by HELEN HARDT
Marjorie chattered on about getting me on a good skin care regimen. I gave up and stopped listening after a while. At one point, all three of them had their hands on me, doing something.
* * *
Ryan Steel was looking at me. I could tell. His eyes were burning two holes in my skin. I nervously picked up my wineglass and took a sip.
“What do you think?”
I set my wineglass down shakily, willing myself not to spill the red liquid. “What?”
“About the wine. What do you think?”
“Oh. It’s good.”
“I think it’ll work well with the spicy Asian stuff we’ll be having,” Ryan said.
I nodded. Was I supposed to say something? I wasn’t sure. The waiter came around and took our orders. I ordered teriyaki chicken, while Ryan ordered seared scallops and filet mignon. That sounded better than teriyaki chicken. I kept forgetting that this place was all-inclusive and I could order what I liked. But it was too late to change my order. Maybe Ryan would let me have a bite of his.
Of course for that to happen, I’d have to ask for a taste. No way would I have that much nerve.
I took another sip of my wine, this time letting it sit on my tongue for a moment to see what flavors I could identify. Mostly red fruit. Maybe a little earthiness.
“I want to propose a toast,” Marjorie was saying. “To Jade and Talon, to Jonah and Melanie, to all of us, and to this vacation that we all so richly deserve.”
Laughter erupted from our group, and we all clinked glasses. Soon the chef came to prepare our food for us at our table. I was quiet. He gave me something to focus on. He kept us laughing with his antics, making an onion volcano and challenging us to catch little pieces of shrimp in our mouths.
When he got to me, I shook my head.
“Come on, Ruby,” Marjorie urged. “It’s part of the fun.”
I didn’t want to look like an idiot. Though neither Jonah nor Talon had been able to catch one.
I opened my mouth, and the chef effortlessly pitched a small piece of shrimp right onto my tongue. I couldn’t help a smile before I closed my mouth and chewed and swallowed the seafood. The chef winked at me.
The guy was good. I smiled at him, silently thanking him for not making me look like a moron.
The teriyaki chicken was delicious, and of course I was too embarrassed to ask Ryan for a taste of his scallops and filet mignon. They looked amazing, though. The freshly made fried rice was the pièce de résistance, in my opinion. I gobbled up the stuff.
As I was pulling my napkin from my lap, hopefully daintily, a young blonde came bubbling up next to us.
“Hello there,” she said to Ryan.
“Oh, hi, Juliet,” Ryan said.
Juliet? She couldn’t have been any more than eighteen. I might have a hard and tight body, but it was the result of a lot of work. At eighteen, no work was required. Well, maybe a little. At eighteen, I’d begun my quest for physical strength after I found out I couldn’t get into the police academy until I was twenty-one. Up until then, I’d survived on leftovers at the diner where I worked as a waitress, thanks to a fake ID. I was never overweight, but I’d been a little soft. No longer.
Not that I didn’t look feminine. I used my workouts to create long, lean muscles, not bulky ones. I had no desire to look like a body builder.
I looked up at Blondie and assessed her quickly. I had bigger boobs than she did, though hers weren’t bad. I grabbed my wineglass, which the waiter had just refilled, thank God, and took quite a gulp. When was the last time I had compared my boobs to another woman’s? And why did I suddenly care?
Blondie smiled. “I was walking by and I happened to see you in here, so I thought I’d come in and say hi.”
“Hi back,” Ryan said.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”
“Well…sure.” Ryan introduced all of us, ending with me.
“Hi, everyone. I’m Juliet.”
A chorus of salutations echoed across the table.
I stayed silent. It hadn’t taken Ryan Steel long to find a conquest for the evening.
A lump had lodged in my throat. I wasn’t sure why. I certainly didn’t have any designs on Ryan Steel. Did I? He was way out of my league anyway. And I wasn’t looking for a man. Ever.
“Are you done with dinner?” Juliet asked Ryan. “It’s a gorgeous night for a walk on the beach.”
“It is,” Ryan agreed. “But I’ve already got plans for a walk with Ruby.” He took my hand. “Shall we?”
I arched one eyebrow. Was he using me to get rid of Blondie? Because I was nobody’s tool.
“No, we don’t,” I said.
“Of course we do. You promised.” He smiled.
No. Stop beating, heart. Don’t let that gorgeous smile sway you. He’s just trying to get out of walking with Blondie—although why is beyond me. I don’t want him anyway. I could never handle him.
I wasn’t playing this game. I stood. “Excuse me.” I turned and walked toward the door of the restaurant.
Chapter Six
Ryan
I followed Ruby with my gaze.
Juliet was tugging on my arm. “Doesn’t seem like she’s really interested,” she gushed. “But I am.”
I stood, shaking her off of me. “I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
I left her standing by our table with a pout on her face. I’d no doubt hear from my brothers about this scene later, but right now I wanted to find Ruby. She had dashed out of the restaurant pretty quickly, but she couldn’t have gotten far.
It was nearing midnight, but the resort was well lit. There she was…heading toward the beach. Surprising. I’d figured she’d go back to her room. I stayed quiet, just following her, until she came to the sand. She unstrapped her sandals and let her feet sink into the white plush.
I was wearing black loafers, no socks. I’d have to take my shoes off too. She was already walking toward the ocean when I got my shoes off and my pants rolled halfway up my calves.
“Hey!” I said to her.
She turned around, her eyes wide. “Who is it?”
“It’s me. Ryan.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t sound so excited to see me.”
“Look, I don’t appreciate you using me to get out of walking with that blond bobblehead you picked up.”
I walked up to her and touched her arm. Sparks instantly slid through my hand, but she nearly lost her footing and wrenched her arm away. What…?
“Did it ever occur to you that I didn’t want to walk with her?”
“Did it ever occur to you to simply tell her that? Why drag me into it?”
Why had I? She looked gorgeous under the stars. Her dark hair glinted with indigo under the moonlight, her skin fair and opulent.
Her eyes were the clearest blue. Amazing I could see them in the dark, but they were mesmerizing.
Was this truly the mousy woman I’d sat next to on the plane? God, what would she look like when she was really dressed up for the wedding?
Wow. Just wow.
I grinned. Enter Ryan Steel ultra-flirt mode. “Maybe I wanted to walk with you.”
She rolled her blue eyes. “Please,” she said sardonically.
“Please walk with me?” I widened my grin. “Thanks. I’d love to.” I touched her arm again.
Again, she pulled away. “Grabby, aren’t you? And you know that’s not what I meant.”
Man, this wasn’t going to be easy. Her lips were still dark, though the meal had probably taken care of most of her red lipstick. This was Ruby’s natural lip color, darker than I remembered from the plane, and God, it was a turn-on.
I hadn’t dared to think it before, but this woman was beautiful.
Stunning.
“We’re both here, and it’s an amazing night.” I looked up at the night sky aglow with the moon and stars. “What would a walk hurt?” Though I longed to, I didn’t touch her again. She obviously didn’t appreciate i
t, though I wasn’t sure why. I hadn’t done anything to her that I wouldn’t do to anyone else. Just touched her forearm pretty innocently. Man, she was jumpy.
She let out a sigh. “Fine.”
I held out my arm, thinking it would be no big deal for her to slide hers through it. She shook her head and started walking.
This one was certainly going to be a challenge, but I hadn’t yet met a woman I couldn’t lure into my bed. The thought surprised me. When had I decided that I wanted Ruby Lee in my bed? But there was no doubt about it.
I did.
She was about Jade’s size, probably around five feet seven inches. Although her boobs weren’t quite as big as Jade’s, they were close. Bigger than Melanie’s, and even bigger than Juliet’s. Perky too. Little hard nipples protruded through her blue cotton tank. She was clearly going braless, and if I had it my way, she wouldn’t wear a bra this whole trip.
How to approach her—that was the question. Normally, I’d try taking her hand, especially for a midnight walk on the beach. But Ruby clearly didn’t want to be touched. I didn’t know why, though it could definitely have to do with her father. He had, after all, raped my brother and his own niece.
And then my jaw clenched.
Oh my God. Had that beast raped his own daughter?
That wasn’t something I could ask her, obviously. Maybe Ruby was a woman to stay away from. Maybe I should leave her alone. After all, she hadn’t asked for my advances, though I’d hardly even made an advance yet.
I should definitely stay away from her.
“It is a gorgeous night,” she said, interrupting my thoughts.
And it was. I looked again at the myriad stars sprinkled across the night sky, at the nearly full moon reflecting light upon the water before us.
And I looked at her.
She was the most beautiful thing in the night.
The thought entered my mind from seemingly nowhere. Had I ever thought that of any woman? More beautiful than a starry night?
No. I hadn’t.
The words sat at the edge of my lips. Not as gorgeous as you are. I ached to say them, but I feared Ruby wasn’t ready to hear them.
So I swallowed them down, letting them lodge near my heart. Ruby Lee might be the most beautiful creature I’d ever laid eyes on, but I had to leave her alone. God knew what her father had done to her. No wonder she had jumped away every time I tried to touch her.
Suddenly I was aware of her silence, yet it didn’t seem strange. I never really worried about conversation. I was a pretty talkative guy, and so were most women I was with, though whether they were just talking or trying to impress me, I didn’t know. But for some reason, with Ruby, the silence didn’t seem unnatural. In fact, it was kind of peaceful.
“Have you been to the ocean before?” I asked her.
“Honestly, no. This is actually…”
“What?”
“This is kind of embarrassing, but this is the first time I’ve been out of Colorado.”
“And you weren’t afraid to fly?”
“No. I’ve flown between Denver and Grand Junction before, for work. I knew if I could handle those little puddle jumpers, a big jet wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Luckily, it was a pretty easy flight,” I said.
“It was…nice.” She turned and looked straight into my eyes, stopping. “I’m not sure I’ve thanked you enough for the first class upgrade.”
“Of course you have. You hardly stopped mentioning it during the whole flight.”
“I wish I could repay you somehow.”
“A gift doesn’t require repayment.”
She sighed. “That’s what I don’t get. No one’s ever given me anything before.”
I had to stop my jaw from dropping onto the sand. “Never?”
“Well, maybe not never. I get a holiday bonus at work.”
“That doesn’t count,” I said. “I’m sure you earn every penny of it.”
That got a laugh out of her. “No lie. I work my butt off for the department. But I do enjoy it. Most of the time.”
“You’ve never had a friend give you a gift? A coworker?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I try to avoid getting close to people.”
“Why?”
“This is getting a little too personal…”
“You can trust me,” I said. I meant it. My word was as good as gold. The word of any Steel was.
“I’m sure Melanie has told you about my life,” Ruby said.
“No, she hasn’t. Other than who your father is. We can deduce that you didn’t have a great childhood.”
“Melanie is a true friend,” Ruby said. “Honestly, I think she’s the best friend I’ve ever had. I don’t know why I assumed she would tell you anything. I asked her to keep it in confidence.”
“She’s a good therapist,” I said.
“I’m sure she is. But to me she was being a friend.”
Ruby’s hand dangled at her side, devoid of rings, bracelets, or any kind of ornamentation. Her fingernails weren’t painted, nor were her toenails.
Her hand was small compared to mine, and I wanted to grab it, hold it in my own and protect her.
“You want to talk about…anything?”
“Not particularly.”
Curiosity drummed through me. As much as I already hated Theodore Mathias for what he’d done to Talon, my hate ramped up a notch as I thought about what he could have done to the young woman walking next to me.
“How old are you?” I asked.
That actually got a smile out of her. “You’re lucky I’m not one of those women who won’t answer that question. I’m thirty-two.”
“Hey, me too. I would take you for a bit younger, maybe mid-twenties.”
“Thanks. I try to keep myself in shape.”
I couldn’t help myself. I looked over her body lasciviously. “Yes, you sure do.”
I couldn’t see in the darkness, but I was sure her cheeks were pinking.
“So are you happy your brothers are getting married?”
Nice change of subject. “Yes, of course. My brothers deserve happiness. Talon has suffered so much, and so has Jonah, in his own way.”
“Yes, unfortunately, there are many ways to suffer.”
Horrible images entered my head of what she had gone through. I wanted to respect her privacy, but she had opened the door.
“Are you…okay?”
“Of course. I’m fine.”
“I mean… Your father…”
“Is criminally insane. A psychopath. A murderer. A rapist. A certified nutcase. You can say it. I’ve no love for my father.”
“Tell me about your mother, then.”
“She was a good woman. She tried to be a good mother.”
“What was your childhood like?”
“Probably a hundred and eighty degrees away from what yours was,” she said with sarcasm, and then clamped her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry. What your brother went through. And the rest of you. I didn’t mean…”
“It’s okay. I get it. I mean, we went through a lot of shit, but at least we had money, right?” I was trying to be understanding, but a tiny red streak of anger niggled at my neck. “Let me tell you something, Ruby. All the money in the world couldn’t buy healing for Talon. And let me tell you something else. I still sometimes have nightmares about the day he was taken. But for him, they’d have taken both of us.”
Ruby stopped walking and plunked down onto the sand. “I don’t know why I said that. I am so very sorry.”
She sounded sincere. I sat down next to her. Her hand glistened in the light, and again I longed to grab it and hold it. But I didn’t.
“It’s all right.” I sighed. “At least we were never hungry. Were you?”
“Sometimes. Most of the time we did okay.” She sighed. “It’s hard for a cop to admit, but a few times I stole to eat.”
“You were a kid. You were hungry. There’s no need to be ashamed.”
> “I knew stealing was wrong. Even then.”
“You don’t steal now, do you?”
“Of course not.”
“There’s no shame in doing what you have to do to survive. You didn’t hurt anyone.”
“I kept people from making a bigger profit.”
I let out a chuckle. “Yes, you did. I won’t tell you that you didn’t. But my guess is, since then, you’ve done everything you could to make it right.”
She laughed. “Actually, I did. Once I started making money, I went around to all the stores that I used to steal from and I discreetly left twenty-dollar bills lying around. I don’t know if the money got to the right person, but it made me feel a little better.”
I stared at her. I was an honest person. So were my brothers and sister. But Ruby Lee was unbelievable in her honesty. In her sense of ethics. In her sense of right and wrong. How could she have been born to a psychopath like Theodore Mathias?
“You’re pretty amazing, you know that?”
She looked at me, staring into my eyes with her own blue ones. “No one has ever called me amazing before.”
“So that’s another first, then. No one had given you anything before, and I gave you an upgrade to first class. No one had told you that you were amazing before, and I just did.” Without thinking, I leaned toward her and brushed my lips across hers. “Has anyone ever done that to you before?”
Chapter Seven
Ruby
My heart nearly stopped beating. Tiny prickles raced across my skin, and warmth crashed through me, culminating between my legs.
What would Ryan Steel think if I answered his question honestly? If I said no, no one had ever done that to me before, because I had never let it happen? What would he think of a thirty-two-year-old woman who had never been kissed? He’d run as far as he could in the opposite direction. Which, as attracted as I was to him, was probably the best thing for both of us. So I decided to be honest.
“As a matter of fact, no.”
He touched my cheek gently. Everything in me screamed at me to flinch, to go running, but something deeper told me to stay. Something deep within the core of me. Something I’d never felt before.