This Winter Night Read online

He stopped beside her chair. Lauren steeled herself for an insult of some kind.

  “Good evening, Lauren,” he said pleasantly. She hadn’t realized it until now that when she’d spotted him she’d put her hand on Colton’s thigh to steady herself. Now she felt his thigh muscles tighten reflexively. He clearly was not glad to see Adam, either.

  She squeezed his thigh underneath the table, communicating to him to calm down. She could handle this. “Good evening, Adam,” she said as she looked up at him.

  “Riley,” Adam directed at Colton with a slight smirk across his face.

  “Eckhart,” Colton replied. The two men’s eyes met. Neither of their expressions was friendly.

  “This is my fiancée, Nichole Kelly,” Adam said, smiling at her.

  Nichole was in her early twenties. Tall and buxom, her gown displayed her full breasts for all to see and admire. Lauren thought spillage was imminent. Knowing Adam, however, Lauren could not be certain that she’d chosen her own gown. Adam was very controlling. He’d probably told her what to wear, what to say and how to say it.

  “Miss Kelly,” Lauren said politely.

  “I love your gown,” Nichole Kelly replied a bit breathlessly.

  “Thank you,” Lauren said, a bit stunned. She seemed sweet.

  Adam, looking irritated by Nichole’s behavior, went on, “Did you hear I won the bid on the children’s hospital?”

  “No, I left work early today and haven’t listened to my messages,” Lauren said stiffly. She was not going to congratulate him. His coming over here was a ploy to unnerve her and possibly get a dig in at Colton.

  Colton congratulated him, though. “Good for you, Eckhart.”

  Adam smiled. “Thank you. I noticed your company didn’t have a bid in.”

  “No, we already have enough to keep us busy for a while,” Colton was pleased to note.

  “Excellent,” said Adam. His gaze rested on Lauren. “This will give me the opportunity work with Lauren. When we were married we never got to work together. It’ll be a new experience for me, and I like challenges. Good evening, all.” With that he turned and led his fiancée away.

  “What a pompous ass,” Veronica said after he was out of earshot. “Lauren, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Lauren assured her, but she was fuming inside.

  Chapter 8

  “That man is so irritating,” Lauren said for Colton’s ears only. “He only came over here to plant seeds of discontent in us. He can’t stand to see me happy. And what’s up with Nichole Kelly? She seems almost sweet. As if she’s unaware of what kind of man she’s with.”

  Colton’s gaze locked with hers. “Mission accomplished, then, huh? Here you are carrying on about him. Are you going to let him spoil our evening?”

  Lauren rolled her eyes. “As if you didn’t want to punch his lights out,” she accused. “I could feel how tense you were.”

  He didn’t try to deny it. “I’ve made no secret of the fact I can’t stand him. But I wouldn’t have hit him.”

  In the background the band started to play and the host again took the stage. “I hope everyone’s enjoying their meals. Now it’s time to get up and dance the night away. Let’s bring in 2014 on a high note!”

  “Good idea,” said Colton, reaching for Lauren’s hand. “Let’s dance.”

  Lauren was glad to get up and stretch her legs. They were among the first couples to walk onto the dance floor. Above them a crystal chandelier sparkled with golden light. The band’s chanteuse, a lovely young African American woman in a black gown, began singing Alicia Keys’s latest hit.

  She sang it with soulful intensity. The speed with which she sang was just right for slow-dancing. Lauren relaxed in Colton’s arms and gazed up at him. He smiled tenderly. She regretted bringing Adam up. She had vowed she wouldn’t allow his little games to get to her. Now here she was, tense, because of something he’d said. He couldn’t have been serious about looking forward to working with her on the children’s hospital.

  “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely.

  “Baby, I’m holding you in my arms,” Colton said softly. “No apology needed.”

  She sighed and laid her head on his chest. The thump of his steady heartbeat steadied her. Closing her eyes she let him lead her, her trust in him implicit. She could feel the powerful muscles in his thigh where his leg touched hers. As she relaxed she was becoming aroused. The song was so sexy. Images of them making love came unbidden to her mind’s eye.

  Colton tried to control his emotions. He wanted to be aware of everything about Lauren in this moment. But when he did that he was also aware of the warmth of her body, the soft seductiveness of her skin, her scent and the rhythm of her heart. Because he was unable to separate his desire for her from her physical being he was soon turned on by her closeness. Plus there was the fact that he’d been dreaming of making love to her ever since he’d left her on Christmas Day a week ago. It had been a whole week since they’d been intimate, which was too long.

  Lauren looked into his eyes. He knew she could feel his erection.

  “Do you want to get out of here?” she asked playfully. “Find an empty closet somewhere?”

  He chuckled at her suggestion. “I’m shocked you would say such a thing, Miss Gaines. Give me a minute. I’ll calm down.”

  “You’ve got that kind of control?” she asked innocently. “Maybe you can teach me how to do that.”

  “You, too?” he asked, his eyes smoldering.

  She loved those smoky-gray eyes of his. She’d heard of women being seduced by a pair of sexy eyes but it had never happened to her until she’d met him.

  “Yes,” she happily confessed. “I’ve been unable to stop imagining you naked and on top of me for any length of time since we parted.” She peered deeply into his eyes. “And in my nighttime dreams I’m insatiable. The problem is I know the reality is as good, or better, than my dreams. So you see I’m a lost cause. Because of you I’m completely obsessed with sex. I was a normal person until you showed up.”

  “I’m sorry?” Colton said with a beguiling smile.

  “You should be,” she teased.

  “I’m sure you’ll think of ways to punish me later,” Colton said, not looking apologetic in the least. And his erection was not going away as he’d promised.

  “Why wait for later?” Lauren asked. “I’m going to punish you now.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him down for a long, sensual kiss. Her tongue sweetly caressed his and the sensation was orgasmic.

  When they came up for air, he grinned at her. “You’re a bad girl.”

  She smiled. “So, punish me!”

  But Colton was aware that they had become the center of attention and refrained from meeting her challenge there on the dance floor. He pulled her back in position and they resumed dancing. “Behave yourself. We’re becoming a spectacle.”

  * * *

  At his company’s table, Adam watched them with fascination. He had come here tonight relatively certain that Lauren would be in attendance. However, he was shocked to see her on Colton Riley’s arm. He knew he was being unreasonable but the fact that she was involved with his biggest business rival felt like a personal affront. Of all the men in Raleigh, or the world for that matter, she was with him?

  “Sweetie, let’s dance,” Nichole pleaded.

  He smiled indulgently at her and rose, offering her his hand.

  She giggled. He hated it when she giggled. She sounded even younger than her twenty-two years. Intellectually, she was nowhere near being his match. But she was stunning and very susceptible to suggestion. Already she was willing to do anything to please him. Of course, her malleability got tiresome after a while. Once you had someone under your thumb it was inevitable that you would lose respect for that person.

&nb
sp; As he held Nichole in his arms his attention was riveted on Lauren and Riley as they danced a few feet away. There hadn’t been another kiss after that outrageous public display they’d put on. Lauren was becoming a cliché, a divorced woman who played fast and loose with her reputation, he thought.

  * * *

  Colton and Lauren returned to their table and Colton asked his mother to dance.

  “No, I’m fine,” Veronica graciously declined. “I’m fine just watching you all.”

  “Mom, when you and Dad attended this affair you were always on the dance floor. Let’s go.” Colton would not take no for an answer.

  Veronica took her son’s arm. “Very well,” she said resignedly. “If only to prevent your father from visiting me in my dreams and accusing me of moping without him.”

  After they’d gone, Jade said to Lauren, “She’s not joking. Since Dad’s death she’s dreamed about him every night. I’m beginning to think she lives for her dreams about him. I’m trying not to worry.”

  Lauren had some experience in this area. “There’s nothing wrong with Veronica. People who’re widowed often dream about their spouses. It helps with the grieving process. My Grandpa Beck dreamed about my grandmother a lot after she died but the dreams have tapered off. Now he only dreams about her every once in a while. That doesn’t mean he loves her less. It’s just that he’s accepted she’s gone and his mind’s at peace. At least that’s how he explained it.”

  Jade smiled at her. “Thanks for that, Lauren. You put my mind at ease.”

  “She’s a worrywart,” Manu said. “Always has been.”

  “Come on and dance with me,” Jade told him, pulling him up by the hand. “Work off some of that prime rib.”

  Lauren sat watching them once they were on the dance floor. Manu moved surprisingly well for a big man. Jade’s dance skills were obviously more advanced than his but from the brilliant smile on her face, Lauren could tell she was having a wonderful time in her husband’s arms.

  After a couple of songs, a male singer replaced the chanteuse. His song was one designed for lovers. Lauren spotted Colton and Veronica leaving the dance floor.

  When they got back to the table, Veronica was laughing. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to songs that openly talk about sex,” she said. “In my day it was inferred but not explicitly so.” She smiled at Lauren. “He’s all yours, dear.”

  Colton laughed as he held out his hand to Lauren, “Sweetheart?”

  Lauren smiled when he referred to her as sweetheart. Up until now, only baby had been his term of endearment for her.

  Colton planted a kiss on the side of her neck as she settled in his arms. “Mom was right. This is not the type of song you dance with your mother to. This is baby-making music.”

  “Then I’d better sit this one out, too.”

  Colton laughed again. “Do you know how much fun you are to be with? Your beauty and accomplishments aside, you’re still one of the most fascinating women I’ve ever known. But I had a clue you would be when you opened the door with a gun in your hand.”

  “We were in the middle of nowhere,” she reminded him. “You could have been the Abominable Snowman for all I knew.”

  “I never asked, but do you have a permit to carry a gun?”

  “Yes, Officer,” she quipped. “Plus, I’ve put in many hours at the shooting gallery. The general made sure of that. We practiced shooting like other kids practiced their basketball game. It was just another pastime that we enjoyed and were proficient at.”

  “What else did the general make sure you girls were trained to do?”

  “Hand-to-hand combat was taught and we were put in a martial arts class when we turned seven,” Lauren said. “For physical conditioning, not to learn to kick someone’s butt. Our sensei stressed respect and control of anger. We were taught that martial arts were only to be used in self-defense or to protect someone else.”

  “Which discipline?” Colton asked.

  “A lot of kids were in tae kwon do,” Lauren said, “But the general signed us up for karate. He said it was more suited to a woman’s body.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Karate is the Japanese art of self-defense in which blows and kicks are targeted to sensitive parts of the opponent’s body. Women have more strength in their lower bodies, so the general believed women would be very adept at kicking the crap out of anyone who attacked them.”

  “And were you good at it?” asked Colton, his eyes alight with humor.

  “I earned a black belt by the time I was seventeen,” Lauren said without a trace of bragging.

  Colton laughed softly. “I’m impressed.” He hugged her tightly and wistfully said, “Why didn’t mom and dad invite you to the house years ago when you were neighbors in the mountains? We’ve got a lot of time to make up.”

  Lauren was touched. “Your parents did invite me to their home here in Raleigh, but I politely declined. Adam tolerated my associating with them in the mountains because the cabin’s isolated. But here in Raleigh it would have gotten out that I was a friend of the Rileys. In his mind you all are the enemy.”

  Colton sighed. “You’re right. It’s all in his mind because I rarely give him a thought let alone think of him as my rival. He’s the one who started this by bribing people to beat us out of at least two contracts that I know of. Personally, I wish he’d realize that there’s enough work to go around without resorting to such tactics.”

  “There’s a possibility he has a screw loose,” Lauren offered with a laugh. “And I’m not saying that because I’m bitter. Okay, maybe I’m a little bitter. There’s nothing wrong with a woman being a little bitter. It’s my prerogative to be bitter. Long live the bitter!”

  Colton laughed. “You crack me up.”

  She laughed, too. “Okay, I’m not leaving the house without my meds anymore.”

  Colton kissed her forehead. “You’re even more beautiful when you let go and laugh like that.”

  Following their dance Colton escorted her back to their table, after which he went to the men’s room. When he was returning from the facilities he encountered Adam coming in the opposite direction in the corridor.

  He had planned to simply ignore him, but Adam was having none of that. “You know, Riley,” he said, “I thought taking my sloppy seconds when it comes to business would be enough for you. But no, you had to try out my ex-wife, as well. That’s poor sportsmanship.”

  Instantly angered by his vulgar suggestion, Colton stopped short and stared at Adam. His big hands balled into fists of rage. His gray eyes became even more stormy than usual as they narrowed and focused on Adam. “You are one small-minded prick, Eckhart, if you think that Lauren is a possession that you once owned. What happened? You realized you’ve made a mistake by letting her go? Sloppy seconds, you say? Lauren is nobody’s sloppy seconds. She’s wonderful and you know it. That’s why it rankles that she’s finding happiness after being shackled to you for years.” He circled Adam and their actions were beginning to draw the attention of passersby who stopped to observe them.

  “Happiness,” Adam scoffed. He chuckled. “You believe you can make her happy? Did you even go to college? You’re a roughneck. You still do menial jobs. Oh, yes, I heard about that. You probably think it makes you a part of the team. But real powerbrokers know that you have to separate yourself from the team. You have to stand above them. Your father’s death was the worst thing that could have happened to Riley Construction. Your leadership will bankrupt it within the year. You’re a boy trying to fill your old man’s shoes.”

  “I’m not going to stand here and defend myself against accusations that are unfounded,” Colton said. “Time will tell whether or not I’m fit to run my family’s company. Time will also tell whether or not I can make Lauren happy. But there’s one thing we both already know. She�
�s not with you, she’s with me. And that’s where she wants to be.”

  “I could get her back if I wanted to,” Adam calmly claimed with a smirk. “She was in love with me once. I can get her to fall in love with me again. Care to make a wager?”

  “There’s nothing you won’t stoop to, is there?” Colton wondered aloud, genuinely taken aback by his crassness.

  “Are you afraid you’re going to lose?” Adam sneered. “Because, my friend, you don’t stand a chance since for the next year or so I’m going to be spending a lot of time with Lauren on the children’s hospital project. I’ll probably see her more than you. Lauren and I have a past. I assure you she still has feelings for me. You don’t just stop loving someone because you’re no longer together.”

  “What about your fiancée?” Colton asked.

  “She’s a dalliance, a pretty distraction,” Adam said nonchalantly.

  “You really do have a screw loose,” Colton told him, shaking his head in wonder.

  Adam was outraged. Colton’s words suggested that he’d been discussing his sanity with someone, and that someone could only have been Lauren. “Is that what she said about me?” he yelled. “That I have a screw loose?”

  Colton was silent on the matter. He gestured to the audience they’d attracted. “You’re making a case for that right now.”

  Several of the men and women who’d gathered around them nodded in agreement.

  “Can we have some privacy?” Adam yelled at them.

  “This is a public hallway, bruh,” said one of the men. He was also dressed in a tuxedo. “I’ve got your back, Colton, if something jumps off.”

  Colton acknowledged the guy’s offer with a nod in his direction. “Thanks, Joe, but nothing’s going to jump off. The theatrics are over.” He glanced at his watch as he turned to leave. “It’s nearly midnight. I’m going to usher in the New Year with my lady.”

  “Remember what I said,” Adam called after him. “She’ll be mine again within the year.”

  “Keep dreaming,” Colton said in parting.