Heir to Scandal

Why did she still remember all these insignificant things? She wished she could forget all about Xander—from his smile to his preferences to the way he could make her feel with just the simplest touch. But under the circumstances, it was pretty hard to do. Xander would always be a part of her life, whether he knew it or not.

To avoid the temptation of him dangling the cherry for her to eat, she put it back in the jar. She poured his tea, dropped in the lemon and took both the drinks out to his table. She glanced at her other customers on her way there. The family had left. The two older men were nursing their coffees, but it wasn’t time to warm their cups yet. They still had half a piece of pie each.

Rose had no excuses to avoid Xander any longer. As she approached, she noticed he was poring intently over a newspaper someone had left on the counter earlier. He didn’t even notice her approach. Apparently, he was more firmly embedded in her thoughts than she was in his. Sadly, that didn’t surprise her at all.

She set his milkshake and tea on the table and he looked up, startled. “Here’s your milkshake. It will be about ten more minutes on your food.”

“Thank you.” He looked down at the milkshake with an amused expression on his face. “No cherry?”

He remembered, too. “I didn’t think you liked them.”

“I do. I always did. I just knew you liked them more.”

It was a small thing, trivial, really, and yet the realization was enough to soften her knees beneath her. Those were the kind of things he did that made her succumb to him. His thoughtfulness and giving nature far surpassed his good looks or bright future. She braced her arm on the back of the booth to steady herself. “Would you like me to bring you one?” she asked.

“No, I’d rather you chat with me for a little bit.”

Rose sank into the seat, giving her knees a much-needed break. She tried not to fidget nervously while she sat there, but she couldn’t help smoothing out her uniform and picking off stray bits of lint. It was easier than looking him in the eye. “So...” she began. “How’ve you been?”

Xander shrugged. “Busy. I pretty much haven’t stopped running since the day I moved away. School was brutal. Law school was worse.” He took a heavy draw of his milkshake and smiled. “This is great. You always made the best chocolate shakes. I ended up working for Congressman Kimball,” he continued, “and before I knew it, I was taking his place. But that’s all boring stuff. What about you?”

Rose arched an eyebrow at him. “I assure you that whatever you’ve done in the last few years is far more exciting than what I’ve been up to.”

“What happened to school? I thought you wanted to be a teacher.”

“And give up this glamorous life?” Rose laughed. “I finished a semester and had to stop. Life got complicated and I never went back. Mom died that spring and I took that pretty hard. I stayed in Danbury for a couple of years and then moved back home when my dad was having some...issues...and helped him run his shop. When my brother, Craig, took over the garage and Daisy’s owner offered me my job back with benefits, I couldn’t turn it down. So here I am.”

“Have you married? I was certain someone would’ve snatched you up by now.”

“Uh, no. Not much happening on the love front, but that’s nothing new. You were the only man in this whole town to ever notice I existed. Once you left, I went back to being invisible.”

That wasn’t entirely true. There was one male in town that noticed her. One that loved and adored her. Unfortunately, he looked at her over the kitchen table every morning with the same hazel eyes that were watching her now. He was one of several complications to her love life, none of which she had any interest in mentioning to Xander.

“You could never be invisible. The men in this town are just blind if they don’t see something great right in front of them.”

Xander knew just what to say and just how to say it, but it didn’t help. She’d pushed him away to avoid more heartbreak. Going with him to D.C. never would’ve worked, as much as he’d insisted. He’d had a big life ahead of him that she wasn’t a part of and she’d understood that. She’d needed to stay with her mother and forge a new life without Xander. Finding out she was pregnant a week after he left hadn’t changed anything. It had just made it harder to cope.

“That’s sweet,” she said, “but a girl can’t believe a word you say. You’re one of those slick politicians.”

“Not entirely,” Xander said with a smile. “I’m also an author.” He reached down beside him on the booth and placed a book on the table. “I brought this for you.”

Rose reached out and picked up the book. A grinning, handsome Xander stared back at her from the glossy cover. “Fostering Faith,” she read aloud. “This is great, Xander. Congratulations.”

“It’s about my childhood and the path that brought me to Washington. It ties in with my work at the Fostering Families Center. The center provides support, training and social activities for foster parents and children in the system.”

She cracked open the book and flipped through a few pages. She stopped when she caught a glimpse of her name in the sea of text. “I’m in it?” she asked. Her heart skipped a beat. What on earth would he have written about her in here?

“Yes. I only used your first name, but I couldn’t tell the story of my life without including you. You were such an important part of my high school years.”

His hazel gaze focused on her, making her chest tighten. She didn’t know what to say and even if she had, she couldn’t have spoken when he looked at her like that.

“I autographed it to you,” he added. “That’s why I came down here. I wanted to give it to you in person.”

“Thank you,” she managed. “I look forward to—”

“Have dinner with me,” he blurted out, his eyes widening as though he’d surprised even himself.

The suddenness of his query caught her off guard, too. “I can’t. I have to work.”

Xander frowned. “You work every day?”

“No,” she admitted. “But I’m not off again until Sunday. I figured you’d be long gone from Cornwall by then.”

Xander smiled wide and Rose quickly realized that her alibi wouldn’t be good enough. “As luck would have it,” he said, “I’m going to be in town for a while. A few weeks at least.”

“Oh.” Knowing Xander, he would ask her to dinner every day until she relented. She didn’t have the strength to fight him off for that long.

“So I can take you out to dinner Sunday night?”

No. No, no, no. Her brain could see the problems a mile away. Eventually, she would slip up and say the wrong thing. She’d mention school or Little League or her dad.... That or she’d lose her mind and think it wouldn’t hurt to sleep with him again. Then he would leave and she would be crushed. History could not repeat itself. Her heart couldn’t take it.

Rose caught a whiff of his cologne. It was a warm, spicy scent that reminded her of hot summer nights and foggy windows. “Okay,” she said before she could stop the words. Her body seemed to have different plans from her brain and at the moment, it had control of her vocal cords.

“Great. Where are you living now? I’ll pick you up.”

“You can pick me up here,” she said a touch too quickly, and then felt the need to explain herself. “I live a couple towns over. There’s no sense in you driving all the way out there.” That was true enough, although there were more reasons for not wanting Xander at her apartment.

“Fair enough, although it’s no imposition.”

Rose shook her head and glanced down at her watch. She needed to check on his food, warm up Gary’s and Pete’s coffees, and get some distance between her and Xander so she could think straight again.

“I’d better go grab your burger,” she said sliding out of the booth with the book in her hands. With an awkward parting smile, she disappeared into the kitchen. Safely hidden away, she whacked her forehead against the refrigerator door and groaned.

“Order’s up,” Oscar said, sliding the plate across the counter. “Don’t whack your head so hard you forget which table to take it to.”

Oh, there was no way she was going to forget, no matter how many times she hit her head. She also couldn’t forget that she was an idiot. She was playing with fire. Somehow the idea both thrilled and horrified her. She glanced down at the book in her hands and the handsome face staring back at her before taking a deep, calming breath. It didn’t help. Nothing would.

Rose had a date with Xander Langston.

Two (#ud896c06b-154e-50e2-b7fe-4f81c5cbd0c8)

At exactly 7:00 p.m. Sunday, Xander pulled his Lexus back into the gravel parking lot of Daisy’s Diner. The restaurant was closed on Sunday nights, but there was one vehicle in the lot—a four-door Honda Civic. A smart choice.

That was one thing he’d always appreciated about Rose. She was practical. She’d always been embarrassed by the fact that she had to leave after school and work while the other girls went to cheerleading and band practice. Xander had thought it was industrious of her. She wasn’t frivolous with her time or her money. He’d been proud to date a girl who was hardworking and appreciated what she had.

There had been a time when Xander was spoiled. His father had had a good job; his mother had stayed at home. He and his brother, Heath, hadn’t wanted for anything. And then, in the blink of an eye, he’d lost everything. Going to live with the Edens had been like a whole new world. They hadn’t had a lot of money, but they’d taught him the value of working hard and having pride in what he accomplished. Each member of their patchwork family had helped run the farm. Come December, he’d do nothing but bag and haul Christmas trees and he’d be happy to do it. It had taught him the skills he needed to fight the good fight on Capitol Hill.

Rose hadn’t had it easy, either. Her mother had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer her senior year and her father hadn’t made much money as a mechanic. She and her two siblings had both worked because they’d had to. Because of it, she’d appreciated things most people took for granted.