Blue-Eyed Devil (Travis Family #2)(51)

"I'm going to the ladies' room to check my makeup," I said. "I'll be back at the table in a few minutes."

After Joe left me, I wandered disconsolately through the room. Obviously I shouldn't have gone to the theater opening. I should have stayed home. I needed to think about things, including the question of why, in spite of my better judgment and my family's conviction that it was a mistake, I was still attracted to Hardy Cates.

But before I was even aware I was doing it, I had gone to the bar.

It was easy to locate Hardy's tall, rangy form. He was half leaning against the bar, a rocks glass in his hand. It appeared he was talking to someone, although his shoulder blocked the view. I approached him hesitantly, tilting my head a little as I tried to get a glimpse of his companion.

He was talking to a woman. Naturally. It was inconceivable that a man with his looks wouldn't attract female attention. The woman was slim and busty and dressed in a sparkling gold gown. All that, along with her light blond hair, made her look like an awards show statuette.

I stiffened as I saw her face.

"Hi, Vanessa," I said weakly.

CHAPTER TEN

Vanessa Flint gave me a look I was familiar with, the one that said she didn't want to be interrupted. But her voice was warm and friendly. "Haven, how nice to see you here! Are you having fun?""Words can't describe it," I said. It was just not my night. Of all people for Hardy to hook up with, it had to be my boss from hell. Fate was trying to get it through to me that this wasn't going to work on any level.

Hardy set his glass on the bar. "Haven — "

"Hi, Mr. Cates," I said coolly. "Have a good night, you two. I was just leaving."

Without giving either Vanessa or Hardy a chance to react, I turned and pushed through the crowd. Nauseous and white-faced with fury, I acknowledged that my family was absolutely right about Hardy. He was trouble I didn't need.

I'd made it about halfway through the room when I felt him come up behind me, his touch on my arm. I stiffened and turned to face him. His face was as hard as granite.

"Go back to Vanessa," I told him. "If she thinks I've taken you away from her, I'll be cleaning the office bathroom for the next week."

"I wasn't with her, I was having a drink. Was I supposed to wait alone in the corner while you were trying to make up your mind about me? "

"Not in the corner, no." I glared at him. "But you could have at least waited five minutes before finding a replacement."

"She wasn't a replacement. I was waiting for you. And it took you a hell of a lot longer than five minutes to decide if you wanted to dance with me. I'm not going to take that shit from you or your family, Haven."

"After the way you've behaved in the past, what do you expect? Flowers and a parade? They have every right to distrust your motives."

"What about you? What do you think my motives are?"

"I don't think you want me to answer that in front of all these people."

"Then we'll go somewhere private," he said through clenched teeth. "Because I'm going to have an answer, by God."

"Fine." My mind went blank, frozen in white panic, as I felt him take my wrist. The last time I'd been handled by an angry man, I'd ended up at the hospital. But his grip, firm as it was, was not painful. I forced myself to relax and go along with him as he steered me through the crowd.

A female singer was crooning "Summertime," the dark, moody melody weaving around us like smoke.

I was in a daze as we made our way out of the room, past the crush in the lobby. We reached a set of doors, but we were forced to stop as someone stepped in our way. Gage. His eyes flashed like bottled lightning as he glanced over both of us, missing no detail, including the way Hardy was gripping my wrist.

"Do you need me?" Gage asked me quietly.

Hardy looked like he was ready to commit murder. "She's fine," he said.

My brother paid no attention to that, only kept his gaze on me. I felt a wave of gratitude for him, understanding how difficult it was for him to let me go off with a man he despised. But Gage knew it was my choice. He was there to offer help only if I wanted it.

"It's okay," I said to him. "I don't need anything."

My brother nodded, although it was obvious he was struggling not to interfere. As we left him, he looked as if he were watching me walk off with Lucifer himself. I knew Gage was afraid for me. He didn't trust Hardy Cates.

Neither did I, come to think of it.

Hardy pulled me past the set of doors, and around a corner, working deeper into the building until we finally stopped in some kind of maintenance stairwell, which smelled of concrete and metal and musty dankness. It was quiet except for a dripping sound, and the broken rhythms of our breathing. A light from somewhere above shed uncertain fluorescence over us.

Hardy faced me, looking huge and dark against a background of concrete. "Now," he said brusquely, "tell me what you wouldn't say back there."

I let him have it. "I think if I were anyone but a Travis, you wouldn't give me the time of day. I think you want to show my brother Gage that if he got Liberty, you're going to get back at him by sleeping with his sister. I think you have more hidden agendas than you can admit even to yourself. I think — "