Last Chance Beauty Queen

by Hope Ramsay

  She opened her eyes, expecting him to have vanished like a magical fantasy lover. But he remained, looking down at her. His eyes were soft and warm. There was a little smile on his lips now. His hair was all-over curls. He was like some dream come true, only he was better. There were depths to him.

  So she didn’t resist when he cocked his head and moved in. She didn’t stop when his not-so-stiff-upper-lip hit hers.

  His mouth took her to some other world of heat and desire and wonderful sensation. He kissed like he waltzed. Closer than the air, but still farther away than she might like. Her body sang in reaction.

  Holy smokes, this kiss was like something from out of a romance book. The fact that it was happening on the second pier at the country club in Last Chance, South Carolina, didn’t diminish it in any way. She relaxed into the heat of his kiss and was just beginning to really enjoy the whole experience when a voice wafted down to them from the path.

  CHAPTER

  12

  Hugh, where are you?” The sandpapery voice tugged Hugh right out of the moment.

  Damn. It hadn’t taken the bloody heiress long to find him, had it? He pulled away from the incredible woman in his arms.

  Caroline’s kiss had been like the river, carrying him off to some new, but remarkably familiar place. Her scent made him dizzy. She looked up at him with those pixie eyes. She was amazing, despite her runny makeup and her wild, untamed hair. His chest felt heavy in a way that was new and strange.

  That kiss had been… otherworldly.

  He wanted to get back to it and discover what secret doors it might open to strange and lovely places.

  “Hugh?” Cissy’s voice sounded louder.

  He stood up and put several paces between himself and Caroline.

  “Oh, there you are.” Cissy emerged from the undergrowth and stepped onto the pier. Her high heels rang hollowly against the boards. She reached for his arm and took complete possession of it, just like William the Bastard conquering England.

  It was only after she had staked her claim that she turned and pretended to notice Caroline for the first time. There was nothing genuine about this show. Hugh had no doubt Cissy knew exactly what he and Caroline had been doing.

  What had they been doing?

  Had he been dallying with her, like Granddad used to dally with young, common girls? The thought made him slightly sick.

  Maybe he should thank Cissy for rescuing him from his own libido. But one look at the tousled and buxom Miss Rhodes and his libido was not feeling thankful at all.

  Perhaps he was more like his grandfather than he had imagined. His chest constricted at the thought.

  “Oh, Caroline, Daddy was looking for you,” Cissy said, then paused for a moment before continuing. “Honey, your mascara is a mess. You really need to go put yourself back together.” Hugh heard the disdain in Cissy’s voice. He didn’t like it very much.

  Caroline dabbed her cheeks with his handkerchief. “Where is the senator?”

  “Oh, he’s up at the pavilion but he’s fixing to go. That’s why I came to get Hugh.” Cissy turned her blue-eyed gaze on him. “You’ve been invited up to Columbia to our city house for the next few days. Daddy has suggested that we just let Caroline get the job done while you come and visit with us. Come along now. We’ll take you over to collect your luggage. Daddy figures nothing much is going to happen down here until the town council meeting that’s scheduled for Tuesday. Might as well enjoy what the city has to offer.”

  Cissy turned and gave Caroline an icy smile. “Daddy wants you to stay here and lobby the town council on Hugh’s behalf. I hope you have something a bit more professional to wear.”

  A muscle ticked in Caroline’s cheek, and her shoulders tensed. But she kept whatever she wanted to say to herself. She stood up, stepped forward, and pushed the balled-up handkerchief into Hugh’s chest. “Thanks for listening,” she said, then turned on one bare foot and made her way with the grace of a queen toward the pathway leading up to the pavilion.

  He tucked the cloth into his trouser pocket.

  “Really, Hugh, I’m surprised at you,” Cissy said. “Caroline has a nice shape, even if she’s a tad top-heavy, but beyond that there really isn’t much there.” She reached out and took Hugh by the arm.

  “You know you need me, don’t you?” she said. She ran her fingers up his arms and over his shoulder and tipped up on her toes to give him a kiss.

  The woman certainly knew her way around a French kiss, but for all that experience, there wasn’t much magic in it. The kiss was competent and almost interesting. But in comparison to what had just happened with Caroline, Cissy’s kiss fell utterly flat.

  She pulled back, her blue eyes sparking in the late afternoon sun. Her index finger played over his chin.

  If he wanted to do his duty to the deBracy legacy, he should be considering the size of Cissy Warren’s bank account right now. That was how Granddad took care of things.

  That was how every deBracy took care of things, except for Hugh’s failure of a father. And given that Hugh had allowed himself to be swindled, and the land in Last Chance was swamp, and Elbert Rhodes was never, ever going to give up that marvelous golf course, Hugh looked to be following in his father’s footsteps.

  Hugh could still salvage his situation by doing the one thing Granddad would approve of—marrying Victoria.

  Granddad would also approve of his doing business with Cissy Warren, who, in addition to being a senator’s daughter with a trust fund, was also the chairwoman of the largest textile manufacturing company in the United States. Granddad would point out that Cissy was perfect for him, and Caroline was utterly unacceptable.

  Just like Elisa.

  Just thinking about Elisa made Hugh’s hands tremble. An old and deep-seated anger percolated through him. He gritted his teeth and sucked in air.

  No, he wasn’t going to give in. Not this time.

  “I do appreciate the invitation to Columbia,” he said in his most polite voice, “but I think I’ll stay here with Caroline and see what happens next.”

  Cissy’s eyes grew round. “You honestly want to stay here?”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s in the middle of nowhere, populated by rednecks, and their chief form of entertainment is spitting watermelon seeds.”

  This was exactly the kind of thing his granddad used to say about the people of Woolham. It was the kind of thing that brought out Hugh’s rebellious schoolboy every time.

  He gave Cissy a polite smile. “Well, Cissy, the people in Last Chance are ordinary working people, it’s true. I hope, one day, they will be the people who work in my factory. That being the case, I plan to stay.”

  Caroline ducked into the bathhouse down near the baby pool. She gazed at herself in an ancient mirror whose silvering had begun to deteriorate. The hazy image gave her a start.

  Like every mirror, this one was brutal with the truth. She looked exactly like she’d been crying. In addition, the woman staring back at her had lost any pretense of being professional. It was like all her hard work had been swept away by Dash’s Lasso Fiasco—not to mention the forbidden kiss Hugh had just laid on her.

  Her stomach flip-flopped, and she got that shivery feeling again. She was in trouble, wasn’t she? That kiss had been amazing. It was going to be hard to forget.

  She dampened a paper towel with cold water and pressed it against her cheeks. She couldn’t seriously entertain kissing him again, could she?

  No, absolutely not. She had a job to do, and kissing Hugh would get in the way of it.

  “Hey, Rocky.” The voice carried an unmistakable note of derision. Caroline turned to find Cissy Warren leaning in the doorway with a smirk on her face that seemed to confirm every single one of Caroline’s self-doubts.

  She should thank Cissy for her sudden appearance down on the pier. Really, the senator’s daughter had probably saved Caroline from making an utter fool of herself. She hadn’t expected to have anything in
common with Lord Woolham.

  “I told Hugh I would go make sure you were okay,” Cissy said. “You look okay to me. A little windblown and tacky in that dress. But still, okay.”

  “Thanks,” Caroline said between clenched teeth as she continued to dab away the ruined mascara on her cheeks.

  “You need to keep your mitts off Hugh.”

  Caroline said nothing. Cissy was Senator Warren’s daughter, a big mucky-muck in the textile industry, and everyone knew that whatever Cissy wanted, Cissy got. And besides, Cissy and Hugh were both playing in the same league.

  “You hear me?”

  “I hear you.”

  “Good, because I’m telling you that the idea of becoming a baroness has some attraction for me, and according to Daddy’s research, his Lordship is just the kind of man who might be looking for a rich wife.” She let go of a little gravelly laugh and reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She lit up and blew out a plume of smoke.

  “And so I’m here to let you know that if you want to follow a Cinderella dream, you should aim for Dash Randall. A poor girl like you should always go for the money. A rich girl like me can go for the impoverished Englishman with the fancy title.”

  Caroline turned around. “Impoverished?”

  “Oh, yes. I’ve seen his Dunn and Bradstreet rating, honey, and the man is mortgaged up to here. According to my sources—and they are good ones—he’s planning to marry some rich English aristocrat named Lady Ashton just to get his mitts on her money.”

  Caroline stood there thunderstruck. “He’s engaged?”

  “Well, no, not officially. But he is strapped for cash. That much I know.” Cissy took a drag on her cigarette. “So, you see, he’s not the Cinderella fantasy you think he is. He really does need my help if he’s ever going to build that factory. And trust me, I’ve seen the technical details on his loom. I want that technology.” She stopped and carefully blew out a few smoke rings.

  Caroline knew better than to rise to Cissy’s bait. But even so, every muscle in Caroline’s body felt overwound, like a clockwork toy ready to explode into action. Hugh had kissed her like that and he was practically engaged?

  He was mortgaged?

  He was broke?

  Oh boy, she hadn’t seen that one coming.

  Cissy and her father finally departed from the barbecue. Hugh declined their offer of a lift back to the boardinghouse. Instead, he turned back toward the pavilion, intent on finding Caroline and taking up that kiss where they had left off.

  This plan was, he knew, completely dastardly, seeing as her father owned the land he wanted. But he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to spend some more time with her. She had magicked him, like one of Petal’s little people. He was practically obsessed with her. He wanted to get to know her better.

  His search for her didn’t get him very far before Bubba accosted him.

  “You lied to me,” Bubba said.

  “I did? About what?”

  “You said Rocky would come crawling back to me if I danced with Rachel, but instead she took off.”

  “She’s gone?”

  “Yeah, I heard she left with her momma and daddy. They all took off kind of quick. And I couldn’t just take off after her, you know? I was dancing with Rachel Polk. You can’t just ditch Rachel.”

  “I see, and why is that?”

  “Because she’s drop-dead gorgeous, and also my truck loan is at the First National Bank, where her daddy is the manager and main loan officer. And besides, a guy missing his front teeth needs to show some respect. To be honest, I’m still amazed she danced with me.” Bubba blushed.

  “So,” Hugh asked, “how was it, dancing with Rachel?”

  “Oh, she’s real nice. We even talked some, which is amazing since she’s gorgeous, a college girl, and her daddy has money. She’s completely out of my league.” Bubba looked quite forlorn, which wasn’t all that difficult given the state of his face.

  “So, you fancy her then?”

  “Fancy her?”

  “You like her.”

  “Well, sure, everyone likes Rachel. She’s sweet and cute and, well…”

  “So why don’t you ask her out, to the cinema or something?”

  “Rachel Polk? I don’t think so.”

  “Why not?”

  Bubba looked down at his feet.

  “She was quite attentive to you on Thursday when I… uh—”

  “Busted up my face?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, that’s a good reason not to ask her out. I mean look at me. I lisp now.”

  “Look, about that, I am terribly sorry. I suppose I ought to pay for the dentist’s bill, and once the dentist fixes you up, I’m sure Rachel will be happy to go out with you some evening. You should ask her.”

  “Right. I’ll get my teeth fixed first.”

  “I’ll help. Is there anything else I can do for you? I feel very bad about what happened.”

  “Well, I need a good mechanic, but I don’t guess you fit that bill. Dash was going to help me with my demolition derby car, but I told him I didn’t want his help. I told him I was really pissed at him. He took it surprisingly well.” Bubba sounded confused and demoralized.

  “I can help. I’ve mended my share of cars and tractors over the years.”

  “No shit? Really? A guy like you with a fancy title and all?”

  “I’m an engineer. And to be honest, I much prefer cocking about in the workroom than spending time being a businessman behind a desk.”

  “I hope what you just said don’t mean what it sounds like.”

  Hugh’s cheeks got redder. “Uh, um, I think you yanks would say fooling around instead.”

  “Well, hell, if you know how to weld, I could sure use your help. C’mon, I’ll give you a ride back to town. You can change your clothes and meet me at the Grease Pit.”

  Hugh stood in one of the bays at Bill’s Grease Pit staring down at the dilapidated 1977 Dodge Aspen that was to become Bubba’s chariot for Monday night’s demolition derby. The car didn’t look in very good nick, but then it was about to be smashed to bits, so its appearance didn’t matter, did it?

  The headlamps and passenger seats had already been removed, and a spray can paint job consisting of neon pink and green watermelons had been applied. The bonnet was up, exposing a very dirty, large block V-8 motor.

  “You know, you don’t really have to help me. I was just trying to make you feel guilty about my teeth,” Bubba said as he strode across the garage bay toward the MIG welder and reached for a welder’s mask. “Besides, when it comes to cars, I’ll bet you’re about as useful as tits on a bull.”

  “You’d be surprised what I know about motorcars.”

  Bubba turned. “I’ll be surprised if you know your backside from a hole in the ground. And for the record, all that reverse psychology crap is a load of bull, too.”

  “Might I ask a question?”

  “I’m sure you will have many.”

  “Caroline told me about the stunt you pulled twelve years ago.”

  “Stunt?”

  “You know, the time you asked for her hand in front of the entire town, and she said no. Did you think before you did that? Because, Bubba, if you want to succeed in wooing a woman, embarrassing her is not the way to go about doing it. Have you ever apologized to her for that blunder?”

  “Apologize? To Rocky? Hey, look, she called me a stupid hillbilly. She had nerve doing that, seeing as her folks are not so high and mighty, you know?”

  Hugh frowned. “Well, you were stupid if you asked her in front of the whole town.”

  “Yeah, I guess that wasn’t my swiftest moment.”

  “Well, I’m sorry she spoke her mind to you, but you probably deserved it. After all, you surprised her. I found her crying about the episode this evening.”

  Bubba’s eyes got wide. “You did? Boy, I didn’t want her to cry. I love her.” He leaned against the wall. “But I guess I’m g
oing to have to let her go. She’s in love with Dash.” He gave Hugh an assessing look. “And I heard all about how you were dancing with her last night.”

  “Yes, I was. She’s a pretty good dancer.”

  “Yeah, I know, but see, you’re not the one for her. So you shouldn’t be flirting and buying her drinks, you know?”

  “What makes you so sure I’m not the one for her?”

  “Because Miriam told her she should be looking for a regular guy, and you’re not a regular guy. That’s the only reason I’m being nice to you. I mean, you and Rocky together is about as silly as me and Rachel Polk.” He pushed off the wall. “So, you wanna help or what?”

  “Sure, what can I do?”

  “Take a look at the engine and tell me why it’s misfiring on one cylinder. I’m going to concentrate on the safety cage.”

  Bubba headed to the steel tubing already laid out for the roll cage. He donned the mask, made a few adjustments to the MIG, and pulled the trigger, igniting a bright blue arc that forced Hugh to look away.

  Well, Bubba certainly had a very good point about Caroline, didn’t he? Not that Hugh believed any of that rubbish about Miriam Randall, but Hugh couldn’t escape the fact that he was Lord Woolham, and he had duties and obligations.

  Dallying with Caroline was not the same as doing his duty to his aunts or Woolham House. It was exciting to think about kissing her, dancing with her, and maybe doing more—but it was impossible, even if he and Caroline were more alike than they were different.

  They came from two different worlds. And he had so many obligations. Letting go of the fantasy was rather depressing, really. But he had to let it go.

  Hugh strolled over to the car’s bonnet and started taking off the air filter. He soon lost himself in the job at hand, checking sparkplugs, compression, and carburetion. Nothing cured a lonely heart better than messing about with bits and pieces of machinery.

  Hugh’s mobile phone vibrated as he was shucking out of his trousers. It was after two in the morning, local time, and he stank of motor oil and grease.