My Stardust Melody, Chapter 9
The next time Reid saw Luke was in the afternoon. It was raining, and he had decided to wander through the mansion while many of the guests had decided to rest to prepare for the night's events. He turned down a corridor on the second floor and was arrested by the sound of piano music. He listened to the music for a moment, identifying the melody of Liebesträum by Franz Liszt. "Liebestraum" meant "Dream of Love" in English.
Somehow Reid knew who he would find playing.
The piano bench faced toward the tall windows, so Reid was able to stand in the doorway unobserved. The scene before him seemed so out-of-time that he had to feel for his cell phone in his pocket to reassure himself that this was the 21st century. The walls were cream-colored and gave the room a light feeling even on a grey day like today. A large crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling above the antique Steinway. The rest of the room seemed a haphazard collection of antique sofas, chairs and side tables, some facing the piano and others arranged around a large fireplace at the opposite end of the room. It was surprisingly cozy and intimate feeling.
Luke was dressed in pale tan trousers, an even paler tan sweater, and a white collared shirt. Reid could only see a small part of Luke's face peeking out from his slicked-back hair. He couldn't see enough to determine the young man's expression.
As Reid leaned against the doorway, Luke's hands flew over the instrument, seeming to move from their own memory. Luke's playing was precise, but with an amount of feeling that Reid knew he could never match. (Eight years of lessons and Reid was pretty sure he would never be able to play more than basic show tunes and Christmas carols.) Reid stood transfixed, watching Luke's fingers strike the ivory keys with both grace and power. He felt his heart beat with the pulse of the music.
Reid recalled that Ferdinand Freiligrath's poem had inspired the piece. "Love as long as you can! The hour will come when you will stand at the grave and mourn," was the somber warning of the work. Reid wondered if Luke related to this sentiment from personal experience. The blonde certainly conveyed the emotion authentically.
The longer he stood there, the more Reid felt like he was intruding on Luke's privacy. The music was so evocative that he could almost believe he was listening to Luke bare his soul without permission. Whatever pain Luke had experienced in his past seemed to weave into the crescendos and decrescendos of the melody. The intensity was breathtaking and heartbreaking. Luke may be ludicrously wealthy, but there was clearly depth and tremendous passion in him. Reid couldn't even imagine what he would say that wouldn't seem paltry and unworthy of what he was witnessing. Would Luke even welcome him? This room was in a far wing of the mansion; perhaps Luke had wanted to be alone for awhile.
Knowing he needed to make a decision now before the piece ended in a few moments, Reid backed away from the door and left.
***
Luke spent the late afternoon at the Gatsby-inspired picnic on the western lawn of the estate. Rain earlier in the day had made the ground slightly damp, but this didn't seem to hinder the enthusiasm of the party guests. Men and women, dressed in their 1920s costumes, ate gaily and played lawn games as the afternoon ran out. Luke and Damian were the stars of the picnic, managing to ooze glamour and charm while subtly discussing their Grimaldi Shipping interests. Luke thought it was nearly a given that they would have more than enough investors by the end of the weekend festivities. Damian appeared outright chipper, a mood that Luke was certain he'd never seen from his father.
The only disappointment of the day had been that he hadn't seen Reid again. He guessed that croquet and shuffleboard were not precisely Reid's favorite pastimes. Besides, with as many guests milling about as there were, it would be hard to find each other.
Luke dressed with particular care in a wool and silk grey suit for tonight's "Speakeasy" dinner event. The ballroom had been transformed into a dark, intimate club that guests needed a special password to enter. Tables crowded the small dance floor, with the bandstand just behind it. As it was the night before, the dinner was authentic to the time period and plentiful. Drinks were served in teacups, just as they had been at the Speakeasies of the Twenties. Maddie had even planned a fake police raid for after midnight.
At dinner, Luke busied himself talking to some of the wealthiest potential investors. He thought he had spied Reid a couple of times at one of the buffets, but he was too focused on finding financiers to be certain. When the jazz band began playing after dessert, Luke took a moment to wander around the ballroom and finally ran into Reid.
"Found you!" Reid announced in Luke's ear from behind.
"Ouch!" Luke rubbed his ear. "Could you be any louder?" He turned to face Reid and smiled. Reid looked wonderful in a black suit with a blue tie that matched his eyes. Luke could feel his spirits start to soar and wondered if Reid would be forever appalled if Luke danced a little jig right there.
"Sorry," Reid replied with a wince. "I called your name, but I don't think you could hear me over the music."
"Yeah, it is a little loud here." They were standing only a few feet from the speakers, so they moved a short distance farther away.
A devilish look crept over Reid's face. "I kept saying 'Larry, Larry,' but you just wouldn't turn around."
"Well, aren't you cute?" Luke replied in a sarcastic tone and folded his arms over his chest.
Reid shrugged. "Cute and a genius, what can I say?"
With narrowed eyes, Luke said, "If I didn't know you had a photographic memory, I think I'd be making you say my name."
Reid brushed one of Luke's hands with the tips of his fingers. "You made me say it last night in bed."
Luke turned red. "Reid!" he nearly shrieked.
"You said that in bed, too. Only a little louder."
The blonde gritted his teeth and looked around to see if anyone was listening. "Are you hoping to sleep alone tonight?"
"Well, there's this rich kid who steals all the covers that I was thinking of dragging back to my room in a minute or two and keeping him up all night. I don't think we'll be sleeping." Reid's gaze had changed from laughing to heated.
Luke swallowed hard before saying, "Really?" That sounded like heaven to him. He was tempted to grab Reid and run for the exit.
The guys were staring into each other eyes when a feminine voice intruded.
"Wow, guys, I think I may need a bucket of ice to cool down from all that heat you're putting off!"
Reid looked at Luke and asked, "Do you know her?"
Luke closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, Reid, this is my best friend Maddie. Maddie, this is Reid." Luke was pretty sure he wanted to strangle her for interrupting. He wondered how he might nicely tell her to go away without hurting her feelings. He settled on saying to Reid, "She has awful timing but is otherwise perfect."
Reid said to Maddie, who looked stunning in a pink flapper dress and long pearl necklace, "That's unfortunate. I am perfect." He popped a stuffed mushroom from a nearby table into his mouth.
Maddie snorted in surprise. "We'll see about that." She eyed Reid from head to toe, visibly taking his measure before asking, "Luke says you're a neurosurgeon?"
"And a genius," he added.
"How wonderful for you. So, what brought you to this party?" she asked.
Reid rolled his eyes a little and said, "My chief of staff dragged me here to meet some investor for the new neurosurgery unit in Boston I will be heading."
A perplexed frown crossed Maddie's brow as she started to ask, "Who is the invest--"
Reid cut her off. "Are you really going to stand there and play Twenty Questions with me all night?"
Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Are you really going to stand there and be rude to me all night?"
Reid replied, "Wow, Luke, your friend can parrot back words. You've trained her well."
Luke felt like groaning. There was no way Maddie would leave now that she'd been offended.
"I'm not a parrot. I was just wondering what brought you to this party, but I see that polite conversation is beyond you," Maddy said peevishly.
Reid appeared to examine her closely. "You've certainly got a lot of feathers in your hair. Did you do that on purpose?" Maddie had arranged three small pink feathers at the side of her hair. Luke thought they looked nice.
"That was the style!" Maddie exclaimed.
Reid shrugged. "Sorry, fripperies have never really interested me like they do some people. I've got more important things to do."
Luke thought he might stab Reid in the eye with one of Maddie's feathers. "Reid! Did I forget to mention she's my best friend?"
"So?"
Exasperated, Luke ran a hand through his blonde hair. "So maybe you shouldn't suggest that what you do is more important than what she does."
Reid cocked his head to the side and queried, "Does she save people's lives every day?"
"No, but that's not the point," Luke asserted.
"I don't get your point. What's more important than saving lives? If she's not doing that, then what I do is more important than whatever little things keep her busy."
Luke felt the tension in his jaw and purposely unclenched it. "The point is that you should try to be nice. Not everyone needs to run off in tears upon meeting you."
"Um, Luke, he's not going to make me cry," Maddie interjected.
"I know, but he should still be nicer to you," Luke said.
"You did warn me about him," Maddie said, shaking her head in mock sorrow at Reid.
"He told you about me?" Reid asked.
"Yes, and had you been nicer, I might have dished everything he said. Too bad for you--it was pretty juicy." She smiled wickedly at Reid.
"It was not!" Luke exclaimed. "She barely got anything out of me." Maybe he could stab Maddie in the eye with one of the feathers he wasn't going to use on Reid.
"Ha! I excel at wheedling information from Luke," she said loftily to Reid. "It's probably my best event. Do you want to know what Luke thinks yours is?" she asked, tipping her head toward him conspiratorially.
Reid leaned in, clearly interested.
"Maddie, don't you say another word!" Luke had no idea what Maddie was going to say, but it couldn't be good.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure he has too many important things to do than hear about something as interesting as that."
Reid snorted. "Touché."
She grinned. "I believe, Luke, that I've made your point. Reid, you should be nicer, but I won't hold it against you…this time."
"Duly noted," Reid replied drily.
Maddie clapped her hands together before announcing, "Now then, Luke, I came over here to tell you that George Stanton wanted to speak with you." George was a particularly important potential investor. He had both money and freight that required shipping overseas. There was no way that Luke could miss a chance to talk to him.
Luke groaned. "Reid, I'm sorry. I need to spend a bit more time at the party to do some business. Would you mind meeting me in the solarium in an hour? It's just down that hall on the left." He pointed in the direction of the hallway he meant.
Reid nodded his agreement. "That's fine. My chief of staff has been yapping at me to schmooze more, so it couldn't hurt for me to stay longer." He paused and added, "Not that it's my first choice."
Luke blushed and glanced at Maddie who seemed to have found remarkable interest in the toe of her shoe. "It's not mine either," he whispered, and then felt silly because Maddie still had to have heard him. He cleared his throat and asked in a normal voice, "Which one is your chief of staff?"
Reid pointed to a table about thirty feet from where they were standing. "See that balding guy there trying to look important? That's Dr. Stivers."
Luke looked at the middle-aged man to whom Reid was pointing. He had to admit it did seem like the man way trying to look important. The doctor had his shoulders back and chest puffed out as he looked down his nose at the woman talking to him.
"Luke, we should go," Maddie reminded him, gently tugging on his sleeve.
Luke shook his head to clear his thoughts. "You're right," he said to Maddie. Then he turned to Reid, "One hour."
"I'm starting the clock," Reid replied and grinned.
Luke and Maddie turned and headed toward the middle of the ballroom. Maddie slowed her pace and asked in a low voice, "Does he know about Julian?"
Luke shook his head. "No."
"Aren't you worried someone here might tell him that you have a rich and famous boyfriend?"
Luke raised his hand up to his face and tugged his hair. "Oh God. I've been so busy, I didn't even think of that. I was planning on telling him, but you're right, I need to do it before someone else does." He looked over his shoulder to see if Reid was where they had left him, but he had disappeared. "Crap," he muttered.
"Does he know much about you? Your family? Anything that's happened in the past five years?"
"No, he thinks I'm some rich kid just here on business." Luke wasn't too worried about Reid finding out he didn't have any money. He didn't get the feeling Reid had much respect for people who didn't need to work hard for a living.
"Luke! Does he even know you’re the host of this party?"
"Maddie, you met him. He can be really arrogant sometimes, and he just assumed what I was when he saw how I was dressed and what room I was in. I didn't want to lay all that information on him in the first night."
"That's understandable. But, you need to tell him about Julian ASAP. And if you have to, explain the weekend to him. A doctor is not going to care about the financial status of Grimaldi, but it might help with explaining your connection to Julian."
"You're right, Maddie. I'll tell him everything when I meet him in an hour."
"I'd try to do it fast. That doctor looked like he might want to pounce on you."
Luke's face flushed, but he said, "Yeah, he did look kind of like that."
Maddie grabbed Luke's arm and pointed to something in the distance. "Look, Luke! Damian is shaking George Stanton's hand! Do you think that means what I think it does?"
"I do!" Luke exclaimed. "I think Damian just sealed our first investor." Relief flooded through his veins. Thank god, thank god, thank god. "Maddie, let's go celebrate with them."
***
Luke walked quickly down the hall to the solarium. He could almost skip from being in such a good mood. George Stanton had offered to invest heavily in Grimaldi, and he was going to influence other moguls to do the same. Names like Newman, Spaulding, and Abbott had been bandied about. The company would be saved, the farm restored to its former glory, and Luke would be able to provide for his brother and sisters. Everything that he wanted and that he had worked for seemed finally within his reach.
Now, all he wanted was to tell Reid about Julian. With how well everything had been going, Luke felt confident that this would go smoothly, too.
He walked into the solarium and looked up at the roof of sculpted wood and glass. His gaze traveled down to the iron lanterns that were providing dim light. Luke checked his watch--one hour precisely since he last saw Reid but the doctor seemed to be running late. He strolled toward the marble fountain that was the centerpiece of the room. "Reid?" he called softly.
Two arms snaked around Luke and spun him around.
"You look so damn sexy in that suit," Reid growled. "I've wanted to pry you out of it all night. He pulled Luke in for a searing kiss.
Luke smiled and melted into Reid's embrace. He finally pulled away and said, "Hey, there's something I want to talk to you about."
"Let's talk later."
"Reid! There are some things you need to know about my past, who I am." Luke had put a hand up to block Reid, and then noticed a stray strand of hair above Reid's brow. He had to shove his hand in his pocket not to reach for it. Focus, Luke.
"The past is the past, Luke. Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait."
Luke loved the way Reid emphasized the consonants at the ends of his sentences, particularly the K's and the T's. Luke, Wait, he repeated in his mind. The blonde felt himself start to give in to Reid's wants. Talking later seemed less and less a bad idea as he looked at Reid's perfect jaw that he was struggling not to touch. First the hair, now the jaw. I need look at his shoes or something, but I'd probably find those sexy, too. Summoning one last bit of resistance, he tried to reason with the doctor. "You don't understand. You don't know everything about me."
"I know enough. I know you're thoughtful and intelligent. I know that there's a spot just above your hip here that makes you crazy when I put my mouth on it." He loosened Luke's shirt from his pants and slipped his hand over the area in question.
The battle was lost in feelings of electricity running down Luke's spine and lust. He buried his face in Reid's neck for a moment and inhaled the scent of coffee and a spice unique to Reid. "Fine, you win! But we'll talk later," Luke said. How does he do this to me?
"I think we both win with this one," Reid said as he trailed kisses along Luke's jaw toward his ear. "How do you do this to me?" he whispered.
Luke turned his head to catch Reid's lips in his own. In the back of his mind, he realized that they should probably go back to one of their bedrooms, but the voice was drowned out under the drugging sensation of Reid's tongue slanting over his own.
Minutes passed, and the only sounds heard came from the band playing a sad melody in the distance and the rough breaths of the two men.
Time was running out, though they didn't know it.
Luke, lost in passion, did not at first realize that it was his father's voice he heard saying, "I think I saw him go the other way. Perhaps we should try the library."
The second voice brought the kiss to a halt. Luke whirled around as he heard, "Nice try, Damian, but it's a wasted effort. I would have to be blind not to have seen them." The voice seeped disdain and condescension.
It belonged to Julian, obviously having arrived at the party a day earlier than expected. Luke froze, eyes wide and his heart in his throat, as he saw Damian and Julian staring at them with expressions of dismay and contempt respectively. Christ.
Somehow Reid knew who he would find playing.
The piano bench faced toward the tall windows, so Reid was able to stand in the doorway unobserved. The scene before him seemed so out-of-time that he had to feel for his cell phone in his pocket to reassure himself that this was the 21st century. The walls were cream-colored and gave the room a light feeling even on a grey day like today. A large crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling above the antique Steinway. The rest of the room seemed a haphazard collection of antique sofas, chairs and side tables, some facing the piano and others arranged around a large fireplace at the opposite end of the room. It was surprisingly cozy and intimate feeling.
Luke was dressed in pale tan trousers, an even paler tan sweater, and a white collared shirt. Reid could only see a small part of Luke's face peeking out from his slicked-back hair. He couldn't see enough to determine the young man's expression.
As Reid leaned against the doorway, Luke's hands flew over the instrument, seeming to move from their own memory. Luke's playing was precise, but with an amount of feeling that Reid knew he could never match. (Eight years of lessons and Reid was pretty sure he would never be able to play more than basic show tunes and Christmas carols.) Reid stood transfixed, watching Luke's fingers strike the ivory keys with both grace and power. He felt his heart beat with the pulse of the music.
Reid recalled that Ferdinand Freiligrath's poem had inspired the piece. "Love as long as you can! The hour will come when you will stand at the grave and mourn," was the somber warning of the work. Reid wondered if Luke related to this sentiment from personal experience. The blonde certainly conveyed the emotion authentically.
The longer he stood there, the more Reid felt like he was intruding on Luke's privacy. The music was so evocative that he could almost believe he was listening to Luke bare his soul without permission. Whatever pain Luke had experienced in his past seemed to weave into the crescendos and decrescendos of the melody. The intensity was breathtaking and heartbreaking. Luke may be ludicrously wealthy, but there was clearly depth and tremendous passion in him. Reid couldn't even imagine what he would say that wouldn't seem paltry and unworthy of what he was witnessing. Would Luke even welcome him? This room was in a far wing of the mansion; perhaps Luke had wanted to be alone for awhile.
Knowing he needed to make a decision now before the piece ended in a few moments, Reid backed away from the door and left.
***
Luke spent the late afternoon at the Gatsby-inspired picnic on the western lawn of the estate. Rain earlier in the day had made the ground slightly damp, but this didn't seem to hinder the enthusiasm of the party guests. Men and women, dressed in their 1920s costumes, ate gaily and played lawn games as the afternoon ran out. Luke and Damian were the stars of the picnic, managing to ooze glamour and charm while subtly discussing their Grimaldi Shipping interests. Luke thought it was nearly a given that they would have more than enough investors by the end of the weekend festivities. Damian appeared outright chipper, a mood that Luke was certain he'd never seen from his father.
The only disappointment of the day had been that he hadn't seen Reid again. He guessed that croquet and shuffleboard were not precisely Reid's favorite pastimes. Besides, with as many guests milling about as there were, it would be hard to find each other.
Luke dressed with particular care in a wool and silk grey suit for tonight's "Speakeasy" dinner event. The ballroom had been transformed into a dark, intimate club that guests needed a special password to enter. Tables crowded the small dance floor, with the bandstand just behind it. As it was the night before, the dinner was authentic to the time period and plentiful. Drinks were served in teacups, just as they had been at the Speakeasies of the Twenties. Maddie had even planned a fake police raid for after midnight.
At dinner, Luke busied himself talking to some of the wealthiest potential investors. He thought he had spied Reid a couple of times at one of the buffets, but he was too focused on finding financiers to be certain. When the jazz band began playing after dessert, Luke took a moment to wander around the ballroom and finally ran into Reid.
"Found you!" Reid announced in Luke's ear from behind.
"Ouch!" Luke rubbed his ear. "Could you be any louder?" He turned to face Reid and smiled. Reid looked wonderful in a black suit with a blue tie that matched his eyes. Luke could feel his spirits start to soar and wondered if Reid would be forever appalled if Luke danced a little jig right there.
"Sorry," Reid replied with a wince. "I called your name, but I don't think you could hear me over the music."
"Yeah, it is a little loud here." They were standing only a few feet from the speakers, so they moved a short distance farther away.
A devilish look crept over Reid's face. "I kept saying 'Larry, Larry,' but you just wouldn't turn around."
"Well, aren't you cute?" Luke replied in a sarcastic tone and folded his arms over his chest.
Reid shrugged. "Cute and a genius, what can I say?"
With narrowed eyes, Luke said, "If I didn't know you had a photographic memory, I think I'd be making you say my name."
Reid brushed one of Luke's hands with the tips of his fingers. "You made me say it last night in bed."
Luke turned red. "Reid!" he nearly shrieked.
"You said that in bed, too. Only a little louder."
The blonde gritted his teeth and looked around to see if anyone was listening. "Are you hoping to sleep alone tonight?"
"Well, there's this rich kid who steals all the covers that I was thinking of dragging back to my room in a minute or two and keeping him up all night. I don't think we'll be sleeping." Reid's gaze had changed from laughing to heated.
Luke swallowed hard before saying, "Really?" That sounded like heaven to him. He was tempted to grab Reid and run for the exit.
The guys were staring into each other eyes when a feminine voice intruded.
"Wow, guys, I think I may need a bucket of ice to cool down from all that heat you're putting off!"
Reid looked at Luke and asked, "Do you know her?"
Luke closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, Reid, this is my best friend Maddie. Maddie, this is Reid." Luke was pretty sure he wanted to strangle her for interrupting. He wondered how he might nicely tell her to go away without hurting her feelings. He settled on saying to Reid, "She has awful timing but is otherwise perfect."
Reid said to Maddie, who looked stunning in a pink flapper dress and long pearl necklace, "That's unfortunate. I am perfect." He popped a stuffed mushroom from a nearby table into his mouth.
Maddie snorted in surprise. "We'll see about that." She eyed Reid from head to toe, visibly taking his measure before asking, "Luke says you're a neurosurgeon?"
"And a genius," he added.
"How wonderful for you. So, what brought you to this party?" she asked.
Reid rolled his eyes a little and said, "My chief of staff dragged me here to meet some investor for the new neurosurgery unit in Boston I will be heading."
A perplexed frown crossed Maddie's brow as she started to ask, "Who is the invest--"
Reid cut her off. "Are you really going to stand there and play Twenty Questions with me all night?"
Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Are you really going to stand there and be rude to me all night?"
Reid replied, "Wow, Luke, your friend can parrot back words. You've trained her well."
Luke felt like groaning. There was no way Maddie would leave now that she'd been offended.
"I'm not a parrot. I was just wondering what brought you to this party, but I see that polite conversation is beyond you," Maddy said peevishly.
Reid appeared to examine her closely. "You've certainly got a lot of feathers in your hair. Did you do that on purpose?" Maddie had arranged three small pink feathers at the side of her hair. Luke thought they looked nice.
"That was the style!" Maddie exclaimed.
Reid shrugged. "Sorry, fripperies have never really interested me like they do some people. I've got more important things to do."
Luke thought he might stab Reid in the eye with one of Maddie's feathers. "Reid! Did I forget to mention she's my best friend?"
"So?"
Exasperated, Luke ran a hand through his blonde hair. "So maybe you shouldn't suggest that what you do is more important than what she does."
Reid cocked his head to the side and queried, "Does she save people's lives every day?"
"No, but that's not the point," Luke asserted.
"I don't get your point. What's more important than saving lives? If she's not doing that, then what I do is more important than whatever little things keep her busy."
Luke felt the tension in his jaw and purposely unclenched it. "The point is that you should try to be nice. Not everyone needs to run off in tears upon meeting you."
"Um, Luke, he's not going to make me cry," Maddie interjected.
"I know, but he should still be nicer to you," Luke said.
"You did warn me about him," Maddie said, shaking her head in mock sorrow at Reid.
"He told you about me?" Reid asked.
"Yes, and had you been nicer, I might have dished everything he said. Too bad for you--it was pretty juicy." She smiled wickedly at Reid.
"It was not!" Luke exclaimed. "She barely got anything out of me." Maybe he could stab Maddie in the eye with one of the feathers he wasn't going to use on Reid.
"Ha! I excel at wheedling information from Luke," she said loftily to Reid. "It's probably my best event. Do you want to know what Luke thinks yours is?" she asked, tipping her head toward him conspiratorially.
Reid leaned in, clearly interested.
"Maddie, don't you say another word!" Luke had no idea what Maddie was going to say, but it couldn't be good.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure he has too many important things to do than hear about something as interesting as that."
Reid snorted. "Touché."
She grinned. "I believe, Luke, that I've made your point. Reid, you should be nicer, but I won't hold it against you…this time."
"Duly noted," Reid replied drily.
Maddie clapped her hands together before announcing, "Now then, Luke, I came over here to tell you that George Stanton wanted to speak with you." George was a particularly important potential investor. He had both money and freight that required shipping overseas. There was no way that Luke could miss a chance to talk to him.
Luke groaned. "Reid, I'm sorry. I need to spend a bit more time at the party to do some business. Would you mind meeting me in the solarium in an hour? It's just down that hall on the left." He pointed in the direction of the hallway he meant.
Reid nodded his agreement. "That's fine. My chief of staff has been yapping at me to schmooze more, so it couldn't hurt for me to stay longer." He paused and added, "Not that it's my first choice."
Luke blushed and glanced at Maddie who seemed to have found remarkable interest in the toe of her shoe. "It's not mine either," he whispered, and then felt silly because Maddie still had to have heard him. He cleared his throat and asked in a normal voice, "Which one is your chief of staff?"
Reid pointed to a table about thirty feet from where they were standing. "See that balding guy there trying to look important? That's Dr. Stivers."
Luke looked at the middle-aged man to whom Reid was pointing. He had to admit it did seem like the man way trying to look important. The doctor had his shoulders back and chest puffed out as he looked down his nose at the woman talking to him.
"Luke, we should go," Maddie reminded him, gently tugging on his sleeve.
Luke shook his head to clear his thoughts. "You're right," he said to Maddie. Then he turned to Reid, "One hour."
"I'm starting the clock," Reid replied and grinned.
Luke and Maddie turned and headed toward the middle of the ballroom. Maddie slowed her pace and asked in a low voice, "Does he know about Julian?"
Luke shook his head. "No."
"Aren't you worried someone here might tell him that you have a rich and famous boyfriend?"
Luke raised his hand up to his face and tugged his hair. "Oh God. I've been so busy, I didn't even think of that. I was planning on telling him, but you're right, I need to do it before someone else does." He looked over his shoulder to see if Reid was where they had left him, but he had disappeared. "Crap," he muttered.
"Does he know much about you? Your family? Anything that's happened in the past five years?"
"No, he thinks I'm some rich kid just here on business." Luke wasn't too worried about Reid finding out he didn't have any money. He didn't get the feeling Reid had much respect for people who didn't need to work hard for a living.
"Luke! Does he even know you’re the host of this party?"
"Maddie, you met him. He can be really arrogant sometimes, and he just assumed what I was when he saw how I was dressed and what room I was in. I didn't want to lay all that information on him in the first night."
"That's understandable. But, you need to tell him about Julian ASAP. And if you have to, explain the weekend to him. A doctor is not going to care about the financial status of Grimaldi, but it might help with explaining your connection to Julian."
"You're right, Maddie. I'll tell him everything when I meet him in an hour."
"I'd try to do it fast. That doctor looked like he might want to pounce on you."
Luke's face flushed, but he said, "Yeah, he did look kind of like that."
Maddie grabbed Luke's arm and pointed to something in the distance. "Look, Luke! Damian is shaking George Stanton's hand! Do you think that means what I think it does?"
"I do!" Luke exclaimed. "I think Damian just sealed our first investor." Relief flooded through his veins. Thank god, thank god, thank god. "Maddie, let's go celebrate with them."
***
Luke walked quickly down the hall to the solarium. He could almost skip from being in such a good mood. George Stanton had offered to invest heavily in Grimaldi, and he was going to influence other moguls to do the same. Names like Newman, Spaulding, and Abbott had been bandied about. The company would be saved, the farm restored to its former glory, and Luke would be able to provide for his brother and sisters. Everything that he wanted and that he had worked for seemed finally within his reach.
Now, all he wanted was to tell Reid about Julian. With how well everything had been going, Luke felt confident that this would go smoothly, too.
He walked into the solarium and looked up at the roof of sculpted wood and glass. His gaze traveled down to the iron lanterns that were providing dim light. Luke checked his watch--one hour precisely since he last saw Reid but the doctor seemed to be running late. He strolled toward the marble fountain that was the centerpiece of the room. "Reid?" he called softly.
Two arms snaked around Luke and spun him around.
"You look so damn sexy in that suit," Reid growled. "I've wanted to pry you out of it all night. He pulled Luke in for a searing kiss.
Luke smiled and melted into Reid's embrace. He finally pulled away and said, "Hey, there's something I want to talk to you about."
"Let's talk later."
"Reid! There are some things you need to know about my past, who I am." Luke had put a hand up to block Reid, and then noticed a stray strand of hair above Reid's brow. He had to shove his hand in his pocket not to reach for it. Focus, Luke.
"The past is the past, Luke. Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait."
Luke loved the way Reid emphasized the consonants at the ends of his sentences, particularly the K's and the T's. Luke, Wait, he repeated in his mind. The blonde felt himself start to give in to Reid's wants. Talking later seemed less and less a bad idea as he looked at Reid's perfect jaw that he was struggling not to touch. First the hair, now the jaw. I need look at his shoes or something, but I'd probably find those sexy, too. Summoning one last bit of resistance, he tried to reason with the doctor. "You don't understand. You don't know everything about me."
"I know enough. I know you're thoughtful and intelligent. I know that there's a spot just above your hip here that makes you crazy when I put my mouth on it." He loosened Luke's shirt from his pants and slipped his hand over the area in question.
The battle was lost in feelings of electricity running down Luke's spine and lust. He buried his face in Reid's neck for a moment and inhaled the scent of coffee and a spice unique to Reid. "Fine, you win! But we'll talk later," Luke said. How does he do this to me?
"I think we both win with this one," Reid said as he trailed kisses along Luke's jaw toward his ear. "How do you do this to me?" he whispered.
Luke turned his head to catch Reid's lips in his own. In the back of his mind, he realized that they should probably go back to one of their bedrooms, but the voice was drowned out under the drugging sensation of Reid's tongue slanting over his own.
Minutes passed, and the only sounds heard came from the band playing a sad melody in the distance and the rough breaths of the two men.
Time was running out, though they didn't know it.
Luke, lost in passion, did not at first realize that it was his father's voice he heard saying, "I think I saw him go the other way. Perhaps we should try the library."
The second voice brought the kiss to a halt. Luke whirled around as he heard, "Nice try, Damian, but it's a wasted effort. I would have to be blind not to have seen them." The voice seeped disdain and condescension.
It belonged to Julian, obviously having arrived at the party a day earlier than expected. Luke froze, eyes wide and his heart in his throat, as he saw Damian and Julian staring at them with expressions of dismay and contempt respectively. Christ.