Dynasties:The Elliots, Books 7-12

by Various Authors

  Aubrey planted her feet on the floor and halted the chair with a jerk. Her eyes widened with alarm and her face paled. “Are you expecting someone?”

  “No.” Liam tried to think but it wasn’t easy with a naked lady sitting in his desk chair. “It’s probably Cade. Otherwise the doorman would have called.”

  “Cade’s a friend?”

  “And a co-worker.”

  “Oh.” A dose of apprehension flavored the word.

  “Head for my room. I’ll get the door.”

  “You might want to put on some pants first in case it’s not your friend.”

  Where was his brain? Lost somewhere between Panic Avenue and Lust Lane. “Good idea.”

  The knocking continued as they raced back to Liam’s room. He yanked on his pants and then closed the bedroom door on his way out. “All right. I’m coming.”

  He paused a second to catch his breath and then opened the door. Cade stood on the threshold. His friend immediately stepped inside, heading for the den, the way he had dozens of times before.

  “I was about to give up on you. Mind if I hang out here for a while? Jessie and her girlfriends are oohing and aahing over wedding magazines. They kicked me out.” When Liam remained by the door instead of following him, Cade turned and took in Liam’s bare chest, the pants he’d fastened but hadn’t bothered to belt and his bare feet. “Did I get you out of bed?”

  Liam wiped a hand over his face and shut the door. It was pretty damned obvious from his state of undress that Cade had interrupted something. Better his buddy think he’d awakened him than have him ask questions. “Yes.”

  And the lie began. At that moment it hit home exactly what a relationship with Aubrey would entail. Sneaking around, lying to family and friends and keeping quiet about the only woman who’d put a smile on his face since Patrick’s contest began.

  Cade’s gaze drifted past Liam to the champagne, roses and purse still on the dining room table. “You’re not alone.”

  Damn. You couldn’t lie with two empty champagne flutes in plain view. “No.”

  Cade pointed at Liam’s neck. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “What?”

  “A hickey.”

  Liam fought the urge to cover his heating skin. “Possibly.”

  A wicked grin spread over Cade’s face. “If you’d mentioned you had a hot date tonight I wouldn’t have dropped in. So who is she?”

  “Nobody you know.”

  “The gallery lady with you in the picture in the paper?”

  “Good night, Cade. We’ll hang out another time.”

  “You’re not talking? She must be special.”

  Denial sprang to Liam’s lips, but he bit it back. Aubrey special? She was, but not in the way Cade meant. There wouldn’t be a wedding at the end of this affair. Liam opened the door, an unsubtle hint. “I’ll catch up with you Monday.”

  “I knew you were having women troubles,” Cade said on his way past. “You’ve been zoned out all week. But I guess you’ve worked them out.”

  Not good to know his distraction was obvious. “No troubles to work out.”

  But he lied. Liam shut the door and leaned against it. The trouble had just begun. He’d chosen a path through a mine field. One misstep and life as he knew it could be blown to hell.

  What if they’d been caught?

  Aubrey’s heart beat a frantic baboom as she pulled on her clothing. With her hands trembling like fall leaves in a stiff breeze, rolling up the expensive stockings was beyond her capabilities. She wadded them up and stepped barefoot into her heels.

  The low rumble of male voices carried through the door, but she couldn’t understand the words. No matter. As soon as Liam’s visitor left she had to go. Spending the night and brazenly waltzing outside in the morning sunshine was too risky. Better to slink home under the cover of darkness.

  A clandestine affair. So over the top. So Hollywood. So not her. And yet she wasn’t ready to give up Liam. Not yet. Not when she finally felt alive again for the first time in years.

  The opening bedroom door startled her. She spun to face Liam. His gaze ran over her and a pleat formed between his eyebrows. “You’re dressed.”

  “Yes. I need to go.”

  “Why?”

  “Because staying isn’t a good idea. I thought—But no. I mean I—” She was blathering. She stopped and pressed her fingers to her lips.

  He cupped her shoulders. “Aubrey, it’s okay. No one knows you’re here.”

  She looked into his understanding blue eyes and almost caved. Almost. She’d love to spend the night pleasuring Liam and letting him return the favor, because he was exceptionally good at delivering pleasure, and she’d love to wake up in arms, but the stakes were too high. “I want to go home.”

  “Spend the weekend with me. We’ll drive to the coast or upstate and find a place where we don’t have to worry about anyone knocking on our door.” His thumbs stroked the hollows beneath her collarbones with thought-blocking sensuality.

  “I can’t. My father is entertaining tomorrow night. I’m his hostess. Maybe next weekend.”

  He shook his head. “Next weekend I have to fly to Colorado for Cade’s engagement party.”

  Aubrey sighed in resignation. Their time together would consist of stolen interludes, until finding time for each other became more hassle than happiness and one or the other of them would end the relationship. Had she expected otherwise? No, because she hadn’t bothered to think that far in advance. In fact, thinking seemed to be an ability she lacked around Liam Elliott.

  The relationship was moving too fast. Aubrey needed to step back and assess the situation. Otherwise, she’d end up in one of her mother’s relationship train wrecks.

  “I want to go home,” she repeated.

  He must have recognized the determination in her eyes, because he didn’t argue this time. He raked a hand over his hair, standing the blond strands up in spikes. “I’ll call a cab.”

  “No. It’s only a few blocks.”

  “Then I’ll walk you to your door.”

  “No.” She bit her lip. She hadn’t intended to shout.

  His lips flattened. “Either I walk you to your door or you take a cab. It’s better to risk exposure than have you get mugged or worse.”

  Once again, his thoughtfulness surprised her. Liam Elliott was truly a prize. A prize she couldn’t keep.

  “You can walk me to the street corner in view of the well-lit entrance to my building, but not to my door.” If she wanted to protect her heart, then she had to keep the boundaries of this affair firmly in sight.

  Liam’s week had been a tug-of-war between family duty, his friendship with Cade and his desire for Aubrey. There had been moments where it seemed like he—the rope—would snap.

  He’d spent his days at work, dodging Cade’s knowing smirk and probing questions, trying to pacify antsy advertisers and attempting to alleviate the tension between the EPH staff members. Each evening he came home to Aubrey. She made the headaches disappear. He cooked dinner with her and had the hottest sex of his life. And they talked. About anything, about nothing. It didn’t matter. Just being with her was enough.

  He couldn’t leave town without saying goodbye. Again. They’d said goodbye last night very satisfactorily. If he was a little worried that he was becoming too dependent on her, then he shrugged it off as a temporary hurdle. All too soon this sensual interval would end.

  Hoping Aubrey wouldn’t mind being awakened so early in the morning, he snatched up his cell phone and punched in her number. He’d programmed her as number one on his speed dial list. He tucked the unit beneath his ear and resumed shoving clothing and his toiletry bag into his suitcase.

  “Hello,” Aubrey answered in a sleep-roughened voice.

  One word, that was all it took to reignite the sparks of hunger deep in his belly. “I called to say goodbye before I take off for the airport.”

  “It’s only five-thirty. You’re getting an early s
tart.”

  He didn’t want to go. The realization surprised him. He’d always wanted to travel, but he’d stayed close to EPH, fearing that if he left he’d give the impression that he didn’t care about his job. In other circumstances he’d love to see Colorado and spend time with his family away from the stress of work, but the timing of Cade’s engagement party reeked. Liam loved Cade like a brother and he was happy his friend had found Jessie, but watching the lovers cuddle and kiss would rub salt in an open wound. Liam and Aubrey could never have what Cade and Jessie had—an open relationship and a family celebration.

  Did he want that?

  “Liam?”

  “I’m here. I was just recalling dinner last night.”

  “We never got around to eating last night, if you recall.”

  He grinned. “I feasted, if you recall.”

  Husky laughter filled his ear. “I vaguely remember you nibbling somewhere.”

  He’d done more than nibble. He’d sipped from her sweetness right there on the dining room table until she begged him to stop, and then he’d carried her to bed because she’d claimed her legs were too weak to support her. Once there she’d made him a very, very happy man.

  He’d miss her, he realized. He’d miss her sassy, irreverent humor, her calming voice, her sexier-than-sin body and her amazingly talented mouth. He started to tell her and then clamped his jaw shut on the words. Their relationship rules didn’t permit those kinds of declarations. No mention of the future allowed. All they had was here and now.

  And that didn’t bother him. Much.

  “I’ll call you from Colorado if I get a chance. If not, you’ll hear from me when I get back. Are we still on for Sunday night?”

  “I’ll be there with bells on—and nothing else.”

  He groaned at the provocative image.

  “Liam, I…I’ll miss our evenings together.”

  His heart thumped hard against his ribs. “Me, too.”

  “Have fun.”

  “I’ll try.” And he would try because duty to his friend and his family demanded he give one hundred percent. And Liam always did his duty.

  Seven

  Pitiful, you can’t even make it twenty-four hours without talking to Aubrey.

  Liam itched to share everything he’d seen on Travis Clayton’s ranch with her. The place was far beyond Liam’s experience. He felt like a wide-eyed kid. Whichever way he turned new sights, sounds and smells inundated him. The air was clean. His lungs would appreciate a morning run here without the exhaust fumes to choke him. And he couldn’t get over the lack of noise. Sure, cattle did whatever cattle do, and there were other ranch sounds, but the constant drone of noise to which he’d become accustomed was missing.

  He escaped the family gathering in Silver Moon Ranch’s large, two-story log house as soon as possible and found a spot in the shadows of the bunkhouse where even the moonlight didn’t penetrate. He hit speed dial and Aubrey’s number dialed automatically. She answered on the first ring and his pulse did its usual stutter upon hearing her voice.

  “You won’t believe this place,” he blurted without preamble. “The ranch is so vast I can’t see anything for miles, but the view of the Rocky Mountains is incredible.”

  “Hello to you, too,” she teased. “You’ve never traveled west?”

  “Other than L.A. and Dallas a few times on business, no. I’m a city boy, born and bred. Would you believe Cade, Shane and I are staying in an actual bunkhouse with two of the ranch hands? It’s like walking onto a Western movie set.”

  “Your uncle Shane?”

  “Yeah.” Though only a few years older than Liam, Shane was his uncle, and the editor in chief of The Buzz magazine.

  “Is the rest of the family at the ranch with you?”

  The family. Family she’d never meet. The knowledge dampened his mood.

  “It’s primarily the Charisma staff,” he responded. “Besides Cade and Jessie, his fiancée, there’s Aunt Fin, Jessie’s birth mother, my grandmother Maeve, my cousin Scarlet and her fiancé John Harlan.”

  “John Harlan from Suskind, Engle and Harlan advertising agency?”

  “Yes. You know him?”

  “Yes. He’s handled a few of our advertisers’ accounts and attended several Holt Enterprises receptions.”

  Liam’s neck prickled in warning. But there was no reason for Aubrey’s name to come up and no reason for John to make the connection between Liam and his forbidden lover. Liam dismissed his concerns.

  “Tomorrow’s the big day. Jessie’s father Travis says neighbors will drive in from all over the state for Cade and Jessie’s engagement party. It sounds like he has some interesting entertainment lined up for us city slickers.”

  She laughed. “Don’t hurt yourself. I need you fully functional when you return because I went shopping today. You’re going to love what I bought.”

  He groaned, recalling the last bagful of sinful lingerie she’d sprung on him. Her little fashion show and the resulting action between the sheets had made them both late returning to work from the lunch break they’d taken at his apartment Wednesday.

  “I can’t wait.” His voice sounded as if someone had poured a load of gravel down his throat.

  How did she do it? How did Aubrey Holt get to him through a phone line? Until Aubrey, Liam had never been one to spend a great deal of time talking on the phone unless the call was business-related. A phone was a tool. She’d turned it into an instrument of seduction. He found himself reluctant to say goodbye. “What are you wearing?”

  “Bubbles. I’m in the tub.”

  The blood drained from his head. He leaned back, resting his head and shoulders against the rough siding of the bunkhouse. It took a few seconds to get his tongue to work. “You fight dirty.”

  She chuckled. “So you always claim. But you love it. Otherwise you wouldn’t have a smile on your face each time you accuse me of it. I’ll bet you’re smiling now.”

  She knew him too well. How had that happened in less than three weeks? He tried to erase his grin and failed miserably. “What man wouldn’t smile when he’s talking to a sexy naked lady who looks good, smells good and tastes even better?”

  “Someone,” she continued in a sassy tone, “gave me a bag of steamy romances to read, and the tub is my favorite reading spot. I expect to spend quite a bit of time here while you’re gone.”

  An image of her slender curves, glistening wet and dotted with soap bubbles, flashed in his brain. His mouth filled with moisture, and need twisted in his belly. “You’re killing me, sweetheart.”

  The crunch of a shoe on the hard-packed dirt made him turn. Cade stood only a few feet away in a pool of moonlight.

  “I have to go. Good night.” Liam barely waited for Aubrey’s reply before he snapped his phone closed.

  Cade leaned against the corner of the bunkhouse. “I wondered where you’d run off to. I didn’t know you needed to whisper sweet nothings to your lady.”

  Liam didn’t know how much his friend had heard, but clearly, denial would be pointless. He replayed as much of the conversation as he remembered. Had he called Aubrey by name? He didn’t think so. “Did I miss anything?”

  “Travis is getting ready to open the champagne you brought.” He pushed off the building as Liam reached his side. “Still not willing to reveal who the mystery lover is?”

  “Does it really matter? You don’t know her.” Liam headed for the ranch house.

  “I spilled my guts to you. The least you can do is return the favor.”

  “No need. My ‘guts’ aren’t going to be dragged down the aisle.”

  And for the first time, Liam realized that might not be a good thing.

  Done. Aubrey shut down her computer, satisfied that the e-mail version of the report on EPH from the advertising staff had been deleted and the paper copy shredded. Her father would have to find someone else to do his dirty work.

  “What brings you in on the weekend?” Speak of the devil. Her father s
tood in the doorway of her office.

  She swallowed to ease the sudden dryness of her mouth. “Nothing special. I often work on weekends.”

  “With the way you’ve been bolting out the door each day exactly at five, I imagine you have some catching up to do.”

  She fought a flinch. Evidently, her comings and goings hadn’t gone as unnoticed as she’d hoped. “I’m trying to add an evening workout to my schedule.”

  The lie rolled easily off her tongue. Too easily considering she never lied. But then Liam made certain she had a thorough workout each evening—just not the kind she implied to her father. She hoped the warmth of her cheeks didn’t give her carnal thoughts away.

  “You’ve had several lunch meetings this week. With whom?”

  Anger stirred. Her father’s tendency to micromanage shouldn’t extend to her lunch hours. “Friends. I’ve been working so hard lately that I’ve lost touch with quite a few of my college friends, and I’ve only been out twice.”

  Another lie…sort of. She had lost touch with her friends, but on those lunch hours she’d met Liam, not her former dorm mates.

  “Make sure your reunions don’t interfere with your work.”

  “Yes, sir. Absolutely.” The urge to stand and salute almost overwhelmed her.

  He left as abruptly as he’d arrived without the courtesy of a goodbye. Aubrey sighed. Some things never changed.

  Matthew Holt never said hello.

  He never said goodbye.

  He never said he loved her.

  She’d willingly give up a lifetime of hellos and goodbyes just to hear those three words from her father’s lips one time.

  City meets country. Liam studied the crowd. He didn’t have to be related to any of the guests to distinguish Travis Clayton’s rural denim-clad neighbors from the New York crowd. Even their casual wear shouted urban.

  “Great party, Travis,” Liam said as he accepted a draft beer from Jessie’s father. Big and blond and gruff, the man clearly doted on his only daughter. The open affection wasn’t something Liam had seen often from his own father until lately. His mother’s cancer had reaffirmed the value of family connections for all of them.