Page 11 of Courting Catherine
“Yes.” He accepted her offered hand and was surprised to find it hard and callused and strong.
“I’m Suzanna Calhoun Dumont. You’ll be staying with us for a few days?”
“Yes. Your aunt was kind enough to invite me.”
“Shrewd enough,” Suzanna corrected with a smile as she put an arm around her sister. “I take it C.C.’s given you a partial tour.”
“A fascinating one.”
“I’ll be glad to continue it from here.” Her fingers pressed lightly but with clear meaning into C.C.’s arm. “Aunt Coco could use some help downstairs.”
“He doesn’t need to see any more now,” C.C. argued. “You look tired.”
“Not a bit. But I will be if Aunt Coco sends me all over the house looking for the Wedgwood turkey platter.”
“All right then.” She sent Trent a last, fulminating glance. “We aren’t finished.”
“Not by a long shot,” he agreed, and smiled to himself as she slammed back inside. “Your sister has quite an... outgoing personality.”
“She’s a fire-eater,” Suzanna said. “We all are, given the right circumstances. The Calhoun curse.” She glanced over at the sound of her children laughing. “This isn’t an easy decision, Mr. St. James, one way or the other. Nor is it, for any of us, a business one.”
“I’ve gathered that. For me it has to be a business one.”
She knew too well that for some men business came first, and last. “Then I suppose we’d better take it one step at a time.” She opened the door that C.C. had slammed shut. “Why don’t I show you where you’ll be staying?”
Chapter Three
“So, what’s he like?” Lilah Calhoun crossed her long legs, anchoring her ankles on one arm of the couch and pillowing her head on the other. The half-dozen bracelets on her arm jingled as she gestured toward C.C. “Honey, I’ve told you, screwing your face up that way causes nothing but wrinkles and bad vibes.”
“If you don’t want me to screw my face up, don’t ask me about him.”
“Okay, I’ll ask Suzanna.” She shifted her sea-green eyes toward her older sister. “Let’s have it.”
“Attractive, well mannered and intelligent.”
“So’s a cocker spaniel,” Lilah put in, and sighed. “And here I was hoping for a pit bull. How long do we get to keep him?”
“Aunt Coco’s a little vague on the particulars.” Suzanna sent both of her sisters an amused look. “Which means she’s not saying.”
“Mandy might be able to pry something out of her.” Lilah wiggled her bare toes and shut her eyes. She was the kind of woman who felt there was something intrinsically wrong with anyone who stretched out on a couch and didn’t nap. “Suze, have the kids been through here today?”
“Only ten or fifteen times. Why?”
“I think I’m lying on a fire engine.”
“I think we ought to get rid of him.” C.C. rose and, to keep her restless hands busy, began to lay a fire.
“Suzanna said you already tried to throw him off the parapet.”
“No,” Suzanna corrected. “I said I stopped her before she thought to throw him off the parapet.” She rose to hand C.C. the fireplace matches she’d forgotten. “And while I agree it’s awkward to have him here while we’re all so undecided, it’s done. The least we can do is give him a chance to say his piece.”
“Always the peacemaker,” Lilah said sleepily, and missed Suzanna’s quick wince. “Well, it might be a moot point now that he’s gone through the place. My guess is that he’ll be making some clever excuse and zooming back to Boston.”
“The sooner the better,” C.C. muttered, watching the flames begin to lick at the apple wood.
“I’ve been dismissed,” Amanda announced. She hurried into the room as she hurried everywhere. Pushing a hand through her chin-length honey-brown hair, she perched on the arm of a chair. “She’s not talking, either.” Amanda’s busy hands tugged at the hem of her trim business suit. “But I know she’s up to something, something more than real estate transactions.”
“Aunt Coco’s always up to something.” Suzanna moved automatically to the old Belker cabinet to pour her sister a glass of mineral water. “She’s happiest when she’s scheming.”
