Solitaire (19 page)

Slade stood there uncertainly. “A double?” he voiced.

“I’m not the one flying, Slade. You are. I want a double Scotch on the rocks.”

“Twist of lemon?”

Cat gripped her clutch purse tightly, trying to look cool and collected in front of their guests. “Yes.”
Donovan, I’m going to murder you when we get back. I swear I will…

“This was a wonderful idea,” Kai spoke up. She wore a white chemise that brought out the highlights of her shoulder-length auburn hair. The gold earrings and slender necklace at her throat matched the sparkle in her eyes. “Frankly, when Slade called over, we were ready to go to the city, but didn’t plan on the Brownstone.” She laughed delightedly. “I love the restaurant! It’s so Victorian and so thoroughly romantic.”

One confirmation, Cat thought. She shot Slade a withering look as he ambled back over with her drink.

“Yes, he’s always cooking up something, isn’t he?” Cat said, taking the drink. When Slade sat down and hooked his long arm around her, Cat fairly sizzled. No matter how black her look, Slade smiled, enjoying her predicament. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t embarrass herself or him in front of company.

Matt Travis was equally handsome in a white tuxedo trimmed in black. It brought out his dark attractiveness, Cat thought. And both Kai and Matt looked so happy together. She envied them their loving relationship.

“That’s one of the many things this lady likes about me,” Slade drawled, giving Cat a wide smile.

Cat clamped her mouth shut after she swallowed a healthy gulp of Scotch, silencing her urge to protest the game he was playing with her.

Kai leaned forward, her eyes fairly sparkling. “Slade was telling us he had a surprise for you, Cat. I can hardly wait for you to see what he’s done.”

“He’s done enough already,” Cat said, choking on the words that sounded almost sweet coming from her.

Kai shared a knowing glance with her husband. “Slade, why not give it to Cat now? We saw what he’s made for you and I’m just dying to see the look on your face when you get it. Slade? Please?”

Slade groaned. “Kai, when you give me that pleading look of yours, how can I say no?” He got up, setting his drink on the coffee table.

Matt grinned, putting his arm around his wife, giving her a warm embrace. “See why I fell under her spell, Slade? I told you before, you can’t resist those beautiful eyes of hers.”

Slade tilted his head, meeting and holding Cat’s gaze. “I don’t want to take anything away from Kai, but this exotic beauty over here has the most beautiful emerald eyes I’ve ever seen.”

Cat felt heat rise in her face as his compliment reached through her like a caress.

“Agreed!” Kai said, smiling.

“Exotic’s the right word,” Matt said thoughtfully, studying Cat.

“Well, wait here, gang. Since Kai can’t stand the suspense, I guess I’ll have to give Cat her present now, rather than after dinner.”

Cat nervously cleared her throat as Slade left the room. She looked at them. “What’s he talking about, Kai? What’s going on?”

She smiled warmly. “Oh, Cat, don’t you know?”

Cat wished she did. Trying to hide her desire to escape, she shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

Matt patted his wife’s hand. “Slade’s sort of like a brother to us, Cat. Ever since he brought you here, we’ve seen a tremendous change in him–a good, positive change. We’ve watched him settle down and relax, for once. He’s pretty happy with you around, you know.”

“And Slade is the type of man who loves to give people gifts,” Kai said, a wistful look on her face. “He’s given us so much over the years we’ve been here.”

“And to our son, Josh,” Matt added warmly.

“Sometimes, I think Slade collects all his strays and turns them into an extended family of sorts.” Kai lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I told Matt all along, Slade is made for marriage. Until you came he was restless, Cat. You could see it in his walk, his eyes and the way he ran his life. Now, this past month and a half, he’s been so incredibly content, it’s blown us away.” Her voice grew husky. “I don’t know what your relationship with Slade is, Cat, but he thinks an awful lot of you.” And then Kai traded a merry look with Matt. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the two of you!”

“Now what’s all this whispering about?” Slade entered the room, carrying a dove-gray velvet jewelry case.

Cat nearly dropped her drink. “Uh, nothing, just girl talk,” she stammered. “You know…”

Matt and Kai chuckled like indulgent parents as Slade came and sat down next to Cat.

“Girl talk, hmm?” Slade’s blue eyes glimmered with mirth. “If I know Kai, she’s up to no good again.”

“That’s not fair, Slade!” Kai protested laughingly. She got to her feet and so did Matt, coming to stand near Slade. “Go on, show her!”

Cat gripped the tumbler as if it were her last hold on life. Slade set the gray velvet box on the couch between them.

“I will. Patience, pretty lady.” Slade devoted a hundred percent of his attention to Cat, his smile waning. He soberly held her nervous gaze. “Ten days ago I started a project in my hobby shop. I wanted to make you something that would somehow tell you how I felt about you. I wanted a gem that would show you what I saw in you, Cat.” Slade reached over, gently unclipping her pearl earrings. “You won’t be needing these tonight,” he told her.

Cat swallowed hard, swayed by the huskiness in Slade’s tone. She heard the unsureness in his voice and saw it in his cobalt eyes. And suddenly, Cat wanted to reassure him that she would not reject him or make him feel embarrassed. Ever. “Ten days ago?” she whispered, an ache in her voice.

Slade’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “Yes.” He glanced up at Kai and Matt. “We had a big fight then,” he explained to them, leaving out the details. He pried open the spring-latched lid.

Cat gasped, her hand flying to her breast. There, nestled on a deep-blue velvet cushion, was a set of opal earrings, a pear-shaped necklace on a delicate gold chain and a cocktail ring. The silence was eloquent as Slade, whose fingers were scarred and huge in comparison, gently took the necklace from its placement on the velvet.

“People remind me of gems,” Slade told Cat in a low voice fraught with emotion. “To me, the opal is the most complex of all gems, like you.” He settled the stone around her neck, easing the clasp closed. The huge pear-shaped opal, almost the size of a nickel in diameter, nestled into the hollow of her throat. Then Slade dared to meet Cat’s eyes for the first time, afraid of what he might see and praying for the opposite. The words died on his lips as he drowned in the shimmering emerald of Cat’s eyes, now filled with huge, luminous tears. In their depths he saw her incredible fire and warmth toward him. He didn’t deserve this kind of a reaction from Cat after all the blundering mistakes he’d made with her thus far.

Suddenly, Slade wished Kai and Matt weren’t there. The open invitation in Cat’s gestures made him want to lift her up into his arms and carry her off to his bedroom to seal their fate. He wanted to make her his own, to drink her into his thirsty, starving soul. Cat could give him the serenity he sought. She was peace, he realized, as he gently cradled her hands. There was so much he wanted to blurt out to her, to apologize for. He longed to ask forgiveness. But now was not the time. If the compassionate look in Cat’s eyes was any kind of a promise, she would yield despite the pain he’d put her through, and allow him to explain…to forgive him and start over with a clean slate.

As Slade clipped each of the opals to her earlobes, the iridescent layers of the precious gems gleamed with the fires of emeralds, rubies, topaz, and sapphires. The colors brought out the natural beauty of her eyes and he silently thanked God and Cat for giving him a second chance he didn’t deserve.

Slipping the ring on the fourth finger of her right hand, Slade said quietly, “There’s a matchlessness to opal, Cat. The layers of color change as you turn your hand one way or another. You’re like that--you have so many brilliant facets that change, depending on your mood. You keep me enthralled to the point where nothing else exists for me.” He held her gaze, his hands tightening slightly on hers. “You’ve become my day, my night, sweetheart. Nothing else comes close to you in importance. You’ve got to believe that. Richness from the heart outstrips monetary concerns. The color of your eyes when you look at me gives me a wealth of feelings and emotions that no emerald mine or money could ever give me. Do you understand?”

Shyly, Cat touched the opal at her throat, all of her disappointment and hurt melting away beneath Slade’s beautiful words. He meant them with every fiber of his being, she realized, completely dissolved by his admittance. Placing her fingers in his hand, she gravely met his anxious look. Her voice came out in a husky, quivering whisper. “Yes…I understand, Slade.”

He squeezed her fingers gently, a powerful wave of relief smashing through him. And when he dared to look into her green eyes, bright with tenderness and awash with tears, he knew she did.

Chapter Nine

A
re you enjoying yourself, Cat?”

Slade’s words, whispered lightly against her temple, caused Cat to tremble. He held her close as the quiet music fell over them on the dance floor. “I shouldn’t be, but I am.”

His chuckle was a deep, pleased sound. Slade held her a little more tightly, aware of how her soft pliant curves fitted against his harder, unyielding body. “I took a big risk,” he admitted, pressing a kiss to her hair.

“I’m still upset with you, Slade.”

One eyebrow cocked and he looked down at her. If that was true, he didn’t see anger in Cat’s eyes. Instead, he saw the molten gold desire in her dark green gaze. “For what? Arranging this weekend in Houston with Matt and Kai?” he asked innocently.

She laughed and shook her head. “You’re such a rascal, do you know that? One minute you’re Peck’s Bad Boy. The next, you’ve made up for what you caused by giving me the most beautiful gift I’ve ever gotten. And then you have Pilar pack a suitcase for me and hide it on the plane. If Kai hadn’t told me on the way to Houston that you were planning a weekend here and not just the evening, I’d probably have dropped my soupspoon when you blithely announced it at dinner.”

He grinned engagingly, whirling her around, the airy folds of her dress moving like the wind around her tall, graceful body. The night was turning into magic, Slade thought, unable to contain his joy. “You’d never drop a soupspoon in front of anyone,” he drawled. “You’re too cool to do that.”

“Being around you is like running a big risk without insurance, Slade.”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“Am I a risk?”

“You know you are, Slade Donovan. So quit giving me that engaging little-boy look. It won’t work.”

“It’s worked so far…”

Admittedly, he was right, Cat thought, unable to resist his smile. “What else do you have planned?”

He looked above her head, noticing Kai and Matt dancing nearby on the crowded dance floor. “Actually, Kai begged me to fly her to Houston to shop. I got to thinking about it and called her back and asked her if she and Matt would like to make it a weekend with the four of us. She thought it was a great idea. I’ve made reservations at the Westin Hotel over at the Galleria. Saturday morning, if you want, you and Kai can go shopping. Matt and I are going to do a little golfing. That evening, we’ll go to an excellent French restaurant.” He looked down at Cat, devilry in his eyes. “Then, we’ll go to an amusement park nearby. They have one of the best bumper-car rides around.”

Cat gasped. “An amusement park?”

“Sure. Kai wanted to do something different. I figure it’s been at least twenty years since any of us went on a merry-go-round or tried to win a stuffed toy. It ought to make for a fun night.”

Cat laughed delightedly. “It sounds wonderful. What else?”

“Brunch on Sunday morning. I figure we’ll get up late and then reward ourselves by crawling into the hot tub in my suite. We’ll sip champagne, have eggs Benedict and generally pry our eyes open. Then, around oneish, we’ll head back out to Del Rio. How does the game plan sound?”

Cat tried to hide her enjoyment and didn’t succeed. “It sounds great and you know it.”

“Remember, this was Kai’s idea, originally.”

“Slade, one of these days your cleverness is going to catch up with you.”

He sobered. “Yeah, I know. Contrary to what you might think, I got two rooms at the Westin for us. They’re both suites and are joined by a door.”

Relief flooded Cat. “Thank you, Slade…”

“I didn’t want to,” he admitted softly, trailing a slow series of kisses along her hairline, “but I did.”

“It probably killed you,” she said wryly, her knees weakening as each of his kisses melted her a little more.

Slade had the good grace to chuckle. “Yeah, I really fence-sat on that one.” He eased Cat away from him, staring darkly down at her. “Look, after dancing when we get over to the hotel, we need to sit down and talk.”

“Yes, about a lot of things.”

“I’ve been a real bastard, Cat. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you like I have.” Slade drew in a breath and forced a slight smile. “Tonight, come to my suite when you’re ready.”

Cat lifted her chin, lost in the warming cobalt of his gaze, her pulse unsteady. “I will.”

* * *

Pilar had packed with great care, Cat discovered as she opened her luggage. The peach silk nightgown and accompanying robe had been carefully folded on top of everything else. She held up the shimmering gown. Should she wear that over to Slade’s suite? Or should she go over dressed as she was? Indecision warred with what her heart desired. “Oh, to hell with it,” Cat muttered, heading to the shower.

Slade was standing by the window overlooking the scintillating lights of Houston at one o’clock in the morning. He had gotten rid of his tie and opened the throat of the shirt. The jacket had been shed on a silk settee and he’d eased out of his shoes. In a spasm of nervousness, he’d poured himself a snifter of brandy. He held the glass in his left hand as he stared out at the sleeping city. He and Cat had sobered as the evening wore on, realizing the coming confrontation between them. Slade expected to be justly brought to task by Cat. What he wanted was to make love with her, to apologize that way, instead. But that wasn’t a reasonable solution to everything. No, this talk had been long overdue between them, and he was willing to endure it if it would give him hope of a future with Cat. Any future was better than none.