When Honey Got Married (9 page)

“Maybe. Something like that.” She grinned.

Brent laughed. “You know, I’ve missed hearing about Minna.”

“Yeah?” She lowered her lashes. “I’ve missed things too. Those projects we worked on. All our research. The bayous. The Great Egret.”

“The great
what
?” He looked bemused, then his eyes lit up. “Oh, right. Yeah. The egret. I’d forgotten. You really soaked up all that stuff, didn’t you? Yeah, I have something to thank you for there. It’ll all look good in my CV when I run for president.” He chuckled. “You know, you should visit more often. Is life in New York so fascinating you haven’t got time for your old friends?” His blue eyes scanned her face.

The kiss in the piano bar flashed into Eve’s head, but she dropped her eyes. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“And I’m relieved. You had me worried there.” His smile faded. He looked down, and when he glanced up again his expression was serious, concerned even. “When you left so suddenly I—I thought I must have offended you in some way. Hurt your feelings. And you know, you were such a great assistant, always so passionate about the work, I’d have regretted that if it had been true.”

All those tears on her pillow. All those wishes and dreams, that wild hope that he’d come flying to New York in hot pursuit of her. Even this fantasy of confessing her love…

As he searched her face for a clue to her thoughts, she could see now how unlikely it all was. He really had no idea. Who she was. What she was. The dream she’d built on that kiss and all those long talks they’d had, had been nothing but a waste of emotion. Unrequited.

Such a waste.

Clutching her pride around her, she tossed off a laugh. “Heavens, no. You were a great boss. I just needed to try the big wide world. This job opportunity came up and —I had to drop everything and go.”

It was an Oscar-winning performance. Whether he believed in it or not didn’t even matter. It saved her face, for sure.

He nodded. “Well then, I’m glad. Honey is thrilled to have you here. Just thrilled.”

“I know. She told me. And I’m…real happy for you both.
Real
happy.”

“Thanks. That means a lot.” There was a tiny awkward moment. Then he smiled. “Better go look for my peeps. I think the band’s about to play our song.” He lifted his hand as he walked away. “Try some of that pecan pie.”

After he’d gone,Eve’s adrenaline rate dropped about fifty notches. It took her a minute or two to practice breathing again. Was that
all
? Talk about an anticlimax. After all the drama and excitement she’d anticipated, who’d have predicted their fateful meeting would fall so flat?

Apart from Rainer, of course.

Her insides clenched with a sudden realization. She really had to hand it to him. The only person to be seduced had been herself. It didn’t bear thinking about. Had Rainer planned for her to feel like this?

She could see how he’d won his fine reputation as a troubleshooter. He’d recognized her as Brent’s trouble.

And he’d shot her.

Frowning, she served herself a slice of the pecan pie and got one for Minna.

“Oh, there you are,” Minna said when Eve proffered her the piece. Her eyes glowed with pleasure. “Thank you, darlin’. How’d you know?” She beamed, and Eve guessed that despite all the snakes lurking in the grass, Minna was having a great time.

She grinned fondly at the old gal. At least some people never changed.

Eve was enjoying her last bite of the pecan pie when Minna hissed a conspiratorial whisper across the table. “I notice that Rainer has finished with the bride at last. You can get another shot at him now.”

Eve only just managed not to choke. “
Auntie
.” She frowned, but truly, it was hard to be mad with Minna. Especially when the very same notion had occurred to her.

The evening had reached the point where guests were leaving their appointed places to party with friends across the room. Faces were softer, a little rosier. Voices had acquired a mellow hum, warmed and tenderized by fine food and drink. At the same time there was that rustle disturbing the air of big things to come, like the night before Christmas.

As Minna had announced to the world, Honey returned and settled into the chair beside Brent. Eve noticed most of the old school crowd seemed to have shifted in closer to the bridal couple. She looked around for Rainer.

Though it was still quite early, some of the oldies were making moves to leave. Minna too was negotiating with a couple of her cronies about playing a round of poker at Lady Calliope’s to round off the evening. The Fortescues could never resist the lure of the cards.

At last Eve saw Rainer. He was assisting one of the tottery old Delacroix aunts out of her chair, his rather harsh face breaking into a smile.

Despite everything, Eve’s blood quickened. Was this how it had to be for a woman? Helplessly enthralled by a man, even after he’d made a fool of her?

If he’d been any of the boys she’d played with in the past she’d have been able to summon him to her side with just one smile. She doubted it would work with him. He stood back, a lone wolf content on the sidelines, relaxed and self-sufficient. No use trying to catch his eye. He’d played his role and moved on already.

“Would you mind if we went on ahead, darlin’?” Minna said, kissing Eve amid a flurry of wraps and evening purses. “Do you think you can find a ride home?”

“Don’t you worry, Auntie. I’ll manage. If the worst come to the worst, I’ll walk.”

“Not in those shoes.” Eve’s heart jumped. Rainer was right there, smiling down at her, a mocking light in his eyes. “Mind if I borrow this empty chair, Eve?”

She felt a deep, unholy surge in her blood. It might have been anger. It might have been purely sexual.

“Be my guest.” As Rainer sat down and drew his chair a little nearer hers, her veins resonated with a helpless excited buzz. She said softly, “I just hope you don’t mind becoming the talk of the town. I’d hate to damage the reputation of such a talented troubleshooter. ”

He looked keenly at her, eyes glinting. “But I’m not doing anything very controversial now.” He spread his lean hands to demonstrate their innocence. “Not biting your pretty neck, not kissing your ear or ruffling any black lace.”

“You don’t
have
to do anything.”

“Ah, but I do.” His sinful gaze clashed with hers. “As soon as possible.”

“To be talked about, I mean.”

“Aha.” His eyes gleamed. “So then. It may not even be true that you took Vance Tyler skinny-dipping on the night he was meant to propose to Jenna Mae Dixon?”

“Oh, that old fairy tale.” She waved her hand. “Who was to say he intended to propose? He didn’t mention a word of it to me.”

Rainer laughed in warm amusement, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You’re a bad, bad girl.” He rested his hand on her thigh. “A wicked girl.”

“Remember it.” She gave his hand back to him. “At least I’ve never driven anyone to jump off a bridge.”

He blinked. “Is that what they say?” He was silent. Then he said, “It’s in no way true. That woman was a very fine swimmer, is all, and relished diving from a great height. What are you doing after this is over?”

She gazed at him. His sexy mouth was edging up at the corners in such wicked, smiling temptation she felt a rush of moisture between her legs.

At the same time, she couldn’t help thinking
heartbreaker
.

The party had reached an intimate, reminiscent mood, with Vance Tyler among others dragging up funny stories from Brent’s and Honey’s pasts that made everyone laugh. Eve’s own name came up once or twice, and folks turned to look around at her and grin.

Love was in the air. Honey didn’t look quite so anxious with Brent’s arm wrapped firmly around her. If only she knew she had no need to worry about Eve Fortescue. That horse had been scratched.

The band launched into Minna’s favorite old song, “Blue Bayou.” Seemed everyone knew the words and joined in. Even Rainer sang along, smiling quizzically at Eve when her eyes misted up in the chorus.

The rehearsal dinner was coming to a close. Though not the evening.

Rainer looked at Eve, desire in his smoky gaze. “Can I be the one to take you home?”

Chapter Five

Rainer in a car was even more deeply affecting than Rainer in a small private room. Luckily he’d parked in the shadow of a tall hedge away from the parking area, so witnesses were unlikely. Before he started the engine he turned to Eve, so courteous and civilized, though the heat in his eyes betrayed his wolfish soul.

“Minna lives on Lilac Crescent. Is that right?”

“Yep.” Strangely for Eve, a hungry beast was inhabiting her body and stalking her blood like a tigress. The sort that wants to eat its seducer alive. Through her lashes she scrutinized the man who’d manipulated her body into a state of helpless delirium a couple of hours earlier. Now it was her turn, though it was a pity he was so delicious.

She’d need all her feminine will to walk away and leave Rainer wanting. To show him that a woman’s feelings were to be powerfully respected. That her body was not a plaything. “So what happened with Brent? Did you take him to a secluded little rendezvous?” His hungry gaze flickered to her breasts.

“No, I did not.”

His brows lifted. “You didn’t? After I went to all that trouble?”

She wanted to slap him. She wanted to kiss him. Instead, she smiled.

“I know. You tried your darndest. But all I could think about was kissing
you
.” She reached to trace the outline of his lips, then drew a sultry finger over the rough skin of his jaw, down the strong column of his throat to the opening in his shirt.

A shiver passed through his big, lean frame. “Eve. This isn’t the place.”

She gazed into his eyes, the devil in her veins. “I wouldn’t be too concerned. Not many folks are coming this way. You’re not nervous, are you, Rainer?”

His eyes flickered, but he made no move to end her little tease, and she knew she had him.

Breathing rather hard with the seething of emotion in her blood, she drew a light finger over his Adam’s apple, then, letting him feel her knuckles brush the skin at the base of his throat, slipped the topmost button. He kept very still, eyes burning in the shadowy light. Then she released the next one, and the next, all the way to his belt.

The moonlight caught a faint shimmer on his upper lip. Despite his surface calm, she could sense the deepening tension in him. Hear his quickened breathing. Feel his raw, vibrant chest rise and fall beneath her fingers.

She guessed he’d have liked her to travel farther below his belt. Was no doubt craving it. It felt cruel to disappoint him, but her tongue watered with a desire to taste the sliver of skin she’d laid bare. She bent forward and licked his flat, tight little nipple, feeling a gratifying leap in his flesh.

Placing her hands on his belt buckle, she felt the thrill of anticipation in him, the yearning need for her to touch him down there, but then,
damn
, her eye was caught by a pulse in his neck, flicking to an excited little rhythm.

She put her mouth to the hot, salty place and sucked, at the same time running a tormenting finger across that promising bulge beneath his belt.

Kaboom.

Rainer Delacroix shuddered like a guy with a fever, then grabbed her and kissed her hot and hard, his mouth hungry and possessive.

Despite herself, Eve’s entire being lit up like New Year’s. She opened her mouth to him and their tongues danced a sexy tango, at first flicking and tickling the sensitive mouth tissues and setting off incendiary bursts of erotic delight, then growing fiercer, more passionate.

While her hands. They had minds of their own, wanting to touch him and grab him, own him and caress him in hot greedy handfuls everywhere.

Convulsively exploring his chest, his silky hair, the satin skin riding his ribs, she couldn’t deny her pleasure in feeling Rainer’s urgent touch on her breasts. Squeezing, kneading, making her so
hot
.

With a growl in her throat, she sank her teeth into his lower lip and tasted blood on her tongue. Delacroix blood. He pulled back, searching her face in the shadowy light, a question in his smoldering eyes.

“Is there something you want to say, Eve?”

“I want to say yes, and I want to say no. I want to say stop and I want to say go. I want to say… Fuck me… Fuck
you,
Rainer.”

He snaked a hand down into her bra, lifted a breast free, and took her straining nipple in his mouth. The blaze in her blood flared to an inferno.

He tasted her other breast, and his hand slipped under her skirt. Even in her state of delirious lust, she seized his wandering hand and held it still.

“No,” she said. “Not yet.”

Not at all, in fact.

He drew back from her and she surveyed him, panting, revenge in her heart and a fever between her legs, though she was keeping them jammed tightly together. This seduction scenario was a two-way street. She could see how he might have become a little carried away in the room behind the blue door.

Leaning toward him, she passed languid fingers over his pants zipper, then slid her hand down inside his belt and gripped him tight where it mattered most.

Appreciating the flattering response hardening to her touch, she smiled at him through her lashes. “Oh, damn. That’s not Opaline Dixon walking by out there, is it?”

His eyes glinted. He seized her wrists and held them still. “Enough teasing, Miss Fortescue. We need to talk.”

He set her firmly back in her seat, started the car, and eased it into the street. But he didn’t drive her to Lilac Crescent. He headed for the handsome old house he’d inherited from his granddaddy on Cherry Avenue.

She could have gotten out and walked home, left him dangling, so to speak, as had been her original intention, but something in her, or maybe in him, made her decide to see what he had to say.

“I haven’t been here in a while,” he said, unlocking the front door. “My work keeps me away for months at a time, so things have become a little basic. But there’s running water and electricity, and the beds are soft.” His eyes didn’t match the neutrality of his words. Having gotten her this far, she could see that his hopes were blazing hot.

And with his shirt unbuttoned, he looked darkly, criminally seductive.

“Softer than they are in Djibouti?”

“There are some fine beds in Djibouti. I’ll take you there sometime and you might be surprised. Would you care for coffee?”

“Coffee?”

She could have fallen over with surprise. Coffee was the last thing she expected him to offer. She was dangerously aroused and emotional. Heaven only knew what she was to do with herself in such a state. How she should act. But to end it all with
coffee
?

She followed him into the big old-fashioned kitchen and watched him grind beans and pour them into the machine, a frown between his eyes. Desire was an explosive thing. Even though she felt angry, the sight of a big, hard Delacroix man performing a trivial domestic action was highly arousing.

“You’re mad at me,” he said, a minute or two later, glancing up and handing her her coffee. “Because of the deal we made.”

A pang cut through her and she clasped her hands. “Yes. Yes.” She dropped her eyes . “You made a fool of me.”

“How did I? You wanted to kiss me.” His gaze drifted to her mouth, then to her treacherously willing breasts.

“Only because I—I—.”

His shirt was open to his waist, revealing a slice of bronzed, muscled chest. A hint of rippling six-pack. As her trembly words petered out, she felt her mouth dry and the silence grow tense and vibrant.

His eyelids were heavy, a knowing, sexual gleam beneath them, as if he could read the temptation raging in her veins. He said again softly, “You
wanted
to kiss me. You
still
want to kiss me. But you don’t want to admit it.”

She clenched her hands. It would be so easy not to defend herself, just give in to the fire in her blood. If he took her in his arms now…

But even in extreme circumstances, a woman had a duty to herself.

“All right, I admit it. I wanted to. But you only kissed me because…” She was breathing so hard it hurt to wring the words out. “You did it to divert me. But you didn’t know anything about Brent and me. You know, if Brent truly loved me and not Honey, and if I truly loved him… Even though it would have hurt some people, stopping the wedding would have been the right thing. This is what I mean, you see? You manipulated me. You made a mockery of my sincere feelings, and you seduced me.”

She waited for him to laugh at her again, mock her words, but instead he looked faintly rueful. Guilty even. A stain tinged his bronzed cheek. “That’s how it might seem, but it’s not really how it was. Not entirely. I—I’m sorry if I hurt you. The—the truth is I went further than I intended with the kiss. I guess I was enchanted. ”

“Oh, enchanted. That’s no excuse.”

He set down his coffee and took her shoulders. “I know. But if I could take it back…”

“It’s too late, though,
now
. You knew how susceptible I was to a kiss, or you wouldn’t have suggested that I go into that little room with you and kiss you. Among other things.”

He started stroking her hair, circling her ears with his fingers until her entire scalp tingled. Her insides trembled. Even with all her resentment, desire was affecting her limbs and she didn’t have the strength to push him away.

He put his gorgeous lips to her temple, her cheek, her throat. “I admit it. I deliberately kissed you, though I didn’t plan the other things. They just happened. But I frankly admit I wanted you to forget about him.”

“To save the wedding?”

“Because I saw a beautiful girl in pain and I wanted to comfort you. Distract you a little. And I—God, I
yearned
”—he came close to groaning the word—“to have you.”

Her blood surged. He was holding so hard against his angular body she could feel the friction of his chest against her breasts, his powerful thighs rubbing hers.

She murmured into his neck, “All you succeeded in doing was in confusing my emotions. And my feminine responses. All my instincts. My desires… ”

He stilled, then held her away from him to search her face. “So, you’re in love with him still?”

She gazed helplessly at him. “I don’t think I am. You’ll probably laugh, but I realize now it was all an illusion. Even the egret. I feel like such a fool. The sad thing is I gave him my best, the
real
me, my most sincere self, but he just didn’t see it.”

She didn’t want to cry right at this moment, so she laughed instead, though her chin wobbled.

He drew her to him and kissed her lips. “I’m not laughing. I know what it’s like to love someone who doesn’t see who you really are. I loved someone once who only ever saw me as a stud. A deep and thoughtful guy like me.”

“
No
.”

“Yeah. It happened.”

He took her to his bedroom after that. And she let him.

She was shivering in her need. But when he stood naked before her, so strong and virile and beautiful, her blood thundered with an anticipation that was really quite anxious. What if she disappointed him?

She needn’t have worried. Once he removed her clothes and enveloped her in the furnace of his desire, there was no more thinking, only feeling. His hands and lips, the rough skin of his jaw, the hair of his chest on her bare breasts, the passion storming her veins.

He pushed her to the bed and sheathed himself for her protection, then stretched his big frame beside her, tracing her jawline with his fingers, his eyes glowing with a warm and slumberous intent. “I can see who you are.”

She kissed him then with all the fervor in her soul. He wrapped his arms around her, his passion so fierce and immediate the pure flame of lust rose in her and consumed her. She arched under him, locking her legs around him and inviting him in for the sensual ride to rapture.

He thrust himself deep inside her and rocked her until stars exploded in the night sky and light filled every nook and cranny of her being.