Page 4 of Landry
"It was an important dinner engagement, and I did not want to arrive alone. Too conspicuous."
"Having your brother as your date borders on pathetic."
"You should be the one to talk. You invited me to that doctor's wedding as your date."
"Christ! Is mother right?" He merged into traffic and stopped at the light. "Are we hopeless? I'm married to my career as a doctor and you're chained to that airline."
When he did not receive a response, he turned to look at her.
"Kady, are you all right?"
"I used to want it all: marriage, my career, a couple of kids, maybe a white picket fence and an SUV." She smiled slightly at the image.
"Now you don't?"
She shrugged slender shoulders. "I'm thirty-two."
"And your biological clock is ticking. I can hear it from where I'm sitting." He grinned at the dirty look she sent him.
"We're the same age."
"Unfortunately for you, darling, I'm a man, and as such, I can be the ripe old age of seventy and still manage to procreate." He shrugged, his grin widening. "Not so with the female setup, I'm afraid."
"I hate you."
"We did not make the rules. But the good news is there are options."
"Such as?" she asked him coolly.
"Adoption, surrogacy, and such. But it's not too late for you. You're still shy of forty and you happen to look damn good.You're just too choosy." He touched the left turn signal and drove into the large parking lot of the Tea Room.
"Did mother set you up to this?" she demanded.
"Nope." Unhooking his belt, he leaned over to release hers and placed a kiss on her pouting lips. "Now look alive and stress-free before we step into the lion's den. Merva Goode-Klein has a way of spotting distress a mile off. And you know she's going to want to get to the source of the matter."
"Remind me to lash out at you later," she warned as she uncoiled her legs from the snazzy sports car. "And really, Kyle, can you be any more obvious? This thing is nothing more than a toy."
"I work hard and I'm fortunate enough not to be burdened with a student loan." Taking her hand, he tucked it through his arm. "Let me enjoy what there is of my life."
Chapter 2
Merva Goode-Klein was a handsome and very trim woman in her late sixties who happened to look ten years younger. She had passed on her good looks and excellent cheekbones to her two children. She was a retired banker, and her husband had been a lawyer. She enjoyed the good life and filled her life with charitable works as well as attending the various functions her position required.
She was a woman who enjoyed her success and was proud of her accomplishments, including her two beautiful children. She had also enjoyed the rare privilege of being with the one man since she was twenty-five years old and fresh out of college. They had twenty-five years of marriage before he was taken from her when he had a stroke.
She was practical and had accepted the loss even though she had grieved for a number of years.
She now filled her time with travels and was quite busy all year round. Her only disappointment was that her children showed no signs of settling down and giving her grandchildren. She had to hear about her friends' glorious reports of 'little John or Kate,' or whatever their names were, and what they were up to. She was also getting weary of explaining why her children were still single and showed no signs of settling down.
Running her slender, well-manicured hands over her chic lavender jacket, a match for the fashionable pants she was wearing, she lifted her flawlessly made-up face for her son to kiss after glancing discreetly at her watch. She also took the time to examine her daughter's appearance, and what she saw met with her approval.
She had chosen a table near the window and in full view of whoever walked through the door, and was secretly pleased at the interested looks they were receiving. Her children were beautiful and managed to turn heads wherever they went.
"Mother, you're looking lovely as usual." Knowing his duty as the man of the small family, Kyle issued the compliment while drawing out her chair for her to take her seat. "That outfit is new, isn't it? I don't believe I've seen you wearing it before." He pulled out his sister's chair as well and waited until they were seated before taking his.
"It's nice of you to notice, darling." Merva preened, "I just had it delivered a few days ago." Her mahogany brown eyes switched to her daughter. "Kady, how have you been?"
"We just spoke this morning," Kady-Ann reminded her as she unfolded her napkin and picked up her glass of water. Her mother was a stickler for etiquette, and it had been drummed into their heads as soon as they were old enough to hold utensils, seated around the adults' table, taught the proper way to hold afork and knife and what spoons to use when eating dessert. "I'm still the same."
