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“I wouldn’t miss snooping around this place for anything in the world.”
Another smile of satisfaction curved his lips. “Then let’s go.”
With a heavy-duty flashlight in hand, Alex strode down the hall forcing everyone to run after him.
“Admit you’re a little freaked, Mom.”
She was, but not for the reason her son was suggesting.
Alex led them down another hall and through a heavy wooden door to the ancient part of the castle. A circular stone staircase over a thousand years old seemed to go down, down forever. The only light came from the slit windows spaced every so often. Rain beat against the panes.
Without the flashlight they would have been entombed in total darkness once they reached the bottom.
Alex flashed the beam around the vast cavern with its labyrinths and pillars. Water dripped from the dank walls where moss was growing. Above them she could hear the waves on the lake crashing against the castle walls. It caused her to shiver.
“Whoa—” Phillip whispered. Vito stood manfully by himself, but Jules stuck close to his uncle.
“Stay with me everybody,” Alex warned them. They advanced a few feet.
“What are those chains for?” Jules asked.
Darrell could see them lying on the stone floor at the base of one of the pillars.
“When it’s good weather, the knight is the castle’s prisoner.”
“No, he’s not, Dad—”
“Shh. I think I can hear him,” Alex whispered. He handed Phillip the flashlight. “Go ahead with the boys. See what you can find.”
“Come on you guys. Dad’s only teasing us.”
Strange how the darkness made Alex stand out to Darrell as if it were full daylight. She could feel the warmth from his body though they weren’t touching. She knew he was smiling.
“I take it you and your cousin used to come down here to play.”
“All the time.”
“Did your parents know?”
“Not if we could help it. Security wasn’t as tight back then, so we got away with a lot.”
“Your son appears to be fearless. You couldn’t have planned anything more thrilling than this. He’s going to want to bring his friends down here when they come to visit.”
The second the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake. “I shouldn’t have said that. I apologize.”
“For what?” The air sizzled with tension.
“For assuming that everything’s normal when I know it’s anything but. I—I’ve been thinking about you and Isabella. The only way your marriage can work is for us to set up a visitation schedule that will make her happy.
“Phillip knows exactly what’s at stake here. He might not like it, but now that he feels your love he’ll be able to plan his life around the times when he can see you. It’ll work. Maybe next time he can bring his friend Ryan.”
She heard the changed tenor of his breathing. “Of course his friends will always be welcome, but I want him around more than two or three times a year, Darrell. I want you to move to Bris.”
Her heart slammed into her ribs. “You couldn’t mean permanently.”
“Is that so hard to understand? It would solve a lot of problems.”
For you and our son, Alex. Not for me or the princess or the monarchy.
“I couldn’t do that. My life’s in Denver. Yours is with Isabella and the family you’re going to raise. After your wedding is over and things have settled down for you, Phillip can fly here to see you. As long as he can talk to you on the phone between trips, it’ll be fine.”
Sucking in her breath she added, “It’s awfully chilly down here. I think I’ll wait for all of you upstairs.”
Relying on her instincts to guide her, she turned back toward the staircase, needing to get away from him before she found herself considering his wishes.
To her dismay she stumbled into the bottom step. But the cry she emitted came from the feel of Alex’s hands on her hips. At the first touch she longed for him to turn her in his arms and kiss her as if they had the right to lose themselves in each other.
But he belonged to someone else and she needed to get far away and stay there.
“Did you hurt yourself?” He’d asked the question out of concern, but the way his hands slid up her arms before relinquishing her body told her he hadn’t forgotten yesterday’s incident. The one she hadn’t been able to dismiss from her memory no matter how hard she tried.
“No—I’m all right, thank you.”
Frightened by her weakness for him, she began the long circular climb, knowing he couldn’t come after her while the boys were still down there.
By the time she reached the top, to her surprise the rest of them weren’t far behind her. They filed into the lighted hallway.
“Mom? I didn’t think you’d get scared down there.”
“I didn’t, either.” Her voice shook.
But being alone with Alex for any reason was too dangerous now. A few minutes ago she’d been willing to crush him in her arms and be swept away again by the passion that had flared between them on the mountain.
She addressed Jules. “Did you see the ghost?”
“No, but we heard something.”
“It was a rat,” Vito informed him. Darrell cringed.
“Maybe next time,” Alex muttered, taking the flashlight from Phillip. “It looks like the worst of the storm has passed over. Let’s hurry home to your mom. I bet she’s fixed her homemade Wiener schnitzel for us.”
The last thing Darrell felt like doing was meeting the boys’ mother. She was too shaken up by what had happened in the dark.
To have lost control yesterday was one thing. To almost lose control again today was something else. She hadn’t imagined Alex’s low moan once his hands had molded to her body. Desire had engulfed both of them.
Maybe it was because he represented forbidden fruit that she trembled even thinking about him.
Possibly the fact that she was forbidden fruit produced a similar response in him.
This close to the wedding you’d have thought just the opposite would be true.
Maybe this was Alex’s own sort of private bachelor party—a kind of midnight-hour urge to let go before he became a married man.
That explanation made the most sense to Darrell.
It was kind of like his princely lapse with Melissa years ago. Only her sister hadn’t had the sense to run from the fire.
Apparently the Collier women were pushovers, but Darrell was putting an end to it right now.
CHAPTER SEVEN (#ulink_0a26add3-4c32-530c-b562-bd872cc59f22)
“DO YOU know going down those steps made me a little dizzy?” Darrell said loud enough for everyone to hear. “I need to rest for a while. Will you please tell Evelyn how sorry I am? We’ll meet another time.”
“It made me kind of dizzy, too,” Jules piped up. Bless his heart.
Alex herded them along the hallway. “Go ahead with the boys, Phillip. I’ll see your mom to the apartment, then I’ll come.”
No!
“Actually, Alex, I’d like Phillip to come with me.”
Maybe it was the tone in her voice. Whatever the explanation, for once Alex didn’t insist and her son didn’t fight her.
“Sure, Mom. You don’t look very good.”
“If I feel better later, we’ll walk over.”
The boys acted disappointed. She didn’t dare glance at Alex.
Shifting around she headed toward the center staircase.
It seemed to take forever until she could hurry up the steps and down the hall to their apartment. Phillip followed her inside and shut the door.
She went on through to her bedroom. After slipping off her sandals, she lay down on the bed, curling up on her side.
Phillip sat next to her. “You don’t like Dad, huh.”
She threw her arm over her eyes. What he’d just said was better than hearing “You’re in love with him, huh.” But neither version was satisfactory.
“What makes you say that, sweetheart?”
“You never want to be around him. I know it’s because he hurt my real mother. But he didn’t try to hurt her.”
Darrell was his real mother, but she knew what he meant.
“I don’t dislike him, Phillip. I’ve come to realize he’s a wonderful man.”
“Then how come you’re mean to him?”
She raised her head to look at him. “Mean?”
“Yeah. He does all these neat things and you always want to stay in here.”
Good heavens.
“That’s so the two of you can have time together alone.”
“But he wants you to do everything with us.”
“He said that?”
“No. But I can tell. Remember at the house when he said he didn’t blame me for hating him?”
“Yes?”
“Well I think he thinks you still hate him.”
Phillip had it all wrong, but she couldn’t tell him the truth.
Another troubled sigh came out of him. “Even if you don’t like him, can’t you try to be nicer?”
If only Phillip knew the truth. Thank goodness he didn’t!
“Of course, sweetheart.”
“Thanks.” After a minute he asked, “Mom?”
“Yes?”
“I wish he wasn’t getting married. I wish—”
“I know what you wish,” she interrupted him. “You wish your real mother were still alive so the three of you could be a family.”
But even if Melissa were alive, nothing would be different. Alex would still be marrying Isabella. Phillip’s fantasy wasn’t written in the stars.
She sat up. “Do you know what I think?”
“What?”
“We need to go home tomorrow and let him get married.” I need to get as far away from him as possible. “After his honeymoon I’m sure he’ll want you to come and stay with him until school starts.”
“But you won’t be here.”
“No. My home is in Denver, but you have two homes now.”
“I don’t want two homes. Steve hates it.”
“You never told me that before,” she said and slid to the edge of the bed. “No matter what, you’ve finally been united with your father. Just remember that last week you didn’t even know him or know where he lived.”
