chapter Six
Francesca was fastening on her last earring when the doorbell rang. Giving herself one final look in the mirror, she was pretty pleased with how her outfit turned out. She’d purchased something new for the engagement party—a pale turquoise dress that was strapless and hit just below the knee. Around the waist was a cream-colored sash with a fuchsia flower for a pop of color. It came with a crocheted cream shrug to keep her shoulders warm when the sun went down.
She’d opted to wear her hair half up, with the front pulled back into a stylish bump and the rest loose in long waves down her back. Wearing her hair back highlighted her face and the sparkling aquamarine jewelry she was wearing at her ears and throat. And, of course, she was wearing the most important piece of her ensemble—her engagement ring.
Satisfied, she went down the stairs to the front door. She watched Liam waiting patiently through the peephole. He was looking very handsome in a light gray suit, ivory dress shirt and turquoise tie to coordinate with her outfit.
Even though he’d dropped her off the other night after dinner, he hadn’t been inside her town house yet. They’d decided he should pick her up and get familiar with her home just in case someone asked questions.
So far, no one had, and it was likely no one would. None of their friends in D.C. were remotely suspicious about their quick engagement. Romance seemed to be in the air this spring. So many of her friends had gotten married or engaged, so they were on trend. It was only Liam’s crafty aunt they had to please.
“Hello,” she said as she opened the door and gestured for him to come inside. “Come on in. This is my place.”
“Very nice,” he said, strolling into the living room and admiring his surroundings.
Francesca had always liked her home. She’d bought the small, red-brick town house near the university while she was a student. It was only two bedrooms, but the floor plan was open and the walled courtyard off the living room was the perfect oasis from the world. When she’d first bought it, nearly every room in it was white. She’d painted each room a warm, inviting color and filled them with lush fabrics and comfortable fixtures. That was her biggest update over the years. She loved her place.
She led him into the two-story living room so he could see out into her little garden and to the nicely remodeled kitchen she rarely used. “It’s not very big, but it suits me. I love the location—right across from the park.”
“You’ve done a lot with the place,” he said. “It looks comfortably lived in. Very much what I’d expect for you. My town house still looks like a showroom model. I never got around to hiring a decorator. Who did yours?”
“I did,” Francesca said, her nose wrinkling. “I couldn’t let someone else decorate my house. That’s too personal.”
Liam shrugged. “You’ve got the eye for it. Maybe while we’re engaged, I’ll let you decorate mine.”
She turned away from him without answering and went in search of her clutch instead. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. It wasn’t as though she would be moving into his house one day. She didn’t need to put her own personal stamp on his space or leave anything behind of her once all this was over. That made things seem more permanent than they were. But she wasn’t going to make much of it. They had a long night to get through without her adding more worries to the pile.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“Absolutely.”
Liam followed her out and then escorted her to the curb, where his convertible was waiting for them. Once he merged into traffic, they didn’t have far to go. Scarlet and Ariella had secured a location at one of the large historical mansions in Georgetown. The two-hundred-year-old estate had acres of gardens with fountains and an overabundance of spring flowers this time of year. It was the perfect location for a sunny, happy engagement party.
As they pulled onto the property, the valet opened the doors, pointed them to the garden entrance and took the car around back to park it with the others.
Standing on the lawn, facing her engagement celebration, Francesca was more nervous than she cared to admit. Her knees were nearly shaking. She’d done okay enduring the excited hugs and fielding questions from her friends and coworkers, one by one. But this was almost everyone she knew at one time. It made her wonder if she could pull this off. An engagement party. Her engagement party.
Liam sensed her hesitation and approached her. Putting his hands on the back of her upper arms, he stroked her gently, reassuringly. “Everything will be fine. You look beautiful. I’m sure Scarlet and Ariella did a great job with all the arrangements. There’s no need to be nervous.”
“I know,” she said with a shake of her head. She looked down toward the grass, but Liam’s finger caught her chin and turned her face up to him.
“You can do this. I know it. But I have to say you are missing something.”
Her eyes widened in panic. What had she forgotten? Ring? Check. Lipstick? Check. Overwhelming sense of paranoia? Check. “What did I forget?”
“You don’t have the rosy blush of a young woman in love. But I do believe I can fix that.” Liam leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
As much as she had tried to deny her attraction to Liam, her body always gave her away. The heat of his touch immediately moved through her veins and she could feel the tingling of the kiss from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She suddenly felt flush under her dainty sweater. Her knees were still shaking, although for different reasons than before. She gripped at his lapels to keep steady and pull him closer to her.
Liam’s kisses were dangerous. She should’ve learned that the very first day. A girl could get lost in one if she wasn’t careful. And right now, it seemed like the perfect escape from everything else. Couldn’t they just stay in each other’s arms here on the front lawn? That seemed like the kind of thing a new couple might do, right?
When Liam finally pulled away, he held her close to keep her from swaying. She felt a definite heat in her cheeks as she looked up at him. “No lipstick on you this time,” she noted.
“I was being more cautious today. But it worked—you officially have the bridal glow. Let’s get in there before it wears off.”
He looped her arm through his and escorted her down the stone pathway that led into the garden reception.
At first the party was a blur. There were easily a hundred and fifty people there, which was impressive on such short notice. Someone announced their arrival, and a rush of people came over to hug and congratulate them. There were pictures and toasts to the happy new couple. Francesca worried it would be hard to keep up the act, but after a little practice and a little champagne, showing people her ring and gushing about how beautiful the party was became easier and easier.
It wasn’t long before Francesca was able to slip away from Liam and the crowds to get herself a drink and admire her friends’ party-planning handiwork. Scarlet and Ariella really did an excellent job. The garden itself was beautiful, but she could spot the touches they’d added, like white paper lanterns in the trees and a gauzy fabric and flower arch behind the string quartet. The layout of the food and seating areas generated the perfect traffic pattern through the space. It was those details that made what her friends did special. Hassle-free events were their forte.
She picked up a glass and filled it at the four-foot-high silver punch fountain. Just as the lifted the frothy pink drink to her lips, she heard a woman’s voice from behind her.
“That’s got champagne in it, you know.”
Francesca turned to find Ariella with a silver tray of pastel petit fours in her hands. “Am I not allowed to have champagne at my own engagement party?”
Her friend smiled and passed the tray off to one of the catering staff. “That depends on why you and Liam Crowe are in such a rush to get married.”
“I am not pregnant,” Francesca said with a pout. She should’ve known that rumor would be one of the first to start circulating. They liked nothing better than juicy gossip in these circles and they weren’t above making some up if it was in short supply. She swallowed the whole glass of punch just to prove the rumor wrong.
“Good.” Ariella refilled Francesca’s glass and filled one of her own, then gestured over to a few chairs under a wisteria tree dripping with purple flowers. “So, just between you and me, what’s going on?” she asked once they were seated.
Francesca knew her friend would grill her, although not in the same way that Aunt Beatrice probably would. She just wanted the details so she could understand and be happy for her. Or concerned, depending on if she thought she was being stupid or hasty. That’s what good girlfriends did. They kept your head on straight. “It all happened so quickly, I can hardly tell you. The moment I saw him, it was like the last few years we’ve been apart never happened. There were fireworks.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. It was more like armed missiles, but there were explosions nonetheless.
Ariella looked into her eyes, searching her face for a moment. Then, satisfied, she smiled and patted Francesca on the knee. “Then I’m happy for you. I just wish you had told us what was going on.”
Francesca wished she could really tell her what was going on. She could use a sounding board, but Liam had been adamant that no one know about their arrangement. No one. That was tough for her, considering how close she was with her friends and family.
“Everyone has been so busy with their own lives. I just decided to keep things quiet until there was something to tell.”
“How’d your dad take the news?” Ariella asked.
“Ah.” She sighed, “you know Dad. He’ll adjust eventually. He’s concerned that we’re rushing things, and that he had no idea who my groom even was. I had to remind him that he and my mother met and eloped within a month. He didn’t want to hear that.”
Ariella smiled. “I imagine not.”
Hoping to shift the subject, Francesca decided to use the topic of fathers to fulfill her first obligation to Liam. “Can I talk to you about something?”
“Sure,” Ariella said. “Anything.”
Francesca nodded. “Okay. Now I want you to tell me ‘no’ the moment you’re uncomfortable with the idea, but I told Liam I would ask. Now is as good a time as any.”
“He wants an interview?” she said wearily. Francesca could tell the last few months were really wearing on her friend.
“Not exactly. He wants to offer you and President Morrow the opportunity to meet and get your story out there. A televised reunion show. No spin, no intruding interview questions. Just you and your father, however you want to do it. Liam has even said he’d put me in charge of the show to make sure you’d be comfortable with it. I told him that I thought it was—”
“Okay.”
Francesca’s head shot up and she stared at Ariella. Surely she’d heard that wrong. “What?”
She shrugged. “I said okay. If the president is okay with doing the show, I think it’s a great idea. We’ve gone too long without saying anything publicly, and I think it’s starting to hurt both of us in the court of public opinion. Neither of us has done anything wrong, but the silence makes us look like we have something to hide.”
“But do you think television is the right place for you to be reunited with your birth father? Won’t that be hard for you?”
“Not any harder than anything else that’s happened this year. Frankly, I’d be relieved to clear the air so the news networks can find some other story to sniff out. Tell Liam I’m in.”
Francesca took another large sip of her champagne punch and sighed. Everyone had lost their minds—she was certain of it. “Okay, great,” she said, feigning enthusiasm. “I’ll let Liam know.”
*
Liam had to admit that it was an excellent engagement party. One of the better ones he’d been forced to attend over the years. He was exhausted and well-fed, as he should be. If and when he did get married, he intended to keep D.C. Affairs Event Planners in his address book.
It was dusk now. The party was winding down, with guests making their way out amid glowing paper lanterns and white twinkle lights.
He’d lost track of Francesca a little while earlier as he started talking politics with a few other men. Now, he picked up his champagne glass and went in search of his elusive fiancée. That sounded so odd to say, even just in his head.
He found her sitting alone at a table near one of the cherub fountains.
“Hey, there,” he said as he approached. “Thought you’d run off on me.”
Francesca smiled wearily and slipped off one of her heels. “I’m not running anywhere right now.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. I think the party is over. And was successful, I might add. I got several people to agree to buying tickets to the Youth in Crisis gala next week.”
“You’re not supposed to recruit at our engagement party.”
She shrugged. “Why not? It’s what I do, just like you talk politics all the time with folks.” She slipped her shoe back on and stood gingerly. “Ahi, i miei piedi.”
Liam watched her hobble a few steps and decided the walk to the car would be too far for her. “Stop,” he insisted, coming alongside her and sweeping her up into his arms.
“Oh!” she hollered in surprise, causing a few people left at the party to turn and look their way. They immediately smiled at his romantic gesture and waved good-night to them.
Francesca clung to his neck, but not with a death grip. “You didn’t have to do this,” she said as he walked the path to the front of the house.
“I don’t have to do a lot of things, but I do them because I want to. Gray Lexus convertible,” he said to the valet, who immediately disappeared to the car lot.
“I think I can manage from here.”
“What if I’m doing this for selfish reasons? What if I just like holding you this way?” he asked. And he did. He liked the way she clung to him. The way her rose perfume tickled his nose and reminded him of their time together in the elevator. His body tightened in response to the press of her breasts against his chest and the silk of her bare legs in his arms. He didn’t want to put her down until he could lay her on a plush mattress and make love to her the way he’d wanted to for days.
Francesca’s only response was a sharp intake of breath as she turned to look into his eyes. She watched his face with intensity, reading his body’s reactions through his expression. He saw an acknowledgment in her eyes—something that told him she was feeling the same way. She opened her mouth to say something when the car pulled up beside them.
Liam wanted to know what she was about to say, but instead, she turned away and struggled in his arms. He reluctantly set her down in the grass and went around to his side of the car and got in. The moment had passed and whatever she had to say was left unspoken.
It wasn’t until the car pulled up outside her town house that they spoke again. And when they did, it was all at once in a jumble of words.
“Would you like to come in?”
“I had a great time today.”
“So did I.”
“Yes.”
Francesca smiled at the way they’d talked over each other. “Now that we have that all cleared up, come in and I’ll make us some coffee.”
Liam was thrilled to get an invitation inside tonight. He got out and opened her door, following her up the brick stairs to her entranceway. He laid a gentle hand at the small of her back as she unlocked the dead bolt and he felt her shiver beneath it, despite the warm evening. She couldn’t help responding to his touch, he noted. If he had anything to say about it, they wouldn’t worry too much about coffee until the morning.
They went inside and he followed her to the kitchen, where she dropped her purse on the counter and slipped out of her heels. “So much better,” she said with a smile. “Now, coffee.” Francesca turned to the cabinets and started pulling out what she needed to brew a pot.
While she scooped beans into the machine, Liam slipped off his coat, draped it on one of the bar stools and came up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed the full length of his body against her. He swept her hair over one shoulder and placed a warm kiss on the bare skin of her neck.
The metallic coffee scoop dropped to the counter with a clank as Francesca reached out to brace herself with both hands. “You don’t want coffee?” she asked, her voice breathy as his mouth continued to move across her skin. She pressed into him, molding her body against his.
Liam slipped her sweater down her shoulders. “Coffee would keep me awake. I think I’d like to go to bed.” He pushed the firm heat of his arousal against her back and let his hands roam over the soft fabric of her dress. “What about you?” he asked. He knew Francesca had been in a war between her body and her mind since they met. She’d practically run from him the other night, yet when he kissed her, he could tell she wanted more.
But tonight, this step had to be her decision. Playing the happy couple would be much easier the next few weeks if he wasn’t battling an erection whenever they were together. Sex wasn’t required in their arrangement, but damn, being engaged was a really great excuse to indulge.
“No,” she said.
Her words caused Liam’s hands to freeze in place. Had she just said no? Damn. He must’ve been reading her wrong. Did she really only invite him in for coffee? Maybe she was a better actress than he thought.
Before he could pull away, Francesca turned in his arms to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked up at him with her large dark eyes, a sly smirk curling her pink lips. “I don’t want to go to bed,” she explained. “I want you right here.”
Liam was all too happy to grant her wish. With a slide of his arm, he knocked her bag to the floor and cleared the countertop bar. He encircled her waist with his hands and lifted her up to sit at the rounded edge of the granite slab. His hands slid up the smooth length of her legs, pushing the hem of her turquoise dress high enough to spread her thighs and allow him to settle between them.
“How’s this?” he asked, gripping her rear end and tugging her tight to him.
Francesca smiled and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Perfetto.”
She leaned in to kiss him, and the floodgates opened. The moment their lips met, everything they’d held back for the past week came rushing forward. Their hands moved frantically over each other, pulling at zippers and buttons until they uncovered skin. Their tongues glided along one another, tasting, tempting and drinking it all in.
Liam couldn’t get enough of her. The feel of her skin, the soft groans against his mouth as he touched her. He tried to be gentle as he unzipped her dress and pushed the hem up to her waist, but his patience was coming to its end. Especially when Francesca pulled the dress up over her head and he caught a glimpse of the hot pink lace panties and strapless bra she was wearing.
He took a step back to appreciate the view of her body and give himself a moment to recover. As badly as he wanted her, he wasn’t going to rush this. Francesca delicately arched her back, reaching behind her to unfasten the bra and toss it aside. The sight of her full, round breasts was his undoing. His palms ached to cover them.
“Touch me,” Francesca whispered, noting his hesitation. “I want you to.”
“Are you sure? The other night…”
“That was then. Now I’m ready and I don’t want to wait any longer.”
He was ready too, but first things first. With his eyes focused on hers, he slipped off his unknotted tie and shrugged out of his shirt. The belt, pants and everything else followed until the only stitch of clothing on the two of them were those pink panties. Stepping back between her thighs, he put a condom on the counter and let his hands glide up her outer thighs to her lace-covered hip. “Are these your favorite pair?” he asked.
Francesca shook her head. He was glad. He was at the point of not caring if they were. He’d order ten pair to replace them tomorrow. His fingers grasped the fabric and gave it a hard tug. There was a loud rip, and the panties gave way as scraps in his hands.
At last. Her beautiful nude body was on full display in front of him. This time there was no power restoration to interrupt them, no reason for them to hold back.
Liam placed one forearm across the small of her back and used the other to press down on her chest until she was lying across the breakfast bar. He leaned over her and his lips joined both hands as they made their way over her breasts and down her stomach. His mouth left a searing trail down her belly, pausing at her hip bone as one hand sought out the moist heat between her thighs.
Francesca gasped and squirmed against him. Her back arched off the counter, her hands clawing futilely at the cold stone beneath her. She was ready for him, and as much as he wanted to take his time, he had to have her now. They had all night to savor one another.
Slipping on the condom, Liam gripped her hips and entered her in one, quick movement. Sinking into her hot, welcoming body was a pleasure he’d rarely experienced before. A bolt of sensation, like lightning, shot down his spine and exploded down his arms and legs, making his fingertips tingle where he touched her. He gritted his teeth, balancing on the edge of control as he eased out, then buried deep inside her again.
Francesca pushed herself up, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Pressing her bare breasts against his chest, she whispered, “Take me,” into his ear, flicking the lobe with her tongue.
Gripping at her back and pulling her so close to the edge she might fall without his hold, he did as he was told. He filled her again and again, losing himself in her until she cried out with pleasure and his legs began to shake. It was only then that he let go. Moving quickly, he gave in to the sensation of her body wrapped around his own and flowed into her with a deep growl of long-awaited satisfaction.