“I am,” Winn acknowledged, his eye shifting back to the dance floor. “My father has been here a couple of years.”
Jim Ferris. One of the newer members on the hospital’s board of trustees. And, according to Tripp’s dad, the one who’d been most resistant to hiring him.
Tripp had already forgiven the man for his error in judgment. After all, like his son said, Jim was relatively new to the community.
“Are you planning to stay?” Tripp didn’t want to pry, but he was curious. Jim Ferris had recently outbid his father on the large cattle spread adjacent to their property.
“Haven’t decided yet.” Winn’s eyes took on a lust-filled glow. “But if she’d give me a tumble, I’d definitely give more thought to hanging around.”
Tripp shifted his gaze in the direction Winn stared. A group of women stood clustered together, laughing and talking. Any one of the beauties could have caught Winn’s eye. But Tripp knew instantly which “filly” stood out from the herd.
When he’d picked up Adrianna tonight, he’d taken one look at her and immediately thought of a thousand things he’d rather be doing than attending a fundraiser.
Things he shouldn’t be thinking about a woman who was only a friend. A woman who’d been his wife’s friend. Even if Tripp had been ready to date again—to get naked with a woman again—it wouldn’t be with Adrianna. It would be with someone new, not with someone so deeply linked to his past.
Yet, he couldn’t deny there was chemistry between them. Desire had hit him full force when he’d first seen her this evening. He’d had to restrain himself from pulling her into his arms and scattering kisses across her face and neck. From pulling the pins from her hair so he could run his fingers through the silky strands. From easing the dress from her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor—
“Who is she?”
Tripp jerked his thoughts back to the present. Even though he should be relieved—after all, he had no business thinking of Adrianna in that manner—he found himself irritated by the man’s persistence.
“Which one?” Tripp forced a bored tone.
Winn snorted. “The hot brunette. She’s a dead ringer for that Brazilian actress.”
Tripp took a sip of wine. “Adrianna Lee. She’s a nurse midwife.”
“Is she married?”
Tripp didn’t like the way Winn looked at Adrianna, as if she were a piece of meat and he hadn’t eaten in a week.
There was no point in lying. Winn could easily discover the truth for himself. “She’s not.”
“The night is definitely looking up.” Winn grinned. “One more question. Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?”
Tripp thought of the promise he’d made to Adrianna. But Winn was a new acquaintance, certainly not a friend. And even if he was, she deserved better than a man who’d compare her to a horse.
“Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?” Winn repeated, a determined glint in his gray eyes.
Tripp smiled. “As a matter of fact, she’s with me.”
Chapter Two
Adrianna felt Tripp’s gaze on her from clear across the ballroom. But then, being so aware of him was nothing new. She’d recently told her friend Betsy it was as if she had special “Tripp radar” hardwired into her system.
“Do you know the guy Tripp is speaking with?” she asked Lexi Delacourt, another dear friend and one of the most beautiful women in Jackson Hole.
Lexi obligingly shifted her attention across the room, missing the admiring glances sent her way by a couple of cowboy types walking past. Adrianna could see why the men were impressed. Her friend looked especially lovely this evening in an off-the-shoulder dress in crimson with her sleek dark hair hanging loosely to her shoulders.
Her husband, Nick, must have thought she looked appealing, too, because a few minutes earlier, on her way to the powder room to check her makeup, Adrianna had stumbled upon the two kissing. It hadn’t been a simple peck on the lips either.
Lexi had been embarrassed, but Adrianna had told her she hoped when she finally married that her husband would find her irresistible enough to pull her into an alcove and kiss her with such passion.
“He’s certainly handsome. But who could he be?” Lexi expelled a frustrated breath and pursed her red lips. Her friend prided herself on knowing most of the residents of Jackson Hole, but it looked as though this time she was coming up empty.
“Could he be someone’s date?”
“It appears he’s single. At least I don’t think he’s wearing a ring.” As if to confirm her guess, the social worker narrowed her gaze, refocusing on his left hand.
“Ohmigod, Lex,” Adrianna hissed. “He saw you staring and now both of them are headed this way.”
The two men had begun to wind their way across the large ballroom, Tripp as fair as the other man was dark. Even though his friend was attractive, he didn’t affect Adrianna in the slightest.
Not like Tripp. When she’d seen him in his black tux tonight, her heart rate had skyrocketed into the danger zone. It was the first time she’d seen him dressed so formally since his junior–senior prom. She’d watched him arrive in a limo to pick up Gayle. While the two were dancing and laughing in the high school gym, Adrianna had been up in her room eating a pint of Chunky Monkey ice cream.
“They’re almost here,” Lexi whispered, sounding more like a high school friend than a happily married woman and mother of two. “Stay cool. We’ll pretend we don’t see them.”
“Is book club still on for this month?” Adrianna kept her gaze focused on Lexi.
“It is and we need to tell everyone that it’s okay to come even if they haven’t read The Garden of Forking Paths.”
Heat stole across Adrianna’s cheeks. The upcoming selection had been Lexi’s choice. Most of the group preferred genre fiction, but the social worker was determined to “broaden their horizons.” She’d suggested Anna Karenina, but the members had all said they’d read it, though Adrianna suspected most of them hadn’t.
At first, the short-story spy narrative appeared to be a more palatable solution. Until Adrianna went on to Wikipedia and discovered even the plot summary confused her.
“Borge’s story is a good example of hypertext fiction,” Adrianna murmured, repeating what she’d read in reviews.
From the smile lifting Lexi’s lips, the observation must have been spot-on. “Exactly. That’s why I wish the others would simply give it a—”
“Ladies.” Tripp surprised Adrianna by not only kissing her cheek but by also slipping an arm around her shoulders. “I hope we’re not interrupting.”
Adrianna blinked, stunned by the proprietary gesture. For several seconds her voice vanished.
Lexi waved a dismissive hand. “Just book-club stuff. Nothing important.”
The dark-haired man lifted a brow. “What’s the book of the month?”
Lexi’s smile broadened. “The Garden of Forking Paths. It’s a short story by—”
“Jorge Luis Borge.” The stranger finished the sentence for her. “An excellent example of hypertext fiction.”
Lexi slanted a glance in Adrianna’s direction. “That’s what you just said.”
“So you also liked the story?” Tripp’s friend settled his steely gray eyes on Adrianna.