Chapter2
Natalie walked out of her bedroom and found herself in the sitting room. She admired the beautiful view for a moment and was just about to walk down the long hallway when she saw a note taped to the doorframe just before it.
‘We’re outside at the pool. Left at the foyer, through the living room, left at the library, through the kitchen, out the doors. Can’t wait to see you, Love Mom’
She smiled and folded the note, tucking it into her pants pocket. She walked down the hallway to the foyer and turned left into the living room. The living room was four times the size of her bedroom, and it looked as if it had appeared out of an interior design magazine. It was beautifully done, in something that blended into an elegant beach house style. Comfortable yet refined. She smiled at it as she looked around at it and then she walked through it to a wide-open doorway that led to a spacious hallway.
Across the hallway from the living room was a good-sized library, reaching up two stories. Every wall in it was lined with books, save for the windows that opened up to a garden, and a few places where paintings were set into the wall. A fireplace was fixed in one spot, with a comfortable and thickly cushioned leather sofa just before it, and there were a few chairs set about the room which looked as if they might be perfect for spending a few hours in to read a book and relax. She saw a mini bar in one corner of the room and smiled at the thought of someone pouring a drink and then settling in on the luxurious sofa before a roaring fire on a cold and foggy day.
Leaving the library, she walked down another hall and through a big arched doorway into a distinctly Italian kitchen. Spacious and beautiful, it was done with a terra-cotta tiled floor and Italian marble countertops. There were three sinks, two stoves and ovens, and an island in the middle of the room that could have seated ten people around it, though it also included a sink and a cooktop. To the far side of the kitchen was a breakfast nook with a round, thick wooden table and chairs. Like all the other rooms she had seen that faced westward, the kitchen had windows all along the walls on that side, looking out to the sea.
The kitchen was so warm and inviting, even as empty as it was, that it was easy for Natalie to imagine it filled with people laughing and cooking, talking and perhaps drinking wine, creating masterpiece meals together for celebrations like the holidays or even just a big family dinner. It felt like a place she would want to be, a comfort area.
Then, looking out of the double paned glass doors at the other side of the room, she saw a glimpse of a wide patio and pool. There, relaxing in chairs around a table and under an umbrella, was her mother, talking and laughing softly with a man who had salt and pepper hair.
Natalie took a deep breath and walked out of the double doors, closing them quietly behind her. Her mother looked up, saw her, and immediately came out of her chair toward her daughter. Embracing her tightly, she grinned and kissed her cheek. With a concerned look in her eyes, Charisse searched her daughter’s face.
“Are you rested enough? Did you eat?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes,” smiled Natalie, “the food that was brought for me was amazing, and I ate most of it, and I probably slept for too long, but I do feel really rested and good now, thank you.”
Charisse grinned. “Good! I changed the note on the doorway three times just to let you know where we were. Well, let’s introduce you; come with me.” Her mother turned and walked toward the man who had been sitting at the table with her, but who had since stood up and was waiting patiently for them there.
He was tall and looked as if he had once had black hair and green eyes, though his hair had since given way to sleek strands of silver within, and there were laugh lines around the corners of his eyes. He smiled wide and held his arms out to hug Natalie.
“Natalie, welcome home. I’m Wilson, but if you’d like, you can call me Dad. I’m so glad to finally get to meet you!” He embraced her warmly, and she hugged him in return. She was a little surprised that he was so welcoming, but then again, she could see in his eyes that he meant what he said and that he was in earnest.
“Thank you so much. I’ll give that some thought and see what feels right for me.” She hadn’t once thought about what she was going to call him. She was still getting over the shock of finding out that her mother was getting married to him. Wanting to change the subject, she brightened and glanced over at the house beside them.
“You have a beautiful home! I really love the kitchen and library. Well, and the room I’m staying in as well. It’s all so lovely. I’ve been staying in much different accommodations in Asia, so this is a big change for me.” She gave him another smile.
He invited her to sit with them at the table. “It’s your home now too, Natalie, and the room that you’re in is your room permanently, unless you would like to choose another of the bedrooms in the house. There are more to choose from, but that’s the best one that’s unoccupied. It has the best view. Would you like a drink?” He indicated a mini bar, and she nodded.
“Yes, a martini, thank you.” She felt like she was making her way through some kind of strange dream. None of it felt real, but she knew that she was very much there, and it was truly happening.
He handed her a martini and sat down. “I’m really glad that you like it here. I hoped that you would.” He took a sip of his own drink and pointed across the beautifully sculpted grounds to a European garden just a short ways away. “You see those gardens over there?”
She turned and looked at the area that he was pointing to. There were small hedges, white marble fountains, an iron filigree gazebo laced with flowering vines, and marble columns that were reminiscent of Rome in its glory days.
“My goodness!” She knew she was going to be spending quite a bit of time in the garden when the weather was good. It was stunning, and she could feel the peaceful atmosphere of it from where she sat. “That’s so beautiful!”
He beamed happily. “It is, isn’t it? The woman who designed it is a seventh-generation gardener from France and Italy. It’s the genuine article, except that most of the plants are regional to this area.” He looked from the garden back to Natalie then. “That’s where your mother and I are getting married.”
Charisse grinned then and reached for his hand, sliding her fingers into his. “That’s where he proposed too,” she added with a romantic smile sent his way.
Natalie could see the love between the two of them. There was no way to miss it. She realized as she sat there that she was looking at the real thing, and it inspired her to depths that she had not known existed in her.
“I love to see you so happy, Mom,” she said suddenly, without any thought. “It’s really wonderful that you’re both so happy. I wish you both the very best. Congratulations!” She meant it. She had only been there mere minutes, and she could tell that it was the right thing at the right time, and just like her mother had told her, when it’s right you just know it, and you go with it.
They both thanked her, and then they kissed each other. She looked away for a moment as they did, and then they both turned their attention back to her, their smiles wide and their eyes bright and twinkling.
“I always wanted a daughter.” Wilson gazed pleasantly at her. “I’m glad that it worked out to be you. I’ll have another daughter soon. My oldest son is getting married too. You should meet my boys today; they’re both around. In fact, I think that’s Adam coming back up from the beach just now.” He leaned a little and looked toward the beach.
Striding over the sand in bare feet with his shoes in his hands was a younger looking version of Wilson. Tall, muscular, ruggedly handsome, and amiable. He left the sandy beach and wiped his bare feet on the grass before pulling on his shoes, and then he looked up toward the three of them sitting at the table, and he waved.
He came to them, and his eyes stayed on Natalie as he approached them. “Well, hello there! You must be Natalie. I’m Adam.” Like his father, he held his arms open for a hug, and Natalie rose from her chair and embraced him in a friendly way.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she told him with a smile. She had been an only child all of her life, and she wondered what it was going to be like to have stepbrothers around. She’d have to get used to it, but he got off to a good start with her when his eyes left her face and glanced down toward her drink.
“You’re drinking a martini? Those glasses don’t hold much. Looks like you’re almost out; can I make you another one?” He strolled over to the mini bar.
“That would be nice, thank you! I agree about the size of martini glasses. Some places make them a little bigger, but that’s usually for tourists.” She laughed a bit, and he joined her as he made her the drink.
When he’d poured himself a scotch, he sat down at the table with them and took a long sip of it. Natalie tipped her head curiously as she watched him.
“So, Adam, your dad tells me that you’re getting married too. When will that be?” She wondered if it was strange for the father and son that they were both getting married.
Adam set his glass on the table, but he kept his hand around it. “We’re a long way off from the wedding date. Theresa wanted a long engagement, so we’ll make it official later on. You’ll meet her soon; she’s here fairly often.”
“Well, congratulations! I look forward to spending some time with you both,” Natalie said, hoping that they would all enjoy each other and become friends at least.
He gave her a grin. “Oh, you’ll love her. Everyone does. She has a great sense of humor, and everyone falls in love with her right away. She’ll adore you, I have no doubt.”
“Thank you!” Natalie smiled, feeling even more welcomed.
Wilson frowned slightly. “I wish that Cameron was here so that you could meet him too, but he’s probably off with one of his girlfriends. That’s all right; he’ll be back eventually.”
Natalie laughed softly and raised a brow. “Does he have more than one?”
Wilson and Adam both laughed, and Charisse raised one eyebrow. “Always,” Adam said, shaking his head. “It may not be nice to say, but it would be an honest account to say that for Cameron, women are like a buffet, and he wants to sample every single dish so that he doesn’t miss out on anything.”
Natalie knew what he meant, and in her mind, though it was unfair to do it before she met him, a little black mark went up against Cameron. She had no taste for men who went through women like most people go through socks, changing one out for another regularly. She saw them as users, and she had little tolerance for anyone who used other people that way.
Wilson coughed softly and leaned forward, picking up his drink. “Your mother and I have some wedding tasks to take care of in San Francisco today. We need to go see to those things, but we’ll be back later this afternoon or early this evening, and we’ll all have dinner at six in the dining room. It’s just on the other side of the kitchen, opposite the breakfast nook, in case you didn’t see it when you came out. In fact, why don’t you have a good look around the house while we’re gone. It’s worth seeing!” He gave her an encouraging smile.
Adam looked disappointed. “Oh, bad timing. I’d love to give you a tour, but I’m heading out to meet Theresa. Really though, Dad’s right. Just have a look around, and if you get lost, call out to one of the staff. They’ll send in a yak and a Sherpa to bring you back out again.” He winked at her, and she laughed at him.
They all bid her goodbye, hugging her again and telling her that they couldn’t wait to hear stories about Asia at dinner that night, and then they left, and she stood there on the patio and looked around at her new home, her new life, her new world, as if it was a waking dream.
Taking her time, she did as she had been bidden to do, and she began to explore the house, from the dining room that Wilson had mentioned to the finer points of the kitchen and library, where she intended to spend a good deal of time, to the other vast reaches of the home on two and a half levels upward, and then she discovered that there was an entire additional level the same size as the rest of the house, but below ground. She couldn’t dare call it a basement; it was far too architecturally advanced to be given a name like that, and that wasn’t actually what it was. By all rights, it was truly a lower level of the house.
When she had seen most of it, she thought, but knowing with certainty that she hadn’t seen all of it, she decided to go for a swim in the pool and cool off a little in the bright sun. She went to her room and dug out the two-piece suit that she had picked up in Bangkok, slipping it on and putting her hair in a tighter braid. Grabbing a towel, she headed outside and slipped into the cool blue water in the big pool behind the house.
She loved swimming, and it was nice to swim in water that was free and clear of creatures that may be swimming with her. She didn’t miss the eels in the water in Asia or the large and strange varieties of fish.
The salty ocean breeze blew in over the grounds and across the pool, and she could taste the salt on her lips. She swam for a long while, loving the exercise and the workout for her muscles; it seemed like she was nearly herself again after the long travel to reach her destination.
Natalie was swimming just below the surface of the water, when she came up out of it face first, her head back, and opened her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a man standing beside the pool watching her, his arms crossed over his chest.
He was tall with wavy dark brown hair that reached the tops of his shoulders. His face looked as if it had been chiseled with precision by a Renaissance master out of pure marble. His body was fit and strong, and his sky-blue eyes were locked on Natalie. She realized as she gazed back at him that he must be Adam’s younger brother and Wilson’s youngest son, Cameron. He looked a lot like them, though more like someone else, and she suspected that it was his mother he resembled most.
The moment that her eyes met his, she felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her, and she shivered as if warding off an electric mantle. Her mind was suddenly focused totally on him, and as they stared at each other, it seemed as if the entire universe around them disappeared, fading away as if it didn’t matter and was no longer going to exist. Drawing in a deep breath, she blinked and tried to force herself to come back to the present, to reality, to herself, or whatever herself had been one whole minute before she had seen him.
She made herself move, swimming toward the steps in the pool, and she ascended them slowly, watching him as he watched her. She saw his eyes drop from her face and drift slowly over her form, clad in the soaked bikini, and her pulse quickened when she saw his jaw clench. She reached for her towel and wrapped it around herself, and only then did he look back up into her eyes.
He was gorgeous, movie star gorgeous, and she could see that he knew it full well. It was no wonder to her then why his brother and his father both rolled their eyes and spoke of his female conquests as if he was sampling from a buffet. She could clearly see just how easy it would be for him to do it, though the appeal of it was beyond her comprehension.
He blinked and shook his head as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was looking at and he was trying to clear his mind and refocus. “Who are you?” he asked, his blue eyes sharp.
“I’m Natalie. I’m Charisse’s daughter. You must be Cameron, right?” she asked with a smile.
He gave her a sidelong look. “Well, what a surprise. We weren’t sure you’d be coming to the wedding at all. Nice of you to take time out of your busy schedule to come back to the States and show up for this event of theirs. You’ve missed everything else. I guess at least it’s something that you came for the main event.” He scoffed at her and sighed in annoyance.
The shock that volleyed through her could have been measured on the Richter scale. Her mouth fell open slightly, and she was frozen in place for a moment, but then everything in her began to burn with anger, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Thanks for the warm welcome.” She turned sharply on her heel and stalked right past him into the house, shutting the door hard behind her.
All the way to her room, she seethed, wondering how he could be so cold and mean, how he could be so unwelcoming to her when his own brother and father had been the polar opposite with her, treating her as if she already was a member of the family. The more she thought about the way he had spoken to her, the angrier she got.
She could not begin to fathom how he dared to speak to her that way, how he might have ever believed that it would be acceptable or allowed, and she determined that she would not speak to him again until he either apologized or started treating her with some respect.
Natalie got into the shower and hung her swimsuit to dry, washing herself from head to foot with deliciously scented bubbles that seemed to take much of her ire with them as they rolled down her wet body and into the drain.
By the time she got out of the shower and dried herself off, she was feeling better, and she was more irritated with him than angry. She dressed in formfitting olive-green pants and a button-down blouse with a V neck. She left her hair long and wavy down the middle of her back and slipped a headband on over the front of it.
Picking up her laptop, she headed to the library to sit at the desk there and do some photojournalism work. She poured herself a cup of tea and turned her computer on, and in moments, she became totally focused on her work, lost in her photographs and in the stories that she was sharing with people about the places that she had gone to and the things that she had seen.
Natalie wasn’t keeping track of time; she was busily tapping away at her computer and sliding her finger around over the mousepad, examining pictures and writing out brief summaries about them when she sensed that she wasn’t alone. She looked up and saw that Cameron was standing not far from her, watching her work.
She gasped in shock and leaned back a little in her chair. “What are you doing in here?” she asked, feeling her emotions reel and her breath catch at the sight of him.
He sauntered toward her slowly, his button-up shirt unbuttoned just enough to draw a curious eye, his sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, and his hands resting in his pants pockets. “Well, I thought I would come and make some amends to my new stepsister.” He walked until he was beside the desk, and she stood up and faced him.
If he was there to apologize, she was ready to hear it. She kept her eyes on his, and his crystal blue gaze felt as if it tethered her right to the spot where she was standing. She said nothing in response and only waited. She wasn’t entirely sure why he was there, but she would at least listen.
“I wanted to tell you that I didn’t mean to sound so off-putting when we met. I didn’t expect to find a stranger in the pool. I also shouldn’t have been so snide with you. Your mother has talked about you all the time since I met her, and I know it meant everything to her for you to come and be here, so it’s good that you came. I didn’t think you would, but I am glad that you did.” He gave her a half smile, and she tried to draw in a breath and steady herself, wondering why something so simple as his smile would make her knees feel weak.
“No problem. I understand your surprise. We’ll start over, if you like. Thank you for coming in to make it right.” She kept her chin high, not wanting him to know that her face was feeling flush and her muscles were tightening all over her body.
He gazed at her in silence for a moment, and she wondered what he was thinking. Then, he stepped toward her and slid his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him, up against his chest, and he leaned close to her ear and kissed her cheek softly.
“Welcome to the family, Natalie,” he murmured softly against her ear.
Everything about him invaded her senses. The sound of his deep voice in her ear, the feel of him against her body, the pressure of his arms around her waist holding her to him, the scent of his skin and hair in her nose, the feel of his lips on her cheek, and the firmness in his hands and embrace.
Her heart raced almost out of her chest, her breath all but stopped, and she closed her eyes and felt everything in her become a kaleidoscope. She wasn’t at all sure that she wasn’t going to collapse against him. She felt something deep inside of her that wanted to, something that wanted to nestle further into his embrace, to lose herself in his arms, to wrap him around her completely.
Natalie struggled to stand and breathe as she tried to focus on basic physical fundamentals. Cameron kept his mouth beside her ear and spoke in his husky voice once more. “I’m glad that you’re here.”
She swooned. She felt herself do it, and she hated that it happened, but there was nothing for it. Everything in her wanted to sigh, and it took all of her willpower not to reach her arms around him and keep him in an embrace.
He let go of her and turned right there, walking away as if he had just asked her for the time and was leaving the room. She planted her hand flat on the desktop and placed her other hand over her heart, wishing that nothing about him affected her, and wondering what in the world was going on. There was no way that her new stepbrother could be causing such havoc inside her; she had just met him, she reasoned to herself.
There was no way that he could make her feel so breathless, so stirred up, so… warm. She was grateful that she hadn’t sighed out loud when he murmured in her ear. It would have been the worst thing she’d ever done if she had showed any kind of reaction like that to him. It was completely inappropriate that she should feel anything around him, especially any kind of attraction.
He’d insulted her and angered her deeply at their first meeting, and nearly brought her to her knees at their second meeting. He was the epitome of hot and cold. It felt like she had gotten whiplash, and she wasn’t sure how to handle it or why he could affect her so much, but she wanted to regain control of herself more than anything.
Drawing in a deep breath, she gave her head a shake and sat back down in her chair, focused with laser beam intensity on the work before her. She had never stared so hard at her monitor and prayed to be distracted by it.
As she tried to keep all of her attention on the images before her, she couldn’t help wondering in the back of her mind what he had been thinking when he had held her the way that he did. Did he really think that that was the way that brothers hugged their sisters? She didn’t have any siblings, but she had friends that did, and she had never seen any of them greet each other the way that he had greeted her. She wondered what would make him come to her that way, hold her, speak in her ear so intimately, and then she scolded herself and told herself not to think about it anymore, not to think about it at all, and not to overthink it. But she did anyway, building up the avalanche of confusion inside of her.
On top of all of that, her senses were still rioting with the feel of him, the scent, the electric nearness of him, and it seemed that no matter what she tried to do to distract herself, her senses were not ready to let go of the wild exhilarating ride they had just been on.
Work was going to be her only escape, and she delved into it completely.