Held ~ Chapter Eight

"Held ~ Chapter Seven" 


Held ~ Chapter Eight

Ean squinted as he pulled up the drive. A curse threatened to blister the dashboard as he recognized the white Bentley. After a long day at the office, his parents were the last things he wanted to see. After taking the previous week off to see Kara and Nick settled, Monday had been a bitch. Leaving his BMW in the drive, he headed for the front door. Trailing his fingers across the Bentley's grill found the car cool to the touch; they had been there a while. He took the stairs three at a time.

Kara perched on the edge of the settee, nerves shot as Elizabeth Vaughn continued her interrogation. The foyer's grandfather clock announced the six o'clock hour and the second full hour she had endured a seemingly endless barrage of questions and contempt. Nick's bony little fingers dug painfully into her thigh as he burrowed closer to her side. The socialite's complete ignorance when it came to children invoked disbelief and yet a better understanding of Ean. 

"The entire tale is completely preposterous! He just brought you and that...that child home, like stray dogs, to live here?" Elizabeth shrilled with an imperial wave of her bejeweled hand.

"Yes ma'am," Kara sighed wearily.

"Ignore mother dearest, Kara. She believes wealth excuses her from tact," Ean drawled from the doorway, his voice dripping with disdain. Kara shivered. The tone had to be hereditary.
 
Elizabeth's mouth snapped shut, blue eyes narrowing in disapproval. Kara stood as Ean prowled into the room. Nick slid off the couch, hugging the back of her thigh shyly. She lowered her eyes respectfully, smoothing Nick's hair to help hide the trembling of her hands. Despite his words, she was unsure of herself. Her breath caught as his finger slowly lifted her chin. She looked up into his face, her eyes searching his chiseled features for any indication of his mood. Her knees threatened to give way as he lowered his head to capture her lips in a possessive and powerful kiss. She stood dazed as he broke the lip lock and picked Nick up into his arms.

"Bored, little man?" he asked in a stage whisper, drawing a shy grin and a nod from Nick. Returning the grin with a wink, Ean pulled out his cell and hit the direct connect option for the household staff. "Rosie?"

"Yes, Mr. Vaughn?" Came her instantaneous reply.

"Come take Nick to play, please. The adults are boring the boy," Ean ordered. The phone was barely back on his belt before the pretty little Latina nanny arrived with a smile. Dipping Nick in front of Kara's face for a quick kiss, Ean set him on his feet with a ruffle of his hair. They all watched as the twosome disappeared and then Ean turned his attention to his parents.

"To what do I owe this displeasure?"

"Must you always be so rude?" his mother huffed softly.

"I learned from the best, mother."

His father cleared his throat.

"We just returned to the country. Perhaps we just wished to touch base."

"Perhaps a pit viper would make a good pet. Somehow I am skeptical," Ean said with a sardonic twist of his lips.

"Your sarcasm is not attractive, dear. Really quite appalling," Elizabeth sniffed.

"Nor is your highbrow, condescending attitude, and yet we each have our cross to bear," Ean replied smoothly.

"Dinner is ready, Ma'am," Annabelle announced softly from the doorway.

Ean's steely blue eyes pinned the head housekeeper to the spot.

"Forgetting who you work for could be a costly mistake, Annabelle. One that you can't afford to make again." Offering his arm to Kara, he strode past his mother and the silent housekeeper.


Kara faltered as they entered the dining room. The gorgeous table was perfectly set...for four. Her eyes flew up to meet Ean's. He squeezed her arm reassuringly and leaned down to brush her ear with his lips.

"Let him eat with Rosie, baby. Spare him the misery."

Kara smothered a giggle, nodding her acquiesce.

Picking at the meal of grilled swordfish and steamed vegetables, Kara tried to ignore the tension between Ean and his parents. Truth be known, she tried to ignore the entire conversation, keeping her thoughts to herself. If she had thought her own mother's maternal instincts lacking, Elizabeth Vaughn was the type to eat her young. The irritation in the matriarch's tone was becoming more evident with every verbal volley.

"While charity is admirable, Ean, what are people going to say? This family has a reputation to consider. Your rebellious charade has gone on long enough," Elizabeth snapped.

"She will stay for as long as I wish it, your affluent friends and the society page be damned," Ean said softly.

At a pointed glare from his wife, Erik Vaughn cleared his throat.

"You have been exceedingly lucky so far with the daredevil lifestyle you have lead. However you will be forty this year. A man your age needs to start looking to the future."

"A touching Merrill Lynch infomercial, however unnecessary," Ean said dryly, but his features softened as he glanced over to meet Kara's eyes. "Business and investments alike have been more than lucrative. The future is looking brighter all the time."

"I won't have you throwing away everything we have given you on some penniless tramp and her bastard brat!" Elizabeth hissed, imperiously tossing her napkin into her plate. "You will choose..."

"Shut your mouth," Ean snapped coldly. Even without raising his voice, the command seemed to reverberate through the room. "Did you honestly think I would allow you to choose a cold, calculating, social climbing cunt, cut in your very own image, for me mother dearest?"

Stunned silence gripped the room. Kara's short nails cut painful crescents into her palms. In any other situation, the look on Mrs. Vaughn's regal features would have been priceless. As it was, Kara wanted nothing more than to sink beneath the table.

"Everything you have given me," Ean drawled mockingly. "Don't you mean the inheritance that your father left me in trust?"

Elizabeth's face twisted in fury at the mention of the trust. The look she leveled on her unflappable son was venomous. An actual hiss sounded from her painted lips as she opened her mouth to retort. Ean cut her short.

"Call your bitch to heel, Erik, or I will." 

The enraged socialite spun on her husband, her words dying on her tongue at his stern expression.

"I think it is time we let Ean relax after a hard day." Erik said stiffly, his eyes conveying much more to his wife at her incredulous squeak.

Ean stood, but his father waved him back.

"Enjoy the remainder of your dinner, son, we will see ourselves out."

Kara flinched at the sound of the front door closing behind them. She struggled with appropriate words but coming up short, wisely kept her silence.

The tension was palpable. Kara was pale, dark shadows shading her troubled eyes. He was proud of how she had held up under his parent's scrutinous interrogation, but now she looked about to break. He watched her poke at the cold, limp broccoli, her hand trembling. Reaching over, he covered her hand gently with his own. Her gaze leapt to his. Giving her fingers a reassuring squeeze, he stood. At the slight inclination of his head and the tug on her hand, she slipped to her feet and followed him to the kitchen.


Annabelle ground her teeth hearing Señor Vaughn's amusement echo through the kitchen joined with the tinkling laughter of the child. They looked like quite the little family, cuddled in the kitchen's horseshoe booth with their dessert. The verbal battle between mother and son had hardly been a first, yet the rancor in Ean's words had been unnerving. His protective streak towards Kara and Nicholas was unprecedented. The women in his life had simply filled a role of society arm candy and sexual partner. He had strong, sometimes dark, sexual appetites that society's flighty debutantes were ill prepared to handle. Relationships had been fleeting and yet his wealth and masculine mystique kept a steady stream of sacrificial lambs bleating at his heels.

That posed the question, why the strong attraction to a penniless waif from the mid west? Sipping a cup of strong coffee, Annabelle turned her attention to the young woman. Petite, maybe five-six, slender, B cup, sun-kissed, straight hair, and wide, guileless green eyes. Fresh faced with a dusting of freckles, the girl was pretty enough. Pretty, yet hardly in a class with some of the statuesque beauties to grace Señor Vaughn's arm over the years. So, why? Her thin lips pressed into a line of displeasure as Ean leaned over the boy's head to kiss Kara softly. Perhaps why was not the productive question to be asking. She would be better served with how...how long would the twit be here and how best to speed her departure.


Ean stretched languidly, pulling the sheet over Kara's sweat dampened skin. A lazy, sated smile danced on his lips. A cigar sounded good. He chuckled at the cliché, eliciting a questioning glance from his petite companion. Drawing her close, he sighed in contentment. A shy smile curved her generous lips, yet never reached her eyes. Surprisingly, some of the pleasure drained away. Letting the evening roll through his mind's eye, Ean searched for a way to ease her fears. He stroked her hair. 

"My parents opinions have no bearing on my own, or in how I feel about you. Remember what I told you. See that my needs are met, and no more worries, baby."         

"Held ~ Chapter Nine"