LITMIR.BIZ

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Of course she had self-esteem. It was just a bit like a roller-coaster ride. Sometimes up, sometimes down. Naomi’d be very happy if she could somehow reach a middle ground and stay there. But it was a constant battle between the two distinctly different voices in her head.

      One telling her she was smart and talented and capable while the other whispered doubts. Amazing how much easier that dark voice was to believe.

      And she was stalling.

      “You’re stalling,” Toby said as if reading her mind. Her gaze snapped to his.

      “Think you know me that well, do you?”

      “Yeah,” he said, a slow smile curving his mouth. “I do.”

      Okay, yes, he really did. Probably the only person she knew who could make that claim and mean it. Even her closest girlfriends, Cecelia and Simone, only knew about her what she wanted them to know. Naomi was really skilled at hiding her thoughts, at being who people expected or wanted her to be. But she never had to do that around Toby.

      Taking her hand in his, he started for the front door. “Come on, Naomi. We’ll talk to your folks, get this out in the open, then go have lunch so I can get a burger and you can nibble on a lettuce leaf.”

      She rolled her eyes behind his back, because damn it, he really did know her. All women watched their diets, didn’t they? Especially pregnant women? At that thought, memories of that vile video Maverick had sent her rushed into her mind again. She saw the actress waddling, staggering across a mock-up of Naomi’s own television set, and she shivered. She refused to waddle.

      Naomi swallowed a groan and took the steps to the wide front porch beside Toby. He was still holding her hand, and she was grateful. A part of her brain shrieked at her that it was ridiculous for a grown woman to be so nervous about facing her parents. But that single voice was being systematically drowned out by a choir of other voices, reminding her that nothing good had ever come from having a chat with Franklin and Vanessa Price.

      “You ready?”

      She looked up into his eyes, shaded by his ever-present Stetson, and gathered the tattered threads of her courage. She had to be ready, because there was no other choice. “Yes.”

      “That’d be more believable if you weren’t chewing on your bottom lip.”

      “Blast,” she muttered and instinctively rubbed her lips together to smooth out her lipstick. “Fine. Now I’m ready.”

      “Damn right you are.” He grinned, and her nerves settled. Really, Naomi wasn’t sure what she’d ever done to deserve a best friend like Toby, but she was so thankful to have him.

      Before she could talk herself out of it or worry on it any longer, she reached out and rapped her knuckles on the wide front door. Several seconds ticked past before it swung open to reveal Matilda, the Price family housekeeper and cook.

      Tall, thin and dressed completely in black, Matilda wore her gunmetal-gray hair short and close to her head. Her complexion was pale and carved with wrinkles earned over a lifetime. She looked severe, humorless, although nothing could have been further from the truth. Matilda smiled in welcome.

      “Miss Naomi,” she said, stepping back to open the door wider. “You and Mr. Toby come in. I’ll just tell your parents you’re here. They’re in the front parlor.”

      Of course they were, Naomi thought. She knew the Price family schedule and was aware that it never deviated. Late-morning tea began at eleven and ended precisely at eleven forty-five. After which her mother would drive into town to one of her charities and her father would go to the golf course or, on Tuesdays, the Texas Cattleman’s Club to visit with his friends.

      Waiting in the blessedly cool entry hall, Toby took his hat off, then bent to whisper, “Always makes me twitch when she calls me Mr. Toby.”

      “I know,” Naomi said. “But propriety must be maintained at all times.” Appearances, she knew, were very important to her parents. It had always mattered more how things looked than how things actually were.

      She glanced around the home she’d grown up in. The interior hadn’t changed much over the years. Vanessa Price didn’t care for change, and once she had things the way she wanted them, they stayed.

      Cool, gray-veined white marble tile stretched from the entry all through the house. Paintings, in soothing pastel colors, hung in white frames on ecru walls, their muted hues the only splash of brightness in the decorating scheme. A Waterford crystal vase on the entry table held a huge bouquet of exotic flowers, all in varying shades of white, and the silence in the house was museum quality.

      Idly, Naomi remembered being a child in this house and how she’d struggled to find her place. She never really did, which was why, she supposed, she still felt uncomfortable just being here.

      Toby squeezed her hand as Matilda stepped into the hall and motioned for them to come ahead. Apparently, Naomi told herself, the king and queen were receiving today. The minute that thought entered her mind, she felt a quick stab of guilt. Her parents weren’t evil people. They didn’t deserve the mental barbs from their only child and wouldn’t understand them if they knew how she really felt.

      But at the same time, Naomi couldn’t help wishing things were different. She wished, not for the first time, that she was able to just open the front door and sail in without being announced. She wished that her parents would be happy to see her. That she and her mom could curl up on the couch and talk about anything and everything. That her dad would sweep her up into a bear hug and call her “princess.” That she wouldn’t feel so tightly strung at the very thought of entering the formal parlor to face them.

      But if wishes were real, she’d be sitting on a beach sipping a margarita right now.

      Her parents were seated in matching Victorian chairs, with a tea table directly in front of them. The rest of the room was just as fussily decorated, looking like a curator’s display of Louis XIV furniture. Nothing in the house invited people to settle in or, God forbid, put their feet on a table.

      The windows allowed a wide swath of sunlight to spear into the room, illuminating the beige-and eggshell-colored furniture, the gold leaf edging the desk on the far wall, the white shades on crystal lamps and the complete lack of welcome in her parents’ eyes. It was eleven thirty. They still had fifteen minutes of teatime left, and Naomi had just ruined it.

      She was about to ruin a lot more.

      “Hello, Mom, Dad.” She smiled, steeled herself and released Toby’s hand to cross the room. She bent down to kiss the cheek her mother offered, and then when her father stood up to greet Toby, she kissed her dad’s cheek, too.

      “Hello, dear,” Vanessa Price said. “This is a surprise. Toby, it’s nice to see you. Would you like to join us for tea? I can have Matilda brew fresh.”

      “No, ma’am, thank you,” Toby said after shaking Franklin’s hand and stepping back to range himself at Naomi’s side.

      Franklin Price was a handsome man in his seventies. He wore a perfectly tailored suit and his silver hair was swept back from a high, wide forehead. His blue eyes were sharp but curious as they landed on his daughter. Vanessa was petite, and though in her seventies, she presented, as always, a perfect picture. Her startlingly white hair was trimmed into a modern but flattering cut, and her figure was trim, since she had spent most of her life dieting to ensure it. Her jewel-bright blue summer dress looked casually elegant and at the same time served to make Naomi feel like a hag.

      “Is there something wrong, dear?” Vanessa set her Limoges china teacup down onto the table and then folded her hands neatly in her lap.

      There was her opening, Naomi thought, and braced herself to jump right in.

      “Actually, yes, there is,” she admitted, and glanced at her father to see his concerned frown. “You’ve both heard about this Maverick who’s been contacting people in Royal for the last several months?”

      “Distasteful,” Vanessa said

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