A Lone Star Love Affair / Falling for the Princess: A Lone Star Love Affair / Falling for the Princess

“No deference to your employer?” he asked quietly, fighting an urge to ask her for a drink.

“Tony, it’s getting late,” she whispered, and broke away. He had seen the pink rise in her cheeks. Why was she fighting him and so angry with him? He hadn’t moved her out of her job yet.

Puzzled over the degree of her animosity, he walked with her to the elevators. He pushed a button before she could reach it and they rode down in silence.

He could feel the barriers back in place, the chill in the air between them.

“I saw your ad campaign for the Royal Garden chain. It was well thought out and successful. Bookings jumped after the television ads started,” he said.

“Thank you from my staff and me. They did an excellent job.”

“Do you ever take full credit for anything?” he asked, looking at silky strands of blond hair wound in a roll and wondering how she would look with her hair unpinned.

“If I’m the only one to work on it. Otherwise, I don’t deserve to take all of the credit.”

“Will there ever be a time you can see me in any way other than your employer?”

“Of course. If I leave Morris, or if you do,” she answered sweetly, and he smiled.

When the elevator doors opened, he stepped back to let her exit. He fell into step beside her and they both greeted the night security guard before going outside. Tony crossed the parking lot with her to her car.

“I hope you give my company a chance,” he said. “I have the feeling you’ve already formed an opinion and have one foot out the door.”

“Not yet,” she said, as she clicked her key to unlock her car. While he held her door, she slid behind the wheel.

“I’ll see you next at the reception we’re having for the executives Thursday evening. You will attend, won’t you?”

“Certainly. I believe it’s mandatory unless one is in the hospital.”

“We all need to meet one another.”

She gave him a doubting look as if she didn’t believe a word he said.

“Good night, Isabelle,” he said, wishing he could prolong the time with her.

“Good night,” she replied.

When she started the engine, he walked to his car. As she drove past, her profile was to him and she never glanced around.

“Isabelle Smith,” he said, mulling over her name and the past hour. The only things he knew for certain were that she didn’t like him and she resented his buying out Morris.

He remembered another Smith he had known. She had been a freshman or sophomore in college and he had met her at a party when he had been on campus for a seminar. Her name hadn’t been Isabelle and she had been a carefree, fun-loving, sexy woman. It had been an instant hot attraction that ended in a passionate night together even though she had been a virgin. A blue-eyed blonde with a resemblance to Isabelle Smith, but only a slight similarity and one he dismissed as swiftly as it came to mind. Partying with him, Jessie Smith had been wild, friendly and filled with fun. She had constantly smiled until passion replaced her smiles. He hadn’t forgotten her and he didn’t think he ever would. He couldn’t recall her major or where she was from. Even though he had wanted to, he had never tried to contact her because she would have been too big a distraction in his life at the time. His focus had been on building his fortune. She had faded from his life, but never from his memory. That had been an unforgettable night. There was enough of a resemblance in coloring and name to give him the feeling he had met Isabelle Smith before tonight, but she definitely was no Jessie Smith.

His cell phone beeped, indicating a text from his sister.

As he climbed into his sports car, he paused to read her message. In minutes he headed home. When he entered his neighborhood, he slowed, driving beneath tall trees with thick trunks in one of the oldest areas in Dallas. Bare limbs interlocked overhead, bordering sweeping lawns of two- and three-story mansions. A high, wrought-iron fence surrounded Tony’s property and with a code he opened iron gates. As he wound along the wide driveway, he saw a familiar sports car parked at the front.

He pulled into his garage and entered his house, going straight through to open the front door. A woman with a mass of curly black hair and thickly lashed dark brown eyes matching his stepped out of the parked car and dashed toward his door. She crossed the illuminated wide porch.

He closed the door behind his younger sister. “Sydney, what brings you on the run at this hour?” he asked, smiling at her. He loved his sister.

“Dad. He wanted to see me tonight. I need to talk to you, Tony.”

“Sure. Let’s go to the family room. Want something to drink?”

“Cranberry juice if you have it.”

Several small lights came on automatically as they entered a large room that held comfortable leather furniture, a bar and a large fireplace. Tony crossed to the bar to get a cold beer for himself and juice for his sister.

As soon as he had a fire blazing, he picked up his beer and sat on a chair facing his sister, who sipped her juice. “Okay, let’s hear it. What’s Dad done now?” Tony asked.

“Tony, he’s pressuring me to dump Dylan,” she said, focusing worried brown eyes on her brother.

“So? Sydney, it’s your life. Do what you want,” Tony answered.

“It’s not that easy.” She looked away as if lost in thought. Her gaze returned to Tony. “Dad’s threatened me. If I marry Dylan, he’ll disinherit me.”

“Dammit. That’s drastic. He must have talked to my friend Jake’s dad who held such a threat over Jake’s head. Our dads are old friends and both control freaks. That’s where Dad got this idea of threatening you. It worked with Jake because he married.”

“That’s not all. Dad will stop all support and I’m on my own to finish medical school. I may have to make a choice between med school and Dylan. If I have to choose, Dylan wins. Worst of all, Dad will cut me out of the family completely. ‘Don’t come home’ and all that.”

“Mom won’t go along with any such ultimatum,” Tony said, losing his temper with his interfering father.

“She already has. For once, Mom sat in with us when he talked to me.”

“That’s serious,” Tony remarked, giving his sister his full attention. “I don’t think I’ve ever had Mom step in to back up Dad. I’m shocked.”

“Mom doesn’t like Dylan. She thinks he’s a nobody and will embarrass the family. Even worse, he’s an artist who had to put himself through college by relying on scholarships. It doesn’t matter to them that his grades are excellent or what it took to accomplish sending himself.”

“Graphic art is a respectable career,” Tony answered, thinking about Isabelle, although it had been years since he’d had any worries about his family having to accept a woman in his life. “This is partially why I work like crazy. He’s beginning to back off with me—especially since I acquired Morris Enterprises—because I’m going to make more money than he has and he can see it. Syd, I’m finally getting respect out of him.”

“I doubt if I can ever say that. I thought if I made it through medical school, I would, but I don’t think that any longer. If you’re sympathetic to me at all, it will only increase the tension between you and Mom and Dad. As for Dylan, he just isn’t from our circle of friends and his family is low income with blue- collar jobs. I’m afraid Dad will try every way he can to give Dylan difficulty. He’ll try to sabotage Dylan getting work, or staying with a company. He will try to keep him out of any family gatherings.”

“I don’t think so, Syd. He wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Tony, really,” she snapped, glaring at her brother.

“You’ll know in time. As for the other, I’m one-quarter of this family and I’m not cutting you out, so you can see me on holidays.”

“If you’re even in the country. Thank you for offering, though.”

“And don’t worry about med school. I can support you right now. I have the money and can easily and gladly do it. Just tell me how much and I’ll write the first check tonight,” Tony said, feeling as protective of his sister as ever. Seven years older than Sydney, he had spent his life looking out for her and being a buffer between his parents and her. They had always been close.

“I don’t want you to do that. I didn’t call you to get you to finance me.”

“I can afford it. I want to. End of argument.”

“Oh, Tony,” she said, her eyes filling with tears as she jumped to her feet to run and hug him. “You are the best brother in the whole world.”