Once in a Lifetime

“Not at all. Just a second.”

No preliminaries. He liked that. “Hello, Tara. This is Telford. Have you fed your puppy?”

“Yes, and he’s already asleep.”

“Good. I’ll see you in the morning at breakfast.” He hadn’t lied, and she wouldn’t expect him, so she wouldn’t be disappointed. He breathed a deep sigh of relief. An hour later, he was in his Buick Le Sabre headed for Frederick.

Alexis finished pulling the red caftan over her head, tied the thongs of her sandals around her ankles, walked over to her daughter and put the phone back into its cradle. “What did he say?”

“He told me to feed Biscuit.”

“That’s all?”

“No. He said he’d see me in the morning. Can I have my keyboard now?”

She gave Tara the keyboard, opened the door and walked out into the garden. He’d decided not to have dinner with them and, remembering that Tara would miss him, he’d prepared her. A kind, thoughtful man, but he walked alone, and after what she’d suffered the past four and a half years, she preferred to do the same. Whether she’d made a mistake in signing the contract with Telford would depend on how they deported themselves. Worrying about her reaction to him was a waste of time, and she intended to focus on her sculpting.

“Mummy. Telephone.”

“Hello,” she said, winded after running halfway across the garden. “Velma! I’d begun to wonder if you’d gotten my message.”

“I did, but I’ve been flying around like crazy. What’s he like?”

She prepared herself for the third degree. “What’s who like?”

“Don’t try to bamboozle me, sis. Anytime your mind goes blank, I know you’re hiding something. And this time, it’s a man.”

“Velma, I’ve been here exactly six days.”

“So? You could’ve conceived sextuplets by now. What’s he like?”

She sat down, crossed her legs and prepared for a grilling by her older sister. “Telford Harrington is, so far as I have been able to determine, a gentleman. That’s the sum total of my knowledge of the man.”

“My, my. And we’re so precise. If he’s too much of a gentleman, he can be a bore. What do you think of the place?”

She told her, adding, “Nobody who lives here is suffering.”

“Does he have any brothers?”

Alexis laughed aloud, figuring she’d get some of her own. “Two of ’em. Drake, the one I met, makes Billy Dee Williams look ordinary.”

Velma’s whistle burned her ear. “Quit lying, girl. When I look at Billy Dee in those old movies, I just get plain unconscious. He’s da man. If this brother’s in Billy Dee’s class, honey, look for me, and soon.”

“Trust me. He’s a sizzler.” She could picture Velma’s mental machine at work.

“If he’s so hot, what’s wrong with him that you’re not interested?”

“No chemistry.” That much was true. “And I work for these guys.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to carry it off, hon? That’s hard work, and you’re not used to it. I could strangle Jack Stevenson.”

“As Grandma used to say, ‘let him lie.’ I have Tara—or did have. She has mutual affairs going with both Harringtons and the cook.” Alexis wiped the dampness from beneath her eyes. “Jack ignored Tara, and she is really basking in the attention these men give her. I think she’s fallen for Telford.”

“Telford, huh? So that’s his name?”

“Would you please back up, Velma? I am not interested in these men.”

“Of course you aren’t. If one of those blood brothers is a knockout, so are the others. That thing runs in families, and I’ll bet Telford’s good-looking and you’re sweet on him. Anyhow, I want to meet Drake.”

“No, you don’t. He’s younger than you are.”

“Don’t start preaching. If he’s of legal age, intelligent, otherwise mature and has everything in the right places, so what?”

Alexis couldn’t help laughing. “Drake Harrington is an architectural engineer and time enough for you and a few more women. If you meet him, you’ll have to pay me not to tell him what you just said.”

“I’m crying a river. What about the other brother?”

He was a question mark, an important one, because she didn’t know how he would react to Tara. “Haven’t seen him yet, but Drake referred to him as ‘old sourpuss.’ He’s the middle brother. When can you come visit me?”

“Soon as you can get the family together. I want my pick of those brothers.”

“I’ll bet. How’s business?”

“Great. I just signed to cater the Omega convention. And keep your fingers crossed. I’m bidding for the AKA annual.”

“I’m proud of you, sis. I wish you’d show me how to make that crisscross lemon-almond cake.”

“Get me a Harrington, and I will.”

“I’ll… I think that’s the doorbell. I’d better answer it. Talk to you later.”

She rushed down the long hallway to the front door, peeped out and saw a black Mercedes parked in front of the house. She slipped on the chain, cracked the door and peeped at the visitor.

“You can open it,” Henry called to her, and she wondered why he hadn’t done that himself.

She flung the door open and gaped at the man who continued to stand there staring at her. “I’m Russ Harrington,” he said at last and brushed past her.

Forgetting that she was the housekeeper, she left the door ajar in a kind of reprimand and walked past him.

“Just a minute, miss. Where’s Drake?”

“Drake? I haven’t the slightest idea.”

“Then who’re…what’re you doing here?”

“I’m Alexis Stevenson, and I’m not visiting either one of your brothers. I’m the housekeeper.”

His lower lip dropped. “The what?”