Blame It On Texas

He strolled closer. “Does that mean she’ll be awake when you get home at midnight?”

She made a face that would have been comical if not for the sudden vulnerability in her pretty turquoise eyes. “Doubtful. The Contessa usually sleeps until noon at home. She reserves her afternoons for shopping or hair appointments, her evenings for social events.”

“Ah.” Lewis watched Lexie walk over to inspect the half-dozen umbrellas. He could always remember to bring an umbrella. He could just never remember to take it home. What that meant, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Lexie picked up one emblazoned with the Stanford University logo. She inspected it, end to end. “The Contessa leads an exceptionally busy life, you know. She’s a very important and socially well-connected person.”

Lewis followed her over to the stand. He sensed she needed to vent, and he was only too happy to listen. “You don’t have much respect for your mother, do you?” he asked in a low voice.

Lexie dropped the umbrella into the large, galvanized metal milk can. She picked up another he had picked up on one of his business trips. It was an unfortunate color of purple, but had been the only one available during the unexpected deluge he’d found himself in.

“No,” she said, “I don’t.”

The lack of apology in her expressive turquoise eyes was interesting to say the least. As was the career path she had chosen. Why had Lexie chosen a profession that had her constantly catering to the whims of people much like her snobbish, self-involved mother? “Ever thought of having that kind of life yourself?” he asked, playing devil’s advocate. She could have easily gone the pampered dilettante route, instead of working herself half to death.

She dropped the purple umbrella back into the can with a clang. “No, of course not. I’d be bored silly if all I did was go to parties.”

The lusciousness of her full lips had his gaze returning to her face again. “Is that why you can’t seem to slow down?”

Lexie mocked him with a look. “I am slowing down,” she declared emphatically. “I spent the whole day in bed, pretending to sleep.”

“Or avoiding your mother?”

She wrinkled her pretty nose at him, even as she inspected a small, rainbow-striped umbrella he’d also picked up on the run. “You are psychic,” she said playfully.

He shook his head, watching Lexie close the child-sized umbrella and put it back in the can, quietly this time. Lewis would give anything if he could spend time with his own mother again. But it wasn’t going to happen. They’d lost her to cancer when he was ten. “You ought to spend time with your mom while you have the chance,” he advised soberly.

Silence fell as Lexie stuck her hands in her pockets and said nothing, which made Lewis wonder if Jake Remington weren’t the only parent Lexie was fighting with. “How is your mom doing, by the way?” he asked gently, deciding to try a different tact.

She rocked forward and studied the scuffed toes of her red leather boots. “You saw the Contessa this morning.”

Wishing he knew Lexie well enough to haul her into his arms and hold her there until the hurting stopped, Lewis edged close enough to inhale the fragrant softness of her skin and hair. “Physically, your mom looked great. But she just lost her husband. That can’t be easy.”

“Yeah.” Tension tightened the delicate features of her face. “She’d never admit it, but I think she’s finding widowhood a little tougher to navigate than she imagined.”

Lewis heard the sympathy beneath the defiance in Lexie’s low tone. “Which is maybe why she came over to visit you,” he theorized.

The troubled look was back in Lexie’s pretty eyes. “Maybe, but my mother never does anything without an agenda.”

Lewis walked back over to his desk and shut down the e-mail and instant messaging system on his computer. “What agenda could she have here?” he asked. “Except to be close to you?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know.” Lexie’s teeth worried her lower lip as she inspected the mismatched furniture and state-of-the-art electronics in his office. “Financially, she’s fine.” She dropped down onto the black leather sofa in the corner. “Count Riccardo’s lawyers read the will when I was over there. He had no other family left so Mother got everything—all the family jewelry, tons of money, the villa in Naples, the country house in Florence.”

Lewis closed the distance between them and sat down next to her. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it?”

“You’d think so.” She stretched her slender legs out in front of her. “But…”

“What?” he prodded.

“She seems so edgy. Restless.”

Giving in to the need to comfort her, Lewis reached over and took her hand in his. “Isn’t that to be expected?” he asked gently. “She just lost her companion of the last twenty years.”

Lexie shook her head and left her hand clasped warmly in his. She ran the fingers of her free hand over the back of his. “They didn’t really have that kind of marriage.”

Trying not to get distracted by the heat of her caress, Lewis shifted his weight toward her. “What kind did they have?”

“Passionate, volatile.” She swallowed hard. “They were both very old-world European in their outlook.”

Lewis studied the veiled pain in her eyes. He tightened his hand protectively over hers. “I don’t get what you’re trying to say.”

Lexie’s voice took on an unhappy tone. “They both had lovers, lots of them, and they were okay with that.”

Lewis could only envision how hard that must have been for Lexie, who would have been exposed to that from the tender age of six. Bad enough to have your parents divorced and remarried, living on different continents. To have one set openly cheating… “Kind of the opposite of your dad and Jenna,” Lewis surmised compassionately.

“Yeah, those two are really devoted to each other.” Lexie smiled reflectively. “Kind of like your Dad and Kate.”

Lewis knew his own life would have been a lot harder had Kate Marten not stepped in to help him and the rest of his family deal with the loss of his mother. Kate’s love and understanding had healed his family and brought love and laughter to their lives again. “We both lucked out in the stepmother department, didn’t we?”

Lexie nodded. “So, are you ready to get to work?” she asked. Energetic as ever, she perched on the edge of the sofa.

Lewis kept a grip on her palm, wishing the situation were different. “Not quite yet,” he said.

Lexie looked frustrated. “What’s stopping you?”

Lewis frowned. “My previous plans for the evening.”

“YOU’VE GOT A DATE.” She didn’t know why, but just the thought of him seeing someone else was very disheartening.

“With about sixteen people.”

Now he had lost her.

“I’m hosting the monthly Laramie High School computer club get-together,” Lewis explained. “The kids will be here at six.” Noting the time, he said, “I’ve got to get the testing lab ready.” An inviting smile curved his lips. “You can tag along if you like.”

She regarded him in amazement. “You do this yourself?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Used to being around people who lorded their wealth and power over others at every opportunity, Lexie shook her head in bemusement. “You own an entire company.”

“It doesn’t mean I’m above getting out some game prototypes and ordering pizza and soft drinks.” Lewis returned to his desk and typed in something on his computer screen. The menu for Mac Callahan’s restaurant popped up. He gestured her over. “Anything here look good to you?”

Lexie moved behind his desk chair. She curved her hands over the back of it, as she bent down to scan the offerings from Laramie’s favorite pizza place. “The hot wings,” she said quickly.

Lewis turned to shoot her a glance, the side of his face lightly brushing the side of hers. “Not quite on your diet,” he chided.

Refusing to acknowledge how sexy she found the brush of his evening beard against the softness of her skin, she shrugged.