She spotted them standing in the huge and opulently beautiful living room. Although richly decorated, it had a warm feel.
Ruby smiled big, genuinely glad to see January. She leaned in for a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
They were the same height. January was blonde, and Ruby was dark-haired. Ruby felt as though January could be something of a sister to her. And an aunt to Maya. Ruby had already made her and Sean her daughter’s godparents.
“You look fantastic!” January exclaimed, moving back with Ruby’s hands in hers and looking her over.
“Not nearly as fantastic as you,” Ruby said. January wore a knee-length sparkly cocktail dress that didn’t hide her pregnancy. Ruby looked down at her round tummy. “How are the twins?”
January put her hand on her stomach. “They’re active. And I mean it. You look great.”
“Thank you.”
“How is Maya?” January asked. “I miss her so much.”
Ruby would have to arrange to bring Maya around her more often. She had been so focused on her daughter’s well-being that she thought of little else.
“She’s doing really well,” Ruby said. “Thanks to you and Sean.” She looked at Sean to include him.
“I just did my job,” Sean said.
He had saved Maya from a dangerous man. Ruby’s ex.
“No, really,” Ruby said. “The therapy you helped me set up did wonders for Maya. I feel like she’s a normal child now. She chatters more. Plays more. Laughs more. And she isn’t having so many bad dreams.”
“That’s great, Ruby. She’s a sweet little girl.”
Ruby couldn’t agree more. “I’m almost grateful she was so young when Kid took her from me. I hope she doesn’t remember much of it, if anything, especially the terrible things she must have seen.” Things no child should have to witness, the biggest one being the murders in the warehouse where police had found her hiding.
“Oh,” January said, her hand going to her heart, indicating how touched she was.
“We’ll plan a barbecue or something so you can spend some time with her.” January knew sign language and had been instrumental in bringing Maya out of a bad situation and helping Sean solve his case.
“We won’t miss it,” Sean said.
“Not for anything,” January added. “How is school going? Are you managing all right? Is there anything you need? I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve talked with you.”
“School is going great. My mother watches Maya while I work and attend classes. She is really getting the hang of being a grandmother. And Maya just loves her. It feels like I am part of a family. A real family. At last.” Ruby thought of Damon and hoped the beaming happiness she felt just then didn’t show too much on her face.
January studied her face with a knowing smile. “Are you seeing anyone? That’s a look that says you are.”
Drat. She never was good at hiding her feelings. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about Damon. They were still so new at their intimate relationship. Well, maybe not that new, after nearly having sex the other day and being acquainted for several months.
“Yes. I am,” Ruby admitted.
January’s mouth opened with a soft gasp. “Who is he?”
“This sounds like it’s going to be girl talk,” Sean said. He kissed January on her cheek.
She looked into his eyes, and Ruby could feel their love in that exchange.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” Sean said.
“Okay.” January kissed his lips, and Sean lingered a bit before moving away.
After he left, January faced Ruby. “Okay, I want details. Tell me everything about him. How did you meet? What’s his name? Is he cute?”
Ruby laughed lightly. “He’s a bartender at a pub down the street from where I work. He’s been coming in for coffee for months, and we’ve gradually gotten to know each other. And I wouldn’t call him cute. He’s extremely handsome, though.”
“Wooo, look at you. It’s all over your face that you really like this guy,” January said.
“Yes. Our schedules are very different, but we’ve managed to see a lot of each other.”
“So he kept coming for coffee, huh?”
“Yes.” Ruby remembered the first time he came in. She was struck by how tall and handsome he was, in a rugged sort of way. When he ordered his coffee, she had melted at the sound of his deep voice. “He stared at me but didn’t ask me my name. He came in a few times a week, and we’d have small talk, until eventually he asked my name and told me his. He would always have funny stories to tell about what happened at the bar the night before. They were much better than mine about the goings-on at Mostly Books.”
“He sounds nice. Takes it slow?”
“He took it very slow, which I needed. It’s almost as if he knew.”
“Some men can be intuitive that way.”
Ruby couldn’t help smiling. “He is the exact opposite of Kid.” At least she hoped. She still harbored some hesitancy there.
“So you’re dating now?”
“Yes.” Ruby beamed some more. “We’ve been on quite a few dates, and he’s met Maya. He knows sign language. Can you believe that? And Maya likes him. He’s good with her.”
“Ruby, that is wonderful. You deserve a good man.”
Just then Sean returned. That hadn’t taken him long. But he had someone in tow. A somewhat older woman. Short curly dark brown hair, she was almost as tall as Ruby and January and wore a long flowing white dress.
“Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but there’s someone I want Ruby to meet. Farrah, this is Ruby, Maya’s mother,” Sean said. “Ruby Duarte, this is January’s mother, Farrah.”
“Ah.” January had told her the party would be held at her mother’s house. “You have a very beautiful home.”
“Why, thank you.” Farrah sounded as genuine as her daughter January.
“My mother owns an interior-design company with my aunt, Fallon,” January said. “They’re twins. I don’t know if I ever told you that.”
Ruby didn’t recall if she had. “That seems like a really creative profession.” She could have cringed at how unintelligent that comment sounded.
“January told me so much about you and Maya,” Farrah said. “I’m so happy things are going well for you now.”
“If it weren’t for January and Sean, I don’t know that I’d be where I am.”
Farrah turned adoring eyes to January, obviously proud. Then she looked back at Ruby. “I don’t mean to brag, but I did raise three incredible daughters.”
Ruby heard the sincerity and didn’t take it as bragging. “Thank you for inviting me to this party. I’m truly honored.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” January said.
As with any grand party where there were so many prominent people, Farrah was whisked away by a man Ruby didn’t pretend to know, much less his importance. There must be many here who were influential in town.
“Something to drink, Ruby?” Sean asked.
“I’ll find my way to the bar.” She didn’t plan on drinking alcohol. She had a daughter to go home to.
Sean and January took up talk with another couple she again didn’t recognize. She began to feel out of place, like a single person who intruded on the interactions of two couples who obviously were familiar with each other.
“Excuse me,” Ruby said.
January turned her head and smiled. “I’ll catch up with you.”
Her friendliness always made her feel so welcome. When she first learned where her daughter was, she had been so worried she’d never get the little girl back. Social workers were involved. She had feared her association with Kid would be her lifelong ruin. But to her great relief, January had given Maya a safe refuge, and Ruby had been reunited with the one thing that meant the absolute
most to her.
Ruby looked around. Maybe there was a lone person somewhere she could strike up a conversation with. She was in a roomful of people who were way out of her class. She had expected this party to be extravagant, but nothing could have prepared her for not only the number of invitees but also the wealthy elegance. January and Sean were so humble. Ruby bet most of the others in this throng weren’t.
She meandered her way to a bar set up just for this party. “Ginger ale, please.”
The black-coated bartender gave a nod and got her a glass full of ice and the soda, plopping in a straw and a festive umbrella.
Ruby turned and moved to a tall cocktail table, taking out the umbrella and covertly putting it there. Sipping from the straw, she scanned the crowd of chattering rich people amid classical music playing at an appropriate volume. This was so not her scene. She liked classical music, but she wouldn’t play it at home. She was more of a pop and country girl.
She decided to entertain herself by just watching everyone. She’d stay long enough to be polite and then leave.
Taking another sip, her roaming gaze caught sight of someone familiar.
What?
She knew that face. That was...
Damon.
What was he doing here? A bartender from the Foxhole...here? It didn’t fit.
Confusion gave way to a shock wave. His presence here meant something was wrong. He didn’t belong here. She could argue neither did she, but what were the odds he’d be at a Colton party?
Her heart slammed. Her breathing became restricted. She could not process what this meant. She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to face it. Not after all the magic.
A cocktail waitress approached, holding a tray. “Can I get you anything?”
Ruby pointed to Damon. “Do you know who that man is? The one with dark blond hair and a short beard.”
“That’s Damon Colton. Like all the other Colton men, everyone else notices him, too.”
Ruby shook herself into coherency. “I-I’m sorry. Did you say Colton?”
“Yes. I’m surprised you didn’t know. Everyone knows who all the Coltons are. Especially the men.” The waitress winked. “Are you doing all right on that drink?”
“Y-yes.” She felt her whole world tilt and whirl as though in a horrible cesspool, just as it had the day Kid had taken Maya from her. The taste of betrayal was familiar.
“Are you all right?” the waitress asked.
“Yes. I-I’m fine.”
“You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Ruby didn’t respond, and the waitress walked away with a concerned look.
Just then Damon turned after laughing at whatever he and two other men were talking about. His gaze caught hers, and he froze. His white-toothed smile faded. They stared at each other for a timeless moment. Then he put his beer down on a table and started toward her.
Ruby’s first desire was to get away, to get him out of her life. He had obviously been lying to her for months. But she needed some kind of explanation in order to put this behind her.
As he strode toward her, his handsome manliness speared her with loss. All that she knew about him was a lie. Her heart longed to feel good about her attraction to him, but it was only physical now. He wasn’t who he had said he was.
“Ruby?” He stopped before her. “What are you doing here?”
Her shocking pain gave way to indignant affront. “Excuse me? What are you doing here, Damon Colton?”
His wary, questioning look smoothed into resignation. “I wanted to tell you.”
“Tell me what? That you’ve been lying to me all this time?”
“I work for the DEA. I’m an agent and my case is to investigate Kid Mercer’s gang. I’ve been working undercover. Blowing it could cost me my life.”
Ruby nodded cynically and looked away, not really seeing all the people enjoying themselves while her world crashed and burned. Undercover agent. Kid’s gang. Bartender working down the street from Mostly Books...
It had all been planned. He had gotten the bartending job at the Foxhole because that’s where Kid’s gang hung out. Ruby hadn’t known that, but Damon must have. He must have also known she worked down the street.
She returned her gaze to him, numbness beginning to come over her. “I let you meet my daughter.”
Damon blinked slowly, his guilt showing. “Ruby, I never meant to hurt you. I wanted to tell you so many times.”
“But first you needed me to tell you what I knew about Kid,” she said.
“That was initially the plan, but after I got to know you—”
“Stop.” She put her hand up. “Don’t try to tell me it was real.”
“It was. Not at first, but—”
“You infiltrated my life as part of your investigation. You got the job at the Foxhole, and you came into Mostly Books to worm your way closer to me.”
Damon looked defenseless now. He said nothing. What could he say to the truth?
“You asked me out on a date. You dated me!” And they had very nearly had sex. Thankfully, it hadn’t gone that far.
“That part wasn’t a lie,” he said.
“Oh, so you didn’t ask me out to further your investigation?” she snapped.
Damon sighed hard. “Ruby, I did have to carry out my investigation.”
“And asking me out on that first date was part of it.” She wanted to force him to admit it.
He sighed again, this time shorter and in two frustrated breaths. “All right. Yes, but—”
“That’s all I need to know.” Ruby marched away, searching for January. She had to keep it together long enough to get out of here.
“Ruby, wait.” Damon took her arm and stopped her.
Pain seeped back into her as she met his magnetizing hazel-green eyes.
“I asked you out on a date to try and get information about Kid, but the date itself wasn’t part of that. You and I were not part of that. You have to believe me. I know you felt it, too.”
Oh, that drove a knife through her and ground out her heart. She yanked her arm away.
“You should never have let it go as far as it did while you were making me believe you were someone else!”
He had that defenseless look again. He couldn’t argue that point. He never would be able to.
Ruby turned and went to January, whose smile faded when she saw her. She walked to Ruby, and the two stood face-to-face.
“Ruby, what’s wrong?”
“That man I told you about?” Ruby turned her head to where Damon still stood, watching. “He’s the bartender at the Foxhole. He’s a DEA agent, and he’s been working undercover to investigate Kid Mercer’s gang.”
Despite her best effort, tears burned her eyes.
January looked from Ruby to Damon and then back to Ruby. “I didn’t know, Ruby. I mean, I knew he worked for the DEA, but I didn’t know anything about his investigation. Neither did Sean, or he would have told me.”
“It’s not your fault. Damon lied to me.”
“And hurt you. I can see that. Would you like to go somewhere private to talk?”
Ruby shook her head. “I just need to go home. I wanted to thank you again for inviting me. I’ll be in touch so you can see Maya again.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t drive. I can arrange for someone to drive you.”
“No. I’ll be all right.” Ruby smiled woefully. “If I survived Kid, I can survive anyone.”
“I’ll call and check on you in a few days,” January said.
“Okay.” Ruby appreciated her friendship, especially now.
Walking toward the front door, Ruby glanced at Damon, who watched her go. Each step away from him sealed her fate. No more Damon. No more dreams of a happy family. Ruby just wasn’t destined to have that in her life. She had Maya,
and that was enough. She’d keep telling herself that, anyway.
* * *
All Damon could do was watch Ruby walk out of his life. So many things went through his head. Only pain and regret went through his heart. There was nothing he could say to her that would make her understand. Not right now. She needed time. But that meant she’d be alone. In danger. He’d worry about her every waking moment.
He caught sight of January approaching. Here we go, he thought. Another reprimand. He wished both women knew he didn’t need it. He had already reprimanded himself more than once.
“What happened?” January asked. “Ruby was really upset.”
“I know. I didn’t mean for her to find out this way,” he said. “I couldn’t tell her.”
“She really liked you, Damon. She told me about you.”
She had? “What did she say?”
“She said you were the opposite of Kid.”
“I am definitely the opposite of Kid.” He supposed he should be glad she at least thought that about him. Maybe not anymore, though.
“Sean and I knew you were working the Mercer case, but we didn’t know you were undercover,” January said.
“That’s the whole point of working undercover. You don’t tell anyone.” At least his sense of humor was still intact.
“I didn’t think Ruby was involved, but now, in retrospect, I should have. She was with Mercer. She had a child with him. The DEA would want to find out what she knows about him.”
“Would you have warned her if you had?” Damon asked.
January seemed to ponder that a moment, averting her gaze and passing a glance around the lavish room. “I’m sorry to say, but yes, I think I would have. You probably broke her heart.”
Damon didn’t doubt he’d hurt her. He regretted that to his core. He had dreaded the day she’d find out the truth. He just hadn’t expected it to come this soon.
He looked around at all the Coltons and felt removed from it all. Gone was the celebratory mood he’d felt before. He was still shocked over the unlikelihood of Ruby knowing anyone here—or the unlikelihood he had perceived. He hadn’t even considered the possibility.
“She beamed when she was talking about you,” January said. “She thought she’d met a really great guy.”
Colton 911: Temptation Undercover Page 7