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Chapter Twenty
"I am going up there," Robert said grimly, heading for the parlor door.
"I would not suggest it," Richard said quietly, standing to place his son against his shoulder and rub the crying three-month-old's back soothingly. "The women will not welcome you, and Lisa will not be happy to see you. "
"Hmm," Daniel said with amusement. "Do you not recall what happened when Richard went up while Christiana was in labor?"
The words made Robert pause. He did recall. Christiana had cursed her husband, and thrown the first thing she could find at him, ranting about putting her through "this hell" before screaming in agony as another contraction had hit her. Richard had come away with a bloody nose from being hit in the face with the book Christiana had wheeled at him.
"About now Lisa is probably cursing all men to hell, but most especially you for getting her into this predicament," Richard pointed out in almost a whisper as his son, Richard Junior, began to nod off to sleep.
"Well, I hardly did it alone. She participated," Robert muttered, but turned back and resumed his pacing of the small parlor at Madison Manor.
Daniel chuckled at his disgruntled expression and walked to the front window to peer out. Probably checking on his two-year-old son, Christopher, Robert supposed, knowing the child's nurse had taken the boy out front for some fresh air. Daniel did dote on his son. As much as Richard doted on his own and they all doted on their wives. But then they were women well worth doting on, Robert thought, marveling over the fact that he actually felt that way about a wife. His Lisa. It was all due to her. Any other woman would have run off with Pembroke or Tibald or one of the other suitors who had tried to claim her attention when he was acting a complete idiot and refusing to acknowledge his feelings for her. Not Lisa though. She had heart, tenacity and was fiercely loyal.
That was so obvious now, that nearly three years on, he couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. This time with Lisa had been the happiest of his life to date. Oh, they had the occasional spat, the odd falling-out, and Lisa could try his patience at times as much as he tried hers, but all in all, life was good. Better than good. The Langley curse had well and truly been broken.
While Robert had suffered one or two bouts of jealousy and worry when other men had paid more attention to his wife than he liked, Lisa had always seemed to sense his feelings and had found some way to reassure him that she loved him as much today as she always had, and those moments had passed. He doubted any other woman would have been quite as sensitive and understanding, but Lisa knew him better than anyone else. Sometimes she even seemed to understand him better than he knew himself, Robert thought wryly. He was a lucky man indeed.
"My lord?"
Robert glanced around at Bet's voice, worry claiming him as he raised his eyebrows in question. "Yes?"
"You can go up now," Bet said and then quickly hurried away before he could ask if Lisa was all right or if it was a boy or girl. Swallowing, he headed for the door at once, aware that Richard and Daniel were on his heels.
"What's happening?" Lord Madison asked, appearing at his office door as the men passed.
Robert didn't even slow, merely saying, "We can go up now," on his way past. He wasn't surprised when Lisa's father immediately joined the small parade.
Lisa was sitting up in bed with a small bundle caught protectively to her chest. She looked absolutely exhausted but beautiful when Robert hurried into the room with the other men. He spared barely a glance for Suzette and Christiana, who stood on either side of the bed like bookends. His eyes went directly to Lisa's face and stayed there with concern when he saw the worry on her expression.
"Are you all right?" he asked, dropping to sit on the side of the bed, and hard-pressed not to take her hands in his. He couldn't, however, without dislodging the baby she held, so he touched her hip instead, wanting the contact to reassure himself despite her nod. "Don't you want to see your child?" she asked when he continued to just stare at her. She seemed nervous, he noted with a frown.
"Of course he does," Suzette said, bending to unwrap the blanket a bit so the baby was more easily viewed. "My lord, your daughter, Lady Sara Maitland. "
"I thought it would be nice to name her after my mother," Lisa babbled quickly. "I hope you don't mind. "
"No, of course not," he murmured, glancing to the small redfaced child. She was absolutely beautiful, of course. But how could she not be, with Lisa for a mother, he thought. Reaching out, Robert brushed one finger against the baby's soft cheek, smiling when one waving hand shot up and grasped it, trying to draw it to its mouth. "The first girl in the family," Richard murmured, moving closer to get a better look.
"Hmmm. She shall be spoiled rotten by her doting uncles," Daniel promised with a grin.
"And terrorized by her male cousins," Christiana said with amusement.
"No doubt," Lisa murmured.
"Can I hold her?" Lord Madison asked, moving up between Christiana and Richard.
Lisa nodded and held the baby up and the old man took her as carefully as if she were made of spun glass.
"Little Sara," he cooed, rocking the child slightly as he walked a little away from the bed. "You shall grow up to be as lovely as your grandmother was. I shall tell you all about what a wonderful woman she was. "
Robert smiled faintly at the words and then glanced back to Lisa as the others followed the old man and baby like they were rats following the siren song of the pied piper. But seeing the concern still on Lisa's face, he frowned.
"What is it, my love?" he asked, taking her hands in his now that they were free. "Is something wrong? You are okay, aren't you?"
"Yes, of course," she assured him quickly. "I just - are you very disappointed?"
Robert frowned with confusion. "Disappointed with what?"
"Well, I know most men want a boy rather than a girl, and . . . "
Her words died as he chuckled softly.
Shaking his head, he squeezed her hands gently. "My love, I am happy to have a girl. The Langleys have produced only boys for centuries. 'Tis time a little girl joined the ranks and I am proud to provide her. " He bent to kiss her gently, and then sat up and added, "I guess this means the curse definitely is ended. I can hardly raise a daughter to be a woman hater. "
"You are not a woman hater, my lord," Lisa said, smiling and relaxing now that she knew he was pleased to have a daughter. "No I am definitely a lover of women," he agreed, leaning his forehead against hers and adding, "And you are the one who taught me how to be one. "
"Oh, I do love you, Robert," she whispered, slipping her arms around his shoulders.
"And I you, Lisa," he assured her. "Thank you for my daughter.
And for being patient enough to let me learn that I loved and trusted you. "
Lisa responded by kissing him. He suspected she had intended it to be a light brushing of lips, but as always he couldn't resist deepening the kiss. When she pulled away with a groan, he rubbed his nose against hers and whispered, "How long until we can begin working on a little sister for Sara?"
"Well I would really rather wait a year or so to recover from this birth, my lord, before having another," she said dryly. "But we can begin practicing soon I'm sure. "
"Practice is good," Robert said with a grin, and kissed her again, but this time keeping his passion in check. They had a lifetime to practice. He was looking forward to it.
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"Have fun," Carolyn muttered, starting up the walk to the lane.
"Yeah, right. "
Honestly, the longer she was here the more Carolyn regretted coming . . . and it had only been a little more than twenty-four hours. But so far, she'd had an uncomfortable meal with Genie and strangers, gone to bed early, got up early, and sat
on the beach alone with a book . . . mostly in the shade because everyone knew the sun wasn't good for you. She hadn't been reading the book, but had basically pretended to, keeping it propped on her chest while she watched the people around her under the cover of her sunglasses.
It had been a depressing exercise, Carolyn thought as she started along the dark lane. Watching all that billing and cooing going on around her as she sat alone without even Bethany for company. She'd found herself lying there wondering what was wrong with her. She was average in looks, with a nice face, shoulder-length blond hair and . . . well, all right, she could stand to lose a few pounds, but she was average. Why didn't she have someone to love her too? Of course, then the heckler, the voice in her head that sounded like her ex-husband, had helpfully listed all her faults. It was a never-ending list and had taken up most of the day. "Depressing," Carolyn muttered, moving automatically to the edge of the road as she heard a vehicle approaching from behind.
Unfortunately, she moved too far to the side, and her heels promptly sank into the grassy verge and nearly sent her splat onto her face. Managing to stay upright by doing a little dance that took her right out of one shoe, Carolyn sighed and bent to pull it out of the dirt. She then cursed under her breath when her purse promptly slid off her shoulder and dropped into the dirt.
"Pretty lady, what are you doing walking? You should have called down for a ride. Come, get in, we have room. "
Carolyn froze at that voice and didn't need to look to see that she was shooting the moon at a vanload of resort guests. It just had to be the case. It was her kind of luck. Sighing, she pulled her shoe free, grabbed up her purse and slung it back over her shoulder as she straightened and turned to the van. Her smile was a bit forced when she saw it was Adam beaming at her from the driver's seat. That just figured. With Beth's words ringing in her ear the last person she wanted to see was the first she did.
"Don't they ever let you go home, Adam?" Carolyn asked with a forced smile.
"Two drivers are sick. I am working overtime. Overtime pays well," he said with a grin. "Come get in. We will take you down.
You can sit in the front with me. "
Carolyn hesitated, but then limped around the van to the passenger-side door with one shoe on and one off. She was running a little late and would get there faster with a ride. Mind you, it was going to be uncomfortable making small talk with Adam while Bethany's words were ringing in her head. Good Lord, he really didn't look more than twenty-one or twenty-two.
Shaking that thought away, she opened the door and climbed in, smiling at Adam as she did.
"There, see? It's all good," Adam said cheerfully, sending the van moving forward again as soon as she'd settled in the seat and tugged the door closed.
"Yes, thank you. " Carolyn quickly undid her shoe, slipped it back on and did it up only to frown as her heel immediately slipped out again. She stared at it blankly, slow to realize that her foot hadn't worked itself out of the shoe, but that the sandal strap had actually broken.
"Damn," she muttered.
"This pretty lady is Caro," Adam announced to the van at large, and then added, "Caro, this is the band. I am taking them down to the main building so they can perform. "
Carolyn briefly forgot about her shoe and glanced around with surprise, her eyes skating over the shadowed faces of the five other people on the van's bench seats behind her. It was hard to see much. The roads weren't exactly well lit; all she could really make out was that she thought one of them might be a woman. Maybe two, she thought next as she noted the long hair on the one in the seat directly behind hers, although, if that was a woman, she was one hell of a big female.
A snicker came from the smaller one she'd thought was a female and Caro glanced to her curiously.
"Say hello," Adam ordered cheerfully.
"Hello," Carolyn murmured even as the riders in the back did as well. Well most of them did, the one in the back who had moonlight glinting off his bald head remained silent and she eyed him curiously, wondering if he shaved his head as some sort of fashion statement, or was balding and trying to hide it by shaving his head. Really, that sort of thing fooled no one, she thought. Although he seemed to have a nicely shaped head, the sort that took well to the style.
"Caro is a friend of Genie's," Adam announced and then glanced to her and asked, "You are sitting with Genie tonight to watch them play?"
"Yes," she said, smiling as she settled back in her seat. "Genie and a young couple on their honeymoon, Marguerite and Julius. "
Adam nodded, but the sudden tension in the back of the van was actually palpable, and Carolyn recalled that Marguerite and Julius had arranged for the band to come here. She bit her lip, wondering if she should say something to acknowledge that, but didn't have a clue what she should say.
"We are all related to Marguerite and Julius. "
Carolyn turned in her seat again to see that the smaller female had sat forward in the second bench seat to peer between the two band members on the first seat . . . and she was definitely female. Not that Carolyn could see her any better, but the woman's voice was a beautiful, husky singsong that could only be female.
"Really?" she asked with a smile. "How are you related?"
"Raffaele, Zanipolo, Santo and I are all nieces and nephews," she said, pointing to each dark figure in turn. She then gestured to the second figure with long hair, the possibly very large female and added, "And Christian here is their so - "
"Their brother," the one called Raffaele interrupted. "Julius's brother," the woman agreed, and then jabbed Christian in the shoulder and taunted, "Put your hair back in its ponytail, cugino. Surely you realize you could be mistaken for a woman like that?"
"What?" the man asked, glancing over his shoulder to her with what appeared to be confusion, though it was hard to tell in this light. The woman leaned to whisper something by his ear and then sat back with a laugh as Christian muttered under his breath. He turned to peer toward Carolyn then and she stared back curiously, wishing she could see his face. Like the girl, he had a nice voice, though his was definitely all male.
Growing uncomfortable under the man's stare, she slid her gaze to the others, noting that every one of them appeared to be peering from him to her and back almost expectantly, their heads in silhouette as they turned forward then back, then forward again. Finding it all a little too strange, Carolyn started to turn back in her seat again, but paused as the big man in the back rumbled, "Since she named everyone but herself, I'll do it. The girl is Giacinta. "
"Giacinta," Carolyn murmured the alien name with interest. She'd never heard it before.
"Everyone calls me Gia," the woman said absently, her gaze on Christian, and then sounding somewhat awed, she said, "You can't read her, can you?"
Carolyn was raising her eyebrows at the strange question when Santo growled "Gia" in warning.
"Here we are," Adam announced cheerfully, and Carolyn glanced around to see that they were approaching the front of the main building.
"Thank you, Adam," she said as he brought the van to a halt. "No problem," Adam said as the band began to pile out. "You call for a ride next time. It's a long way to walk and uneven. We are happy to collect you. "
"Thank you," Carolyn repeated with a smile and opened her door. She turned on the seat to get out, only recalling that her shoe was broken when it slipped off her heel and to the side before she could plant it on the ground. Carolyn immediately grabbed for the door to keep from twisting her ankle or stumbling and then gasped in surprise as she was suddenly caught by the waist and lifted away from the van.
Clutching at the arms holding her, she stared blankly down at the young man carrying her, noting the long, deep auburn hair, the chiseled features and then the wide, deep black eyes with flecks of some lighter color in them. Eyes very like Julius Notte's, she thought absently, though this man's were larger with an almond shape his didn't have.
"Grab her shoe," he growled, never taking his eyes from hers, and it was only when she heard his voice that she realized it was the one called Christian.
Flushing under his intense stare, Carolyn glanced over his shoulder in time to see a man with short, black hair bend to collect her shoe and follow them, and then Christian was setting her down. He didn't just set her down as he'd picked her up though; Christian eased her down, holding her close as he did, so that their bodies rubbed against each other in a long, slow full-body caress that left her flushed and breathless and completely flummoxed.
When her feet hit the ground, the cold on her bare one was something of a jolt and had her tugging free and then dropping to sit with a little bump on the bench he'd set her in front of.
"Thank you," Carolyn breathed, looking everywhere but at him.
Her gaze slid over the other band members, noting their resemblance to each other and their differences. Zanipolo had long hair like Christian, but his was tied back in a ponytail; it was also black like Raffaele's, which was shorter. She suspected Santo's hair would be black as well if he let it grow; at least his eyebrows were black, she noted, taking in the thick metal rings on each of his fingers as he ran one hand over his bald head. The rings looked more like some modern kind of brass knuckles in silver than actual jewelry. Her gaze slid to Giacinta then, a pretty, petite blonde and the only one of the group not wearing pure black. Her outfit was a short red skirt and white tank with a white blouse open over it.
Spotting her shoe in Raffaele's hand as he approached, Carolyn forced a smile and held out her hand, but Christian took it to examine.
"It's broken," he said with a frown.
"Yes. " Carolyn risked glancing his way, and felt another flush rise up through her. Biting her lip, she looked away and briefly considered taking the next shuttle back up to the villa for new shoes. But she was already late, and really, she was so flustered and embarrassed, all she wanted at that moment was to get away from the man presently holding her sandal.
That left one option, Carolyn decided, and raised her shod foot to quickly remove the still good sandal. She then stood, snatched the broken sandal from Christian's fingers, murmured, "Thank you," and hurried away through the main building on bare feet, aware that every member of the band watched her go. She could feel their eyes burning into her back. They probably thought her a crazy lady for rushing off barefoot like that, but she didn't care. She - "Carolyn?"
Sliding to a halt, Carolyn glanced around to see Marguerite and Julius crossing the lobby toward her.
"I'm so glad you made it. I was starting to worry," Marguerite said, giving her a hug in greeting. She then turned her toward the front of the building, saying, "We were just going to check and see that Gia and the boys made it down all right. "
