Rags to Riches Baby

by Andrea Laurence

  Lucy took a cautious step back at his words, making him grin even though he shouldn’t.

  “I’m not going to hit you,” Oliver said, dabbing at his nose one last time and stuffing the handkerchief into his pocket. “I’ve never hit a woman and I’m not going to start now. Although it would be nice if you would extend me the same courtesy. What ever happened to an old-fashioned slap of outrage? You straight-up punched me in the face. You hit hard, too.”

  She twisted her pink lips for a moment before nodding softly. “I take kickboxing classes twice a week. I’m sorry I hit you. It was almost a reflex. I was...startled.”

  “You were startled?” Oliver snorted in derision at her Pollyanna act and immediately regretted it as his nose throbbed with renewed irritation. “How could you be caught off guard when the whole thing was your doing?”

  “Was it?” Lucy asked. “You weren’t complimenting me and moving closer to me with that in mind?”

  Oliver didn’t remember doing that, but it was entirely possible. Lucy had a power over him that he hadn’t quite come to terms with yet. Despite his best intentions, he found himself wanting to be nearer to her. To engage her in conversation, especially if it might fluster her and bring color to her pale cheeks. He’d wondered several times, in fact, how it would feel to have her lips against his and her body pressed into his own. Unfortunately, it had all happened so suddenly just now that he’d hardly been able to enjoy it.

  He wasn’t about to tell her that, though. She might be a pretty, nice-smelling con artist, but she was still a con artist. She’d worked her magic on his sister and his aunt. He’d had no doubt she would eventually turn her charms on him to get him to drop the contest of Aunt Alice’s will, and she’d tried it at her first real opportunity. Letting her know she’d gotten to him would give her leverage. No. Let her stew instead, thinking her plan hadn’t worked and she’d flung herself at a completely disinterested man. She’d have to find a different way to get what she wanted.

  “I didn’t come to this party to see you and I most certainly didn’t come to this party to try and seduce you. I can’t help it if I’m a charming man, Lucy, but that’s all it is. I’m sorry if you confused that with me being attracted to you.”

  Her mouth dropped open for a moment before she clapped it shut and pressed her lips into a tight frown. “That wasn’t exactly the kiss of a man that wasn’t interested,” she pointed out.

  Oliver could only shrug it off. “Well, I don’t want to be rude, now, do I?”

  Lucy balled her hands into fists and planted them on her narrow hips. “So you’re saying you faked the whole thing just to be polite?”

  “Yes. Of course.” The arrogance of his response nearly made him cringe as the words slipped from his lips. Normally, he wouldn’t speak to anyone this way, but Lucy was a special case. He wasn’t handling her with kid gloves. She needed to know she wouldn’t get her way where he was concerned.

  Her brown gaze studied his face for a moment before she shook her head. “No. I don’t believe you. I think you’re just too arrogant to admit that you’re attracted to me, of all people. That you could actually want the help. The trash that robbed you of your inheritance.”

  Oliver narrowed his gaze at her. She was good. Not only was she able to get under his skin, she was able to get into his head as well. That was disconcerting. He was the one who was supposed to be finding out all her secrets so he could expose her as a fraud, and there she was, calling him elitist in the hopes that his knee-jerk reaction would be to deny it and somehow fall prey to her charms to prove her wrong.

  “We’ve established that we hardly know each other, Lucy. I’m not sure why you’re so confident about who I am and what I do or don’t think of you. But here... I’ll prove to you that you’re wrong.”

  He took two steps forward, closing the gap between them. Lucy stiffened as he got closer, but she held her ground. He had to admit, it impressed him that she didn’t turn tail and run.

  She wanted to, though. He could tell by her board-straight posture and tense jaw. “What are you doing?” She looked up at him with big brown eyes that were full of uncertainty.

  She thought she could just call his bluff and he’d back down. No way. He was going all in and winning the hand even with losing cards.

  Oliver eased forward until they were almost touching. He dipped his head down to her and cupped her face in his hands. Tilting her mouth up to him, he pressed his lips against hers. He wanted this kiss to be gentle, sweet and meaningless, so he could prove his point and move on with his night. He’d kissed a lot of women in his time. This would be like any other.

  Or so he thought.

  The second her lips touched his, it was immediately apparent that wasn’t going to be the case. It was like a surge of electricity shot through his body when they touched. Every nerve lit up as his pulse started racing. The pounding of his heart in his ribcage urged him to move closer, to deepen the kiss, to taste her fully. In the moment, he couldn’t deny himself what he wanted, even knowing his reaction played into her hands.

  Lucy didn’t deny him either. She melted into him, just as he’d expected. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her soft whimpers of need vibrating against his lips. Her mouth and her body were soft, molding to his hard angles. When she arched her back, pressing her belly against his rapidly hardening desire, she forced him to swallow a groan.

  With her every breath, he could feel her breasts pushing against his chest, making him ache to touch them and hating himself for the mere thought. He wanted to press her back against the wall of the Dempseys’ mansion and feel them beneath his hands. He was certain his father had felt the same way when he was swept up in Hurricane Candace.

  This was getting way out of hand.

  Oliver pulled away from Lucy at last, nearly pushing himself back although it was almost physically painful for him to do it. That simple kiss was supposed to prove to both of them that the other kiss had meant nothing. Instead, it had changed everything. Now he wasn’t just curious about her as the woman who’d charmed his aunt out of a fortune. He wasn’t just playing a cat-and-mouse seduction game. He wanted her. More than he’d wanted a woman in a very long time. His plan had clearly backfired in spectacular fashion, but he could still recover.

  “See?” he said, taking another large step back to separate himself further and regain a semblance of control. He struggled to keep as neutral and unfazed an expression as he could, as though she hadn’t just rocked his world in the midst of a stuffy baby shower.

  “See what?” Lucy asked with a dreamy, flushed look on her face. She’d obviously enjoyed the kiss just as much as he had. On any other woman at any other time, that expression would’ve convinced him to swoop in again and push the kiss even further. Instead, he had to retreat before she caught him in her web for good.

  “Do you see that you were wrong? That kiss was all an act, just like the first one. Honestly, it didn’t do a thing for me.” The truth was anything but, however he couldn’t let her know that and think she had any chance of winning him over with feminine wiles.

  Lucy’s expression hardened as she came to realize that he was just messing with her and her plans had failed. Her jaw tightened and her hand curled into a fist again. Thankfully, he was out of her reach if she tried to take a swing at him a second time. “Are you kidding me?” she asked.

  Oliver smiled wide and prayed his erection was hidden by his buttoned suit coat. “Not at all. I told you I wasn’t attracted and then I proved it. That was skill, not attraction. Nothing more. Anyway, I’m glad we were able to clear that up. I wouldn’t want there to be any other confused encounters between us. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back in to the party. It appears as though they’re about to do a toast for the new parents.”

  Lucy stood motionless as he nodded goodbye, brushed past her and headed back inside the ballroom.


  * * *

  What a pompous, arrogant jerk-face.

  Lucy stood alone on the patio for a few minutes just to get her composure. The last twenty minutes of her life had thrown her for a loop and she just couldn’t go back inside and act like nothing had happened.

  First, she was too angry to return to the party. She knew she was flustered and red, and the minute one of the girls saw her like that, they would swarm her with questions she wasn’t ready to answer. In addition, her hand was still aching from when she’d popped him in the face. She’d probably bruised her knuckles, but her only regret in hitting him was that it was premature. He’d certainly earned a pop in the nose with the nasty things he’d said later.

  Second, she wasn’t ready to run into him again so soon. It was a big room filled with a lot of people, but she knew that fate would push them together repeatedly until one of them surrendered and went home. The alternative was another fight, this one more public, ruining the party. She didn’t need that. It was bad enough that whispers would follow about them being alone on the balcony together for so long. Or if they came back inside together. Or came back in separately.

  There was no winning in this scenario, really. Tongues would wag and there had already been enough tongue wagging on the patio tonight. At best, she could make sure she was presentable before she went back inside.

  Reaching into her small purse, Lucy pulled out her compact. Her hair and makeup were fine, save for her lipstick that was long gone. She wasn’t surprised. That kiss had blown her socks off. Oliver could yawn and say it was as much fun as getting an oil change, but she knew better. She could feel his reaction to it in the moment. Men lied. Words lied. Erections...those were a little more honest. And his had been hard to ignore.

  What was his angle, anyway? Yes, she’d kissed him. It was possible she’d read the signs from him wrong, but she really didn’t think so. He responded to her. He held her like a man who wanted to hold her. But then he’d turned around and laughed the whole thing off like it was nothing and made her feel stupid for thinking it was anything else.

  She felt the heat in her cheeks again as her irritation grew. Why would he toy with her like that? Was it because he was determined to think she was some sort of crook? Why couldn’t he just get to know her and make up his mind that way instead of jumping to hurtful conclusions? Didn’t he trust Harper’s judgment at all?

  Lucy finished putting on her lipstick and returned it to her bag. She might as well go back inside. If she waited until she wasn’t angry any longer, she’d sleep out on the patio. Instead, she took a deep breath, pasted on her best smile and headed back into the house.

  Apparently, she’d missed the toast. The string quartet was playing music again and the crowd had returned to mingling. Her trio of girlfriends were together and looked her direction when she came in the door.

  Lucy stopped short in front of them. “What?”

  Emma arched a brow at her. “Seriously?”

  “I’m sorry I missed the toast. I had to get some air,” she said, making a lame excuse so she wouldn’t hurt Emma’s feelings.

  “Air out of my brother’s lungs,” Harper quipped.

  Lucy froze. “What? How did you—”

  “That’s a wall of windows, Lucy.” Violet pointed over her shoulder. “Anyone who looked that direction could see the two of you playing tonsil hockey on the veranda.”

  Lucy turned and realized that she and Oliver had been far more visible on the patio than she’d anticipated. She’d thought for certain that the dim lights of the patio and the bright lights of the ballroom would’ve given them a little privacy. “Uh, we were having a discussion.”

  Emma snorted. “Quit it. Just tell us what’s really going on.”

  “Yes, is this your big news? That you’re dating Harper’s brother?”

  “Heavens, no!” Lucy blurted out. “That...” She gestured back to the patio. “What you guys saw was just...”

  “Amazing?” Emma suggested.

  “A CPR lesson?” Harper joked.

  “A trial run?” Violet tossed out.

  “A mistake,” Lucy interjected into their rapid-fire suggestions. “And when I tell you the big news Harper alluded to, you’ll understand why.”

  “Let’s sit,” Emma suggested. “I’m worn out and I want to hear every detail.”

  They selected a table in a far corner that wasn’t quite so loud and gathered around it. The girls waited expectantly for Lucy to start her story as she tried to decide where to begin.

  “Alice made me a beneficiary of her will.”

  “That’s great,” Emma said. “I mean, it makes sense. You two were so close.”

  “Yeah,” Lucy agreed. “There’s just one problem.”

  “How could an inheritance be a problem?” Violet asked.

  “Because she left me damn near all of it. About half a billion dollars in cash, investments and property.”

  The words hung in the air for a few moments. Emma and Violet looked stunned. Harper sat with a smug smile on her face. She was confident that all of this would work out. Perhaps because that was the kind of life she led. Things were different for Lucy.

  “You said billion. With a b?” Emma asked.

  Lucy could only nod. What else did you say to something like that?

  “And why aren’t you more excited? You didn’t even seem like you wanted to tell us.” Violet’s brow furrowed in confusion. “You’d think you’d be shouting it from the rooftops and lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills.”

  That would be a sight to see. “I’m not excited because I don’t believe for one second that it’s going to really happen the way Alice wanted.”

  “And why not?” Emma asked.

  “Because of Oliver,” Harper interjected. “He’s all spun up about the whole thing. The family is convinced that Lucy is some kind of swindler that tricked Alice into giving her everything.”

  “I swear I didn’t even know she did it,” Lucy said.

  “You don’t have to defend yourself to us, honey.” Violet shook her head. “We know you better than that. If Alice left you that money, it’s because she thought you deserved it. Who are they to decide what she could and couldn’t do with her own money?”

  “I think they’re trying to prove that she wasn’t mentally competent to make the change. She only did it a few months ago. It doesn’t look good for me, so that’s why I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up and have it all fall through. Oliver has a team of fancy attorneys just ready to crush me. Honestly, I don’t think I stand a chance.”

  “So why, exactly, were you kissing Oliver on the patio if he’s the bad guy?” Emma asked, bringing the conversation back around to the part Lucy had wanted to avoid.

  Once again, the other three women looked at her and she was at a loss for words. “When I saw him, I thought he’d followed me here. He showed up at the apartment the other day and we argued. When we started to argue again, he pulled me outside so we wouldn’t cause a scene at the party. Somehow...I don’t really know how...we kissed. Then he kissed me a second time to prove that kissing me was meaningless.”

  “What happened to his face?” Harper asked. “He was all red when he came back inside.”

  “It might have been because I punched him in the nose.”

  Violet covered her mouth to smother a giggle. Emma didn’t bother, laughing loudly at Oliver’s expense. It didn’t take long before all four friends were laughing at the table together.

  “You seriously punched him?”

  Lucy nodded, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “I did. And he didn’t deserve it. At least not yet.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he deserved it,” Harper added. “He’s done something to warrant a good pop, I assure you. Taking Alice’s will to the judge is cause enough.”

  “
Do you really think he’ll get it overturned?” Emma asked. “He doesn’t even need the money. Jonah says he’s loaded.”

  “He is,” Harper said. “He’s done very well with Daddy’s business the last few years. But it isn’t about the money, I’m pretty sure.”

  “Then what is it about?” Lucy asked. “Because this has been the most confusing week of my life. I’m rich, but I’m not. I’m unemployed, but I may not need to work ever again. I’m homeless, and yet I may own a Fifth Avenue apartment. I’m applying to go back to Yale and finish school, but I may not even need to bother when I have an art gallery in my own living room. I’ve barely had time to grieve for Alice. Your whole family has a vendetta against me and I didn’t do anything. I just woke up one day and my entire life was turned upside down.”

  Harper reached out and took Lucy’s hand. “I know, and I’m sorry. If I’d thought for a moment that Aunt Alice was going to toss you into this viper pit, I would’ve warned you. But know it’s not personal. They’d go after anyone. They all wanted their piece and they’ve been waiting decades for her to die so they can get their hands on it.”

  “What a warm family you have,” Lucy noted. “I bet Thanksgiving was really special at your house.”

  “It’s not as bad as I make it sound. Everyone had their own money, it’s just that most of them were mentally decorating their new vacation homes and planning what they’d do with the money when the time came. Then nothing. In their minds, you yanked it out from under them, whether you meant to or not.”

  “Can’t you talk some sense to Oliver?” Emma asked.

  “I’ve tried. He’s avoiding my calls. I think we just have to let the case run its course in court and hope the judge sees in Lucy what we all see. Once the judge rules in her favor, there’s nothing any of them can do about it. But I didn’t know he was bothering you, Lucy. If he shows up at the apartment again, you call me.”