Mind Over Matter

that the car bucked to a halt. “But that’s next month.”
    “Yes, and I have dozens of things to do. Just dozens.” A.J.’s hands were very still on the wheel as she turned. “But didn’t you say something about a fall wedding?”
    “I suppose I did. You know my mums are at their best in October, but Alex is…” She flushed and cleared her throat. “A bit impatient. Aurora, I know I don’t drive, but I think you’ve left your key on.”
    Muttering, she pulled it out. “Momma, you’re talking about marrying a man you’ll have known for less than two months.”
    “Do you really think time’s so important?” she asked with a sweet smile. “It’s more a matter of feelings.”
    “Feelings can change.” She thought of David, of herself.
    “There aren’t any guarantees in life, darling.” Clarissa reached over to cover her daughter’s hand with her own. “Not even for people like you and me.”
    “That’s what worries me.” She was going to talk to Alex Marshall, A.J. promised herself as she pushed her door open. Her mother was acting like a teenager going steady with the football hero. Someone had to be sensible.
    “You really don’t have to worry,” Clarissa told her as she stepped onto the curb. “I know what I’m doing—really, I do. But talk to Alex by all means.”
    “Momma.” With a long sigh, A.J. linked arms. “I do have to worry. And mind reading’s not allowed.”
    “I hardly have to when it’s written all over your face. Is my hair all right?”
    A.J. turned to kiss her cheek. “You look beautiful.”
    “Oh, I hope so.” Clarissa gave a nervous laugh as they approached the studio doors. “I’m afraid I’ve become very vain lately. But Alex is such a handsome man, isn’t he?”
    “Yes,” A.J. agreed cautiously. He was handsome, polished smooth and personable. She wouldn’t be satisfied until she found the flaws.
    “Clarissa.” They’d hardly stepped inside, when Alex came striding down the hall. He looked like a man approaching a lost and valued treasure. “You look beautiful.”
    He had both of Clarissa’s hands and looked to A.J. as though he would scoop her mother up and carry her off. “Mr. Marshall.” She kept her voice cool and deliberately extended her own hand.
    “Ms. Fields.” With obvious reluctance, he released one of Clarissa hands to take A.J.’s. “I have to say you’re more dedicated than my own agent. I was hoping to bring Clarissa down myself today.”
    “Oh, she likes to fuss,” Clarissa put in, hoping to mollify them both. “And I’m afraid I’m so scatterbrained she has to remind me of all the little things about television interviews.”
    “Just relax,” A.J. told her. “I’ll go see if everything’s set.” Checking her watch as she went, she reached out to push open the thick studio doors, when David walked through.
    “Good morning, Ms. Fields.” The formal greeting was accompanied by the trail of his fingers over her wrist. “Sitting in again today?”
    “Looking after my client, Brady. She’s…” When she glancedcasually over her shoulder, the words slipped back down her throat. There in the middle of the hallway was her mother caught up in a close and very passionate embrace. Stunned, she stared while dozens of feelings she couldn’t identify ran through her.
    “Your client appears to be well looked after,” David murmured. When she didn’t reply, he pulled her into a room off the hall. “Want to sit down?”
    “No. No, I should—”
    “Mind your own business.”
    Anger replaced shock very quickly. “She happens to be my mother.”
    “That’s right.” He walked to a coffee machine and poured two plastic cups. “Not your ward.”
    “I’m not going to stand by while she, while she—”
    “Enjoys herself?” he suggested, and handed her the coffee.
    “She isn’t thinking.” A.J. downed half the coffee in one swallow. “She’s just riding on emotion, infatuation. And she’s—”
    “In love.” A.J. drank the rest of the coffee, then heaved the cup in the direction of the trash. “I hate it when you interrupt me.”
    “I know.” And he grinned at her. “Why don’t we have a quiet evening tonight, at your place? We can start making love in the living room, work our way through to the bedroom and back out again.”
    “David, Clarissa is my mother and I’m very concerned about her. I should—”
    “Be more concerned with yourself.” He had his hands on her hips. “And me.”