“No, of course not.” He couldn’t tell Jedd. Not tonight. But if his sister kept it up, Stone was worried his buyer would walk away, afraid to get caught up in a lawsuit.
“Don’t worry. I have faith you’ll figure it out. If anyone can, you can.” Jedd’s cell phone rang and he whipped it out, checked the caller ID and smiled. “My wife.”
As Jedd walked outside, Stone wondered why anyone would put their faith in him. And as if he needed to prove the point, Stone took one last swallow of his beer, got up and headed straight for the girl.
* * *
HOT GUY MARCHED straight toward her, like a man on a mission. Unfortunately Emily was between dancing partners, as vulnerable as a lamb. One quick glance toward the bar and Jimmy chatted quietly with the head bartender and some of their coworkers.
A little tingle went down her spine, and Emily drew in a shallow breath. What was Jimmy doing when she needed him? She could just pull up her big-girl panties and deal with it, but she wouldn’t do it alone. Mentally, she picked up a sword to go with the imaginary shield. Yep, she was as ready as she’d ever be. Go ahead and let me have your best shot, Mr. Hunk.
On second thought...
Before he reached her side, Emily veered to the right, toward the bar. She’d get Jimmy’s attention one way or another. Pretend Jimmy was her boyfriend and scare this guy off. Even if he didn’t look like he scared easily. It was worth a try, because her imaginary sword’s blade felt a bit dull and the shield a little tarnished.
But the bar was crowded and loud with couples and singles flirting, drinking and shouting over the band. She waved in Jimmy’s direction. No luck. One would think she could at least get the attention of the bartender working, but she was striking out tonight. Just her luck. She was invisible to everyone but the dangerous guy.
Emily waved again, two-handed this time. “Doesn’t anyone see me?” she asked no one in particular.
“I see you,” said Mr. Danger from behind her. Quickly catching the attention of the one female bartender with nothing more than a finger, he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and set a couple of bills on the bar. “I’ll have a beer and whatever the lady’s having.”
“I’m not drinking,” Emily sputtered.
“Then why were you waving your arms around like ground control?”
“I’m trying to get the attention of my boyfriend over there.” She jutted her chin in Jimmy’s direction.
He winced. “Don’t look now, but your boyfriend is kissing another woman.”
“What?” Emily turned.
Jimmy was in a lip lock with Trish, who must have sneaked in at some point.
“Oh. Well, that’s disappointing.”
“I guess he’s just not that into you.” He took a swallow and set his bottle down. Studied her.
She wilted in two seconds flat. A record. “Fine, he’s not my boyfriend.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Really.”
“I’m here with my sister. I’m Emily.”
His navy blue eyes held an intensity which threatened to knock her figurative sword right out of her stone-cold hands. “I know.” He smiled, the naked desire never leaving his steely eyes.
“If that’s your way of introducing yourself, your momma didn’t teach you right.”
He blinked but stuck out his hand. “Stone Mcallister.”
A big hand, warm and rough. “Stone Mcallister, I don’t know what I’ve been doing in your mind, but you should know I’m not that kind of girl.” Defensive Training 101. Make light out of it, joke around. I’ve got this.
“No, you’re a liar with a fake boyfriend. I get it.” Here came that wicked smile again. It should be made illegal in all fifty states. She fervently wished he’d put it away before somebody got hurt.
Emily swallowed, suddenly feeling both parched and guilty. “I don’t usually lie, either. But you make me nervous. I’m only here to dance.”
“And what do you think I’m here to do?” He took another pull of his beer and then set it down.
Create mayhem with a woman’s body, heart and mind. “I don’t know, but I don’t like the way you’re looking at me. And you don’t look very innocent.”
“I’m not.”
“Right. But listen, I prefer to keep my clothes on in front of all these people so if you don’t mind, at least imagine me in a swimsuit.” Mentally she wore full body armor, but let him imagine her in a swimsuit. It had to be better than naked.
“All right, a swimsuit it is. One of those string bikinis.”
Not exactly what she’d had in mind. “No. Have you ever watched Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman?”
“Yeah. She’s hot.” He smiled again.
“Imagine me in a skirt like the one she wears, with one of those high-neck tops that go all the way to the chin.” Emily put her hand under her chin.
“Still pretty hot.”
“Anyway, nice meeting you, Mr. Subtle.” Emily turned, but he grabbed her hand.
“I think you should dance with me.”
“That’s what you get for thinking.”
“One dance.” He put his bottle down and pulled her onto the dance floor.
For the next few minutes, he proved he could dance, strong large hands wrapped around her waist as he stayed in step. Emily danced three dances in a row with him; though, she suspected no one else dared interrupt. A couple of times Ronnie Walter approached as if he would cut in, but Stone’s glare chased him away.
When the music slowed to “Let Me Down Easy,” Stone pulled her against him. Fast tunes had played all night, which meant his hands only briefly lingered on her waist, but she couldn’t risk a slow song. She should stop the torture of a slow dance now, but she found his rock-hard chest and the way her head fit under his chin too seductive. He smelled like a man. Leather and some kind of light aftershave that didn’t make her dizzy. Not what she had planned for tonight or any night since she’d decided to be done with men.
“I haven’t seen you here before,” Emily said against his chest as she tried to pretend for one moment she might go home with this guy. Never times infinity to the tenth power. This kind of guy couldn’t be controlled.
“I haven’t been here before.” His hand lowered to the small of her back, and she might have trembled a little bit.
“Why not?”
Here was the problem, because there was a problem with every handsome man from here to Poughkeepsie. Of course he was married, probably with a wife and kid at home. She’d call that strike, one, two and three. If this guy was single, then Emily was the tooth fairy.
A veil went over his eyes and he stopped smiling. “New in town. And I don’t like bars.”
“You’re married.”
He stopped moving, like she’d slapped him. “I would be at home with my wife if I was married. And we wouldn’t waste time dancing. Or if we did, it would be the horizontal kind.”
Emily cleared her throat and tried to dispel the image of Stone dancing. Horizontally. “So you think we’re wasting time here?”
“Not if I do this right.” He grinned and twirled his finger in a strand of her hair like he had every right to do it.
She stared at his finger like she would cut it off, but this seemed to have no effect on him. “What don’t you like about bars?”
He was probably an alcoholic and it was too hard to be around booze. Stone was up to bat, unaware he was about to strike out.
“People. Noise.” He threw a glance in the direction of the band.
“That’s music.” She glared at him.
“If you say so.”
“Where did you learn how to dance?” For a man who hated country music, he knew his steps.
His eyes closed for a brief second. “Long story. Let’s just say it involved a d
are, a G-string and a six-pack of beer. I’d rather not say any more. What about you? Looking for something? Or someone?”
“What makes you think I’m looking for someone?” Heavens, her shield had slipped.
“You’re kidding. Every guy in this place has his eye on you.”
Not possible. She whipped her head around, wondering which one of them had fooled her. Stone, at least, was obvious. “No, they don’t. I went to school with half of these guys. They only want to dance with me.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you. What about you? Who gave you subtlety lessons, because you should really get your money back.”
“Hey, I’m only trying to protect you. From the others.”
Emily managed to crack a smile. “My sister and I come here whenever we want to dance. That’s all.” She wanted to spell it out for him because he didn’t look like the kind of guy who was used to hearing the word no from a woman. “And do you have to look at me like that?”
“Like how?”
“Like I’m a steak and you’re not a vegetarian.” Maybe if he’d stop looking at her like she was a T-bone, she could stop sweating. Already, a trickle had slid down the inside of her thigh straight into her boot.
“True, I’m not a vegetarian. But I don’t bite unless I’ve known you for at least a month.”
Someone get her the smelling salts. “A whole month?”
“Yep,” he said with a grin as the song ended.
The longest dance in history had ended. Time to get Molly home. Besides, if Emily didn’t get out of his arms, the rest of her resolve might weaken. Maybe all she needed was one night with a man like this to help her forget the way Greg had humiliated her, and this guy would do it, no question about it.
Too bad she wasn’t that kind of girl. Rules were in place for a reason. “I need to get my sister and get her home.”
“Are you sure?” He lifted her chin so it was inches away from his lips, and his warm breath reached her.
She wasn’t sure of anything as she stared into those eyes. They were kind eyes, and not the eyes of a man on the prowl, which made him all the more confusing. She could kiss him, if she was a different woman. If she wasn’t Emily Parker, currently researching her family tree, and if she was willing to forget who she was for a second, she could. Maybe. Might even let him kiss her. In another life.
It wasn’t going to happen tonight. Emily pivoted out of his arms and turned in time to see the back of Molly’s head.
Leaving the bar with Thomas.
CHAPTER TWO
“MOLLY!” EMILY HEADED after her sister. No way would this happen under her watch. Molly had obviously had too much to drink and ignored her promise. Either that or she’d lost her ever-lovin’ mind.
A man was the last thing Molly needed right now. She used men to distract her from the real work she had to do on herself. Sooner or later Molly would have to face the mess she’d left behind.
Emily stomped through the couples on the dance floor, and they parted like the Red Sea. She thought she heard some of their whispers:
There she goes, and she’s mad. Boy, I tell you, she almost looks like Molly right now.
I mean, there’s no way you can keep it inside for so long. Before you know it, blast, you’ve got a disaster on your hands.
Yes, sir, Emily’s about to let someone have it. Should we go watch?
She threw open the bar’s side door and spied Molly about to get into Thomas’s car. A few quick purpose-filled strides and Emily stood next to Thomas’ old beat-up Ford.
“Where are you going, young lady?” Emily grabbed Molly’s arm.
“She’s going home with me.” Thomas bowed. The smell of tequila nearly knocked Emily off her feet. He sure wasn’t driving her sister, or anyone else.
“No, she’s not. She promised me. Right?” Emily pulled at Molly on one side, and Thomas pulled on the other.
“Sorry, mister, but I have a sister.” Molly swayed a bit to the right, demonstrating her own level of intoxication.
“Why you gotta be such a killjoy?” Thomas tapped Emily’s shoulder hard enough to make her wince. “If you don’t want to have any fun, that’s your business. But don’t ruin it for Molly.”
“You should take your hand off her right now,” a voice said from behind Emily.
Emily turned. All the planes of Stone’s face were set in hard lines, his jaw rock hard. He looked different. Still dangerous, but in a whole other kind of way.
“What did you say, buddy?” Thomas sidled up to Stone, clenching a fist in the air.
“The lady is not going home with you. And you’re not going anywhere until you sleep it off.”
“That’s right. Thank you.” Finally, someone had come to her aid instead of the other way around.
He shot her a hot look she felt down to the heels of her boots. Not to mention how it began to melt her shield.
While she tried to take her focus away from his lips and back to the matter at hand, a flying fist seemed to come out of nowhere and connect with Stone’s jaw.
Stone reacted Ninja-style and had Thomas on his back within moments.
“Cool,” someone said from the back of the crowd. “Did you see that move? I can do that.”
“Emily!” Molly, as if she’d suddenly realized the mess she’d made, reached for her.
Emily pulled Molly to her side as others spilled out from the bar to witness the fight in the parking lot. Except, from the looks of it, there wasn’t much fight left in old Thomas there on the ground, twisting and writhing under Stone’s pin. A fresh pint of guilt seeped through Emily’s veins, knowing Stone had probably taken a hit because she’d distracted him for a moment.
What she should do is stay behind and thank him. Properly. But there were two problems. First, she’d never kissed a man she didn’t know, even if this might be a good time to start. Second, she’d given up men, and this one would be trouble. Trouble rolled into fun with a heaping side of heartache.
Jedd soon joined the fray to help Stone, not that he seemed to need any help and, between the two of them, they had the situation under control. Right now Emily had her own damage control to do and needed to get her sister back home. Her drunk and sad sister, who had fooled Emily into coming here tonight.
“Let’s get out of here.” Emily pulled her sister away from the commotion, throwing one last glance in the direction of her hot hero. His back was turned to her as he restrained Thomas, who was now calling out every expletive Emily had ever heard, and some she hadn’t.
This wasn’t the way she’d envisioned parting tonight, and her chest tightened with the mess she’d left Stone to handle. She should have explained that she couldn’t take it any further with him, not now. Not ever. Casually drop in the fact she didn’t do risky and didn’t do strangers. She didn’t do much of anything, period. Not anymore.
Emily pulled her sister away from the chaos and shoved a sobbing Molly in the front passenger side seat of the Chevy truck.
Good thing Molly was already crying or Emily would have said something to make her. Emily gripped the steering wheel and high-tailed it out of the parking lot, kicking up gravel. She turned left on Monterey Road and headed toward Fortune Ranch.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Molly bawled.
“Look at it this way. Thomas won’t be driving anyone home tonight, which is the way it should be. But I thought we agreed. Why did you do this?”
“I wanted to feel good, even for a little while. Do you know how long it’s been since a man wanted me? I mean, really wanted me. And only me.”
“We’re not going there. You are not going to talk to me about being lonely.”
“I’m sorry. But you know how to be alone, and I don’t. I feel like crap. And I probably look li
ke it, too.” Molly pulled out a tissue from the glove compartment.
“You ought to feel bad. The man took a hit to the jaw, and you don’t even know him.” Neither did she, but after tonight, she almost wished she did.
“I have to apologize to him.” Molly rubbed at her mascara-smeared raccoon eyes.
“Don’t worry yourself too much about it. Something tells me the man can handle himself.” Or had Molly missed those special forces–like skills he’d displayed? Emily didn’t even know what the man did for a living, but she’d bet her family’s ranch it didn’t involve sitting behind a desk.
“Before you say anything, I know I have to start making better choices.” Molly rocked back and forth in her seat.
She sounded so pathetic and broken. Emily wished she understood, but she still wasn’t sure she could put her finger on what exactly had gone wrong. Of course, Molly wasn’t talking about it, either. For the first six months of her daughter Sierra’s life, Molly isolated herself from the rest of her family. The next thing anyone knew, Molly had taken off to Hollywood, leaving Dylan and Sierra behind. To a place so foreign to the Parker family, she might as well have gone to Mars.
“You have to get your mind off men. They’re not going to make anything better for you. Work on yourself first, like I am. Everything else will fall into place then.”
Emily turned her truck at the large sign that welcomed one and all to “Fortune Family Ranch: Events/Weddings/Picnics.” Once a large cattle ranch, present times meant the Parker family had to diversify. Enterprise.
The new family business.
The truck rolled down the long dusty driveway, past the empty lots designated for parking, past the red barn that served as a gift shop and up to the main Victorian house sitting on the hill.
Emily parked and turned in her seat to give Molly her full attention. “Does Dylan know you’re back in town?”
“I hope not. You know how he hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you. He’s just not happy with you right now. Can you blame him?”
“It’s his fault, anyway. Maybe if he’d come after me.”
Breaking Emily's Rules Page 2
