One Man's Art

  They pulled up in front of the house with a jerk of brakes that brought them both back to the moment. “Wait until we get inside,” he began, picking up the threads of their earlier conversation. “1 only believed half of what I saw myself.”

  “Apparently everything I’ve ever read or heard about Daniel MacGregor’s true.” Gennie stepped out of the car with her eyes trained on the house again. “Forceful, eccentric, a man who makes his own deals his own way. But I’m vague on personal details. His wife’s a doctor?”

  “Surgeon. There’re three children, and as you’ll be hearing innumerable times over the weekend, one grandson. My sister married the eldest son, Alan.”

  “Alan MacGregor….He’s—”

  “Senator MacGregor, and in a few years …” With a shrug, he trailed off.

  “Ah, yes, you’d have a direct line into the White House if the murmurs about Alan MacGregor’s aspirations become fact.” She grinned at the man in khakis leaning against the hood of the rented car while the wind played games with his hair. “How would you feel about that?”

  Grant gave her an odd smile, thinking of Macintosh. “Things are presently unsettled,” he murmured. “But I’ve always had a rather—wry affection for politics in general.” Grabbing her hand, he began to walk toward the rough stone steps. “Then there’s Caine, son number two, a lawyer who recently married another lawyer who as it happens, is the sister of Daniel’s youngest offspring’s husband.”

  “I’m not sure I’m keeping up.” Gennie studied the brass-crowned lion’s head that served as a door knocker.

  “You have to be a quick study.” Grant lifted the knocker and let it fall resoundingly. “Rena married a gambler. She and her husband own a number of casinos and live in Atlantic City.”

  Gennie gave him a thoughtful glance. “For someone who keeps to himself so much, you’re well informed.”

  “Yeah.” He grinned at her as the door opened.

  The redhead that Gennie recognized from the Mercedes leaned against the thick panel and looked Grant up and down. “Still lost?”

  This time Grant tugged her against him and gave her a hard kiss. “Apparently you’ve survived a month of matrimony, but you’re still skinny.”

  “And compliments still roll trippingly off your tongue,” she retorted, drawing back. After a moment she laughed and hugged him fiercely. “Damn, I hate to say it out loud, but it’s good to see you.” Grinning over Grant’s shoulder, she pinned Gennie with a curious, not unfriendly glance. “Hi, I’m Shelby.”

  Grant’s sister, Gennie realized, thrown off by the total lack of any familial resemblance. She had the impression of hoards of energy inside a long lean body, unruly fiery curls, and smoky eyes. While Grant had a rugged, unkempt attractiveness, his sister was a combination of porcelain and flame.

  “I’m Gennie.” She responded instinctively to the smile Shelby shot her before she untangled herself from her brother. “I’m glad to meet you.”

  “Pushing seventy, hmmm?” Shelby said cryptically to Grant before she clasped Gennie’s hand. “We’ll have to get to know each other so you can tell me how you tolerate this jerk’s company for more than five minutes at a time. Alan’s in the throne room with the MacGregor,” she continued before Grant could retort. “Has Grant given you a rundown on the inmates?”

  “An abbreviated version,” Gennie replied, instantly charmed.

  “Typical.” She hooked her arm through Gennie’s. “Well, sometimes it’s best to jump in feetfirst. The most important thing to remember is not to let Daniel intimidate you. What extraction are you?”

  “French mostly. Why?”

  “It’ll come up.”

  “How was the honeymoon?” Grant demanded, wanting to veer away from the subject that would, indeed, come up.

  Shelby beamed at him. “I’ll let you know when it’s over. How’s your cliff?”

  “Still standing.” He glanced to his left as Justin started down the main stairs. Justin’s expression of mild curiosity changed to surprise—something rarely seen on his face—then pleasure.

  “Gennie!” He took the rest of the stairs in quick, long strides, then whirled her into his arms.

  “Justin.” Laughing, she hooked her arms around his neck while Grant’s eyes narrowed to slits.

  “What’re you doing here?” they asked together.

  Chuckling, he took both of her hands, drawing back for a long, thorough study. “You’re beautiful,” he told her. “Always.”

  Grant watched her flush with pleasure and experienced the first genuine jealousy of his life. He found it a very unpleasant sensation. “It seems,” he said in a dangerously mild voice that had Shelby’s brows lifting, “you two have met.”

  “Yes, of course,” Gennie began before realization dawned. “The gambler!” she exclaimed. “Oh, I never put it together. Rena—Serena. Hearing you were getting married was a shock in itself, I hated to miss the wedding … and a father!” She threw her arms around him again, laughing. “Good God, I’m surrounded by cousins.”

  “Cousins?” Grant echoed.

  “On my French side,” Justin said wryly. “A distant connection, carefully overlooked by all but a”—he tilted Gennie’s face to his—“select few.”

  “Aunt Adelaide’s a stuffy old bore,” Gennie said precisely.

  “Are you following this?” Shelby asked Grant.

  “Barely,” he muttered.

  With another laugh, Gennie held out her hand to him. “To keep it simple, Justin and I are cousins, third, I think. We happened to meet about five years ago at one of my shows in New York.”

  “I wasn’t—ah—close to that particular end of my family,” Justin continued. “Some chance comment led to another until we ferreted out the connection.”

  When Justin smiled down at Gennie, Grant saw it. The eyes, the green eyes. Man, woman, they were almost identical to the shade. For some obscure reason that, more than the explanations, had him relaxing the muscles that had gone taut the moment Justin had scooped her up. The black sheep, he realized, who’d outdone them all.

  “Fascinating,” Shelby decided. “All those clichés about small worlds are amazingly apt. Gennie’s here with Grant.”

  “Oh?” Justin glanced over, meeting Grant’s dark, appraising eyes. As a gambler he habitually sized up the people he met and stored them into compartments. At Shelby’s wedding the month before, Justin had found him a man with wit and secrets who refused to be stored anywhere. They’d gotten along easily, perhaps because the need for privacy was inherent in both of them. Now, remembering Daniel’s blustering description of Grant’s weekend companion, Justin controlled a grin. “Daniel mentioned you were bringing—an artist.”

  Grant recognized, as few would have, the gleam of humor in Justin’s eyes. “I’m sure he did,” he returned in the same conversational tone. “I haven’t congratulated you yet on ensuring the continuity of the line.”

  “And saving the rest of us from the pressure to do so immediately,” Shelby finished.

  “Don’t count on it,” a smooth voice warned.

  Gennie looked up to see a blond woman descending the steps, carrying a bundle in a blue blanket.

  “Hello, Grant. It’s nice to see you again.” Serena cradled her son in one arm as she leaned over to kiss Grant’s cheek. “It was sweet of you to answer the royal summons.”

  “My pleasure.” Unable to resist, he nudged the blanket aside with a finger.

  So little. Babies had always held a fascination for him—their perfection in miniature. This one was smooth-cheeked and wide awake, staring back at him with dark blue eyes he thought already hinted of the violet of his mother’s. Perhaps Mac had Daniel’s ears and Serena’s eyes, but the rest of him was pure Blade. He had the bones of a warrior, Grant thought, and the striking black hair of his Comanche blood.

  Looking beyond her son, Serena studied the woman who was watching Grant with a quiet thoughtfulness. It surprised her to see her husband’s eyes in a fe
minine face. Waiting until those eyes shifted to hers, she smiled. “I’m Rena.”

  “Gennie’s a friend of Grant’s,” Justin announced, easily slipping an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “She also happens to be my cousin.” Before Serena could react to the first surprise, he hit her with the second. “Genviève Grandeau.”

  “Oh, those marvelous paintings!” she exclaimed while Shelby’s eyes widened.

  “Damn it, Grant.” After giving him a disgusted look, Shelby turned to Gennie. “Our mother had two of your landscapes. I badgered her into giving me one as a wedding present. Evening,” she elaborated. “I want to build a house around it.”

  Pleased, Gennie smiled at her. “Then maybe you’ll help me convince Mr. MacGregor that I should paint his house.”

  “Just watch how you have to twist his arm,” Serena said dryly.

  “What is this, a summit meeting?” Alan demanded as he strode down the hall. “It’s one thing to be the advance man,” he continued as he cupped a hand around the back of his wife’s neck, “and another to be the sacrificial lamb. Dad’s doing a lot of moaning and groaning about this family scattering off in all directions.”

  “With Caine getting the worst of it,” Serena put in.

  “Yeah.” Alan grinned once, appealingly. “Too bad he’s late.” His gaze shifted to Gennie then—dark, intense eyes, a slow, serious smile. “We’ve met….” He hesitated briefly as he flipped through his mental file of names and faces. “Genviève Grandeau.”

  A little surprised, Gennie smiled back at him. “A very quick meeting at a very crowded charity function about two years ago, Senator.”

  “Alan,” he corrected. “So you’re Grant’s artist.” He sent Grant a look that had lights of humor softening his eyes. “I must say you outshine even Grant’s description of you. Shall we all go in and join the MacGregor before he starts to bellow?”

  “Here.” Justin took the baby from Serena in an expert move. “Mac’ll soften him up.”

  “What description?” Gennie murmured to Grant as they started down the wide hall.

  She saw the grin tug at his mouth before he slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Later.”

  Gennie immediately saw why Shelby had referred to it as the throne room. The expansive floor space was covered with a scarlet rug. All the woodwork was lushly carved while magnificent paintings hung in ornate frames. There was the faint smell of candlewax, though no candles were lit. Lamps glowed to aid the soft light of dusk that trailed in the many mullioned windows.

  She saw at a glance that the furniture was ancient and wonderful, all large-scaled and perfect in the enormous room. Logs were laid and ready in the huge fireplace in anticipation of the chill that could come during the evenings when summer warred with autumn.

  But the room, superb in its unique fashion, was nothing compared to the man holding court from his high-backed Gothic chair. Massive, with red hair thick and flaming, he watched the procession file into the room with narrowed, sharp blue eyes in a wide, lined face.

  To Gennie, he looked like a general or a king—both, perhaps, in the way of centuries past where the monarch led his people into battle. One huge hand tapped the wooden arm of his chair while the other held a glass half-filled with liquid. He looked fierce enough to order executions arbitrarily. Her fingers itched for a pad and a pencil.

  “Well,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice that made the syllable an accusation.

  Shelby was the first to go to him, bravely, Gennie thought, to give him a smacking kiss on the mouth. “Hi, Grandpa.”

  He reddened at that and struggled with the pleasure the title gave him. “So you decided to give me a moment of your time.”

  “I felt duty bound to pay my respects to the newest MacGregor first.”

  As if on cue, Justin strode over to arrange Mac in the crook of Daniel’s arm. Gennie watched the fierce giant turn into a marshmallow. “There’s a laddie,” he crooned, holding out his glass to Shelby, then chucking the baby under the chin. When the baby grabbed his thick finger, he preened like a rooster. “Strong as an ox.” He grinned foolishly at the room in general, then zeroed in on Grant. “Well, Campbell, so you’ve come. You see here,” he began, jiggling the baby, “why the MacGregors could never be conquered. Strong stock.”

  “Good blood,” Serena murmured, taking the baby from the proud grandfather.

  “Get a drink for the Campbell,” he ordered. “Now, where’s this artist?” His eyes darted around the room, landed on Gennie and clung. She thought she saw surprise, quickly veiled, then amusement as quickly suppressed, tug at the corners of his mouth.

  “Daniel MacGregor,” Grant said with wry formality, “Genviève Grandeau.”

  A flicker of recognition ran across Daniel’s face before he rose to his rather amazing height and held out his hand. “Welcome.”

  Gennie’s hand was clasped, then enveloped. She had simultaneous impressions of strength, compassion, and stubbornness.

  “You have a magnificent home, Mr. MacGregor,” she said, studying him candidly. “It suits you.”

  He gave a great bellow of a laugh that might have shook the windows. “Aye. And three of your paintings hang in the west wing.” His eyes slid briefly to Grant’s before they came back to hers. “You carry your age well, lass.”

  She gave him a puzzled look as Grant choked over his Scotch. “Thank you.”

  “Get the artist a drink,” he ordered, then gestured for her to sit in the chair next to his. “Now, tell me why you’re wasting your time with a Campbell.”

  “Gennie happens to be a cousin of mine,” Justin said mildly as he sat on the sofa beside his son. “On the aristocratic French side.”

  “A cousin.” Daniel’s eyes sharpened, then an expression that could only be described as cunning pleasure spread over his face. “Aye, we like to keep things in the family. Grandeau—a good strong name. You’ve the look of a queen, with a bit of sorceress thrown in.”

  “That was meant as a compliment,” Serena told her as she handed Gennie a vermouth in crystal.

  “So I’ve been told.” Gennie sent Grant an easy look over the rim of her glass. “One of my ancestors had an—encounter with a gypsy resulting in twins.”

  “Gennie has a pirate in her family tree as well,” Justin put in.

  Daniel nodded in approval. “Strong blood. The Campbells need all the help they can get.”

  “Watch it, MacGregor,” Shelby warned as Grant gave him a brief, fulminating look.

  There were undercurrents here to confuse a newcomer, but not so subtle Gennie didn’t catch the drift. He’s trying to arrange a betrothal, she thought, and struggled with a chuckle. Seeing Grant’s dark, annoyed look only made it more difficult to maintain her composure. The game was irresistible. “The Grandeaus can trace their ancestry back to a favored courtesan of Philip IV le Bel.” She caught Shelby’s look of amused respect. In the time it took for eyes to meet, a bond was formed.

  Though he was enjoying the signals being flashed around the room, Alan remembered all too well being in the position Grant was currently … enjoying. “I wonder what’s keeping Caine,” he said casually, aware how the comment would shift his father’s focus.

  “Hah!” Daniel downed half his drink in one swallow. “The boy’s too bound up in his law to give his mother a moment’s thought.”

  At Gennie’s lifted brows, Serena curled her legs under her. “My mother’s still at the hospital,” she explained, a smile lurking around her mouth. “I’m sure she’ll be devastated if she arrives before Caine does.”

  “She worries about her children,” Daniel put in with a sniff. “I try to tell her that they have lives of their own to lead, but a mother’s a mother.”

  Serena rolled her eyes and said something inarticulate into her glass. It was enough, however, to make Daniel’s face flush. Before he could retort, the sound of the knocker thudding against wood vibrated against the walls.

  “I’ll get it,” Alan said, feeling tha
t would give him a moment to warn Caine of their father’s barometer.

  Because he felt a certain kinship with Caine at that moment, Grant turned to Daniel in an attempt to shift his mood. “Gennie was fascinated by the house,” he began. “She’s hoping to persuade you into letting her paint it.”

  Daniel’s reaction was immediate. Not unlike his reaction to his grandson, he preened. “Well, now, we should be able to arrange something that suits us both.”

  A Grandeau of the MacGregor fortress. He knew the financial value of such a painting, not to mention the value to his pride. The legacy for his grandchildren.

  “We’ll talk,” he said with a decisive nod just as the latest MacGregors came into the room. Daniel cast a look in their direction. “Hah!”

  Gennie saw a tall, lean man with the air of an intelligent wolf stroll in. Were all the MacGregors such superb examples of the human species? she wondered. There was power there, the same as she had sensed in Alan and Serena. Because it wasn’t wholly the same as Daniel’s, Gennie speculated on their mother. Just what sort of woman was she?

  Then her attention was caught by the woman who entered with Caine. Justin’s sister. Gennie glanced at her cousin to see him eyeing his sister with a slight frown. And she understood why. The tension Caine and Diana had brought into the room was palpable.

  “We got held up in Boston,” Caine said easily, shrugging off his father’s scowl before he walked over to look at his nephew. The rather hard lines of his face softened when he glanced up at his sister. “Good job, Rena.”

  “You might call when you’re going to be late,” Daniel stated. “So your mother wouldn’t worry.”

  Caine took in the room with a sweeping glance, noticing his mother’s absence, then lifted an ironic brow. “Of course.”

  “It’s my fault,” Diana said in a low voice. “An appointment ran over.”

  “You remember Grant,” Serena began, hoping to smooth over what looked like very rough edges.

  “Yes, of course.” Diana managed a smile that didn’t reach her large, dark eyes.

  “And Grant’s guest,” Serena continued with the wish that she could have a few moments alone with Diana. “Who turns out to be a cousin of yours, Genviève Grandeau.”

  Diana stiffened instantly, her face cool and expressionless when she turned to Gennie.

  “Cousin?” Caine said curiously as he moved to stand beside his wife.

  “Yes.” Gennie spoke up, wanting to ease something she didn’t understand. “We met once,” she went on, offering a smile, “when we were children, at a birthday party, I think. My family was in Boston, visiting.”

  “I remember,” Diana murmured.

  Though she tried, Gennie could remember nothing she had done at the silly little party to warrant the cool, remote look Diana gave her. Her reaction was instinctive. Her chin angled slightly, her brows arched. With the regal look settling over her, she sipped her vermouth. “As Shelby pointed out, it’s a small world.”

  Caine recognized Diana’s expression, and though it exasperated him, he laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Welcome, cousin,” he said to Gennie, giving her an unexpectedly charming smile. He turned to Grant then, and the smile tilted mischievously. “I’d really like to talk to you—about frogs.”

  Grant responded with a lightning-fast grin. “Anytime.”

  Before Gennie could even begin to sort this out, or the laughter that followed it, a small, dark woman came into the room. Here was the other end of the power. Gennie sensed it immediately as the woman became the center of attention. There was a strength about her, and the serious, attractive looks that she had passed on to her eldest son. She carried a strange dignity, though her hair was slightly mussed and her suit just a bit wrinkled.

  “I’m so glad you could come,” she said to Gennie when they were introduced. Her hands were small and capable, and Gennie discovered, chilled. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. I was—detained at the hospital.”

  She’s lost a patient. Without knowing how she understood it, Gennie was certain. Instinctively, she covered their joined hands with her free one. “You have a wonderful family, Mrs. MacGregor. A beautiful grandson.”

  Anna let out a tiny sigh that was hardly audible. “Thank you.” She moved to brush a kiss over her husband’s cheek. “Let’s go in to dinner,” she said when he patted her hair. “You all must be starving by now.”

  The cast of characters was complete, Gennie mused as she rose to take Grant’s hand. It was going to be a very interesting weekend.

  Chapter 10

  It was late when Gennie lounged in an oversized tub filled with hot, fragrant water. The MacGregors, from Daniel down to Mac, were not an early-to-bed group. She liked them—their boisterousness, their contrasts, their obvious and unapologetic unity. And, with the exception of Diana, they had given her a sense of welcome into their family boundaries.

  Thinking of Diana now, Gennie frowned and soaped her leg. Perhaps Diana Blade MacGregor was withdrawn by nature. It hadn’t taken any insight to see that there was tension between Caine and his wife, and that Diana drew closer into herself because of it, but Gennie felt there had been something more personal in Diana’s attitude toward her.

  Leave me alone. The signal had been clear as crystal and Gennie had obliged. Not everyone was inherently friendly—not everyone had to like her on sight. Still, it disturbed her that Diana had been neither friendly nor particularly hostile, but simply remote.

  Shaking off the mood, she pulled on the old-fashioned chain to let the water drain. Tomorrow, she’d spend some time with her new cousins by marriage, and do as many sketches as she could of the MacGregor home. Perhaps she and Grant would walk along the cliffs, or take a dip in the pool she’d heard was at one of the