by Lora Leigh
"We're parents," he reminded her. "Now, eat your food. I heard your aunt has you busy with the party tomorrow night. Don't let her wear you down."
"And your dress arrived here by mistake Friday," her mother informed her. "You can take it home with you tonight. We'll send Farrell with a limo to pick you up. You are not arriving in a cab. I don't want to hear about it."
"Yes, Mom." She almost rolled her eyes, but caught her father watching her.
He was almost grinning, hoping to catch her.
"There's a nice young man at Delacourte-Conovers you might like," he told her smoothly. "Very handsome gentleman, I'm told. Related to those two young hellions, Lucian and Devril. Daniel Conover."
Kia stared back at her father warningly.
"Well, he has strong features." Timothy shrugged. "He'd sire strong boys."
She just stared.
He cleared his throat. "You could use an escort to the party."
She laid her fork beside her plate.
"Well, fine. I've said my piece. Don't upset your mother by leaving."
He dug into his own food, and Kia ignored the comments about other couples' grandchildren, sons-in-law, and various family affairs.
She ignored it, because listening to it only made the ache deeper. It made her remember the night Chase had forgotten to put on a condom after she'd asked to come in her mouth and then afterward nearly spilled inside her. And that wasn't something she needed to remember in front of her father.
Her parents could read minds. It was creepy.
Celia wanted to weep for her baby, though. Kia was the pride of her life, and she was so alone.
It broke her heart, worried her into the night. If she and Timothy were gone, who would protect their most precious possession, their greatest accomplishment in life? Who would protect Kia against the world, the cruelties of life, and the loneliness and hurt that filled her? Who would watch over their little girl?
Cecilia glanced at her husband and saw the same concerns in his face. Kia had hidden for far too long after her divorce. They had had hope the other night when she left the ball with the Falladay boy.
Chase Falladay was a handsome, honest young man, and Celia had always liked him. Ian Sinclair always spoke highly of him and his brother.
Of course, there were those nasty rumors that went around about them, but there were always nasty rumors. One had to trust that their daughter was making certain they were unfounded.
"How's your aunt's little party going?" Timothy finally questioned Kia.
The party was a joint effort by him and his sister. Rutherford Logistics, Timothy's company, and Edgewood Computer Security Service worked together to hold a benefit ball to raise money for a small women and children's shelter for Christmas.
Kia nodded. "Everything's ready to go. I'm meeting with the caterers again in the morning as well as the hotel staff." She checked her watch. "I'll be stopping by today after brunch to make certain all the decorations arrived as well."
Kia let the conversation flow around her. She finished the light meal and thanked the maid for more coffee. But her mind wasn't here. Her heart wasn't here today.
It was with Chase. To Kia, that was the height of her own stupidity. Because he had made it abundantly clear, he didn't want to be with her.
"You're not happy," Timothy said, interrupting her thoughts, his hand lifting so his index finger could tap the tip of her nose. "I always know when something's bothering you, Kia girl. You sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"I'm fine, Daddy." She tried to smile back at him, but he knew her, this strong, large-boned man with his gentle brown eyes and thick gray hair.
"You could move back home," he said as he watched her. "House is too big for just me and your mom."
She shook her head. "I like the apartment."
He nodded at that. "Your mother's worried."
He always blamed her mother for worrying, but Kia knew he was worried as well.
"I just need to get some priorities together," she finally said. "I'm learning how to live again, Daddy. That isn't so bad, is it?"
"He hurt you."
And to that Kia shook her head. "No, Daddy, I never loved him enough to be hurt by him," she said. "And that's very sad, because I married him. I never want that again. I want—" She stared around the house and blinked back her tears before she looked back up at her father. "I want what you and Mom have always had. I want to love someone more than I love me. And I want someone to love me more than themselves. Isn't that how it should be?"
Timothy swallowed tightly. He loved Celia and the daughter she had given him more than his own life, his pride, or the holdings he had acquired in his life. They were the center of his being, and the joy they brought him was immeasurable. It was exactly what he wanted for her.
"That's how it should be, sweetheart." He pulled her into his embrace and kissed the top of her head gently. "Exactly how it should be."
And he prayed she would find it before her heart was scarred to the point that she no longer wanted it.
Finally, he forced himself to let go of that worry. She was safe, if not as happy as he wished.
And she was still a vital part of Rutherford Logistics.
"Did you get the cost projections on the new account?" he asked her, watching as her expression altered subtly.
His daughter slipped into her businesswoman mode, one most people had no idea existed.
"They need to rerun their figures. You could make twice that profit if you go with a smaller trucking company. That particular product doesn't move in enough quantity to excuse making room for it in a larger warehouse."
"That's not what figures are coming out to," he informed her.
She shrugged, confidence curving her body, her expression. "I sent you my own observations via e-mail this morning. You can go over them, see what you think from there."
"Why don't you get your butt back in your office and tell them yourself?" he growled, returning to another disagreement they shared. "You weren't meant to consult, damn it."
"Not yet."
"Why not?"
"I'm not ready."
Celia watched, hid her smile, and kept her own opinion, her desires, to herself. There was something about Kia, and with a woman's intuition she knew it concerned a man, and her daughter's strength.
There were a lot of things Kia hadn't been ready for in the past two years, but Celia had a feeling that soon her daughter would find her boundaries. When she did, God help her father and any other man who would want to stand before her to protect her.
They had done that. Sheltered her where they could. She was coming out of her shelter. And Celia was cheering her on, albeit silently, every step of the way.
Chapter 12
She wore black. A black silk evening gown with a single strap over one shoulder that bared the upper curves of her br
easts. It flowed along her body like midnight, cascading along her legs to sweep the floor behind her.
A black silk-lined cape was taken from her shoulders by the doorman and checked in, along with her little black purse.
Her champagne-blond hair was pulled back in the front and held by combs dripping with diamonds and opals. They sparkled in her shoulder-length tresses.
Chase couldn't keep his eyes off her. She looked like a princess. So beautiful she made his chest ache with the need to touch her, to assure himself she was real.
No sooner had she turned back to the room than her gaze connected with his. Her somber blue eyes were filled with shadows, her expression solemn before her parents moved toward her and she forced a smile.
It looked as natural as a sunrise, but Chase knew there was nothing natural about the curve of her lips. That smile didn't reach her eyes, it didn't relax the curves of her body as she kissed her parents' cheeks.
Surprisingly, Timothy Rutherford frowned, his gaze latching on to Chase's as though disappointed in him somehow.
Society sucked, Chase decided. He'd fielded so many damned questions about his nonexistent relationship with Kia that he was already gritting his teeth. And to add insult to injury, the men were positively gleeful at the thought that Chase wasn't claiming her.
He tapped his fingers against the tablecloth of the table where he, Cameron, and Jaci sat.
Falladay Investigations, though their only client was Sinclair properties, donated heavily to the event the Edge-woods put together each year.
The benefit ball aided the women and children's shelter the Edge-woods had taken under their wing ten years before when their daughter had died at the hands of her abusive husband.
"I love that dress Kia's wearing." Jaci sighed. "It's an exclusive, too."
Chase glanced over at her, almost missing her smug smile. She was picking on him; he could feel it. She had been doing it for days.
He lifted his drink and sipped from it, his eyes following Kia's progress when he noticed Jaci rise from the table and join Courtney.
That was never a good sign. Courtney and Jaci together were damned dangerous. And within minutes, they were at Kia's side.
He brooded as Kia stared at them in surprise. A little frown edged at her brow, and for a moment she looked confused.
Jaci laughed and tugged at her arm, finally managing to draw her away from the older couples she was standing among and pulling her over to another table.
He bit back his groan. Hell. This was a nightmare. If those women managed to corrupt Kia, she would never be the same again.
There were eight of them now. It had begun with that little witch Tally Rafferty. She had pulled together the women she knew were married to the club members and friends of her lovers, Lucian and Devril Conover. They had formed a friendship, a sisterhood, that had become terrifying to the men in their lives.
And now they were befriending Kia.
He had an overwhelming urge to jerk her from their grasp and hide her from them forever. Not that there was anything bad about any of them. They were the kindest women Chase had ever met. Good-hearted, sweet, loving, and devious as hell.
He leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes on them. Kia seemed a little off balance, as though she wasn't quite certain what she was doing there with the other women. She was talking, smiling, but he caught the nervous little looks, the uncertainty.
Damn Drew Stanton and the women who had made her so uncertain of her own appeal, her ability to choose and make friends. Her lack of confidence in herself as a woman.
Though, he admitted, even in the short time he had been allowed in her bed, that confidence had grown. Grown so much that she had thrown him right out of that bed.
His jaw clenched at the thought of her demand.
Return alone or don't come back at all.
He had stayed away from her. He'd told himself it was better that way. He had known all along that Kia wasn't made for the type of relationship he needed.
No emotion. Those were his rules. He didn't want to hurt a woman's tender heart, didn't want to build false illusions, so he kept things as simple as possible. It was better that way. Safer that
way.
He'd broken that rule only a few times, and each time he had regretted it.
Until Kia.
With Kia, there were regrets, but being in her bed wasn't one of them.
"She's a beautiful woman," Khalid commented from where he sat across from him, his gaze on Kia as well. "Such a woman should not be alone each night."
Chase's gaze shifted to the other man. He was watching Kia with an edge of regret as well.
Surprising for the man who never became attached to a woman. That was Khalid's rule, to love them all equally. But there was something about Kia that made the other man quieter, more reflective.
That knowledge had Chase's stomach churning with anger.
"What's your problem?" he muttered. "There are a lot of women alone here."
"But not all are her." Khalid shrugged, turning back to Chase with an almost amused smile. "I enjoyed the time we spent with her."
Chase's eyes narrowed. "Did she run you off, too?"
Khalid's brow arched. "I, my friend, have never been run off," he informed Chase arrogantly. "I am a rather intelligent man when it comes to women. I know when the time for games is over.
The time for games with her is at an end, unfortunately."
"What the hell do you mean by that?"
Khalid's lips quirked. "It amazes me at times, watching the men I know as friends, and seeing for myself how dense they can become when it comes to affairs of the heart. Tell me, Chase, do you intend to declare her as your own?"
Declare her. The process of informing the club and its members that he was involved in a relationship with her. It barred any other member from attempting to poach, unless the woman initiated the contact, at which time the two members would be forced to distance themselves and see which the woman finally decided on.
There were rules to the club. Rules that had been formed generations before and had continued with only slight revisions or deviations. It kept the club secure, it kept it peaceful. It kept it limited to a very small number of members.
"I hadn't planned to," Chase finally snapped, though he had had to fight himself in order not to.
To keep his relationship with Kia as unfettered and easy as every other relationship he had ever had.
Khalid's lips thinned at the information. He picked up his drink and knocked it back before slapping the glass on the table and giving Chase a hard, almost angry glare.
"She deserved better than either of us anyway," he suddenly snapped. "If you will excuse me, I believe I've had enough of the party atmosphere."
Chase watched in surprise as Khalid rose to his feet, straightened his silk evening jacket, and strode from the table.
Now that was odd as hell coming from the perpetually cool Khalid.
<
br /> "Problems?" Cameron leaned forward. He had watched Khalid as he left the ballroom.
Chase's gaze moved back to Kia. She was in the midst of the other women now, and he saw a smile, a real smile, flicker over her lips at something Tally Rafferty said.
Courtney was moving onto the dance floor with Ian, and several of the other women were following suit.
Kia glanced over at him, her expression at first distant, alone. Their eyes met, and her face flickered with so many emotions that pushed into his chest and crowded through his brain.
"Khalid's fine." He rose to his feet as Jaci moved from the other table to make her way back across the room. "I'll catch you later, Cam."
He passed Jaci and ignored her smug smile. He ignored several friends who called out his name.
His entire attention was on one woman and his determination not to be thrown out of her bed.
He could take her alone, he decided. He didn't have to let emotions get involved in that. He could handle it.
He moved to the table, his eyes holding hers.
"Dance with me, Kia," he murmured when he stopped in front of her and held his hand out to her. "One dance."
One dance.
Kia stared up at him, and she knew she was lost. She could see the hunger in his eyes, the same hunger that burned inside her, and she didn't know how to fight it. She needed. Ached until she wondered if she could bear the emptiness inside her.
She put her hand in his and let him draw her from the chair and onto the dance floor. Just as it had the last time, reality receded into the distance as he pulled her into his arms and began to lead her among the other couples.
They moved together like silk against flesh. A slow, easy glide, their bodies brushing, burning.
"I've missed you," he whispered, and her heart nearly broke all over again.
"Have you?" She couldn't submerge the threat of disbelief in her voice. "You could have called."
Was that surprise that flickered in his eyes? Surely it wasn't. He was a man, fully mature; he knew women, knew their bodies and all the right things to say. Surely he knew the need for more