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“No problem at all.”
She leaned closer to him. “Do you know that man standing over there by the edge of the terrace?”
He threw a casual glance over his shoulder. “Nope. Who is he? A party crasher?”
She shook her head. “He must have come with someone. I just can’t figure out who yet.”
“You want me to go over and check him out?”
“No. I’ll do it in a minute.”
“Happy birthday, Tess.” A cool voice slipped between them and they both turned.
“Jill.” She gave her sister a quick, automatic hug. If the hug lacked the spontaneity and ease of the hug she’d given Becca, she prided herself on her belief that no one could tell. No one except maybe Jill. And Colin, who knew them both well.
Just as quickly, she released her middle sister and stepped back. Jill was wearing a short black Armani sheath that emphasized her inherent elegance and sophistication. Until Tess had seen Jill, she’d thought she looked pretty good in her short, ivory silk dress with straps that skimmed over her shoulders and crisscrossed several times in the back until reaching her waist.
But then, it was Jill who had inherited the classical beauty and elegance of their mother, not her nor Kit. Even Jill’s dark hair was styled into an elaborate French twist from which no hair would dare escape.
Annoyingly, Tess could feel the wind blowing at the untidy blond tendrils of her hair, which had already managed to elude the containment of the ivory silk scarf she’d tied at the nape of her neck. “You’re late. What happened? I expected you earlier.”
“My ride took off without me, and I had to make other arrangements to get here.” Jill’s bourbon-colored gaze flashed at Colin.
The very picture of innocence, he spread out his hands. “I had a schedule to meet.”
“You weren’t running a bus, Colin.” Jill’s words dripped with ice. “You were flying your own plane.”
“Ever heard of a little thing called a flight plan?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. And I know they can give you a certain leeway.”
He shrugged. “Everyone else was aboard. I didn’t see why they should be punished just because you couldn’t arrange your day so you could get to the airport on time.”
Tess rolled her eyes, though neither Jill nor Colin saw her, so intent were they on squaring off against each other. But she’d grown used to their behavior. For whatever reason, whenever the two of them got together, some type of sparks usually flew, and more often than not, it was sparks of anger.
“I have an idea,” she said. “Why don’t you two go dance and I’ll see you both later?”
Colin looked at her, then at Jill. After a moment, he slowly held out his hand to her. Jill hesitated for several seconds, then glanced at Tess. “Have Uncle William and Des arrived yet?”
“Uncle William isn’t feeling well, so he won’t be coming.”
Jill’s perfect forehead creased in a frown. “Is it serious?”
Colin dropped his hand.
“He didn’t give me any reason to believe that it was. Besides, you know Des would let us know if something was seriously wrong.”
Jill nodded. “What about Des?”
Good question, Tess thought wryly. It was the eternal question that kept her and her sisters occupied. “I have no idea if he’s even coming.”
“You haven’t heard from him?”
“You know he rarely lets us know what he’s up to.”
“Right.” Jill chewed her bottom lip for perhaps three seconds, then stopped. It was a habit left over from her childhood. “Well, let me know if Des arrives, okay?”
Sure she would, Tess thought. When pigs flew.
Jill switched her attention to Colin. “Well?”
“Well, what, Jill?”
“Do you or don’t you want to dance?”
This time it was Colin who hesitated. “Maybe later,” he finally said and walked off.
Tess hid a smile. If looks could kill, Colin would now be dead. Jill stared after him for a moment longer, then turned and went in the opposite direction.
The Des in whom Jill had been so interested was their uncle William’s elusive stepson, a high-powered lawyer. Women flocked to Des like bees to honey, but he was much more than a highly eligible bachelor to her and her two sisters. She, Jill and Kit had each inherited one-sixth of their family’s business upon the death of their father, conditional upon each of them meeting a certain criterion. But Des was due to inherit fifty percent of their family company upon Uncle William’s death.
That fact put Des smack in the center of the collective crosshairs of her and her sisters. In theory, if one of them married him, they would gain control of the family company. And there wasn’t one of them who wasn’t hungry for that control and more than willing, able and raring to go after him. Too bad for her sisters that she planned to be the one who got him.
However, pursuing Des was frustrating as hell. Though she was no expert on love, it seemed to her that the only way to get Des to fall in love with her was to arrange it so that they could spend time with each other. But time was something Des rarely gave any of them on an individual basis.
Still, she wasn’t deterred, nor, she knew, were her sisters. Winning control of the company was too important for each of them. If Des showed up tonight, Jill would go after him like a heat-seeking missile, but she would have to stand in line behind Tess. And then, of course, there was Kit.
The three of them had been competitive with each other since birth, encouraged and egged on by their father, who pounded into each of them the importance of being the best at whatever they did. One of their competitions involved fighting to be the one who, at the end of the company’s fiscal year, had made the most money for the company, and there wasn’t much they wouldn’t do to earn that yearly honor. Or to win Des’s agreement to marriage.
But this year, she, even more than Kit and Jill, had a tremendous amount to prove.
“Dance with me.”
She looked up and took a reflexive step backward. She’d been so lost in the dysfunctional dynamics of her family that she’d momentarily forgotten her unknown guest. Now he was standing in front of her, tall, broad-shouldered and a bit overpowering.
And his eyes, she finally saw, were a startling amber. “Who are you?”
“Someone who would like very much to dance with you.”
His voice reverberated deep inside her, warm and compelling, like a playful silken ribbon that dipped and curved throughout her, making her heart pound like a bass drum.
His amber eyes held her gaze. His name. She didn’t know his name.
It didn’t matter.
He took her hand, and suddenly she found herself on the dance floor, and she wasn’t entirely certain how she’d gotten there. Surely she’d told him no.
Apparently not.
His arms were strong as they held her to his hard body. His dance steps were smooth, so that following him was easy, which allowed her to register other things. Such as the heat his body generated—it had the power to melt an iceberg.
This was a man who was definitely confident with his own sexuality and did nothing to hold it back. In addition, those amber eyes of his held dark, intriguing depths she hadn’t expected. And his skin was bronzed to a beautiful golden brown that made her think he must spend a great deal of time outdoors. His dark brown hair was almost outshone by streaks that could only have been put there by the brightness of the sun.
Truly he could be a sun god.
If she believed in such things.
Still, all her instincts were shouting at her that she would be safer if she simply walked away from him. There was just one problem. She wasn’t certain she could. His body had suddenly become her own private universe’s center of gravity.
Thankfully, she could still think, and truthfully, she was way too curious to attempt to leave him at this point. “Were you invited to my party?”
“No.”
Just the single word. No explanation, as if none was needed. “Did you come with one of my guests?”
“No.”
A shiver raced down her spine. He was studying her as if she were a book he was trying to learn, yet he wasn’t asking any questions. He was leaving that to her.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because of you.” His voice was soft, yet intense and with a faint trace of some dark emotion. “You’re really quite beautiful, you know. I didn’t expect it.”
“You didn’t…?”
He slowly shook his head, his gaze never once leaving her.
She found herself speechless. She felt as if he’d isolated her from the rest of the world, yet she was surrounded by friends, none of whom seemed the least bit alarmed that she was dancing with a perfect stranger who radiated a barely contained electric energy and thus danger.
But then, they couldn’t see what she was seeing, nor could they feel what he was making her feel.
A dark fire simmered in the depths of his remarkable eyes—eyes, she was convinced, that, if he chose, he could use like a lethal weapon. With a single glance he would be able to mow down anyone who got in his way or, conversely, reach across the terrace and touch her, making her aware of him in every part of her body. And that had been when they were yards from each other.
Now, as she danced with him, he was having an even greater impact on her. She couldn’t have said what the band was playing. She only knew that the two of them were moving slowly, sensually and in perfect unison. And, oddly, it seemed very right.
Her reaction didn’t make sense.
He didn’t make sense.
The sun had almost set, leaving behind fading streaks of red, orange and gold just above the horizon. The lights around the dance floor and in the trees had come on, yet he remained every bit as powerful, as elemental and as comfortable as he had been with the sun behind him.
“Happy birthday, Tess,” someone called.
“Thank you,” she said, blindly glancing in the direction of the voice, then immediately looked back at him, the man whose heat had melted her and whose strength had molded her against him with ease. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, her legs rubbed against the steel of his thighs. She didn’t even know his name, yet the aggressive, masculine force of his body impacted her every cell, bringing out feminine urges and needs so new, she wasn’t sure what to do with them.
“You throw a great party,” he murmured.
“Thank you. It was so good of you to come.”
For the first time he smiled at her—a partial smile, a knowing smile, a completely self-assured smile. And the effect was a shock of electricity that bolted straight through her and made her catch her breath. A full smile from him might stop her heart.
Her hand moved restlessly over his shoulder, the fine cut and expensive cloth of his dark suit adding one more piece to the puzzle of him. Simply by dancing with him, she was coming to know his body well, and she could tell his strength didn’t come from bulky muscles but rather the lean, elongated muscles of a natural athlete. Yet another piece. “Do you make it a practice to crash parties?”
“Actually, this is my first.”
“And are you having a good time?”
“So far I can’t complain.”
“If you’ll tell me your name, I might put you on the guest list for next year. Or would you just prefer to crash again?”
“Neither. I’m afraid I can’t wait a year to see you again.”
“Why—” Someone bumped against her back. Protectively, he tightened his hold on her and circled her in another direction.
“Hey, Sis. Happy birthday.”
She looked around, then inwardly sighed. She should have known. No one but her youngest sister, Kit, would deliberately bump into her. And no one but Kit would have dressed for what she knew to be a dressy affair in a tight T-shirt, even tighter jeans and a pair of Western boots that Tess knew for a fact were eight years old and looked twelve. “Thank you.”
The man didn’t relinquish his hold on her, but he did allow room for her to turn toward her sister.
“Is Des coming?” Kit asked, all the while doing some sort of dance that amazingly fit the music.
Kit’s red hair was flying; her green eyes were sparkling. Her arms were in the air, and her hips and feet were moving in a way that not only looked incredibly sexy but made Tess feel a tinge of envy that Kit could move so uninhibitedly. Kit’s partner was someone she didn’t know, but from the looks of his jeans, Western-cut shirt and boots, she guessed he might be a new hire at the family ranch.
“I don’t know. Des didn’t RSVP.”
Kit came to an abrupt stop, though her partner didn’t seem to notice and kept on dancing. “Des couldn’t be more exasperating if he tried, and I sometimes suspect he does.”
“You got it.”
Tess knew that Kit’s aim in bringing one of the ranch hands to her party and dressing like she had almost every day of her life since she’d gotten out of diapers was to flout tradition and embarrass her sisters. But what Kit didn’t realize was that she looked better in her jeans and T-shirt than half the women at the party whose dresses had come from Neiman Marcus. And a cursory glance at the crowd showed her that at least three of her single friends and two of the married ones were openly salivating over Kit’s date.
Kit hooked her thumbs in her pockets and flashed Tess’s dance partner a smile that revealed a perfect set of dimples. “Who’s your date, Sis?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea.”
Kit’s eyebrows rose. “Cool,” she said, her tone for once sincere. Then she danced away.
The man laughed, a deep chuckle.
Drawing away from him, she looked at him. “Is there some reason you won’t tell me your name? Like maybe you’re at the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted list?”
“No.”
“Then tell me.”
He shrugged. “The thing is, I doubt my name will mean anything to you.”
