“Of course not. I don’t have to be pampered like your greenhouse cultivars.”
“You’ve picked a champion, son, and a stunning one, at that.” Clive clapped him on the shoulder then winked at Lily. “I’ve got to borrow this stud for the Allistair show.”
They flanked Lily and escorted her down the stairs then watched until she was out of earshot.
“Don’t you think you’re laying on the champion brood mare/stud analogy too thick?” Stephen asked.
“I can say a lot of things now that I couldn’t when I was your age.” Clive, who never displayed remorse about anything, led the way out of the ballroom toward the attached glass conservatory.
Two guards stood on either the door, and four more were strategically placed inside. Stephen nodded at them, but didn’t stop to speak. They knew their job. In five minutes they’d remove the gold rope and let the reporters along with Lily and the two girls inside. Afterward, the rest of the guests, which included most of the population of Ocean Springs and the surrounding Gulf coastal area, would be allowed to view the roses in groups of ten.
Colors and fragrances exploded around Stephen. The conservatory was covered with Allistair roses, each with its own pedestal and plaque. In the center stood the black rose. The plaque beneath it said Clive Allistair, Poe’s Raven. “Quoth the raven, Nevermore.” Tea rose inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.
Also showcased in the center was Stephen’s latest cultivar. Brilliant blue with white edges. Stephen C. Allistair the plaque read. Mariposa. “Butterflies are white and blue in this field we wander.” Floribunda rose inspired by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
The roses unleashed a thousand memories. Formulas and secrets swirled through his mind. Closed doors and dark rooms whispered while midnight hours and grueling work filled him with both exhaustion and exhilaration. The mystery of the roses filled Stephen until he felt as infinite as the moon casting its silver light through the glass ceiling of the conservatory.
His grandfather’s hand on his shoulder brought him back to the moment. “Well done, son.”
Together they walked to the small dais at the front of the conservatory and waited for reporters and photographers to gather. All attention and cameras were turned on them until Lily came in with the girls. She and Cee Cee looked stunning, but Annabelle looked flushed and out of sorts.
Clive nodded in her direction. “Is she sick?”
“No. She’s stubborn. She hates this house and me, too.”
“I suggest boarding school.”
“Lily would never stand for it.”
Stephen didn’t have time to worry about Annabelle, though. Reporters were already firing questions.
“Mr. Allistair, how many cultivars have you originated?”
“Sixty-five,” Clive said, and applause thundered through the glass room. “My grandson Stephen has already produced forty-five, and if he lives to be as old as I am, he’ll surpass me.”
“And what about your son, Wyler?”
It was the question Stephen always dreaded. He was glad to let Clive answer.
“He did only one, but it’s spectacular. It buds out deep red, and then the blooms turn to a pale blush. The Vanishing Red is named for the Robert Frost poem by the same name. You’ll find Wyler’s climber beside the yellow floribunda I created after his mother died.”
The reporter from CBS turned to read aloud the plaque on The Vanishing Red. “It’s too long a story to go into now. Why did Wyler choose such a cryptic quote? Did it have anything to do with him ending up a recluse in Switzerland?”
Clive nodded, handing off the difficult question. Stephen prided himself on being the Allistair family’s spin doctor.
“As most of you know, Allistair Roses has many traditions. One of them is naming our roses for literary works or figures. There’s no pattern or agenda in the way we select our names. But we do seem to be partial to the poets.”
Most of the reporters laughed, but others shouted questions.
“Why has Wyler given no interviews in thirty-eight years?”
“Stephen, how do you respond to rumors that your father is mentally ill?”
“Why does Toni Allistair refuse to talk about her husband in interviews?”
“Why did a beauty like Toni Allistair never divorce Wyler and remarry?”
Making his face a careful mask, Stephen stuffed his hands into his pockets to hide his balled-up fists. He wasn’t about to let them keep digging into his family history.
“We have nothing to add to our original statement about my father’s rare disease and his subsequent retirement to Switzerland. Thank you for coming. Before you leave, do take the time to say hello to my beautiful fiancée.” He gestured to the back of the room where Lily stood with the girls. “Enjoy the food, the music and the roses, especially my new blue and white floribunda, the Mariposa. It was nine years in the making, and we’re delighted to add it to the collection of award-winning Allistair roses.”
He was turning to leave when a reporter shouted, “What’s next for you, Stephen?”
“The Margaret. A blue tea rose so vivid it will be neon.” Adrenaline burst through him, and the flush crept over up his neck. “The inspiration is a Carl Sandburg poem by that name.” He glanced toward the back of the room. Her face was glowing, and his heart picked up speed as he quoted from the poet. “’In your blue eyes… I saw many wild wishes.’”
The reporters turned their attention and their cameras on Lily, and Stephen rushed from the conservatory. He had to have some air.
We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of Savage Beauty, the next book in the Behind Closed Doors: Family Secrets series.
Behind Closed Doors: Family Secrets Series
Don't miss this brand-new series from the bestselling authors of the STORMWATCH and BREAKDOWN series!
THE LIE Debra Webb
(December 2)
BLOOD STRANGERS Vicki Hinze
(December 9)
SAVAGE BEAUTY Peggy Webb
(December 16)
DEADLY REFLECTIONS Regan Black
(December 23)
FATAL DECEPTIONS Cindy Gerard
(December 30)
Coming in December 2020 in ebook and paperback.
About the Author
VICKI HINZE is the author of nearly forty novels, nonfiction books and hundreds of articles published in more than sixty-three countries. Her books have received many prestigious awards and nominations, including her selection for Who’s Who in the World (as a writer and educator), nominations for Career Achievement and Reviewer’s Choice Awards for Best Series and Suspense Storyteller of the Year, Best Romantic Suspense Storyteller of the Year and Best Romantic Intrigue Novel of the Year. She co-created an innovative, open-ended continuity series of single-title romance novels, an innovative suspense series, and has helped to establish sub-genres in military women’s fiction (suspense and intrigue and action and adventure) and in military romantic-thriller novels. Hinze loves genre-blending and blazing new trails for readers and other authors. She is a former columnist for Social-In Global Network and radio host of Everyday Woman.
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