She shook her head and looked away for a moment, wishing she could have a loving family like Lance had. She had heard that their mother was attentive and affectionate. She can’t even remember when her mother hugged her last, or if she even did. She was in private schools where she was told how to look and act. It was just as bad as being at home with her controlling mother. “I think at first, I was okay with it. I mean I was a young naïve teenager. Every young girls wish is to have that dream wedding. Also, we were always together at family functions and social outings so I think it was just plain expected. Then I grew up.” She shifted anxiously and looked at her hands.
“So the nursing?” Lance continued not prying further into something that made her uncomfortable.
After a brief pause to sort her thoughts, she swallowed and continued, “Before I finished high school, there were college recruiters that came around and talked about career choices. I just wanted away from this lifestyle and that seemed to be the way. My grandmother left me a trust. When I turned eighteen, it was mine, so I didn’t need my mother’s permission. I used it for school. I found out that I had a knack for it. I really took to it quickly.”
“How did your parents feel?”
She shrugged her delicate shoulders and looked away again. “My father is rigid most times, unreadable, but I think he missed me. My mother—well, she screamed at me, called me ungrateful, told me I wasn’t doing anything of the sort and told me I was marrying Cavanaugh or I’d be cut off. I chose correctly. I left.”
He completely shocked her by leaning forward and moving his large warm hand over both of hers, still folded on her lap. Her eyes locked with his and he gave her a reassuring smile.
“Think of what a waste it would have been. All that talent and intellect in that beautiful head married to a stuffed shirt. Can you imagine yourself playing the obedient socialite wife to a man who thinks he’s better than he really is? Planning tea parties certainly isn’t you.”
Beautiful? He thought she was Beautiful? Her heart actually skipped a beat. She did her best not to show how the compliment affected her. Instead she laughed nervously as she answered his question, and he smiled. “No Lance, I can’t. I like being able to do what I want.”
He released her and sat back.
Her eyes went up the front of him and met his. He was looking at her again with that sharp curiously intelligent gaze. She wondered if he knew how affective that was. Well, of course he did, he probably worked his whole career around it. He started talking again.
“My middle name is Sterling. I know, it’s different, some great grandfather of my mother’s. Someone she really admired.”
“I like it. It seems—regent.”
He actually chuckled.
She blushed a little. “Mine’s Rose. Same thing; grandmother or something.”
“That’s pretty actually. Tamara Rose.”
“Thank you.” The way he said her name made a thrill shoot through her. It was so heavenly coming from that man. His deep voice and the way his mouth moved when he spoke. God, he had a beautiful masculine mouth. Her eyes quickly averted back to her hands so he wouldn’t catch her staring at him like a love sick teenager.
“I like to read. Mysteries mostly, but any good book will do.”
Big surprise, she thought but she also liked a good mystery novel. “Me too.”
“I also like poetry, eighteen century. Blake, Burns, and Lord Byron are my favorites.”
“I’m surprised at that one.”
“It touches something in me,” he confessed softly.
Now it really astonished her that he admitted that. Wow, she wondered if his family knew that about him. She started to feel privileged that he was sharing so much with her. “I only really knew Tennyson, and I liked his work.”
He glanced at his watch. “Yes, another great poet. Now, moving on—I’m not trying to be rude, we just don’t have much time to learn about each other before we have to get ready to leave. I play tennis. I golf too, but I’m better at tennis. My winter sports are mainly skiing, but I do like hockey though I’m not as good as my nephew, Tyler. I also like to hike, rock climb, and of course, rope and ride.”
She almost laughed again. Tyler was five, and he was being modest because she was certain he good at anything he did. “I like tennis. It’s a country club thing. My mother made me take lessons.” Grooming for the perfect high society wife; seen and not heard, obedient and useless. “I’m good.”
“That sounds like a challenge Tam.”
“Could be.” She was really enjoying herself. It would be fun having a good tennis match with this man. She’d been living in the same town as him for years, working in his house, and she learned more about him in the last five minutes than she had total in all the years she’d known him. “I’m scared of horses though. I never had the opportunity to learn.”
“We can remedy that when we get home,” he said casually as if she didn’t have a choice.
“Are you volunteering to teach me? I’m a terrible pupil. I don’t follow orders very well. Ask my mother.”
Humor and something else glittered in his eyes. “Another challenge. Interesting.”
She felt heat hit her cheeks again. He sounded intrigued. Thankfully he started talking again.
