Always (Family Justice Book 1) (37 page)

“He has it. A thousand times over.”

“Good. I’m glad. Drae’s a fine man, Stephanie. Despite the dubious reputation, he’s just a guy, like the rest of us mere mortals.”

The sound of something approaching brought their attention swinging to Meghan as she pushed a drink cart toward them. “Look who I found moping around,” she exclaimed. “I told Calder he could join us as long as he promises to demolish at least one of those basketball sized cookies.”

“Hey, Unc,” Alex called out as Stephanie jerked upright and tried to look unfazed by the appearance of the man she was trying so hard to avoid.

Waving a jerky hand at Alex, Calder hung his head and muttered, “Oh, uh hi. Um, Stephanie.”

Good Lord.
Could this be any more uncomfortable
, she wondered. She was suddenly as relaxed as a patient waiting to be wheeled into surgery, and he sounded like a man faced with a choice between her or being waterboarded. Not much of a choice, apparently.

“Calder,” she garbled like an idiot.

Luckily, Meghan saved the day by guiding her uncle-in-law to-be to the seat beside Alex while she plopped down next to Stephanie on the massive lounger. At least that took care of the nervous tension a strained seating arrangement would invite.

In fact, Alex and Meghan were so easy to be around and were such engaging hosts that the unexpected encounter went a thousand times smoother than she thought it would.

The conversation started off light, carefree, and silly as each of them critiqued the ginormous cookies with good humor. Calder had even light-heartedly teased her about her unusual choice of drinks. While he and the others opted for coffee, only Stephanie had gone with the undeniably winning combo of ice-cold milk with her cookie.

When he muttered, “Milk—it does a body good,” she didn’t know whether to laugh or smack the sly grin off his face. And then Alex and Meghan groaned in unison with Meghan leaning into Stephanie to gripe, “Men, right?”

When Alex let out an unrestrained bark of laughter and elbowed his uncle with a humorous shaking
No
of his head, even Stephanie had to lighten up. It
was
funny after all.

After that icebreaker, they sat on that terrace for hours with Calder and Alex regaling her and Meghan with hilarious stories about Alex’s childhood and all the geeky nonsense the two got into. Some of the tales were borderline inappropriate and some got damn close to being X-rated. Especially one particularly questionable tall tale which Drae was included in that involved hookers, surf groupies, a sack of peanuts, a case of booze, and a drunken nighttime mission to steal the seagull logo of a surf shop at the beach near where Calder had lived.

Eventually, the beverage of choice became brandy—the perfect accompaniment to a roaring fire and casual conversation.

Stephanie learned quite a lot about Calder through those stories. Like how at times in his life he’d been a lot wilder than the serious minded, self-controlled way he conducted himself now. And how his love of family had pretty much defined his adult life. He spoke lovingly and with tremendous pride and passion about Alex’s two sisters who he referred to as his little women.

“Angie’s coming soon, isn’t she?” he inquired of Meghan. “I know she’s excited and then some about helping with the wedding. Especially since event planning and marketing is sort of what she does.”

Oh
. This was news to Stephanie. She’d been so focused on Tori, Draegyn, and the baby that sometimes she lost sight of the impending O’Brien ~ Marquez nuptials.

Meghan drew her legs up onto the chaise to get more comfortable and tucked her feet beneath her butt. It was charming the way her face lit up when talk turned to the wedding.

“I can’t wait for Angie to get here,” the bride-to-be chirped. “She’s staying home till after the holidays then once we’re waving to New Year’s in the rearview, she’s coming here to hang out until I leave for Boston.”

Alex grunted and took a hefty sip of the fragrant brandy. “I’m against that plan, by the way. Don’t understand why you have to spend two weeks away from me before the damn wedding.”

Stephanie, who thought her old friend looked adorable with his disgruntled boo-boo face, caught Calder smirking at his nephew from the corner of her eye, and choked off a giggly snort that threatened to shoot out of her mouth.

“Don’t you worry, Major,” Meghan cooed. “It’ll be worth the while, I promise you that.”

“Well, so you say,” he grumbled. “Although that sister of mine is a no good troublemaker, especially now, and I don’t trust her not to turn you off of marriage with her snarky outlook.”

“Especially now?” Stephanie questioned.

Calder turned deadly serious and said, “Broken engagement. Bit of a wild child as a result.”

“Oh, I see. Guess that’s as good a reason as any to go off the rails.”

“As if!” barked Alex. “She’s the one that called it a day. Told that wishy-washy fiancé of hers to take a hike, so I don’t get why she needs a rebellious phase to get over it.”

“I don’t know, darling,” Meghan giggled with a wink. “Angie’s what? Twenty-six, twenty-seven? I’ve got two currently single cousins and a younger brother who I should introduce her to.”

“Ummmm, I don’t think that will be necessary,” Calder interjected with a quick glance at his nephew.

The look they exchanged got Meghan’s curiosity piqued in a heartbeat. “Okay, you two. What in the hell was that about?”

“Parker,” they each said at the exact same time followed instantly by the two pointing at the other and yelling, “Jinx!”

“Parker? As in Parker Sullivan?” Meghan wheezed with incredulity. “What the heck does Parker have to do with your sister?”

“A lot,” Alex replied.

“Long story. Best left for another time,” Calder added.

Meghan sighed and turned to Stephanie. “Do you suppose he knows I’ll get the whole story out of him before his eyes close tonight?”

She grinned at the Major and sent him a saucy wink. “Oh,
shugah
, I’m thinking he’s counting on you trying!”

They cracked up laughing while the men smiled and held their drinks aloft in silent agreement.

So far, the talk had been all about the others. Calder and Alex when he was growing up. Meghan and the wedding. Stephanie should have been prepared to have the interrogation lamp turned on her, but still, when it did, she was startled.

“So, Stephanie…word around the barnyard is that you and Zephyr left a certain someone in the dust, the other morning,” Alex said with a glance at Calder. “Y’know, we tried to tell him you could handle the stallion, but I don’t think he was listening.”

She looked toward the man in question and bit back a smirk. “Well, that’s no surprise. He
has
been judging me rather harshly from day one. The possibility that I could hold my own atop an ornery mount was not on the list of character traits and skills he assigned to me.”

“Ouch,” Calder muttered.

Meghan laughed and nudged Stephanie. “He’s been slouching about here as though his dog just died. I’m taking that’s because you told him what
what
!”

“Aw, come on,” Calder griped. “I was not slouching about. Maybe I was busy thinking ‘bout stuff but I wasn’t…whatever you were implying.”

Alex and Meghan exchanged a swift look that set all the alarms ringing in Stephanie’s head.
Oh, my God
, she realized. Her mouth fell open at the lightning bolt of certainty that hit her broadside. They were setting them up for a clearing of the air. Genius move, if she said so herself.

“So, Ms. Bennett, now that we have Uncle Calder’s undivided attention, why don’t you give him the four-one-one on your background. I’d hate to see him publically humiliated again for being such a jackass…so let’s set him straight. Okay?”

Slick move Major
, she thought—but Stephanie wasn’t quite ready to let Calder completely off the hook.

“Straight about which part? The part where you don’t judge people by what they do for a living or by outer appearance?” She looked harshly at Calder and sniped, “Y’know, you’re a blond, too. So maybe dial back the stereotype pageant hack you created in your head.”

“Oh, snap,” Meghan murmured. Alex shook his head in agreement.

“Or straight about the part where even poor little ol’ me takes care of her own shit, thank you very much, and have for more years than I remember. My husband died when Victoria was only ten. I’ve managed to raise a pretty awesome kid and create a career that allowed me to be both parents and provide a nice lifestyle for us. I think we did just fine, by the way.”

She knew a measure of hurt had been obvious in her delivery, but so what. He had passed her off as a piece of fluff and bother. Screw it. She wasn’t taking that lying down.

“Calder? Got anything to say?” Alex nudged.

Stephanie winced lightly. It wasn’t in her wheelhouse to be a bitch and act the shrew. She’d learned a long time ago to play nice at all costs because you really can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar. She’d pretty much already said all of that to him the other night, but when Alex challenged her, she had to say something. Wanted the two lovebirds to understand that she had good reason for keeping her distance from Calder.

Why then was she silently praying that he would say the right thing? That he would act the gallant as she suspected Alex would and let his charming old-world manners rule the day.
Jeez.
She actually wanted him to care that he’d hurt her feelings.

Alex and Meghan let the moment unfold as it was meant to. They didn’t try to rush a response from Calder and didn’t pooh-pooh what Stephanie had shared. They were actually really smart about it and in doing so provided the perfect opportunity for tensions to ease.

Pulling his booted foot onto a knee, Calder sat back and regarded her with an embarrassed frown. The minute she felt his gaze, she did a quick inventory of how she looked. Stephanie tried convincing herself she would have reacted the same way for anyone. Lying to herself wasn’t her strong suit.

In the realm of casual, she was about as laid back and dressed down as she could go and still be who she was. Regular jeans. Chunky heeled ankle boots, a basic cream-colored sweater, and a long scarf wrapped several times about her neck. Her hair was down and loose and she was wearing no actual jewelry nor was she sporting much in the way of make-up. At that moment, she was as far from being a beauty queen as he was.

“It’s not every day I get handed my ass with such biting precision,” he jested; only the expression in his eyes suggested he knew how big a dick he’d been.

“Well, that’s a start,” Alex drawled. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Calder nodded. “I want to know why you ride like the wind, Ms. Bennett. I’m thinking that one answer will show me just how much I’ve been missing where you’re concerned.”

“Fair enough, fair enough,” their host murmured. Turning an amused eye her way Alex smirked and waved his hand. “After you…”

Oh shit. Why the hell not? It’s not like her past was a secret or that she had anything to be embarrassed about. And shoot, laying it all out there would level the field a bit.

CALDER WATCHED THE PLAY OF emotions move across Stephanie’s face and noted the smug, satisfied posture of his nephew. Of course, Alex would know the woman’s background. They’d been friends for years and the agency never dealt with any clients that hadn’t been carefully vetted.

He’d resisted investigating her on his own even though five minutes on the Internet, and he would have known all there was to know about Stephanie Bennett. Stuff like where she liked to shop, whether she had a man in her life, and how much she owed on her mortgage. What stopped him was the dawning realization that he wanted to get to know her—not compile a fucking dossier.

Yes, he’d known she lost her husband, but when she pointed out that Victoria had only been ten when her father died it had felt like a sucker punch in the gut. So, she hadn’t been the merry widow at all and was left to figure it out on her own at a fairly young age. He’d been such an ass.

He finally understood the beauty queen thing—that it was a direct route to scholarship funds for women in college. And he wouldn’t be foolish enough to doubt for a second that she was a serious professional even if he did have preconceived ideas about the pageant business. But the horse connection? It was like a wild card.

Was she gathering her thoughts? Organizing what she planned to say? Why was she so quiet? Oh, wait a minute.
This was important
. He didn’t think she learned to ride like Annie fucking Oakley at the city equestrian center and maybe why she handled a horse like an Olympian was no small part of her story. And, unless he was reading her wrong, she wasn’t all that keen to share.

“You all had such idyllic childhoods,” she told them. “But mine? Not so much.”

He felt her eyes on his face and returned her curious gaze. She was letting her guard down, and he had no problem letting her know he was most assuredly paying attention.

“Abridged version to save time—young woman,
my mother
, sleeps with married boss and gets pregnant. He ends the relationship and she leaves town. Fast forward five years. Mother is a certified mess. Legal drugs with never-ending refills and too much alcohol always ends badly. Long story short—she doesn’t make it and I get packed off to my grandparents.”