Black Rose

for myself. Thanks, baby.” She lifted the snifter of brandy and took a quick, deep swallow. “Always hated this stuff, but it shoots straight to the spot.”
    She managed a smile as Harper came in with a sweatshirt, jeans, and thick socks. “My hero. Just give me a couple of minutes, and I’ll try to explain what happened.”

    Harper waited until she’d gone into David’s quarters, and the doors were closed.
    “I found her sitting on the floor of the propagation house, crying. Just... sobbing. She hardly ever cries. Gets a little wet when something makes her really happy, or sentimental, but when she’s sad or hurt—she doesn’t let you see it.”
    “What’s been going on the past few days?” Mitch demanded, and saw David and Harper exchange a look. “I knew there was something. She’s been avoiding me.”
    “It’s best if she tells you herself. David, she ought to have some tea, don’t you think?”
    “I’ll put it on. Get that box of Nirvana caramels out of the fridge. Some chocolate will make her feel better. Mitch, why don’t you light the fire there? I didn’t bother with it today.”
    When Roz stepped back in, David was brewing tea, Harper was setting out fancy chocolates, and Mitch was babying a fire in the kitchen hearth.
    “Makes me wonder why I haven’t had some sort of jag long before this, if I get three good-looking men bustling around ready to wait on me. Before we sit down, Mitch, I should’ve told you before. I think you’ll want your tape recorder.”
    “I’ll get it.”
    It gave her a little more time, calming herself toward cool by the time they all sat together. She told them, was able to relay it matter-of-factly now. Though her hands went cold again, she simply warmed them on her teacup and finished describing her experience in the greenhouse.
    “I always had a soft spot for the Bride,” David began, “but now, I think she’s just a stone bitch.”
    “Hard to argue.” Roz picked up a piece of chocolate. “But it seems to me that she believes all this sincerely. Men are liars and cheats and no-good bastards. She wants me to believe it so I’m not used and hurt again.”

    “Mama.” Harper stared hard into his own tea. “Do you believe Daddy wasn’t faithful to you?”
    “I don’t believe anything of the kind. More than that, honey, I know he was faithful. Without a single doubt.”
    “She made you see him that way.”
    “She made me see him,” Roz repeated. “And it broke my heart. To see him, just as he’d been. So young and vibrant and real. Just out of my reach. Out of my reach, when everything I felt for him came alive inside me again, just as vibrant and real. I knew it was a lie, even as it happened. And the cruel things she put into his mouth were never his. He was never cruel.”
    “She used your experience with Bryce, a painful incident,” Mitch began. “And transferred that experience to the man who came before him. John. The man who came after him. Me. She’d rather hurt you, is compelled to hurt you, to save you from becoming involved with me.”
    “A bit late for that.”
    “Is it?”
    “Do you think I’m so weak-minded, so spineless that I’d let her tricks influence me?”
    “I think you’re strong-minded, perilously close to a fault. I’m just not sure how much you disagree with her.”
    “I see. Well, well, well. I think I’ve told y’all what I can. I’m going to go on up, do some paperwork. Harper, it’d set my mind at ease if you’d go back to the nursery, just make sure everything’s under control. David, the tea was just right, thanks.”
    She rose, strode out of the room without a second glance.
    “Well, pissing her off brought the color back in her cheeks,” David commented.
    “Then she’ll probably have a permanent healthy blush by the time I’m done. Excuse me.”
    “Brave, brave man,” David stated as Mitch marched out.
    “Or brick stupid,” Harper said. “Either way, I think he’s in love with her. If he’s stupid, she’ll chew him up and spit him out, regardless. If he’s brave, he might just make the cut. I hope he does.”
    ROZ HAD JUST reached her bedroom when Mitch caught up and walked right in behind her. She turned around, slow and deliberate.
    “I don’t believe I invited you in.”
    “I don’t believe I asked for an invitation.” Just as slow, just as deliberate, he closed the door. And to her shock, locked it.
    “You’re going to want to unlock that and step out again, or