Rogue

“Daphne hates me,” he said, looking upset, eating another fortune cookie that had been left on the table.

“She doesn't hate you. She doesn't know you. She's just scared. I've never really dated, and I haven't brought anyone home for dinner. She's afraid of what this means.”

“Did she tell you that?” He looked intrigued, and Maxine laughed.

“No, but I'm a mother and an adolescent shrink. She feels threatened.”

“Did I say something to upset her?” He looked worried.

“No, you were great.” Maxine smiled at him. “She has just decided to take a position. Personally, I hate teenage girls,” Maxine said blithely, and this time he laughed, given what she did for a living. “Actually, fifteen is worse. But it starts at thirteen. Hormones and all that stuff. They should be locked up until they're sixteen or seventeen.”

“That's a hell of a thing to say for a woman who makes a career of dealing with them.”

“Not at all. I know whereof I speak. They all torture their mothers at that age. Their dads are the heroes.”

“I noticed,” he said glumly. Daphne had bragged about hers the first time they met. “How am I doing with the boys?”

“Great,” she said again, and looked into his eyes with a gentle smile. “Thanks for doing this at all. I know it's not your thing.”

“No, but you are,” he said gently. “I'm doing it for you.”

“I know,” she said softly, and before they knew what had happened, they were kissing in the kitchen, and Sam walked in.

“Uh-oh,” he said the moment he saw them, and they jumped apart, looking guilty, as Maxine opened the fridge and tried to look busy. “Daff will kill you if she sees you kissing him,” he said to his mother, and she and Charles both laughed.

“It won't happen again. I promise. Sorry, Sam,” Maxine said. Sam shrugged, grabbed two cookies, and walked out of the room again.

“I really like him,” Charles said warmly.

“It's good for all of them to have you around, even Daphne,” she said calmly. “It's a lot more real than having me all to themselves.”

“I didn't realize I was here on a training mission,” Charles said with a groan, and she laughed again.

They sat in the living room and talked for a while afterward, and Charles left around ten. In spite of Daphne's hostility at dinner, it had been a very pleasant evening. Charles acted as though he had survived going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, and Maxine looked happy when she walked into her room and found Sam in her bed, already half asleep.

“Are you going to marry him, Mom?” he whispered, barely able to keep his eyes open as she kissed him.

“No, I'm not. He's just a friend.”

“Then why were you kissing him?”

“Just like that, because I like him. But that doesn't mean I'm going to marry him.”

“You mean like Dad and the girls he goes out with?”

“Yeah, kind of. It's no big deal.”

“He always says that too.” Sam looked relieved and then drifted off to sleep as she looked at him. The arrival of Charles on the scene had certainly shaken everyone up, but she still thought it was a good thing. And it was fun for her to have a man to go out with. It wasn't a crime, she reminded herself. They'd just have to get used to it. After all, Blake dated. Why couldn't she?

Chapter 11

Blake's time with Arabella in London before Christmas was absolutely magical. He had never been as happy or as besotted with anyone in his life. She had even done a small naked portrait of him. He loved every single moment he spent with her. He took her to St. Moritz for the weekend, and skied with her. They went to Paris for three days to Christmas shop, and stayed at the Ritz. They even went to Venice and stayed in the palazzo he had there. They were the most romantic times he had shared with any woman. And inevitably, he had invited her to come to Aspen with him after Christmas, to spend the vacation with him and his children. He and Arabella were spending Christmas Eve together in London. She wanted him to meet her family, but he wanted to be alone with her and savor every moment. He wasn't big on meeting anyone's family. Things usually went awry when he did, and it raised false expectations. In Arabella's case, he just wanted her to himself, and she was more than willing. She had been staying in his London house with him since they met. And they had already been in the tabloids together numerous times.

Daphne had spotted them in People magazine, and had showed it to her mother, with a disapproving look. “Looks like Dad's in love again.”

“Give him a break, Daff. It's never serious with him. He's just having fun.” Daphne was being tough on both her parents these days, Blake as well as Maxine.