Tempt Me (3 page)

He glanced down at the
black one he'd picked up to wear with his tuxedo and sighed.
“Yeah. You realize you may not even get through the door
without an invitation, right?”

“
I've asked
around. All they care about is a donation—a sizeable one. The
charity is some police thing—can't remember what. We'll
make a donation and we'll get in. Just make sure you have your
checkbook. It's not a concern.”

My checkbook.
Shit.
He sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”

“
Really, Cole. You
should be more excited for me. You know how badly I want this
information.” Mara leaned forward and adjusted her mask,
studying her face in the mirror. “You know, you
could
see if you couldn't get some of the information from Rocki
yourself.”

Something cold and
unpleasant settled in his gut as he stared at her. “What?”

Mara laughed. “I
saw how she looked at you. The dumpy bitch probably hasn't had
a good lay in years. No telling what kind of sorry loser she's
married to. She was all but stripping you naked with her eyes. Play
up to it.” Slowly, she turned around and leaned back against
the dressing table, smiling at him. “What do you say? Could you
put that pretty face of yours to use and see what she'll tell
you?”

Cole sauntered up to her,
keeping his face blank. He dipped his head, placing his lips right
next to Mara's ear. Slowly, he breathed her scent, waiting as
she shivered. Then, in a low voice, he whispered, “Hell, no.”

Unwilling to look at her,
he stormed out of their bedroom. Their bedroom...with a bed they
shared, yet sometimes it felt like he was sleeping with a stranger.
They hadn't touched each other in more than two weeks, or maybe
it was three? Oddly enough, other than waking up with a typical
morning hard-on, he didn't even care.

One thing that did bother
him, though, was the fact that lately he'd been wondering if
this marriage was really the ideal for them. But now, he was almost
certain—it might be okay for Mara, but he was pretty sure it
wasn't right for him.

He'd go to the damn
party. More out of a sense of obligation and to make sure Mara didn't
do anything that
he
might regret—he was a silent partner
in her business, but he was still a partner. But then he was going to
take a few days away. Decide whether this marriage was the right
thing, or just the convenient thing. And if it wasn't right, he
was getting out before it was too late.

He was almost certain
that he and Mara would be having an interesting discussion come
Monday.

“
Would you yank
that stick out of your ass?” Mara bit off in a low voice as
they settled into the line wrapping around the block.

Cole glanced down at her
and then away. “Sweetheart, I'm so pissed off right now,
you'd be wise to leave me alone unless you just
want
to
go in there alone.” Unlike her, he didn't bother lowering
his voice. She squeezed his arm, her nails biting into his skin
through his jacket. “And I'm rather certain you didn't
bring
your
checkbook.”

“
What is your
problem?” she snapped.

“
Other than you
expecting me to play man-whore just to get you information you don't
need
?” He looked at her, tried to remember when she'd
become this self-centered, this cold. Had she always been this way
and he just hadn't seen it? He didn't know.

People were staring at
them now. Cole didn't care.

The line shifted forward
and Mara waited until they'd settled again before she
whispered, “Would you keep your voice down?”

“
If you don't
want people to stare, then stop talking to me about this,” he
replied. “We can discuss it later or not at all.”

He stared down at her, at
that icy beauty and realized...he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He couldn't even remember when that had started, but it wasn't
a new thing, this apathy. Shit, this was sad. Abruptly, the anger
drained away and he just felt tired. Damn tired. But one thing was
clear...he didn't need a few days away to decide what he
needed, what he didn't need, what he wanted, what he didn't
want.

Rubbing the back of his
neck, he looked away. “Mara, we need to talk, but now isn't
the time. Let's just try to relax and enjoy the night, okay?”

“
Enjoy it?” A
smile curled her lips, but there was nothing pleasant about it. “This
isn't about
enjoying
ourselves, baby. It's about
getting what I want. We'll enjoy ourselves later.”

She slid him a coy look
that left him unmoved. Blowing out a breath, he focused on the line
as it shifted closer to the shop. This must be one hell of a party,
considering how many people are here, he mused.

“
It's one
hell of a party,” Lacey said, smiling at her best friend in the
mirror as Rocki checked her reflection one last time.

It was almost nine.
Almost time for her to make her appearance.

Lush & Lace
shared a wall with the restaurant next door, and in the back, in an
area that was generally for “employees only” on Rocki's
side, there was a door that connected the two businesses. For the
yearly benefit, those two double doors were open wide and people
flowed back and forth, checking out Rocki's merchandise,
nibbling at the finger foods, helping themselves to the cash bar.

By the time the auction
started at ten, both bachelors and bachelorettes would be feeling
mighty fine and ready to bid. Rocki was heading the event as she
always did, but she still wanted to look good. After all, her store's
merchandise was being displayed here. And on her...

Smoothing a hand down the
front of her red corset, she turned to make sure the laces in the
back were smooth and even. Bare skin showed underneath, gleaming pale
against the garnet red satin. Satisfied with the way the back looked,
Rocki turned around and studied the front. The garter straps, each
set with a rose the same color as her corset, held up the
floor-length satin skirt to just a little above mid-thigh, displaying
her legs, encased in black silk stockings.

She was objective enough
to admit she looked good. Taking the black top hat, Rocki set it on
top of her head, adjusting the angle. Five more seconds—she
gave herself five more seconds to hesitate, to be alone with her
thoughts.

Five more seconds to
think about the fact that another one of those odd cards had arrived,
with another picture of her—this one of her inside the store,
taken through the window. There hadn't been anything on the
back, again. But it still disturbed her. And she couldn't
ignore it if any more came. She was probably being careless to ignore
them this long. Brant had enough friends on the force that she
knew—she could get in touch with one of them. Show them the
pictures...maybe even somebody would remember. She could talk to
Lacey's brother. She knew Clayton would take her seriously.

Okay, five seconds
gone. Worry about it after.

Rocki blew out a breath.
“Okay. Let's go blow people out of the water,” she
said, smiling at Lacey in the reflection.

“
Can't you at
least
try
to help me find her?” Mara demanded as he
swirled his wine around and stared off into the crowd.

“
Find who?”
Cole asked, even though he knew exactly who she was talking about.

“
The designer, damn
it. You
know
who.” She blew out a breath. “I've
asked like five people and they just say ‘she's around'
or ‘she's busy' and nobody will point her out.
Maybe they'll talk to you.”

“
You think?”
He studied her disgruntled expression. “Not likely. You see,
I'm not going to ask.”

She gaped at him. “Why
not? Don't you realize how important this is?”

“
No. Because you
can get another designer.”

“
I don't
want
another one.” Flags of color rode high on her cheeks, her hands
closing into tight fists. “Damn it, Cole, I can't believe
how difficult you're being.”

“
Am I? Hmm. Maybe.
Too bad,” Cole muttered, lifting his wine glass and knocking
back the merlot like it was whiskey. Wishing it was. He could use
some whiskey. Desperately.

The music abruptly
changed cadence, and both he and Mara looked up, as did everyone
around them. He hadn't noticed the spiral staircase when he'd
been here before. He noticed it now, though. Noticed it...and the
very nice pair of legs descending...long, shapely legs that would
close perfectly around a man's hips, he thought.
Oh, hell.
He damn near swallowed his tongue as Rocki came down the stairs, one
hand trailing along the banister. She paused halfway down, smiling
out at the crowd. Smiling...and letting everybody get one damn good
look.

Again, he found himself
thinking...
Lush
.

It was a word that
described
her
perfectly.

A lot of the women in the
crowd were wearing a hell of lot less clothing than she was.
Mara
was wearing less. But Rocki managed to cast them all in shadow.
Looking at her made his hands sweat. The swells of her breasts rose
above the corset she wore, all but begging for the touch of a man's
hands, her ivory skin glowing against the deep, rich, red silk. He
wasn't sure which would be softer to touch. Her waist looked
impossibly small just before her hips flared out into another lush,
ripe curve. The skirt was somehow hitched up, revealing those long
legs encased in dark, smooth stockings.

A wet dream come to life,
Cole thought, staring at her. Shit. He gripped his wine glass tightly
and tore his gaze away from her. Mara was still staring at her, her
lips pursed. “She's making such a spectacle of herself,
dressed like that.”

“
A spectacle?”
he echoed. “She looks lovely.”

Mara rolled her eyes.
“She's too fat to dress that way.”

Cole almost choked on his
wine.
Fat?
Damn it, what in the world was wrong with her? But
instead of replying, he just turned away. Mara only saw what Mara
wanted to see. He was tired of it. So tired of it. And it was
something he wasn't going to deal with much longer.

“
I wonder if she
ever tries to put herself up in the auction,” Mara mused.

“
She's
married,” Cole said.

“
Oh. Yeah. And even
if she wasn't...” She broke off, laughing. “It's
a laughable thought.”

“
Damn it, would you
shut up?” he snapped, slamming his glass down and turning his
head to glare at her.

She stared at him. “What
is your problem?”

He clenched his jaw shut,
determined not to say anything, not to do this here.

“
Cole.”
Mara's eyes narrowed.

He went to brush past
her.

She shot out an arm, her
nails digging into his wrist like claws. He paused, staring down at
her. Somewhere inside, he ached, because he could remember a time
when he'd loved her. A lot. But that was before she'd
changed. When had all of this happened? And had
she
changed so
drastically, or was it him?

“
We'll talk
about this later, Mara,” he said quietly.

“
No. We'll
talk about it now.”

He glanced around, spied
the back door he'd seen the first time they'd visited the
store. It was marked “private,” but everybody was too
focused on Rocki to even notice them. Fine. Mara wanted to have it
out tonight, they'd have it out tonight.

With his hand at the
small of her back, he guided her toward the door. It led them to a
private dressing area, a long narrow hall with a series of doors, all
done in ivory and gold. Feminine and soft,
Like Rocki
, he
mused.

Shutting the door, he
leaned back against it. “We should talk about this at home,”
he said again.

“
You're being
a bastard...we'll talk about it here.”

“
You're being
a bitch,” he pointed out. “I paid a grand to get us into
a party we weren't even invited to...”

“
Well, they don't
care
. They just asked for the donation,” she replied.
Smoothing a hand back over her hair, she gave him an aggravated
glance. “It's not like you
need
the money,
darling.”

“
No, I don't.
But you never asked if I wanted to come. You
told
me to. And
now that you're here, all you can do is insult the owner.
Mara...I don't even know you anymore. And what little I do
know?” He paused, reaching for the words. He didn't want
to hurt her.

Mara crossed her arms
over her chest, one blonde brow lifted impatiently. “Yes?”

“
I don't
like.”

She stilled. Finally,
something flickered in her pale blue eyes. But it was gone almost as
fast as it had appeared. “That's just silly, Cole. You
know me. I'm the same woman I was when you proposed—the
same woman I was the night you told me you loved me and wanted to
spend the rest of your life with me.”