by Rita Herron
"You think she'd have told us about this... this ridiculous proposal." Reid passed a beer to Lance, forgoing their usual rule of no drinking before five o'clock. "We should at least be there to give her away."
"Better yet, we could have convinced her to have a church ceremony like Mama would have wanted."
The mention of their mother brought a round of silence from all of them. Chase wasn't sure if Maddie's mother had liked him or just tolerated him, but he'd sure as heck admired her for the way she'd stuck by her boys. Next to him, Lance and Reid had been the biggest troublemakers at Savannah High. They'd been dubbed The Terrible Three in ninth grade and been proud of it.
"Look, guys, you've done the best you could raising Maddie since your mama died. But she's been battling for independence since she tossed her training wheels on the sidewalk at the age of four and barreled headfirst into a tree."
"Ain't that the truth," Lance mumbled.
A Depends commercial flitted on next, and Chase swore. They certainly had all the leakage problems covered with the advertisements. When would they get back to the show?
The commercial finally faded, and Reid waved his hands as the cameras zoomed in on Maddie's face. The cold beer burned in Chase's stomach while he waited on Oglethorpe's reply. Maddie was like a sister to him; he should be happy for her.
Well, maybe she wasn't exactly like a sister, he thought, aware his body thrummed with sexual tension at the sight of her lush legs and silky auburn hair and those rosy pink lips that could form a pout in a second. And those curves? When had Maddie developed full breasts and those luscious hips?
The answer slammed into him. While she'd been gallivanting around with Jeffrey Oglethorpe.
The man she was going to marry in the next five minutes.
Chapter 2
During the break, Sophie had roamed the audience seeking romantic tips, graciously giving Jeff time to ponder his choices. Finally, she returned center-stage. "Okay, Mr. Oglethorpe, I think everyone here, especially Maddie, is anxious for your reply."
Jeff indicated the red heart he'd finally noticed during the break. "Now, Maddie, you know I want us to be married, but there are other things to consider besides our feelings. This TV show definitely isn't appropriate for an Oglethorpe wedding."
Maddie pursed her lips, an onslaught of emotions churning through her. The top being anger at the hint of snobbery she heard in Jeff's voice. Why had she never noticed it before?
"Besides, you've only recently completed your degree. We have to discuss whether or not you'll continue this decorating career."
"What do you mean whether I'll pursue it? We talked about my plans in college."
"Yes, but things have changed, Maddie."
"I haven't changed," Maddie said, her temper rising.
Jeff covered her hand with his. "But circumstances have changed, sweetheart. I'm head of the bank now and can handle things financially."
"I want to handle my own finances, Jeff."
"But I'll take care of you, sweetheart. And you can help me by being by my side for social functions," Jeff protested. "We can work together as a team."
Which would be fine if they'd been living in the dark ages! What he really meant was that he wanted her to forgo her own dreams and serve cocktails to his business associates to elevate him on the social pedestal. Where was the support he'd shown her in college?
His selfishness suddenly struck a nerve in Maddie that zinged like a broken violin string. "You don't care about my career?"
"It's not that I don't care, but you won't need a job or have time for one if we marry. Helping me will keep you busy."
"Keep me busy?"
"Well, yes. There'll be lots of social functions for the bank and such."
He would suck every last ounce of independence from her just as her father had done from her mother.
She wanted a man who believed in her, one who would be proud of her accomplishments, not ask her to stifle her dreams for his own goals. A virile, hungry, aggressive hunk who would whisper wild, erotic nothings in her ear and drive her crazy with his tongue and body and make her cry out his name in the dark. An insatiable man who would take her anywhere, anytime, and who wouldn't have to check his pocket calendar to schedule in sex, or even a simple movie.
She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, but the truth hit her so vividly she almost shouted. Jeff didn't love her. But even more clear in her mind, she didn't love him anymore. Not the man he'd become anyway.
"Um, Maddie?" He reached for her hand and patted it with his slender fingers as if she were a distressed child. "I say we table this issue for a few more months."
Maddie brushed at the wrinkle in her beautiful white sheath. She'd always tried to make her brothers proud. She'd even planned to marry someone she didn't love so they would approve. But she'd wasted four years of her life. Now she'd damn well do as she pleased.
"I'm sorry, Jeff, but I'm not going to table the issue. You're not the man for me." She dropped his hand and stood, then jerked the toilet tissue from her shoe and tossed it at his feet. "It's time to move on."
Jeff shook his foot to dislodge the tissue and clamped his mouth shut in shock. With a strong tilt to her chin, Maddie stalked off stage.
A burst of applause erupted. Maddie slipped out of the side door, kicked off her high heels and headed to her car, ready to move on with her life.
Minus one Jeffrey Oglethorpe.
* * *
Chase pumped his fist in a victory sweep. Good for Maddie; she'd finally gotten rid of that ass-wipe Oglethorpe. About damn time.
He opened his mouth to voice his opinion, then firmly closed it when he saw Lance and Reid wearing scowls the size of Texas. They obviously wanted Maddie to marry someone important, someone successful, someone above themselves. Someone like Oglethorpe.
But that wuss wasn't good enough for Maddie.
Chase fisted his hands by his side. Not that he was either. Chase was nothing more than a jailbird's son. A misfit himself with enough scars and bad blood to taint him for life.
Reid slung a pillow across the room and almost knocked over the lamp. "I'll kill him."
"No, killing's too good." Lance crushed a beer can in his fist. "Torture would be better."
Reid nodded, voicing a few painful alternatives.
Chase chuckled to himself, remembering all the childhood brawls they'd gotten into. But they weren't kids anymore, and he was desperately trying to overcome his hard-assed bad-boy reputation.
"I think you should be damn proud of your sister," he finally said. "She's got spunk standing up to that ball-less jerk. He couldn't even give her a straight answer."
Lance and Reid exchanged worried looks. "Yeah, she's gutsy, but you know sweet Maddie."
Sweet Maddie?
"What else could she do? She was only trying to save face."
"Probably crying her eyes out now." Lance's dark eyes filled with worry.
"Poor kid. Her heart must be broken. We gotta do something." Reid drove his hand through his light blond hair, spiking the ends in disarray.
"Yeah, I guess we'll have to pick up the pieces. Just like we always have." Lance grabbed his keys. "I say we get over to her place, quick."
Chase levered himself on the heels of his boots and stood. "You don't think Maddie will want to be alone?"
"No way. She needs us." Reid pounded his fist in his hand. "But first we're going to pay Oglethorpe a visit."
Chase suddenly envisioned bloody bodies and cops and Maddie topping off her day by having to bail her brothers out of jail. He yanked his baseball hat on his head. "I'll follow you over."
"Glad you're in, man," Reid said. "We may need another arm to dig his grave."
Chase shook his head. He hoped he wouldn't have to use his strong-arm tactics to keep his best buds from letting things get out of control. An image of Maddie's wild curls tumbling around her head flitted through his mind, and his body hardened. No, he was not going to think about little
Maddie Summers in a sexual way. He was simply going along to keep his friends out of trouble, the same way he'd done a hundred times before.
His presence had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to see how Maddie was doing for himself. Or to sneak a peek at Maddie's endless legs beneath that stunning slinky white dress.
* * *
The evening breeze tossed Maddie's unruly hair into disarray around her face as she rolled her brand-new spit-shiny red VW convertible to a stop in front of her downtown apartment. The ride home had been heaven. The wind, the night sounds, the faint scent of salt air and... freedom.
But as she slid into her allotted parking spot on the corner, irritation crawled through her. Chase Holloway, her brothers' best buddy, sat on her front porch in the dark, obviously there to check up on her. Her faithful three-legged cat, T. C., short for Too Cute, lay at his feet in a snoring ball of black-and-white fur. A smile warmed her mouth as she thought of the stray, mangy animal she'd taken in a few months ago. With her love, the cat had flourished and now kept her warm at night. She'd need him even more now that she had no husband prospect in mind. But Chase's sullen frown brought her back to the present.
Where were Lance and Reid? She'd half-expected The Terrible Three to all be there, to have begun her pity party without her, as if they fully expected some great big hullabaloo of a dramatic scene when she arrived home. Men!
They had no idea she'd treated herself to a new car and a shopping trip and didn't need or particularly want company. The final coo—comfort food; a chocolate éclair cake sat beside her waiting to be devoured. She'd had a major powwow with herself over the sense of loss she'd experienced over the breakup and had come to some pretty shocking conclusions. She would miss Jeff, much as she would miss a well-worn pair of sneakers that had grown too old to be exciting but comfortable enough to wear on a bad-hair, PMS day. Except come to think of it, she'd hadn't been that comfortable with Jeff since he'd graduated; she'd always been keenly aware of his family name and the fact that she had to maintain the proper image to be seen on his arm. Hair could never be messy, clothes untidy or cheap, and heaven forbid she shop at a discount store. She shook her curls around her head and laughed, wondering what Jeff would think if he'd seen her hair flying wild in the wind as she'd driven home. And if he could see her purchases...
She'd happened on the day's mind-boggling revelations right in the middle of Victoria's Secret so she'd splurged on a whole array of sexy lingerie, including a black leather thong that was creeping into her nether regions. Then she'd dumped her dependable Volvo at the VW dealership, and bought her new wheels.
She cut off the engine and opened the door, grabbed the cake and juggled her packages in her arms as she maneuvered around the giant azaleas and teetered over the cobblestone steps to her front door. The Victorian house had been divided into a duplex that screamed with character, the ten-foot ceilings and latticework reminiscent of days gone by. Climbing vines of roses wound around the trellis to her bedroom window, reminding her of the set to Sophie's show. And the scene she'd caused with her ultimatum.
Chase sat in the metal glider amid the pots of pink geraniums and hanging baskets of ferns, sliding his big feet just enough to keep the porch swing in motion. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed his sexy mouth tilt in a tiny smile. Almost sympathetic.
Damn. She did not want sympathy, especially from a hottie like Chase.
Maddie dropped the packages on the wrought-iron table. Shadows hovered from the nearby trees, almost completely shielding Chase's face. He'd been watching patiently, she realized, the silent brooding outsider who never seemed to say much, but who always seemed to be around, filling the space with his bad-boy good looks and haunted expression. Keeping his distance as if he knew he wasn't really family, but hovering on the periphery of their lives as if he had no other place to go, as if no one else wanted him. But her family had opened its door and he'd been leaning in the middle of the doorjamb ever since.
Just like T. C. had for a while. A stray mangy cat she could handle. What she didn't need was another overprotective big brother trying to tell her what to do. "I assume Reid and Lance sent you. I'm surprised they aren't here themselves."
"They waited awhile. When you didn't show, they went looking for you."
Maddie rolled her eyes and sank down beside him.
His sharp gaze cut straight to her. "You all right, shortstop?"
She smiled at his use of her childhood nickname and reached for a beer on the circular table beside him. With a flick of her thumb, she popped the top and lifted the cold can to her neck, pressing it against her overheated skin. A shiver rippled up her spine at the sound of Chase's gruff breathing, or maybe it was the ice-cold can. A cacophony of crickets and frogs sang in the background. The faint scent of jasmine and honeysuckle and whatever kind of aftershave Chase was wearing sweetened the balmy air. Odd sensations stirred within her. "I've never been better, Chase."
His dark eyes narrowed perceptibly. "Maybe you should have some coffee or tea instead of drinking, Maddie, you—"
"I'm not twelve anymore, Chase."
His sullen expression said he disagreed. He probably still saw her as a gangly teenager. But she'd save her arguments for her brothers. "I'll let the boys make me some tea when they get here, it'll give them something to do," she said with a wry grin.
Chase's accepting nod eased the tension in her knotted muscles. She relaxed against the swing and watched him fold his big hands together and pop his knuckles, one by one.
Moonlight spilled through the cracks in the awning and streaked the jet-black strands of his hair. Finally he laid his hands on top of his muscular thighs.
Well-worn denim hugged his hips, distracting her from the sounds of a biker sailing by. "You threw Oglethorpe a real curveball tonight."
She grinned, remembering the time Chase had taught her to pitch. He'd spent all afternoon coaxing her to throw balls into a trash can, and she'd hit him as many times as she'd hit the can. One time she'd smacked him in the crotch. He'd walked bowed over for hours. "Yeah, I guess I did."
"He struck out. His loss."
"No, Chase, the man didn't even have the balls to swing." She stretched out her legs, kicked off her shoes and sighed as the warmth of Chase's laughter melted the last of the tension from her body. Then she began to push the glider with her bare feet, setting her rhythm to match Chase's. T. C. crawled up in Chase's lap, plopped into a contented ball and began to purr. Maddie bit her lip, surprised to see the cat take to Chase. He was usually wary of everyone but her.
Shaking off the oddity, she stroked his thick fur. "But I'm all right, you know. I'm sorry if I embarrassed Lance and Reid though."
His tanned knuckle bulged as he patted her hand. "They'll survive."
"I just hope Jeff's parents do. His mother's probably removing my name from every social list in Savannah as we speak."
"She is into all that stuff, isn't she?"
Maddie swallowed a sip of beer. "She lives for all those society functions."
Chase nodded, not quite meeting her eyes. Suspicions inched into Maddie's conscious. He'd said the boys had gone looking for her, but the show had aired at three, and she'd been gone for hours. Her heart fluttered at the disastrous possibility flitting through her head. "Chase, the boys didn't go to Jeff's, did they?"
The corner of his mouth twisted slightly. "Earlier."
Maddie dropped her face into her hands and groaned. "You went with them?"
He nodded again.
She peeked between her fingers. "Please tell me they didn't hurt him."
His feet pushed the glider with a little more force. "Scared him shitless, but Oglethorpe'll survive."
Maddie dropped her hands completely and chuckled. T. C. suddenly raised his head, stared at her, then leaped down and scampered behind the bushes.
"What are you going to do now?" he asked softly.
Maddie shrugged. "Focus on my career. Forget men."
"
Ahh, Maddie." His hand brushed hers slightly, a tiny spark of static electricity jolting through her. Maddie frowned, momentarily stunned. As if he'd felt it, too, Chase pulled his hand away and stared at her bare feet, then his boots. A silence fell between them that seemed both comfortable and awkward at the same time.
The creaking sound of the swing lulled her as she studied the outline of his chiseled face. Dark stubble grazed Chase's square jaw, his nose was crooked where it had been broken at least twice in high school, and several stray locks of his too-long black hair tumbled down over his heavy bedroom eyes. A tiny jagged scar splintered his bronze complexion, roving from the edge of his hairline to within an inch of his left eye. She remembered the day he'd gotten the injury, wondered how many more scars he'd added over the years. Each one would tell a story...
What was wrong with her? She'd never wondered about Chase Holloway's scars before. Must be the aftermath of breaking up with one man. You suddenly noticed all the others.
As if he sensed her watching him, Chase raised his head and met her gaze. His jaw tightened, the fine lines at the corner of his mouth crinkling into that killer smile. But his charcoal-black eyes turned a smoky hue that Maddie didn't recognize. She swallowed, astounded by the intensity of emotion hidden in their depths.
Emotions like pain and hunger and need.
Emotions she'd never seen before because she hadn't been looking. Because he was her brothers' buddy. Off-limits to her. Unavailable. Just as she had been to him.
But no more.
She was a free woman. A fully grown free woman. And Chase was a free man. The sexiest free man she'd ever known. Good grief, what was happening to her?
She was supposed to be forgetting men.
And Chase Holloway was no man to tangle with. Talk about notches on a bedpost, he probably had to replace his bedposts every six months. No, Chase was too much like a brother to her for a relationship. But he had given her some pretty good pointers about boys when she'd been twelve.
"You know, Maddie, you don't have to forget men completely, I'm sure there's a nice guy out there who wants to settle down."
