by Sara Arden
Reed laughed. “I’m glad my girls think I’m shiny and pretty.”
His girls. Part of her wanted to correct him, but the instinct that won was to ferry that bit of ownership to a small part in her heart and wrap it tenderly, only to bring it out when she needed it.
“Stay out late, do something you shouldn’t, but be safe,” Maudine advised.
Reed leaned over and kissed Grams’s cheek. “Thank you for taking her on such short notice since Missy was...”
“Pish.” Maudine waved him off. “Go on with you.”
“The car is waiting,” he said to Gina as he put Amanda Jane down.
“Are you sure you want me to go? Maybe I should just—”
“Maybe you should go.” Maudine literally moved her toward the door with a gentle push.
“I think your grams has definite ideas about where you’re going.”
“I think so, too.” Gina meant her words to imply that her grandmother had ideas for her in more ways than just tonight, but more like her life path in general.
It was so strange to be with him like this, to feel his hand on the small of her back burning her skin. Imagining what it would be like if he touched her everywhere. She had to stop this.
Once inside the car, complete with a driver, he leaned over and spoke low in her ear.
“You have no reason to be nervous. Everyone will love you or they’ll hate you because you’ll be the most beautiful woman in the room.”
“You don’t have to say those things.” She looked away from him.
“They’re true. I’ve never lied to you before, Gina. I wouldn’t start now.”
“No one has ever told me I’m beautiful. Not like this.”
“If it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t say it. But I can’t stop thinking it.” His breath on the shell of her ear, his nearness, it all spiked her desire.
“I’m still just Gina, but you’re not just Reed.”
“Yes, I am.”
No, he wasn’t. The Reed she knew didn’t smell like expensive aftershave, his presence didn’t suck all the air out of a space, her face didn’t burn with shame over this want of him. She’d thought she had a crush on him when they were kids, and she’d yearned for him with all of her young heart. But this want now was a strange kind of fire. It consumed her in some twisted backdraft.
Gina felt very small, awkward and out of place on his arm. His gentility was something he pulled on like a mask, a costume. He became that other Reed. The finely polished gentleman with the perfect hair. Someone who wasn’t real.
Or maybe she was the one who wasn’t real. Maybe she’d disappeared like so much flotsam. Walking around on his arm, it was a stark reminder of how much things had changed.
And how she’d stayed very much the same.
The ballroom at the Kansas City Convention Center had been decorated to the nines and anyone who was anyone on the KC scene was present and accounted for.
She hadn’t thought that so much business or so much money had its roots in KC, but it did. It shouldn’t have surprised her. The mob had used the city as a gateway to the west when Vegas was young and brought in businesses and did some great and not so great things for the local economy.
So many people, so many fake smiles, so many questions. She wanted to run and hide, but at the same time, she wanted to study these people like bugs under glass. She wanted to see what made them so different from herself and Crys, if there was something genetic that was somehow better.
Gina realized that she was making herself feel like she wasn’t enough. Reed thought she was enough. He thought she mattered.
Just because these people had more than she did didn’t make them any better. They were all painted up and pretty to give money to the university and to medical research. They were doing good things. This was a good thing.
She shuddered to think how much her ticket had cost to come to this event. She recognized a few people from her research on KU Medical Center. People who were on the board. People who could do great things for her career, if she managed to open her mouth and speak. Or maybe it was better that she didn’t. She’d just be quiet.
Gina spotted Reed’s lawyer, Grayson James, moving through the groups of people. He spoke with everyone and she noticed that he turned some people toward them and others he maneuvered away.
He was very smooth.
“Gray is earning his keep tonight, I see.”
“He’s very good at what he does.”
“He’d have destroyed us in court if we hadn’t agreed to this marriage of convenience.”
“I never wanted to destroy you, Gina. I just wanted to protect myself.”
“And I see you’re good at it.”
“Why does that sound like a sin?”
She exhaled heavily. “It’s not. But you have all the power here.”
“Can we talk about this after the event? Any number of people here could use this against me and the company. That means against you, too.”
“Okay.” They made it through more conversation, drinks, dinner and finally dancing. She thought the night would never end. Being a princess, well...the glass slipper didn’t fit at all.
“There’s someone I want you to meet.” He led her over to where a beautiful couple stood.
The woman was tiny, but there was something regal about her. Something inescapably powerful. The man she was with—then she realized where she knew them from. It was the princess and the ranger. Last year, hometown hero Byron Hawkins had rescued a real-life princess and stolen her away from the bad guys trying to ruin her country. He’d brought her home to Glory. She’d never actually gotten to meet the princess, but she knew who Byron was.
He’d been one of the bad boys, the bad crowd. He’d gotten into all kinds of trouble that boys from his side of the tracks tended to keep on the down low. Now he was a national hero.
Maybe he was proof that a person could leave their past behind. They could become someone not only better, but... She looked at Reed.
“Do you remember Byron? And this is his wife, Princess Damara.”
The petite woman smiled. “Just Damara, please. My home country is a democracy now.”
“And this is my fiancée, Gina Townsend.”
“You’re Crystal Townsend’s little sister, right?” Byron said. “I remember her from high school. How is she?”
Gina pinched her lips together, the words locking in her throat. She’d told plenty of people about Crystal’s passing. Accepted their condolences, all without crying or being upset. It was automatic, a social response. But talking to Byron somehow hit deep.
Luckily, she didn’t have to say anything else.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I’ve been out of the country for some time.”
“You’ve been a little busy saving princesses, freedom and all that,” she teased, moving the focus of the conversation back to him.
Damara seemed to understand exactly what she wanted and hopped on the train to move the discussion. “Since we’re stateside, we were going to visit Glory. Byron said I’d really have enjoyed Frogfest. But honestly? All I want are French fries and donuts. You know they taste better when I get them at the source.” The woman offered her a kind and radiant smile.
“Betsy’s? She’s the best.” Gina was glad to have something else to think about.
“So have you set a date?”
Something else except that. “Um, no. We’re not really making a big affair out of it. Private. Very private.” She nodded.
“You’re in the public eye now, or you will be. Private might be a thing of the past.”
“That’s part of why I bought the house in Glory,” Reed said.
Just the sound of his voice calmed and reassured her. It shouldn’t have, but it did
.
“I know what you mean. It’s why I took Damara to Glory. The whole hide-in-plain-sight thing. There’s something about that place. It’s kind of mythical in that for all that it changes, it never really does. There will always be a closer-knit, insular sort of unit. Sure, they’ll fawn over you a little bit when you do well for yourself, but you’ll always be one of theirs. There’s something comforting in that. A kind of protection,” Byron said.
“Exactly that. I thought maybe part of it was because I’d made all this money and I wanted everyone to see I was more than a kid who scrounged in the dirt in Whispering Woods. But it’s because I know if there is any unwanted paparazzi sneaking through my yard, they’re going to get the wrong end of someone’s rolling pin or escorted to the county line by the sheriff with a cordial invitation to take a long walk off a short dock.”
Gina liked his reasons, but the look on his face didn’t exactly match up with what he said. Even though he smiled, there was a tinge of bitterness beneath. She couldn’t blame him. She’d at least had her grandmother to insulate her from feeling so ostracized. Reed had had nothing but her and Crystal.
She found herself linking her hand with his, as though maybe she could anchor him there somehow.
His fingers were strong and his grip solid. And maybe he was the one anchoring her there instead of the other way around.
“How long are you stateside?” Reed asked. “My daughter would love meeting a princess. Especially one like you.”
“One like me?” Damara raised a brow and then grinned.
“She’s the kind of girl who likes to dress her dolls up in evening couture and then they go fishing or drive race cars.”
Gina shot him a look. She’d just made a similar comparison herself the other day. She must’ve really gotten into princess pretend the day that Reed had taken her shopping.
She tried to imagine him dressing up and having a tea party with her and found she had no trouble with that image at all.
He would’ve had to have played with her to know how she played.
“She sounds amazing.” Damara smiled. “I’d love to meet her. We’d love to have you and your family visit us in Castallegna. She’d like the castle.”
Gina noticed there were some groups of people waiting to speak with the princess. Their eyes met. “Ah, duty calls, eh? The business of building a democracy requires a lot of networking and politicking.”
“Of course.” Gina gave her a genuine smile.
“I’ll have our secretary get in touch with Reed’s and we’ll set something up.”
“You’re a natural, sweetheart.”
His praise slid over her, warm and smooth like a good whiskey. “Because she was nice.”
“That’s why I wanted you to meet her.”
“I guess Glory is moving up in the world. A princess. A hero. A billionaire.”
“A doctor...”
“There are plenty of doctors in Glory,” she deflected.
“Not like you.”
“Hush with that.” For some reason, this embarrassed her. She didn’t know why.
“No. I won’t. It’s okay to reach for what you want and to actually expect to get it, Gina.”
“I expect to get it.”
“But you expect it to be hard.”
“Because most things are.” If she expected to work hard, then it was no surprise when she had to.
“Not everything has to be a struggle.”
“I’m feeling like you’re trying to say something about my current situation, not just life.” She raised a brow and accepted a flute of champagne.
“It could be applied to our present situation, yeah.” He nodded.
A few guests had gathered around them and conversation veered away from intimate matters immediately. Talk of current events, Reed’s plans for his company, the delicious shrimp cocktail and everything else merged into the flow of conversation.
After some moments, music began to play and couples began to dance.
Reed excused them from their companions and pulled her against him. “You’re doing great,” he said, whispering against the shell of her ear when the music started.
“Dinner, huh? This is more like a ball.” This was so much different than what she’d expected.
“He called it a dinner.”
“Did you get what you needed?” she asked.
“Why, are you already trying to run away?”
“Most definitely. I hadn’t expected...all of this. It’s so bright. There’s so much glitter and gold. I don’t know how it doesn’t blind you.”
“Because I remember my life without it. I always remember.”
She was pressed against him, her palm in his. And maybe a too-tight glass slipper wasn’t so bad, after all. If it meant she got to be in his arms like this.
Gina couldn’t stop inhaling his scent—the mix of aftershave and cologne, and that underlying note that was uniquely him. She wanted her clothes to smell like him, she wanted to be able to hang this dress in her closet and when she put it on, she wanted to be lost in the memory of what it was like to glide around on a cloud under the stars wrapped in him.
But it wasn’t a cloud, it was just his practiced steps. And the lights weren’t stars.
And this life? It wasn’t hers. It was pretend, a game.
Then he pulled her closer, impossibly close, yet somehow not close enough.
His hand on the small of her back, she decided, was a seemingly innocuous gesture but really more like a tool in the hands of the devil.
All of her focus had centered on that one, single sensation. She wanted his hand to be everywhere. She wanted that burn all over her skin. She wanted to tilt her face up and look into his eyes and see that same hunger she’d seen when he first saw her in the dress.
She wanted it to be there for her. Not because she was convenient, but because she was what he wanted more than anything.
The way she wanted him.
This was a passing fancy, it had to be. Only because he was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. There was a built-in kind of intimacy, but with all the excitement of a new chase, a new person. It would pass.
It would fade to dust long before Amanda Jane was eighteen and she’d be married to a man who wasn’t married to her, not in his heart.
But there was a voice in her head that told her that if she wanted him, she should reach out and take it, the experience of him. She knew better than anyone that tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. Later wasn’t always an option. Time should be spent with the same reserve or abandon as money, depending on how one looked at it.
Or maybe she was just trying to rationalize doing something wild.
“You dance well.”
“Me? I’m just following your lead.”
“I took lessons.”
She tried to imagine Reed taking dancing lessons, comportment like some kind of Pygmalion. And it wasn’t that hard to see.
Gina was instantly jealous of any of those women who’d thought they’d make him a project, change him, then claim him for their own.
Although, obviously, it hadn’t worked. Because he was here with her. She wished sometimes her brain could just stop spinning, stop analyzing every breath or every sigh. She wanted to just live in the moment. For once.
Gina allowed herself to lean into him, to seek just a bit more closeness, to think about the way the lapels of the tux felt under her cheek, her fingers, the warmth of his embrace.
“Ah, the happy couple. May I cut in?” Gray asked.
She wanted to say no, but Reed handed her off. She felt the loss of his arms acutely.
“I suppose I have to go dance with Natasha Wallingford.”
“You did promise and I’ve been amusing her all evening. Your turn,
” Gray said.
“Do you mind?” Reed asked her.
Yes, she minded very much. But she’d never say so. “No, go make nice. Secure your investors.”
In a surprise move, Reed kissed her cheek. “That’s my girl.”
He’d called her his again. She wondered if he knew he was doing it, knew what it meant to her. He couldn’t possibly, nor should he. That was something she should keep to herself.
Too bad Gray was as perceptive as he was.
“This really isn’t about his money for you, is it?” he said, guiding her in a smooth motion across the floor.
She’d rather have his shark lawyer think she was a shark, too. Not some sad little cuttlefish looking for...whatever this was. “Of course it is. It’s about my niece’s future.”
Gray laughed. “You can lie to everyone else. Even yourself. But I know people, Miss Townsend.”
“No, you’re a predator that knows prey.” She didn’t doubt for one minute that Gray was still sizing her up. But she couldn’t be angry at him for it. He was just protecting his client and his friend. Nothing that Emma wouldn’t do for her.
He laughed again. “I won’t deny that. But I can see it in the way you look at him. He’s always been the one for you. But your sister got him.”
“Don’t talk about my sister.” This was territory she wasn’t ready to explore. None of it was, really. But her want of Reed and her own motivations, she couldn’t do this here. Her grip on her emotions was already tenuous at best.
“My apologies.”
She arched a brow. “That was unexpected.”
“What, that I’m not a total asshole?”
He was a great dancer, as good as Reed. His movements were precise and elegant. It was no chore to dance with him and she was suddenly grateful for all the Sundays spent in her grandmother’s living room gliding around with her while she whispered the steps one-two-three-four...
“Yes,” she said honestly.
“When you marry Reed, I’ll be your lawyer, too. I’m not trying to hurt you. I don’t want you to hurt him, if you can understand that.”
“As if I could hurt him.” She didn’t want to think she had that power. If she did, it meant that maybe there was more beneath the surface between them. She couldn’t risk it.