He dropped his wrench and quickly slid from under the car. “You’re here about.…” Greg looked into her beautiful face, and then looked her up and down. Before him was what he thought a virtual goddess. She was a knockout from her shapely body, to her flawless café au lait skin. Realizing he was staring, he rose slowly walking toward her, and extending his hand. “I’m Gregory Polaris, and you are?”
She was disheartened by his non-reaction upon hearing his own brother’s name. She extended her hand. “I’m Brandi Miles.” As she stared back at him, she saw almost a replica of Tim, only darker and with green eyes. He was stockier than Tim but was still sexy in a pair of jeans and a torn t-shirt. She hadn’t realized she was holding her breath until he took her hand.
“Brandi Miles, huh? You’re here about Tim, did you say?”
She felt rising anger over his apparent indifference to his brother. “Yes, I’m here about Tim.”
“Are you his social worker?”
“No, I’m his…
“Parole officer?”
“I’m his fiancée.”
“You’re kidding.” He put his hand on his hip, backed up, and looked her over with those intense green eyes of his. “He always did have great taste in women, ‘cept for Nikki, and of course, Charlotte, well, from what Mom has told me, but we all make mistakes.” He wiped his hands on a towel on the hood of the Mercedes. “So, what’s this about?”
She hadn’t expected such terseness from him; he was Tim’s brother after all. She had wanted so much to say something that would bring out his caring side, if he had one. But his words told her emotions were something he would have to buy at the local drug store. She got to the point. “Your brother’s in real trouble.”
“As usual. What’s he done this time that would bring someone so pretty all the way up here to see me?”
She couldn’t mask the disappointment on her face and in her voice. “He’s in the hospital.”
“What for, detox?”
His wisecracks were getting on her nerves. “I’m serious. He was injured in a fall, and he’s in bad shape. He wanted me to see if you could come down, but I can see that you’re too busy.”
She turned to leave so Greg wouldn’t see the tears welling in her eyes, but he took her arm. “I’m sorry. You’re so teary-eyed. There must be something you’re not telling me.”
“Your brother needs you, Greg.”
“Brandi, my baby brother hasn’t needed me in years. What makes now so special?”
She hated getting into it, but it seemed Greg needed the whole story to be convinced. She sat down on the chair near the garage door. “Tim and I were to be married, but when I found out about his past I took off, leaving him alone to pick up the pieces. And then with this hospital thing…he just sounded so hopeless, Greg, like he was giving up and not even trying to live. He told me to find you and tell you he was sorry. What has he to be sorry for? That’s what I need to know.”
“A lot, but I can’t get into it right now. I have this Mercedes to finish by six.” He looked around nervously. “He’s really bad off, huh?”
Streams of tears rolled down her cheeks, and he quickly handed her a clean towel. “I just don’t know how to fix him this time. He’s not really responding to me.”
His eyes softened at the sight of her tears, but even her pain couldn’t keep him from noticing how perfect she was, more beautiful than any woman he had seen in a long time. Then he remembered who that beauty belonged to—his damn baby brother!
Brandi gave him the towel and smiled sheepishly. “I won’t waste any more of your time. I know you have that car to fix, and I’m sorry about everything. It’s just that I love him so much, and I think I’m losing him.”
His voice betrayed a trace of emotion. “I can tell you love him. He finally got lucky.” His eyes lowered for a minute, then he remembered who he was—the unbreakable Gregory Polaris, whom emotions bounced from, or so he thought.
He moved to the door, facing her. “Look, I finish here around six, but where are you staying? Maybe we can get something to eat and talk about this.”
“Could we? I’d really appreciate that. I’m at the Savoy off the interstate, room 216.”
“Is seven good for you?”
She brushed her tears back. “That’ll be good. That gives me time to look human again. I know I look like the living dead.”
He wanted to brush away the fine strand of hair that fell against her wet cheek. He put that thought away, for he knew he would want to touch her elsewhere. He was known to be a fast mover, but this wasn’t the right time, or the right person. He held the door open for her. “I’ll be there by seven.”
After she left, he closed the door and leaned against it. He was vulnerable for once; someone had finally penetrated his tough exterior, and it was Brandi. Her beauty haunted him, but her unavailability was like a knife in his chest. His main priority should have been his brother, but he hadn’t had to think of Tim in such a long time he had actually forgotten how. But with Brandi Miles, well, he hadn’t been so beguiled by a woman in years—not since Destiny’s mother.
Gregory picked her up at precisely 7:00. He drove off at high speed and, for all Brandi knew, he could be driving her to hell and back. That was the kind of person he seemed to be, impulsive and fast. She didn’t understand how two utterly different people could have come from the same womb. But Greg’s fast life somehow attracted her; he was something different, maybe even a little dangerous. He was no Tim. Yes, she felt an attraction to her fiancé’s brother, a big taboo. He oozed heat and fire, as if he would sizzle even in the rain. The attraction made her uncomfortable, half-regretting she had made the trip up there; half feeling that she was cheating on Tim just by looking at his brother. Anyway, she was on a mission, and intended to see it though, no matter what temptation got in the way.
They drove to the restaurant in silence, except for a casual word here and there. But there was nothing polite about him. He was just as rough around the edges in a Ralph Lauren sports jacket as he was in that greasy t-shirt.
After the waitress to took their orders, Greg searched her face and saw signs of her emotional day: eyes puffy from crying; brow creased with worry; lips tight with apprehension. He took a deep breath and plunged in. “Let’s get to the good stuff. What happened to my brother?”
She decided it was now or never. “There are two things. First, he was in a fury and devastated by a co-worker’s betrayal. He was angry with me, too, so he wouldn’t let me console him. He started down his stairs to the basement to get away, and, well, he fell to the cement floor. He has a concussion.”
“A really bad one?”
“Is there a good one? Yes, it’s very bad. Look, he needs you to be there. I thought that hearing of his condition you would want to be there, too.”
He changed the subject. “What’s the other reason you’re here?”
His lack of emotion after hearing about his brother’s accident was killing her, so she kept her own voice cold and unemotional. “I’m here because of his bad family life when you both were kids. It has tortured him for years. Anyway, it finally caught up with him, and I don’t feel that I’m helping the situation.”
“What do you mean?”
“I bolted after finding out about his life, but I came back because I do love him, but I can’t fix the real problem. You can, however. He needs someone other than me to be a stabilizing force in his life, Greg. I didn’t know what else to do, so I came here.”
“What has he told you?”
“Everything.”
“Then he told you that he killed someone? That kid was my best friend, the only person who was ever there for me. Tim took that all away with one punch. So, I don’t know how I can help either you or him.”
“But Tim was your brother. You could have stuck with him, and you two could have had one another.”
“But I never really had him. He was always in trouble for as long as I can remember.”
“And why was that? He apparently needed someone, and wasn’t getting it from home—where he should have been loved. The death of that boy was an accident; he would never willingly do that to anyone. You have to know that.”
“You think you know so much about what went on in our lives, don’t you? Well, you don’t! I know my brother, Brandi, and I know what happened; you don’t, and I think we need to drop this.”
“I can’t drop this. This is about a man I plan to spend the rest of my life with, Greg. What was a friend of yours doing bullying your brother in the first place?”
“That was just his way. He was a kid.”
“Your friend’s ‘way’ was to knock the hell out of your kid brother? How can you sit here and say that?” She had to calm down before she exploded.
Greg’s voice was beginning to shake with anger, but he controlled himself. “Look, I was not there, and I was also not his or Tim’s keeper. Neither one was my responsibility. I couldn’t have stopped him, anyway. I wasn’t there.”