Chapter 5
Kate
Kate hurried back to her grandmother’s house. She was going to ask for a car to take her, but her entire body felt so charged. She replayed the scene over and over in her mind. The way Grant towered over her made her feel so small yet protected. He was so tall! Kate was not a short person—she had modeled as a teenager. She thought about Grant’s ice-blue eyes, dark in the starlight, and his hair, military short, but when it grew out, she would be able to run her fingers through it.
Stop it, she chided herself. She took several deep breaths of the clear early-spring air as she hiked up the drive to her grandmother’s historic house. It wasn’t as large as the Holbrook estate, but it was familiar and home.
“Katie!” her grandmother called as soon as Maria, the housekeeper, let her in.
Her grandmother was sprawled out on her fainting couch in the living room. The television was on low volume, showing a panel discussing Grant Jones and the Tedson case. Her grandmother, Margaret, jumped up. She was spry for a woman in her seventies.
“Sunscreen, exercise, and a gin and tonic at two p.m. keep me young,” she would always tell Kate.
“Hi, Grandma.” Kate hugged her.
“Sit down and have a drink with me. Maria, bring Kate a nightcap.”
Kate waved the maid away. “I’m tired,” she said.
“Oh, no, you don’t. I don’t want to hear any of that,” her grandmother admonished her. “You have to tell me all about the new Mr. Holbrook. My word in heaven, he’s all over the news. All over, I tell you. I need the full rundown. I’m meeting the girls for tennis at the club tomorrow, and I swore I would tell them everything.”
“I can’t blab about Mr. Holbrook’s business,” Kate said, horrified.
“I knew Walter when he was in diapers,” Margaret said. “I changed his diapers, actually. There are no secrets with me. Now spill. But first the good stuff, then the play-by-play. Did you see him with his shirt off? Any tattoos in unusual places?”
Kate blushed, saying, “Grandma!”
“So you saw something.”
“No.”
“What happened? You’re flushed, and your eyes are dilated. Canoodling in the butler’s pantry? Tryst in the garden?”
Kate blushed a deeper shade of red. Her grandmother gave her a knowing smile. “I can’t blame you. If only I were fifty years younger. Did you do your patriotic duty?”
“He only kissed me,” Kate said through her teeth.
“Ha! I knew it!” her grandmother said triumphantly.
“I’m going to bed,” Kate announced, kissing the older woman on the cheek. “I have to give him a tour in the morning.”
“Maybe I’ll have a lunch date with him,” her grandmother said suggestively, waggling her eyebrows.
“Not tomorrow—he’s overwhelmed enough as it is,” Kate said over her shoulder as she walked out of the room.
Kate ran the water in the tub, then she tied up her hair and slipped in, settling down for a long, relaxing bath. The sexually frustrated part of her brain commented that the bath would be so much nicer if only Grant were there to share it.
“Cut it out,” she whispered to herself. “That is your boss’s son. You cannot afford to lose this job. Not after what you did! Just ignore it. Buckle down. Grant is about to be thrown to the wolves, and Walter Holbrook is expecting you to help him through it.”
After giving herself a talking to, Kate toweled off as the water drained. She applied her nightly facial serums and creams. Her grandmother’s voice spoke in the back of her mind. “Spread it on your neck and down to your décolletage. You don’t want to have tennis chest.” As she spread the cream down her chest, all she could imagine were Grant’s hands on her.
“Forget about him!” she hissed at herself. What was wrong with her? After the incident, she had sworn off falling for men. She was concentrating on building her professional reputation. That was her goal, and sleeping with her boss’s son did not meet that objective at all.
She slipped into the four-poster bed with the softest sheets imaginable. Normally, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but she tossed and turned all night. By the time the early hints of sun peeked through her window, she wasn’t feeling any more rested.
“I’m going to stop trying to sleep and accomplish something productive,” she said. She went down to the gym on the first floor of the house and lifted weights, then she jumped in the pool for a swim. After working out, she felt slightly more balanced. She dressed then waved to her grandmother, who was already dressed and breakfasting in the solarium.
“I’m off!” she said cheerily.
“Do bring the young Mr. Holbrook to the club, Kate. We must show him off!”
“Bye, Grandma!” Kate said.
“I hope you put on nice underwear just in case!”
Kate ignored her grandmother and took off at a brisk walk to the Holbrook estate. She greeted Stefan, the butler, at the door.
“Grant is taking his breakfast on the terrace,” he told her, “if you would like to join him. I’m sure you need to go over the day’s itinerary. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.”
“Of course. Thank you,” she replied and went out to the back of the house.
She paused for a moment, looking at the scene before her. Grant was sitting on the stone terrace, his chair half turned toward her, the morning sun bathing his skin. He was wearing sunglasses that Stefan had pilfered from Walter’s collection. He looked as if he belonged, surrounded by all the elegant surroundings. She could see him smile as Gus ran around the table. She walked over to him, her heels clicking on the polished stone. Grant propped his sunglasses on his forehead to look at her.
“Good morning,” he said. She gave him a professional smile and took some of the eggs and toast from the serving platter.
“Did you sleep all right?” she asked him.
“It was fine.”
“Great!” she said too brightly, trying not to look at him and catch the hungry look in his eye. “I’d like to go over the itinerary for the day, if you don’t mind.”