Several people greeted them. Luke returned the greeting, but continued to wind his way to the back of the room. Olivia glanced at him in surprise. “You don’t want to stop and talk?”
Oh, yeah. Adam was a schmoozer. “Not tonight.”
“Here it is.” Olivia stopped by one of the draped tables in a back corner. As Luke pulled out a chair for her, she sat in the one next to it. “You can have the seat facing the mirror.”
Luke glanced over at a mirror reflecting his pirate image. He bit back a smirk as he sat down. When they were teenagers, he’d teased Adam about frequently checking his appearance in the mirror. Apparently Adam still liked to admire himself. And apparently Olivia had noticed. His knee brushed against hers as he settled his legs beneath the table. The brief contact sizzled through him.
Olivia felt it too. Awareness echoed in her sharp intake of breath and the widening of her eyes. “I raised more money for the library addition tonight,” she said in a rush, as if desperate to say something.
“Good. Are you excited construction starts Monday?” Driven to touch her, he captured one of her hands and brought it to his mouth. He nuzzled the soft center of her palm. Her fingertips curled against his jaw. Her luscious lips parted. She appeared slightly dazed as she murmured a yes.
“You know Luke’s going to supervise the job personally.”
Her mouth tightened and her hand clenched within his grasp. “But Mr. Klegman is supposed to.”
Yes, Dave was supposed to until about two seconds ago when Luke decided he would take on the project. Dave wouldn’t care. “Change of plans, I guess.”
Olivia tensed. “No one mentioned it to me.”
Luke shrugged with feigned carelessness. He knew he shouldn’t tread where he was about to go, but daring had always faced down judiciousness. He leaned close, fascinated by the delicate shell of her ear. Luke inhaled her scent with each breath. “Don’t you like my brother?”
“No.” Her gut response rang low and vehement. She scrambled to recover as politeness warred with truth in the depth of her eyes. “I mean yes. Of course I do.”
It was ridiculous that something he already knew carried a sting. It was the why of the matter he didn’t understand. Tomorrow—when she realized he’d tricked her—tomorrow she’d have a reason to dislike him, but why now?
“I think your first answer was the truth. Why don’t you like Luke, Olivia?”
Her chin jutted at an obstinate angle. She gazed at the flickering candle. “He makes me uncomfortable. He doesn’t follow the rules. He’s a loose cannon and I’ve got enough of those in my own family.” She shifted her attention to stare directly into his eyes—well, his eye and the eyepatch covering the other one. “I don’t want to discuss Luke anymore.”
Quite frankly, he’d lost his appetite for hearing why she disliked him. “Fair enough. Why don’t I get us a drink?”
“Tonic with lime would be great.”
He found himself oddly reluctant to leave her for even the brief time required to fetch drinks. Without forethought or planning, he leaned forward and brushed the soft fullness of her mouth with the hard line of his own. It was difficult to say who was more surprised, her or him. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.” She appeared as bemused as he felt.
Luke managed to cross the room to the bar without getting snagged into a conversation, which was a good thing because quiet, demure Olivia had thrown him for a loop. Quiet, demure women should have a calming effect on a man. Olivia affected him just the opposite. Something about her stirred up the wildness in his soul. Every damn time he was around her, he wound up kissing her.
He ordered two tonics with lime—as much as he’d like a healthy splash of gin to doctor his up, he needed to keep a clear head and that was already something of a challenge with Olivia. Drinks in hand, he turned and found himself face-to-face with Henrietta Williams, head of the Welcome Committee and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
“Hello, Adam. You look so dashing as a pirate. I declare, you almost take my breath away.” Henrietta batted her lashes and simpered.
It was far more likely that Henrietta’s girdle rendered her breathless. Luke, however, in a rare moment of gallantry, refrained from making that observation. “Why thank you, Henrietta. That’s quite a…” he searched frantically for a way to describe a woman with the proportions of a sumo wrestler wearing a Geisha getup “um…inventive outfit you have there.”
“Candy and I are Oriental sugar and spice tonight.” Henrietta giggled behind a lacquered fan, and indicated her daughter at a nearby table. Candy, a younger replica of her mother, both in build and costume, waved in his direction. “I know you’re glad to have all that fund-raising over with. It was generous of you to give up so much of your time to that Cooper girl. Very sweet of you to invite her tonight to the club.” She lowered her voice and raised her penciled eyebrows. “Let’s just hope she doesn’t get any ideas she belongs here.”
“I know what you mean, Olivia’s much too good to belong here,” Luke even managed to smile at the snobbish battle-ax.
Luke turned on his heel and walked away even as Henrietta tittered behind him. “Now Candy’s going to save you a dance as long as you don’t make her walk the plank. I’ll tell her to look for you when the band starts up again,” she sang out to his retreating back.
He cut across the empty dance floor, eager to avoid any more matchmaking mammas.
Luke presented Olivia with the watered-down drink, the ice having given up the fight with the crowded, overheated room.
“Sorry, the ice is pretty much gone. Henrietta Williams waylaid me.”
“Let me guess, Henrietta was trying to set you up with Candy.” She took the drink. He watched as Olivia tipped the glass, fascinated by the movement of her throat as she swallowed. Moisture dripped from the glass to the valley created by her cleavage. She lowered the tumbler and sighed with satisfaction. “At least it’s wet.” She held the glass against her neck. “Are you as hot as I am?”
The lack of guile in her gray eyes combined with her sexy words left him dry-mouthed with want. He fought the urge to lick off the moisture where it clung to a tempting expanse of her neck, to follow that wet rivulet to her valley. If she ever realized her own sensuality, she’d be lethal.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been hotter.” Desperate, he tossed back a portion of water, mourning his decision to forego a stiff measure of gin. Alcohol couldn’t possibly unhinge him any further.
“Let’s take a moonlight stroll in the gardens.”
Once again, desire slammed him. “I don’t think that will cool us off.”
“I know.”
A rush of tenderness filled him at the hint of uncertainty flickering in her eyes, despite the invitation issued by her smile. Luke sat rooted to the spot, momentarily incapable of moving, overwhelmed by his good luck.
The microphone squealed as the band’s singer announced the next set. In the mirror, he caught a glimpse of Henrietta urging Candy in his direction. That was enough to dispel his inertia.
As the other couples rushed to the dance floor, he slipped out the back door with Olivia.
3
MOONLIGHT DANCED through bare branches, casting an ethereal spell along the garden path. Gravel crunched underfoot as they passed a fountain where a stone maiden spilled water into a pool below. The fecund fragrance of fertile soil underlaid the brisk bite of autumn air.
Caught up in sensual enchantment, Olivia wouldn’t have been surprised to spot a satyr in fleeting