Читать книгу Whitelaw's Wedding - BEVERLY BARTON, Beverly Barton - Страница 10

M anda had no choice but to attend tonight’s gala celebration. After all, how would it look to Dearborn society if she didn’t show up for her sister-in-law’s birthday party? Throughout high school and college, she had loved parties and had given her share of them. But that had been years ago. Before Rodney died. Before Mike was murdered. She could barely remember the person she’d been before tragedy had struck her life. Everything had been fun once. Lighthearted enjoyment. Boyfriends and parties and laughter. Manda realized that she would have been forced to grow up, sooner or later, and take on adult responsibilities. She had thought those duties would include being a wife and a mother. But the fulfillment of those long-ago dreams was as out of reach for her as grasping a distant star and holding it in the palm of her hand. As unlikely to come true as her teenage fantasy of Hunter Whitelaw loving her the way she had loved him.

“The birthday girl is beaming, isn’t she?” Chris Austin came up beside Manda and slipped his arm around her waist. “Just looking at her, no one would believe she’s forty.”

Manda smiled at Chris, Rodney’s younger brother, with whom she had tried to remain friends for Rodney’s mother’s sake. Chris was Claire Austin’s only child now, and she doted on him, despite the fact that he disappointed her on a regular basis. Although physically similar to Rodney, with the same golden hair, hazel eyes and lanky build, Chris didn’t possess the brilliance or charm that had been such an integral part of his older brother. She supposed having grown up in the shadow of an overachiever had given Chris an excuse to do absolutely nothing with his life.

“Gwen is lovely,” Manda agreed. “And she doesn’t look a day over thirty.”

“Living the good life doesn’t put wrinkles on a face, does it?”

When Chris pulled Manda closer to his side, she glared at him. Chris had been making passes at her for years, and for years, she’d been giving him the brush-off. After all this time, it had almost become a game with them. He advanced; she retreated.

“What say we ditch this boring society gig and head over to the Blues Club for some real fun,” Chris said.

Manda disengaged herself from his annoying hold. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Not tonight. Not ever. Go find yourself another playmate, while I go speak to my sister-in-law and wish her a happy birthday.”

With a little-boy pout on his face, Chris released her. “How long are you going to fight it, honey? You know Mother would love to see us get together.”

Manda laughed. “Claire would think I’d lost my mind if I even gave you the time of day. Your mother knows, better than anyone, what a womanizing rascal you are.”

“If you’d be mine, I’d—”

Grady Alder, who was Perry’s law partner, came up behind Chris, clamped his hand down on Chris’s shoulder and said, “Austin, why the hell don’t you leave Manda alone? She’s been telling you no for ten years, hasn’t she?”

Chris tensed and frowned, but when he glanced over his shoulder at Grady, he grinned broadly. “It seems I have several years on you, then, don’t I, Grady? She’s only been turning you down for how long now? Three or four years?”

Grady instantly released his hold on Chris and glowered at the younger man. “I think I heard your mother calling you. You’d better see what she wants or she might tighten the purse strings, and then where would you be?”

Chris smirked at Grady, then smiled at Manda. “I don’t blame you for refusing to date this jerk.”

“Will you two stop,” Manda said. “There are dozens of other women here for both of you to pester, so why don’t you leave me alone?”

“How does it feel, Alder, being lumped together with me?” Chris asked, a devilish twinkle in his eyes. “Both of us rejected suitors.”

Manda wished both men would go away and leave her alone. She tolerated Chris for Claire’s sake, because she adored Rodney’s mother. And although she genuinely like Grady, she had just about reached her limit of tolerance with him, too. The man had been persistently pursuing her since his divorce several years ago.

“Sorry, Manda, sugar.” Grady epitomized the old-fashioned Southern gentleman, and she knew Grams would approve of him as a husband for her. He’s our kind, Grams had once told her.

In her peripheral vision, Manda caught a glimpse of Dr. Boyd Gipson heading in her direction. Another suitable beau. Great, she thought, that’s all she needed—one more man vying for her attention. After Boyd’s bout with food poisoning, she had politely refused to see him socially, but he, too, had difficulty accepting her refusals. He had called her almost every day. Please, Lord, help me escape, Manda prayed silently. But with the wall at her back, flanked closely on each side by Grady and Chris, and with Boyd closing in on her, she was trapped.

“Manda, honey, you look gorgeous tonight,” Boyd said as he joined her other two admirers. “Would you care to dance?”

“Hey, I was here first,” Chris said like the spoiled child he was, despite the fact he was thirty-two years old.

“Austin, I believe Manda had already told you to get lost, hadn’t she?” Grady said.

“Remember, that request was for you as well as me,” Chris reminded his rival.

Manda put her hands on her hips, huffed and glanced from one man to another, taking in all three. “If I promise a dance to each of you, will y’all stop making spectacles of yourselves and of me?”

“Sorry, sugar,” Grady said again.

“Honey, I apologize if I’ve embarrassed you,” Boyd said.

“So, who’s going to get you first?” Chris asked.

She wanted to scream, Leave me alone! These men were fools. Didn’t they understand that she was a dangerous woman? Any man who cared for her risked his life in doing so. Her affection was as deadly as that of a black widow spider’s.

Hunter entered the house where he’d spent some happy days as a teenager. The last time he’d been in this house was eleven years ago, for a wedding reception, when Perry had married Gwen Richman and he had served as Perry’s best man. And that had been the last time he’d seen Manda, who had been one of Gwen’s bridesmaids. Although she’d been breathtakingly beautiful, he’d sensed the sadness in Perry’s little sister and had known taking part in the wedding had been difficult for her. It had been a little over a year since she had lost her fiancé in a car crash, only days before their wedding.

Making his way through the laughing, chatting congregation of Dearborn’s elite, Hunter searched the crowd for Perry, but the person who caught his eye was Perry’s sister. Manda stood across the room from him, a strained smile on her face as three men formed a crescent around her, all of them talking at the same time and directing their conversation at her. Some things never changed. Now, as in the past, Manda Munroe was surrounded by admirers, each hoping she would grant him the privilege of a dance, a date or any small crumbs of attention. Who could blame these poor fools? Manda was more beautiful now than she’d ever been. So beautiful that she could easily take a man’s breath away.

However, Hunter noticed that she did nothing to accentuate that beauty. The exact opposite was true. She wore her long blond hair restrained in a neat bun at the nape of her neck, had applied only a minimum of makeup and dressed conservatively in a simple black sheath. But looks like hers couldn’t be disguised. She possessed a to-die-for body and a face like an angel. Just looking at her was enough to give any man a hard-on.

And this was the woman Perry wanted him to marry!

Perry had given him a brief rundown of the problem, telling him that he’d fill him in on the details once he arrived in Dearborn. But the gist of the situation was that Manda was convinced that any man she became emotionally involved with was destined to die. Apparently her bevy of suitors was either unaware of the danger or each was so enamored that he didn’t care.

As he came nearer, he realized that the men were actually arguing over who was going to dance with Manda first. God help them. Didn’t they know a damn thing about this woman? He hadn’t seen her in eleven years, but he figured some things about Manda hadn’t changed since she’d been the bane of his existence when she was a kid. With a strong-willed, stubborn woman like Manda, you didn’t beg. She respected strength and decisiveness…and always wanted what she couldn’t have.

He dove through the partygoers like Moses parting the Red Sea, and headed straight for the most popular woman at Gwen Munroe’s birthday party.

Manda saw him, then blinked her eyes and looked again. She hadn’t been imagining it. It was him. Hunter Whitelaw. Big, bold and towering over the other men in the room from his six-foot-four height. His shoulders were so broad, his arms so huge that she assumed the tuxedo he wore had been tailor-made for him. Except for a few lines around his eyes and mouth and just a hint of gray in his military-short hair, he had changed very little in the past eleven years. He was now, as he’d been then, totally, absolutely, devastatingly male.

She’d had the most gosh-awful crush on him when she’d been a teenager and had thrown herself at him more than once. But he had always rebuffed her—and wisely so, since he’d been a grown man and she only a sixteen-year-old girl. Of course, that last silly prank she’d pulled by the pool had curtailed Hunter’s visits. Like a spoiled child, which she had most certainly been, she had lied to Grams and insisted that Hunter had made sexual advances. Although her father and Perry hadn’t believed her, Grams had. Finally months later she had confessed her lie, but by then the damage had been done and Hunter seldom came to the house after that.

Suddenly she realized that Hunter was coming straight toward her, his gaze riveted to hers. An unbidden and uncontrollable fluttering began in the pit of her stomach, and the closer he came, the wilder the sensations inside her grew. She hadn’t felt this crazy feminine yearning since the last time she’d seen Hunter. His presence always created the same idiotic havoc on her nerves. Even with Rodney, whom she’d loved with all her heart, the sexual stirrings had never been so strong. It was as if she related to Hunter on a purely physical level. Woman to man.

She stood there watching his approach, her gaze remaining locked with his as he cut a path between Grady and Boyd to reach her. Both men stepped back, mouths slightly agape, eyes widened in surprise, as they gazed up at the big man. Chris actually jumped back.

Without even a nod of acknowledgment to the men surrounding her, Hunter reached out, took her hand in his and said, “I believe this is our dance.”

She went with him, moving past her trio of admirers, who grumbled among themselves. Hunter led; she followed. When they joined the other dancers, he took her into his arms and began moving with an amazing agility for a man so huge. He held her close, but not too close, a hairbreadth between their bodies. He didn’t speak, only continued staring into her eyes, as if he thought he would be able to see some profound truth revealed there. Speak, damn it, she told herself. Say something to him. Say, it’s been a long time. Or how about asking him what the hell he’s doing here?

“They can’t help themselves, you know,” Hunter said, no trace of humor in his voice or show of emotion on his face.

“What?”

“Your men.” He nodded toward where the threesome stood on the sideline and watched. “They can’t help being infatuated with you. When a woman looks the way you do, men can’t resist.”

When she stiffened in his arms, he eased her just a little closer, enough so that her breasts brushed his chest. “You certainly never had any trouble resisting me, did you?”

That’s it, Manda, dredge up the past. Remind him of what a scandalous little hussy you were at sixteen. Remind him of why he felt unwelcome in this house for so many years.

“That’s what you think,” Hunter replied, a grin lifting the corners of his mouth.

Manda gasped. “You certainly could have fooled me. You acted like I was poison.”

“Baby doll, you were poison. You were jailbait.”

She quivered when his large, hard hand spread out across her back, his fingertips resting against the base of her spine. “I didn’t stay sixteen forever. If you’d been interested, you could have made your move when I turned eighteen.”

“I could have,” he said. “But by then you had dozens of guys buzzing around you, ones far more suitable for you than I was. You and I both know that your grams wouldn’t have approved of me. Besides, I’ve never liked the idea of being part of a male harem.”

“A male harem?” Manda laughed. “This from a guy who can snap his fingers and have any woman he wants.”

Hunter grinned. “You overestimate my charm. I’m just a good ole boy who does his best to remember the gentlemanly manners his grandparents taught him.”

Enough idle chitchat, Manda thought. Time to get down to the crux of the matter. “What are you doing here tonight?”

“Perry invited me to Gwen’s birthday party.”

“Why accept this particular invitation? He’s been inviting you to family events for the past ten years and you’ve never shown up before tonight.”

“Let’s just say that Perry’s invitation intrigued me.”

“How’s that?” Manda asked.

“He made me a business proposition that I found interesting. He suggested I come to the party and then afterward, we’d talk to the other person involved in the deal and the three of us would come to an agreement.”

“I must say that I’m intrigued now. I can’t imagine what sort of business deal a former army major would have with a small-town lawyer.”

“It’s personal business.”

“Is that so? Mind telling me who the third person is?”

The music ended. Hunter stopped, but continued holding Manda. He looked at her point-blank and said, “You’re the other person.”

“What?”

“I take it that Perry hasn’t discussed his plan with you.”

She shook her head. “No, he hasn’t. But since I’m involved, why don’t you fill me in on the details?” When the people around them began milling about, she realized that she was still in Hunter’s arms. She tried to pull away from him, but he grasped her hand and led her toward the double set of French doors that opened to the backyard.

She didn’t balk when he practically forced her onto the patio. What was it about this man that made her accept his caveman tactics? Just because she had always responded to him sexually, on a purely primitive level, didn’t mean she wanted him to drag her around by her hair.

A dozen or so people meandered about on the patio, most of them smokers who had escaped for a nicotine fix. Hunter led her to the far side of the patio and into the shadows formed by the centuries-old oak tree at the edge of the house. A shiver of apprehension rippled up her spine. Once out of earshot of the others and with their bodies partially hidden in the jutting curve of the house, Hunter settled his hands on her shoulders, his touch gentle. She stared up at him. He was a good foot taller than she and his size alone was intimidating. But on some instinctive level she knew that he would never hurt her.

“Perry filled me in on your decision to never date again.”

“How dare he discuss my personal business— Oh, my God! He called you here to be my protector, didn’t he? I didn’t think he was serious when he said that what I needed was a man who could defend me against the crazy person who killed Rodney and Mike.”

“There was never any proof that Rodney was murdered,” Hunter said. “Perry pointed out that before Rodney died in a car crash, you hadn’t received any threatening letters, the way you did when you became engaged to Mike.”

“What difference does that make? Both of the men I planned to marry met untimely deaths. Because of me.”

Hunter tightened his grasp on her shoulders. “Manda, what happened to you is tragic, but if you stop living…if you give up and give in to this lunatic who’s trying to control your life, then you’re not the feisty, headstrong, determined girl I once knew. Sixteen-year-old Manda Munroe would have spit in the devil’s eye.”

A shudder of remembrance passed through her as she looked at Hunter. “That girl doesn’t exist anymore. She was silly and spoiled and had no idea how unbearably cruel life could be. That Manda Munroe died, slowly and painfully, after being responsible for the deaths of two good men.”

“Damn it, you were not responsible for either of those deaths.” Hunter slid one hand upward to grasp the nape of her neck and the other around to cradle her back. “Perry was right. It’s past time to put an end to this madness. We’re going to bring your monster out into the light of day and drive a stake through his heart.”

Manda gulped in air. “Whatever plan Perry has cooked up, I won’t allow you to risk your life to—”

Hunter leaned over and lowered his head, bringing his mouth to hers. Shocked by his actions, she had no time to respond before he kissed her. Soft and languid in the beginning, but quickly escalating to a full-fledged, tongue-thrusting passionate kiss. Sizzling sensation radiated from the core of her femininity throughout her entire body. She had been kissed many times before, but never like this. This was a teenage girl’s fantasy kiss. An all-consuming, curl-your-toes, Me-Tarzan-You-Jane kiss.

She found herself unable to resist. Passion had become a negative word in her vocabulary. She had willed herself to not succumb to any attraction she’d felt for various men over the past five years, but with Hunter she had no control. She suddenly felt sixteen again and her big brother’s best friend was making her dreams come true.

Hunter ended the long, lingering kiss with tender nips on her bottom lip and a sweet trail made by his moist lips along her neck. She sighed as her body melted into his. Breathless, Manda gazed at him and one word formed on her lips.

“Why?”

He glanced over her shoulder, across the patio and whispered in her ear, “To begin the charade. This was Act One for our audience.”

“What audience?” She turned her head just enough to follow his gaze and saw Chris, Boyd and Grady on the far side of the patio, stunned expressions on their faces.

Damn. Had Hunter kissed her to prove a point to her three overzealous admirers? Was he thumbing his nose at them, showing them that he’d already gotten to first base with the woman they wanted?

Seething with anger, she went rigid in his arms. “I hope you enjoyed this,” she said quietly, her jaw tight. “Because it will be the only time you ever use me to—”

He kissed her again. Nothing more than a silencing maneuver. Then he explained. “Don’t you realize that one of those three could be your letter-writing menace? If we’re going to draw him out into the open and force him to take action, then we will have to convince him that we’re serious about each other.”

“Is that why you kissed me? Just what sort of scheme did you and Perry cook up behind my back?”

“A pretty good scheme,” he replied. “But I think we should wait until Perry has a free minute, so the three of us can discuss this plan together.”

“I agree. Perry had no right to drag you into this mess without my consent.”

“I’m sure he thought that you’d never agree,” Hunter told her. “Some things about you may have changed, Manda, but one thing hasn’t—you’re still as stubborn as a mule.”

“Hunter?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Go to hell!”

She pulled out of his embrace, marched across the patio, glared at the wide-eyed threesome and went into the house. If Hunter Whitelaw thought he was going to play hero for her, then he’d better think again. He might be a tough guy, but he wasn’t invincible. He could be killed just like any ordinary man. He could die because of her. Just as Rodney and Mike had died.

Hunter watched Manda as she nervously tapped her foot on the floor in Perry’s study. Apparently she hadn’t cooled off much in the past hour. She was practically foaming at the mouth.

“You had no right to call Hunter and ask him to pretend to be my new boyfriend!” Manda glared at Perry. “You’re asking him to risk his life and for what? Tell me that—for what?”

“How can you ask me such a question?” Perry slammed his fist down on top of his antique desk. “I’ve stood around and done nothing for the past twelve years, except watch you suffer. I thought that given time after Rodney’s death, you’d find love again, and you did, with Mike. But then when he was murdered, you cut yourself off from men entirely. And just when you ventured back into the dating arena, you let a freak accident—a damn food poisoning incident—determine the rest of your life.”

“It’s my life, isn’t it? I have a right to decide how to live it. And if I choose to spend the rest of my life alone, then—”

“I think there’s something you’re overlooking,” Hunter said.

Settling her gaze on Hunter, she all but snarled at him. “And just what would that be?”

“The fact that no matter what you choose to do, men aren’t going to stop coming on to you.” His lips twitched with an almost smile. “A woman who looks the way you do is always going to have men chasing after her. This nutcase who’s so determined to see that you never marry could eventually start eliminating any man who shows an interest in you.”

“Oh, good Lord. Do you actually think that…” She shook her head as if trying to erase his words from her mind. “Oh, all right. Let me hear the rest of your plan.” She pointed her finger first at Hunter and then at Perry. “But if I don’t agree, then the whole thing is off. Is that understood?”

A response from Manda, but not exactly an agreement. Perry nodded. Hunter grunted. After what Perry had told him, all the details of Manda’s life and the death of her second fiancé, Hunter realized that Manda could never live a normal life until the person behind the threats was exposed and ultimately, stopped.

“I called Hunter not only because he’s an old friend and someone you knew in the past, someone you actually had a teenage crush on, but because of his background.” Perry reached out and clasped Manda’s hands in his. “For a number of years, Hunter was a member of the Delta Force, a special operations military unit. And now he’s an agent for the top security and investigation agency in the country. He’s qualified to not only protect you, but to take care of himself under fire.”

“All right, I agree Hunter is highly qualified,” Manda said. “But that doesn’t tell me exactly what you intend for him to do. Are we supposed to date and see what happens?”

“You’ll date,” Perry said. “Y’all will have a whirlwind courtship. Hunter’s going to sweep you off your feet. You two are going to fall madly in love and within a few weeks, we’ll be putting together the quickest planned and executed wedding in history.”

“Wedding?” Manda’s face paled.

“Hmm—mm.” Perry placed Manda’s hand in Hunter’s. “You two are going to get married.”

“Married!” Manda screamed. “You can’t seriously intend for me to marry him.” She focused her gaze on Hunter. “You’re going to use yourself as bait to catch this guy. I won’t allow you to risk your life for me. Don’t you realize that— Oh, I get it. You’re so damn sure of yourself that you think once we announce our engagement, my secret admirer will make his move and you’ll not only be able protect me and yourself, but you’ll catch him, too.” She pulled away from Hunter and paced around the room. “By all means, let’s follow through with this idiotic plan. Let’s put both of our lives in danger. Let’s show everyone in Dearborn that we’re fools in love, and to hell with the consequences.”

Hunter grabbed her, cupping her chin as he stared into her eyes. “No one outside this room is to know that we’re only pretending. As far as anyone else is concerned—your grandmother, Gwen, Mrs. Austin—this thing between us is real. We’re going to convince everyone that we can’t keep our hands off each other.”

“I’m not sure I’m that good an actress.”

“Just pretend you feel about me now the way you did when you were sixteen and performed your little striptease for me out by the pool.”

Manda’s face flushed as she huffed loudly, “And what are you going to pretend?”

“I’m a man, baby doll. With a woman who looks like you, I won’t have to pretend.”