by Cindy Dees
Rachel laughed across the top of Carly’s red Mustang. “I could never go out in public without underwear.”
“Chicken.”
“Tart,” Rachel retorted as she slipped into her seat.
Carly kept glancing over at her as they headed for the high school. Finally, Rachel asked, “What’s wrong with me? Do I have lipstick on my teeth?”
Carly laughed. “No. I’m just thinking about walking into that dance with you. This is going to be fun.”
Tonight was going to suck rocks. Finn glared into the mirror as he tied his tie. No way to get out of it, though. The whole Colton clan was going to the dance. Even his younger brothers, Brand and Perry, were going to be there. Darius had decreed it. Only Damien had been excused from the edict to go. He didn’t need to become a circus sideshow in front of the entire town. Not to mention Darius had always been so hellbent on Colton respectability. The old man surely wouldn’t want to parade his ex-con son in front of everyone. The young doctor in the family, though—that was a different matter. Finn had a sneaking suspicion he’d be on display tonight like some kind of damned trophy.
He shrugged into his suit coat and tugged it into place. An image of prom night all those years ago flashed through his mind. He’d had an engagement ring in his pocket and had been positive that Rachel would say yes. Sure, they were young. But true love was true love. From the moment he’d first laid eyes on her in biology lab, he’d known. She was the One.
He supposed she’d be at the homecoming dance tonight. No reason for her not to be there. But he mentally cringed at the idea. Another dance. The high school gym. Him and Rachel. Both there. But thankfully, not together this time.
Yup, tonight was definitely going to suck.
When they got to the high school, Carly declared the parking lot not full enough for their grand entrance and took a lap around town before coming back to the dance. Rachel’s nerves, which were stretched thin already, didn’t need the delay. As she glanced down at her gown’s plunging neckline and the way her push-up bra all but dumped her out of the top of it, she began to think better of this getup. She’d been feeling unappreciated and defiant the day the dress had come in to the Goodwill store and she’d impulsively bought the thing. But maybe that hadn’t been such a good idea. She had the black dress she’d worn to her father’s funeral at home…
“I can’t do it, Carly. Run me home fast, will you? You can drop me off and come back here while I change.”
“Change? Whatever for?” Carly squawked.
“I’m chickening out.”
“Oh, no you’re not, young lady.” The Mustang swung into the high school drive and Carly accelerated threateningly. “You’re going into that dance just as you are even if I have to drag you in there by the hair.”
Rachel grimaced. She knew her cousin well enough to take the threat seriously. “This is a bad idea.”
“This is a great idea. It’s high time Finn Colton realized what he’s missing. And when he begs you to take him back, you take that stiletto heel of yours and stomp on his heart. You hear me?”
Rachel winced. She hadn’t been exactly forthcoming with Carly about her recent encounters with Finn. Carly wasn’t known for her ability to keep a secret, and Rachel really hadn’t wanted to be the gossip topic of the whole town again. As it was, enough people were throwing her and Finn speculative looks that rumors had to be swirling behind her back.
“Want me to drop you off in front?” Carly asked.
“No!” Rachel blurted. She flashed back to standing under the porch outside the gym, waiting for Finn to park his truck. He’d been so handsome striding toward her in his tux she’d actually cried a little. He’d been wearing a strange expression as he’d joined her that night, but she had put it down to his nerves at proposing to her. She couldn’t have been more wrong!
Carly shrugged and pulled into the parking lot. “There’s one of the Colton trucks over there. I wonder how many of them showed up tonight.”
“Oh, Lord. If you’re trying to make me run screaming from this stupid dance, you’re doing a great job.”
“C’mon, Raych. Let’s go show all those fuddy-duddies just how amazing we Grant women are.” Carly linked an arm through hers and marched toward the gym in a fashion that gave Rachel no choice but to go along.
This was dumb. Really dumb. She was going to walk in there and cause a scandal she’d spend another fifteen years living down. What had she been thinking to choose this dress? The doorway loomed and two ridiculously young-looking teenaged boys reached for the double doors.
“I can’t do this,” Rachel wailed in a whisper.
The doors swung open before them.
“Too late,” Carly announced cheerfully. “Smile.”
What the heck. If she were going to go down in flames, she might as well pretend to enjoy the ride. Rachel pasted on a smile and stepped inside. The wash of memories that came over her was almost unbearable. A mirrored disco ball spun slowly above the dance floor, and she swore the exact same hand-painted banners and crepe paper streamers decorated the walls. Even the bunches of helium balloons were the same.
She glanced around the room and was shocked to realize that it did, indeed, appear that she had stopped the dance. Every face in the room was turning her way, with varying degrees of amazement and appreciation painted upon them all. She spied the cluster of Coltons in the corner but didn’t see Finn among the broad-shouldered group.
Her stomach fell. But then relief kicked in.
“C’mon. Let’s turn this town on its head,” Carly murmured, dragging her forward into the room. They just about reached the mob of people dancing in the middle of the gym floor when Rachel felt a presence behind her.
She paused. Half turned. And stared.
Whoever said men didn’t know how to make a grand entrance had obviously never seen Finn Colton walk into a room. In a tuxedo. With one hand carelessly in a pants pocket like an Italian model. Or a movie star.
He stopped just inside the door, much as she had. And likewise, every head in the place turned his way. But then his gaze locked on her, and everything and everyone else in the room faded away. His gaze traveled slowly down her body to her toes and all the way back up to her face. It was hard to see his eyes in the dim half-light, but the expression on his face came darn near to open lust.
Carly cackled beside her. “Take that, Finn Colton! Now go for the kill, cuz.”
“Uhh, how exactly do I do that?” Rachel mumbled back. Not only was her entire face on fire, but it felt like her neck, shoulders and arms were blushing, too.
“Easy. Flirt with him like crazy. Then leave with another guy. He’ll never live it down.”
“Another guy?” Rachel squeaked. “I don’t do that sort of thing. My reputation would be ruined—”
“Like it’s not already?” Carly shot back.
Her cousin’s flippant remark stopped her cold. Sometimes she forgot what everyone else in town thought of her. She supposed they must be right if they all still believed she was a coldhearted heartbreaker after all these years. After all, she had managed to drive Finn away from her even though he’d been crazy about her.
Rachel’s gaze slid in his direction whether she willed it to or not. He had just reached his family and turned. And, oh Lordy, he was looking back at her, a tea cup of punch paused halfway to his mouth. She tore her gaze away from him hoping desperately that the move looked casual. Disinterested.
“Wow!” A male voice exclaimed from nearby. “You two look hot!”
Rachel glanced over at a cluster of young men who didn’t look to be much older than college age. As a group, they were big and burly. Had to be some of the recent football players back in town for Coach Meyer’s last hurrah.
Carly purred and preened as several of them came over to introduce themselves. Rachel nodded and smiled but couldn’t have repeated any of their names if her life depended on it. One of them offered to go get her a drink and she nodded numbly.
>
A disk jockey was on a platform at one end of the gym spinning a combination of old and new music, most of it with a good dance beat. Back in the day, Rachel had loved to dance. The last time she’d danced in this room, Finn had held her in his arms…and called her the worst kind of human being. Loudly. In front of everyone. And then he’d walked out on her and left her standing in the middle of the dance floor with the whole school staring at her. And then, as she’d stumbled off the floor in a flood of tears that nearly blinded her, they’d laughed at her.
“Here’s your punch,” one of the nameless college students announced cheerfully. “We spiked it for you, seeing as how you’re of legal drinking age.”
She smiled ruefully. “Do I look that old?”
The young men laughed. “You look fantastic,” one of them retorted. It was gratifying when the others nodded vigorously in agreement.
“You guys are good for a girl’s ego,” she teased.
“Wanna dance?” one of them asked.
“Will you tell me if I look dopey? It has been a while since I’ve done it.”
“I’ll teach you all the latest moves,” the one who’d brought her the punch promised.
“You wish,” a smooth, deep voice muttered from behind her.
Rachel turned fast and nearly killed herself as she pivoted on the tall heels in her narrow skirt and proceeded to lose her balance. Strong hands caught her and steadied her. Hands whose touch thrilled her to the marrow of her bones.
She murmured to Finn, “It’s not nice to sneak up on someone from behind and startle them.”
“Sorry.”
“Hey, buddy. She and I were just going out for a dance,” the college student complained.
Finn sent the kid a quelling look that had the student slinking away in a moment.
“Finn! I was going to dance with him and you just chased him away!”
“He’s too young for you.”
She stood up to her full, heel-enhanced height. It still was only enough to bring her up to approximately his chin. “Are you calling me old?”
“No. I’m calling you a gorgeous woman in her prime, and he’s a snot-nosed kid who wouldn’t have the slightest idea what to do with a woman like you.”
“Oh, and you do?” Rachel couldn’t help retorting.
Finn’s gaze went dark and lazy and smoky. “Yeah, I do.”
She actually took a step back from all that sexual intensity rolling off of him. “It just so happens that that boy promised to teach me some new dance moves. And I plan to take him up on the offer.”
Finn stepped closer and murmured, “Over my dead body. I’m not letting anyone else—boy or man—lay a hand on you, with you looking like that.”
Rachel glanced down at her gown in surprise. Everything was where it was supposed to be. “What’s wrong with my dress?” she asked defensively.
“Nothing. You look sensational. And that’s the problem.”
She gazed up at him steadily. Despite Carly’s advice to stomp on his heart, she spoke gently. “You’re not in any position to dictate who I do or don’t dance with, Finn. I don’t belong to you.”
His jaw rippled and frustration glinted in his eyes.
She continued lightly, “In fact, you made that crystal clear to me in this very room. Or don’t you remember?”
“I remember it perfectly well,” he gritted out from between clenched teeth.
She nodded and smiled politely at him. “If you’ll excuse me, then, I’m going to go collect my dance lesson.”
It was hard—really, really hard—but she turned away from Finn and strolled across the room to where the college gang had congregated near the hors d’oeuvre table. And that was how she ended up spending the next hour dancing with a series of college students ten years her junior while Finn furiously avoided looking in her direction. Her heart broke a little every time she spied him across the gym with his back stubbornly turned to her.
The whole Colton clan had come to the dance, with one exception. There was no sign of Damien. Too bad. He was her favorite of the lot of them. But she could see how he might not like a gathering like this, where he might very well become a spectacle. Oh, wait. That was her job.
Another hour later, Rachel was running out of steam at keeping up the charade of enjoying herself. Were it not for the fact that Carly was her ride home, she’d have left already.
As if she wasn’t miserable enough, the DJ got the bright idea to ask for all the former homecoming kings and queens to come out onto the dance floor for a spotlight dance. Rachel moved to the side of the room along with everyone else, relieved to get a moment to herself to hide in the shadows.
Then the cursed DJ announced, “Okay, kings and queens. Look around the room. If your date from homecoming is here, go get them and bring them out onto the dance floor. Don’t worry spouses…you get the next dance.”
Amid the laughter, Rachel’s gaze snapped to Finn in horror. He’d been the homecoming king his senior year. And she’d been his date. She shrank back behind the biggest of the college students and did her best to fade into the wall. But it was no good. Finn, grim faced and tight jawed, was looking around the room for her.
She swore under her breath as he strode purposefully in her direction. He’d spotted her. In seconds he loomed in front of her. Rachel dimly noted silence falling nearby as locals watched with avid interest to see what happened next between the two of them.
“Well?” Finn muttered, looming in front of her. “Are you going to dance with me or not?”
Chapter 9
Finn was appalled by the look of horror on Rachel’s face. Did she despise him so much? He’d thought they had something between them. Had felt it. But she looked as if she’d rather face a firing squad than dance with him.
“C’mon,” he said. “People are starting to notice your hesitation. Let’s just do this and get it over with.”
She squared her bare, slender shoulders…which he’d give a year’s salary to kiss right now. Damn, she looked incredible in that gown. She’d been wearing yellow the night of prom, too. It had suited her sunny personality. He’d never believed it possible that she would betray him so completely like she had. He’d loved her, for God’s sake. Been sure she felt the same way about him. How could she have cheated on him with some other guy? And then, as if that wasn’t bad enough—
“All right. Fine. Let’s just get this over with.” Rachel stepped forward resolutely.
He held out his forearm to her automatically and led her onto the floor.
The flood of memories was overwhelming. High school dances with her. Looking up into the stands at football games and wanting to play his best for her. Meeting her in the hallway between classes to steal a quick kiss and put a fiery blush on her cheeks. God, the laughter. She’d made him so damned happy. They’d been the two halves of a whole. When he was down, she’d cheer him up. When she was upset about something, she came to him to make it right. And he always did. They’d been magic.
The music wailed around them and she swayed in his arms, bringing back another entire flood of memories. Imagined mostly, but vivid nonetheless of what it would be like to finally make love with her, to become one body and one soul for real. He’d thought about it a lot when they’d been dating but had never pushed. After all, they’d had all the time in the world. The rest of their lives together. No matter how bad he’d wanted to be with her, she was worth the wait.
And then that last night had happened. That last dance. Images came rushing back unbidden, a bitter dessert that ruined the rest of the meal of memories and left a terrible taste in his mouth. His hurt. His disbelief. And ultimately his fury. He must have tensed because Rachel murmured, “Never fear. It will be over soon.”
“You don’t have to make it sound like I’m torturing you,” he muttered back.
“You have no idea,” she retorted.
He frowned down at her and words sprang from his lips before he could think better of them. “Yo
u could do a whole lot worse than me, you know.”
Her gaze snapped up to his. “Is that an offer?”
“I—uhh—” Her question took him completely by surprise. His mind went blank. Was it an offer?
“Please don’t hold me so close,” she murmured through a patently plastic smile.
He loosened his arms fractionally. “Why? Do I make you uncomfortable? Remind you of how things used to be between us?”
Her light brown eyes went dark. Troubled. “You can’t have it both ways, Finn. You can’t flirt with me and try to get into my bed while you continue to throw the past in my face.”
That made him pull back. Sharply. “I’m not trying to have it both ways. I’m here for a few weeks to welcome my brother home and then I’m leaving again. And in the meantime, I figured we might as well act civilized with each other.”
“Is that what the other night in my living room was? Civilized?”
Ah-ha. So their kiss had had as big an effect on her as it had on him! He studied her closely. “I’m not sure that’s the word I’d use to describe it, but it wasn’t bad, was it?”
“I think I’d better not answer that question.”
He glanced up and wasn’t surprised to see that they were the center of attention. And then he spied his family. His brothers mostly just looked concerned. Maisie looked about ready to march out here and commit murder. But it was his father’s expression that stopped him in his tracks. The man looked nearly apoplectic. Of course, Maisie and his father knew the whole story of what Rachel had done to him. They were the only ones who did. He’d made them swear fifteen years ago never to tell a soul what they’d learned about Rachel. He might have hated her for her betrayal, but he’d still loved her enough not to want to see her reputation publicly dragged through the mud. To his knowledge, neither of them had ever broken their promise.
But they were a stark reminder of just how treacherous a woman Rachel Grant truly was. Her right hand rested on his shoulder, and her left hand rested lightly on his waist. Where a moment ago her touch had felt like heaven, all of a sudden, her arms felt like a spider’s web, sucking him in, luring him into her trap. Again. All the old hurt and betrayal flared up anew. She’d ruined all his dreams for the two of them. And damn her, she seemed to have ruined him for any other woman.
