CupidRocks (9 page)

“It’s just right. Dressy without being over the top. I’m
sure my father will approve.”

She frowned. “Why is that such a big deal to you?”

He sighed, looking down. “I love my father. I know it sounds
like I don’t but I really do. He’s a hard taskmaster and I’m such a regular
fuckup I don’t want anything to rub off on you. You’re gorgeous and smart. I
want him to give you a chance. In this dress, he will.”

“Are you sure he’ll like it?”

“Oh, yeah. You’re stunning.” He hugged her, leaning close,
he whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry I ignored you earlier. It wasn’t
you
.
I just needed to practice. When King Leopold orders a command performance I
need to be in top form.”

She leaned back and looked up into his eyes. “You weren’t?”

“Not even close. It’s still not good, but with two hours
practice I don’t feel so shaky.”

“Eddie said you guys were practicing all week for the gig
last night.”

“There’s a major distinction between rock guitar and
classical guitar. Different mindset. Different practice style. It’s just
different
.
If my father wanted me to bring my Les Paul and shred the hell out of it, I
could have spent the morning in bed with you, which is what I wanted to do. But
he told me to bring the Hauser. I haven’t touched it in a week. At least not to
play classical. I use it to play acoustic rock music, but that’s not the same.”

Mandy nodded. “I’m sorry we caught a ride home with Zach. I
was hurt so I wanted to hurt you back.” He dipped his head and she kissed his
cheek in apology. “I really am Daddy’s little girl.”

“We both messed up. I assumed you understood how insecure I
was feeling and you thought I didn’t want you.”

“Still love me, Joe?”

“Yeah. You still love me, angel?”

“Yeah.”

He pulled her close and their mouths met in a warm kiss.
Joe’s phone began to play
Ride of the Valkyries
and Mandy groaned. “Your
father has crappy timing.”

“He’s making sure we’ve left.” He pulled out the phone and
answered it. “We’re leaving right now, Father.”

“Good. We’ll expect you at one. Drive carefully.” Mandy
heard the click when Leopold hung up and she shook her head.

“Wow.”

“Welcome to the family.”

Chapter Nine

Mandy looked at the residential area they turned into, her
eyes widening. She’d been expecting comfortable but the houses here were
upscale. This was upper-middle class or lower-end rich housing.

“How do they afford this? They’re musicians, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but they hooked up with academia when they first
settled in Denver. Both had two salaries—for academia and performance. Now the
academic pension is allowing them to maintain a nice living, plus they both
still take students.”

“What do they teach? You haven’t told me much about them.”

“Father is a violinist. He’s played since he was eight and
he’s seventy-two now.”

“He must be really good if he’s been playing sixty-four
years.”

“He is. I think Father could have been a soloist if he’d
really wanted to. He’s talented and
feels
the music. You know? He
doesn’t just play his violin—it sings.”

“And your mother?”

“Ah, Mother…” He smiled. “She’s wonderful.”

“Musically? Or is she nonmusical?”

“Oh, no. She sang on Broadway. When Father met her, she was
understudy for the part of Maria Von Trapp in
The Sound of Music
. It was
a touring group and Father had been hired for the pit.”

“So that’s why your ringtone plays
Maria
?”

“
And
it’s her name. Convenient, huh?”

Mandy laughed. “Yeah. Very.”

“I really think you’ll like her and she’ll like you too.”

“I hope so.” Mandy cocked her head. “A popular music singer.
So how did the Miss Musical Theater mesh with Mr. Classical.”

“Good question. Mother made the switch to opera. Does that
give you your answer? Mother has a lovely coloratura voice so the transition
went fine. She also plays piano so she teaches both voice and piano.”

“Is she a lot younger than your father?”

“Not a lot, no. She’s sixty-six years old. Well, she’ll be
sixty-seven next week. She was born on Valentine’s Day.”

“Your birthdays are really close together.”

“Yeah, that’s probably why we get along so well.”

“So she’s five years younger than your father? Like us,
huh?”

“Same age difference, yeah, but I wouldn’t
encourage
you to switch from one type of photography to another. Essentially that’s what
Leopold did with Mother. I think she enjoyed musical theater but she changed
because Father wanted her to.” Joe shook his head.

“Has she said that?”

“No, but they’re True Mates. You can’t get her to say a word
against him…ever.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“I suppose. I just wish I was sure the change had been her
idea instead of wondering all these years whether she sang opera just to make him
happy.” He pulled into a long driveway. “This is it.”

Joe pulled up and stared at the house.

“Nice place.” It was a perfectly maintained Tudor-style
home.

“My bedroom was on the right side up there.” He pointed. “I
used to climb out on Saturday nights when I was too young to drive.”

“Where did you go?”

“Rock concerts or I’d sneak into local rock clubs. Once I
was old enough to drive, I told Father I had a date then I either went to play
a gig somewhere, or went to concerts.”

“Rebel child. I bet you were a handful.”

“I suppose I was.”

Mandy looked at the window he said he’d crawled out of and
shuddered. “You know you could have killed yourself up there.”

“I climbed down to the gabled roof. Slid down that then
dropped to the ground.”

Mandy shook her head. “Carly keeps telling me she hopes I
have pups like me. I sure hope we don’t have pups like you or I’ll be gray by
the time I’m forty.”

Joe grinned. “Gotta love me.”

Mandy laughed. “Yeah. I do.” She leaned over to kiss him,
sighing when he pulled her close to kiss her back. She eased away. “You’ll muss
me and I went to a lot of work to look this good.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll muss you on the way home.”

“That will be fine.” Mandy started to open her door.

“No, don’t get out. I’ll come around and open the door for
you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. Anyway, we’re already under scrutiny and I
better be on best behavior.”

“So you do it to impress your father, not me. Huh?” she
teased.

“I’m multitasking.”

He climbed out, came around to open the door for her. He
held out his hand to assist her. Mandy climbed out, then adjusted the strap of
her camera bag and looked up at Joe.

“I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be. They’ll love you.” He pulled her close to hug her
and gave her a kiss again. It helped.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, get your guitar and let’s
go.”

Joe blinked. “Oh hell. My guitar. I completely forgot it.”

Mandy laughed. “I feel way better now. This time you paid
attention to
me
and ignored the guitar.”

“I’ll try to always do that in the future. I can’t make any
guarantees though.”

“I know. Musicians are like that.”

Joe pulled his guitar case out of the backseat and took her
hand to lead her to the front door. It creaked open. It looked like no one was
there until a tall, imposing man came into view. That had to be Leopold.

It is. Father loves to scare the crap outta people by
doing a Lurch imitation at the front door.

Language, Joseph
, she teased.

Joe winked at her with a laugh and led her up the steps.

“Joseph. It is good of you to visit. Come in.” Leopold
opened the door wider, stepping back into the entry hall to give them room to
enter before shutting the door behind them. He stepped between them, looking
from Joe to her, obviously waiting for a formal introduction.

“Father, this is Mandy Goldwolf. My True Mate.”

“
Mandy
? Did your parents not give you a proper name?”

“Amanda,” Joe interjected.

“Ah, much better. It is lovely to meet you, Amanda.”

Mandy cocked her head as she assessed her father-in-law.
Imposing. Shaggy white eyebrows and a shock of white hair covered his head. His
eyes were ice blue, and his face was chiseled—like a marble statue. She could
see Joe in him…their facial structure was the same, but Joe’s dark eyes made
him seem warmer. On top of his striking features Leopold wore a dark suit,
white shirt and red tie. Whoa. Imposing was the
only
word that fit.

“Do you not speak, young lady? Are you perhaps mute?

Mandy grinned at him. “Just looking you over. Joe looks like
you so you musta been a real hottie when you were younger.”

“A what?” His brows rose and his eyes widened.

Joe stiffened in horror, seemingly frozen in place. Mandy
smiled at her mate. She wasn’t going to pretend to be something she wasn’t. Not
now, not ever. Mandy opened her mouth to respond, but before she could a
cultured female voice cut in.

“You’re right, my dear. He was a…how did you put it? Yes,
a
hottie
.” Maria entered the hall, crossing to take Leopold’s arm, smiling up
at him. “Weren’t you, my love?”

Leopold patted her hand. “If you say so,
liebling
.”

“Of course, you still are.”

The older man smiled. “I’m pleased you think so. However I
could never hold a candle to you. A fairer female could not be found in the
whole of the world.”

Maria reached up to stroke his cheek. Statuesque and
stunningly beautiful in a wholesome sort of way. Mandy could definitely picture
her mother-in-law on stage in the part of Maria Von Trapp. It was from Maria
that Joe inherited his warm brown eyes. The love she saw between Joe’s parents
reassured her a lot. She was afraid she’d be unwelcome here, but if they loved
each other like that, they undoubtedly loved their sons with the same depth of
feeling. And she hoped they’d love their daughters-in-law too.

Depends on if you consider disapproval a sign of love
,
Joe grumbled.

Yes, I do. But we’ll see how things go. They may surprise
you.

Yeah, like your dad did maybe? I wasn’t expecting Eddie
to try to take my head off.

Neither was I, but I’m sure that he’ll calm down.

He better or we’ll have a challenging life—in the band
and out.

“You needn’t be further concerned, Leo. They
must
be
True Mates for they just conducted an entirely silent conversation.”

Mandy blinked and caught Maria’s gaze. Her mother-in-law’s
dark eyes twinkled with pleasure. Joe stiffened, turning to glare at his
father.

“You didn’t think I’d know the difference?”

“Your experiences with Valerie certainly left me in doubt
that you would know a True relationship if you encountered one,” Leo responded
dryly.

Joe bit his lip, fighting the need to respond. Mandy watched
color fill his cheeks and his hands clench making her fear for the handle of
his guitar case.

I won’t crush the damn thing, so chill.

Who’s Valerie?

She’s in the past.

Your past, so I want to know.

I’ll explain later.

You’re damn right you will, handsome.

He forced his body to relax. Mandy winked at him and Joe
smiled. How could she fall so deeply in love with someone in barely two days?
His smile filled her heart with joy and completeness.

I heard that and I feel the same way, angel.

He held out his free hand to her and she reached to take it,
returning to his side. When Joe settled his arm around her shoulder, she felt
as if she’d come home. Mandy returned the intimacy by wrapping her arm around
his waist and curling into him.

“So are Jake and Jules here yet?”

“Your brothers,
Jacob
and
Julian
, have not yet
arrived, Joseph. We expect them shortly. Please, join us in the parlor for some
tea while we wait.”

Shit, they’re late. Father’s gonna fry ‘em.

Why? It’s only about five after.

Five after is still five after. Leopold Schwarzerwulf
does not DO late.

They followed his parents from the entry hall to the front
parlor of their home. The room was warm and beautiful but very formal. Wood
parquet floors were covered by pastel tapestry rugs. Victorian furniture
decorated the room. His parents settled in wingback chairs next to a table on
which a tea service was set while Joe led her to a couch.

It’s a divan.

You’re joking right?

Nope.

Mandy raised a brow at him, but he just grinned at her. She
nudged his shoulder and they laughed. She was glad they’d made up after their
fight. She would have hated to face this situation without his support.

“So, my dear, how do you take your tea?” Maria asked.

“I don’t. Thanks, though.”

“You don’t drink tea?” Leopold’s brows rose.

“No. I’ve never liked it. Even iced tea.”

“I see,” he said, his tone suggesting she’d failed some
test.

Is your father always like this or is it just me?

Angel, you’re getting “Leopold-light”. He was much worse
when I brought Valerie home. He scared her shitless and he didn’t even shift.

You brought Valerie home?

Damn.

We’re going to have a talk about this, mister. A long
one.

“Must you both be so rude as to conduct
all
of your
conversation silently?”

Mandy lifted her gaze to her father-in-law. “You better be
sure you really want to hear what I have to say before you push all our
conversations into audio.”

“You speak your mind?”

“Constantly. So if you think our silent talks are rude, you
ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”

“Language, Amanda. Proper English is important.” Mandy
glanced at Joe and they started to laugh. “What amuses you so?”

Mandy shook her head. “Not a darn thing.”

Just then they heard a car pull into the drive, gunning its
engine. Mandy turned to look out the front windows and saw a car speed up the
drive and screech to a halt
just
behind her car. She winced. At least
they’d stopped. Her car was old and temperamental—being rear-ended wouldn’t
help.

Two good-looking guys jumped out of the vehicle and started
running for the house. One stopped and yelled. The other tossed a set of keys
then turned to keep running. The one with the keys unlocked the car and dug out
an instrument case. Ah, the trumpeter. Then he too ran full out for the front
door. Leopold remained seated, sipping his tea. A vigorous knock on the door
sounded.

They knocked?

This is our parents’ house. None of us live here anymore.

That’s just weird.

It’s the Schwarzerwulf way.

Like I said…

Joe shrugged, brushing her hair off her cheek. Another knock
sounded. Leopold set down his tea and looked at the door.

“Oh for heaven’s sake, Leo,” Maria cried in exasperation.
She stood and walked briskly to the front door. Leopold followed her at a more
sedate pace.

“Shouldn’t we go?” Mandy whispered as Leopold crossed the
entry hall while Maria opened the front door.

“And listen to Father rip them new ones? Naw, I’ll wait
until he does it to me later.”

Mandy strained to look into the entry hall, just barely able
to see when Joe’s brothers stumbled in. Leo crossed his arms over his chest and
stared at his sons. Then he walked once around them while they shifted
uncomfortably before he returned to Maria’s side. His eyes were intense and his
lips were tight with disapproval. Maria set her hand on his arm and he glanced
briefly at her, nodding once.

“So, gentlemen. What could possibly have kept you? You are
precisely
twelve
minutes late.”

“Sorry, Father. My car crapped out.”

“Language, Julian.”