Alice sat on a wobbly wooden bench to watch, her elegant back perfectly erect, and he simply had to stop and stare. Her profile was so perfect, so quietly feminine and serene she looked like she ought to be on a cameo. How could she be this happy? Her career was in the toilet and people in town still whispered behind cupped hands wherever she went.
“Hey, pretty lady,” he called as he drew near, and a wide smile blossomed as she stood to welcome him with a kiss.
“Isn’t it fabulous?” she said with a nod toward the foundation.
“Fabulous,” he agreed, gazing at her instead of the construction site. He loved the feel of her in his arms, and drifted his hands gently across her back. “You want to go into town and get something decent to eat? I hear there’s a new Italian place.”
She shook her head. “I’m going to stick around for a few hours. I’m worried about birds who might land on the wet concrete.”
He choked back a laugh. “The birds aren’t going to hurt the concrete. They’re too light.”
“I’d still rather stick around to warn them away. And look, I’ve brought a picnic for both of us. Want to stay and help me play scarecrow?”
That was how he spent a perfect summer evening on a blanket with the most beautiful woman in Virginia. They ate pimento cheese sandwiches, freshly cut chunks of pineapple, and almonds, olives, and squares of smoked gouda cheese. She set out homemade blueberry tarts and arranged everything so perfectly the spread ought to be featured in a magazine.
Every so often she sprang up to wave away birds that flittered around the foundation, which was completely ridiculous, but he enjoyed watching her. He was too gentlemanly to point out that the only real danger to the foundation would come overnight if a deer got curious and walked onto it. Heck, Alice would probably camp out all night to be sure Bambi didn’t get into trouble.
Alice was scampering after a pair of bluebirds that were swooping through the air when her cell phone rang. He tilted the phone to glance at the screen, which simply readAdam.
She had a brother named Adam. There were three brothers in the Chadwick family: a nice one, a scary one, and one who’d joined the French Foreign Legion and hadn’t been seen in years. Adam was the scary one. He was a lot older than Alice and a colonel in the Air Force.
“Yo, Alice!” Jack bellowed, his voice echoing across the rolling hills. It was far more effective in scaring the bluebirds away than Alice’s gentle hand flutters. “Adam is on the phone.”
Alice seemed a little spooked as she darted back to the blanket to accept the call. “Hey, Adam,” she said, still breathless from her mad dash to save the bird population.
“Who’s the new guy?” a voice demanded.
She had answered the call on speaker, but Adam couldn’t see them and she looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Mom was in Washington for a consultation about Federal Reserve policy and heard through the grapevine that you’ve been seen hanging out with a new guy in Williamsburg. Who is he?”
Alice shot a wide-eyed, panicked glance at Jack, her mouth contorted in a pained grimace, but her voice strove for calm. “Oh, Jack is a super-nice guy. Really funny and supportive.”
That might be the first time anyone described him so harmlessly, and Adam wasn’t settling for it.
“Yeah, fine. Mom and Dad want to meet him.”
“They do? Why?”
Adam cleared his throat. “Possibly because the last person you cavorted with turned out to be a drug addict who ruined your reputation. And they don’t think you’re serious about searching for another academic job. They want to know what’s going on.”
Alice stood and began pacing. “Adam, it’s impossible to search for a college position this late in the summer. New academic postings don’t get listed until later in the year.”
“Don’t change the subject. Mom and Dad want you to bring your new guy out to the River House this weekend. I’ll be there, and so will Quentin. We all want to meet him.”
Alice mugged another panicked face Jack’s way. “Oh, you know . . . Jack is very busy,” she dissembled. “He doesn’t have time for that sort of thing.”
“Look, Alice, Mom and Dad are already upset with you. Keeping this new guy a secret isn’t doing you any favors. You need to come down here, bring Jack along, and sort this out. Sooner rather than later, okay?”
The phone disconnected, and Alice sighed as she plopped down on the blanket beside him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Adam’s bark is worse than his bite . . . well, actually that’s not true. Hecan be pretty scary. So can my parents. You don’t have to answer their summons.”
It sounded like she didn’t want her illustrious family to meet him. “Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?”
“No!” Alice rushed to say. “It’s just that command performances out at the River House can be pretty intimidating, and you are under no obligation to them for anything.”
First of all, what kind of family actually gave their house a name? She’d told him that the River House was their “country estate.” It was close enough to Washington for weekend getaways, but still countrified enough for sailing, horseback riding, and other rich-people sports. If her parents intended to give her grief for dating a guy like him, he wanted to be there.
“I’ll come with you to the River House.”
