The Object of His Protection - Brenda Jackson [24]
“Why?” her mother demanded, as if she had every right to know.
“Things are crazy at work,” she said truthfully. “So I thought I’d take a few days off, go somewhere and enjoy myself.” Enjoy herself? She had to be kidding. She watched as Drey parked his car and got out, saw how nicely his jeans covered his tush and knew she was kidding. Inexplicably, a heated sensation flowed through her.
“Better do it now before you stress yourself out,” her mother said. “Stress isn’t good. That’s why I stopped working.”
Charlene frowned. She’d never known her mother to work outside the home. At fifty, Nina was still a beautiful woman and would be a trophy on any man’s arms. When Charlene saw that Drey had turned and was waiting for her to get out of the car, she quickly said, “Okay, Mom, I need to go. Someone is waiting for me.”
“It’s a man, right? Tell me that you got away with a man.”
Charlene’s mouth tightened. Why was her mother so obsessed with her finding a man? “Yes, Mom, I’m spending some time with a man,” she said, giving in to what she knew her mother wanted to hear. “I’ll touch base with you when I return.”
“You haven’t said where you are.”
No, intentionally, she hadn’t. Charlene glanced around and noticed the name of the community and saw the huge water fountain close by as well as the well-tended landscaped yard. “It’s called Kindle Wood Lakes and it’s near the water.” Okay, so she was stretching the truth a little bit.
“Sounds like a real nice resort. Have fun and don’t make any babies until after the wedding.”
“Mom!”
“Don’t Mom me since I was young once. Besides, I’d like to have a son-in-law while I’m young enough to appreciate him.”
Yes, Charlene thought, she knew that, had accepted it and most of the time just plain ignored it. “Goodbye, Mom.”
“Goodbye, sweetheart.”
Drey leaned back against his car and watched Charlene get out of hers with a frown on her face. He had seen her cell phone plastered to her ear and had wondered who she was talking to. Whomever it was evidently had gotten her a little annoyed. Had her boss tried contacting her? His protective instinct automatically kicked in, and when she reached his side he asked, “Are you okay?”
She glanced around, looking everywhere else but at him when she said, “Yes, I’m fine. I just finished talking to my mother.”
He knew damned good and well he shouldn’t care one iota about her relationship with her mother but heard himself remarking anyway, “You were frowning.”
She looked at him. “I usually do whenever I talk to either of my parents. Sometimes they forget our agreement.”
“Which is?”
He would not have been surprised if she had told him it was none of his business, because truly it wasn’t. So she sort of stunned him when she answered, “Considering their numerous marriages, they promised me on my twenty-first birthday that they would stay out of my business if I stayed out of theirs. Staying out of theirs is a piece of cake, but they still find it a challenge to stay out of mine. Especially Mom. She’s constantly reminding me that my biological clock is ticking and wants me to do something about it.”
Drey laughed. “So in other words, she wants grandchildren.” He’d heard the same request a number of times from his own mother.
“She wants me to find a husband before I start populating the earth and gets quite annoyed with me by my lack of interest.”
Lack of interest? He couldn’t help but remember she had gotten quite annoyed with him last night when he’d asked why she didn’t have a date.
“My mother thinks we’re having an affair.”
“Excuse me?” Staring down at her, he could clearly see the red highlights in her hair, although she was wearing her hair pinned up in a knot on her head. He preferred seeing it down the way she’d worn it last night.
“She called my apartment and got my message about me going out of town. I couldn’t tell her the truth, so I fabricated a story for her that included a trip