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"You do not wantme to wash up first?" He asked, eyebrows lifted.
"I presumed youshowered at the club?" Letting go of his arm, she went to takeher seat at the head of the table. Automatically, he would havepulled the chair out for her, but he knew his mother and ElizabethConnelly did not show any signs of weakness.
She also did notthink much of chivalry, as she calls it. So, being the son who knewher well, he went to take his seat.
"I had the chefprepare your favorite."
"So I see."Lifting the cover, he sniffed the roasted duck and glanced over towhere his mother had lifted another cover to reveal the marinatedasparagus and baby potatoes. "I feel special."
"You areexceptional." Picking up the snowy white napkin, she spread itover her lap and reached for the wine.
"I sent adetailed report-"
One look from her wasenough to stop him mid-sentence. "We do not discuss at thedinner table. Darling, you have been away much too long. You areforgetting the rules."
"How capriciousof me." His engaging smile came and melted her heart as usual.He was the only one she cared about and ever since he was growinginside her uterus, she loved him with a frightening ferocity.Suddenly, her fickle husband's goings-on were of no account.
She had fallen evendeeper when she held him in her arms and stared at his golden beauty,the bright and inquisitive green eyes. He was her prize and the mainreason she had stayed in the deplorable marriage. The boy had grownup to become an incredibly handsome man and one she was extremelyproud of.
"You areforgiven." She told him graciously. "I am seeing someone."
The wine glass wasarrested halfway to his mouth as he stared at her.
"Well."
"He is someoneon the board. Allan Whittingham."
Putting the glassdown carefully, he propped his elbows on the table, not consideringher objections about his lack of table etiquette. "He is afairly new member. As I recall, his father was there until youretired him. I also recall that the guy is about fifteen years yourjunior."
"I am not hungup on age." She said with a graceful shrug. "I am not goingto marry him. We are just lovers, and he is quite adept as one."
Brennan felt as ifhis head was about to explode. "That's not something a son likesto hear from his mother."
"Why not?"Her eyes glimmered in amusement as she stared at him. "You havebeen sexually active since you were thirteen." her expressionturned sober. "My husband thought that it was prudent -"She nodded. "That was the exact word he used. 'Darling is a boy,and I must turn him into a man. I am going to be discreet about it.
He is a beautifulboy, and I just want to make certain he does not have homosexualtendencies.'" She took a sip of the excellent vintage and made amental note to get the girl she hired to follow up on the vineyardshe had purchased a year ago.
"Mother-"
"No." Sheshook her head. "It does not matter. I was weak and was underthe impression that being a good wife, I was supposed to be obedientand subservient."
Despite the delicacyof the situation and the gravity, he felt a smile flitting around hislips. "You are the strongest woman I know."
"Thanks for thatdarling." She told him gratefully. "There are things Inever told you about your father."
"Mother-"
"Darling, youknow how I hate to be interrupted."
"I do not needto hear," he told her tightly, his appetite disappearing. Heknew the stories, most of them involving his father. The man had beennotorious for getting his name in the papers and his affairs withwomen young enough to be his daughters.
The man had tried toget his son to follow in his footsteps, and at first, to Brennan, hisfather had been a hero, a man who was not afraid to get what hewanted, but he had seen the hurt look on his mother's face and hadbeen sickened by it.
"This is forme." She told him soberly. "I love you."
"I already knowthat."
"More thananything else in the world. More than Connelly's Cosmetics andcertainly more than the man I married. "
