Marrying Mari (30 page)

Ethan blinked, disconnected, then pressed a second button on his phone. When Gabe picked up, he said, “How far are you from home?”

“I can be there in twenty.”

“Fifteen. Mari’s mother just showed up. She’s upset.”

“On it. How soon will you be there?”

“Right behind you. Donovan is in my office now. By the way, I think I know where Peter got his inspiration.” Ethan glanced at Chase. “And where else it’s been popping up.”

“Where?”

“Later. Go home.”

“I’ll hold you to that. I’m on the bike. See you there.” Gabe disconnected.

Ethan pocketed his phone and studied the Chair of the Colony Board of Trustees. The older man was looking a little sick. Ethan’s voice was icy. “I think we’ve covered everything. You understand my terms. I’ll expect to hear from you tomorrow. My PA will see you out.” He stood and, ignoring the man’s sputtering, walked out of his office. “I’ll be at home, Amanda, and out of touch. Reroute everything to Mr. Chase and take the rest of the day off.” Pulling out his cell, he pressed the button for Eli.

Mari sat facing her mother, who paced along the long, glass wall overlooking Central Park.

“This is where you live. With this Ethan Stone. And Gabriel Pryor as well. How long?”

“Almost two weeks.”

“Two weeks!” Her mother snorted in disgust. She paced. “You called me ten days ago. You said nothing. Ashamed?”

“No.”

“Right. Are you sleeping with them?”

“Yes.”

“Both? Together?”

Mari’s cheeks flamed, but she held her head up. “Yes.”

Her mother closed her eyes.

“I want you to meet them.”

Anna turned. “Is that why you’ve hidden your relationship with them? Why you haven’t invited me here, to introduce me to these men?”

Mari’s cheeks burned. “No, ma’am.”

“You lied to me!”

“I didn’t.”

“You did. By not telling me, you lied. You sleep with two men, you move into their apartment, into their luxury building.” The words were a sneer. “You are having sex with two men, letting them keep you. You are a whore.”

“I’m not.”

Her mother took a step toward her and leveled a finger. “Don’t say that again. You are a whore, okay, but don’t pretend this is something that it isn’t.”

“It isn’t the way you’re describing it.”

Her mother stared at her. “Really, Mariella? And why haven’t they come to see me, then? To meet me? Do they even know I exist?”

“Yes, of course.” Mari ground out. “They know all about you. In fact, they knew more than I did. Why didn’t you ever tell me about the Colony?”

Anna bridled. “That’s none of your business, miss.”

“Are you joking?”

“What’s to tell? I grew up there. I left. I met your father. I had you. I never went back.” Anna turned her back to stare out the windows.

“Do you still have family there? Do I?”

“
No!
No, you don’t have any family there. You have nothing there, so if that is your reason for getting involved with these men, think again.”

“Why did you leave? Why did you leave your family and everything you knew?”

“I left because when I was seventeen my parents wanted to mate me to some boy I barely knew. Mate, have babies, move into a house next door to them. So I ran away. With another girl in the same situation as me. We snuck out. She went back after two weeks, but I stayed here. I made a life. And I’m not going back.” Anna stared at her. “But you, you let them use you. Treat you like half-breed trash.” Her mother broke off, trembling with anger.

“I’ve got that tea, Miss Mariella. Where shall I put it?” Mrs. W’s loud voice interrupted.

“Anywhere, thank you,” she said.

Mrs. Watson set the tray down on the table between then women, glaring at Anna. She stood and folded her arms across her waist, waiting.

“What is it?”

“I’m waiting for the tea to brew. And then I’ll pour it.”

“I can do that.”

“No, it’s fine.” She glared some more at Mari’s mother. “Don’t worry yourself about it. I’ll take care of this.”

The front door crashed open. “Mari!” Gabe’s voice called out from the hall.

“In here, Mr. Gabriel,” the housekeeper called back.

Heavy footsteps raced the length of the hall and Gabe stood, windblown, in the doorway. Mari stared at him. He was absolutely beautiful in his bike leathers and boots, big and graceful and strong. When his whiskey eyes found her, he smiled. “Hi, sugar.”

She glanced at her mother. The woman pulled her coat tighter around her thin frame and stared at Gabriel with a mix of distrust and fear.

Mari looked back at Gabe and saw the exact moment he noticed the mark on her cheek. He crossed to her and knelt down, touching her cheek with one unsteady hand.

Her eyes dropped to the floor. Gabe tilted up her chin until her eyes met his and he kissed her lips gently. He stood, taking off his jacket.

Mrs. W held out a hand for it. “I’ll just go and hang this up. Will Mr. Ethan be here soon?”

“Any minute.”

“Good. I’ll just be on the lookout for him then.” She disappeared into the hall.

Mari looked up as Gabriel ran a hand over her hair caressingly. He smiled at her, that gorgeous broad smile that charmed everyone. When he turned it on her mother, the smile took on a fierceness. He held out his hand, but Anna flinched and stared at it.

His smile took on an edge, but he maintained the friendly gesture. His voice was even cordial. “I’m Gabriel Pryor, Mrs. Amorini. I am pleased to meet you, finally.”

“Finally.” She ignored Gabriel’s hand. Mari started to speak, but Gabe gestured and she sat back, waiting.

“You should know that I plan to mate with your daughter. Hope to, I should say. I love her very much. She is the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.” Gabriel stared at Anna. “May I ask why you came here today, ma’am? Was it just to shame your daughter?”

Anna Amorini tightened even more. “Shame her? She’s living with two men, who say they’ll mate her but can’t, in fact, do so. Won’t do so. And I’m shaming her. What about you? Lying to her, bringing her here, ruining her life.”

Gabe’s voice was still polite when he spoke to her mother, although Mari could hear the anger beneath the surface. “I’m not a liar, ma’am, whatever else I may be.”

Anna pointed her finger at them. “I know what you are. What you’re trying to do. His mother told me! You and Ethan Stone are full-bred Colony members who need to marry a Colony woman to fulfill your agreement with the Trust.” She looked at Mariella. “They’re manipulating you, using you to get what they want. Mrs. Stone told me so.”

Mari gasped audibly.
Allison
had told Anna? She glanced at Gabriel, who looked as shocked as she was.

“What did I miss?” Ethan’s cool voice from the doorway brought Mari’s head around.

Gabriel spoke without taking his eyes off Anna. “Mari’s mother here seems to have the idea that you and I are either fools or liars.”

“You’re trying to pass Mariella off as an acceptable candidate for a triad, which she is not because she’s only half Colony blood. And when you find out can’t marry her, you’ll replace her with a woman who is eligible, in order to maintain your status in the Colony. I only hope it’s before one of you gets her pregnant.”

Ethan shook his head. “You’re wrong, ma’am. We’re not passing her off as anything. We’ve been completely honest with the Trust about Mari’s standing as a Colony member, through you, her mother. And that her father was a non-Colony man. There is nothing in the rulings that requires both parents to be Colony-born. In fact, we’ve found precedent in the Colony records. And neither of us will leave your daughter, no matter what her standing is with the Trust or with the Colony.”

Mari watched Ethan come forward slowly. He confronted the other woman. “You’ve been misled.” His voice was gentle yet grim.

“How?” Anna asked skeptically.

“First, despite what you were told by my mother, Mari will be acceptable to the Colony Board as a mate for Gabriel and me, because she is your daughter. Whether or not her father was Colony-born. As I said, we have provided compelling precedent, and our argument will be accepted without reservations by the Board. I am confident of it. Second, even if our argument was not accepted by the Board, Gabriel and I would still mate with her.”

“He said you haven’t yet invited Mariella to become your third.”

He smiled faintly. “We’re trying not to pressure her. But I am confident that when we do ask, she will agree to have us, no matter what the Board’s decision. And if she said no…” He looked at Mari. “Gabriel and I would do everything in our power to convince her we would make her happy.”

In his eyes, Mari saw something in Ethan’s eyes that made her sit up. Ethan was blazingly furious, but also hurting.

Anna looked at the three of them. “Your mother said that you’d be moving back into the Colony, that I would have to return as well too, since Mariella isn’t a full-blood member.”

“That’s not true.” Ethan’s voice remained cool and cordial, but his jaw tightened.

“I won’t go back,” Mari’s mother asserted.

“You don’t have to. What my mother told you was untrue.”

“Why would she lie to me?” Anna Amorini’s voice was angry.

Ethan smiled at her and shrugged. “A mother gets ideas about her children.”

Mrs. Amorini stared at him. “Meaning what?”

“I’m certain you understand.”

“I don’t think I do. You’d better be completely clear.”

“My mother has her own ideas about what I should do. Who I should marry and why. I assure you they’re not my ideas. She’s very tied to the Colony, but I am not. And as you might have noticed, both Gabriel and I are grown men who make our own decisions. I repeat, we can and will mate with Mari if she’ll have us with or without the Trust’s approval, but the three of us will never move back into the Colony.”

Anna sat silently, studying first one man then the other. Gabriel kept his arm around Mari, while Ethan stood casually, gazing back at her mother impassively.

Finally, she shook her head. “I don’t know you. Everything you say sounds impressive, but—”

Mari stood up and confronted her mother. “Neither Ethan nor Gabriel lie. I don’t care if you believe them, though, because I do.” She twined her fingers with Ethan’s. “When they ask me to be their mate, I plan to say yes.”

Gabriel stood and took Mari’s other hand, lifting it to his mouth for a light kiss.

Her mother stared at the three of them. “You really do love her,” she said, surprised.

Mari continued, “I hope you’ll come to our ceremony. We would be pleased to have you there.”

Ethan added, “We’re planning it for next week.” Next to him Mari squeaked, but he simply smiled at her mother.

Anna spoke directly to Ethan. “Your mother told me clearly that you tried to convince the Trust that Mari was eligible but that the Colony had turned you down. And in a last attempt to succeed, you’d promised to move us both within the walls.” Mari felt both men shift in reaction. “I don’t understand. She sounded so certain, I believed her. She frightened me.” Mari’s mother shook her head. “I want my daughter to be safe, Mr. Stone.”

“I understand. She will be, I promise you.”

Gabriel spoke to Anna, but he looked into Mari’s eyes as he spoke. “I love your daughter, ma’am. Ethan loves your daughter.” He turned then and spoke directly to her mother. “There isn’t anyone who will love her and protect her better. And if I have to, I will protect her from you.” He nodded and smiled, showing his teeth. “That’s a promise.”

Mari stood too. “Mama.” She stopped when her mother held up a hand.

“I need to go. I need to think. All of this has stirred up a lot of old feelings, old memories. But—Mariella, I believe these men, that you—” addressing Ethan and Gabriel directly, “—love my daughter. But your mother told me about your agreement with the Colony Trust.”

“Yes, in our original agreement, we, Gabriel and I, did agree to consider a move back into the Colony once we established our triad. I’ve renegotiated those terms.”

“To what?” Gabe asked sharply.

Ethan looked at him. “To include the fact that we’ll continue living here unless the three of us decide differently. Not the Trust.” He looked at Mari. “You see, Mari wants to finish college and go to med school. Gabriel and I are planning a rather complicated hotel project on the East River.” He shrugged. “There are lots of possibilities that we haven’t even discussed. So moving back to the Colony on the basis of something Gabe and I agreed to before we even knew Mari is ridiculous.”

“Is it?”

“The Board already knows this. I told them today, in no uncertain terms.”

There was a brief silence.

“That makes a difference, Mr. Stone,” Mari’s mother admitted, slowly.

He flashed her a smile. “Call me Ethan, please.”

“Ethan.” She studied him, then Gabriel. “Gabriel.”