He stopped by the bar to grab a beer and exchange a few words with Dillon, then joined the other men at the rail. Ryan performed a brief round of introductions and they all shook hands.
“I know why I’m here, but how did the rest of you poor bastards get suckered into this nightmare?” Beau asked, leaning a hip against the railing.
“You’ve met Lily, right?” Jett Casey said.
There was grudging admiration in the other man’s tone.
“Yeah, I’ve met Lily,” Beau said, allowing his own self-disgust at being unable to resist her to color his tone.
The other men laughed or smirked, and they all looked over the railing, their smiles fading as they took in the seething room full of women down below. There were a handful of men who’d come along to get a laugh at the bachelors’ expense – Heath, for example, who had told Beau he wouldn’t miss tonight for the world – but they were definitely in the minority.
“You know they like to hunt in packs, right?” Jett said.
“Keep your back to the wall,” Lincoln Brady advised. “And no matter what, keep moving.”
Beau’s gaze gravitated to Lily’s dark-haired head as she passed beneath them. He couldn’t help noticing his bird’s eye perspective gave him an excellent view of her cleavage. He allowed himself a single, good look before glancing away.
There was no doubt about it; Lily had a body on her, the kind that most men would get stupid over. It wasn’t just that she was built, though. She had a knowing, playful glint in her eye, and the way she walked… a subtle swish-swish of her hips and ass. Jessica Rabbit territory, definitely.
Not that he’d paid much attention to any of the above. But he had eyes in his head, like the next guy.
Lily stopped at a table, and he recognized one of the occupants as Josh Dekker. A pretty dark-haired woman sat beside him, a faint smile on her face, and he guessed she must be Molly, Josh’s mother. As he watched, Lily hunkered down next to Josh’s wheelchair, her expression animated as she talked to him. His face was bright, and Beau could hear the kid’s laughter over the sound of the crowd as he responded to something Lily said to him. Standing, she ruffled Josh’s hair affectionately before heading for the stairs.
Seconds later she appeared on the second floor looking flushed and distracted, Molly Dekker hard on her heels.
“Everyone, this is Molly. She wanted to have a quick word before we start selling you beefcakes off,” Lily said.
She stood to one side and gestured for her friend to take her place.
“Hey, guys,” Molly said. “I know most of you, but a couple of you are new to me. I’m Molly.”
She shook hands with everyone, but it was obvious she was feeling a little self-conscious.
“I wanted to say thank you for all you’re doing for me and Josh. I would’ve brought him up here to thank you himself, but, well, stairs. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all. It truly is mind-boggling that you would do something like this for us.”
“It’s no problem, Molly,” Beau said. “We’re happy to help.”
If anything, his words only seemed to make her more nervous.
“If there’s anything I can do for any of you—anything—please let me know.” She pointed at the stairs. “I’ll just… yeah. Good luck.”
She headed for the stairs, patently relieved to be making her escape.
Lily clapped her hands together. “Okay, Jett, you’re up first. Remember to smile. And, you know, work it.”
“Work it,” Ryan said flatly. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means,” Lily said, giving him a dry look. “Don’t pretend you don’t. Show off the wares. Flex a bit. Whatever it is you men do when you’re trying to impress a woman.”
“That’s easy – nothing,” Jesse Grey said, and Lincoln snickered.
“Well, tonight, do something. Josh and Molly are depending on you,” Lily reminded them.
After instructing Jett to head downstairs and find his way to the stage, she headed for the bar. Beau couldn’t resist following her.
“How do you know Molly and Josh, anyway?” he asked as he drew up alongside her.
“Molly and I are friends.”
“She’s a school teacher, yeah?” Beau asked.
Lily’s eyes narrowed. “She is. You’re wondering how a nice girl like her got tangled up with a dirty girl like me, Beau?”
Goddammit, she was always so prickly.
“I was just curious how you got roped into organizing all this.”
“Josh is my godson. And I didn’t get roped in. As far as I’m concerned, it’s an honor to be able to do anything to help him and Molly. The way they’ve both handled what life has thrown at them…”
There was an emotional vibration beneath her voice. She blinked a couple of times, then frowned over his shoulder.
“I swear, how you men cross the road without explicit instructions is beyond me,” she muttered, marching off to grab Jett by the elbow and hustle him down the stairs.
Beau stared after her, a frown on his face. He couldn’t work her out. He knew about her past, and he’d seen the offhand, expert way she handled men, as well as the kind of attention she always seemed to attract from the opposite sex. He’d seen how loyal a friend she’d been to Andie, too, and even though he’d die rather than admit it, he suspected Lily had been responsible for the way his younger sister had come out of her shell more and more over the past few years. Hooking up with and marrying Heath, his closest friend, had more or less completed Andie’s transformation, but he credited Lily with getting the ball rolling.
And now there was this new side to her – the tireless volunteer who could make a kid laugh loud enough to be heard over a saloon full of noisy women.
The tap-tap of someone testing a mic sounded over the speakers, drawing him back to the rail and the view of the saloon below. If he craned his neck, he could just see the stage.
A wiry cowboy with sun-leathered skin and a huge rodeo belt buckle was standing at the podium, the overhead lights glinting off his Brylcreemed hair. Buck the cattle auctioneer, Beau guessed.
“Folks, a hearty welcome here this evening, and our thanks to Grey’s management for the opportunity to hold this here inaugural great Marietta bachelor auction in the saloon, because it sure beats holding it at the stock yards. You know the cause, you know the reason. We’re here to make life a little easier for young Josh and his mother, Molly, and to this end we are putting some of the finest breeding stock this district has to offer at your disposal…”
Beau tuned out the rest of Buck’s spiel as his gaze once again found Lily in the crowd. What was it about her that always seemed to draw his eye? Whatever it was, it was damned annoying.
The crowd was laughing at Buck’s auction patter, and Beau could see Jett was enjoying being the center of attention, his smile full of cocky confidence as he looked out at the crowd. Then the auction itself started, Buck’s words becoming nearly indecipherable from one another as he took bids. Beau watched as the offers climbed higher, his eyebrows rising as they passed the two thousand dollar mark. Only then did the bidding slow and finally peter out.
“Is this your last and final bid, are we all silent ladies? All done? And… sold, to the lady in booth three for $2325,” Buck announced with a satisfied thunk of his auctioneer’s gavel.
Beau’s eyebrows shot up as he registered the final bid. Holy hell. That was some serious money. Someone – or several someones – had clearly really wanted what Jett was offering. His belly knotted with sudden nerves. What if he only attracted a few paltry dollars? That would be pretty embarrassing. God, what if no one bid on him at all?
He’d never live it down. Especially with Heath here to witness it. He pulled the program from his suit pocket and checked. He was last in the running order. What were the odds that the women would be all tapped out by then?
Pretty good, in his estimation. He pulled his phone from his pocket and typed a quick mess
age to Andie.
You have to buy me if the bidding is slow, he wrote. I’ll give you the money. Just don’t leave me hanging.
Andie texted back almost immediately.
You can’t be serious. These women are going to eat you up with a spoon.
Beau frowned. He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, either.
Promise you’ll step in if it gets embarrassing, he wrote.
You really want it to get around town that your sister bought you at a bachelor auction????
Beau thinned his lips. He hadn’t thought of that.
Good point. Maybe don’t buy me, then.
Excellent plan, Einstein, Andie wrote back.
Beau slipped his phone into his pocket and tried to look as though his palms weren’t sweaty with fear.
The sooner this was over, the better.
*
Lily felt like the ball in a pinball machine for the next hour and a half, bouncing between the action downstairs and the men upstairs, checking in with Reese and Jason on how the kitchen and bar were handling the record crowd and keeping tabs on Buck as he alternated between auctioning bachelors and drawing prizes for the various raffles they’d organized to maximize the fundraising opportunities from the night.
Despite how harried she was, every time she stopped for more than a few seconds, her thoughts gravitated to the letter she’d received and the legacy Luther had left her. It made her feel sick and angry, and she was more than happy to let the auction distract her. Which was why she resisted so strongly when Molly insisted she take five minutes to have a drink and rest her feet in between bachelor number four and bachelor number five.
“I’m fine. I’m enjoying myself,” Lily insisted as Molly tugged on her arm, trying to pull her down into the spare seat at her table.
“You’ve been running around like a crazy woman since the moment we got here. Everything’s going great. Stop being an overachiever and take the weight off for a few minutes,” Molly said.
“I can’t. Not yet.”
“Lily…”
“How’s this for a deal? I need to check in with Carol on the door. Once I’ve done that I’ll grab a drink and chillax,” Lily bargained.
“Promise?” Molly insisted, her hand still firm on Lily’s wrist.
“Promise.”
Molly didn’t look as though she fully agreed with her, but she released her grip. Lily aimed a quick wink at Josh before slipping into the crowd. She was well aware he had his own agenda for tonight’s auction, and for both his and Molly’s sake she hoped he was successful. Molly had been stretched too thin for too long. She deserved a break.
She could hear Gabriel Morales being invited to the stage as she wove her way through the crowd. She glanced over her shoulder, smiling at the hoots, whistles, and foot stomping of the crowd as they responded to their first sight of Gabriel in his well-washed jeans and red plaid shirt. In all honesty, she’d been a little ticked off when she saw some of the men’s interpretation of her instructions to “dress nice” but she now realized that offering up a variety of bachelor flavors just meant that there was something there for everyone.
Funny that the person who had gone to the most effort, was also the person who’d been the hardest to recruit. Beau might have turned up late, but he’d pulled out all the stops with his beautifully cut suit. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind the audience was going to go nuts over him the moment he came down the stairs. He’d put together a great date, too – a day skiing at Big Sky Resort, complete with lunch at the Resort’s fanciest restaurant and door-to-door transport.
She resumed weaving her way to where Carol was guarding the front entrance with her roll of tickets and petty cash tin. They’d charged everyone a modest cover fee to attend the night, and Lily had a quick conversation with Carol before finding herself a quiet corner of the bar to perch at, her way of honoring her promise to Molly. She eased her weight onto one foot and lifted the other for a few seconds before reversing the action just as Reese slid a glass of red wine in front of her.
“Molly sent this over,” he said. “No arguments.”
Lily smiled wearily. “Thanks, Reese.”
He gave her a mock salute before heading back to the other end of the bar. Lily took a sip of wine, savoring the rich flavor as she listened to Buck talk up Gabriel’s selling points. Inevitably, her thoughts turned to Luther, and she took a long pull on her wine as she thought about what he’d done for the hundredth time tonight.
Leaving her the money was the last asshole act of a man who had done nothing but spread misery in the world, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. To an outsider, the bequest would probably seem generous, an acknowledgement of the place she’d once held in Luther’s life. She knew better. He’d left her the money not to acknowledge or support her, but to remind her of the power he’d once had in her life, of how he’d once dominated and owned her mother’s every move, and, by extension, Lily’s. She could almost see him dictating the bequest, confident in the notion his erstwhile, defiant stepdaughter would be too desperate to turn her back on ten thousand dollars, no matter where it had come from. She could imagine him relishing the thought of her being forced to swallow her resentment and disgust and accept his money because she had no choice but to take it.
And the truth? He was almost right. She wasn’t exactly flush with funds. The work she did as an administrative assistant at a small printing works in town wasn’t exactly highly paid, and by the time she covered rent and other living expenses, there was precious little left to put away for a rainy day. If she lost her job – or was forced to quit, as she was last year when her previous boss had made a pass at her – it would only be a matter of weeks before she’d exhausted her resources. Ten thousand dollars was a lot of money. It would buy her a newer, safer car, and leave her with a buffer in case of hard times. It would mean, the next time a boss cornered her in his office, she could knee him with impunity, knowing she had the wherewithal to survive until she found new work.
Vaguely, she was aware of a rousing round of applause, and she dragged herself out of her own thoughts long enough to see Gabriel’s auction was over. Her gaze zeroed in on Josh, who was grinning like crazy.
Good. At least one thing had gone according to plan tonight.
She drank more wine, but the warm wash of alcohol hitting her stomach didn’t do anything to ease the tension in her body. She’d need a vat of vodka for that.
The more she thought about it, the angrier Luther’s actions made her. How dare he reach out from beyond the grave like this? How dare he try to taint the life she’d built for herself? She’d fought long and hard to get to a place where she was happy and safe.
She was momentarily distracted from her brooding when Beau Bennett was announced. He descended the staircase with a sardonic, slightly mocking smile on his lips, his relaxed gait screaming confidence. He looked ridiculously handsome in his dark suit, his body lean and hard. As she’d predicted, the crowd went wild, the floor beneath her feet vibrating as women stomped their feet in unison. She almost felt sorry for Beau for being last in the lineup, since the audience was well and truly liquored up now and really getting into the spirit of things. Hopefully all the interest would mean he’d bring a good price, though. That was what tonight was about, after all.
Buck started his sales patter, and Lily looked down into her wine glass, swirling the red liquid around and around, her mind once again turning to the past.
She’d been barely sixteen when her stepfather’s actions had forced her from her home. Even though she was a virgin, she’d seen enough and heard enough to know what Luther wanted when he walked into her bedroom and slowly pushed the door closed that fateful August night.
She’d been lying on her bed reading, but she’d rolled to her feet instantly, not wanting to be at a disadvantage.
“What are you doing in here?” she’d demanded, her voice wobbly with fear.
“You know,” he’d said.
“Get out. I don’t want you in here,” Lily had said as loudly as she could. “If you come any closer, I’ll scream.”
Luther had laughed. “Who do you think is going to come running?”
Lily had simply stared, knowing full well her mother was at work and the only other person in the house was Darren, her fourteen-year-old stepbrother.
“I’ll tell Darren to call the police,” she’d said in desperation.
“Don’t act like you don’t want it. I know you want it,” Luther said, his tone insinuating.
He’d lunged at her then, and she’d screamed. One large hand had covered her mouth and nose, muffling her cries, while the other yanked at her pajama pants, dragging them down. She had twisted and kicked and pushed at him like a wild thing, finally landing a lucky blow on his nose. His grip had loosened, and she’d wrenched herself free, bolting for the door. She’d found Darren in the living room, staring at the TV as though his life depended on it. Luther had followed her, one hand dabbing at the blood dribbling from his nose as he advanced into the room.
“You little bitch,” he’d said.
“I’m telling my mom when she gets home,” Lily had promised, shaking with reaction. “I’m telling her and she’s going to leave you.”
Bound to the Bachelor Page 3