“She’s her daddy’s daughter—she’s Ed through and through. Mean, aggressive, malicious.” She saw the concern on his face and quickly shook her head. “Daniel isn’t like that. He’s a good man, Gus. You’ll see that eventually.”
Her husband pondered her words. “The TCC members seem to think so. The younger members trust him implicitly and they say he has integrity.” Gus smiled at her. “I’m looking forward to knowing him, darlin’. It’s time to put the past to bed, and young Daniel has done nothing to me.”
“Except get your granddaughter pregnant,” Rose replied.
Gus shrugged. “The way those two look and act around each other, I’m just grateful it didn’t happen when they were teenagers.”
“He’s the best thing—apart from you, recently—that’s ever happened to me. I can’t lose him, Gus.”
Gus took her hands is his and waited until her eyes met his. Then he squeezed her hands. “You’re not going to lose him, Rosie. I promise you that.”
“He’s so mad...”
Gus shrugged. “Let him be mad—he’ll get over it. In a little less than an hour, he’ll be on a deserted island with a beautiful girl he’s crazy about. Trust me, he’ll be thanking you soon.”
“I doubt it,” Rose retorted. “They just might kill each other. Or maybe they’ll wait to do that until after they’ve killed us.” She frowned at him. “Why are you looking so chipper? Didn’t you get a nasty voice mail?”
Gus’s cocky smile belonged to the young man she knew so long ago. “Prob’ly did. Don’t carry my phone. No doubt that Alex has sent Jason an annoyed message to give to me.”
Rose shook her head in exasperation. “You’ve got to start carrying a phone, Gus. What if I need to get a hold of you?”
“Not a factor.” Gus lifted her knuckles to kiss her fingertips. “I don’t plan on being a couple of feet from you anytime soon.” His mouth curved as she moved her hand to his cheek. “But I am thinking of getting another phone, one that only you have the number to.”
“That would make me feel so much better,” Rose told him. “I don’t want to be that woman who constantly keeps track of her man, but you know...in case of an emergency.”
Gus’s smile turned wicked. “To hell with an emergency. I’m only getting it in the hope that you’ll call me up for a—what do the kids call it—booty call?”
Rose’s shocked laughter bounced off the walls. “Augustus Slade!”
Gus looked at her, his face full of love. Then he waggled his eyebrows to make her laugh. “Anytime you have the urge, I’m your guy.”
He really was her guy. And damn if she didn’t have one of those urges now. Rose looked out the window and saw that it was ten o’clock on a cold, wet winter morning in February, not the time a woman of a certain age should be slinking upstairs. But to hell with that; this was supposed to be her honeymoon. Rose took his hand, grinned and stood up.
“Come upstairs and rock my world, handsome.”
It was Gus’s turn to look utterly poleaxed, but that didn’t stop him from leaping to his feet with all the energy of a twenty-year-old.
Six
Upon landing at Galloway Cove, Michelle lowered the steps to the private jet, stowed their suitcases in the back of the golf cart parked to the side of the landing strip and tossed them a jovial smile. “Have fun.” With that, she ran back up the steps to the plane. Minutes later the jet was in the air and headed back to Houston.
Alex climbed into the golf cart and sat down next to Daniel, her thigh brushing his. Leaning forward, he pulled off his flannel shirt and threw it into the back of the cart, before placing his hand on the wheel and cranking the small engine.
Tired of their silence, Alex darted him a look. “Any idea where we are?”
“West of the Bahamas.”
Alex wrinkled her nose at his brief reply. “Can you tell me anything about where we are going, what to expect?”
“Matt is one of the wealthiest guys in Texas. All I know is that the house is completely secluded, has its own private beach and reef. It will be jaw-droppingly amazing.” He gritted his teeth. “The other thing I know is that I need to get the hell off this island. I’ve got a ranch to run. I can’t just take off on a Monday morning with no warning!”