Safeguards- that was all he wanted. A way to safeguard offspring so that no matter the mistakes made by the parents, the child would not be made to suffer. If his father and Pitch’s whore mother had been armed with such a safeguard, Pitch may have looked more the part. Athena may have been able to accept him more easily.
Humphrey sighed, tapping his fingers to the folder. It was still plump with the information he still hadn’t read through. If what he hoped for was attainable, the financial gains could be monumental. Not only would a child be possible, it could be tailored to ensure that it was everything a parent would want to continue the family line.
Financial gain, indeed. More than enough to free him from the ties of his father’s beast of a company. He had no interest in carrying on the family business as it stood. If anything, he would turn Tesano into a broad new beast. One that would be unquestionably his. That had been his intention since the night he’d watched his father treat his mother like trash beneath his boot.
Humphrey had no love left for the man and little tolerance left for his...vision as it was. That was no one’s business but his own, of course. He had bided his time this long. As the honorable elder son, he could do that until his father signed Tesano over to him and fulfilled the only use Humphrey had left for him.
~21~
Gabriel smiled at the laughter that drifted through the phone receiver. It was just before dinner. Roman had asked-griped-until everyone agreed to meet in the main dining room to eat that night.
Gabriel had made a stop by the corridor of payphone booths and made a person to person call to Giselle Weeks in New York. He’d lost track of how many times he’d talked to her since arriving in Portland and then on to Chicago. The calls were wearing thin, now. He wanted to see her.
He’d been living off the memory of the three lunch dates they’d had the week they met. He’d scarcely been able to keep his mind on whatever it was he was supposed to be doing there. Thoughts of her held his brain captive and in the best way.
“Let me pick you up for dinner,” he begged yet his manner was cool. “Think of how proud your folks would be when a Rolls pulls up in front of the house.”
Her laughter came softly, almost strained. “It would have to come to the library,” she said.
Gabriel didn’t press, he couldn’t. He would give her whatever she wanted. What right did he have to press, anyway? She was an angel and she was giving a chance to the likes of one such as him.
A hard knock sounded above his head. Gabriel offered a vicious air swat to send the offender on their way. He put a hand over the receiver when his brother began to speak.
“Get a move on,” Stone ordered. “They’re closing the dining room tonight. Shutting the doors in five minutes.”
Okay, Gabriel mouthed the word and sent Stone on his way with another air swat. “Hey look, I’ve got to go,” he said quietly to Giselle. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay,” she said.
“I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” she said.
Gabriel smiled. “Giselle?” He called out then hastily. “I love you.”
But for her gasp, she was quiet and then, “Gabriel, I-”
“Shh,” he urged. “We’ll talk about it when I get back, okay?”
“‘Kay.”
“Bye,” he hung up before she could say more. If he heard her voice again, he’d never get off the phone.
***
The Palmer shut its main dining room doors promptly at 7:15 that evening. Aside from a few disgruntled guests, who questioned the change in protocol, no one seemed to notice much. That is, until the doors opened to admit a party of 6. The men were as well dressed as any in the room. Their tuxedos appeared custom, sensible given their broad builds. They moved like men accustomed to getting attention. Again, that was sensible given five of them were guards-a job where it was essential for people to take notice and act accordingly. In other words, keep away from whomever it was they were protecting.
Kapango Nassor entered the dining room with a rather understated manner in light of the attention drawn by his entourage. In truth, there was little Nassor needed to do to gain attention when he entered a room, other than to enter it. The eye was naturally drawn to him. Especially true where women were concerned.
Nassor was leanly built, yet powerful. Tall with skin as flawless as silk and dark as blackberry, he was beckoning in a way that was as irresistible as it was dangerous. He wasn’t obviously handsome but there was a rugged appeal honed by the craftsmanship of his features. There was the wide slash of his mouth and the dark as night face that was all sharp angles and taut planes. His eyes were as dark as the rest of him. The gaze was direct and meant to unsettle the recipient. The tactic had proven very useful to Nassor in the past. It lost some of its ability to intimidate however, if one was quick enough to spot the lurking amusement in the onyx depths.
Nassor dipped his head in greeting to everyone and no one in particular. He didn’t have many clients in Chicago so the elaborate show that evening had no real networking purpose. There was no traditional significance to the event either. All ceremonial requirements would occur on their native soil. That night’s...ritual was simply an opportunity for him to further impress his intended’s very powerful father. Not to mention the ‘intended’ herself.
His engagement to Imani Kamande was; as the Americans said, ‘in the bag’. Still, he wouldn't allow himself to dwell on her. She was too much of a distraction and there was still a ways to go in proving himself worthy husband material for Chief Hilar Kamande’s only daughter.
Nassor didn’t know a man alive who didn’t want Imani Kamande. Sadly for them, none had as close a friendship as he did with her oldest brother. Imani was more than beautiful. She was elegance in motion, a personification of grace. She’d been stopping men in their tracks since she was 13. Now, she was to be his. A man with such a woman on his arm, would be a god.
He felt a nudge at his side and shook himself free of his heady musings. They’d arrived at the table. It was a massive structure set almost in the center of the grand dining room. In the middle of the sea of candlelight as well as white, gold and silver trimmings, it was a setting fit for royalty. Which is, he mused, exactly what they were.
Nassor and his men had been seated for about 5 minutes when the room’s white oak double doors parted for a second time. Nassor and his group came to their feet.
The next group of men to enter the room were all decked in two and three piece tuxedos. That was as fancy as it was going to get. There was no need for spectacular feather plumes, draping silks and headdresses. The place had suddenly filled with more dark-skinned people than Nassor was sure the diners there had seen in a lifetime. That was spectacular enough.
Correction-Spectacular arrived when Imani moved into the doorway. She was a tall slice of alluring perfection in an understated, yet captivating floor length creation of satin cream and mocha chiffon. Her steps were unhurried, her gaze as aloof as the smile she offered. Her hand rested lightly on the forearm of each of the men that escorted her behind her father and brothers.
Nassor’s smile broadened when he felt the hand squeezing his shoulder-one of his men giving him encouragement. He didn’t need it. His future wife heading toward him was encouragement enough.
The procession to the center of the dining room seemed to take forever, but had really only lasted a few moments. Imani waited while the men in her family exchanged handshakes with Kapango Nassor and his people. Her escorts hung back so that she could close the distance that remained.
Nassor reached for Imani’s hands, squeezed. “It’s been a long time,” he said.
“Nassor.”
He smiled. “Will you use my first name once we are married?”
Imani barely lifted her shoulder in response.
Nassor’s smile broadened. “Maybe this will help make up your mind,” without taking his eyes from hers he withdrew a square, silver box and opened it to judge her reaction to the diamond and amethyst bracelet.
