“He’s your brother, he’s not a stranger,” Charles snapped back, the color in his cheeks an unhealthy ruddy red.
“He may as well be.”
Judd felt he should say something, but he held back. When he followed through on his plans for Wilson Wines, his sister would be glad she didn’t know him better and would probably never even want to see him again, anyway. The knowledge gave him a sharp pang of regret. They’d both been cheated of so much by their father’s dictatorial decisions. Maybe he’d be able to find her something to do within The Masters’.
Across the table, Nicole laughed, but the sound held no humor in it. Anna reached out and took Nicole’s hand in hers, squeezing it tight, but Nicole shook her off, turning on her instead.
“You’re just as bad. I suppose you knew about this?”
Anna’s expression told his sister all she needed to know.
“I can’t believe it. Betrayed by the only two people in the entire world that I love.” She pushed her chair back from the table and rose. “I can’t stay here and listen to any more of this. It’s just wrong.”
“Nicole, calm yourself and sit down,” Charles interjected. “This is how things should have been all along. You know it as well as I do. I never made you any promises about Wilson Wines. Just you wait, you’ll find some young man who’ll sweep you off your feet and before I know it you will be married and raising a family. Wilson Wines will just be a hobby for you.”
Judd might not know his sister well, but even he could tell that that had been the dead-wrong thing to say. “A hobby?” Nicole’s voice rose steadily. “I can’t believe this. You can’t be serious. Wilson Wines is everything to me. I love the business, love the industry—everything I learned was so I could run the company one day. I’ve lived under the same roof as you all my life, worked beside you every day I possibly could to try and earn your respect, and yet you don’t know me at all.”
She made for the door. Anna rose and went after her.
“No, let me go!” Nicole said, tears tracking down her cheeks as she held up her hands as if to ward Anna off.
Judd could see the hurt in Anna’s eyes, the guilt she clearly felt for not having given Nicole any warning of what her father had been about to do. Even he felt sick to his stomach that his father could so cavalierly shrug off Nicole’s contribution to Wilson Wines in the past few years and denigrate it as a hobby. Another black mark in the increasing collection against Charles Wilson.
“She always was a little high-strung,” Charles commented as Nicole slammed the dining room door behind her. “She’ll come around, you’ll see. She doesn’t have it in her to stay angry for long.”
“Charles,” Anna said, “this is more than a tantrum. Can’t you see? You’ve hurt her deeply.”
“Do you think so?” Charles cast her a look of genuine surprise. “No, she’s just being overemotional, that’s all. She’ll calm down soon and see this is all for the best. I’ve always had her best interests at heart, you know that.”
“Do I?” Anna pressed. “Don’t you think she sees it as her position within Wilson Wines being undermined, let alone her position here in her home?”
Judd had to admire the way she stuck up for his sister.
“Don’t be ridiculous. She’ll always be my daughter. In fact, I’ve probably spoiled her over the years. She’ll just have to get used to the idea of sharing with Judd now, is all. Now, come and settle back down. Mrs. Evans is waiting to serve.”
“I need to make a call—to make sure she’s okay,” Anna insisted.
Charles waved a hand. “Fine, then, go ahead. Do what you must.”
When Anna returned, Charles rang the small crystal-and-silver bell that stood beside his water glass. Judd watched as Anna resumed her seat, her body vibrating with tension and her distress clear on her features. The call to his sister can’t have gone well.
Anna excused herself from the table immediately after dessert, leaving Charles and Judd to talk, but it wasn’t long before Charles showed signs of weariness and also left to go upstairs to bed.
Alone? Judd wondered, his mind uncomfortably casting back to when he’d surprised Anna coming from the older man’s suite of rooms. She’d clearly been in the process of putting her clothes back on in case someone saw her in the hallway. And someone had. Judd’s hand tightened on the stem of the Waterford crystal goblet in his hand, the glowing red wine within it barely touched.
Well, he could certainly find out if she had gone ahead to warm his father’s sheets. All it would take would be an inquiry at her door.
Judd barely realized he’d made the decision to check on Anna until he found himself outside of her bedroom. He raised his hand and rapped softly on the door, leaning one shoulder against the jamb as he waited for it to open. To his surprise, it did.
“What do you want? To gloat?” Anna asked him.
For a moment, he was taken aback but he soon recovered his usual equilibrium and took a moment to savor the scrubbed freshness of her face and her hair loose in a well-brushed tumble across satin-covered shoulders. The shadows cast by the soft lighting in her room showed she wore very little beneath her robe. If anything. Instantly he was rock hard, his body clamoring with an urgent need to possess her. He stamped down on the sensation. So she wasn’t with Charles now, but she had been earlier this evening. The image of her, fresh from his father’s room, still burned in his memory, and he fought the urge to create a new memory—one of his making.
He gathered his thoughts together and expelled a harsh breath before speaking. “Not at all. It should have been handled differently.”
She made a sound, a cross between derision and a cynical laugh. “You think? You know you could have asked him to consider Nicole’s feelings before making that stupid announcement.”
“Mea culpa,” he said, straightening from the door frame and holding his hands wide. “It didn’t occur to me that he wouldn’t have told her privately.”
“Well, it’s too late now. Hopefully we can sort things out at the office tomorrow, if she’s talking to me again by then. What did you come to see me for, anyway?”
“I wanted to make sure that you were okay. You looked upset at dinner.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Upset? In being loyal to Charles I betrayed my best friend since I was five years old. Of course I’m upset.”
“Why did you do it? Why does he have such an influence over you?” Judd persisted.
“You would never understand,” Anna said and started to close the door.
Judd put out a hand to halt its traverse across the plush carpet.
“Try me.”
“Look, it’s late. I don’t want to talk about this now. What’s done is done.” She stared pointedly at his hand and then back at his face. “Good night, Judd.”
He took the hint and removed his hand from the door.
“Sweet dreams, Anna.”
But he was talking to a plank of painted wood. So, he thought as he walked back to his room, she didn’t want to discuss her relationship with his father. How surprising, not. He was prepared to leave it—for now—but eventually he’d get the truth from her. In the meantime, he’d do his best to imprint his own influence. Whatever her feelings for Charles, the attraction between Anna and himself was mutual—her capitulation would be a sweet success.
The next morning, Anna waited patiently for Nicole to come into the office, but she didn’t show. Repeated calls to her