Surrender to Temptation (Agent Lovers Series Book 1) (3 page)

***

“You know exactly what I expect of you. No, not expect, what I wish for you.”

“Oh, yeah, I do. I should conform…,” Liz recited her list in a mocking tone, “…have a boring-as-shit job—preferably in your company, of course, so that you can control me. I should play the dutiful daughter at dinner parties, like this one, and marry one of your empty-headed brown nosers who you’d prefer to pick out yourself, so that I can eventually bless you with the requisite two point three grandchildren. No thanks!”

“What’s wrong with that? The men I’ve introduced you to were all very nice. John and Annie are going to get married too.”

“Oh yeah, the two are so prim and proper, especially Annie! They simply have to get married.” Liz crammed some lettuce in her mouth and while she chewed, turned to Annie. “Oh, you simply must go to Lloyd’s; they have such enchanting china. They have these beautiful patterns with flowers. And divine table linens. Quite recently I bought gorgeous napkins there: a couple silk, twelve with ruffles and some embroidered with delicate little flowers, just like my underwear—as you already know. I always have to have enough on hand. Napkins, I mean. You just never know.”

Annie responded coolly. “Interesting. You know we should swing by there together.” She addressed these last words to Liz’s brother. John gave Annie a tender kiss on the tip of her nose and she snuggled up to him.

“Acting like that really isn’t my thing,” said Liz. “Even the thought of it makes me sick. Besides, not everyone is as romantic as you and thinks of marriage as a necessary ingredient for happiness. I like my life just the way it is. I don’t need change, and I don’t want it.” As if for emphasis, she stabbed the fish fillet on her plate with her fork, cutting it into tiny pieces.

If that fish weren’t already dead, it certainly would be now,
thought Gray in amusement. He managed to suppress a grin over this low-key, but publicly-aired conflict between two bull-headed people.

“Now is not the proper time for this discussion.” Harold ended the conversation with his daughter with a quiet sigh, apparently recognizing that she was resistant to his point of view in that moment. As always. He pasted an unconvincingly cheerful expression on his face and said in a louder voice, to her neighbor, “I hope you like everything, Grayson?”

“Thanks! Everything tastes excellent, as usual.” Gray smiled and threw his annoyed tablemate a questioning look. Stubbornly she stared at her plate, pushing her food listlessly in a circle from one rim to the other.
Someone here doesn’t want to grow up,
Gray thought as he watched.

***

As usual, at the end of the dinner, the guests moved from the large hall into the adjacent lounge and finished the evening with a drink. People spontaneously formed smaller groups and made themselves comfortable on the chairs and sofas, or stood around discussing recent developments in the economy and politics. Liz shuddered as she observed the people around her. So she was supposed to do this regularly? Where was the fun? These evenings were about nothing but business, stuffy and proper. And it was supposed to be an honor to be included in this illustrious circle, with its sad small talk made by sympathetic whiners!

Well, did you hear…? Oh no, how terrible! Oh really? You don’t say! No, unbelievable! Good Lord!

Liz had had enough of this phony, smug posturing. This was her father’s and John’s world, but it sure wasn’t hers! She had entirely different talents and interests about which her family, thankfully, knew nothing. And that was just as well.

I should just show up here less frequently,
Liz was thinking when a young man asked her if she needed anything. She absently ordered another alcohol-free beer and took the glass with a grateful smile from the waiter when he brought it to her. Suddenly Gray appeared next to her. He too held a foamy glass of beer, with which he toasted her. A winning smile was on his lips.

“I had you pegged for a Scotch or Bourbon drinker,” she said.

“That goes to show, you just never know, Liz. Judging from your earlier behavior, I had to assume that you were here to ruin the party.” He smiled at his mistake. His move involving the shed hadn’t been necessary after all. But Liz didn’t hold a grudge against him for putting her—at least temporarily—out of commission.

Liz decided to go ahead and engage in a tentative conversation with Gray. What was wrong with a little banter? It could distract her from her gloomy thoughts for at least a little while. “I can still ruin the party,” she warned him. “Are you going to lock me in the toolshed again to make sure I don’t?”

“Oh, no. I have in mind an entirely different way to discourage your stupidity.” He looked meaningfully at her mouth and let his penetrating gray eyes wander slowly over her body. Then he gave her a sensual smile and a confident look that told her the smile never failed to have its desired effect.

Liz’s eyes opened wide in surprise and she looked at him in disbelief. Who did this smart aleck think he was? She was going to have to take the wind out of his sails.
She
was the one who picked out the men she wanted, not the other way around!

“Be careful,” she warned him. “I am amazingly good at behaving badly and putting someone in his place. And I haven’t come close to putting on my best performance today.”

“I believe it. But tell me: don’t you find this behavior of yours rather stupid? You should make a complete change. If you can’t manage it on your own, I’m sure you could find someone who could help you.”

He sounded so sure of himself. Liz couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her eyes blazed. “I’m not a child that you can scold.” She swept her hair out of her face and behind her ear with an impatient, jerky gesture—a clear sign of her annoyance. Was everyone out to get her today?

“Even children have better manners than you do, Liz. What’s your problem anyway?” Gray grinned as she pressed her lips together in anger and gave an unladylike snort.

As one of the employees headed in their direction, Liz slipped wordlessly out of her jacket and handed it to him. She gave Gray a defiant smile and turned her back to him. When he saw what was printed on her T-shirt, he gave a strained laugh. In bright yellow letters across the black material was the message: FUCK OFF! Gray turned partially away, took a sip of beer and gave his curt reply.

“Grow up!”

Harold kept an eye on the interaction between his daughter and Gray, whom he regarded as a son and with whom he had developed a friendship that was deeper than its duration would seem to merit. Gray was a remarkable, honest young man. And he would really be a great candidate to woo Liz. That wasn’t the reason he’d been invited, however, and he certainly wasn’t interested in Liz, who was behaving as rudely as ever. When Harold noticed the words printed on Liz’s shirt, his eyes grew large and he gave a horrified groan.
Not again!

He remembered all too well the last time she’d worn that shirt. It had taken Harold forever to soothe the young man she had attacked with insults in order to escape his attention. In hindsight, Harold had to admit that Jerome and Liz would not have been a good match. He was too rigid, too old school, and his daughter, much too wild.

Gray, however, merely laughed in the face of her obvious rejection of him, and this gave Harold hope. If she hadn’t yet driven him away with her impossible behavior, maybe something could yet develop between the two. Gray would simply have to hang on and not give up.

Harold gave a soft sigh, as he often did when thinking about his daughter. He remembered the day when he’d held her in his arms for the first time, his sweet little Liz. Those small fists, tiny fingers, petite mouth… He thought wistfully of his wife who had died far too early and had left him with two teenagers, each one wilder than the other.

Liz was the image of her mother, with her light blonde hair and baby blue eyes and her slender, yet extremely feminine figure. But she wasn’t exactly like her mother. Temperamentally, they were as different as night and day. Whereas Isabelle had been sweet-tempered, level-headed and gentle, her daughter was stubborn, reckless and wild. Harold couldn’t imagine from whom she’d inherited these traits.

It was his daughter who’d caused his hair to go gray early in life. She was always in trouble, most of the time with her brother. John was the older sibling, but when he and Liz were young he had repeatedly let her put him up to crazy pranks.

Harold clearly remembered the day when he’d found one of his neighbor’s Persian cats on the desk in his office, its fur having been dyed pink. Immediately he went looking for his children. He didn’t run in to either John or Liz, but he did stumble across three more cats—one completely green, one with blue stripes and one covered in orange-colored flecks. He and Isabelle had collected the four animals, muscled them into the bathroom and with water and a lot of soap managed to return them to their original cream color. Luckily, the children had not used permanent dye. And, also luckily, the cats appeared to be used to rigorous baths, otherwise he and his wife might have been badly injured by the noble creatures. As punishment for their crime, he had imposed on Liz and John a four-week “voluntary” service at an animal shelter.

And then there was the episode with the kitchen. Harold still preferred not to think about the damage that had been done. In an attempt to create an icy surface for skating, his children had flooded the newly remodeled kitchen in the middle of the night, opening the doors of the freezer and turning it to its coldest setting. Damages ran into the thousands of dollars. Harold felt driven to his parental limits by this kind of fun. He had felt the urge to give them a good hiding. “Take it out of our inheritance,” Liz had said with a shrug when he confronted her at the time.

Thankfully, such nonsense was a thing of the past. Over time, John had matured into a serious and responsible young man, and two years ago had met and fallen in love with Annie. Harold wasn’t worried about him at all. His son was grown up and capable of making his own way in the world.

Liz’s development, on the other hand, had gone much differently than expected. She had cut herself off from everyone and vehemently rejected the emotional support and affection he and John offered her. Harold could do whatever he wanted, he just couldn’t relate to his daughter anymore. And that worried him. It worried him a lot. He hoped that when she finally found the right man—and with that man, love—Liz would figure out what mattered most in life and find her way back to her family. But her fondness for playing childish pranks on others had driven away all potential love interests in the past. It wasn’t exactly that he had is heart set on marriage for Liz. But he figured she wouldn’t get into trouble as frequently once the right man was around to positively influence her. And she was often in trouble; he knew this in the way that fathers know such things, even though Liz tried to keep it from him.

Liz’s problems weren’t illegal in nature; his daughter loved justice too much for that. But he could tell there was something in her life that no one was allowed to know about, not even her own family. He had no choice but to accept the fact that she kept a secret. But what was significant about the secret was that keeping it was eating her up inside and crippling her emotionally. This knowledge only intensified his concern for her.

In those moments when Liz felt like she wasn’t being watched, Harold saw in her eyes a yearning to be close with her family. More than once he had noticed regret reflected on his daughter’s face when she encountered John. What surprised him was that every attempt that John—and later, even Annie—made to try to get closer was rebuffed. Liz obviously ached to be close to them, and yet kept herself apart.

She always acted counter to expectations in a deliberate attempt to cause trouble, which inevitably led to arguments. She hid herself behind walls of scathing ridicule and provoked endless discussions, as if this added layer of protection could help shield her from an unwanted surge of suppressed feelings.

Harold would do anything to keep Liz from remaining alone and without love, and he knew that at some point, her relentless rebellious behavior would run its course. She hadn’t made any progress on her own. She took an occasional lover, but in his opinion, that didn’t count since she was still alone. If neither he nor John could reach her, then he needed to find someone else who could succeed in breaking through the protective wall Liz hid behind.

Liz had been building up that barrier every year since Isabelle’s death, and even more so recently. Liz needed a man who would take care of her, Harold thought. One who would love her and win her trust. Love and trust: the very things that, for some reason, she would no longer accept from her family, and which she withheld from them. Maybe if Liz finally found happiness in her own life, she would also let herself get closer to her family. At least, that’s what Harold hoped.

With a satisfied smile Harold watched the way Gray kept Liz in his sight, unfazed by her obvious rejection of him. Even when he was engrossed in a conversation with Annie, his eyes followed Liz or searched for her. She had plainly piqued his interest. And, without having anticipated such a solution, Harold suddenly felt absolutely certain that Gray was the right man for his daughter.

***

John gave his sister a reproachful look. “Why can’t you ever behave yourself?” But she only gave him her infamous mocking smile, turned her back to him, and leaned her arms on the wide, stone railing that encircled the terrace as she looked out into the rambling garden.

The light, provided by the intermittently placed lanterns, made only the outline of the area discernible. Long dark shadows crept across the grass and the garden in which she had once spent countless hours playing with her brother. What trouble they had gotten into here!

Liz had come out on the terrace looking for peace and quiet, but since John was there, that wasn’t going to happen now.

“Why don’t you just go back in and take care of Annie? What I do or don’t do isn’t anyone’s business. Leave me in peace!”