Last Chance Beauty Queen

by Hope Ramsay

  “I suppose. We grow ’em big here in South Carolina.” Her voice sounded uncertain, and Hugh turned to look at her.

  The flashing neon magnolia lit up his gentle smile. “If you’re nervous and don’t want to do this, that’s fine. But I want to be with you.”

  He leaned across the console and laid another scorching kiss on her that made her toes curl right up. She lost her espadrilles, and then she lost her sanity as he ran his hands through her hair.

  Breathing became difficult after a few moments of this.

  “Blast this console,” he said, finally pulling away. “Darling, I will procure a key. You stay here.”

  The motel room gave the word “common” a whole new meaning. Caroline studied Hugh as he surveyed the room. He missed nothing, from the ersatz walnut of the TV stand to the Magic Fingers massage unit bolted to the wall. Then his gaze fixed upon hers. “You are lovely,” he said.

  What an utterly sweet thing to say at a low-rent moment like this. Caroline stood on tiptoes and kissed his mouth softly. One kiss led to another, and soon they were lost in the heat of the moment.

  He found the hem of her golf shirt and pulled it over her head. She unbuttoned his shirt. Her blood heated the moment he enveloped her in his arms. The slide of skin on skin made her lose her mind. His hands got busy getting her out of her shorts and her bra and her panties. Then those same amazing gentle hands moved down her backbone, to her butt, over her hips, and finally to her breasts.

  This was always the point where Caroline felt just a little bit awkward. Most guys made a beeline for them, and Hugh already got points for making her boobs his last stop. Usually guys groped them, or squeezed them too hard, or played with her nipples in a way that wasn’t at all pleasurable.

  Hugh’s approach was completely different. Holy smokes, the man knew what he was doing with those engineer’s hands. He brushed his fingers lightly over her, circling toward the most sensitive parts. By the time he actually touched her nipples, she was ready to beg for it.

  He generated so much heat and pleasure with those hands of his that it eventually became impossible for Caroline to stay upright.

  She tumbled backward onto the bed. He followed after her, his hands and then his mouth continuing the thorough and amazing exploration of her body.

  And then the profanity hit the fan, along with a wave of pleasure that took her someplace beyond reality. Caroline said that filthy word more than a dozen times, right in a row.

  She screamed it, actually.

  So loud, in fact, that the folks in the next room over (who were undoubtedly doing the same thing as Hugh and Caroline) started banging on the wall.

  And that’s when Baron Woolham let go of a truly depraved laugh. “You are not nearly as prim and proper as you appear, Miss Rhodes,” he said.

  “Are you going to tell my boss about this?”

  “No. I am the very soul of discretion.”

  He laughed again, and she laughed with him. It felt so incredibly liberating to laugh like this. To simply throw caution to the wind and let herself go.

  Hugh divested himself of his pants, then pulled Caroline into an embrace as their laughter died. She halfway expected him to move on with his own pleasure. After all, he’d given her one orgasm. How many did a girl need?

  The answer to that question was definitely more than one. He went back to business and took his own sweet time with it, kissing her, cuddling her, touching her, finding her sensitive places, and making her feel like she was the center of his universe.

  No one had ever made her feel like this. So relaxed and special and cared for. This was every fantasy she’d ever dreamed. This was beyond fantasy, really. The shabby motel room faded into the background, and it was just the two of them, touching with their hands and their bodies.

  Touching souls.

  How could anyone live without this?

  Caroline tumbled down into her fantasy so deeply that it ensnared her. She was falling for Hugh deBracy in a way that was utterly forbidden. He was speaking a language with his hands that her heart and soul seemed to know and understand.

  She forgot that the Magnolia Inn was a long way from those fancy London town homes featured in Momma’s romance books. She forgot that a girl like her and a baron like him were never going to find a happy ending. Because, darn it, he didn’t seem like a baron, and she didn’t seem like a poor country girl.

  They seemed to fit together in some strange way she’d never felt before. He was a lot like her. He came from a small town. He cared for people. He was just a little bit unsure of himself, even though he was amazingly talented. He kept up appearances to hide all his doubts and his fears. She understood him in a way that definitely knocked her for a loop.

  “Rocky, you are perfect.” He whispered her name as they reached for something amazing and lovely. And in that instant, she was his, completely and forever.

  Rocky dozed off, utterly satisfied, in the circle of Hugh’s arms. She drifted somewhere warm, wonderful, and disconnected with time and place. She never wanted to leave.

  But unfortunately, she came back to her senses and found herself between the rough sheets of a not very fine motel. Beyond the window, the neon magnolia sign flashed on and off, sending its pinkish glow through the draperies. Beneath her ear, Hugh’s heart beat in steady rhythm and his chest rose and fell.

  She cuddled closer and built a few fairy castles in her mind. Maybe it was possible for a girl like her and a baron like him to find something special. He was pretty talented with his hands. He’d looked kind of like one of the boys this evening. He might be a match.

  She might know that Cinderella was a big myth, but right at that moment she would have denied it. This was her Cinderella moment. It was possible. Everything was possible.

  “A penny?” he whispered against her temple where his lips rested.

  She sighed.

  “Ah, that good, then?”

  She snuggled against him, trying to hold the magic of her fantasies. She wanted him so bad.

  “Are you having regrets?” he asked. “Because, love, I have none. I want to pursue this.”

  She raised her head. Could he read minds, too? “Pursue what?”

  He tucked a wayward strand of her hair behind her ear. His eyes shone with kindness and something else in the rising and falling light from the sign outside. “Everything, darling. I want to pursue everything.”

  “Everything?”

  And wouldn’t you know it, before Hugh could say another word, the clock struck midnight, and someone pounded on the door.

  It was not Caroline’s fairy godmother.

  No sir. It was the Last Chance chief of police. “Rocky Rhodes, you answer this door,” Stone bellowed.

  Rocky and Hugh both bolted upright. “Bollocks,” Hugh said, “is that your brother out there?”

  “Uh, yeah. Look, don’t worry, he’s mostly harmless. You stay there. I’ll find some clothes,” Rocky said. Then she shouted at the door. “Shut up, Stone. Give me a minute.”

  She slipped from the bed, found her panties and Hugh’s shirt, and made herself semidecent before cracking the door and peeping through.

  Stone looked all business in his uniform and bulletproof vest. He had his service weapon on his belt and a stern look on his face.

  “Since when are you the morality police?” Rocky said. “And don’t you dare tell me you’ve never seen the insides of this place, because I happen to know that you have.” She stomped on the urge to remind him that he and Sharon had spent their first night as husband and wife at the Magnolia Inn. Of course, the main difference between Stone and Sharon and Rocky and Hugh was a little thing called a marriage vow.

  She’d come here for a one-night stand. But she wanted more.

  “Get dressed.” Stone’s gaze rose to meet Hugh, who had pulled on his jeans and was now standing right behind her. Rocky glanced at Hugh, taken aback once again by his beautiful naked chest. She wanted Stone to leave now so she could go ba
ck to jumping Hugh’s bones and talking about the pursuit of “everything.”

  “Daddy’s been arrested for assaulting Lillian Bray,” Stone said.

  Rocky turned, her stomach suddenly heavy. “That’s not possible. Daddy wouldn’t—”

  “But he did this time. And it gets worse. Lillian’s using what Daddy did to hand your boyfriend everything he’s asked for.” Stone pointed a menacing finger in Hugh’s direction.

  “What?” Rocky’s head felt like someone had just taken a tire iron to it.

  “You heard me. And I’m pretty sure you know all about it. You probably dreamed the whole thing up, seeing as you’re the one who majored in political science, and this mess has a big political power grab written all over it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You don’t know?” Stone paused for a moment as he stared daggers at Hugh. His gaze shifted again. “Your lover there is working up a deal with the town council to have Golfing for God condemned. Lillian is the chief sponsor of the effort. And after the bone-headed move Daddy pulled this evening, she’s managed to get a majority of the council to go along with her. There’s going to be a vote tomorrow.”

  The heaviness in Rocky’s stomach began to roil. She turned around and looked up into Hugh’s eyes. He looked sober as a duke. “Is this true?”

  “In part. I did discuss condemning the golf course, but I never agreed to do it.”

  “But you discussed it? And you decided to go forward with this plan instead of taking Cissy up on her proposal to put the factory up north? Is this what you meant about trying to help the town?”

  “No, Rocky, you know better than—”

  “Shut up.” Her head was sobering up fast. Her heart was screaming in agony.

  “Now darling, just calm yourself for one—”

  “No. Answer me. Did you let anyone on the town council think that you supported condemning Daddy’s land?”

  “Well, I suppose some of them may have gotten that impression, but…” His voice faded off, as if he suddenly understood the implications of what he’d done and where he’d ended up the evening.

  Rocky clutched the doorframe as the adrenaline rushed through her body. Meanwhile Stone gave Hugh a look that would have turned Medusa into granite. And Hugh glowered right back, eye to eye.

  Hugh looked like a man who was used to getting his way. There was nothing about that look that said “failure” to Caroline.

  Stone looked like a real badass ex-Marine turned cop who didn’t let anyone mess with the people he loved.

  It was a complete showdown, and Rocky was caught right in the middle of it—exactly the place she always tried to avoid.

  “Get dressed. I’m taking you home,” Stone commanded.

  “No, you’re not,” Hugh replied. His hand came down on Rocky’s shoulder, and her body went into a confused and conflicted spasm. His hand felt warm and reassuring and kind. Her body craved that touch.

  But her head. Oh boy, her head was sobering up really fast. A rational, smart career girl knew better than to do what she had done tonight.

  “I’ll see that Rocky gets home directly.” Hugh’s speech was delivered just like a line from out of Momma’s romance novels.

  “You heard me, Rocky. Get dressed, you’re coming with me,” Stone said in his no-nonsense voice.

  She shrugged off Hugh’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth about what happened today?” she asked him.

  “Darling, listen, I don’t want to swindle your father. I did discuss options for condemning the land, but surely you don’t believe that I would—”

  “I’ll be right with you,” Rocky said to Stone. Then she slammed the door and started looking for her clothes. She was an idiot. A fool.

  Sharon was right. She needed to focus on her career, not her love life. She could live without Hugh deBracy. He was a fantasy. And if she wanted fantasy, she could read a book. But her career and her family were realities.

  She should take a good look in the mirror and remember who the hell she was. She was Rocky Rhodes of Last Chance, South Carolina. And she loved her family, even if it was the weirdest, most eccentric family in the universe. And she was not going to be part of any scheme to steal Daddy’s land. No matter what her boss wanted, or her heart yearned for, or what Last Chance needed for its tax base.

  She studied Hugh for a long moment. He looked like a baron all right, with that regal bearing and that narrow nose and square chin.

  “It was a nice fantasy,” she said. “But it’s over. I had a good time, but you know, I never would have come here if I’d known you were talking about condemning Daddy’s land. That hurt, Hugh. I love my father, and you know good and well that I’ve never thought for one minute that building your factory down south of town was a good idea. You should have been honest with me.”

  She shucked out of his shirt and started putting herself back together.

  Hugh stood with a completely unreadable look on his face as he watched her get dressed. He did nothing to stop her. He seemed to have forgotten those whispered words right before Stone came knocking, about wanting to pursue everything. Perhaps that’s exactly what he’d meant—that he wanted her and Daddy’s land, too.

  Proving that a girl could never trust words whispered before, during, or right after incredible sex.

  Yup, Sharon had been right. A girl shouldn’t ever let lust carry her away. A girl needed to use her head.

  Especially a girl with a career working for a U.S. senator.

  CHAPTER

  18

  Fifteen minutes later, Rocky sat in the passenger seat of Stone’s cruiser with her elbows on her knees and the heels of her hands pressed firmly into her eye sockets. Maybe if she applied enough direct pressure, she could keep from hemorrhaging tears. So far it was working.

  “We’re home,” Stone finally said. A second later, his fingers massaged her tense shoulders.

  “So are you going to tell Momma where you found me?”

  “Of course not.”

  She finally dropped her hands and turned her head. “You’re not?”

  “No, but it hardly matters. Momma will learn the truth eventually. She might know it already, the way the gossip mill works in this town. And don’t get any ideas about me covering for you. I’m not lying to Momma and Daddy. I plan to say nothing at all.”

  “I suppose I deserve that.” Rocky choked on the words.

  “No one deserves what he did to you,” Stone said. “That was dishonest and unkind.”

  She wiped an errant tear from her cheek. “You’re not blaming me?”

  He shook his head. “I’m satisfied that you didn’t know a thing about his plan to have Daddy’s land condemned. But you should have. By the way, the next time I see that guy, I intend to whup his ass. I don’t like foreigners taking advantage of my little sister. He’s not the one for you.”

  Stone reached out and tucked a lock of her out-of-control hair behind her ear. “But one day, some guy is going to come along and he’s going to be everything you ever wanted. He’s going to look at you and you’re not going to know what hit you.”

  Caroline felt the sobs knotting up in her throat. For an instant back there at the Magnolia Inn, she could have sworn that’s what had happened. Obviously, lust had blinded her to the truth.

  She swallowed back her tears. She refused to cry over this. She had no reason to cry. She had gone for a one-night thing, and she’d gotten exactly what she’d wanted out of it. So what did she have to complain about anyway?

  “Well, let’s hope I meet my soulmate after I move to Washington, okay?” Despite her resolve, her voice sounded wobbly.

  Stone’s usually sober mouth curled up sweetly on one side. “Honey, whether it happens sooner or later is not the point. The point is that Miriam Randall predicted it. I don’t believe in much, but I believe in Miz Miriam. I’ve been on the receiving end of one of her predictions. And boy howdy, one of those predictions can mess you up for a w
hile, but it’s a good kind of mess.”

  Is that why Sharon had run away with him? It was a good question because every conversation Rocky had ever had with Sharon seemed to suggest that a girl should think before she took any kind of wild leaps into the unknown.

  “Are you okay, little gal?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” She was not about to share the advice Sharon had given her twelve years ago. She didn’t think it was something Stone wanted to hear. Instead, she changed the subject. “So what are we going to do about Daddy?”

  “I’ve got to go bail him out.”

  “He’s really in jail?”

  “Going after Lillian with a broom is not exactly a felony. But the penalty for misdemeanor assault is three years and a fine. He might have to do time if he gets a hanging judge.”

  “You mean this wasn’t just a figment of Lillian’s overactive imagination?” A really ugly emotion churned in Rocky’s middle.

  “Unfortunately, Daddy went after Lillian’s flowers, and I doubt the old biddy is in a forgiving mood.”

  “Oh, crap. Please tell me he didn’t do that because Hugh was trying to condemn the golf course. My shame will know no bounds if that’s what happened.”

  “Well, you can relax about that. The truth is the fight started over the stuff she said to Haley on Saturday about how my daughter should be committed.”

  “Oh, no.”

  Stone hunched his shoulders and gave his head a roll. “So, I’m the one feeling ashamed. If anyone should have said something to Lillian, it should have been me, not Daddy. I guess Daddy waited a whole day for me to do something, and I didn’t. So he took matters into his own hands.”

  “Oh, c’mon, don’t blame yourself for this. Lillian is a bully, and Daddy always says we should ignore bullies.”

  “I know,” Stone said.

  Rocky drew in a deep breath. “Let me come with you to bail out Daddy.”

  “No.”

  “I need to, Stone. Don’t tell me no. I need to tell Daddy the truth before any of the gossips do.”