“Imani had it handled, Sir.” Roman returned the grateful smile she sent his way.
“You kept my son and daughter from coming to blows, young man. Imani is the only one who dares to stand up to her eldest brother. I fear one day the altercations will indeed turn physical.”
“Papa!”
“It is true, beauty.” Hilar Kamande argued gently. “Temper is a dangerous thing. One who loses temper, loses sense of judgement as well as restraint. It is necessary to be able to restrain oneself. Don’t you agree, Mr. Tesano?”
“Yes, sir,” Roman straightened while silently commending himself on smoothly shifting his eyes from Imani’s chest again.
Hilar Kamande motioned toward the table. “Have a seat, son.”
Roman looked ready to do as requested, but once more he looked to Imani who remained standing near her father’s chair. Roman looked to the one she’d vacated and she took the hint. He held her chair then and took one for himself.
“What brings you to Chicago, son?” Kamande asked once he’d beckoned the waitstaff to bring them all juice and coffee.
“Touring my father’s factories, Sir.”
Kamande nodded. “Yes, yes, an impressive organization your father has built. He is very blessed to have his sons willing to join the family business. Please extend my apologies to your brother for taking residence on the penthouse floor.”
Roman chuckled. “He’s fine with it, Sir. It only took him a little while to get used to not having us all right at his beck and call.”
Laughter followed as well as more talk of business. The waitstaff arrived with beverages. Imani didn’t feel left out while the men chatted. It gave her the chance to observe Roman Tesano more closely than she could last night. He was undeniably handsome- that was obvious and she hadn’t dwelled on much beyond that the night before given everything taking place around them.
Acknowledging that made part of her feel quite mature. She’d been able to see past his movie star looks and had cared enough to look for and to find substance behind them. Now, given the chance to dwell on those looks, she did so with relish. His face was a careful sculpting of strong bones that sharpened his fiercely crafted features. She had already determined that his eyes were a bottomless dark, same as his hair. Thick, ebony waves tapered low in the back and were full on top to gently tumble onto his broad forehead. Face and body competed for equal allure. Wide forearms and biceps were bare beneath the dark, short-sleeved shirt he wore with beige slacks. He was, to put it simply, unforgettable.
“Imani, love?”
Dazed still, she blinked. Slowly, she surfaced from her intense appraisal of Roman Tesano’s generous mouth. Her father was looking pointedly past her shoulder and Imani noticed her attendant Jmara near the table.
“Apologies, Chief,” Jmara favored the elder with a nod and offered a demure smile to Roman. She then looked to Imani. “Sra Isis on the telephone for you, Imani.”
Imani could literally feel her dazed, dreamy feelings ebbing away. “Instructions for tonight,” she said to her father.
Kamande squeezed his daughter’s hand. “Restraint, love.”
A grimace fleeted across Imani’s face, but softened the moment she looked to Roman. She stood, smiling when he did the same and helped her from her chair.
“Thank you,” her eyes lingered on his longer than needed before she left with Jmara.
Slowly, Roman resumed his seat at the table.
“She is promised, Son,” Hilar Kamande’s voice wasn’t harsh, his tone was merely informative.
Roman looked back the way Imani had gone. “She’ll never marry him, Sir. You’ll never allow it. He’ll show you who he is sooner or later. Imani believes that. So do I.”
Curious amusement shone on the Chief’s dark face. “And who are you Mr. Roman Tesano?”
Roman didn’t know where his sense of calm was coming from. Hilar Kamande was not a man to be toyed with and least of all when the matter concerned his only daughter. Still, Roman believed he’d learned enough to know the man would appreciate directness.
“First, I’ll be your son in law, Sir.” Roman nodded once and firmly when the Chief’s surprise broke through like a spotlight.
“Then, I’ll be the father of your grandchildren,” Roman completed his answer and waited for a fist to his face.
Chief Hilar Kamande only threw back his head and laughed.
~19~
“I guess it’s safe to say we’re not at all what the other expected.”
Humphrey grinned in spite of his surprise and the irritation that had flared when he walked into the hotel bar, and saw the tall man who looked nothing like the scientist he’d expected. “That would be accurate,” he said.
The scientist extended a hand. “Jude Ophion,” he said and returned Humphrey’s grin.
“Humphrey Tesano,” he accepted the shake and was pleased that he didn’t have to hide his astonishment.
Jude Ophion’s height would make him more believable as a point guard for the Knicks or even a musician given the dark ponytail that dipped past his shoulders. Wrinkled trousers and a brown chambray shirt under a dark ill-fitting blazer, completed the unkempt yet intriguing package.
The man before him cast aside all ideas Humphrey ever had about those who made their livings peering through microscopes.
“The last thing I’d ever take you for is a scientist, Mr. Ophion,” Humphrey said.
Ophion shrugged. “Understandable and please call me Jude. May I say that I expected someone a lot older when we spoke on the phone. “You look my age.”
“I was born in thirty-nine.”
“Ah, forty here.”
“My father says to be careful not to offer much to draw preconceived notions when the phone serves as the intermediary.”
