The Escape Clause (12 page)

It was as if she weren’t allowed to make the decisions for them. Marcus was in control of everything. Including who she called and when.

Avery scrolled through her contacts. Why had Pete called? Did he want to apologize for not coming to the airport? Did he miss her? A nervous flutter filled her stomach. Certainly if something happened to his father someone would have called, not just Pete.

Oh, who cared why he called. Right now she needed him. She needed the comfort of her friend. Nothing was going as planned.

She looked at the screen in the early afternoon sun. It was hard to tell if it was even on.

Avery cupped her hand over it to see. Who had she been kidding? Did she think she’d actually have cell service in the middle of the water?

She’d just go back inside and place the call.

This was bigger than she was now. She needed off the boat. Marcus kissing her had thrown her for a loop. Avery had come to prove to herself and her grandfather that she could be someone. She hadn’t expected Marcus’s advances.

Hands came down on her shoulders startling her and she lost her hold on her phone. It tumbled from her hands and out into the water.

“My phone! Oh, no!”

She looked down, but there was no sign of it anywhere.

Marcus laughed as he pressed his body to her back, his hands still firm on her shoulders.

“We will buy you a new one when we return. For now you do not need it.”

Avery spun around to confront him only to find herself pressed against him, the railing pushing into her back.

“You are exquisite, Avery.” He brushed his fingers through her hair. “You are like a painting that should hang in a gallery for all people to admire.”

She felt her jaw drop and the air in her lungs expel on a gasp.

Marcus gave her that smile that twisted her insides. “Your grandfather is on his way.”

“Here?”

“Yes. He would like to spend some time with his granddaughter.”

Avery bit down on her bottom lip. “Wonderful. I thought he’d forgotten about me.”

“He has plans for you.” He moved in and again pressed a kiss to her lips. “We have plans.”

Those words didn’t sit well with her at all.

Marcus stepped back. “You should go inside and take a shower. Make yourself presentable for when your grandfather arrives. I will have the chef begin supper.”

Avery nodded. It took an entire staff to run the boat on which she was just lounging.

She walked around Marcus, picked up her bag, and headed toward her room all the while he watched her as if he were making sure she wouldn’t leave the boat.

Perhaps the life of an oil heiress, or vineyard heiress, wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. People served her without expecting respect or thank you. She was “handled” all the time. Free to do whatever her grandfather or Marcus permitted, but not to find her own way or do what
she
wanted.

There hadn’t been time for her to make her own life there.

She was missing barbecue from Steve’s BBQ Pit and Beer, homemade strudel from her grandmother, and her mother’s horrible meatloaf.

This had been the longest she’d been away from home and it was starting to weigh heavyily on her.

She’d missed four Sundays of dinners.

The babies born the day after her birthday were already a month old. She should call Courtney and see how she was feeling, she thought, and then remembered the fate of her phone.

Avery walked through the door of her room and quickly turned and locked it behind her. The last thing she needed was Marcus walking in while she was in the shower giving her demands as to how to dress for her own grandfather’s visit. Right now that would be something she just couldn’t handle.

She started the water in the shower, undressed, and stepped in. The smell of the suntan lotion filled her nose as it washed off her skin along with the memory of Marcus’s touch.

Tears began to sting her eyes. What was she doing here? Why had this been so important?

Avery washed the lazy day off her skin and let the water soothe her. It was then she heard the sound of a helicopter and the boat shifted a bit.

She braced herself as she stepped out of the shower as much for the shift of the boat as the shift in her heart. It was time to tell her grandfather she’d made a mistake and would like to go home.

Certainly he would understand. After all, it didn’t seem as though he wanted her there anyway. Her being there didn’t seem as important to him as it had a few months ago when she’d visited him.

Avery walked out to the deck. She wore a long sundress that blew in the warm breeze. She’d piled her hair in a loose bun atop her head and the air on her neck gave her a chill.

“You look beautiful,” Marcus said from behind her.

She turned to see him, dressed as if he were going to a formal dinner and not one on a boat.

“Your grandfather is resting and will be up in just a bit.”

Avery nodded nervously.

“It looks as though we will have a beautiful sunset this evening.”

He moved toward her and she pushed her shoulders back, inching her chin in the air.

“How long is my grandfather staying?”

“For the evening. He is a very busy man.”

“He is.”

Marcus was now in front of her reaching for her wrists. “He is very happy that you are enjoying yourself.” He brushed his fingers up her arms. “You are enjoying yourself, are you not?”

Avery swallowed hard. “I am enjoying myself. But I have to admit, I’m confused by your reaction to me today.”

Marcus raised his hand to her neck and cupped it. “I am a man who get’s what he wants. I want you.”

“Me? Why?”

“
Ma chérie
, you have become my obsession.” His eyes narrowed as he spoke.

“Marcus, I…”

He pressed a finger to her lips. “You are here in France. Romanic, beautiful, France. Enjoy what it offers—romance.” He took the finger from her lips and held it up as if to keep her attention.

Marcus reached into his pocket and took out a black felt box. When he opened it there was a beautiful opal necklace winking up at her in the oncoming sunset.

“Oh, Marcus…”

“Turn. Let me put this on you.”

Something told her she shouldn’t accept it, but how could she help herself?

She turned and felt him against her as he draped the chain around her neck and then pressed a kiss to her skin.

Her knees went weak and her eyes closed as Marcus’s hands slid down her arms.

“You are shaking,” he whispered in her ear.

“I’m very nervous.”

Marcus turned her to face him. “I want my touch to only make you quiver because I excite you, not because you are nervous.” He cupped her face in his hands. “I will show you what we could have.”

He lowered his head and moved his mouth against hers. Avery’s eyes closed again and she was taken under by his touch and his warm, possessive kiss.

Chapter Fourteen

The weekend on the yacht had become so much more, Avery realized as she sat in the back of a car being driven through the streets of Paris toward her grandfather’s apartment which he kept there.

Her grandfather had pleasantly surprised her by telling her that she’d be meeting with investors in Paris, which she’d just done.

He’d given her a plan of action to make the wine label take flight. Everything for the meeting had been nearly scripted for her, but she’d been more than prepared.

This was why she was in France and now she felt the empowerment she’d been looking for. Was this how her mother felt when she’d walked into meetings concerning her grandfather’s oil business? Avery remembered her mother saying that she attended most of the meetings concerning the building of her father’s buildings, which he usually contracted with her Uncle Zach.

Avery touched the necklace that brushed her neck and her mouth went dry. She’d spent a week on that yacht, not only a weekend as Marcus had first intended. Her grandfather had flown in and gone just as quickly. Marcus’s friends had then gone back and soon it was only her and Marcus on the yacht with the staff catering to their every need.

Heat rose in her cheeks and she used her breath to calm herself.

Marcus had seduced her and she’d fallen for his words, his kisses, touches, and his promises—pliant from much too much wine. There had been some fear, but she assumed that had been her own demon. Marcus wasn’t Pete.

She held her hand out in front of her and clenched it when it shook.

The thoughts going through her head only damned her. She hadn’t meant to move on without Pete—not really. And it was fuzzy to her when had the exact moment been she’d given up that control. She straightened in the seat and gripped her clutch tightly in her lap.

She wanted to embrace her Pierpont side, well now she had. Until the right man came along, what did it matter what she did? What if Marcus was that man? After all, he came to the airport to fetch her when Pete didn’t even have the nerve to show up.

She gripped her clutch even tighter. No, she wasn’t going to go down that road in her mind. Marcus had made it very clear to her that they were now exclusive and she was his.

Clenching her teeth she thought about the moment when he’d made that perfectly clear to her.

Part of her wished she’d spoken up and told him that wasn’t how she thought a man treated a woman, but what position was she in to do that? She was at the mercy of Marcus and her grandfather.

Her grandfather’s trust in the man somehow had gotten her exactly what she’d wanted—a position of power. She supposed she had used Marcus as much as perhaps he’d used her.

Well, she was in it for the ride and now there was no turning back. The Avery Keller that had left Nashville wasn’t the same one who had just wooed a team of investors to buy into the vineyard.

Avery pulled the new phone Marcus had purchased for her out of her clutch and looked it over. The only person, other than Marcus, that she had called on it was her mother.

It had taken nearly a bottle of wine to keep her voice steady when she’d spoken to her too.
But Avery was very convincing that she was doing fine and she hoped her mother was fooled by her words.

There was, however, one thing that kept coming to mind as she looked at her phone, the contacts now missing and empty, what had Pete wanted that morning?

She should call him. It had been nearly a month and a half since she’d spoken to him. They could be civil. She could still be his friend. It would be a waste of twenty years if they couldn’t even be friends.

Her life had moved on from Nashville. She was, after all, a powerful woman now. Certainly she could talk to her best friend and convey that things were fine with her and she hoped he was doing well too.

She looked at the watch Marcus had bought her at the Rolex store before he headed back to the vineyard for a meeting. It shimmered with its diamonds. It was nearly noon. Back home Pete would just be heading out for work. Maybe if she caught him during his commute he would take the time to talk to her.

Avery closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she dialed his number.

~*~

Pete took off his shoes and socks then tiptoed over the wet towels on Jill’s bathroom floor. The flood of water coming out from under her sink was making a mess of the place.

He’d called John, but it would still be a half hour before he could get there. They had to do something now.

“Your suit is going to get ruined,” she said as he got down on his knees.

“It’ll get wet. I’ll change in a moment.” He took the wrench with him under the cabinet and began trying to turn off the water source. He was no plumber that was for sure.

As water sprayed him in he face he could hear his phone ring in his suit pocket, which he’d hung on the door knob. “Get that, Jill. I’m expecting a call from an investor.”

He could hear her laugh as towels sloshed under her feet.

“I got it. I got it. Hello?” He heard her saying over the noise of the water still rushing toward him as he turned the valve. “This is Jill.” He heard her walking closer as the water finally subsided. “Yeah, he’s here. Can you hold on just a moment he’s getting the water turned off. This morning isn’t going quite the way we planned. We’re having some plumbing problems.”

Pete pulled himself out from under the sink. She might have been right. His suit might have been ruined.

Wasn’t Jill a sight in her pajamas and her hair piled atop her head talking away to who ever kept her attention on the other end of his phone?

“He has emerged. Have a great day,” she added as she handed him the phone.

Pete covered the phone with his hand. “Go up and use my shower or you’re going to be late.”

“You’re too good to me. Can I use a towel too?” She asked as she started down the hall. “Mine are all under you on the floor.”

He laughed as he lowered his hand. “Yes.”

When he heard her take the steps that went up to his kitchen inside the house he lifted the phone to his ear.

“Thanks for holding. This is Pete.”

“Hi,” was all she said and his heart jumped into his throat.

“Avery?”

“Who’s Jill?”

That was her first question? It had been nearly two months since he talked to her. Some man answered her phone and told him that when they returned from their vacation she’d call him back. What the hell kind of vacation had she taken? Who the hell was she to ask who Jill was? He should just hang up on her. Goddamn she made him mad.

“She’s a good friend,” he said hoping to drive a point home. Not that he knew what point that was, but he hoped she felt it. “She lives in the apartment.”

“John rented it to her?”

“Yep. Good things come from this basement. It worked for Ed and Spencer. Didn’t you tell me that once?”

He heard the air release in her sigh. “I did.”

“She’s full of spunk too. She makes me laugh a lot,” he tried to say lightly, “So how was your vacation?” He felt the bite in his words so he was sure she hadn’t missed his tone.