Children of Dynasty by Christine Carroll Page B

things.”
    In the interest of harmony, she decided to drop the issue of her father. Rory might feel the same involuntary negative response she did at the mere thought of Davis Campbell. Instead, she gestured at the still-damp, salt-stained legs of her workout pants. “I don’t have a thing to wear.”
    He dug in his pocket and tossed a credit card on the table. “We’ll buy whatever we need in Carmel.” Reaching across, he took her hand. “Haven’t you ever wanted to go someplace on the spur of the moment?”
    She had thought about it. Inevitably, it had been with a darkly handsome man who looked a lot like Rory Campbell.
    His fingers persuaded, stroking a light rhythm on hers.
    To keep things in perspective, she pulled away. “Let me think.”
    “Don’t think.” He recaptured her hand and brought it to his lips. With the tip of his tongue, he teased the space where two fingers joined, a butterfly’s touch with a deep, roiling impact. “Just feel.”
    She took her hand away again, thoughts swirling … of conflicting interests between their companies, Davis Campbell’s ire, and her father’s disappointment if he knew where she was.
    “No thoughts of the future or the past,” Rory proposed. “Just an escape to a fantasy world where we can do whatever we want.”
    “That’ll be the day.” She rose and turned away. Standing in front of the low wall surrounding the patio, she heard the scrape of his café chair on the tiles. Surrounded by the scent of potted flowers, she detected the spicy addition of his aftershave … just before his hands spanned her waist.
    Though she couldn’t see his eyes, she imagined their expression. Seductive and pleading, yet with a pride that said he was no beggar. Desire swirled and gathered at the base of her stomach. In the two weeks since she’d seen him again, she’d relived their past with a sense of hopelessness, like biting on an aching tooth. Now, for the first time, she permitted herself to imagine making love with him again.
    “Trust me,” he whispered near her ear. “You won’t be sorry.”
    It was too soon for trust between them; she could not forget his past betrayal. But her knees went weak with the same primal reaction she’d always had when his breath warmed her neck.
    In an uncanny display of mind reading, he said, “If you don’t trust me, trust your instinct.”
    He reached back to the table, picked up his cell phone, and held it before her eyes.
    As if in a dream, she saw her hand lift and take it.
    Yes, said the Nikko operator, John Grant was registered. The line began to ring.
    He wouldn’t be there. It would ring and ring and then she’d tell Rory she couldn’t go.
    “Hello,” said her father.
    “Dad.” Mariah took a hesitant breath and glanced at Rory.
    “Don’t say no,” he said urgently.
    He was right. “No” wasn’t good enough anymore. Neither of their fathers had any business telling her and Rory how to live.
    “Mariah?” John asked. “Where are you?”
    Once more, she paused. She could truthfully say she was with a friend, but that set a precedent for a secret affair, something she had no stomach for. Though he might be let down, even angry, Dad deserved the truth from her rather than from an “On The Spot” story about her going to Rory’s townhouse.
    “I’m with Rory. He rescued me from the press this afternoon.”
    “When will I see you, then?” he asked tightly.
    “I know you don’t approve, but you were right about there being something between me and Rory. Maybe you saw it before I could admit it to myself.” She spoke into her father’s silence. “With all that’s happened this week, the accident, and Charley …” She swallowed. “Rory and I are going to drive down to Big Sur for the weekend.”

CHAPTER 6
     
    O n the drive down, Mariah had trouble believing she had told her father where she was going. All he had said was, “I hope you know what you’re doing, daughter,” but the resignation in his