've had true love? True love,” she repeated. “Adam, do you think that's what we had, or are we romanticizing everything?”

“You tell me,” Adam said. “When we kiss now, how do you feel?”

“Like I'm high on some very good stimulants,” she said, grinning. “Better than I've ever felt with anyone else... Like I could die happy.”

“Like it's the most natural thing in the world,” Adam said, affectionately squeezing her hand. “I do get the powerful drug analogy, because I am definitely addicted to you, your smell, your taste, how you feel in my arms. In some ways I'm glad we never made love. I don't know if we would have appreciated it as much back then as we would now. I know we haven't waited for each other, but I believe if we do eventually make love, it'll feel like it's the first time for both of us.”

Sage wiped her tears away with a napkin and smiled up at him.

“Even your
rap
has improved over the years,” she teased.

Adam laughed. “Did I score points?”

“Lots of points,” Sage conceded.

“Am I on the way to making you mine by Christmas?” His dark eyes danced with laughter as he awaited her answer.

Sage laughed. “You're definitely playing to win.”

But she wasn't ready to concede yet.

* * *

That night she and Adam met his best friends, Ethan and Trudi Strauss, at Steirereck, which Adam said was the birthplace of New Viennese cuisine.

Sage wore a black lace, sleeveless silk dress that showed a bit of cleavage, but not too much, with the hem falling a couple of inches above her knees. Black suede strappy sandals and a matching clutch complemented the dress nicely. A classy, ebony-hued thermal-lined evening wrap kept her warm in the chilly December night air.

Adam helped her out of the car when Franz pulled up to the restaurant. Sage stepped out. She was pleased to see that Adam could not help feasting his eyes on her legs as she exited the car.

Sage smiled up at him. He cut a handsome figure in his black suit and white silk shirt. She saw that he had opted to keep the beard he'd been growing for several days now, although he'd neatened it up a bit. She wondered if he'd done that because she'd told him she liked how he looked with a day's growth.

“Enjoy your evening,” Franz said as he closed the car door.

“Thank you,” Adam returned. “I'll phone you when we're ready to leave.”

“Very good, sir,” Franz answered, then got behind the wheel and sped off.

The restaurant's doorman held the door for them and murmured,
“Guten abend.”

“Guten abend,”
Adam replied.

Sage preceded him into the large restaurant. The decor reminded her of their hotel. There was a lot of ornamentation, from the crown molding to the dining-room chairs with seats upholstered in a brocade fabric of predominantly red and gold colors. The floor was highly polished hardwood, and the ceilings were exceedingly high. The crystal chandelier in the main dining room lent a touch of elegance and illuminated an otherwise dim room full of white-clothed, candlelit tables.

The waiter, a young man in a short white jacket and black slacks, welcomed them and showed them to a table in the restaurant's winter garden, which was a conservatory filled with lush greenery adjacent to an outside wall. There were fewer tables in this area, which afforded them more privacy.

When they walked into the conservatory, a male voice cried, “There you are, at last!”

A powerfully built man in a dark gray suit came forward and hugged Adam. Behind him was a lovely willowy woman in a red dress. She and Sage smiled and shook hands.

“Don't mind them,” Trudi Strauss said confidentially to Sage. “They haven't seen each other in months. Their bromance has suffered greatly.”

“Hello, Trudi,” Sage said, laughing softly at her sense of humor. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure's all mine,” said Trudi, who was about Sage's height, but thinner. She wore her auburn hair long and sleek down her back. And her skin was a dark copper tone.

Adam waited for a pause in the women's conversation, then said to Ethan with a note of pride, “Ethan, I want you to meet my dear friend Sage Andrews.”

Ethan embraced Sage. She could feel his muscles through his suit as he hugged her tightly. “We finally meet,” he said enthusiastically after he released her. “Adam's told me so much about you.”

Sage returned his smile and said, “It's good to meet you, Ethan. And please take everything Adam says about me with a grain of salt. He's much too generous with his compliments.”

Ethan grinned. He had thick, curly blond hair that he wore a bit too long, and his eyes were dark blue. He wasn't much taller than his wife. But his utter masculinity made up for his lack of height.

“He didn't exaggerate when he said you were lovely,” Ethan told her. “And I'm sure he didn't embellish anything else about you, either.”

The waiter, who had been standing silently to the side while they greeted one another, now gestured to the table. “Please, have a seat,” he said.

The ladies were helped with their chairs and the men seated themselves. The waiter presented them with menus and then said, “I'll give you a few minutes to decide.”

After the waiter had gone, Adam looked expectantly at Ethan and Trudi. “How are the kids?”

Sage's ears perked up. She loved children.

“They're all doing well,” Ethan said. “They miss their godfather.”

“I miss them, too,” Adam said.

“We have three kids,” Trudi said, turning to smile at Sage. “Ethan Junior, seven. Evan, five. And Tara, four—who, by the way, is aptly named because she's a little terror.”

“Don't say that about my precious little girl,” Ethan said, smiling. “She's just energetic. She's so brilliant, she gets bored easily.”

“She tried to shave Boo Bear,” Trudi deadpanned. She regarded Sage. “Boo Bear is the kids' black Lab puppy. I got there just in time. Otherwise he would have been scalped.”

Sage couldn't help laughing. “I'm sorry,” she said.

The others were laughing, too. “No need to apologize. That was just another day in the Strauss household,” said Trudi. “The thing is, Sage, I was under the impression that little girls didn't get into as much mischief as boys. But my boys are saints compared to Tara. I don't know where I went wrong with her.”