Atlanta's still parked atop the National League East by 6.5 games. Things look so good for the Braves right now, I don't wanna jinx things by commenting, so enjoy this quote from one of my all-time favorite Braves, Hammerin' Hank Aaron, instead:
“Well, it took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball, and I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.”
Speaking of jinxes, here's the end of Guarding the Line, Chapter 8. Verity has returned home after a night spent with Michael, to find an unwanted guest. A double-long post this week, to make up for being a slack-ass recently. <grin> In my defense, it's damn hard to write when half your keyboard doesn't work, but I finally found a Bluetooth model I love, after buying and returning a few. Posting Chapter 9 as well, to make up for having no post last week.
“Have
you heard of e-mail? Telephones
even? Dropping in is so last century.” Vee couldn’t decide what made her angrier,
the fact her mother had dropped by unannounced, or that Adrienne had taken the
liberty of finishing her damned jigsaw puzzle while she waited. The huge eggshell stood on its wide end on
the table, completely reassembled, though she’d broken it in hundreds of pieces
and had just begun to sort them out on the table.
“Verity
Lavender, where on earth have you been?
I’ve been here since dawn.”
Just fucking wonderful.
No telling what she snooped into. Vee
took a deep breath to prepare for the tirade she knew would be next. “I was at
Obsidian last night. Sage needed a
bartender.”
Her
mother rose to her feet, swaying dramatically, hands clasped to her throat. Such a drama queen. If Vee hadn’t been
so pissed off, she’d have laughed aloud.
“After
all the trouble that little bitch got you in—twice—I’ll never understand why you lift a finger to do anything
for her.”
Still
in a temper after her confrontation with Sage, the last thing she wanted was to
defend her sister to her mother. But if Adrienne had waited half the night, she
clearly had nowhere to be. Better help
her with that. “So, you came just to visit?
You’re not here to check and see if I found your ring yet? You’re over Him now? You hold what Sage did against her, even
knowing he’s done worse? Grow up,
Mother.”
Adrienne
flung out her arms. Verity almost peered around, looking for the director. She
felt stuck in a bad soap opera. “If I have the ring, I can help him,
Verity. For the sake of the Goddess,
he’s your father. It’s in the prophesy.”
If
she lived to be three thousand, Verity was never going to understand why women
put themselves through the things they did for an unfaithful man. And
when was the last time a prophesy came to pass?
“He
uses people, Mother. He uses you, he
uses Sage, and he uses Rosemary. He uses their mothers. He uses all his other
women as well.” That last sentence was going too far, since she had no proof
there were other women, but, damn it, she was tired of listening to this crap.
“Don’t
you see ? If you’d been the one helping him instead of Sage, he wouldn’t be
where he is now? That idiot should be barred from practice for eternity. If you
meant to get involved, why not help Him in the first place?”
Her
mother had no use for Sage or Rosemary, but she still expected Vee to forgive
the father that had betrayed them all in so many ways.
Slinging
her purse at a chair, she battled to keep her tone even.“Wasted words, Mother.
We’ve been through this many times. Sage needed help at the club last night. Bartending
is not a big deal. I stayed overnight at the apartment. Which brings us to why
you’re here?”
“For
the ring, of course. Have you found it yet? Time is of the essence.”
Her
heart leaped into her throat, but she didn’t see any sign her mother knew she’d
found the ring. No, if Adrienne thought she had, she’d have turned up sooner,
or gone to Obsidian and made a scene. Thank
the Goddess I left that damn thing in the car. Now that she knew what kind
of ring Adrienne had been on about, her mother’s drama made more sense. This
had nothing to do with a prophecy and everything to do with Adrienne wanting to
slap that fidelis ring around Rex Hin’s—yeah,
anyway. Glaring at her mother, she demanded, “Why is time of the essence?”
“Verity,
I need that ring. You must find it, and soon. I’ll keep checking with you,
dear. Now, give me a kiss and I’ll get
out of your way.”
And,
with the kiss came knowledge she’d rather her mother didn’t have. Adrienne’s
brows went up and a knowing smile curved her lips. “Verity, darling, a man? Now that you’re back in circulation, I’ll
tell Stone. He’s been asking about you,
you know.”
Fabulous.
This was going from bad to worse. “Good-bye, Mother.”
Verity
prepared herself for a dramatic exit, and wasn’t disappointed when her mother
threw open her front door and turned into a brightly-colored parrot.
“I
guess a seagull is just not you?” Heaving the front door with all her strength,
Verity took satisfaction from the loud bang and wrenched the lock. The thick
bolt shot home, not that a lock was worth a damn at keeping her family at bay.
What she needed was an ogre. Or a dragon. But
the pet food bills….
She
stalked to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of wine. Of course, the wine
opener evaded her. What could it hurt? “Bottle mine, share your contents divine
and give me access to the fruits of the vine.” The cork began turning, rising
at a sedate pace. Verity hoped no vineyard worker tripped and stubbed his toe
on a rock…or worse, due to her impatience.
She
believed the natural world found ways to get even when its laws were
circumvented and didn’t care who paid the price. Her views were akin to those
of Buddhists who refuse to kill any living thing, and not widely shared by
either side of her family tree, but Verity respected the power of her magic. It
made sense that such a force could have a backlash, like any other kind of
power.
She
stripped off ripping off her clothes and raced up the stairs. Opening the
French doors leading off her bedroom, she plopped onto the chaise lounge on her
balcony and tipped the bottle to her lips, still fuming. She was the family
doormat. Part of the reason was her half-breed status, but she suspected the
others took advantage of her beliefs, sensing she’d never turn her magic on
them. The wine fueled her anger even as
it relaxed her deliciously sore limbs.
By the time she reached the bottom of the
bottle, her decision had been made, or one of them anyway. If Sage kept that damn
man for herself, she was going to turn her into whatever it was parrots ate,
just to see if the Fates would fuck with somebody besides herself for a change.
Mike
stood in the shower, enjoying the feel of the hot water pummeling the back of
his neck. He rolled his neck and shoulder muscles, knowing the tightness he’d
been battling for the last several days was gone. The last trace of tension disappeared
the minute his bat connected for a double in the fourth inning, clearing the
bases and tying the game. Just like that, his slump was over. His home run in the eighth to put the team
ahead had been icing on the cake. He hadn’t been able to resist giving his manager
a look of smug satisfaction. When he’d gotten to the field today, Wade told him
he wasn’t in the evening’s lineup. Mike had to argue hotly to get into the
game.
This
was why he played, why everybody played.
You lived for those moments when you beat the odds, overcame the
physics, the lights, the noise from the crowd, your own tension and past failures. His teammates were talking about going out to
celebrate. In the midst of the argument about where they were headed, he got a
wink and a nudge from Victor. The big
lug actually looked like he knew some kind of secret.
“What?”
Moving past the stocky catcher, he yanked open his locker. “Ouch! Shit!” The
cut was little more than a scratch, but blood welled in his palm.
Victor
held out a box of the stick-on bandages he wrapped around his fingers so the
pitchers could see when he flashed the signs between his thighs. “Dude, I told
you. That little bartender. She changed your luck, right?”
And
just like that, Mike knew who he wanted to celebrate with. Waving away the
band-aids, he grinned, but didn’t give the details his buddy was obviously
expecting. “Maybe I was just due.” Spying the small jar of ointment reminded
him to baste his tat, and by the time he’d rubbed the thin coat of gel into his
arm, the scratch was barely visible. He gave the two reporters stalking the
room their expected sound bites while he dressed, then dashed out the clubhouse
door.
Luckily,
the guy on the door at Obsidian turned out to be a fan. The overgrown hunk of
beef was named Eldon. The guy sported a shaved, ebony head and muscles that had
to come from steroids, but he recognized Mike, and offered to let him in
without a membership, but since he was planning to ask the owner for a favor,
Mike didn’t think sneaking in was the way to get on the sister’s good side. It
took Eldon a few heartbeats to figure out who Mike needed to see. Mike tried not to exhale too loudly, or talk
too fast. “Dude, her name’s Sage. Five-seven,
five-eight, good figure, brunette, green eyes. Has a smoking hot sister named
Vee, looks a lot like her, except blonde, who bartended the other night in the
VIP lounge?” Two thick creases appeared between Eldon’s blank brown eyes. Eldon
thought his request over for so long, Mike wondered if the guy was doing
downers, too. “Signs your paycheck?”
Finally, the bulb in Eldon’s mental closet
flickered. “Oh, you mean Miz Alexander, the owner. Only her sisters are allowed
to call her Sage.”
He’d
played ball with guys like Eldon, thick slabs of beef with air for brains. Clapping
the man on the shoulder, Mike covered his vexation with a big smile, as though
Eldon had discovered the cure for cancer. “Yes! That’s exactly right. My bad,
dude. Miss Alexander is the person I need you to call her for me, Eldon. Thanks.”
When
Sage appeared, Mike wondered momentarily whether Eldon might be Catholic, because
the guy looked like he was going to hit his knees and genuflect. Sage waved
Mike in immediately. “That didn’t take long. We might have to see about getting
you a membership card.” She gave him a heated look, running her hand from the
part on her hair, lingering over the curves accentuated by a cropped silver top
and finally let her palm rest on the hip of a short black velvet skirt.
He
missed Eldon already. The music was so loud inside the club, he head to lean
closer than he liked to be heard, though he felt he was shouting.“I came to ask
you for a favor.”
She
moved her hand back to the area just over her low-cut top. She placed her free
hand on his arm, pulling up on her toes and pressing her body against his. “In
that case, come to my office and we’ll have a drink. I rarely grant favors
sober.”
Mike
suppressed impatience, noting the bouncers who appeared out of nowhere to clear
her path through the crushing crowd around the dance floor. One of the men, a
pissed-off looking man with black eyes and a braid of equally-black hair down
his back, kept giving Mike the evil-eye over Sage’s head. The trip seemed to
take half an hour, but they finally gained the hallway to the offices. The
sound level dropped enough so his heart could choose its own beat, but not
enough to allow for conversation. At the entrance to the VIP bar, one bouncer
peeled off, but the angry-looking one pulled Sage aside. He bent his head,
placing his lips to her ear, but his eyes never left Mike. This guy was even
bigger than Eldon. Sage ran her hands over his abs before shaking off his grip.
She didn’t grab Mike’s arm again, he noted gratefully.
A
final turn brought them to the elevator. Mike couldn’t help but stare at the
gleaming door and the jolt of longing surprised him. He could almost smell
Verity’s subtle perfume.
Sage paused beside the closed door to the room
on the opposite side of the corridor. “I need to take care of something. Make
yourself comfortable. Help yourself to the bar. I’ll be back in just a minute.” She unlocked the door and flipped on the
light. He stepped inside warily. She pulled the door closed behind her. He
heaved a sigh of relief. He’d had his share of aggressive females, but there
was something about Sage’s touch that made him feel …freaked out and antsy.
There
were chairs in front of the desk, but to his left, he spied a seating area.
Stepping into the large space, he realized the office was much larger than he’d
seen from the hall this morning. He absently rubbed the tattoo on his arm out
of habit, but the spot felt much better after two applications of the ointment—or
maybe it was just time for the damn thing to heal, but he didn’t miss the
maddening itch. The sensation was replaced by an equally maddening low thrum of
desire for the woman he’d come to find. Hurry
up, Sage. Could he be lucky enough for her bodyguard to accompany her into
the office? He much preferred the man’s version of aggression.
The
desk was positioned in front of the door, but to the left, the room opened up.
Floor-to-ceiling windows like the apartment upstairs, also draped in black. Through the glass, he could see another huge
balcony, provoking an involuntary grin as he continued to look around. There was a chaise lounge large enough for
two, also upholstered in black leather, and opposing the roomy couch were two similar
chairs. He spied the bar, but the huge
painting hanging over the antique-looking cabinet was more captivating. He stepped around the desk and got closer.
The
frame was carved from dark wood, and a brass light curving over the top showed
the work off to advantage. The painting was of three women. They stood barely
apart, arms linked, in a field of flowers in the middle of a heavy forest. All
were dressed in white, flowing gowns decorated with gold threads, gowns that
bared their arms and touched the ground.
He easily recognized Verity and Sage, but was amazed to see a third
woman with identical features. She had red hair and blue eyes, but otherwise,
the three could have been triplets. Each woman wore a circle of flowers on her
head like a crown, capping luxuriant hair cascading to their waists, the way
Vee’s did. Sage had cut her hair
sometime after the painting had been done; the black cap now barely brushed her
shoulders.
The
painting looked very old, like their clothes, something out of another century,
but neither Verity nor Sage appeared to have aged a day. The artist had taken
great pains to capture their faces. The talented hand had caught the look of
naughty mischief in Sage’s eyes, as well as the dreamy look in Verity’s. The sister
unknown to him appeared to be challenging the artist, so commanding was her
expression. The gowns they wore were gauzy, revealing as much as they
concealed. They could have been goddesses of Greek mythology he’d studied in
school. Helluva unique family portrait.
He
heard the door open and looked around. Sage stepped into her office and laughed
when she saw where he was standing. “I see you’ve figured out there are three
of us.”
“Yeah,
this looks old, but it can’t be. You and
Vee look exactly the same, not a day older.
What’s the other sister’s name?”
Sage
crossed the room to stand beside him, a bit too close beside him. “We call her
Rosemary, unless we’re mad at her. What would you like to drink?”
He
took half a step back. A slight frown creased her brow. “A beer, if you have
it.”
“If
I’d known sooner you were the beer type, I’d have brought one from the bar. How about a brandy instead?” She was already
setting up two snifters, so he nodded his assent. Since it was clear Sage didn’t plan to get in
any hurry, he took a seat in one of the chairs.
She handed him the heavy crystal glass and sank down into the other
chair. He took a sip. Rich, smoky flavor exploded on his tongue. The brandy was
excellent, better than any he’d had before, and he complimented her on it.
Her
eyes flickered as a secretive smile played across her lips, disappearing
quickly. “Thank you. The vintage is very
old. So, what sort of favor are you here to ask?”
Uncomfortable
with the look in her eye, he got straight to the point, swirling the liquid in
his glass. “I was hoping you might give
me Vee’s number. She, uh, fell asleep so
fast this morning I didn’t have a chance to ask her for it.”
Her
eyes narrowed. “You didn’t think to leave her your own?”
Damn,
she was going to be difficult, he could see it in her eyes. “I prefer to be the
one doing the calling, at least in the beginning. Besides, I didn’t feel right digging around
in your drawers for something to write on.”
Sage
chuckled, and took another sip of her brandy before answering. “Old-fashioned,
are you? That’s right up Vee’s
alley. She’d never have called if you’d
left your number, you know. Frankly, I’m
still in shock that she acted so daringly last night. I’ve never known her to
spend the night with a man she’d just met. Unless you two met somewhere else?”
He
remembered Vee didn’t want her sister to know about the tattoo. It wasn’t as if
they’d had much of a conversation or gone to dinner after getting inked. He
kept his face deliberately blank as he met her intense scrutiny. He had no idea
how close the two were, but the look in Sage’s eyes was making him angry. The
way her gaze traveled from his face to his crotch and back was more than
curiosity, it was invitation.
“Never
laid eyes on her until I sat down in the VIP bar. But, I would very much like
to see her again. I’d appreciate your helping me out. It’s a simple request. I
promise I’ll not harass her if she doesn’t want to see me again.” He gave her a determined look. “Something
tells me she might be glad I called.”
Sage
seemed to find something about that statement very amusing. Her lips curved in
a manner he found insulting. She shifted in her chair and rearranged her legs,
causing her short skirt to slide up her thighs. “Verity has her own ways of
dealing with stalkers. I’m not in the least worried about that. Are you sure
she’s the sister you want? After all, we’re both here now. Who knows what Vee’s
doing tonight?”
Stubbornly,
he kept his eyes on her face. “I’d very
much like to call Verity.”
He
looked up as the office door flew open, expecting to see the man that had given
him the evil eye earlier. Instead, he was surprised to see the red-headed
sister, outfitted in tight black leather pants and matching lace-up bustier,
covered by a see-through, flaming red top.
Her hair was still the length it’d been in the portrait, but unlike Vee,
she wore it unbound. The coppery mass seemed to snap and crackle around her
torso, and the look on her face made him long for his bat…just in case.
“Well,
Sage, Axel is very upset that you’re in here with another man. Shame on you.”
Sage
lowered her eyes and sipped again from her glass. The third sister closed the
door behind her and strode across the room, yanking open one of the doors on
the bottom of the cabinet, revealing a small refrigerated space.
Finally,
Sage spoke. “Axel is far too possessive. Mike, this is Rosemary. Rose, this is Michael Reardon. He plays some
kind of game…for the Braves, I think. He’s here to ask me for Verity’s number.
Should I give it to him?”
Rosemary
slammed the door and turned. Lifting a bottle of the house water to her lips, she
leaned against the bar and eyed him dispassionately. Sage straightened her
skirt, he saw out of the corner of his eye. “Hello, Rosemary. Nice to meet
you.”
Rosemary
ignored his greeting, snapping at her sister instead. “Why don’t you give it to
him, then? I need to use your apartment,
Sage.”
Sage
batted her eyelashes. He clenched his hand around the snifter, wanting to snap
her little neck. “Oh, dear, now if I let you have the apartment that causes a
little problem for our friend Mike. Verity told me she might be persuaded to
see him again, but only if I’d loan her the apartment. They borrowed it last
night but he neglected to get her number before he left this morning.”
This
announcement prompted Rosemary to turn eyes on him with a great deal more
interest. “I thought Verity was doing the purity thing. What’s it been, at least three years now?”
“I
guess she drew the line at a thousand days penance. Do I give in to your needs,
or hers?” Sage was still looking at him
with an invitation in her eyes, in spite of the new sister’s contemptuous glare.
Mike
had just about enough of Sage. He put down the drink and stood, ready to leave.
He could get her number from Thane. “Look, all I want to do is invite her out
for a late dinner, and it doesn’t have to be tonight. I’d appreciate you giving
me her number. If not, I’ll be leaving.
Thanks for the drink. Nice to meet you,” he said with a nod in the
direction of… was it Rosemary? He really only gave a damn about the sister who
wasn’t present.
Rosemary
didn’t mince words. “Sage, stop being a bitch.
I know exactly what you’re doing. If the man wants Verity, I suggest you
get past it. Here, let’s just call her.”
Stomping
to the desk, she yanked up the receiver from an old-fashioned desk phone, still
scolding her sister. “Why do you taunt Axel?
You know what a bad mood he gets in when you do this. Either put him out
of his misery or stop screwing with him.” She glared at an unrepentant-looking
Sage. “Hello, Verity? This is Rose. I’m calling from the club. Someone’s here
for you. You better speak to him before I have to declaw Sage. Mike, I think
she said his name was.”
She
held the receiver out to Mike, who wondered if they were planning to listen to
the conversation. Rosemary seemed to be insisting
Sage join her in the hallway, he saw to his relief.
“Michael?”
Hearing her voice both soothed and inflamed him.
A
few minutes later, and a great deal happier, he opened the office door to find
both women involved in a heated discussion. “Stone’s going to be mad when he
finds out, Rosemary,” he heard Sage hiss.
Rosemary
looked Mike straight in the eyes as she responded to her sister. “Verity has
the right to make her own decisions, Sage. You know her mother’s crazy. Besides, since when are you on his side?”
“You
know it’s not that simple, damn you.”
He
hesitated, wondering how private this argument was. Neither seemed to care what
he overheard. He took advantage of the break in the argument. “Sage, can I go
out the same way I did this morning?
It’s closer to where I parked.
And Rosemary, nice meeting you and thanks for making the call.”
“See
you around,” Rosemary replied carelessly, turning her attention back to Sage, who
now appeared hell bent on ignoring him.
“Of
course, you remember which door?” Sage muttered after getting the hard look
from the other woman. Still ignoring
him, she put the key into her sister’s outstretched hand and turned on her heel,
leaving him standing there with Rosemary, who continued to stand with her back
to the wall, her expression a bit friendlier now that Sage was gone.
He
had a few minutes to kill. “I couldn’t help overhearing. Vee has a different
mother than you two?”
“We
each have different mothers, Mike. Now, take my sister out to dinner, or ask
her for a tour of that private beach of hers. It’s about time she had a little
fun. Glad I could help, not to mention save you from becoming a tool for Sage’s
raging jealousy. I’m sure she took the opportunity to proposition you?”
“You
caught that? I was about to give up and
leave.”
The
red-head snorted. “I keep waiting for
Verity to kick her little ass, but I’m beginning to think I won’t live long
enough to see that. Sage is insanely jealous of both of us, but Verity in
particular. Why she’s our father’s favorite is beyond me.”
Mike
thought that over a minute, and realized what was bugging him. “But, you all
look about the same age…” He had no idea
how to put his thoughts into words, but a knowing smile lit Rosemary’s face,
and her blue eyes lost most of their frost.
“Oh,
He’s quite the rogue, our father.
Believe it or not, we were all born on the same day of the same year. Verity’s
the youngest, though, by two minutes. If you can’t guess, Sage is the middle
sister, born one minute after me.”
That
statement nearly blew his mind. He had no idea how to respond. “Who is this
Stone guy Sage is so worried about?”
“Last
I heard, he was ancient history. If you’re smart, you won’t speak his name to
Verity. Especially if you want to see that beach of hers. Feel free to tell her
I mentioned it.” Her wink was accompanied by her push away from the wall, and
again, he felt his senses go on his alert. His heart rate rocketed, but she turned
away, taking the sense of danger with her.
To be continued....Thanks for dropping in. Don't forget to check out what fellow romance author Jennifer Simpkins has to say about those damn Yankees
this week. She has some sexy new cover art posted for her upcoming release, Trusting Patience, too.
