Mail-order Bridegroom Part 79

Shipping schedules.

Trade agreements. It wasn't surprising, and it was, of course, the right thing for Damon to do.

She had better do the same.

"You'll stay here tonight, then, won't you? Mama will be alone with the girls while Stephanos and I go to a play. She'd love to have you, and there's no sense in going home if Damon's not there."

No, there wasn't. It would be lonely as anything rattling around the big apartment alone. But Kate didn't really want to stay at Sophia's either.

With Helena alone this evening, there would be lots of conversation, lots of dissembling, lots of worry that she might say the wrong thing. Kate still felt guilty about deceiving her mother-in-law.

"I think," she told Sophia, 'that I'll head on out to East Hampton. "

He went to the party straight from the airport. So what if he wasn't wearing the dinner-jacket still hanging in the closet in the apartment? Who cared that his trouser cuffs were wet from the new snow? What difference did it make if he didn't stop to shave? Why worry about what all the dealers and company reps thought?

None of it mattered as long as he could be with Kate.

Damon wasn't quite sure when he'd begun to realise that. Maybe it had begun to crystallise when he'd found out that Stephanos had fouled up yet another account and the only way to settle it was to go to Montreal and take charge.

He hadn't wanted to go.

It was a first.

Ordinarily, troubleshooting was what Damon liked most. He sometimes thought he relished his brother- in-law's screw-ups because they gave him a chance to do what he did best: rush to the rescue and save the day.

This time he'd wanted to send Stephanos.

He couldn't.

Sophia was due the first week in January, slightly less than three weeks away. Damon didn't necessarily imagine that she would go into labour themoment Stephanos left the country, but his sister was high strung the babywas active, and Sophia had already had several occasions of false labourpains.

He considered sending Arete, then rejected it. Tension between Arete and Stephanos was already high. Each of them continually vied to be consideredDamon's second-in-command. It would only make things worse if he allowed hissister to step into Stephanos's territory.

So if they weren't going to lose the account, Damon would have to go himself.

And that was when he'd thought of taking Kate along.

Would she go? He'd thought she might. She didn't seem to be able to getenough of him. And he d.a.m.n sure couldn't get enough of her, he'd thought,smiling as he'd dialled Sophia's nrmber.

But Kate had been out with the girls. They wouldn't be back until rightbefore supper, Sophia told him.

h.e.l.l, he'd thought. d.a.m.n. So much for s.n.a.t.c.hing her away and taking herwith him.

"Tell her I have to go to Montreal," Damon had said.

He'd tried to call her later when he'd got to Montreal. She wasn't home. Neither was Mrs Vincent these days. He and Kate had given her weekends offand she usually went to visit her daughter in Philadelphia.

He'd called back to Sophia's, but only his mother was there. She didn't know where Kate was.

He tried again for the rest of the evening between meetings with Monsieur Belliard. The only voice he heard was his own on the answering machine.It had been past midnight when he got back to his hotel room. He'd tried onelast time, got nothing and dialled Sophia again.

Stephanos had answered."What's wrong?""Where's Kate?" S "d.a.m.ned if I know," Stephanos had grumbled sleepily."Ask Sophia.""She's sleeping.""Wake her up.""Not on your life! She gets little enough sleep these days with that baby, and I'm--' " Wake her up! "

Stephanos did. He came back a few moments later. "Kate's in East Hampton.Business, Sophia says. Now go to sleep." He hung up.So did Damon. He didn't sleep.He lay awake missing her, thinking about the way she curled so comfortably into his body, about the silky smoothness of her skin, the soft luxuriance of

her hair, the little moans and gasps of pleasure she made when he loved her.

It was the first night he'd spent without her since he'd come back from Paris. It was the first time he'd slept alone since they'd made theirs a real marriage.

Was it a real marriage, then?

The question caught him by surprise.

Did he want it to be? Did he want to love and honour and cherish Kate for

the rest of his life? Did he want to take the vows he'd made as a business proposition and turn them into a lifetime commitment?

Did she?

He was on the phone to Sophia at the crack of dawn."Where in East Hampton is she?""I haven't a clue," Sophia said sleepily."Don't fret. You ran out on her first.""I didn't run out on her!" Damon almost shouted.

"Whatever. Can I go back to sleep now? I need my rest, Damon. You'll understand better when you have children."

Something else he hadn't thought about. He swallowed.

"Yeah. I've got one long meeting this afternoon with Belliard, then I'll behome.

Tell her. "

It hadn't been his most successful rescue attempt, but he'd managed to do afairly creditable job. It was over, that was what counted. He shook hands with Belliard, caught a taxi, cursed the snowstorm blanketing the east,bullied his way through the Christmas crowds at the airport. First cla.s.s tickets, usually no problem to come by, were at a premium due to the holiday.Economy had long since been sold out.

"We're doing the best we can, Mr Alexakis," the counter attendant a.s.sured him.

"The snow is slowing us down and everyone wants to get home for Christmas."

Not the way he did, Damon had thought, and was sure that G.o.d was on his sidewhen an hour later there was a vacant seat. He made it to La Guardia caughtanother taxi. This one slipped and slid its way through the snow directly tothe posh East Side hotel where the party was already in progress.

He didn't stop until he set foot inside the festively decorated room.

And then his eyes searched the premises for Kate.

Arete appeared out of nowhere and took his arm, drawing him with her as shespoke.

"You might've shaved, and why didn't you change? Well, at least you're back. Just in time to charm Mrs Fredericks, too." She steered him towards the wife of one of their main shipping contractors.

"Where's Kate?" Damon demanded.Arete shrugged."How should I know?""Have you seen her?""No. But I haven't looked." She turned him forcibly and shoved him in the direction of Martha Fredericks. "Charm," she commanded.

He did his best, all the while scanning the crowd for the sight of his wife.

He thought he saw her once near Sophia. But then the woman turned his wayand he saw that he was wrong.'. . hear you got married recently," Martha Fredericks was saying."Love to meet her. Like to get a glimpse of the woman who brought you down."Had she, Damon wondered, brought him down? Was that what had happened to him? He still couldn't find her. Mrs Fredericks rabbi ted on. He smiledvaguely, spotted Pandora and another woman coming their way and reached outto grab them. He'd been charming. It was their turn.

"Tell Mrs Fredericks about your trip to Italy," he commanded his sister.

Pandora, who had been smiling, looked as if she was about to burst into

tears, and Damon suddenly remembered why she'd gone to Italy, with whom, andthat the skunk had dumped her when her money ran out."Sorry," he muttered."I mean, tell her about the Knicks game you went to."Pandora didn't look particularly mollified, but she shrugged."Sure.And you can get Eleni a gla.s.s of champagne. You remember Eleni, don't you? "The woman with her, she meant. And yes, now that he looked at this Eleni, he did remember her vaguely. A tall, striking young woman with thick dark hair and

l.u.s.trous brown eyes. A beauty, certainly. He remembered her as something less.

"You were a--uh--school friend of Pan's?"

Eleni smiled.

"I was. She used to bring me home sometimes for holidays. You know my father, Nikos Va.s.silakis."

"Of course. How is he?"

He led Eleni over to the table and snagged two gla.s.ses of champagne, not

really listening as she talked about her father, his business, his hopes for the future. He still hadn't found Kate.

Hadn't she come back yet?

Finally he dumped Eleni on Electra and asked once again for his wife.

Ask Sophia Electra advised.

His sister was holding court on an elegant white silk sofa that Arete had

arranged for her. Stephanos was, thankfully, hovering over her, making sure she was comfortable, making sure she was protected from jostling and cigarette smoke, being the sort of husband he should have been all along.

"" Where's Kate? Isn't she back? " Damon asked his sister.Sophia gave him a sympathetic look and shook her head."I'm sorry."Damon was, too. He sagged down on to the sofa next to her. Why had he hurried? Why had he busted himself to get here? What difference did it make?

None, obviously, as far as Kate was concerned.

Kate opened the door quietly, unsure what to expect, knowing what she wanted

to find but fearful just the same. She'd spent the entire day yesterday withthe Barlowes, had got a feel for their children, and had realised that thebest possible interim replacement would be Ellie Partridge, the sixtyish ladyshe had in mind for Sophia after the baby was born. Her own replacement.

Ellie had, bless her heart, been willing to come. In fact, at Kate's urging,she'd caught a late train out from Manhattan and had arrived last night. But by the time Kate had introduced her to the family, it was too late to headback to the city herself.

Early this morning, however, Ned Barlowe had got up and taken her to thestation. She'd fidgeted and fussed, her mind totally consumed by Damon,daydreaming about him all the way home.

She wasn't sure he'd even got back yet. But in the best of all possibleworlds, he would be waiting for her when she came in. He would open sleepyeyes and smile at her, reach for her and pull her into bed with him, makinglove to her with the pa.s.sion she relished.

And she would love him. Then he would tell her that he'd missed her, that heloved her, that he wanted their marriage to last forever.

And that would be as good as or even better than his not wanting her to go toEast Hampton in the first place.

She hung her coat in the cupboard, slipped off her shoes and padded down thehall towards the bedroom. Her pace quickened when she heard water running inthe master bathroom. She reached the door, then slowed, wondering what hisreaction would be.

The door to the bathroom was slightly ajar and she could see Damon's back ashe stood facing the mirror. He wore a pair of dark wool trousers, butnothing else, and as Kate watched him shave she could see the muscles flex inhis back. She felt a quickening inside her, a need to touch him, to run herhands over that smooth bronzed skin.

She moved forward, wanting to go to him and put her arms around him.

He either heard her or caught a glimpse of her in the mirror for quite suddenly, he turned, the razor still in his hand, one side of his face still lathered.

"You got back," she said and smiled, walking towards him.

"When?"

"Last night." His tone was even. He didn't smile. He didn't act lover like