BARELY MISTAKEN

by Jennifer Labrecque

  "Ralphie, you're a fool, but it really isn't your fault. Your side of the family can be that way." He grinned good-naturedly at her ribbing. "Do you know where Adam is?"

  "I think he's in the library. Hold on. I'll find him for you."

  She waited on Ralphie to return with Adam, watching all the people scurry about.

  Ralphie reappeared with Adam in tow.

  "Olivia, darling, I hope you're here with good news." Adam didn't speak to her these days without a strain in his voice. He stopped abruptly, really looking at her. "What in the name of heaven have you done to your hair?"

  Well, good grief. That was a telling response. "I highlighted it. I decided it was time for a change. How do you like this shade of red?" She personally loved it.

  Adam swallowed hard. "It's, uh, very … bright."

  The house was overrun with people and they needed privacy. Even though she was a new woman, she still drew the line at totally making a spectacle of herself. "Could we talk out on the terrace?"

  "Uh, sure. It's this way." He led her down the hallway, his hand resting on the small of her back. "You certainly look happy today. Which leads me to believe you're about to make me very happy as well."

  She couldn't vouch for him. "I'm very happy, Adam. I'm happier today than I've ever been."

  * * *

  Luke left the stables, having fulfilled his duty by admiring his mother's latest Arabian acquisition. He started down the path to the river, skirting the terrace. Dammit, where was Olivia? After talking to Ruth, he'd tried the library, her house, crazy Beth's house, her father's house. No Olivia. He'd been too damned keyed up to sit around and wait on her to show up at her house.

  He stopped beneath a broad-armed oak to light a cigar, the suggestion of a breeze cool against his neck. The door leading from the ballroom opened and Luke stilled his lighter. Olivia and Adam stepped out.

  "I have something to tell you," she said to Adam.

  At least he thought it was Olivia. She walked like Olivia. She talked like Olivia. But this woman had glorious, bright red hair.

  She walked over and sat on the low, stone balustrade. Luke soaked up her presence. If possible, she'd grown even more beautiful. Luke stood beneath the moss-draped tree, transfixed.

  "There's no easy way to say this, Adam. So, let me just be blunt." She pulled the ring out of her pocket and held it out to Adam. "There's no point in me holding on to this. I'm not going to marry you. I could hold on to it for a lifetime and I still wouldn't change my mind."

  Relief flooded Luke. Those were some of the sweetest words he'd ever heard. Now he wouldn't need to coerce her into giving up Adam.

  The level of dismay on Adam's face verged on comic. Except no one was laughing. "But you have to marry me."

  Olivia shook her head. "No. I don't have to and I'm not." She placed the ring on the stone wall.

  "But why not? There has to be a reason."

  Luke gripped the rough bark of the tree. There was only one thing he knew that would induce Olivia to give Adam back his ring. She'd never marry his brother if she was pregnant with Luke's child.

  "It's simple really. I don't love you." And what about the baby?

  "You don't have to love me." Sweat glistened on Adam's brow. He'd taken Luke's threat to expose him very seriously, as he should have. "That will come. It'll grow. We have a good, solid foundation." Adam threw his arm wide in an encompassing gesture. "All of this can be yours. Put the ring back on and it's yours."

  The wind rustled through the trees, ruffling the Spanish moss that hung lacelike from the branches. Olivia's scent drifted past him.

  "I don't expect you to ever understand this, but I don't want it."

  "You don't mean that. You don't know what you're saying. I'll buy you a new car for our engagement. Your choice. Mercedes? Cadillac? Lexus? BMW? Range Rover? We'll go tomorrow and pick one out."

  "How about a Harley? Would you buy me a Harley? Would you ride with me?"

  She wasn't riding a damn motorcycle if she was pregnant.

  "What about a Jaguar? A Porsche?" Olivia shook her head. Adam swallowed hard. "Okay, uh, I suppose it's a Harley, if that's what you want. But do I have to ride it as well?"

  Olivia laughed. "You don't have to ride it and I don't expect you to buy it. I'm just teasing you, Adam."

  Adam stood stiffly in front of her. "This is not a laughing matter."

  "No, you're right. It's not." Olivia sobered appropriately.

  "Why are you doing this, Olivia?"

  "I was a fool a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I've been a fool for a long time." Olivia spoke softly but her voice carried clearly across the terrace. "Luke never wanted my father's land."

  Adam's right eye twitched. "How do you know he doesn't want your father's land?"

  "Because the truth found you out and I know Luke. I finally stopped being so damned frightened and listened to my heart. I'm ashamed that I listened to you that night at my house. I don't know if Luke will have me." Wry deprecation marked her tone. "I don't even know if he wants me. What I do know is I deserve better than settling for second best. And make no mistake about it Adam, you are second best."

  She'd tried to be true to herself once before. It had damn near killed him when she couldn't.

  "There's no need to be insulting." Adam feigned an injured air.

  "I didn't notice you holding back that day. And it's the truth." Olivia heaped insult on injury.

  "Fine. But you've got to tell him this, Olivia. He's got to hear it from you. He'll never believe me."

  Luke stepped out of the moss-draped shadows, into the sunlight. "You're right, I probably wouldn't have believed you, Adam."

  "Luke?"

  "Luke!" Olivia took a step toward him, then stopped in surprise. "You cut your hair."

  Luke ran his hand along his bare neck. "Yeah, I guess I did. Thought it was time to look a little more respectable. You colored yours."

  She lifted a hand to her red highlights. "My personal version of the scarlet letter." She glanced up at him, prim and proper in her neat navy suit, her gray eyes smoldering with promise behind those tortoiseshell glasses. He recognized that look. It was a closed front door, silk sheets, a kitchen counter, the luster of pearls against bare skin. His body tightened in familiar response. "A gentleman wouldn't eavesdrop."

  "It's a good thing I'm not one." He cupped her jaw in his callused palm. A tremor shook him—it had been sheer hell to see her and not touch her for the last several weeks.

  "Cut it out you two. You heard her, didn't you, Luke? It's not my fault she's not happy."

  Luke ignored Adam. "Is there something you want to tell me, Liv?"

  She placed her hands on his shoulders and stared into his eyes. "I love you."

  Happiness so intense it damn near took his breath flooded him. He stroked the softness of her neck. She trembled at his touch. "I know."

  "That's right. You heard." Her tongue teased the tip of his finger.

  It felt so good—the wet tip of her tongue. If he didn't ask her soon, he'd forget what it was he meant to say. "Is there anything else? Are you … are we … is there going to be—"

  "Are you asking me if I'm pregnant?" She entwined her fingers with his, and held their linked hands between them.

  Luke could barely breathe. "Yes. That's what I'm asking. Are we having a baby?"

  "No. I'm not pregnant. Two tests. Both negative."

  He'd been so sure she was, he couldn't quite believe she wasn't. "But what about the ice cream and pickles?"

  "Pregnant? Why didn't you just tell me that's why you couldn't marry me instead of handing me that wad of second-best crap?"

  Damn, he'd forgotten all about Adam.

  "I picked them up for Beth. I've just been so miserable without you, my whole body's off-kilter." She turned to Adam. "And you're right. You're not second best. I think you're somewhere much further down the line."

  Adam snatched up the ring. "The two of you definitely deserve one an
other." He huffed across the terrace and stalked into the house.

  "He's right you know, we deserve one another." She linked her hands behind his head, teasing her fingers against his bare neck. "Did you only speak up because you thought I was pregnant?"

  He splayed his hands against the curve of her hips. Fire licked through his veins. Liv had finally stopped fighting the woman she was. "Nah. Sooner or later Dave or Ruth or the both of them would've knocked some sense into me."

  "So, how do you feel about children?" She curled her fingers up into his hair.

  Hmm. Her hands felt so good on him. How did he feel about what? Oh, yeah. Kids. "I like them. I think we should spend the next several years working on them. Right after we go pick out that Harley. Or you could just ride on mine."

  "Hmm. It's always so stimulating when I ride with you. Luke? Why did you let me think you'd used me? Why did you stand by and watch me choose Adam?"

  "I was suffering from a Sydney Carton complex. Adam could offer you the one thing I couldn't. And I still can't—respectability. It takes more than a haircut."

  Her lips curled in triumph and satisfaction. "I knew it. You are a crazy, misguided man, and I love you to distraction. What changed your mind?"

  "You know, things didn't turn out well for Syd." There was no law that said he had to be original. "And I like to make my own rules. I can't offer you the Cleavers. I can't promise you that things will always be good. What I can tell you is that I love you and I want to build a life with you." He reached in his pocket and pulled out the long velvet box he'd picked up at the jewelers less than two hours ago.

  "You were so sure of me."

  "I wasn't so sure of anything. Except I wasn't going to give you up without a fight." He traced the sensitive shell of her ear. "Even if it meant resorting once more to seduction." He traced the fullness of her lower lip with his thumb. "Pillage." She took his thumb into her mouth. "Plunder."

  "Yes."

  "Yes to what?"

  "All of the above. I think you're definitely going to have to resort to piracy." Her tongue swirled around his joint. "Pillage." It teased against his tip. "Plunder."

  "Good God, woman. Would you open the damn present before I die from an erection?"

  Olivia released his thumb and lifted the lid on the box. A wood-carved miniature mask, polished to a rich hue, lay nestled in velvet, suspended from a fine gold chain.

  "Luke, it's beautiful." She lifted it reverently from the box. "It's exquisite. Where did you ever find something so perfect?"

  "I made it. I had the jewelers put it on the chain. You like it?"

  "I don't hate it." She presented it for him to put on her.

  Luke grinned like a kid in a candy store. "That's good."

  "I don't just like it a little."

  He fastened it around her neck and tugged her closer into his arms. "No?"

  "I love it." She stood on tiptoe, her lips brushing his in tender promise.

  Luke looked over Olivia's shoulder. Several pairs of eyes stared back from the ballroom windows.

  "Uh, Liv?"

  She reluctantly redirected her attention, "Yes?"

  He indicated their audience. She turned. "People are going to talk."

  "I suppose they will." She waved at the crowd and turned back to him. "How would you feel about a private treasure hunt?"

  "I might be interested."

  Her seductive smile mocked his understatement. "I could take you to this island I know."

  In her kitchen. Luke swallowed hard. "Sounds promising."

  She scraped her fingernail against his throat and his body shuddered as if she'd stroked him lower. Her breath stirred against his mouth. "The only jewels there are pearls. If you're interested, I'd love to show them to you." Her gray eyes glittered behind her glasses.

  He laughed softly at her sly teasing, despite the fierce hunger she stirred in him. He pulled her curves against the hard lines of his body. "There's almost nothing I like better than a treasure hunt."

  She arched against him intimately. "Be sure to bring your sword with you."

  And then Lady Olivia proceeded to kiss him just this side of senseless.

  * * * * *