Blue-Eyed Devil (Travis Family #2)(50)

"Great. You?"

"Wonderful," she said. "We have a little boy now. Matthew."

"I heard about that. Congratulations."

Gage stared at Hardy in a way that raised the hairs on my arms. "What do you want?" he asked quietly.

Hardy's gaze turned to me, and held, as he answered. "I want to dance with your sister."

Before I could even answer, Gage said, "Not a chance."

And Jack said almost simultaneously, "I don't think so."

My father glanced at me from across the table and raised his brows.

And my brother Joe chose that moment to come up behind my chair and rest a hand on my shoulder. "We having a problem?" he asked of no one in particular.

I felt smothered by them, the men in my family, who were so determined to protect me that they weren't even considering my opinion on the matter. I pulled away from Joe's hand. "No problem," I told him. "Mr. Cates just asked me to dance. And I'm going to — "

"No way in hell," Joe said putting his hand back on my shoulder. Irritably I dug my elbow into his side. "I didn't ask for your opinion."

"Maybe you should," Joe muttered, giving me a hard look. "Need to talk to you, Haven."

"Later," I said, mortified. We were causing a scene. People were looking.

"Now," Joe insisted.

I stared at him in disbelief. "For God's sake," I said, "even for a family of crazy Texan control freaks, this is ridiculous."

Hardy had begun to scowl. "While you have a committee meeting to decide if you're allowed to dance," he told me, "I'll be at the bar."

And he sauntered off while I glared at Joe, who was usually the least interfering brother.

Of course, that wasn't saying much. But still.

"'Scuse us," Joe said to the rest of the Travises, and he led me away from the table.

"What's going on?" I demanded in a taut whisper as we meandered through the crowd. "Why is it such a big deal if I dance with Hardy Cates?"

"The guy's trouble," Joe said calmly, "and everyone knows it. With all the men here to choose from, why give him a second thought? Are you that determined to push the family's buttons?"

"Newsflash, Joe: there are some things in life I get to decide without taking the family's buttons into consideration."

"You're right," he allowed after a moment. "But I'm still not going to keep quiet if I see you walking toward another hole in the ground. Not if there's a chance I can stop you from falling into it."

"Whatever I do or don't do with Hardy Cates, it's my business,"

I said. "I'll handle the consequences."

"Fine. As long as you understand that the chances of being set up and used are high."

I glanced at him sharply. "Why do you say that?"

"Two years ago, not long after you got married, I was called to do the Texas Monthly shoot for the piece they did on Cates. At his request. I spent the better part of the day with him. We talked about a lot of stuff, but what I realized near the end of the shoot was that every thread of conversation had led back to one person . . . he kept asking questions, digging up information, wanting private details . . . "

"About Liberty," I muttered.

"Hell, no, not about Liberty. About you."

"What?" I asked faintly.

"He said you two had met at the wedding."

My heart seemed to stop. "Did he tell you how?"

"No, but it made an impression on him, to say the least. So I made it clear you were off-limits. Told him you were married. And that didn't seem to matter to him one damn bit. He still wanted to know more. I got a bad feeling about it, even then." Joe stopped and looked down at me with eyes the same dark brown as my own. "And now you're coming off a divorce, and vulnerable, and he's after you."

"He's not after me, he just asked me to dance."

"He's after you," Joe repeated firmly. "Of all the women in this room, you're the one he went for. Why do you think that is, Haven?"

A wave of coldness went through me. Shit. Maybe I was being the woman in the Astrodome again. Maybe my attraction to Hardy was a form of self-destructive masochism.

"He's got some kind of plan," Joe said. "He wants to make his mark, get back at the Travises, get something from us. And he'll have no problem using you to do it. Because he's figured out there's no bigger turn-on for you than a guy your family doesn't approve of."

"That's not true," I protested.

"I think it is." Joe dragged his hand through his hair, looking exasperated. "For God's sake, Haven, find someone else. You want to meet guys, I know a ton of — "

"No," I said sullenly. "I don't want to meet anyone."

"Then let's go back to the table."

I shook my head. The idea of returning to my family's table like a chastened child was unbearable. "You want to dance?" Joe asked.

That provoked a reluctant grin from me. "With my brother? No, that would be too pathetic. Besides, you hate dancing."

"True," Joe said, looking relieved.