Defying Desire (2 page)

The entire clan and their happiness exacerbated the fact that Tia was alone. She’d chosen to be alone, that was true, but she’d never felt its impact like she did these days. Once upon a time she’d wanted a husband and a family and that dream had quickly come crashing down, so it was her firm belief that those things were not meant for her. But every once in a while…

“Stop it,” she berated herself and moved to the minirefrigerator. Yanking it open she retrieved a bottled water and unscrewed the top. She took three big gulps, then added a deep breath and felt herself calming considerably.

Tia really didn’t begrudge the Donovans their happiness and she genuinely liked them all, well, she liked the majority of them.

The Donovans were a very reputable family in Las Vegas. Henry and Beverly Donovan both came from old money, circling back to oil rigs in Texas and global financiers. Now the retirees spent the majority of their time either traveling or promoting various charities and organizations that focused on topical issues such as health care for all, pediatric HIV/AIDS victims and domestic violence.

The family was well-known throughout the U.S., which made them and their offspring fair game to the media circus.

He
was another matter all together.

Trenton Donovan, the middle child and last of the Triple Threat Donovan Brothers, at least that’s what the papers called him. To Tia, he was just an arrogant pain in the ass.

He’d gotten her number from Camille and called Tia for two weeks straight after they’d had to model together in a
charity fashion show last fall. Tia would readily admit that the man was fine. Hell, he was beyond fine. Tall, way over six feet, built like two average men combined to make one superhero-like body and a face that would make a woman wet just looking at him.

His skin was a soft mocha tone, his eyes dark and ominous. Not normally a woman fascinated by the facial features of a man, Tia had, however, committed Trent’s features to memory. He was clean shaven, unlike his brothers. That should have given him a boyish look; instead, it enhanced his dangerous aura. A sharp chin and firm mouth made him always appear serious. His no-nonsense way of talking said he meant business all the time.

And Tia couldn’t stand him.

She’d finally called him back after growing tired of his phone messages.

“I’m calling to inform you that stalking is punishable by jail time,” she’d said the moment he answered the phone.

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” he’d said, his voice sending a shiver down her spine.

Tia had tried like hell to keep her resolve. “If I wanted you to call me I would have given you my number. On second thought, if you wanted to call me you probably should have asked for my number instead of getting it from someone else.”

“Wait a minute, are you upset about something?”

“Upset? That’s an understatement. Normally a man asks my name and then asks for my number. I don’t recall you doing, either.”

“My soon-to-be sister-in-law is Camille Davis. She told me your name. And you were so busy with your little fan club at the party after the fashion show, I didn’t get a chance to ask you anything.”

She sighed deeply. “Be that as it may, I don’t appreciate your uninvited phone calls. I want them to stop.”

He’d grown silent and for a moment she thought he may have hung up on her.

But then he spoke again. “Why don’t you take a minute to calm down and we’ll start this conversation all over again.”

“Why don’t you get over yourself? Every woman is not ready to fall at your feet, nor are they excited by your initiative to get to know them better. And for the record, I’m one of them.”

“Hold on a second. All I did was call to ask you out to dinner.”

“And I just happened to be that woman? This week? I know how you work and I’m not buying it, so you can just find yourself another flavor of the month. As a matter of fact, did I ask you to call? Did I give you permission to call?”

“No, but—”

She cut him off. “Then I’d advise you not to call me anymore. It’s as simple as that!”

Now, three months later, replaying the conversation in her head, she wondered if she had been a bit harsh. That wasn’t normally her nature, but she didn’t care. Trent Donovan was definitely used to getting what he wanted from women. And from the persistence in his voice on her answering machine she knew exactly what he wanted from her. Too bad he wasn’t going to get it.

That last statement was easier for her to say than actually believe. Especially since she hadn’t stopped thinking about him since the night of the fashion show. He was attractive, but that was an understatement—he was a Donovan after all. And while she normally wasn’t that focused on what was going on around her as she worked,
the moment he’d touched her she’d been more than aware of his presence. It had begun as a slow burn then moved through her until it was a full-blown tornado storming through her, demanding her attention.

Luckily the after party was crowded, affording her the perfect opportunity to put distance between herself and the renowned Mr. Donovan. She had no other choice. Tia had learned her lesson: it was much better to be safe than sorry.

Chapter 2

“W
hatever you said to her it couldn’t have been nice because the next day when I mentioned your name she almost bit my head off.” Camille Davis sat in a high-backed chair near the book shelf in the den of the Donovan estate.

Trent had been back at his childhood home for less than an hour and was already being chewed out by his brother’s fiancée. He liked Camille. She’d had a rough childhood and a witch of a stepmother. Her Hollywood producer father had died and through her grief she’d managed to grow up, attend college and build her own fashion empire.

Now she was engaged to Adam, his younger brother. Trent never thought Adam would get married. Then again, none of his brothers were supposed to get married. But ever since Linc had copped out and proposed to Jade, the Triple Threat Brothers had been in trouble.

It was up to Trent to stick to his guns. He didn’t trust women, that was number one. And there were more than a few that had proven his nontrust theory—Adam’s ex Kim, who had teamed up with Camille’s stepmother to break them up, undoubtedly came to mind.

No, Trent liked the company of women on a temporary basis. Anything beyond that was out of the question. Besides, he lived a dangerous life. One that worried his family constantly. Trent wasn’t about to put a wife and kids through that same ordeal.

“Hey, she’s the one who called me ranting and raving about rudeness and uninvited calls. I barely got a word in before she hung up on me,” he said defending his three-month old conversation with Tia St. Claire. It didn’t help that each time he saw a magazine cover or a CK Davis ad, it was Tia’s face that was smiling back at him.

“You were probably your normal arrogant self,” Camille quipped, then shook her head. “I should have never given you her number.”

“Whose?” Adam said coming to stand next to Camille.

Trent frowned as he watched his brother’s hand find Camille’s shoulder. Camille looked up at him and smiled. Their gazes locked as if they hadn’t seen each other in weeks. This was just the type of sappy crap he didn’t have time for.

“Tia St. Claire,” Camille answered.

“You’re still after her? It’s been months since the show. If you haven’t hooked up with her yet it might be time to let it go.”

Linc came up from behind Trent clapping him on his shoulder before he could respond to Adam’s remark. “What’s the matter? You losing your touch, bro?”

Trent gave them both a scowl. “Hell no, I’m not losing
my touch. I called her a couple of times and when she called back she was a royal—”

“Don’t you dare call her out of her name,” Camille admonished.

She was small and a little on the shy side, but man, she could reprimand him with a tongue-lashing as swift as his mother. That was only one of the things Trent liked about her.

“She was not a nice lady,” he corrected and looked to Camille with a smirk for her approval. She smiled in return.

“I haven’t talked to her since then,” he finished.

“That’s probably because it sounds like she doesn’t want to have anything to do with you,” Linc’s wife, Jade, smirked, happily munching on a bowl of grapes as she sat, feet propped up, on the chaise lounge.

Trent didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking. His brothers accusing him of losing his touch and his sisters-in-law claiming a victory for womankind. “Look, nothing happened between us which was probably for the best. It’s over.”

“Well, she’s still pissed,” Camille said.

Trent shrugged. “That’s her problem.” He went to the bar to fix himself a drink.

“It doesn’t matter. Trent’s been all the way to the East Coast breaking hearts. He can’t possibly have time to worry about the ones he left here.” Linc chuckled as he sat next to his wife, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

“Oh my, tell me it’s not so.” Camille sighed. “You were supposed to be working in Connecticut, not screwing.”

At her last words everyone in the room looked in her direction. Camille Davis did not talk like that. Adam must really be rubbing off on her.

“I wasn’t ‘screwing’ as you put it. I was helping a friend with a case.”

“Right. Sam’s case?” Adam said. “I remember him from last year when he came to visit you. Mom told me that’s where you went.”

“Sam’s sister was the one Trent got with,” Linc offered happily.

Trent tossed him a heated glare. “Her name was Lynn.”

“And did you sleep with this Lynn?” Jade asked.

Jade was a pretty woman and now that she was pregnant her beauty had magnified. Her hazel eyes beamed while auburn curls hung just past her shoulders. And she made his brother Linc happier than Trent had ever seen him.

“I don’t have to tell you people all the details of my sex life. Just know that Lynn and I are both adults. Whatever went down with us was absolutely consensual.”

“He screwed her,” Adam said looking across the room at Trent with a huge grin.

“You guys really need to get a life,” Trent said before downing his drink.

Camille had asked Tia to meet her in her office after they’d gone over the proofs of last week’s pictures, and as badly as Tia had wanted to beg off, she now found herself front and center with Camille, standing near one of the curtainless windows.

Tia now searched for a good enough reason to turn her boss and new friend down. For as much as she liked Camille, liked working for her, as well as spending time with her, she did not want to go to a party at the house she and Adam Donovan shared.

No Donovan party,
anywhere
.

It was too close to all the things that rubbed her the wrong way. All the little memories of the life she almost had were just too much to bear. It wasn’t Camille’s fault
she’d found a great man to love her. And it wasn’t Jade’s fault that she and Linc had found each other after all those years, had gotten married and were now expecting twins. Just like it wasn’t her fault that Jake and Jessica had died.

Blame was a useless emotion. She’d learned that well after the accident. But grief, it stayed with you no matter what. Weighing like a rope of bricks wrapped securely around her neck. And no matter how many assignments she took to keep her mind off it, grief held her down at every opportunity.

“It’s a big night for both of us, Tia. I need you to be there,” Camille continued pleading her case.

Dana, Camille’s best friend and business partner, was sitting at her desk, trying not to gloat over all the orders that had come in, but offered her two cents readily. “In the last three months you’ve become the face of CK Davis Designs. We’re opening our very first store so it’s only logical—and expected—that you would be there.”

“Ganging up on me is not going to work,” Tia hissed.

“You’re right,” Dana agreed. “Oh, did I mention that if you don’t show you’re fired?”

Camille grinned. “Yep. It’s part of your contract.”

“That’s a lie,” Tia quipped. “Look, there’s a really a good reason why I don’t want to go.”

“You don’t want to run into Trent Donovan. We already know you despise him. Besides, he probably won’t even be there,” Dana said.

“I do not despise him,” Tia argued.

“At any rate, Dana’s right, he probably won’t be there.”

Probably? “I thought you said a while back he was out of town?” Tia said before she could stop herself.

Dana smiled sweetly. “Keeping tabs on him, are we?”

“No. Of course not. My reasons for not coming to the
party don’t have anything to do with Trent. It’s something personal.”

Camille touched Tia’s hand. “Okay. I can respect that. But I’d really like you to be there. Just for a little while. Then you can go back to your lonely little apartment.”

Tia hated when Camille referred to her home as a lonely little apartment. The fact that her assessment wasn’t far off the mark could be the reason. With the money she was making she could afford to buy herself a house. But that said permanency, it said planting roots and family…and all the things she’d had and lost.

“All right, I’ll come. But I’m not staying long.”

“Great!” Camille got up from her seat hugging Tia enthusiastically.

Tia could do nothing but hug her back. Besides she didn’t get hugs often and this one felt genuine, like there was someone finally there for her.

Shaking her head she dismissed that notion. She didn’t have close friends because she didn’t want the connection. The more people in her life that she loved, the harder it would be if she lost them. Her only family, her parents, were still alive and living in Phoenix. That was enough anticipated heartache for her to carry.

Still, she couldn’t help but like Camille. Just like she couldn’t help but see the way Camille always looked at her, as if they shared a deep, dark secret. But that was impossible. Camille had no way of knowing what had happened to her two years ago and Tia had no intention of ever telling her.

“Do me a favor,” Camille said finally releasing her. “Wear the black sheath. I have a great choker to go with it. Don’t worry about driving, I’ll send a car for you so you can get to the house a little early. I want the necklace on you before the paparazzi arrives.”