Who knew there were so many vultures amongst the elite of Finley Creek?
She sensed him before she saw him. Lacy forced herself not to outwardly react.
“Hello, neighbor,” a male voice purred in her ear. Lacy shivered. She knew exactly who it was. He’d had his eyes on her the entire time she’d been up on that damned stage. And he’d been stalking her around the ballroom for the last fifteen minutes.
He leaned closer and brushed his lips against her bare shoulder. “Funny coincidence, us both being here. Guess we could have carpooled, after all.”
“Mmm. There would have been questions.” Lacy turned and then she was in his arms. When had he shifted? “I don’t think your brother likes me.”
“Hey, I saw him. He almost smiled. That means he does like you.”
“Ha-ha.” He stepped to the left, one hand around her waist. Travis guided her right out the door. “What are you doing?”
“The mayor looked down your dress. I watched him do it and wanted to scratch out his eyeballs. Or other parts.” Lacy watched him look straight down the front of the elegant gown she’d borrowed from Mel’s ever-expanding closet of dresses Houghton bought for her. Travis refused to look away. She shivered. His green eyes darkened. He knew what he did to her, didn’t he? “I know exactly what he was thinking, too.”
“Turner Barratt is a gentleman.” Like hell he was; the mayor was a Barratt, after all. Barratts practically oozed sex. But...she liked the possessiveness in Travis’ eyes. How could she not? And she had no doubt he was thinking the exact same thing the mayor had been.
Truth was, the mayor had nothing on Travis Worthington-Deane.
The tux he wore outlined his broad shoulders and made him look just about perfect. Far better than the mayor ever could—which was saying a lot, as the mayor was gorgeous.
She wanted to touch. Wanted the right to touch. She shivered again, this time from the knowledge that she wasn’t so sure she could keep whatever happened between them casual. Not anymore. “Trav...”
“Shhh. No one can see us, honey. And Lacy, I don’t give a damn if they do. You...” He swooped down and covered her lips with his own.
He’d swooped.
That swoop thing that no man had ever done to her before. She’d seen Houghton do it to Mel more than a hundred times. Saw Elliot and Chance do the same to their wives when they thought no one was around to see. But her?
She wasn’t the kind of woman a man dared to swoop with. But Travis did, and before she even realized it, Lacy’s arms were wrapped around his waist and she was leaning against the cool wall, hiding behind a damned plant, while he kissed the heck out of her. When he finally pulled away she was a puddle.
A puddle ready to form right at the darned man’s feet.
He smiled down at her. “There some place we can sneak away to? Be alone?”
Yes. Yes, she wanted that right now.
Still, this wasn’t her house. She wasn’t about to sneak a man up to the guest suite she was staying in tonight. The one right between Jilly’s and Ari’s.
No. She wasn’t going to do that.
But... “There’s an alcove...near the pool.”
“Lead on.”
She took his hand, feeling like a stupid young girl enamored of the star football player who’d deigned to smile at her.
But that wasn’t the case here at all.
She led him to the alcove then he spun her right back into his arms. “Trav!”
“What? Isn’t this the way it’s supposed to be? Prince Charming at the ball? Give me one of your shoes.”
“You’re an idiot, aren’t you? Just an idiot, wrapped up in a really pretty package.”
“This thing? It’s Marcus’ hand-me-down, what can I say?”
“Sure it is.” It had obviously been tailor-made just for him. Lacy fiddled with the edge of the black jacket. The muscles beneath were lean and hard from years of hard work. He might be a Deane, but he wasn’t the kind of man afraid of getting sweaty. His hand slipped low on her back. “What are you doing?”
“Does this thing have a zipper?”
“Travis!” They were exposed, for anyone to see. Didn’t he care? She looked up into green eyes and knew in that moment that he didn’t. “And no. It slips over my head.”
“Damn it. I was hoping...” he grinned at her. “Kiss me again, then we’ll dance. And you’ll let me drive you home tonight?”
Regret went through her. She almost wished she could say yes. “I’m staying here tonight. We all three are. Houghton’s flying out for a day or two and he doesn’t want Mel alone.”
“I see. You’re babysitting the pretty rich lady.”
“Something like that.” He tugged her toward the dance floor.
Travis pulled her closer and began swaying to the music. Lacy wrapped her arms around his waist and just...let him hold her.
They’d done nothing more complicated than kiss a few times, but she felt different when she was with him. Did that matter at all? How was she supposed to know?
“Afraid, McGareth?”
Well, that did it. “I hope you can keep up.”
She could dance. Really well. Her last foster mother had been a dance, piano, and voice instructor. Lacy had enjoyed the three years she’d spent with that woman and her elderly mother.
“Oh, I think I’ll do just fine.” He spun her into the music and off they went. Other couples got out of their way.
Until it seemed like it was just her and him swaying to the music. Lacy didn’t speak and tried to enjoy what she was doing.
“Look at that...” He wasn’t focusing on her, but on a couple clear across the ridiculously large ballroom in Houghton’s house. Why did a man need a ballroom that large in his house? “Look at Marc and your little fairy friend.”
She knew exactly who he meant--the description could only fit Ari. “Yes. Ariella’s had years of ballet. She’s an excellent dancer. Clumsy when she walks, but wonderful when dancing.”
She followed his gaze and saw Ari and the governor almost floating across the dance floor. People were most watching them. They looked ridiculously beautiful together.
Just behind Ari and the governor was another couple. Jillian. Dancing and glaring straight up into Rafe Holden-Deane’s angry face. They looked so mismatched. Those two...it was obvious they’d never learn to get along. They weren’t the only couples on the dance floor--Gabby and Elliot were nearby, looking too damned adorable for words, and Houghton had Mel snuggled up against him out of the path of the dancers--but they stood out. To her, anyway.
“You’re not exactly a slouch. How many years of lessons?”
“Three.” Three of the best years of her life. Until her foster mother had died, leaving Lacy alone again.
“Then you can probably handle something a little more complicated, right?” He grinned at her, wicked and handsome. Then he swirled her around to the music. “Let’s show off. I can’t let my older brothers show me up.”
Other people really did get out of their way, didn’t they?
When it finally ended, she pulled out of his arms and looked up at him coolly. He looked far too good in his tux and she knew he knew it. The arrogant confidence of a man who had never wanted for anything.
That was Travis Worthington-Deane, and heaven help her, Lacy wanted him. “It’s been a... real pleasure.”
She let him lead her off the dance floor, simply not to make a scene for her friends. She respected Houghton and Mel a great deal; she wasn’t going to do anything to embarrass Jillian’s older sister. Mel had worked her ass off to get this benefit exactly right. As had Ari. This was her passion, after all.
And it was a cause they all believed in. No question there.
But he didn’t lead her back to her table near the front. Instead he maneuvered her right out of the ballroom and to the area surrounding Houghton’s indoor pool.
Lacy had spent quite a bit of free time in that pool.
“Alright, Cowboy,
what do you think you’re doing?”
“Just looking for privacy.”
TRAVIS KNEW the dance had disconcerted her. He didn’t give a damn. Dancing with her had done something to him. Something that made him want to prolong having her attention on him. Something had changed from the casual flirting and fun he’d originally had in mind with her, to being something more.
Lacy was extra vulnerable tonight--damned beautiful, sexy, alluring, intriguing, maddening. A woman, and one that he so wanted to touch. One he wanted to figure out, even if it took him forever to do it.
The hint of vulnerability and mistrust in the big green eyes staring up at him had him not doing what he wanted.
But that didn’t mean he wanted to turn her over to her friends, either.
“Seriously? Trav…I have to go…What do you want?”
“You have to ask?” He stopped right next to the wall. They could still hear the orchestra playing, but had some privacy. “Your perfume is nice.”
“Are you trying to charm me?” She arched her head back, until her eyes met his. Travis couldn’t help himself, he had to touch again. He ran a light finger over the softness of her neck. Lacy McGareth had the softest, softest skin… “It won’t work.”
But he’d felt her shiver at his touch. Travis smiled. She was aware of him, wasn’t she? Just as aware of him as he was of her.
Travis leaned down to taste that theory, just as the sounds of a heated argument erupted near the pool.
She yanked out of his arms and started toward the sound. “Jilly!”
Travis followed. First, because he wasn’t about to let her get between two people arguing. Second, because the man arguing with Jillian Beck was none other than his brother Rafe.
“Leave them alone. They’ll figure things out.”
“He’s yelling at her.”
“She’s yelling right back at him.” And she was. Something about Rafe being an ogre with a stethoscope shoved up his…rear.
Jillian Beck apparently had a very inventive temper.
There was fear on Lacy’s face. That stopped Travis in his tracks. Lacy was afraid. Genuinely afraid that his brother was going to hurt her little friend. Travis turned her to look up at him, as the truth started to sink in. Someone, a man, had seriously hurt this woman in the past, hadn’t he?
Travis pushed the anger away. She was right in front of him. And safe. He would keep her that way. “He’s not going to hurt her, Lacy. I promise. Rafe wouldn’t ever hurt a woman. Hell, he wouldn’t even pound on me because I was smaller than him as a kid. He won’t hurt her.”
He kept his hands on her, to keep her from barging over there.
But it wasn’t necessary. Jillian Beck could apparently take care of herself, even at elf-sized and against his giant-sized ogre brother.
Travis had an inkling what the redhead was planning only seconds before his idiot brother hit the surface of the water.
Jillian stormed away, but not before grabbing the brunette woman’s hand and pulling her along behind.
Travis hadn’t even realized Ariella was there behind Jillian and Rafe.
He let go of her, knowing immediately that she was going to rush to her friends’ sides.
The three of them were close—a three-piece set, after all. Practically inseparable.
Whatever Jillian and Rafe had been arguing about had involved the pretty brown-haired girl. Something to make that little redhead furious.
The trio of women returned to the ballroom, talking furiously. Travis walked over to the edge of the pool.
His older brother was treading water. And cursing. Cursing worthy to shock an old sailor. “Well, Rafe. You always did know how to make a splash with the ladies.”
“Screw yourself, Trav.” Rafe heaved himself out of the water. “Those three are not ladies. They are insane little monsters. Demons.”
“Including the fairy one? Or just the redhead?”
“All of them. And I saw you making time with McGareth. Word of warning. She’s a viper in a pretty dress.”
Travis straightened. No matter how angry his brother was, there would be none of that directed at his Lacy. “No. She’s not. You scared my favorite siren.”
“Excuse me?”
“You terrified her. Lacy honestly thought you were going to hurt her little friend. There was some serious fear in those big green eyes. She was terrified of you, from clear over there.” He grabbed a towel a member of Barratt’s staff held out to him discretely and tossed it to his brother. The tux was going to be ruined. But worse...how was Rafe going to get out of the house dripping wet like this? Travis bit back a laugh. This was going to be fun. Perhaps he should get Marc out there to see it for himself. Rafe never had screw-ups like this.
“I didn’t mean to scare her. Thought McGareth was fearless. She certainly acts like it.” Rafe’s tone lost some of the bite.
“I suspect that’s just a little shield she has.” He needed to delve deeper into why. “Someone somewhere has hurt her, I think.”
“She’s trouble. Hell, they all three are.” Rafe wiped off his face and then his hair. There was nothing he was going to be able to do about the dripping tux. “Trouble. All wrapped up in beautiful packages. Succubae birthed just to draw men in.”
“Why was the brunette so upset? What did you do to her?”
“Ariella. They call her...Ari.” There was something in his brother’s tone that had Travis looking at him, closely. Rafe sighed. “I suppose I should tell you. My birth family found me recently. Melody Barratt was hired to find me.”
“And?” Travis knew that Rafe’s adoption was a sensitive subject for his brother. After Marc’s birth, his mother had been told she couldn’t have any more children. And she’d wanted another. They’d practically purchased Rafe from his birth mother. That was all Travis knew about where the man he’d never considered anything other than his real brother had come from. Rafe was his brother. That was all that had mattered to him. But to their father—and then to their mother after Travis was born a year after the adoption was final—Rafe had always been second best. Damaged goods.
Rafe didn’t answer.
“Well. This wasn’t what I expected to find. What happened? Trav push you in? I’ll hold him down if you want to drown him for a bit.” The two brothers turned as the governor of Texas pulled up a lounge chair behind them. Travis took an extra seat next to their eldest brother. He didn’t want Rafe dripping on his own tux.
“Hardly. It was that little demon succubus, Jillian Beck.” Rafe looked back toward the ballroom. “She shoved me in.”
“Why would Jillian do that?” Marc asked. “What did you do to her? And how did she do it? I don’t see a crane.”
“Or was it to the fairy?” Travis asked. Ari the Fairy suited Lacy’s friend rather well.
“She’s not a fairy.” Rafe said, impatiently. “She’s one of them.”
“All right, brother. Now you aren’t making the least bit of sense. Ariella Avery is just a sweet young woman who seems to have her head in the clouds quite a bit. But from what I understand she was quite instrumental in organizing this benefit. She’s a charming woman and very talented. She wrote the songs they sang tonight.”
“She’s my biological sister,” Rafe said bluntly. “Any attention she’s shown you, Marc, it’s because she wants something.”
Marc laughed like crazy at that. “She barely paid me any attention at all. I could have been an alien for all she noticed. I’ve known from the moment I met her older half-brother Davis Lucas that there was a connection, Rafe. It’s rather hard to miss. They have a sister about four or five years younger than you too, Rafe. I’ve met her once or twice.”
“You knew?”
“Mel asked Elliot about our connection and I spoke with her myself a few months ago. We thought the decision should be yours before contact was made. That’s why Mel sent you the letter. I don’t think Ariella knows that I know, though. She certainly didn’t ask while we danced. In fac
t, I’m not even certain she realized who she was dancing with.”
“You said something typically Rafe to the pretty fairy, didn’t you?” Travis asked. “And that pissed off the leprechaun. Which ended up with you in the pool.”
“That just about sums it up.”
“What’s your problem with Ariella being your sister?” Marcus asked. Travis had to admit, he could think of far worse people to be connected to by biology. He liked Lacy’s friend, she made a guy feel all protective and big brother-y. Or maybe that was part of the problem?
“I don’t want any contact with my birth mother. Or any other children she spawned. Period.”
“You might not want it, but thanks to her family connection to Elliot and Chance, I don’t see how you are going to avoid it,” Travis said. “Hell, Rafe, it’s not like you have to play big brother to her. She’s a full-grown woman. Very beautiful, by the way, and she seems sweet. I don’t think she needs you. She’s probably just curious, and young enough and naïve enough to believe you’d make a good big brother or something. You say there are more, Marc? What about them?”
“Davis Lucas. Lucas Tech/Industries, out of St. Louis. He makes green technologies. He’s a good friend of Barratt’s, I understand. And the sister is raising the youngest brother; he’s a young teen, I think. She’s with the FBI. That’s really all I know.”
“And the mother?”
“Dead. I’m not sure of the details,” Marc said, quietly. “But I can find out, if you want.”
“I don’t.”
Marc nodded. “I understand. But Rafe? Ariella is a very shy woman who doesn’t deserve being blamed for her mother’s actions—any more than you do ours. Something to keep in mind.”
48
The charity event had performed better than Ari had anticipated. Lacy was proud of her friend. Ari had worked hard to make it a success and it showed. But she was glad it was over. She hadn’t enjoyed the attention she’d received from Houghton’s various connections but she’d endured. As had Jillian. Together, they’d protected Ari.
If the Dark Wins (Finley Creek Book 4) Page 13