You Belong to Me Read online

  Max Anderson was not a handsome man in the accepted sense of the word. His head was a trifle too large, his cheek bones a little too pronounced and his nose a bit too Romanesque. Yet, from the crown of his ebony black hair to the sole of his size twelve feet, all six feet two inches of him exuded a raw masculinity and a potent sex appeal that set him apart from the average male. He seemed bigger than life, exciting and different. His blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. "Long time no see."

  Not long enough, Julie thought. She said, "This is an unexpected surprise."

  Max set his suitcase on the floor. "Didn't Shannon tell you I was coming?"

  Julie's hungry eyes took in every detail of his dear face, the way his hair grew in a widow's peak above his high smooth brow, the sharp high angle of his cheekbones, the curve of his full sensuous mouth. "Shannon said," Julie swallowed again. "Shannon said she'd invited you for the weekend. This is only Wednesday."

  Max shrugged one broad shoulder. "So I'm a few days early."

  Royce interrupted. "Can we go now? My son has been arrested. I don't want him to spend the night in jail."

  Max actually laughed. "The boy wonder is in trouble? Gosh, this is serious."

  Royce clenched his hands into fists. "Butt out, Anderson. This doesn't concern you."

  Julie moved to stand between the two men. With her back to Royce she told Max, "We have to go for them. You can wait here."

  "Them?" Max raised a dark eyebrow. "Who is them? Is Shannon involved in this?"

  Before Julie could answer Royce retorted, "This is all Shannon's fault."

  Julie was becoming more nervous by the minute. "Can we just go, please?"

  Max's amusement vanished to be replaced by what could pass for paternal concern. "Was Shannon arrested, too?"

  Julie realized, as she clutched her handbag to her breast, that Max had every intention of coming with them. "We don't need you along to complicate matters."

  "My daughter's in trouble. I'm coming with you."

  "Max, please..." Julie began.

  Royce held the door open. "Let it go. It's more important to get to Dan and Shannon than it is to stand here arguing with Max."

  Royce was right. But then, wasn't he always? Julie shivered as she walked through the door and out into the cool of the dark night.

  Chapter Two

  It took over an hour to deal with the legal tangle that finally released Dan from police custody. The moment he entered the police waiting room he confronted Shannon with an ultimatum "Make up your mind, Shannon. It's either Brett Morrison or me."

  As badly as Julie wanted Shannon and Dan to be married she couldn't stand by and let Dan verbally abuse her baby. She had been sitting in a straight-backed chair that could have been a relic from a medieval torture chamber. Placing her hands on its scarred wooden arms, she pushed herself to her feet. "Shannon has made up her mind. She's engaged to you and keep a civil tongue in your head."

  Royce, who had been offering unheeded advice and caustic comments at every turn, came to stand by Dan's side. "You're tired, Dan, and upset. This is neither the time nor the place to have this conversation." He put his arm around his son's broad shoulder.

  Dan shook free. "I think it is."

  Max, who had for most of the last hour, been standing on the periphery of this little drama, observing and saying nothing, inserted himself into the conversation. Moving to the center of the circle the group had formed, he smiled at Shannon. "Tell them all to go to hell." He took her arm. "I'm taking you home."

  There followed an explosion of voices that rumbled through the lobby like an erupting volcano. Dan was shouting, Royce was swearing, Max was arguing and Shannon was crying. Julie yelled to be heard over the hubbub. "Will the lot of you shut up?"

  Sergeant Rhodes bellowed from behind his desk, "Mrs. Anderson has the right idea. We could do with some quiet in here."

  Shannon seemed reluctant to leave. "What about Brett?"

  "Brett's not our problem." Royce was herding them all toward the door.

  Shannon protested, "But he's in jail."

  "And not for the first time I'll bet," Dan observed dryly.

  Julie warned, "Don't start, Dan." She had to get Shannon out of here before they all said things they'd be sorry for later.

  The ride home seemed endless. Julie was sandwiched between Max and Royce in Royce's pickup truck. "I still think it's a mistake to let Shannon ride home with Dan."

  Max laid his arm across the back of the seat. A gesture Julie found presumptive and annoying. "It wasn't your call to make." His fingers brushed Julie's shoulder. The touch was accidental and impersonal. It sent shivers down her spine.

  Royce took his eyes off the road long enough to glance in Julie's direction. "Shannon and Dan need some time together. Maybe they can straighten this mess out."

  Julie didn't want to admit, even to herself, how afraid she was that Dan and Shannon would get into another argument on their way home. Max's thigh pressing against her leg made concentrating difficult. It also sent tingles up her spine and into the hollow space between her legs. Julie knew when to retreat. She rode the rest of the way home in silence.

  Once inside the house Julie spent a long and tiring half hour getting Shannon settled and into bed. Now weary and worn, she sat on the couch, closed her eyes and pressed her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose.

  "Tired?" Max's voice sounded from across the room.

  Julie opened her eyes. How handsome he looked standing in the doorway with the lamp from the corner table casting oblique shadows across his chiseled features. "A little."

  Max nodded toward the kitchen. "I put the dishes in the dishwasher and the food in the fridge." He came across the room, sat very near her on the couch and asked with a touch of insolence, "Where do you want me to sleep?"

  "In the spare bedroom." She didn't need his impertinence, not now. "Since you invited yourself, you can make your own bed. The sheets are in the second drawer of the chest."

  Max's eyes danced with humor. "Are you going to tell me which is the spare bedroom, or am I supposed to guess?"

  "Down the hall--It's the last room on the right."

  Max dropped his bantering tone. "Is Shannon all right?"

  It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that it was a little late for him to start playing the role of concerned father. Why borrow trouble? "Shannon is fine."

  Max rubbed his hand along the stubble on his chin. "I don't think so. Are you sure that you and the Garners aren't pushing her into this marriage?"

  Julie moved a little further down the couch. "Dan and Shannon have known each other for most of their lives. Dan loves Shannon very much. He'll make her a fine husband."

  "Seems to me," Max let that thread of insolence slip back into his voice, "that the most important question here is does Shannon love Dan?"

  A flash of anger sparked through Julie's weariness. "Don't start, Max. Of course, Shannon loves Dan."

  "Then how does Brett Morrison fit into the picture?"

  "He doesn't. Brett Morrison is history."

  Max reacted with characteristic arrogance. "Not for Shannon. She has strong feelings for the man."

  Julie felt her temper rising. "Brett Morrison is not a man. He's a spoiled brat. Shannon had a crush on him once but that's over."

  "How can it be over," Max reasoned, with maddening logic, "if Shannon is still seeing him?"

  "Shannon is not seeing Brett!" Julie cut her eyes in Max's direction, annoyance spiking her glance. "Stay out of this, Max. It's none of your damn business."

  "Yes it is," he argued with a calm that sent chills across Julie's skin. "Anything that concerns my daughter is my business."

  After a struggling moment, Julie brought her anger under control. She would gain nothing by losing her temper. "You're jumping to conclusions. You don't know the whole story." An insidious thought began to unravel inside Julie's brain. Maybe Shannon had been talking to Max about Brett and that was why he h
ad arrived early. "The wedding is not until Sunday. Why did you come to town so soon?"

  "The wedding's not the only reason I'm here." Max yawned. "I'm the speaker at the high school alumni's homecoming banquet tomorrow night."

  That admission made Julie even more suspicious. "How long have you been planning this trip?"

  "Mitzi Miller got in touch with me last February."

  "Mitzi Miller." Julie's nose wrinkled in disgust. There was no love lost between Julie and Mitzi Ashcroft Murray Fairchild Miller. Their mutual dislike for each other went back a long way. Long before Julie had dropped out of high school to marry Max, she and Mitzi had been rivals in every sense of the word. Since grammar school they had vied for first place in everything from Homecoming Princess to academic honors. Although family status and wealth often gave Mitzi an unfair advantage, at the end of their freshman year, Julie's grade point average topped Mitzi's by two points and she won nomination for class Homecoming Princess by three votes. Mitzi had been furious. But the crowning insult had been when Max dropped Mitzi and began to date Julie. Another disturbing thought impinged on Julie's weary mind. "You knew you were coming to Summerville months ago. Why didn't you make reservations for a place to stay instead of inviting yourself here?"

  Max's mouth twitched with amusement. "You always were the clever one." He sobered suddenly. "Because I want to spend some time with my daughter before she becomes a married woman."

  Max hadn't changed and he never would. He still did exactly as he pleased regardless of the feelings of others. Maybe she could turn what she saw as a negative into a positive. "Try to make your daughter see how lucky she is to have a man like Dan. And see if you can influence her to major in something beside English literature in college. She should be pursuing a business degree or getting a teaching certificate."

  Softly Max intoned, "I can't live Shannon's life for her and neither can you."

  Shadowy memories drifted across Julie's mind honing old regrets. "I can't let her make foolish mistakes now that she'll be sorry for later."

  "Like you did?" Max's voice carried a note of pain. "You can't read the future in the light of the past. Let Shannon decide for herself what her major will be and what man she will marry."

  Max was never more formidable than when he spoke in that low, persuasive tone. Julie became as wary as a caged animal. "Brett doesn't want to marry Shannon. That's why they broke up in the first place. Shannon wanted Brett to make a commitment and he wouldn't."

  With eloquent ease Max argued, "That was in high school. They were children then. Maybe Brett's changed."

  "Men like Brett Morrison don't change. He's already broken Shannon's heart. I don't intend to let him ruin her life too."

  "Is Shannon marrying Dan on the rebound?" Max's analytical mind had cut to the heart of the matter and with the skill of a deft surgeon, dissected her argument, laying it bare to the bone.

  Julie said a little too quickly, "Shannon is not on the rebound."

  "Then why is she still seeing Brett?"

  She wasn't getting anywhere arguing with Max, but then, when had she ever? Julie yawned. "I have to get up early in the morning. This is my week to open the restaurant."

  Max put his arms across the back of the couch and stared up at her. "You didn't answer my question. What is it about Brett that you find so offensive? He seems to be a nice young man and I understand he comes from a good family."

  Julie's eyes darkened to topaz and narrowed dangerously. "Who told you that?"

  With blasé indifference Max replied, "Mitzi told me." The words were calculated to infuriate Julie.

  They did. "So you're seeing Mitzi again after all these years?"

  Max's smile was infuriating. "We renewed our acquaintance last year when she was in Dallas."

  Mitzi had recently divorced her third husband. It figured that she had her sights on Max to be number four. With a toss of her head Julie stood and turned to go. "You'll be on your own here tomorrow. Don't make any long distance telephone calls and don't make a mess and leave it."

  "Like you did tonight when you left your kitchen in shambles?" Max asked with a wry smile.

  How easily he could put her on the defensive. "This is my home and tonight was an exception." She stopped her tirade. She didn't have to justify what she did in her own kitchen to anyone, least of all her ex-husband.

  Julie was almost to the door when Max asked, "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

  Surprise stopped Julie in her tracks. "Nothing, why?"

  Too casually, Max asked, "Would you like to go to the alumni banquet with me?"

  Julie had never been to an alumni banquet. "I don't think so."

  Max shrugged. "Maybe Mitzi doesn't have a date. I can ask." He had the audacity to reach into his pocket and pull out his cell phone.

  He was saying this to provoke her--or was he? Of course, Mitzi had a date, or did she? "I wouldn't be comfortable there."

  Max asked, "Have you ever been to an alumni banquet?"

  A touch of color tinged Julie's cheeks. "No."

  "Why? Are you afraid or ashamed?"

  She was a little of both. "Neither."

  "Then prove it. Go with me to the banquet. We can go to the dance afterward if you'd like."

  Julie was set to refuse. Then she thought of how Mitzi had snubbed her for all these years. Seeing Julie with Max would be a way to pay Mitzi back for her snobbery. Even as she spoke, Julie's better judgment told her that revenge was a petty, juvenile reason to agree to go to an annual event she had avoided for twenty years. "I'll think about it."

  "What's to think about? You either will or you won't."

  Julie's chest heaved in a long sigh. "What time?"

  "Be ready by seven."

  Dazed and a little more than surprised by her own actions Julie hurried down the hall to her bedroom. She had just agreed to do something she had sworn that she would never do--she had consented to go to the homecoming banquet and with Max of all people. Sitting on the side of her bed she began to untangle old thoughts and memories. Slights and snubs that she had endured since childhood rushed into her mind along with an odd assortment of sorrows and regrets. Being poor and ambitious in a small gossipy town had not made for an easy adolescence. Sheer belligerence came to her rescue. She was now a mature and successful businesswoman and as such she would go where she damn well wanted and with whom she damn well pleased.

  The next day brought a renewed surge of doubts. Thank goodness she was too busy to indulge in introspection. The noon rush came and went before Julie found time for a decent conversation with Royce. She leaned across the lunch counter and asked a little too casually. "How is Dan today?"

  Royce dropped onto a stool across from her. "He's much better. I spoke to him earlier on the phone. He'd been talking to Shannon."

  Julie wiped a cloth along the counter's edge being careful to avoid meeting Royce's troubled gaze. "Then they've patched up their differences?"

  "I think so. He said Max was taking them to lunch." Royce scrubbed an imaginary smudge with his fingertips. "Do you think it's wise for Max to be spending so much time with Shannon?"

  Royce was voicing a fear that Julie had so far managed to ignore "Honestly? No. But there's not much I can do about it. He is her father."

  Royce was an old lover and a trusted friend. Julie could speak her mind to him. "Do you think Max exerts too much influence over Shannon?"

  "Don't you?" Royce asked with a smile.

  Julie sighed. "Maybe some good will come from that--I asked him to talk to Shannon about staying away from Brett and about changing her college major."

  Royce stood. "Do you think he will?"

  "I hope so. It's a good sign that he included Dan in his lunch invitation. Where do you suppose they went?"

  Royce looked around him. "Not here obviously."

  Julie untied her apron. "I'm leaving early today. I hope you don't mind."

  "Not at all." Royce was tactful enough not to ask why she was l
eaving early.

  Julie broke a few speed laws driving home. She was set to put her key in her front door lock when it opened. Max was standing on the other side. "Welcome home."

  Julie's hand flew to cover her heart. "Good Lord! You scared me."

  "I called the restaurant. Royce said you were on your way home." Max stepped aside. "Come in. I've made you a drink."

  And yourself at home, Julie thought. She followed him into the living room. Max had been waiting to welcome her home. She gave herself a mental reprimand. Don't go there again. She was headed in that direction if she read too much into a simple act of kindness. Looking around the comfortable area, she frowned. "Where's Shannon?"

  "Out, I believe." Max offered her a frost-covered glass.

  Julie took it, being careful not to touch his fingers. "That I can see." She took a sip of the cool liquid. "Is she with Dan?"

  Max took the other glass from the tray on the coffee table. "Shannon left about an hour ago. I didn't ask her where she was going." He leaned back on the couch and crossed his legs.

  "You should have." Julie eased down on the other end of the couch. "Did she leave a message for me?"

  Max studied the contents of his glass. "No."

  "Did you get a chance to talk to her?" Julie wiped away a lipstick smudge before taking another sip of the iced beverage.

  "We talked most of the day." Max studied her over the rim of his glass. "Did you know Shannon wants to be a writer?"

  "Shannon doesn't know what she wants." Julie set her glass on the table. "She needs to grow up and stop dreaming impossible dreams." It had taken Julie a long time to stop pursuing her own fanciful illusions. She hoped to spare her daughter that painful and futile process. "Did you talk to her about changing her major?"

  Max dropped his eyelids and smiled at her through his lashes stirring poignant memories and latent desire. "We discussed the subject at length."

  Julie raised an eyebrow, "And?"

  Max shrugged. "And she said she'd consider my advice."

  It would occur to Julie later that she should have asked what that advice had been. "Did you talk to her about Brett?"