Mile High (Up in the Air #2)(69)
Her face was devastatingly beautiful. Even Jules was no match for this woman. She had the face of an angel, her eyes a clear blue that stood out on her dusky skin. That dusky skin was nearly the same shade as the woman who stood so close to her side. In fact, their skin tones matched perfectly enough to make me think they could be sisters. Either that, or they’d used the same spray tanner. If so, it was worth every penny.
She wore a crimson dress that matched her pouty bow-shaped lips. It was a classic style that matched Jules’s gown almost perfectly, down to the silky material, one of them red, one of them white, as though they had planned it. An angel and a devil. They were holding hands, and I knew this woman was trouble for me. Just knew it.
It was probably the way her focus never wavered from James. As though he had trained her never to look away from him…
“Bianca, dear, this is Jolene. Jolene, Bianca. I know you were dying to meet her. What do you think?”
Jules addressed Jolene.
Jolene shrugged a lovely shoulder, her gaze never leaving James.
“Hello, Mr. Cavendish,” she said softly. Her voice was almost breathy and bled over-the-top sexy vibes across the scant feet separating them.
I looked at James, almost scared to see his reaction to the stunning woman.
He gave her a stiff nod, his eyes cold and unreadable. “Jolene.”
Jules ignored all of the awkwardness, beaming at me as though we were longtime friends. “You and Jolene have a lot in common, Bianca. I bet you can guess at some of it…”
The hand on my hip had turned into an absolute death-grip. “Well, we’ve had about enough of the immature games for tonight. Please excuse us, ladies. Ah, perfect. I think I see your brother, Jules.” I got a fleeting glance of the near-panicked expression on Jules’s face as James tugged me away. She was searching the crowd, looking none too happy.
I didn’t have time to ask James any questions about the odd exchange, and the conclusions I’d drawn, before he was introducing me to a stunning man who I knew at a glance had to be Jules’s brother. They could have been twins, though he was much taller and broader. “Bianca, this is my good friend, Parker. Parker, this is my Bianca.”
The man smiled warmly, much as his sister did, though I thought his smile might actually be genuine.
“So good to meet you, Bianca. James has instructed me not to scare you off, but I would like to thank you for finally getting him to settle down. My wife and I would love to have you both over for dinner. At your convenience, of course. You should see James with our two-year-old. You’ll get baby fever at a glance, I guarantee it.”
I was still stiff and upset from the exchange with Jules and Jolene, and this only made me tense up even more. I simply had no idea how to respond to such a statement. Didn’t even know where to begin.
James just sighed. “That’s not a great way of not scaring her off, Parker. Of course, it doesn’t help that we just ran into your deranged sister. She’s being crazier than ever, by the way. She’s here with Jolene.”
Parker began to scan the crowd at that. “That little brat. What the hell is she doing, anyways? What does she hope to accomplish? She’s only making it so you’ll never want to speak to her again. I’ll have a word with her. Which way did she go?”
James pointed in the direction we had come from, and Parker was off in a flash. James grinned at me.
“He’ll lecture her all night.”
I couldn’t reply as yet another woman approached us, her smile friendly and warm. She was maybe five seven, with curly white-blond hair clipped up in an elegant style. She was classically beautiful, with even features and soft pink lips. The color of her soft pink gown suited her perfectly. It was one shouldered and mermaid style, with fluffy layers of taffeta making it move playfully as she walked. I didn’t think many women could have pulled the style off. She had a very slim figure, and moved with absolute confidence in her own skin. I thought that Jackie would love to dress that figure.
She walked directly into James’s arms for a long embrace. I watched the exchange with the cool mask I had adopted for the evening, taking a careful step away from them. I wondered what the odds were that James somehow hadn’t slept with this lovely woman. I was guessing not good. I was happy to be wrong.
She pulled back finally to smile at us both, looking back and forth between us. She smiled, her gaze finally just settling on me. “You must be Bianca. I’m so happy to meet you. I’m Parker’s wife, Sophia.”
I smiled back, but I knew it was stiff. I had become too guarded to even try to adopt a real smile.
“Pleased to meet you, Sophia.”
“Jules is at it again. Parker has gone off to try to talk some sense into her. She and Jolene came here together.”
Sophia grimaced. “That little fool.” She looked at me, reaching out to touch my arm reassuringly.
“Jules puts on a good show, but she is basically a society princess who’s spoiled to the point that she’s never had to deal with the notion that she can’t have everything she wants. She’s being particularly dense about the fact that she can’t have James. It drives Parker and I crazy that, to this day, their daddy gives her everything she wants. She’s never had to work a day in her life, and she has way too much time on her hands to cause trouble.”
Sophia looked at James. “Parker is seriously considering telling their daddy about some of the things she’s done. She’s got her parents half sold on some of her delusions about you two. As though she’s been holding a torch all these years, as opposed to the truth, which is that she’s always done whatever the hell she wants, with whoever she wants, male or female. Hell, she made a pass at me when Parker and I became engaged. The fact is, she’s thinks she’s in love with you, but that’s only because she’s too selfish to know what love actually is. And you’ve always been clear about how you felt.” She took a breath after that little speech. I just blinked at her. Not many people were so open at a first meeting.