Destiny Of A Donovan (The Donovans Book 15) Read online

  So she sighed heavily as she eased herself down to sit with her back against the trunk of the oak tree. All these things came so clearly to her now. She wished she’d had the guts to go to therapy years before. Truth be told, it wasn’t all about the therapy. It was everything that had happened in the past year. The surgery, the reinvention of herself, the truths she’d accepted and this place. She loved it here at the Basset Banks Vineyard and she loved her best friend Lauren for inviting her to stay on this gorgeous estate with her.

  “You left without me this morning,” a smooth and familiar voice said breaking through Brynne’s thoughts.

  She looked up knowing that Wade Basset Banks’ crisp blue eyes would be staring down at her. A light beard covered his strong jaw, but not enough to completely hide the sexy cleft in his chin. His hair was dark against his olive complexion, his dress shirt buttoned up to his neck. The gray tie he wore may have seemed plain but Brynne was certain it was silk and most likely expensive, just like his tailored black suit. Black wingtips rounded off the package and as it had done on numerous occasions when she was in his company, Brynne’s heart did a stagger, start and stop before she was able to speak.

  “I thought you were out of town,” she replied.

  He knelt down beside her, lifting a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I took the red-eye flight from Portland specifically so I wouldn’t miss our morning walk.”

  Our morning walk. Brynne hadn’t thought of them that way even though she was certain that if she’d been keeping tabs it would have been easy to tabulate that Wade had accompanied her on the majority of her walks since they’d begun. Of course, that could be attributed to the fact that this was his land. These hills and vines, the flowers, the majestic trees, that great main house, the guest house down the road, the winery and the money that came in because of all of the above, were his.

  He was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Basset Banks Vineyard. He was also a very attractive man with a breathtaking smile and a penchant for strawberries and whipped cream. Brynne knew this because they’d shared this dessert on about as many occasions as they had this morning walk. Her, eating more of the strawberries and him, enjoying the whipped cream.

  “You’re not the one who needs these walks each morning,” she told him.

  When she thought he would have had a quick retort, Wade simply stared at her. The same fingers that had touched her hair now ran along his jaw as he shook his head slowly.

  “I don’t know how accurate that statement is,” he eventually replied.

  Well what did that mean?

  Brynne had no idea and she wasn’t really in the mood to try and figure it out. There were so many other decisions she needed to make today, or this week. She didn’t have time to try and figure out what Wade Banks was saying and she didn’t even know if it made a difference. Her time in Napa Valley was almost up anyway.

  “I should get back to the house,” Brynne said and came to her feet.

  Wade stood as well, leaving only a couple of feet between them. “Do you have an appointment to get to?” he asked her.

  She didn’t and try as she might she couldn’t find it in herself to lie to him. He’d been one of the few people Brynne had found easy to be honest with. While she did have some calls to make today, none of them needed to be made right at this moment.

  “No,” she said and then felt her heart flutter at the way his eyes lit up.

  He seemed happy, much more so then normal and she wondered if her simple response was responsible for that reaction.

  “Then walk with me,” he said and surprised her once again by reaching out and taking her hand in his. “Perez tells me the pruning was completed last week and I want to take a look to make sure we’re in good shape.”

  She’d been staring down at his hand as he talked. He had long fingers, like someone who might play the piano. His nails were filed to a blunt tip that may have given the impression that he was inclined to pampering and no manual labor, but Brynne knew better. Three weeks ago she recalled seeing him out in these very fields doing some of the pruning that he now wished to check on. He’d worn work boots and faded jeans that day, the long sleeves to his plaid shirt were rolled up to the thick curve of his biceps, and a black cap had been pulled down tightly on his head. He’d worked for hours that day and Brynne had no idea why she’d not only kept count, but remembered the day as if it were yesterday.

  “Um, you know I don’t know anything about pruning or plucking grapes,” she said, dragging her gaze away from his hand. “I only know that you’re a damn fine vintner because Basset Banks’ merlot is the best I’ve ever had.”

  He smiled and lifted the hand he was holding up to his lips before dropping a loud kiss on her knuckles. She couldn’t have pulled away if she wanted to, and a part of Brynne was screaming that she should. This was so silly. This guy was her best friend’s brother. He was nine years older than her and no doubt more experienced in matters between men and women than she was. She felt her lips forming a shaky smile as she willed herself to get it together. There was nothing here, absolutely nothing at all.

  “I knew you were a woman of good taste the moment I met you.”

  “I will agree that I know good wine,” Brynne replied as she fell into step beside him.

  “And you don’t like to accept compliments.” He concluded.

  “No,” she began. “It’s not that. I just…well…I mean, I was just saying that the wine is good. That’s all.”

  He nodded and let out a little chuckle. “And I agree, our merlot is the best, coming in second only to our Cabernet Santo. But walking with you is better than knowing our vineyards are one of the top three in Napa Valley.”

  He’d squeezed her hand tighter after speaking, just before lifting it to his lips and dropping a soft kiss against her knuckles.

  Brynne didn’t know how to reply to that, and she didn’t know how to keep her knees from threatening to give out at that moment.

  Wade wished it had been her lips. He’d dreamed of kissing her on so many occasions, he’d lost count.

  It was insane. He knew that. He told himself every day since that day almost a year ago when he’d come home to the Big House, which was what he and Lauren had always called the main house on the vineyard’s land. She’d been different then, he recalled as they walked. Very, very different.

  And Wade wasn’t just thinking along the physical lines when he thought about that day. Sure, she’d weighed more then, but her physical appearance hadn’t been all that had drawn him to her. It was last June and he’d just returned from Villa Donati, his great-grandmother’s estate in Tuscany. In the seventeen days he was there Wade had read contracts, negotiated terms and visualized how the hundred and fifty year old villa could be renovated and brought back to life. In the ten minutes he’d stood in the main dining room of the Big House just a few feet away from Brynne Donovan he’d evaluated his age, checked his instant arousal and attempted to tamp down on the immediate intrigue he felt as he stared at her.

  “Brynne, this is my brother Wade,” Lauren had said by way of introduction. “You remember I told you about him…and the night I had alcohol poisoning.”

  His sister had grinned at that statement, while Wade had a flashback of the night he’d received a call from the LAPD telling him that they were transporting his underage sister to the hospital. They’d picked her up in a raid of a club that Lauren had gained access into via a fake ID. It had taken Wade and the attorneys that made a small fortune from representing their family, to get her out of that trouble.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Wade,” Brynne had said.

  Her hair—springy looking black curls—was pulled back from a round and pretty face with high cheekbones and lovely brown eyes. She’d given him a cordial smile, her plump lips coated lightly with peach gloss. She wore a cream colored blouse and a long skirt with different shades of orange in a paisley print. Her toes had been painted a festive yellow color that w
as visible through the strappy nude sandals she wore.

  “Brynne,” he’d said slowly. “That’s a very pretty name.”

  “Thank you,” she replied. “I was just telling Lauren that you have a beautiful home here.”

  Wade had nodded. “Thank you. My mother and Mrs. Ramsey are really responsible for that. And, now, of course, Lauren is adding her own touches. It’s our family home and we’re proud of it and our company.”

  And he was rambling. Standing there in front of her feeling like an inexperienced school boy instead of a man in his late thirties.

  The next day when Wade and Lauren had met to discuss vineyard business, his sister shared the real reason Brynne Donovan was staying with them.

  “She’s recovering from weight loss surgery. Her doctor is in L.A. and she wanted to remain close for routine check-ups,” Lauren had told him.

  “Where’s her family?” he’d asked.

  Lauren and a few cousins in Tuscany were the only family Wade had left. Still, he’d made a valiant effort to keep in touch with them, hence the reason he was so dedicated to reviving the villa in Italy. He wanted there to be something of their heritage left, something for the next generation of Donatis and Banks to share and be proud of.

  “Her parents are in Seattle and she has other family around the world, but they don’t know what she’s going through.” Before he could say another word, Lauren had held up a hand to stop him. “I don’t agree either, but it’s not my call. I’ve known Brynne since college so I know how determined she can be. When she told me she was having this surgery and she wasn’t telling her family I knew I had no choice but to be there for her. So I have, for the past eight weeks we stayed in a townhouse she’d rented in L.A. You were in Paris and then Milan. Then you called to say you would be heading to New York and then to Tuscany. That meant I needed to get back to the office. So I brought Brynne here. Between me and Mrs. Ramsey, we’ve been helping her with her new diet and exercise regimen.”

  He’d listened to his sister, seeing Brynne’s smiling face in his mind and wondering why. She looked just fine to him, but Wade knew that what he saw in people wasn’t always what the world saw. He knew firsthand about people who struggled with their physical appearance, their weight and body shaming. That was the reason he and Lauren had decided that in addition to their family’s vineyards that the Basset Banks name needed to stand for something else. It needed to represent something supportive and long lasting, to do what nobody had bothered to do for their mother.

  “Why didn’t you send her to The Center?” he asked.

  Lauren had finished drinking her orange juice. She’d set the glass down slowly before looking at Wade once more. “Brynne knows about The Lily Center. She knows why starting a treatment facility that specializes in eating disorders and weight management therapy was important to me. She’s a good friend and she’s always supported everything that I do, but she’s from a high-profile family and she didn’t want them or anyone else to know what she was going through.”

  Wade nodded because he knew the pressure of being in a high-profile family. He knew it just as his mother had and just as Lauren did. There were different rules for them, limitations and struggles that couldn’t be imagined. So he’d accepted Lauren’s explanation and he’d felt compassion for Brynne, a woman who had decided to take control of her own situation in the best way she knew how. He was also proud of his sister, who had struggled with anorexia for most of her teenage years, for being such a loyal and devoted friend.

  Later that same week was the first time Wade had seen Brynne walking. He’d always loved walking in the early morning, surveying the vines and simply using the fresh morning air to organize his thoughts. Imagine his surprise when this captivating woman shared that she liked to do the same and his elation when it turned out that he really liked spending that time with her.

  “You should see the sunrise in Tuscany,” Wade said when his thoughts returned to the present and he realized that not only was he walking with Brynne, but that for the first time, her hand was in his.

  There was warmth as his fingers entwined with hers. A steady flow that eased from the palm of his hand, up his arm and was now spreading slowly throughout his chest. Today she wore navy blue workout pants, the fitted ones. She had on a white t-shirt, of which he could only see the bottom because the jacket that matched the pants that she wore half-way zipped, covered the rest. Her hair which always seemed unruly, yet alluring, was held back from her face with a white band. There was no make-up on her face and yet her eyelashes were still long and curving over dark brown eyes that were always alert and assessing.

  “I’ll bet it’s amazing,” she replied. “When I was a young girl I used to have contests comparing the sunrise to the sunset, wondering which one was more breathtaking.”

  “I’d say sunrise. Because when you wake up in the morning it’s with great expectation. People, things, situations, none of them have had an opportunity to interfere with your thoughts or actions at this point. Your mind is fresh and open to the revelations of the day. The sunrise is there to assist in replenishing and restoring. It’s your energy for the day.”

  “Hmmm,” she added as they came closer to the part of land that led towards the rows and rows of vines that would be this year’s harvest.

  “I can see that. I know I’m always invigorated by the sunrise. What happens after that, well, let’s just say I try to be prepared for any and everything.”

  Wade smiled as she’d chuckled after saying those words. Each time he saw her she was always easy to smile or to laugh at something he said or something she was doing. She had a pleasant attitude which Wade knew could sometimes mask emotional issues. His mother had been loving and joyous with him as he’d grown up and when she’d been pregnant with Lauren, Liliana Donati Banks had been glowing. Yes, even as a young boy he’d seen the difference in his mother when she was pregnant and when she’d had his sister. He’d only had three more years with his mother after Lauren’s arrival, but those—in Wade’s young mind—had been the happiest three years of Lily Banks’s life. Later he would learn how wrong he was.

  “We can’t always be prepared,” he said, thinking once again how he hadn’t been prepared for her or what she was doing to him.

  “I guess that’s true,” she replied after a few moments.

  They walked a little further in silence until Brynne’s ringing cell phone interrupted.

  “Excuse me,” she said. “I think I have to take this.”

  Wade released her hand and gave her the courtesy of moving a few steps away. She turned her back to him then and he couldn’t help but admire the view. She was a very attractive woman, every curve of her body enticing to him.

  “No!” she yelled into the phone and then ran the fingers of her free hand through her hair.

  “This is a pointless conversation that we’ve had before,” she said.

  Wade slipped his hands into his pockets and turned only partially away from her. He looked up at the sky, to the brilliant golden rays and then down to the ground and the lush grass beneath his feet.

  “Yes, I’ve spoken to her. You created this situation, not me. And I can’t do this right now. I’ll call you back.”

  Wade could see her pressing her finger against the phone with unnecessary force to disconnect the call. He waited for her to turn back to him. When she did, Brynne took a deep breath. She closed her eyes momentarily as she let the breath out slowly. Then he watched as her lips moved and she appeared to be counting quietly. He continued to wait until she opened her eyes again.

  When she was looking at him Wade knew that the smile and jovial attitude was a cover and he felt both sorry and angry for her. He’d watched what she’d gone through these past months and couldn’t help but think that she deserved better. Her family should have been with her during this time. She shouldn’t have had to feel like she was alone, or in the company of strangers. They should have been supporting her, not upsetting her. But wha
t did he really know? Wade had no idea about the problems between her and her family. He did, however, know about the problems the Donovan family in general were having. It was in the tabloids and on the news. That ultimately meant that he couldn’t be sure of what was true and what wasn’t. Still, he knew that some of what was being reported was valid. His business dealings with Amber McNair and meeting her fiancé Brandon Donovan, had given him some insight into their family dynamic.

  “Have dinner with me tonight,” Wade said before she could finish thinking of what she would say next.

  He suspected she wanted to apologize for the interruption, or possibly offer an explanation for the half sided conversation she knew he’d heard. Wade didn’t want her to do either.

  “Just you and me. A nice, quiet dinner on the deck. Mrs. Ramsey already knows your favorites so I’ll have her prepare them for you. Seven o’clock. Afterwards, we’ll taste our newest batch to make sure its ready for production,” he said and then waited.

  Her head fell then and for a second Wade wondered if he should go to her. While on the long plane ride he’d thought about what his next steps should be. Should he tell her up front that he wanted them to get to know each other on a more personal level? He’d concluded that wasn’t a good idea, because he had no idea about her romantic background or how she would even react to a man his age being attracted to her. Not that Wade wasn’t confident, because that had never been a question. He was proud of who and what he was. He’d been in relationships before and had even thought he’d been in love. Some of those experiences ended amicably, others didn’t. But Wade didn’t harbor any ill feelings and he looked forward to every new opportunity to try again.

  That’s what this was. Right at this moment, he was trying again. So Brynne’s silence was just a little nerve-wracking.

  “Or a nice restaurant, if you’d prefer,” he offered when she was still looking down at her feet, her hands clasped in front of her.