Finding Refuge (13 page)

A blue gown Rachel found had promise, but lost out the
moment the saleswoman presented a pale green silk one. The one-shoulder Grecian
style made Rachel laugh at the stereotype, but Andri loved it. After finding
some gorgeous low-heeled strappy shoes and a new clutch at yet another store,
Rachel followed her home to help her get ready. She’d rarely seen Rachel made
up, but the woman was talented with a makeup brush, leaving her with smoky
eyes, just a hint of color across her cheekbones, and a really fabulous bronzed
lipcolor. Andri drew her thick hair into a loose twist. Magic, Rachel assured
her before she left. Not that it mattered, when her date was just a friend.

Yet, when Travis arrived, Andri had to stop before she
opened the door and put a hand on the jamb to steady herself. Suddenly, it
really did matter what he might think of her appearance. It flew in the face of
wanting to stay just friends, but she desperately wanted him to look at her
with heat in his gaze. She could use the confidence boost.

Once she got a grip, she pulled the door open. Travis wore a
beautifully cut black tuxedo, with a silver-gray vest and long tie. Electric
heat sparked into goosebumps across her skin. His sunglasses disappointed her.
She needed to see his eyes, to read her reflection in them and know if Rachel
had successfully helped her find her inner Cinderella.

As if reading her mind, Travis slid the sunglasses down. His
gaze dropped to the floor-length hem of her gown and slowly glided up her body,
till his eyes met her own. The answering fire in his sharp blue gaze stole the
air from her lungs.

“My God, you look incredible.” His voice was low and husky.

Her heart banged against her ribcage in response. “Thank
you. I was about to say the same about you.” She stepped onto the landing,
pulling the door closed behind her. Travis stepped toward her, one corner of
his mouth quirked into a smile.

Desperate to ease the thick tension filling her, Andri
reached up and pretended to straighten his perfect tie. “Seems to me you said
‘black’ tie.”

He grinned, capturing her fingers with his own. “Taking a
walk on the wild side.” He tucked her fingers into the crook of his arm and
escorted her to a sleek forest-green sedan.

“Nice car.”

He opened her door. “Thanks, it isn’t mine. I borrow it from
my dad on special occasions. The truck isn’t quite appropriate for a dress like
that.” He leaned down close to tuck her dress into the car, meeting her eyes
with a smoldering look, setting her blood to sizzling as he backed away and
shut the door.

Yes, she’d wanted to see that heat, that desire in his gaze,
but seriously, if he didn’t stop looking at her like that, she might burst into
flames. Heaven help her if he touched her. She’d char to a crisp.

****

Travis attended several big charity functions a year, at his
mother’s insistence. Sometimes as a representative of Holt Construction.
Sometimes as the prized son of an influential family. Always regardless of
whether or not he wanted to attend. He simply did his duty.

Of countless events, he didn’t recall ever feeling this
sense of anticipation before. Anticipation edging into hunger every time he looked
at Andri during the drive up the canyon.

They conversed lightly, about movies and music, favorite
restaurants, places they wanted to see, crazy things they wanted to try
sometime in their lives. That was one of the many things he enjoyed about Andri,
how easily they talked, how they never ran out of things to say to each other.
Yet there were times they were perfectly content to be quiet in each other’s
company.

He turned his thoughts back to keeping his latest mantra
running in his head. Keep it light, keep it fun, enjoy her company, don’t dig
too deep, don’t get too close. He didn’t want to fail her, to hurt her.

Her whiskey voice tantalized him as they talked, but as they
laughed together, desire melted into that strange kind of delight he always felt
in her company. Similar to the old-friend comfort he felt in Rachel’s presence,
but decidedly not just friends.

The fundraiser was in full swing by the time they arrived.
The Silver Lode hotel donated space for the fundraiser every year. The
beautiful gardens were cluttered with people, spilling out from the ballroom.
He took Andri’s hand, twining his fingers through hers as they descended a
paved walk into the flow of business power players, politicians, sports
figures, actors and other local movers and shakers.

Scanning the crowd, it appeared nearly everyone who was
anyone in the region had come. Mother must be pleased, and not just because a
huge turnout meant a successful fundraiser. He’d noticed over the years that
event planning seemed to stoke her inner fire. She glowed a bit brighter, had
more bounce in her step as she worked to make her vision happen. Travis liked
that side of his mother.

Every few feet, someone spoke to him. Travis introduced
Andri, not resisting the surge of jealousy-tinged satisfaction rushing through
his veins when other men gave her appraising looks. She held herself with
dignity, carried on intelligent conversations, charmed the socks off everyone
he shared her company with. Travis couldn’t remember the last time he had been
so proud of the woman on his arm, or smiled so much at one of these events.

He placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her
through the crowd toward the small stage where his father stood.

Someone appeared beside him. “I’m happy to see you made it,
Travis.”

His mother, wrapped in ivory chiffon, had come to him, and
for a moment, he froze. The slight smile on her artfully made-up face caught
him off guard as much as her presence alone. “You know I’d never miss one of
your events, Mother.”

Her gaze switched to Andri, and he said, “Mother, you
remember Andromeda Miller.”

The smile brightening his mother’s face as she shook hands
with Andri confused the hell out of him. It actually looked genuine. “Of
course, Rachel’s friend, from the July Fourth festivities. So nice to see you
again, dear.”

Andri exchanged a few pleasantries with his mother, then
excused herself from their company to find the restroom. He watched her walk
toward the open ballroom doors for a moment, the gentle sway of her hips mesmerizing
him until his mother cleared her throat.

He forced himself to look at her. “I’m sorry, what did you
say?”

His mother’s brow lifted, but a slight smile still remained.
“I said, she’s a lovely young woman. But I see you’ve already noticed that.”

Standing under Sophia Holt’s gaze seemed to shrink his
collar to an uncomfortable tightness. “Yes, I’ve noticed. She’s a good friend,
and pleasant company.”

“You do look like you’re having fun for a change. Good for
you.”

And then it was over. A congressman joined them, instantly
shifting his mother’s focus away from him. He’d received his allotted shower of
attention from the woman who brought him into the world, and it was far more
direct than what she typically offered him at one of these things. She never
gave him her complete attention, usually speaking while looking through him,
watching the crowd lest she miss someone important to her cause who might need
to be greeted. She’d actually focused on him, though it was likely Andri who
made the difference.

Yes, Travis knew Andri was something special. It didn’t
require his mother noticing her to tell him that. How strange that she had,
though. He had no idea what to make of it, and it left him unsettled. After
years of craving and actively seeking his mother’s attention, Andri got it with
no effort at all. It shamed him to admit that made him a little jealous, a
reaction that shocked him almost as his mother had. 

****

Andri made her way carefully through the sea of black coats
and colorful gowns worn by well-heeled guests as she returned to the
festivities. She spotted Travis in a section of the garden, speaking with
another couple and a petite blonde woman she recognized as Georgia Grant, the
Silver Lode hotel manager and one of Rachel’s friends.

Travis looked in her direction as she joined the group, and
he broke into a wide grin. Her heart jumped, her skin tingled, and suddenly she
felt as if the crowd had vaporized and it was just the two of them in that
garden. In that moment, she realized any hope she had of not falling for him
was gone.
Too late.

Georgia excused herself to check in with Travis’s mother and
Andri, snapping back to reality, waited for an introduction to the elegant
couple standing beside Travis. He presented her to Curran and Victoria Shaw.
“Mr. Shaw owns DCS GlobalTech. He’s moving the company to Salt Lake and we’re
remodeling the office building.”

She perked up, recognizing the company name, while the
impeccably tuxedoed man grinned and shook her hand. “Please, both of you, call
me Curran. We’re old friends by now, aren’t we, Travis?”

Travis laughed and looked down at Andri. “I suppose we are.
We built his home and his sister’s a few years back. That was one of the last
jobs Rachel’s dad, Sam, did before he retired.”

“Sam’s a good man,” Curran said. “I’m glad to hear he’s
enjoying retirement. I keep telling Ian he should get his dad on the slopes
with us sometime.”

Andri’s eyes widened and she giggled. “Oh, you are a brave
man if you ski with Ian. He’s insane on the snow.”

“He is that, but Curran’s a bit of a madman himself,”
Victoria said. “I refuse to go on some of his runs.”

Andri returned Victoria’s smile, then granted herself a good
five seconds to envy the woman’s tall frame, draped in a glamorous, strapless
copper gown. She tuned back in on the conversation. Curran had a bit of an
accent, though she couldn’t quite place it.

“Do you know anything about the Naturalist Basin, Travis?”
Curran asked. “I’ve heard it’s fantastic, but I don’t know if my nephew could
handle the hike.”

Travis frowned, thoughtful. “It’s gorgeous, but it’s over
seven miles in from the trailhead. If you really want to take him, you might
want to go on horses. There are a lot of restrictions to protect the area,
though. No fires, primitive camping. I’d check with the forest service before
you try it, just to be sure.”

Victoria leaned into her husband’s side. “Are you going to
invite the womenfolk?”

Andri felt another touch of envy when Curran looked at his
wife with absolute devotion. She’d give a good decade off her life to have a
man look at her like that. “If you’d like,” he said. “Or, you and Kelli can go
indulge in a spa weekend before her wedding plans drive her completely mad.”

Victoria laughed and turned to Andri. “His sister, Kelli, is
getting married in October, and she’s
this
close to
tossing her plans out and eloping to Vegas.”

Andri remembered all too well the frustration of planning a
wedding. “Poor thing.”

Victoria nodded. “I love your name, Andri. What do you do?”

“Thank you. I’m an unemployed computer geek. Network
engineering, IT, support, that sort of thing.”

Victoria’s amber eyes lit up and she nudged her husband out
of his conversation with Travis. “Sweetie.” She pointed at Andri. “Network
engineer.”

Curran focused on her, morphing in a split second from
devoted husband to business mogul. His aura of complete control got her
immediate attention. “Experience?”

Andri pulled herself together in a microsecond, faced with
what she instinctively recognized was an opportunity that might lead to a job. “Seven
years, including four managing IT. I specialize in cybersecurity, I can write a
mean database, and I don’t have an aversion to talking to people, even the ones
with problems who want to yell at me.”

The expression in Curran’s green eyes intensified, and he
chuckled. “I certainly prefer a tech guru with people skills. We need a good
engineer but we also need an IT manager. Ours doesn’t want to move with the
company.” He slipped a wallet from the pocket inside his jacket and withdrew a
card. “Do you have a pen?”

She retrieved one from her clutch and accepted his card. He
gave her a number to write down on the back, and then said, “That’s Jamie
Mickleson’s number. He’s the CEO. Call him Monday morning, tell him I sent
you.”

She couldn’t help the smile threatening to split her face.
“Thank you, I will.”

The evening passed in a blur. Andri tried the wonderful
appetizers from the trays held by roving wait-staff, and Travis introduced her
to so many people she doubted she’d remember any of the names other than the
Shaws.

Watching Travis navigate with ease through the powerful
crowd, the difference in their upbringing became even more apparent. He knew a
ridiculous number of the guests, and made connections with new people rapidly.
He picked up on conversation topics quickly, because he seemed to remember
something of value about each person and their work or their families or their
passions. She admired such adept people skills.

Andri had been a shy child, and Dmitri had warned her that
she’d better learn to act happy and outgoing, or she wouldn’t make any friends.
Between that advice, and training herself to let his teasing roll off her back,
she was able to survive just about any social situation, but she shuddered to
think how out of place she’d feel tonight without that sort of life training.

She and Travis ate dinner in the ballroom, sampling foods
from the nearest of a dozen or more buffet tables, and the chatting with other
guests continued through the meal as the crowd shifted and flowed. Andri let
Travis guide her through the evening’s festivities. After spending some time in
the main garden area, listening to a very funny comedian perform, Travis
wrapped an arm around her waist and escorted her back into the ballroom. The
tables had been cleared and chairs rearranged just in time for the auction, the
highlight of Sophia Holt’s event.