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Once beneath the spray, she quickly lathered her hair, then used the blow dryer until the strands swished soft and silky against her shoulders.
Afraid to keep him waiting too long, she applied a fresh coat of coral frost lipstick, then slipped on white shorts and a sleeveless navy top. Dispensing with shoes she hurried downstairs. He needed to talk.
She knew the drill. They would discuss all sorts of things, but inevitably he’d bring the conversation around to the father he was growing to hate for not being there for him.
It was so sad he’d reached the age where he understood about a man sowing his wild oats without compunction, and one had taken root in the Rocky Mountains.
Heartsick for Phillip who was acting out with increased frequency, she walked in the family room off the kitchen to find him. He was playing a video game. In her opinion they were a curse. No communication could go on with his hands on the controls, and his eyes glued to the screen. Luckily he enjoyed sports, which kept him busy a lot of the time now that it was summer.
“Want to grate the cheese and cut up the tomatoes?”
Without saying anything he got up and followed her to the fridge. Athletically inclined, he looked good in his old cutoffs and T-shirt. One day he would look…fantastic, just like his father, whose arresting features and physique eclipsed those of any man she’d ever known.
She could still picture him standing in the doorway of the jet, staring at her with those hauntingly beautiful green-gray eyes. They seemed to follow her into the kitchen where she fried the tortillas and ground beef. Then she and Phillip sat down to eat.
She was glad to see his dark mood hadn’t affected his appetite. She waited until he’d finished off his third taco before venturing into uncharted waters.
“Sweetheart?” she began. “I love you more than you’ll ever know, and it hurts me that you’re so unhappy. There’s an old adage that says something like, ‘Give me the wisdom to accept the things I can’t change, and help me to change the things I need to do something about.’ It’s a good rule to live by.
“No matter how much you want things to be different, your father didn’t stay in Colorado, so he didn’t know you were born. That’s the painful fact of the matter.
“Now the ball is in your court. You can either make up your mind it’s not going to ruin your life, or you can grow up an angry man so fixated on your own hurt, you’ll never live up to your full potential.
“I know I’m just your dumb mom, but between us, we’re all we’ve got. I promised your mother I’d love you and take care of you forever. So I think the time has come for you to go to a counselor you can talk to. Someone impartial who will listen to whatever you feel like saying and won’t judge you.”
“No way—” He flung himself out of the chair. His blue-gray eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I’m not crazy!”
“Of course not, but you are in pain and a counselor might be able to help you where I can’t.”
His expression stiffened. “I won’t go to a shrink and you can’t make me!”
The next thing she knew, the front door slammed.
Darrell sat there in shock. Just before he’d bolted, he’d looked and sounded exactly like Melissa.
With her heart aching, she ran over to the sink to look out the window. He was already halfway down the street on his dirt bike. He’d never exploded like this before. She had to go after him. Grabbing her purse, she hurried into the garage and backed the car out.
She doubted he had a destination in mind. All she could do was drive in the direction he’d gone. But after ten minutes of searching the neighborhood for him, she realized he intended to stay lost for a while.
Defeated, she drove back to the condo and made a call to a couple of his friends. Eventually she found out from Steve’s stepmom he’d gone swimming. They’d probably be back in an hour.
Relief swept through Darrell. Hopefully he would come home a little less angry and they’d be able to start over.
While she cleaned up the kitchen, she heard the doorbell ring.
He must have come back to get his swimming suit and had forgotten his key.
She hurried to unlock the door.
“Phillip sweetheart?” she cried as she flung it open, prepared to give him a hug whether he wanted one or not.
But instead of a belligerent twelve-year-old boy standing there on the porch, a solidly built male filled the aperture. A man she’d presumed was already in the air on his way back to Switzerland.
Beyond his broad shoulder she glimpsed a bulletproof limo with smoked glass parked in front. She didn’t doubt for a second his security people had surrounded the complex where she lived, providing heavy protection for him.
“Hello again, Darrell Collier. In case you’ve forgotten, my name is Alex.” His deep male voice resonated to her insides.
Speechless and feeling light-headed, she held on to the door for support. “I—I’m sorry, Alex.” She stumbled over her words. “But I never expected to see you again.”
He studied her upturned features for a moment. “You made that abundantly clear when you flew out of my cabin a little while ago.”
Her heart thundered in her chest. “Didn’t you get the ring?”
His eyes glinted with a mysterious light. “It’s in my pocket.”
“Then I don’t understand. If you’re here to give me hush money or some such thing, I wouldn’t take it. I swear before God I could never do that to you or anyone else.”
He said nothing.
She shook her head, causing her hair to swirl a silvery-gold. “You shouldn’t have come,” she said in a shaky voice. “Phillip will be home soon and see the limo. If he finds you here, he’ll ask questions and it won’t take him long to notice certain…similarities.”
Her unexpected visitor straightened to his full, intimidating height. “Then I guess I’ll have to take that chance because you and I still have things to discuss. May I come in?”
She couldn’t sustain his penetrating glance and averted her eyes. “I—I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I happen to disagree with you,” he came back with a strong hint of authority in his voice. “If you prefer, we can sit in the limo.”
“No—” she blurted. With her bare legs showing and no shoes on her feet, the thought of being confined with him sounded far too intimate.
“Are you going to make a grown king beg? It’s a position I don’t recall having been in before.”
Everything he said and did was getting under her skin, confusing and exciting her when she shouldn’t be having any feelings at all!
She moistened her lips nervously. “I didn’t mean to be rude. Please—Come in.”
“Since you put it so nicely, I think I will.”
His male mouth twitched, revealing a charm that was lethal. No wonder Melissa had fallen for him. Of course he’d only been twenty or so at the time, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Some men were just endowed at an early age with a raw, virile charisma few women could resist.
When Melissa had talked about lying in his arms beneath the stars, Darrell had absorbed the revelation on an intellectual level. To see her sister’s lover in the flesh was like coming too close to a solar flare that scorched the body and filled her with a strange envy.
Melissa may have only been a teenager, but she’d known rapture with this exciting man who ruled a kingdom. She’d carried his son to term. Those joys were something Darrell had yet to experience for herself, if she ever did.
Her front door opened into the small living room with its traditional decor. His presence dwarfed the interior.
“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.”
She felt his appraising gaze on her legs as she darted up the stairs. By the time she returned wearing a pair of pleated white sailor pants and leather sandals, she felt a little more presentable.
Darrell found him studying some framed family pictures. He appeared deep in thought.
When he heard her enter, he put down the picture of Phillip and turned in her direction. His eyes roved over her trembling figure, silently acknowledging the change in her attire.
“By the way you answered the door just now, I take it you haven’t seen Phillip since you arrived back.”
She smoothed her damp palms against her hips, a gesture he also noted. “Actually I have. But while we were eating dinner, I said something that upset him. He flew out the door and went off on his bike. I was hoping he’d decided to come back.”
He frowned. “You seemed unduly anxious. Does he often blow up like that?’
Already he was sounding like a concerned parent. She hardly knew what to make of this remarkably handsome stranger from another continent.
“I said something that frightened him.”
“What was that?” her guest persisted.
“The three days away from him let me see how depressed he has become. I told him I was going to take him to a counselor to help him deal with his issues of abandonment. He yelled that he wasn’t crazy before he charged out of here like a torpedo.”
She rubbed her arms with her hands. “On the flight home from Switzerland, I made up my mind I wasn’t going to wait any longer to get help for him. I knew he would fight me on this, but I’m committed. In all honesty, I should have taken him to a doctor long before now. He’s showing the same pattern Melissa did.”
He moved closer, his gaze intent on her face. “Tell me about your family.”
“My parents met at Denver University. Mother would have been a teacher. Dad was studying to become a geologist. Melissa had barely turned two when they were killed in a car accident and my grandmother Alice took on the responsibility of raising us.
“She was a wonderful person. We both adored her, but Melissa had a harder time of it. She yearned for our parents even though she didn’t remember them. As she got older, she felt more and more sorry for herself. In time she grew petulant like Phillip and became too much of a handful for Grandma whose health began to fail.
“When Melissa had an opportunity to work at the dude ranch through a close friend’s family, she didn’t hesitate. She knew a lot of famous VIPs vacationed there. She’d made up her mind she was going to meet an important man who would take her away and give her the kind of life that would make up for her deprivation.”
His eyes studied her intently. “What about you? A teenager burdened with sorrow and a new baby to raise. How did you do it all?”
“Grandma’s house was paid for. I took a night job I could do at home for the airlines making reservations. Eventually I was able to start taking college classes and graduated in communications.
“The company gave me a promotion, so I sold the house and bought this condo, which is closer to my work. Everything seemed fine, but it wasn’t fine to Phillip.”
Darrell’s eyes filled with liquid. “It’s a tragic irony Melissa met you, a real prince. There’s a lesson to be learned here in getting what you wish for…” Her voice trailed.
He trapped her gaze. “I can’t do anything about your sister now, but it’s not too late for Phillip.”
Her thoughts reeled. “It is where you’re concerned,” she said in a dull voice.
She heard his sharp intake of breath. “He’s my son. It’s high time we got to know each other.”
“You don’t really mean that. You couldn’t—” she cried. “It will change your whole life.”
“That’s what children do when they come into the world. He’s a precious gift.”
“But you’re a king! This is going to complicate your life in ways I can’t even begin to imagine, starting with salacious reports from the press.”
“What else is new. I’m a man first, Darrell. When I fathered Phillip, I wasn’t yet a king. I’ve already missed the first twelve years of his life. As my mother keeps telling me, a grandmother needs grandchildren. After she gets over the shock, she’s going to be thrilled.”
Darrell was afraid to believe him. But when she looked deeper into his eyes, she knew instinctively he believed what he was saying.
She swallowed hard. “You haven’t even met him yet. He’s very complex.”
“You mean he’s damned difficult most of the time, but sweet as honey at unexpected moments?”
“That’s exactly how he is,” her voice shook.
He put his hands on his hips in a wholly male stance. “He’s a Valleder all right. Our genes don’t lie. After we meet, he might never grow to like me, but we share the same blood. That makes us family, sight unseen.”
Darrell hugged her arms to her waist. “What about your marriage? Phillip’s existence is going to come as a huge shock to the woman you’ve chosen. It isn’t fair to her.”
His eyes held a faraway look. “The news that I have a son is going to turn the entire canton on its ear. However I’m not particularly concerned about anyone but Phillip. You’ve had the whole responsibility of him all this time. Now it’s my turn.”
She bit her lower lip. “It’ll transform him to know he has a father he can talk to on the phone sometimes.”
His expression sobered. “I hope so, but first we have to get over the biggest hurdle. He has viewed me as a deadbeat dad for a lot of years. I have a feeling this is going to take some time.”
He checked his watch. “It’s starting to get dark. Where do you think he could be?”
“I called some of his friends. They went swimming at the condo pool.”
“Why don’t we drive over in your car and find him. I’ll tell him I’m an old friend of his mother’s and we’ll go from there.”
Her heart raced too fast. “I don’t know, Alex. Maybe you’d better think about this for a while longer. Once the water spills over the dam…”
A shadow crossed his face. “Isn’t this why you came to Bris?”
“Yes. But when I found out you’re going to be married soon, I was glad I’d been prevented from meeting you.
“My grandmother died when Phillip was nine months old. She urged me to adopt him. She also told me not to go looking for you unless I was prepared to deal with the consequences. Until Phillip became so difficult, I’d made up my mind to follow her advice.
His eyes narrowed on her face. “I don’t know of another woman whose love for a child she didn’t give birth to would cause her to put everything on the line to make him happy.
“For you to sacrifice your own life for him tells me all I need to know about your character. My son has been more fortunate than he’ll ever know,” his voice grated. “I owe you a debt of gratitude I’ll never be able to repay for what you’ve done, Darrell.”
“It’s been no sacrifice—he was the most adorable baby on this earth. I fell in love with him on sight. He’s my life!”
“To know I have a son makes me feel the same way,” he asserted in a solemn tone. “So why don’t you make that phone call. After seeing his pictures, I’m eager to lay eyes on him in person.”
She felt that eagerness. It wasn’t an emotion he could feign. Nervous excitement welled up inside her. “All right. The phone’s in the other room.”
He followed her to the family room. As she picked up the wall phone receiver in the kitchen and started to press the digits, they both heard the front door open.
“Mom? What’s that black limo doing outside our house? Doug saw it on his way over to the pool and told me.”
Her anxious glance darted to Alex before she hung up the phone. In the next instant Phillip appeared in the family room. His hair was still damp from his swim. It looked darker when it was wet.
Melissa had been a beautiful girl with a ton of boyfriends. Darrell had always thought her son was the best looking boy out of all his friends. He seemed older than most of the seventh-graders and was growing more attractive all the time. Talk about the acorn falling close to the mighty oak—
