Sara Orwig – Lone Star Legacy: Relentless Pursuit (страница 14)
“He never married again?”
“No. I don’t think he wanted to commit. He was sour on marriage. There were women around, but no more marriages.”
“Will your brothers be here when the will is read?”
“Sure. Even Zach will come home. You’ll meet them all. They already know about you and that you’re going to work with Caroline. Do your sisters know you accepted my offer?”
“Oh, yes. So do my folks. Trinity and I have been together this past week.”
“So tell me about Trinity and Summer.” While she talked he took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. He was still, and it would be ridiculous to protest the slight touch, so she talked about her sisters. Words came automatically while most of her attention was on the slight physical contact she had with him. Even though it was almost nothing, she tingled to her toes from it.
Conversation shifted and changed to a variety of topics until the moon was high. Ava stood. “It’s definitely time to turn in.”
He walked inside with her, talking about the coming week. At her door he slipped his arm around her waist to pull her close. This time she didn’t protest, but moved eagerly into his embrace, her arm encircling his neck.
Kisses grew heated, lengthening while he pulled her tightly against him, his hand exploring her back, slipping down over her bottom, up again over her back until she stepped out of his embrace.
“It’s later than ever. Good night, Will.”
Brushing a kiss on her lips, he smiled. “Until tomorrow.”
She closed the door to her suite, moving through the empty room quietly, wondering if she would get to sleep for the few hours left in the night. What had she gotten herself into?
He was quickly becoming irresistible to her.
By the time Ava finished breakfast the next morning, Will had left for his business trip. Ava sat on the playroom floor with Caroline and pulled a box from her tote bag. “I thought maybe you like to play games. I have one I hope you’ll like. We can try, and if you don’t like playing, we’ll stop,” Ava said, getting out a deck of cards. “See, they’re princess cards and each card has a letter on it. First let’s arrange them in the order of the alphabet and you can see the princesses.”
Ava began laying out the cards. “There are two identical cards that each have the same letter. Here are two cards with
While Caroline sat quietly, Ava remained still, waiting to give Caroline a chance to participate. After five minutes had ticked past, Caroline pulled Princess Eileen and placed it in the row.
“Excellent,” Ava said. “I’ll do the next. Here’s Princess Fiona. We can mix these all up and play a matching game.”
She slowly went through the simple rules as they began to play. She had wondered whether Caroline would play or not, but the girl began to respond, her mind quick and her memory good.
From the game they went to books, and Ava read to Caroline, but once again, she let Caroline turn pages and knew that Caroline was reading along with her. They worked on letters and numbers through books and games until almost noon.
“Want to swim before lunch?”
Caroline was always slow to respond if she did at all. She gazed back at Ava with huge brown eyes and nodded her head.
“Great. I’m ready for a swim. Let’s put on our suits. Do you know where your swimsuit is?”
Caroline slid off the small chair where she sat and disappeared into the next room. Ava followed to see Caroline reaching into a dresser drawer and taking out a pink swim bottom and purple top.
“Great. Put yours on and then we’ll get mine,” Ava said.
Soon they were in the pool with Ava splashing and laughing. Caroline never laughed, talked or smiled, yet Ava had the feeling that she enjoyed the water immensely.
Rosalyn materialized for lunch and took Caroline to help her dress before they returned to eat.
The afternoon went as swiftly as the morning. Late in the afternoon, Ava swam again with Caroline. This time Rosalyn showed up and said she would watch Caroline while Ava swam.
Ava did laps, constantly checking on Caroline. She ate dinner with Rosalyn and Caroline in the kitchen alcove and spent a quiet evening getting ready for the next day. It wasn’t until after ten that she received a text from Will asking about the day. Shortly after her answer, her cell phone buzzed.
“Hi,” Will said in a husky voice. “How’s it going?”
“We had a good day. She’s a bright little girl.”
“So how are you doing in the new situation?”
“She’s delightful in her own quiet way and it’s a challenge. One I never dreamed I’d have.”
“Yeah, amen to that one. Adam and I talked about my being guardian, but I never expected the day would come when I really would be. I’m still at a loss.”
“You seem to be doing a lot for her,” she said, settling in a comfortable chair and kicking off her shoes.
“I wish I could do more. Ava, I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to be home this weekend to take you to dinner. I have a large sale pending and I need to be here part of the weekend, and then early Monday I have to be in Fort Lauderdale for a week, so I’ll just have to bypass coming home.”
Gone two weeks? “We’ll manage.”
“Don’t sound so cheerful to be rid of me,” he teased. “I have opera tickets for the next Saturday night. Some people don’t like opera, so if you’re one of those, I know the performance will not appeal. If you like opera, attend with me.”
“Will, that’s the Fourth of July. Caroline should see fireworks.”
“She doesn’t like them at all. The noise scares her. They have a great display at the country club, but she hated it last year and we left.”
“Well, I guess fireworks are out. I doubt if she’s changed in one year’s time.”
“The opera is
“Now you’re twisting my arm, because I do like opera and haven’t had a chance to go while I was in school.”
“Then it’s settled. Saturday we’ll go to the opera.”
“You get your way most of the time, don’t you?”
“When it’s important I try to. You’ll like this performance. I’ll try to make the evening enjoyable, maybe memorable.”
“You better stop while you’re ahead. We’re going out, which is what you wanted.”
“I can’t recall getting a pretty woman to go out with me being as difficult before.”
“I don’t imagine you do. I have an agenda to follow and I intend to stick to it, but I will go to the opera. Dinner here at your house before the opera.”
“Fine. I’m looking forward to it, and to being home.”
She rested her legs under her and sat talking to Will for the next hour before she said she would have to go.
Deciding Will was ruining her peaceful nights, she lay in the dark, remembering his kisses and missing him. She was doing all the things she had intended to avoid, yet it was becoming more difficult each day to resist Will’s charm. The barriers she had kept around her heart were melting away faster than she would have thought possible, and in truth, she wasn’t altogether sorry to see them go.
She thought of each of his features, the wavy black hair, his thick eyelashes framing lively midnight eyes, his broad shoulders, muscled body and long legs. He was wickedly attractive and sinfully wealthy, a devastating combination. On top of that, he cared deeply about Caroline, going above and beyond his duty to try to help her thrive.
The two weeks he was gone passed quickly, but by Friday, Ava had a subject she wanted to discuss with Will. She felt Caroline became even more distant when Will was not around. It was so slight, she wondered if she was imagining it, yet Caroline became a silent, unresponsive child during the time.
Though he called Ava every night after getting in from dinners and appointments, by the time he tried to get Caroline on Skype, she had already fallen asleep. Ava intended to change that. When he was home, Will gave his time and attention to Caroline, but when he was away, he had little contact with her. Ava felt at this time in Caroline’s life, she needed Will’s presence more.
She wondered how he’d react to that.
Saturday afternoon Ava swam with Caroline, as she had every day. They played water games and swam for over an hour. Finally Ava climbed out and sat on a chaise longue until she was dry. She watched Caroline continue to swim. At four, Ava let Rosalyn take her place while she went to bathe for the evening. Will had called to say he was running late getting home and she should go ahead and have dinner without him.
She was surprised to find herself disappointed. She ate with Rosalyn and Caroline and then left to dress. Will called once more to say he was turning in the drive and he would spend the time left with Caroline until he had to dress to go to the opera.
As she bathed and dressed, Ava thought about what she would say to him when they were together. She wanted him to make some changes, and she intended to get her way on this one.
She slipped into a dark blue dress with simple lines and a deep V neckline. Her hair was piled on her head with locks falling in the back.