Page 79 of Silver Lining
"We are giving Max a leather vest, and Louise a pair of fleece-lined gloves."
"We?" Her voice spiraled into shrillness. "You signed the tags from both of us? You had no right to do that!" Furious, she stamped her foot, but that wasn't enough. Frantically she looked around, then grabbed a china figurine from the top of the bureau, and hurled it to the floor. "Now look what you made me do!"
The shattered pieces raised genuine tears to her eyes. "I loved that piece!"
When he didn't come to her, didn't bend to pick up the pieces of china or offer to glue them, she peeked at him through her lashes. Incredibly, he'd turned his back again and stood gazing out the window. She could not believe it.
He drew on his cigar and blew a smoke ring at his reflection in the panes. "It's getting late. After you pick up your mess, we'll go downstairs."
A scream of outrage and fury rushed up her throat, but she checked herself. She needed to figure this out.
What had changed his attitude? When had his puppy-like adoration become judgmental?
It had to be the bank. He wouldn't dare treat her like this if he feared her father or if he believed her happiness essential to his future.
She half sat, half fell onto the vanity bench. She could not spend thirty minutes with her father without having to listen to paeans of praise for Wally's success at the bank. Wally had a remarkable grasp of finance and the financial markets. Wally's tact and diplomacy made him a natural for dealing with difficult patrons. No one could have learned all the facets of banking any faster than Wally McCord. She was sick and tired of hearing about Wally's exploits at the bank. It was almost as if he were her father's favored son and she was merely the wife he had married.
Good God. Her eyes widened, and she stared at the back of Wally's head. That was exactly the problem. When she married Wally, she had given her father the son he had always wanted.
Wally may have received his position at the bank because she wanted it so. But he had swiftly proven his worth and firmly established himself in her father's dazzled eyes.
Shocked and tight with resentment, she stood, then kicked the broken pieces of the figurine beneath her bed.
The first thing was to endure and get through tonight. Next, she had to endure and get through the delivery of the baby. Until then, she had to endure an unwanted marriage to the wrong man.
But once the baby was born and she no longer needed this Judas who had usurped her place in her father's heart, then, step by step, she would shed a marriage she didn't want and seize the marriage she did want.
As for Wally McCord, he held his position at the bank because she had wished it, and he could lose that position because she wished it. In time, he would discover this.
Refusing to speak to him, she slapped his arm away and walked to the top of the staircase as if he were invisible and she didn't see him beside her. She had lifted her skirts to descend when she saw Max and the creature standing in the foyer beneath a sprig of mistletoe.
Max had one hand on Low Down's cheek and he gazed into the creature's eyes as he had once gazed into hers, with tenderness and the smoky heat of desire. Philadelphia inhaled sharply and felt the blood rush to her face as he drew the creature hard against him and kissed her as if Sunshine and Livvy were not looking on with encouragement and approval. He kissed the creature as if she were a beautiful, desirable woman and not a coarse vulgarian trespassing where she was not wanted and didn't belong.
What was it about this plain graceless woman that made Max's eyes soften as he watched her follow Sunshine into the parlor? Why on earth would Wally rise to such a person's defense? Mystified, Philadelphia struggled to find an answer. But she could think of no reason why anyone would give Low Down a second glance or a second thought.
The creature's hands and cheeks were chapped and wind-reddened, her hair dressed plainly and unimaginatively. She hadn't the faintest notion of style or etiquette. Her background was deplorable, her morals shocking. There was nothing whatsoever appealing about this no-account person. If she had not tricked Max into marriage, Low Down would never have attracted a man.
Philadelphia seethed as Low Down turned in the parlor doorway and gazed back at Max with shining eyes. Even a fool could see that she loved him. It was in her gaze, on her flushed cheeks, at the trembling corner of her lips.
What the stupid creature didn't grasp was that Philadelphia could take Max away faster than she could snap her fingers. Max didn't care two jots about a nobody like Low Down. He had to pretend in front of his family, and Philadelphia understood this. But he loved her, and she could have him anytime she wanted. When the time was right, she would.
Pasting a bright smile over her anger, she lifted her skirts to descend the stairs. "Merry Christmas," she called gaily. Max had always liked her whimsical moments. He'd teased her about her daredevil ways, but she knew he found her boldness charming.
Ignoring Livvy's wary regard, she swirled into the foyer, letting a lacy edge of petticoat flash beneath rose-colored satin skirts. She whirled to a stop before Max, bringing with her the rose petal scent of her signature fragrance.
Dimpling up at him, she opened her fingers across her bosom and noticed the mistletoe. "Oh! We're standing beneath mistletoe." Expectancy and a breathless suggestion hung in the observation. She let him see the wicked twinkle in her eyes, let him recognize an open dare.
Without looking, she sensed Livvy's shocked disapproval and the heat of Wally's anger. Well, Wally had wanted her to behave naturally, to pretend there was no Situation with a capital S. He'd wanted her to join the family and not run away from Max. In fact, Wally's advice worked to her advantage. Kissing Max beneath the mistletoe would punish Wally and remind Max of what he had given up. If she touched her tongue to his lips, if she could be that daring, he would understand that she still wanted him and that she knew he wanted her, too.
She moved forward until she could feel the heat of his body, then she lifted her face and closed her eyes.
And finally, finally, his warm hard hand curved around her waist for the first time since that terrible night when he had betrayed her.
"No woman should be ignored beneath the mistletoe," Max said smoothly. Deftly, he turned her beneath his hand to face Wally. "Little brother, your wife is awaiting her Christmas kiss."
His hand dropped from her waist, and he moved away. The only thing that softened her fury was recognizing the strain in his voice. He had wanted to kiss her, but he wouldn't risk it in front of his mother and brother.
Stepping forward, Wally bent and brushed chill lips across her cheek before he turned to his mother.
