“Piano, gymnastics, dance.”
“You took dancing lessons?” He pictured himself dancing with her in a fancy ballroom, an orchestra playing. She’d look stunning in his arms.
“A little ballet, modern dance, ballroom. I needed to hold my own at parties.”
“Ahhh, the parties. Couldn’t have those go bad on you,” he teased.
“They were business functions mostly. And those dancing skills come in handy to this day.”
“I suppose they would.”
She quirked a brow. “Are you saying you don’t dance?”
“Sure, I dance. But we did it for fun, no lessons. Papa and Diego play guitar, and everyone in the family would sing or dance. Some Saturday nights, everyone who worked on the ranch would be out on the patio whooping it up.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“It was fun, lots of fun.” There were times when Rafe missed the close-knit community he’d belonged to on the ranch, seeing his mother, father and his brothers every day, working alongside them and coming home at night with a sense of satisfaction along with the exhaustion.
“What is it?” Gina asked, peering closely at him.
“I was just remembering,” he admitted.
“Remembering what?”
“My roots.” Not that he wanted to delve into his dust-eating, manure-slinging roots with little miss ballet. He didn’t expect her to understand the satisfaction of sweaty work or the simple pleasure of warm chocolate-cinnamon cookies on a Sunday evening.
“Different worlds,” she said, sounding almost sad. Then she unexpectedly touched his cheek. “I’m picturing you as a young boy on a horse.”
He willed her to keep her soft fingertips exactly where they were. “And I’m picturing you in a pink tutu.”
She smiled at that. “I did have a pink one, frilly tulle and all.”
He took a chance and eased forward. “You must have been delightful.”
“That was my job back then.” Her expression turned pensive. “Still my job now, mostly.”
“But not today.” He knew she’d worked hard on the auction.
She was so much more than just decorative on this project.
“That’s nice of you to say.” Her hand fell away from his face.
He captured it and shifted closer still. “It’s the truth, Gina.”
The noise from the get-together faded into the background. They were around a corner in the library, out of casual sight to people passing in the entry hall.
“I...” She seemed to run out of words.
Still holding her hand, he framed her smooth cheek with his rough palm. “You look wonderful today, professional, efficient, intelligent. Not to mention absolutely gorgeous.”
He was rewarded with her sweet smile.
“You look rugged,” she said, her voice dropping to a husky whisper. “Perfect...so sexy.”
Want and desire and need all rose within him, simultaneously clamoring for him to take action.
She was here, right here, practically in his arms. She tipped her chin, slanting her lips, easing up enough to make it an invitation.
He took it, kissing her all over again, deeper this time, more amorously, as if his subconscious knew the way and had unleased his passion. He framed her face, then he wrapped his arms around her as the kiss went on and on.
She seemed more than willing, pressing against his thighs and his chest, rocketing his desire up notch after notch. She braced her hands on his shoulders as if he was her anchor.
In that moment, he wanted to be her anchor, her rock, the person she depended on for...he didn’t even know what.
Too soon, voices sounded outside the room.
Rafe drew back, gazing with wonder into Gina’s astonished eyes. Her lips were parted, swollen dark red with passion. Her cheeks were flushed again. Man, she was so incredibly beautiful.
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers, drinking in the scent of her skin.
“Rafe?” she asked, a small tremble in her voice.
“This,” he said, keeping her hand in his, her fingers still lightly brushing his lips, “is getting really hard to ignore.”
She gave a wide-eyed nod of agreement.
“You going to be okay out there?” With a slant of his head, he gestured to the library entrance.
She looked that way, seeming to remember for the first time she had a major event going on outside these walls.
“Yes,” she said, blinking to clear the passion from her eyes.
He immediately missed it.
But then she stepped back, and he released her hand, missing so much more than just the expression in her eyes.
She gave a hand gesture toward the entry. “I have to...uh...you know...”
“I know. Let’s get me auctioned off.”
* * *
It was standing room only on the back lawn. The three hundred white folding chairs that faced the terrace had quickly filled. Shade trees and the building’s shadow helped offset the eighty-plus-degree heat.
Mandee was on the terrace now and anticipation was building as the first cowboy on the docket appeared off to one side.
Gina moved to the morning room where technical had been set up. Half the equipment was devoted to the Royal Tonight! broadcast, the other half dedicated to the social media interface. Ten people sat at makeshift desks with workstations or laptop computers, and the floor was a maze of wiring and computer towers. She stepped carefully around the cables.
“All systems go?” she asked Kane, Edmond’s head of technology, coming up beside him where he was watching over tech Cassie Norio’s shoulder.
“Analytics look fantastic. Good thing we added the surge capacity, or else we’d be crashing the website by now.”
Gina realized she should leave him alone and let him work.
He gave her a nod and a wave as she headed outside to the opposite end of the terrace from the on-deck cowboy. The auction staging area was in the formal dining room on the other side of the house. They were being organized there by Lila and personally thanked by some notable members of the Royal Chamber of Commerce for their contributions to the cause.
Gina couldn’t help picturing Rafe and wondering how she’d feel when he walked out for his turn. His kiss was still a tingle on her lips, and his embrace felt like it had left a permanent imprint on her body. Her mind wandered as the bidding got underway.
Pricing on the first cowboy went up quickly, and Mandee gaveled him off with a bang to get things started.
She introduced the second cowboy and started the bidding higher this time. People jumped in, and a jovial rivalry developed between the online bidders and the in-person audience. Every time a live person upped the bid over a virtual bidder, a large cheer came up from the crowd.
Gina’s brother Ross appeared beside her. “Very well executed.”
She took in the crowd again, the waiters still circulating with drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Mandee, whatever Gina might think of her personally, was doing a highly professional job as MC.
“Thanks,” she said to Ross.
“Dad’s still gone?”
“Last I saw. I doubt he’ll be back before tomorrow.”
“Probably a good thing,” her brother said, looking around. “He’d hate this. And someone would probably say something about Billy, and Dad would end up in an argument.”
“Please, let’s keep the drama to a minimum.”
“So far, so good,” he murmured.
Mandee brought the hammer down on the second cowboy. The experience went to an online bidder, and the crowd moaned in disappointment.
“They’re really getting into this,” Ross said on a chuckle. He took a sip of his champagne.
“Civic pride,” Gina told him “But we want to sell as
many experiences as possible outside Royal. We all agreed on that.”
“The point being to bring in new money.”
“Exactly,” she replied. “Royal citizens are doing enough already. We need some Dallas or Chicago money, maybe LA or New York.”
“You think big.”
“I do,” Gina answered with pride. She had thought big for this event, stretching and testing herself. She hoped she could find a way to keep doing that.
Tucker McCoy was up next, and he strutted out onto the terrace dressed in a bright red shirt, a leather vest with fringe and a pair of worn blue jeans covered in scuffed leather chaps. The online bidding turned fast and furious, with the bids mounting up at record speed.
The local audience seemed slightly stunned by the turn of events.
“I didn’t expect that,” Gina admitted.
“He’s a character.” Ross shook his head, taking another sip of his champagne. “You thirsty?”
She was. “I can go inside and grab something.”
But her brother flagged down a waiter.
Tucker’s experience went to an online bidder, setting a record by a wide margin.
While the cowboy held up his hands in victory, Ross handed Gina a glass of champagne.
She’d been avoiding alcohol as she managed the event. But then Rafe came out on the terrace to wait his turn, and she took a drink.
He took in the audience, then his attention went to Mandee.
Gina surreptitiously studied him, wondering how high his bids would go. What kind of women would like to spend a day with Rafe and—according to the outline on website—go horseback riding, move a cattle herd, meet foals and calves, and take a walk through the Cortez-Williams Ranch before enjoying a five-star steak dinner at RCW?
Gina, for one. She could easily picture herself doing all those things with Rafe.
Mandee enthusiastically called sold on the current cowboy, and Rafe walked across the makeshift stage. The crowd greeted him with energy and excitement, while Mandee gave him a glowing introduction.
Bids started from the crowd, and the internet quickly kicked in, the offers seeming to go up even faster than they had with Tucker.
“Well, I’m jumping in here myself,” Mandee unexpectedly called out with glee, naming a number quite a bit higher than the last bid.
The move stunned Gina. “Can she do that?”
“She just did,” Ross said on a laugh. “I guess if she’s willing to shell out the cash...”
Gina didn’t know the technicalities of formal auction rules, but Mandee jumping into the ring wasn’t in the spirit of their overall plan.
“We all agreed we wanted sales from outside the city,” Gina reminded Ross.
The bidding kept going up and up, and then Mandee called out another bid.
“This is wild,” Ross said, sounding like he was having a jolly time.
Gina tried for another sip of champagne but discovered her glass was empty.
A local bidder upped the ante.
An online bidder came right back, then another, and another.
Mandee jumped in again.
Gina felt a surge of jealousy at the thought of the stunning TV host spending a full day with Rafe. Before she could think it through, she’d called out her own bid.
She could feel Ross’s baffled gaze on her.
Mandee looked over her shoulder at Gina and frowned.
Gina didn’t dare look at Rafe.
“I thought you wanted out-of-town bidders,” he said.
“She’s annoying me.” Gina set her empty glass on a side table and glanced around for a waiter, thinking she could use another.
“Looks like your ploy worked,” her brother remarked, nodding to the readout board as it displayed more incoming bids.
Gina hadn’t intended to get the online bidders to go higher, but she pretended she had.
Some live audience members added to the bidding, then two people online duked it out for a few minutes, each going up in healthy increments.
Mandee jumped in again with her own bid, bringing a cheer from the crowd.
Gina reflexively upped her.
“Better be careful,” Ross said. “You don’t want to win.”
Mandee shot her a look of pure annoyance and bid higher.
Everyone’s attention went to the readout board.
No new bids came up.
“Sold!” Mandee called out gleefully, bringing her hammer down.
“She should have waited,” Ross said with a frown. “A couple of them would have jumped back in.”
“She wanted it for herself.” Gina was sure of that.
A waiter offered her more champagne, and she took it.
“Well, you dodged a bullet then,” her brother said. “You might have been the one shelling out the money.”
Gina took a swallow. “True.” She tried to look relieved at the turn of events.
By the end of all thirty-two cowboys, the Chamber of Commerce had made an enormous sum of money.
Lila was the first to congratulate Gina, giving her an ecstatic hug and telling her she should do more project management, since she so obviously had a talent for it. Many in the audience stuck around to mix and mingle, and virtually all the business owners who stood to benefit from the fundraising congratulated Gina on the accomplishment.
There was one notable exception. Rafe didn’t appear. By the time Gina broke free and went to look for him, he was gone, leaving her to wonder what their sexy interlude had meant to him.
* * *
Gina had bid on him.
Two mornings later, Rafe told himself not to read anything into it. He wouldn’t be so conceited as to think their kiss had something to do with it.
She was just helping to amp up the crowd. After all, she’d let Mandee win in the end. She could have upped the celebrity reporter’s bid if she’d been that interested in spending the day with him.
Rafe would have loved to spend the day with Gina, but instead he got Mandee. He was trying not to dread it.
Maybe he wasn’t being fair. He didn’t know Mandee, not really. Sure, he’d watched her a few times on Royal Tonight! and he didn’t care for the way she badgered guests and tried to score cheap laughs by embarrassing them. But that was her television persona. She could be a perfectly nice woman.
JJ appeared in the empty RCW kitchen, seeming surprised to spot Rafe coming down the short staircase from his office.
“You’re here early, boss.”
Rafe entered the kitchen, meeting JJ over the long prep counter.
“I wanted to sign off on payroll,” he said. “I’ve got a full day today.”
“What’s up?”
“Heading out to the ranch.”
“Ahhh...” the chef said with a gleam in his eyes. “The date with the pretty TV woman. That explains your outfit.”
“It’s not a date. It’s a day on the ranch. You think she’s pretty?”
“Sure, she’s pretty. Though I guess they can make anyone look pretty on television. I wonder what she looks like without all that makeup. Maybe you’ll find out.”
“I doubt it.” He poured himself a cup of coffee then held the pot up to JJ as a question.
“Sure...thanks.” JJ grinned. “You guys really raked it in on that auction.”
“We did. More than I expected, that’s for sure.”
“Is it enough?”
“Enough for what?”
“Well, to pull RCW out of the fire for one.”
Rafe paused. He’d been thinking about that, growing less and less comfortable with the idea of taking charity to save his restaurant.
“Boss?” JJ prompted, seeming confused by Rafe’s silence.
“When I started this place—” he looked around the spotless kitchen
“—I swore I would make or break it on my own merits.”
“And you did.”
“So far. But this...getting free money from a charity event. It doesn’t sit right.”
“You lost money because of a crime. That’s not on merit. You deserve to get some of it back. That’s just justice.”
“I’ve been thinking...” Rafe didn’t want to risk RCW’s future. The very last thing he wanted to do was lose the restaurant and force his employees to find new jobs. But maybe there was some middle ground.
“You’re making me nervous,” JJ said.
“What are our options? I mean our other options. If we had to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, get creative and use nothing but RCW resources, how might we do it?”
“Hmm.” JJ leaned back against a wall and seemed to contemplate. “First place I’d look is unused capacity.”
“We don’t open until eleven,” Rafe noted. “Breakfast?”
“That’s one idea, the most obvious idea.”
“What do you think of it?” he asked.
“We’d need a whole new shift of employees. Plus a new menu, marketing...competition’s really stiff at the breakfast hour.”
“People might not like such a formal place for breakfast.” Rafe knew RCW was a destination, an experience. It wasn’t necessarily someplace for a quick short stack and fried eggs.
“What if we focused on the kitchen only?” JJ asked.
“How so?”
“This might sound self-serving...but what about my mom and sisters?”
Rafe was confused.
“Mom’s an amazing cook.”
“Most moms are.” He thought of his own mother and his nana’s delicious homemade specialties.
“She bakes. She plays with her old family recipes to create fusion desserts, and they’re in demand at the recreation center, at church, for my sisters’ sports teams.”
Rafe could guess where this was going. “Are you suggesting she’s ready to go commercial?”
“I think she is. I’d have to ask her. But she could use the kitchen from, say, four a.m. to midmorning, try to get some contracts with local grocery retailers and do a split of the profits.”
As Rafe thought his way through the idea, he caught sight of the wall clock and realized he was behind schedule.
Bidding on a Texan Page 9