Surprised by Family: a Contemporary Romance Duet (4 page)

But a tiny part of her expression, Baron was convinced, reflected faint amusement. At
him
.

Not—
not
—his best day.

Eighteen years ago

“Give it back,” Leila demanded, making a lunge for Steven, who’d just grabbed her journal before she’d even known he was there. She’d wanted to write in privacy, but he’d found her in her favorite reading spot at a big rock near the stream that ran behind her backyard.

Baron and Steven’s house was less than a mile away, although they lived on a much more affluent street.

He laughed in that way he always had—like he was gloating, like he was better than everyone else—and held the mauve-colored journal out of her reach.

Angry and embarrassed both, she lunged for it again, this time tripping and falling to the ground.

He laughed again, opening the journal to a random page and starting to read aloud. He was twelve, just a year older than her, and he’d never once been nice to her. “Today I got braces. They make my teeth sore, and I hate how they look. But maybe I’ll look better when they’re off. I wish I was pretty. Then maybe—”

“Stop,” she yelled, jumping up and grabbing for her journal again. “Shut up.”

He was bigger than she was, and he held her off with a hand on her chest. She fought the pressure, so angry now she clutched at his shirt for some leverage to better reach his extended arm.

He had dark eyes like Baron—only they were always sharp and mean. He wasn’t as cute as Baron was, and he wasn’t good at school or at sports. He laughed again and said, “Wouldn’t it be nice to be pretty, Leila? What would you do if you were pretty?”

He turned back to the journal, and she could tell he was going to read again. She made an outraged sound in her throat and tried to grab at it, tackle him, anything it would take to get it back.

He pushed her away with more force than she’d expected. She stumbled backwards and landed on the ground hard, jarring herself so painfully she lost her breath.

Before she could orient herself enough to respond, someone else was suddenly there too.

She wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, but Steven ended up on the ground, landing awkwardly and with a loud huff.

Baron ended up with the journal.

“What’s going on?” he demanded, glaring down at his brother. “What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything. I was just teasing. It’s none of your business.”

Baron made a face like Steven was nothing but trash and turned toward Leila. “What did he do to you?”

“Nothing.” She didn’t have a problem telling on a jerk like Steven, but she was upset about the whole thing and didn’t want Baron to know about it.

“Why are you on the ground? Why did he push you?”

“It was an accident. He took my journal, and I was trying to get it back.”

He extended a hand to help her to her feet. Her bottom hurt from falling on it so hard, and her cheeks burned from the emotional and physical turmoil. When she was standing, she accepted the journal Baron handed her.

Then she saw a motion behind him. “Baron,” she said sharply, “Look out—”

Steven had made a running start, evidently in an attempt to tackle his older brother, but Baron reacted too quickly. He didn’t seem to do much except make a swat with his hand, but Steven ended up back on the ground.

Baron glared. “Why are you always such a brat?” Then he turned his back on his brother again. “I was headed over to play basketball with Dave. Do you want me to walk you back?”

She nodded, feeling upset and relieved and incredibly shy. She straightened her glasses and grabbed her purple-ink pen, which was on the grass near the rock where she’d been sitting.

Baron didn’t say another word to Steven. Just started walking toward her house. She fell in step with him and had no idea what to say.

“Are you all right?” he asked, after a minute.

She nodded, her eyes on her sneakers. She didn’t feel all right. She felt like she might throw up—either from the push, the fall, or too much emotion.

“Did he hurt you?”

Licking her lips, she managed to say, “No.”

“It looks like he hurt you.”

“I just fell. I’m okay.”

They walked in silence for another minute. Then she summoned up the courage to say, “Thank you.”

“It was nothing.”

“He’s going to be mad at you now.”

“He’s always mad at me.”

“But he’ll do something to get back at you.”

“He’s always trying to get back at me.” He looked really tired for a moment. More tired than she’d ever seen him. “I don’t know why he hates me so much.”

She knew. She’d known both Baron and Steven her whole life, and she knew the answer. It took her a long time, but she finally worked herself up to saying it. “He’s jealous.”

Baron glanced over at her in surprise. “What?”

“He’s jealous of you. That’s why he’s always mad.”

“Jealous of what?”

“You can do everything better than him. Everyone likes you. No one likes him. He wants what you have, and he’s mad because he can never have it.”

“How do you know that?”

She shrugged and looked away. “I just do.”

“There’s nothing I can do about any of that.”

“I know. It’s not your fault. It’s his. People would like him if he was nice.”

They’d reached her backyard, but Baron stopped in the middle of it, looking down at her, as if he was really
seeing
her. “You’re pretty smart, kid.”

She blushed and stared at the grass, trying not to wriggle in pleasure.

Despite the unexpected compliment, she could tell Baron felt bad about how mean his brother was, and she wanted to make him feel better. “Dave and I fight all the time too.”

Baron laughed. “You have no idea what fighting really is. You have a good family. Mine…isn’t like yours.”

“Oh.”

Dave called out from the house just then, and they both turned toward his voice.

Leila went to hide her journal under her mattress, and Baron went to play video games with Dave and forgot all about her existence.

***

Present

Leila tried to juggle her books, papers, and coffee cup as she unlocked the door to her office. She managed—barely—just catching one of her books as it slid off the pile in her arms.

The entire pile toppled, however, when her office phone rang and she hurried over to answer it.

At her greeting, a familiar male voice said, “How was class?”

She swallowed and felt an odd shudder from somewhere inside her. “Baron. Hi. How did you know I was in class?”

“Your class times and office hours are listed on your college web page.”

It was true. For some reason, however, Leila felt strange about Baron looking her up on Benton’s website.

“I wanted to make sure I caught you in your office,” he added.

“Oh. Right. Well, here I am.”

“How does your week look?” It sounded like there was a smile in his voice, but she couldn’t quite identify the resonance.

“About normal.”

“I was hoping we could get together some time to talk about the church.”

After the mess with poor Charlotte and the tree the previous week, Leila had thought Baron would do his best to make himself scarce, so she was surprised by the invitation. She didn’t like the way he sounded now—smooth, charming, totally in control.

It made her feel like that silly, besotted girl she used to be.

He’d gone way out of his way to rescue Charlotte, though, and she could have gotten seriously hurt. Leila hadn’t forgotten the surge of absolute panic she’d felt when she’d come out of James Hall and had discovered Charlotte very near to falling.

Part of her wanted to shut Baron down completely—throw his offer back in his face—out of nothing more than an irrational resistance to a man so sure of himself.

That would be immature, though, so she said, “Sure. We could do that.”

“Dinner then? On Thursday around eight?”

She was about to give an automatic agreement when she stopped herself. She wasn’t busy on Thursday evening, but Baron hadn’t even asked.

Despite herself, she was definitely still attracted to the man, but she’d been married for too many years to a cool, overconfident bastard, and she knew better than to let herself be taken in by it now.

“Dinner is kind of hard, with the girls and everything.”

“What about lunch then?” There was a pause in which she knew he was checking his schedule. “I could try to move some things around.”

“Tomorrow’s good. I don’t teach on Wednesdays.”

“Where would you like to meet?”

She was kind of surprised he asked, and she suggested a little sandwich shop near campus.

When they disconnected, she sat for a few minutes staring at the telephone.

Baron was an absolute mystery to her. She’d thought she’d known him when they were growing up—the good-hearted, charming boy who exceled at absolutely everything but still struck her as somehow lonely. That boy, however, had morphed into something else.

She pictured again Baron sprawled on the grass last week. His expression had been genuine, for perhaps the first time since she’d reencountered him. Real. Human. A tangled mixture of bewilderment, frustration, and irony.

As ridiculous as it was—and it must say something weird and twisted about herself—she found that memory of Baron infinitely more attractive, more arousing, then the kiss they’d shared at the party.

And the kiss had been really good.

***

Lunch with Baron the next day was baffling.

They sat at a corner table in the sandwich shop for almost an hour and talked about her research on Great Awakening era churches. Baron had obviously done his homework. He knew her publications in detail and had incredibly intelligent questions to ask about them. That wasn’t what was surprising.

What surprised her was, at the end of their lunch, she still couldn’t figure out why he was interested in West Church at all.

Their conversation had faded into a natural lull, and Leila idly stirred her water glass, trying to think of any possible reason for Baron’s inexplicable interest in some obscure little church.

Finally, she gave up. Looking up, she met dark eyes that always seemed to see so much more than they should. “So why does any of this matter to you?”

Baron blinked, something in his suave façade shifting just a little. He gave a half-shrug. “I’m interested.”

“But why? What about this church is important to you?”

When he answered, the words were almost swallowed over. “My parents were married in that church.”

“Oh.” She was completely shocked. Completely taken aback.

He gave the half-shrug she’d seen him do several times now. A characteristic gesture indicating that whatever he was saying wasn’t really important to him. “It meant a lot to my dad. He always talked about restoring it, and I know he wanted to do it because he always loved my mom—even after they got divorced. She couldn’t stand that he worked all the time, so she finally left him. But he never stopped loving her. So now that he’s… It just seems like a good time buy the church and restore it like he’d wanted.”

“Oh.”

He was acting like it was no big deal, like it was just a nice thing to do in his father’s memory. She could tell it meant something to him, though—simply by the fact that he was pretending it didn’t.

She felt a sudden pull of empathy toward him. As a boy, he’d always had an incredibly kind heart, rescuing stray dogs and birds and her more than once.

If the last decade of his life was any evidence, he appeared to have lost that kind heart in the wake of too much money, too many women, and too much excitement.

He hadn’t, though. She could see with crystal-clarity now that he hadn’t.

Today he wore another business suit with steel gray tie. The chiseled contours of his features were distinct, inexplicably compelling, and the little lines around his eyes and mouth etched maturity deep into his face.

People looked at him. All the time. Sometimes recognizing him for the James name or his notorious reputation. Sometimes women, manifestly appreciating his physical appeal.

His appeal to Leila was more than physical, but it was also incredibly dangerous.

She wanted—needed—a normal, stable life for her and the girls, and she could never find that with Baron.

It didn’t matter that she suddenly felt close to him, the way she used to feel as a girl.

She stared down at her empty plate and tried to convince herself to get it together.

Baron obviously loved his father, wanted to rebuild the church in memory of his family. That was a good thing. Spoke well about him. Revealed a humanity at the heart of him.

But it didn’t mean he was suddenly good boyfriend material.

She glanced down at her watch. “Oh, damn, it’s almost two. I have a department meeting.”