Hidden Talents

creations at various craft fairs up and down the coast,” Serenity explained helpfully.
    Phyllis pursed her lips. “You mean they sell junky little trinkets at those cheap arts and crafts shows?”
    Serenity's determination to be tolerant vanished in the blink of an eye. “Julius and Bethanne are highly skilled artisans. They do not sell junk of any kind.”
    Jessica reddened. “Mother didn't mean to offend you. She was just a little surprised, that's all.”
    Phyllis glared at Caleb. “Have you met these people, Caleb?”
    “No,” Caleb said. “They're out of the country at the moment.”
    “Out of the country?” Roland's brow furrowed “What are they doing out of the country?”
    “They're on their honeymoon, I believe, sir.” Caleb looked at Serenity. “Isn't that right?”
    “That's right.” Serenity recovered her temper. For Caleb's sake, she would be polite. “They got married earlier this month.”
    Laura looked confused. “I don't understand. Is this a second marriage for one of them?”
    “No,” Serenity said. “A first for both of them. They've been living together for about fifteen years. Bethanne finally decided that it was time to get married.”
    There was a short, pregnant pause.
    Roland took a deep swallow of his whiskey. “How did you meet my grandson?”
    “We met when I hired him as a consultant for my new mail order business,” Serenity said. “Isn't that right, Caleb?”
    “Yes.” Caleb examined the whiskey in his glass. “She can't afford to pay my usual fees, so we've signed what amounts to a partnership agreement. When I get her new catalog business up and running, I'll collect a portion of the profits. Hell of a deal. I couldn't pass it up.”
    Roland's expression turned fierce. “What the devil do you want with a partnership in a mail order business?”
    “I'm diversifying,” Caleb said.
    Another sharp silence struck the room.
    Phyllis put her sherry glass down quite loudly on the polished oak coffee table. “This is preposterous. What is going on here, Caleb? Surely you aren't serious about becoming Miss Makepeace's business partner.”
    “I'm very serious about it, Aunt Phyllis. I've got a signed contract,” Caleb said softly. “It's a very interesting project. Takes up most of my time these days. I'm practically living in Witt's End.”
    Serenity stared at him. For a second she thought she saw stone-cold anger and an even colder pride in his eyes as he faced his family's combined disapproval and surprise. She had the uneasy impression that invisible battle lines were being drawn.
    The expression in Caleb's gaze was quickly veiled, but not before it had ignited a deeply disturbing suspicion in Serenity's mind.
    Perhaps Caleb had not brought her here in order to introduce her to his family for the conventional, traditional reasons.
    Perhaps he had brought her here in order to use her as a pawn in some unknown game that he was playing with his relatives.
    People here in the outside world operated under a different code, she reminded herself. Sometimes the subtleties of those rules escaped her. She had better make it clear to Caleb that she had no intention of allowing herself to be used.

8

    T HE CHEAP LITTLE JEWELRY BOX WAS STILL HIDDEN EX actly where he had left it the night of his eighteenth birthday. Caleb pried open the panel in the back of the bureau and reached inside the small space. His fingers closed around the case.
    He drew it out slowly and examined it in the light of the bedside lamp. It looked even tackier than he had remembered. A couple of the fake gems had loosened. The imitation gilt trim had almost worn off entirely. The blue vinyl cover had faded and had started to crack and peel in spots.
    Caleb put the jewelry box on the nightstand and sat down on the bed. He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his thighs and contemplated the only thing he possessed that had ever belonged to his mother.
    Roland had given the jewelry box to him the day he turned eighteen. It was the first time Caleb had realized that his grandfather had allowed anything of Crystal Brooke's to survive.
    “It's all in there,” Roland had told him. “The whole goddamn story of how she seduced and ruined by son. I kept the clippings for you so that you could see how that bitch very nearly succeeded in destroying this family.”
    “Why are you giving this to me, sir?” Caleb had stared at the jewelry case and seen a terrible Pandora's box.
    “Because it holds the