Chapter 3

I discovered the arrangements for the party were flawless. The florist
delivered vases of dried flowers in beautiful fall colors, and
arrangements of daisies, mums and baby's breath to decorate the dinner
tables. The intimate little gathering at the nearby estate boasted with
over fifty people, I didn't know all of them. Actually I discovered they were mostly politicians. Brenda was lobbying for a nearby stretch of river land from being zoned for business. No doubt she'd pleaded to have them added to the guest list.

Jen, Dani's daughter and one of my oldest friends, pulled me aside while the musicians started playing a loud rock number. "Mother hates hard rock," she'd confided in me. "I can't imagine why she hired that band when, that's all they play."

"The name. It's the Glen Millers ensemble and your mother probably
thought they played the same music as the Glenn Miller band." I laughed.

"That's my mother." Jen agreed with a laugh. She ran her finger over the rim of her glass, filled with sparkling rum. Her blond hair sparkled with the same amber color as she had in high school. "I thought Mark was going to come by when he got home. It's after ten now."

I smiled at her. Jen had had a crush on Mark since our early teens. Mark pretended not to notice, treating both of us like the adolescents he thought of us.

"You know Mark hates parties," I reminded her.

"It can't be lack of partners to take to them," Jen sighed. Man did she
have it bad.

I frowned at her. I cupped my cup in my hand and wondered why that
statement nagged me. I knew Mark dated, but it had been a long time
since I'd spent more than a few days here. Not for years. There was too
much to do. Relatives I could visit in far off places like France and
England. Cruises with friends like Jen. School events and girl friends
to visit and parties to go to. There hadn't been much reason to stay
here. Especially since the last bout with Mark over Hunter Helmsley. I
sighed remembering how harsh he'd been about it. Hunter had turned every color in the rainbow before Mark got through telling him what he thought in that cold voice that always accompanied his temper. When he'd turned it on, it had taken all I could manage not to run away. I was honestly afraid of Mark. Not that he'd beat me or anything. It was a different kind of fear, strange and present, growing as I matured.

"Why the frown?" Jen asked.

"Was I frowning?" I laughed and shrugged as I sipped my punch.

Jen was wearing a pale blue evening gown, held up by tiny spaghetti straps.

"I love your dress." I told her.

"It isn't anything to yours," Jen sighed.

I was wearing an off-the-shoulder white gown.

"I have a friend in Atlanta who's a designer," I explained with a smile. "This is from her first collection. She had a showing at that new department store on Main Street."

"Everything looks good on you. You're so tall and willowy." Jen said.

"Skinny, Mark says." I laughed and then suddenly froze as I looked
across the room straight into a pair of narrow, dark eyes in a face as
hard as granite. He was as tall and big as I remembered, all hard-muscled and masculinity. His dark hair gleaming in the light from the crystal chandelier overhead. His eyes were cold, even at a distance, his mouth chiseled and firm and just a little cruel. I shivered as his eyes trailed up and down the revealing dress I was wearing, clearly
disapprovingly.

Chapter 4

Jen followed my gaze, and her face lit up. "It's Mark! Jaime aren't you
going to say hello to him?"

I swallowed. "Oh, yes, of course." I said as I noticed Brenda going to
greet him and Glenn wave at him carelessly from across the room.

"You don't look terribly enthusiastic about it," she remarked, studying
the flush on my cheeks and the shaking in my hands that held the crystal glass.

"He'll be furious because I haven't got a bow in my hair and a teddy bear under my arm," I said with a laugh.

"You're not a little girl anymore," Jen said, coming to my defense
despite her overwhelming attraction to Mark.

"Tell Mark. See?" I murmured as he lifted his arrogant head and motioned for me to join him. "I'm being summoned."

"Could you manage to look a little less like Marie Antoinette on her way to the guillotine?" Jen whispered.

"I can't help it. My neck's tingling. See you," I muttered moving
towards Mark with a little smile.

I moved forward through the guests, my heart pounding as heavy as the
rock rhythm that shook the walls around me. Six months hadn't erased the bitterness of our fight, and judging by the look on Mark's face, it was still fresh in his mind, too.

He drew deeply on his cigarette, looking down his nose at me, and I
couldn't help noticing how dangerously attractive he was in his dark
clothes. The white silk shirt was perfect for his complexion, his
arrogant good looks. The smell of his cologne drifted down into my nose, a fragrance that echoed his vibrant masculinity.

"Hello, Mark." I said nervously, glad Brenda had vanished into the crowd of politicians.

His eyes sketched my figure, lingering at the plunging neckline that
revealed glimpses of the swell of my breasts.

"Advertising, Jay," he asked harshly. "I thought you'd learned your
lesson with Helmsley."

"Don't call me Jay and it's no more revealing than what everyone else is wearing."

"You haven't changed. All fire and lace and wobbly legs. I hoped that
finishing school might give you a little maturity."

My emerald eyes burned. "I'm twenty, Mark!"

One dark eyebrow went up. "What do you want me to do about it?"

I started to reply that I didn't want him to do a thing but the anger
faded away suddenly. "Oh, Mark." I let out a faint moan. "Why do you
have to ruin my party. It was so much fun..."

"For who?" his eyes finding several politicians. "For you or Brenda?"

"She's trying to save the wildlife on the river, they want to develop on the riverfront."

"Yes, let's save the water moccasins and flies at all costs. "

"I seem to remember that you went on television to support that
wilderness proposal on the national forest."

He raised his cigarette to his firm lips. He glanced at the band, "Are
they all playing the same song?"

"I'm not sure I thought you liked music."

"I do but that isn't."

"My generation thinks so. And if you don't like contemporary music, then why did you bother to come to the party you old stick in the mud?"

He reached down and tapped my cheek with a long finger. "Don't be smart. I came because I hadn't seen you for six months, if you want to know the truth."

"Why? So you can drive me home and yell at me privately?"

"How much punch have you had?"

"Not quite enough." I replied and I finished off the rest of the punch.

"Feeling reckless, little girl?"

"It's more like self-preservation. I was getting my nerves numb so that
it wouldn't bother me when you started giving me hell."

"It was six months ago. I've forgotten it."

"No you haven't. I really didn't know what Hunter had in mind. I probably should have, but I'm not worldly."

"No that's for sure. I used to think it was a good thing. But the older
you get, the more I wonder."

"That's just what Brenda was saying." I said wondering if he could read
people's minds.

"And she could be right. That dress is years too old for you."

"Does that mean it's all right with you if I grow up?"

"I wasn't aware that you needed my permission."

"I seem to. If I try to do anything about it, you'll be on my neck like
a duck after a June bug."

"That depends on what growing-up process you have in mind. Promiscuity
is definitely out."

"Not in your case, it isn't."

His head jerked up, his eyes blazing. "What the hell has my private life got to do with you?" he asked in a cold voice.

I felt like backing away. "I...I was just teasing Mark," I defended in a shaken whisper.

"Well I'm not laughing."

"You never do with me," I said.

"Stop acting like a silly adolescent."

I hit my lower lip, trying to stem the welling tear in my hurt eyes.

"If you'll excuse me I'll go back and play with my dolls. Thank you for your warm welcome."

For the first time, I wished I'd never come to live with Mark's family.