Janet Evanovich - The Rocky Road to Romance

“Is the man tall and inscrutable? Did he try to bribe you?” Steve asked.

“He’s tall and inscrutable,” Schmidt said. “He hasn’t tried to bribe me yet.”

“Well, if he does, take the money. He’s my father.”

There was a short commotion in the hall, and Daisy felt a flutter of nerves when Steve rose to greet his parents. The woman was slim and elegant, from the tips of her freshly manicured nails to the shining mane of thick, black hair. She was small-boned, with a classically beautiful face. Her eyes were large and dark, and it was easy to imagine them smoldering with passion. Steve had his mother’s eyes, Daisy thought. The rest of him was Crow. With the exception of the deep lines etched into his fa-ther’s face and a few extra pounds, they were almost mirror images.

“There’s a dog sitting at your table,” Steve’s mother said. “And he’s eating spaghetti.”

“That’s Bob,” Steve told her. “And this is Kevin Adams, Daisy Adams, and Elsie Hawkins. Can you stay for supper? I have plenty of spaghetti.”

“Of course I’ll stay for supper,” his mother said. “It isn’t every day I get to eat with a dog.” She pulled a chair up next to Elsie. “Maria Crow,” she said, extending her hand. “Are you related to Daisy?”

“Nope. I work for the radio station. I’m her bodyguard.”

“And what about the two policemen sitting in that drab little car outside?”

“They’re guarding her body, too,” Elsie said. “They were assigned after the firebombing.”

“Firebombing?” Maria Crow arched her delicate black eyebrows.

Steve and Daisy were scrambling to add place settings and get Steve’s father seated. They paused and exchanged horrified glances. “It was only one bomb, and it was very small,” Steve said. “Hardly worth mentioning.” He handed his mother a glass of red wine. “What do you think of my house?”

She sipped her wine and thoughtfully studied the room. “It’s nice. Not too big, not too small. I’ve never been especially fond of suburbia and tract houses, but this house has a friendly feeling to it. It even has a dog.” She looked over at Bob. He’d finished his spaghetti and was eating a bowl of salad. “He is a dog, isn’t he? He’s not some small person dressed up in a dog suit?”

“We were just discussing that,” Steve said. “We aren’t actually sure.”

Maria smiled at Daisy and Elsie. “Steve always wanted a dog, but our lifestyle never lent itself to house pets. Looking at it in retrospect, I probably should have rearranged our lifestyle for a while.”

“I was one of those overprivileged deprived children,” Steve said to Daisy. “I was forced to spend all of my time skiing and sailing.”

Maria smiled at her son. “I know you enjoyed the skiing and sailing, but I think deep down inside you would rather have had a dog.”

“As you can see I’m making up for lost time. I’ve got Bob now.”

Bob looked up when his name was mentioned and a piece of lettuce fell out of his mouth.

“We have to work on his table manners,” Steve said.

“All things considered they’re not so bad,” his mother said. “He’s neater than your Uncle Lou.”

That brought a smile to Joseph Crow’s lips. “I’m going to tell Lou you said that,” he chided his wife.

Maria looked at her husband and laughed, and Daisy realized that theirs was a rock-solid relationship. There was genuine affection here, Daisy decided. Uncle Lou was undoubtedly one of a myriad of family jokes and shared experiences that helped compose the strata of a long and successful marriage.

By outward appearances the Crows were sleek and casually aloof, as only the superrich could be. On closer examination there was a warm intimacy between them, a pulsing vitality, and strength, all the qualities that she found so compelling and so intimidating in Steve.

Steve smiled with his parents. Uncle Lou, being the shortest, loudest, and most flamboyant member of the Crow clan, had provided ample fodder for years’ worth of jokes and table conversation.

When Daisy finished her dissertation he wanted to take her west to meet the rest of his family. He wanted her to meet Lou and his grandfather Crow, his great-aunt Lucy and her twelve cats, and his cousin Danny, who was the same age as Steve but already had five kids. There were Crows spread all over the Southwest, and then there was his mother’s family in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. His mother ’s birth certificate had read Maria Louise Helena de Ortega. The wealth and prestige of the Californio had long since disappeared, but the pride and beautiful dark eyes had survived.

“So what are you folks doing here?” Elsie asked. “Do you live nearby?”

Maria shook her head. “No. We were in Monterey when Joseph’s sister, Zena, called and said Steve was living with a beautiful young woman who was single-handedly ridding Washington of crime. I knew you wouldn’t be living together if you didn’t intend to get married soon, so we flew back to congratulate you both on your engagement. We wanted to welcome you to the family,” Maria said, turning to Daisy. “We were delighted to learn Steve had finally fallen in love.”

Steve sat back in his chair. He was being manipulated. His mother had flown east to size things up and see if she could push him into marriage. She wasn’t usually a meddling mother, but when he had hit thirty she started making frustrated-grandmother noises.

Daisy felt the sudden flush of heat on her cheeks. Steve’s parents had flown two thousand miles to meet a fraud. She and Steve weren’t getting engaged, and she wasn’t Wonder Woman.

Maria’s eyes strayed to Daisy’s ringless hand. “I see you haven’t gotten a ring yet.”

Steve sighed. “Mom, I hate to disappoint you, but-”

“But it was so sudden,” Daisy said, interrupting. “And Steve had just bought this house and a new car, and I thought it seemed extravagant to spend money on a ring, too. You know how easy it is to have cash-flow problems.”

Daisy’s heart pounded in her chest. She couldn’t believe her ears. She’d gotten herself engaged! She was totally horrified. She could almost hear Steve’s eyebrows raise and was afraid to look around at him. It was the sigh, she told herself. No woman could fail to respond to a Steve Crow sigh. It happened so seldom and held such endearing vulnerability. And then there were his parents… they were so nice. Daisy, Daisy, Daisy, she chanted to herself, you are truly screwed up.

His mother withdrew a small velvet box from her black lizardskin purse. “I’m so glad I brought this. I wasn’t sure if it would be appreciated, but since you don’t already have a ring, perhaps you would consider an heirloom.” She passed the box to Steve. “This belonged to your great-grandmother de Ortega. It’s a very fine stone. You could have it put into a new setting.”

Steve opened the box and studied the ring. “I remember seeing this in your jewelry box. I always thought it was very beautiful. When I was a kid I imagined it had once belonged to Scrooge McDuck.”

“You weren’t far off,” his mother said, laughing. “At one time the Ortegas were outrageously wealthy.”

Steve took Daisy’s hand. Their eyes caught and held. His fingers were warm and firm as they wrapped around hers. His voice was soft with a hint of the devil in it as he asked, “Will you accept this ring as a symbol of our engagement?”

Daisy swallowed loud enough for it to be heard all the way to the kitchen. It was the largest diamond she’d ever seen, set into an exquisite gold filigree setting. She stared awestruck at the ring and ruefully admitted that her psych professors would have a field day interpreting her reasons for placing herself in this predicament.