Once Tempted (29 page)

He answered the phone with a smile. “Ward here.”

“Hey, buddy, it’s me.”

“Brian, how are you?” He kept his voice as low as possible.

“I’m good. We can’t wait to see you.”

“Same goes. You and I get to do the fun stuff, like choose the wines and champagne with Reid and listen to demo tapes of the bands. Tess has found some good ones.”

“Sounds right up my alley.”

“You’ll also get to taste the cakes and decide on the menus for the meals. And maybe smile for the photographer. But the other items on Tess’s list are basically girlie—flowers and stuff.”

Brian cleared his throat. “Speaking of girlie stuff,
Ward, there’s a development. I wanted to give you a heads-up.”

Ward stilled, and it seemed as if the gentle inhale and exhale of Tess’s breath against his throat was the only movement.

“It’s Erica.” Brian sighed. “She heard that Carrie and I were coming to see you this weekend and wants to join us, saying that as her stepsister and maid of honor she’d love to help Carrie decide things. I’m sorry, Ward, but we couldn’t figure out how to say no. Carrie hates to make her feel left out.”

Damn, he should have guessed something like this would happen since Erica was an expert at pushing buttons and Carrie was the world’s softest touch—with Erica in particular. She carried a goodly amount of guilt at being the child who’d gotten to live with Erica’s father, Carrie’s mother being his second wife.

“When’s Erica coming?”

His voice must have sharpened, for Tess raised her head from his chest to blink at him, her deep brown eyes coming into focus. Damn and double damn.

“Her car’s in the shop. She’s going to meet us at the airport.”

“You mean she plans on being here the whole weekend?” He couldn’t hide his incredulity.

“We haven’t seen her in a while, since she didn’t come east for Christmas. She seems to think this will be a great bonding experience for her and Carrie.”

Ward coughed. Because it was that or snort in disgust. Tess was now fully awake, her elbows propped against his chest and following the conversation. He was sure she could hear Brian’s every word.

“Ward, I’m really sorry—”

“It’s not your fault.” Family was family, after all. It wasn’t like Ward didn’t bend over backward for his
own. Then again, they’d never act like Erica. “Did it even occur to her that we might be booked?”

“She was sure you wouldn’t be.”

Ward ground his teeth.

“She called your reservation desk. She’s got a cabin—nowhere near ours, thankfully.”

Dull pain throbbed in his jaw as he said, “Then I guess we’ll be seeing the three of you tomorrow.”

“Can’t tell you how sorry I am about this. Awkward as hell.”

“Yeah. Good thing I love Carrie and kind of tolerate you. See you tomorrow.”

He clicked the phone off and met Tess’s gaze.

She didn’t beat around the bush. “So your ex-fiancée’s coming for the weekend.”

“Looks like it.”

She sat up, and he scowled but didn’t attempt to draw her back down, though he did rest his hand possessively on her naked thigh.

“And she’s going to help Carrie in her decisions?”

He gave her credit for trying to be diplomatic when she could have used words like “horn in” and “bully” and not been too far off the mark.

He sighed. “Brian’s my best friend. I want his and Carrie’s wedding to go smoothly and be the happiest event we can arrange for them. I’d also like to impress the roughly hundred guests that will be in attendance in the hopes that some of them may decide to come back and enjoy a stay at Silver Creek on their own. Or spread the word about the ranch to their friends and acquaintances. Word of mouth is still our best promotional tool. If I object to Erica’s coming she’s going to throw a hissy fit. And she might not be over it by the wedding date.”

“Sounds like a charmer, your ex.”

He cocked his head. “And your husband was faultless?” He’d learned a lot about Tess in recent days. That
drowsy lambent period between bouts of making love was an especially good time for subtle interrogations and accumulating facts about this woman. He now knew about Nicco Bandinelli, the first boy she’d kissed in sixth grade, and about the men she’d dated before meeting her husband, David. They’d been strings-free affairs because she was too busy working at La Dolce Vita and most guys wanted to date women who were free evenings. He’d managed to conceal his annoyance over their existence and the fact that he and Tess also had a so-called strings-free thing going on by reminding himself that what mattered was that she was with him now. There was plenty of time to ease her into accepting a deeper commitment, of getting her to admit she cared for him.

He also had a far better insight into just how difficult it had been for her family to cope with the unending stress and heartache of her brother Christopher’s disability. Though she never articulated it, Ward thought that it must have led to a pretty difficult childhood for her. With the bulk of her parents’ energy going to caring and worrying over Christopher, there’d been precious little left for her. Another person might have resented being relegated to the role of all-but-invisible child, yet Tess had instead accepted how taxed the elder Casaris were. Not many people would have that kind of sympathy for their parents.

He’d managed to glean bits and pieces of information about her marriage to David, enough to grasp that it had soured very quickly. And then there’d been his illness, a cancer of the brain that she learned about only after he had called her from the hospital. But she often remained tightly guarded when it came to talking about her ex-husband.

Like now.

A flush had stolen over her cheeks. “You’re right. No one is without fault.”

He looked at her, her hair a tangled mass about her shoulders, her breasts soft and round and just the right size for his large hands. As he gazed at her, the dusky rose of her aureoles puckered, her nipples hardening into delectable buds.

“I don’t know about that,” he said, smiling slowly. “From my vantage point you look perfect.” Inside and out, he added silently. He’d learned his lesson with Erica. Looks didn’t matter if he couldn’t admire the character within.

She gave a quick shake of her head and lowered her gaze. “I’m not perfect at all. Far from it. There are a lot of things I’ve done that I regret. Don’t put me on a pedestal.”

He leaned closer, put a finger under her chin to lift it, and was taken aback by her troubled eyes.

“Okay,” he said and touched his lips to hers in a light, soothing kiss that was all too brief.

She drew back and though she managed a smile he sensed the effort behind it. It frustrated him that he had no clue what in her past could cause her such unease and cast such a shadow.

Before he could probe for answers, Tess swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood to gather her jeans, sweater, and underthings.

He glanced at his watch. It was just past six o’clock. “Do you want to grab some dinner?” They could talk then.

She shook her head. “I’ll get something later. First I’ve got to call my mom before it’s too late back east. Christopher had a dentist’s appointment today and that’s always rough for them both. His teeth aren’t good but he can’t be fully anesthetized because of his meds.”

“You can call her from here, you know. I’ll go to another room so you can have some privacy.”

“Thanks, but no. I’ll call her from my office. I’ve got some work to do.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going back to do more for the wedding.” At her quick nod, he frowned. “You’re kidding. You’ve gone over every vendor, every appointment, menu, floral arrangement, and table setting, every minuscule detail—”

“And something tells me that your ex-fiancée is going to be a whole lot more exacting about all of them than Carrie and Brian could ever be.”

“I don’t see how it’d be possible to find fault. You’ve worked your butt off for this wedding.”

“What kind of events planner would I be if I didn’t? Look, I don’t know Carrie and Brian as well as you do, but I like them, and I don’t want their weekend here to be stressful because I haven’t anticipated something that Erica might point out that would make their wedding even better. I want them totally confident that this is the wedding they want—doubts can set in too easily otherwise.”

“You don’t need to work on it tonight, though—”

She cut him off with a quick shake of her head. “Yeah, I do. This is my job, what you’re paying me for.”

In the course of the conversation she’d somehow managed to put on her matching red panties and bra, trimmed with black lace. It was like a reverse strip tease. Unfortunately he’d been so distracted by the conversation he hadn’t been able to enjoy the sight of her shimmying into the scraps of lace and silk. He realized it showed how much he cared. To date he’d yet to behold Tess in her sexy lingerie without becoming 100 percent focused on getting her underneath or on top of him as quickly as possible.

He rose to his feet and walked over to her. Bringing
his hands up, he gently pushed back her tangled hair, tucking her bangs behind her ears before cupping her face and kissing her deeply, thoroughly. At last he felt her tension seep away.

“Thank you,” he said huskily.

This time her smile came more easily. “You can thank me once we get through this weekend.”

T
ESS AWOKE
F
RIDAY
morning with eyes grittier than a sandlot and a brain that felt shrink-wrapped from staring at her computer screen for too many hours the night before as she reviewed websites and studied her notes.

Oh Lord, she was really not looking forward to this day, she thought as she walked up the path from her cabin to the lodge. But there was no way to avoid it. She’d simply have to put imaginary blinkers on and pretend that Ward’s ex-fiancée wasn’t there. The entire weekend was supposed to be about the engaged couple and ensuring she was organizing the wedding they truly wanted. She couldn’t waste the finite number of hours she had with Brian and Carrie obsessing about what had made Ward fall in love with Erica Marsh. Or comparing herself to Erica.

She needed to remind herself that she and Ward had a very defined relationship, composed of two essential ingredients: great sex and a good time. No complications allowed. Expecting Ward to announce his eternal devotion and ask her to live happily ever after with him ventured into forbidden territory.

Her head understood this. She simply had to convince
her foolish heart to get with the program. The problem was that with each passing day her heart grew fuller with everything that was Ward: his passion, his smile, his fierce tenderness …

She was almost at the front entrance to the lodge when a voice came out of nowhere, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

“That’s some stern look you’ve got on your face, city girl.”

“Quinn! You scared the daylights out of me.”

Standing with her shoulder propped against the timbered wall of the lodge, Quinn straightened. “You walked right past me. Sorry I scared you, though I guess it’s appropriate to be scared since I’m about to abduct you. Come on, we’re going into town.”

“I wish I could, but I’ve got—”

“See, that’s the thing about being abducted. You don’t really have any say over the matter. This way, Tess,” she said. “The getaway car awaits.”

Tess knew herself to be pretty scrappy when the occasion called for it, but she was under no illusion that she could best Quinn, who could toss hay bales like they were pillows.

Quinn cocked her hip. “I only have to whistle and Reid will be out here as extra reinforcement. And Mom knows all about the intervention, so don’t try any lines about not wanting to disappoint her.”

She wondered where this so-called intervention was supposed to take place. There were no clues to be had from Quinn’s appearance. She was dressed in her usual work attire: faded jeans that molded her long legs, cowboy boots, and a crew neck sweater over a T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a knot at the nape of her neck. The outfit might be casual, but a woman who looked like Quinn could get away with wearing it to a
Park Avenue Fortune 500 company boardroom meeting or dinner at Per Se.

Seeing that those places were three thousand miles away, their destination was more likely the general store’s luncheonette or perhaps Spillin’ the Beans. Grabbing a plateful of scrambled eggs or slugging a triple-shot latte suddenly sounded appealing. She could use some extra energy today.

“Okay. Where are you taking me? And can we take my car?” She loved her new car. It was so zippy and cute. Even better, it never coughed or wheezed.

“Sorry, but no. Time is of the essence.” Victorious, Quinn grinned and looped her arm through Tess’s, marching her toward her red pickup truck, which was parked on the other side of the courtyard, pointing down the graveled drive. “And our destination is Ava Day’s salon.”

“But why? I’ve already arranged for her to come to the ranch this afternoon to do a consultation and makeup session with Carrie.”

Quinn shook her head. “This isn’t for Carrie. It’s for you. We have a nine o’clock appointment. Mom and I are treating you to a facial, blow out, and mani.”