Men Made in America Mega-Bundle

by Gayle Wilson, Marie Ferrarella, Jennifer Greene, Annette Broadrick, Judith Arnold, Rita Herron, Anne Stuart, Diana Palmer, Elizabeth Bevarly, Patricia Rosemoor, Emilie Richards

  Luc saw Ike and Shayne exchange approving glances. A ray of pride pushed forward. He knew that Alison was supposed to be nothing more than an acquaintance, but he was glad they liked her. Glad she seemed to be fitting in so quickly. Out here, a person needed to see the bright side of everything in order to survive. There were plenty occasions for nature to try to show you the darker side.

  Moving around Mac, who was watching Alison very intently, Luc led the way to the back of the house and Alison’s room.

  She paused in the doorway, looking in, before slowly venturing into the room. It was half the size of the one she had left behind. There was a dresser, newly refinished, against one wall and a double bed with the most inviting comforter she’d ever seen covering it. A throw rug handwoven by the housekeeper, Asia, covered the space between the bed and dresser.

  Sydney came in behind them. There was hardly space for the three of them, much less Sara who was attempting to squeeze in. She bit her lip. Maybe the upstairs guest room would be better.

  “It’s a little crammed,” Sydney allowed.

  Alison turned around to face her, nearly bumping into Luc. “Cozy.”

  “I like this girl—sorry, woman,” Shayne amended, depositing her other suitcase beside the one that was already on the bed. “You’re going to fit right in here just fine.”

  She hoped so. At least for the duration she was going to be here, she thought.

  “Okay, everyone out,” Sydney announced. Turning, she began to herd Sara and Mac out. Mac looked particularly disgruntled since he was just trying to come in. “You, too, Shayne, before we all suck up the available air and Alison asphyxiates.”

  Muttering words of encouragement, or complaint in Mac and Sara’s case, they left the room. Except for Luc.

  “Need any help?” He indicated the two suitcases.

  The word help always got her back up, before she could stop herself. She crossed to what she took to be the closet.

  “I’ve been hanging up clothes since I was old enough to reach a hanger,” she replied, turning the handle and opening the door. “Provided they have…hangers.” There were several spread out over the rod. She was in business. “What more could I ask for?”

  It was clear to him as she snapped open the locks on her suitcases, that he was only getting in her way. Luc took his cue with grace, beginning to back out the door. “Okay, then I’ll leave you to get acquainted with everyone.”

  He nearly backed up into Ike, who was poking his head into the room. “She can do that at the party tonight.”

  Alison stopped hanging up the jeans she’d taken out of the first suitcase. Her eyes went from Ike to Luc. “Party?”

  “Sure, in your honor.” The people in Hades used any occasion as an excuse to get together and socialize. A newcomer to their midst was plenty reason to celebrate. Ike saw the hesitation in her eyes. So, under the bravado, she was shy, he thought. “You’ve gotta come, darlin’. Everyone’ll want to meet you.”

  She’d made her peace with the prospect of having an assembly line of men moving through Shayne’s office under one pretext or another, solely for the purpose of looking her over. Luc had already forewarned her of that. Besides, there was her position to shield her. But meeting them all in a party atmosphere was another matter entirely. One she wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with.

  At the same time, she didn’t want to seem standoffish, either. She was going to have to live among these people for at least a while. Longer if this proved to be her niche.

  Telling herself she was creating problems where there were none, she tried to remain calm. There was safety in numbers, right? “And where is this party supposed to take place?”

  “Where we hold every party in this town—at the Salty,” Ike answered. There was pride in his voice as he said the name. “Part saloon, part clubhouse, it’s the local meeting place. Luc and I are joint owners.”

  “I can come by to take you,” Luc offered, forgetting that it was not only logical, but easier for Sydney and Shayne to bring her with them when they came, and that she wouldn’t be needing a ride.

  To his surprise, Alison nodded. “I’d like that.” Just then, she thought she heard a small, lusty wail. She looked at Luc. “Is that—”

  “From the sound of it, it’s Snowcone,” Ike confirmed. “Celine has a deeper cry.”

  “It’s been known to shatter glass,” Luc put in.

  “Only because you dropped it,” Ike reminded him. “He’s not much on crying babies.”

  “Spoken like an expert,” Luc countered. “Up until a few months ago, he was more likely to clear the bar with a diaper than to properly put it on a baby’s bottom.”

  Ike crossed his arms before him. “I am really going to enjoy seeing you as a father someday.”

  The words brought back the memory of wounds not totally healed and promises that were broken. “Then you’ve got a long wait ahead of you, I’m afraid.”

  She felt as if she’d stumbled into a personal conversation, one she shouldn’t have been hearing. She knew Luc’s words were motivated by what he’d gone through after Janice had jilted him. What kind of plans had he made with her, she wondered.

  None of her business, she reminded herself. She’d gone through her own hell with Derek, except that she’d been the one who hadn’t kept promises. Not that she hadn’t wanted to, but that she couldn’t. She just couldn’t.

  Don’t go there, her mind whispered.

  Rousing herself, she looked at Luc. “Do you think Sydney would mind if I took a peek at the baby?”

  “Mind?” Ike laughed. “Why, darlin’, nothing she likes better than showing that little beauty off.” He looked at his cousin. “Why don’t you do the honors, cousin, and take the lady to see Snowcone?”

  “Why does everyone call her Snowcone? Is she very pale?”

  Luc laughed. “No, the first time Sydney took her outside, it started to snow very lightly and a snowflake landed on her cheek. Sara said she looked like a snowcone and the nickname stuck.”

  Sara was standing immediately outside the door, lying in wait for her new friend. She rolled her eyes dramatically at her sister’s crying. “She’s at it again.”

  “That’s the only way babies have of getting our attention,” Alison told the little girl.

  “That, and grabbing hair,” Marta agreed. Celine was at that stage now, where every random strand that came into her range was a temptation.

  “Would you like to come up and see the babies?” Sydney offered. “Celine is upstairs with Virginia.”

  “I’d love to see them,” she enthused.

  “Then come on.” Sydney hooked her arm through Alison’s. “It only gets worse.”

  “Nice job, Luc,” Ike murmured as he watched the women, closely followed by Sara, go up the stairs and disappear down the hall.

  Shayne recognized the tone in Ike’s voice for what it was. Admiration, pure and simple. He had no worries about his best friend. Ike was head over heels in love with his wife. But there were a great many unattached men in and around Hades. Men who would melt at the sight of a woman far less attractive than the one Luc had brought home with him.

  He looked at Ike pointedly. “Pass the word around that anyone does anything to scare her off, they’ll have to answer to me personally.”

  “And me,” Luc added quietly. The other two men turned to look at him. “Well, I’m the one who brought her here. I didn’t tell her about this place to feed her to the wolves.”

  “Nice save,” Ike commented.

  Luc wasn’t sure if he liked what Ike was implying. “It’s the truth.”

  Ike merely smiled easily. Indolently. “Whatever you say.”

  He didn’t want his cousin getting the wrong idea. “Hey, I’m not looking for anyone. Is that clear?”

  Ike knew all about that kind of defense. It was made out of tissue paper. Wet tissue paper. “Haven’t you heard? That’s the best time. It usually finds you when you’re not looking.”

/>   Luc wasn’t following. “What does?”

  “Fate.”

  It wasn’t the word Ike wanted to use, but Luc looked a little touchy around the edges. And his cousin had been through a lot these last few days, not to mention before then, when the letter from Jacob had arrived. Since he didn’t want to start an argument, Ike thought it prudent to fudge the truth a little. He figured that in his heart Luc knew what he was talking about. And the heart was the organ that mattered in this case.

  Luc merely frowned, dismissing his cousin’s words as the ramblings of a man in the throes of a happy marriage. He was glad for Ike, maybe even a little envious, because he felt that the odds were against him ever being in that kind of a relationship. Especially if he didn’t intend to venture forth emotionally.

  But he’d made his peace with that a long time ago.

  Chapter Ten

  “And I thought the club where Jimmy took us was packed.” Alison looked around and shook her head in wonder. It was wall-to-wall people no matter where she looked within the popular saloon. “Just how many people can you fit into the Salty?”

  Luc laughed. The throng was so thick, it was difficult to see the wall decorations they had accumulated over the years. The accompanying din made talking without shouting a challenge.

  “Probably a good deal of Hades if we wanted to. The Salty’s the town’s main recreation area and the old owner built it to accommodate everyone who lived here at the time.”

  Someone accidentally bumped Alison from behind and she found herself pressed up against Luc. The unexpected contact sent spears of warmth through her, tipped in pleasure. Before her mind caught up and brought rigidity with it. She did her best to move back and pretend that there hadn’t been a sudden upheaval within her.

  She gestured around the room, careful not to hit anyone. “So this represents a population explosion.”

  “Of sorts. And here comes some of the old population to meet you.” Luc put their conversation on hold while he went through yet another round of introductions as Hank Black Arrow presented himself before them.

  Part Native American, part Inuit and part Russian with a smattering of French thrown in for good measure, Hank had been around for as long as the Salty had been serving liquor, and appeared not to have aged any in that time. To Luc, the man had been old then, and was old now, but somehow no older. It was as if, in Hank’s case, the alcohol was acting as a preservative.

  Small, sharp dark eyes looked Alison over with an amused, appreciative gleam before Hank nodded and shuffled off to claim another beer. He hadn’t said a single word.

  She watched Hank get absorbed by the crowd. Someone caught her eye and raised a tankard to her in a not-so-silent toast. It was the third time tonight. “From the mute to the verbose. They’re a colorful bunch,” Alison announced.

  Luc saw where she was looking. “That’s one way of putting it.” That was Yuri with the raised tankard, he noted. “Don’t let them get started telling you stories—you’ll be here forever. Nothing these men like better than a new audience—unless it’s a new female audience.”

  He couldn’t help allowing himself his own quick scrutiny of Alison. She’d worn a simple, off-the-shoulder dark green blouse and a pair of snug-fitting jeans. Had there been a war on, she would have been what all the men would have been fighting for, he mused. And maybe he would have numbered in their ranks.

  Turning he saw another cluster of men at the bar. These were closer to Ike’s age. Seven in all. “I think you already have yourself a fan club.”

  He gestured with his mug toward a section of the bar where the men were all facing in their direction, their eyes unabashedly on Alison even as conversation occupied their tongues. It was easy to see that the men liked what they saw.

  Something protective stirred in him even while he was tolerantly amused.

  They’d been here about two hours, and in that time it seemed to Alison that every single male who could walk or hobble had come up to her to be introduced, most had not been as silent as Hank. There’d been a handful of women, as well—wives or daughters of the aforementioned men. But by and large, it appeared as if Hades was predominantly a man’s town. Luc had warned her about that, but part of her had thought he’d been exaggerating.

  Apparently not.

  She wasn’t sure if she could get accustomed to that. To having so many men around. It made it difficult to relax.

  It amazed him that he could almost read the thoughts moving across her brow when she looked away from the bar. “That make you uncomfortable?”

  Her head jerked up. “What?”

  “Being looked at.” He took a sip, passing the tip of his tongue along his upper lip to denude it of the wisp of foam that hung there. “I’d think by now you would have gotten used to it.”

  She realized she was staring at him, at the way his tongue had just flicked across his lips. Alison took a deep breath before asking, “What makes you say that?”

  He shrugged. He would have thought that self-evident. “When a woman’s as outstandingly beautiful as a black orchid, I just assumed…”

  The comparison stunned her. “A black orchid?”

  She was staring at him as if he’d just said something that defied comprehension. “You know, one of those really rare flowers—”

  She didn’t need him to explain what a black orchid was. She’d had a friend with a hothouse who reveled in growing them. They required an infinite amount of patience. “How would you know about black orchids?” That hadn’t come out quite right. “I mean—”

  He knew exactly what she meant, but he tolerated it with a good-natured smile. “The nights are long here. I read. You’d be surprised what you can pick up in books. And now, with the Internet—”

  Someone bumped into her again, and she covered the mouth of her wineglass with her other hand to keep the contents from splashing on Luc. In two and a half hours, she’d still hadn’t finished her first glass.

  “You have a computer?”

  He took no offense, but it was hard not to laugh. “Yes, the aliens passing through on their way to the Delta Quadrant left off one for me.” He grinned. “This isn’t really the end of the world, you know. That’s only a figure of speech.”

  He watched the light pink color quickly progress up her cheeks and then spread down her neck to the opening of her blouse. He found it arousing.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound like…I guess I was just making uncalled-for assumptions. The men here are miners, the population mix is off balance, I just thought…”

  He cocked his head, helping her out. “That we ate with our hands and used our knives and forks to scratch ourselves?”

  “No, but, well…” This was getting worse instead of better. This time, she drained the remainder of her glass, stalling. Maybe it would even help. She couldn’t do any worse. “Can I start over?”

  He shook his head, taking the empty glass from her and placing it on the table. He had to brush up against her to do it. It was a hardship he could live with. “No, I kind of like that shade of pink on your face.”

  She had that coming, she thought. “Comes from chewing on my foot.”

  He pretended to look down at the ground, and her foot. “Can’t have that. You’ll sink into the snowdrifts in the winter. We do have a lot of that. Snow,” he tacked on in case she’d gotten lost.

  Alison blew out a breath. Was it her, or had it gotten incredibly hot in here in the last couple of minutes? She glanced toward the window. Daylight was still streaming in, despite the late hour. “You also have a lot of sunlight. What time is it?”

  He couldn’t see his watch, but he knew they’d been here over two hours. “Time for the moon to be up if you were back in Seattle. We’re coming close to the longest day in a few days.”

  “The longest day.” It had never had much meaning for her back home, although she did like having more daylight available to her. She liked the sun; it made her feel safer. But being in a den of
predominantly men negated that. “What do you get then, about a minute’s worth of night?”

  “About,” he teased. Looking at her, being close enough to be a stand-in for her shadow, was making his mouth turn suddenly dry. “Sorry you came?”

  “No,” she answered truthfully. “Just trying to get oriented.”

  That, he knew, was going to take her a while. Just as long, he judged, as it was going to take him to get oriented to having her around. But it wasn’t going to be a task he minded undertaking.

  A couple of miners began filing by, their drinks held aloft to keep them from spilling. The one closest to him gave Luc a thumbs-up sign. “We’re with you, Luc. All the way.”

  The other man, older of the two, had his eyes glued on Alison. “Mighty nice stand-in you picked for yourself, boy. Ask me, she’s worth ten Janices. You got the better end of the deal. Janice got Jacob.”

  The two men laughed at the miner’s joke as they continued the journey to their table.

  They hadn’t been the first to voice their support since they came in. Jean-Luc LeBlanc must have been one hell of a well-liked man for the entire town to be willing to lie for him.

  “Looks like you’ve got the locals behind you.” She turned toward the bar, or tried to. “Is everyone in on this?” she asked incredulously. That meant roughly five hundred people, if she were to take him at his word, were willing to lie for Luc.

  What sort of charisma did he have, what kind of sway to elicit this kind of cooperation? Back in Seattle, she would have been hard-pressed to cite a time where this many people would have been in agreement over anything, except maybe the weather.

  “For the most part,” he told her. He saw the look of awed disbelief in her eyes. “Ike told me he passed the word around. Bored people are willing to do anything for diversion.”

  He was being modest. You didn’t see much of that around these days, she thought. Especially not where men were concerned.