Hot. Cool.
In. Out.
Oh, God.
“Are you all right?”
His husky words snapped Kia’s head back and she gazed into eyes that smoldered with awareness. Her heart lurched sideways, his magnetism so potent, so compelling that she could imagine him taking her right here and now in a raw act of possession that had everything to do with pure sex and erotic pleasure and nothing to do with reason. And he knew. Oh, yes, he knew, because that feeling was rushing through him, too. She could see it in his eyes. In every beat of his heart.
“It’s—” she moistened her lips “—a bit hot in here, that’s all,” she said, pretending it was the crowd of people on the dance floor affecting her, and not him. “Too many people wanting to let their hair down, I guess.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth, and the blue of his eyes darkened. Then he glanced up at the blond hair she’d put up for tonight. “Do you ever let your hair down, Kia?” he murmured.
What was he really asking? Whether she’d dare go to bed with him? Somehow, somewhere, she had to find the strength to pull herself out of this. If Phillip were here …
Of course!
Stronger now, she planted a cool smile on her lips. “Phillip’s really the only one I let my hair down for now.”
He tensed, a muscle ticking at his jaw. “Phillip didn’t seem himself tonight.”
She knew what he was implying. That Lynette’s presence had upset him. “He’s been doing too much this week.”
“Nothing else?”
Kia remembered the deciphering way Brant had looked at her and Phillip after Lynette had left and she felt a flutter of panic. “Maybe being the center of attention tonight was too much for him.”
“Perhaps.”
Everything had been crazy since the accident, and with Phillip having been told he’d have a permanent limp, she knew Brant couldn’t be sure that hadn’t been the problem tonight. She was banking on that to save her from further interrogation.
The music ended, and her heart skipped with relief when he let her slip from his arms without another word. He escorted her back to the table, fortunately without touching her, but she still resisted the urge to fan herself as she took her seat. One more dance with him and she’d have gone up in smoke.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Serena asked.
Kia smiled at the other woman and tried not to show how her pulse was bubbling like the fresh glass of champagne in her hand. What a question. How could she enjoy herself when every look sent her way told her that this woman’s date wanted her with a passion.
“I’m having a great time,” she lied, watching Brant sit down on the opposite side of Serena. “I just wish Phillip hadn’t left so early.” That, at least, was the truth.
Serena’s eyes turned sympathetic. “He needs time to adjust.”
Kia felt her throat close up. She didn’t deserve Serena’s sympathy. Or anyone else’s, for that matter. She was such a fraud. “I know,” was all she could manage.
After that, talk around the table turned to other things. Her heart took the chance to settle back to its regular beat as she listened to the discussions going on around her. They were all such nice people.
She glanced at Brant, his dark head tilted toward Serena while she spoke to him. Well, nearly all of them were nice. She couldn’t exactly call Brant Matthews “nice.”
It didn’t apply to a man with probing eyes and an inscrutable expression, a man whose body coiled with barely controlled sensuality but bordered on an unfriendliness that belonged to an archenemy.
Thankfully the music started up again, this time playing rock and roll, and Simon asked her to dance. Desperate to forget thoughts of Brant, who was now asking Serena to dance with him, she willingly went with the older man to the dance floor, where he showed her that being middle-aged still made him capable of some daring moves.
“He’ll be paying for that tomorrow,” his wife teased to Kia when she returned to the table with Simon after only one song.
Kia smiled, but before she could catch her breath, Bill Stewart grabbed her hand and insisted on a dance, too. She figured out then that they were making sure she was having a good time even without her fiancé.
When she eventually got to sit down, she saw Simon about to get to his feet again. “No more,” she gasped, reaching for the jug of ice water. They were killing her with kindness.
“Oh, but—” Simon began.
“No more,” Brant said firmly across the table, the look in his eyes reminding them all who was boss. “Kia looks tired.”
Kia didn’t want to agree with him, but she didn’t want to dance again either. “I am a little,” she smilingly apologized to Simon.
“That’s okay,” the older man said with obvious relief. “I wasn’t sure I had another one in me anyway.”
After that, the music got even louder, until it became more impossible to talk. It wasn’t long before the older couples decided to call it a night.
“Would you ladies like to go home soon?” Brant said, encompassing both her and Serena with his question. “It’s nearly midnight.”
Rather than going home with Brant, Kia would have sat here all night if she knew she hadn’t been inconveniencing Serena. “That’s up to both of you.”
“I’m ready when you are,” Serena agreed, giving a delicate yawn followed by a self-conscious laugh. “I have an early appointment in the morning anyway.”
“No sleep-in for you then,” Kia teased.
Brant quickly finished off his drink. “Right. Let’s go,” he rasped, getting to his feet.
Startled by his tone, Kia got to her feet, too, followed by Serena, who didn’t seem to notice and continued to talk while they made their way through the tables to the exit.
Kia listened even while she wondered why Brant’s face looked like thunder. Had it been her mention of sleeping in tomorrow morning? Did it remind him of being in bed? Of making love? She must have reminded him that he wasn’t about to get any sex tonight. Not from Serena. And certainly not from her.
Of course, he would still have plenty of other woman friends who would willingly sacrifice themselves for his pleasure. He only had to make a phone call and it would be his.
But she soon forgot all that when they reached the front of the hotel and were discussing where they lived while waiting for Brant’s car to be brought around. It appeared Serena lived closest.
“Then we’ll drop you off first, if you don’t mind,” Brant said as the gray Mercedes glided to a stop in front of them.
Serena smiled shyly. “Of course I don’t mind,” she said, and before Kia could do a thing about it, Brant was holding the back door open for Serena and she had slid onto the backseat.
Kia was tempted to slide in right next to her, but as if he knew, Brant took her by the elbow and walked her to the front passenger door.
His touch made her shiver in the balmy night air. Soon she’d be alone with a man who had no need to touch to get his way. A man who had perfected foreplay with just a look. Perhaps it was as well she was an “engaged” woman now.
Three
Kia consoled herself on the way home that at least her presence wouldn’t give Brant the opportunity to seduce the innocent Serena. Not that she really thought he would now, not after the brotherly way he’d been treating the younger woman all night.
Then