Hot Buttered Yum (29 page)

Grainger had not
taken the loss well then, either. He’d threatened a lawsuit, if Lucas
remembered correctly. It stood to reason that he’d be blowing smoke here today
too.

He couldn’t
stand Scott Grainger.

“Who’s the suit?”
Lucas asked, turning his head to look at the round man
still seated on the couch.

The man rocked
back and forth two times before managing to push himself to his feet. When he
stood next to his buddy, he was a good six inches shorter than Grainger.

“I happen to be
a close, personal friend of Mr. Grainger’s. I’m his witness to this
catastrophe.”

“He also buys
hundreds of votes every day.” The younger of the two men standing alongside Kayla
spoke up. He held out his hand to Lucas. “I’m Owen. I’ve been collecting the
money for the daily votes.”

“You’re probably
in on it too,” Grainger sneered.

Owen ignored
him. “Mr. Grainger is saying that Roni buys too many votes for you each day
because you’re sleeping together.”

Lucas glanced at
Roni.

“Not that that
would be against the rules,” the final man spoke up. “I’m Len Tolley.” He held
out his hand to Lucas. “I’m head of the contest committee. And the rules state that
anybody can buy any number of votes they wish.”

“Then what’s the
problem?” Lucas asked.

The round man jumped
in. “Mr. Grainger and I believe that you pursued Ms. Templeman with the specific
purpose of winning.”

Lucas raised a
brow. “You think I’m sleeping with her because she has enough money to buy as
many votes as she wants?”

Both men nodded,
and Kayla shifted from one foot to the other.

Lucas peered down
at Roni. “Do you have that kind of money?”

Honestly, he’d
never thought about her money. He supposed she had plenty, though. She lived in
a huge house, and best he could tell, she hadn’t done a lot the last few years
to make much. A pink hue touched the apples of her cheeks and he wanted to lean
over right there in front of all of them and kiss her lips.

“I have enough,”
she murmured.

Lucas pursed his
lips, impressed. “Hmmm. Guess I picked well then.” He turned his gaze back to
the two men by the couch and let his stare go cold. “I am not sleeping with
Miss Templeman for her money. Not that it’s any of your business. Nor have I
once asked her to vote for me.”

“Of course you
didn’t,” Grainger said. “You wouldn’t have to ask. Give her a little of the
goods, and she’ll pour the money your way.”

Lucas took a threatening
step toward the man, wanting to shove his head inside his body, but Roni stood
from her chair, blocking his way. “Gentleman,” she said. She looked from
Grainger to his sidekick, then to Lucas, Mr. Tolley, and finally to Owen. “It’s
my understanding that there’s an accounting system for the votes. Yes, I’ve
written a check. Every day. A big
check.” She glanced back at Lucas. “But since the night of the Nine
Ladies Dancing competition, not a dollar of my money has gone toward a single
contestant.”

“She’s telling
the truth,” Owen spoke up. He lifted a notebook. “She doesn’t vote. She just
donates.”

“And you’re
probably a friend of hers,” the round man said.

“As you pointed
out earlier,” Owen countered, “you’re a friend of Mr. Grainger’s. Should I tell
the group how many votes you cast for your ‘friend’ each day?”

Everyone turned
to look at the round man except Grainger. No one spoke.

Finally,
Grainger stepped forward, slightly in front of his buddy. “What Ken puts in for
me isn’t the point. He’s not sleeping with me.” This brought out muffled chuckles
around the room.

Lucas reached
out a hand behind Roni and put a finger dead center in the small of her back.
She jolted, but just as quickly stilled. He slipped his finger into the
waistband of her black pencil skirt. She had on black platform heels to go with
the skirt and a bright-blue blouse thin enough that he could make out the faint
line of her bra strap running across her back. She smelled good enough to eat.

He took a small
step forward.

She ignored him,
but he caught Owen watching him. Then Owen’s gaze shifted to Kayla, and Lucas
almost laughed. The boy wore a sad puppy-dog look, as if he’d give everything
he owned to be able to touch Kayla the same way.

“Gentleman,”
Kayla spoke up now. “We have a contest to get to this morning. Mr. Tolley and I
will discuss your views, and we’ll get back to you with our decision.”

“I’m not
finished—”

“You can’t—”

Both Ken and
Grainger began to argue at the same time, but Mr. Tolley held up a hand,
cutting them off. “Our decision will be final,” he said.

And with that, people
began trailing out of the room.

Roni didn’t move,
as Lucas still had his finger on the inside of her skirt.

Mr. Grainger and
Ken both shot them a sneer, but let Kayla usher them out. Kayla then looked at
him and Roni. Her gaze dropped to where his hand disappeared behind Roni’s
back, and then she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Roni jerked
away. “Did you have to touch me while they were in here?”

He nodded. “I
had to. I missed you too much.”

She rolled her
eyes and put several feet between them. “You’re impossible,” she said.

“And you look
like you cried more after I left last night.”

Worry shaped her
eyes before she jerked her gaze to the mirror. “Do I look that bad?”

He walked up
behind her and stared at her reflection. He shook his head. “You just look a
little sad.”

Her eyes met
his. “I am a little sad.”

“I know.” He
slipped his arms around her, then relaxed the muscles
in his shoulders when she didn’t pull away. “And I’m sorry for my part in that,”
he added.

“It’s not your
fault.” She tilted her head back and rested it against him.

“I meant what I
said, though.”

Brown eyes
remained steady on his.

“I love you.” In
case she didn’t know what he was talking about. “And
I’m pretty sure you love me too.”

She wouldn’t
admit it. She just watched him.

“Did you come to
any decision last night?” he pushed.

Her jaw
clenched, and then he watched her pull in a breath through her nose. Finally,
she glanced away and answered with questions. “What if I did come down there,
Lucas? What if I fall in love? With Gracie.” She
stroked him with her gaze. “With you. And what if she
gets sick again? I’m not sure I’m strong enough for that.”

“I’m sure you are.”
She was the strongest person he knew. Who else would adopt a child who she knew
would die?

“I need to
pursue something with the piano again,” she told him.

This lightened
his heart. “Good,” he said. “I’ve thought you needed that all along.”

She sighed and
pushed at his arms, but he just shook his head. He wasn’t letting go of her.
She slumped against his body instead. “What if I want it all again?” she
whispered.

“Then we’ll miss
you while you’re gone.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “And we’ll
come see you. Often.”

“And what if
Gracie gets sick?”

He stilled. He
didn’t let himself believe that Gracie would get sick. But Roni was worried
about being on the road instead of being there for his daughter. Of course she
would be. And he would never want to ask her to choose.

“Gracie isn’t
going to get sick,” he said.

Hollow eyes met
his. “It would destroy me,” she told him. The emotion left her words. “And I just
don’t know if I can do it.”

The words felt
so final that he wasn’t sure what else to say.

He wouldn’t beg
her to come to Dallas if she didn’t want to. But he also couldn’t imagine
getting on the plane without her.

He lowered his
hands and stepped away. Now
he
needed
the distance she’d sought so desperately last night. Because for the first
time, he worried that he just might lose her.

And that was
another part of his life that he refused to think about.

Male laughter rang out from the beach
and every woman sitting on the aluminum stands paused in their conversations
and turned their head to the sound. It was Lucas. His laughter was to women
like dog whistles were to dogs. And Roni had to admit it made her a little
jealous. Because she knew what those women were
thinking every time they looked at him.

Same thing she
was.

He and his day’s
partner were currently bent over about thirty feet out on the beach, laughing
with each other as dozens of pears tumbled from their Christmas tree to their
feet.

It was the last
competition of the contest, and he and Gus had spent the day with their
partners taking part in a scavenger hunt for enough pears to fill the
wire-framed Christmas trees currently standing side by side on the beach.
Today’s game was to gather the many varieties of pears from their hiding spots
on the island, make a papier-mâché partridge, and then assemble all the items
on the tree.

Again, it wasn’t
about who was the fastest, but that was hard to tell from watching the two men
work. They’d been rushing so much to finish that Lucas had inadvertently sent
his pears rolling as he’d stretched high to place a round of a reddish-colored variety.
His design had been based on rows of the different varieties of pears, whereas
Gus’s was a mishmash with the more unique colors acting as ornaments, and the
base being the typical green Anjou.

Roni had to
admit that Gus’s was prettiest. But maybe she was partial to it because Cookie
Phillips had been chosen as his partner that day. Cookie owned the bookstore
and was normally too shy to talk to someone as hot as Gus, so Roni had been
thrilled when she’d pulled Cookie’s name from Gus’s basket. Roni was secretly
hoping they finished their tree first, although she still wanted Lucas to win
overall.

She knew what
winning meant to him. A large donation to the Dallas Leukemia
Foundation. The society had not only provided support when he’d needed
it the most, but worked nonstop to ensure that kids like Gracie lived. That they could be cured for good. So yeah, it made sense to
her now. Enough so that she was almost encouraged to put her own money toward
Lucas that day instead of simply to the day’s charity.

She was still irritated
by that morning’s attack. If she’d wanted to purchase a thousand votes a day
for Lucas—or even ten thousand a day, for that matter—it would be none of Scott
Grainger’s business.

“Look at her go!”
Andie exclaimed. She pointed out Cookie as she laughed with Gus. Roni, Andie,
and Ginger were sitting together in the stands, cheering on the teams. And if
Roni wasn’t mistaken, as they watched, a hair flip got thrown in. Cookie had some
flirting going on.

Apparently, put Cookie
in the vicinity of a hot guy, and she became a wanton woman.

Roni watched a
few more minutes, cringed when one side of Gus’s tree came toppling down, then
shifted her attention back to Lucas. She pulled in a deep breath and blew it
out. She still hadn’t quite decided what would happen next with them, but given
the fact she’d about melted at his feet when he’d touched her that morning, she
had a pretty good idea.

But first, she
had to talk it out with her girls.

“We had a fight
last night,” she said, as if to no one, but she knew her friends would hear her
and know who she was talking about.

They were
sitting on the end of one set of bleachers, over by one of the portable heaters
that had been set out for the day. It was chilly outside, so the city had done
what it could to keep the crowd from getting too cold. Vendors were also
selling hot chocolate and coffee as quickly as they could make it.

Ginger sat on
the other side of Andie and scooted in close so that the three women were
practically on top of each other. “What happened?” she asked.

“I told him
about Zoe.”

“And that caused
an argument?” Andie looked appalled.

“No.” Roni glanced
around, then lowered her voice. “But when he told me
that Gracie had been diagnosed with leukemia three years ago, I kind of lost
it.”

“Oh my God,”
Ginger breathed out. She shot her gaze to Lucas. “Poor thing.
Is she okay?”

Roni nodded. “Remission for eighteen months.”

The three of
them fell silent while they all watched Lucas and his out-of-town partner work.
His design still wasn’t as good as Gus’s. She needed to teach him a thing or
two about Christmas trees.

“Did you break
up?” Andie asked.

“Why would they
break up?”

Andie cut her
eyes at Ginger before turning back to Roni. “Because Roni is
afraid to fall for Gracie now. What if something else happens to her? Is
she going to risk losing another kid?”

Roni nodded
while Ginger said, “Oh.”

“So what
happened?” Andie asked.

The pressure of
tears pushed at the back of Roni’s eyes again. She’d really thought she would
be cried out from the night before. She looked toward the cool blue sky, hoping
to keep the tears at bay.

“I told him I
didn’t think I could do it,” she whispered. She breathed in and out a couple
times and finished with, “And then he told me that he loved me.”

“Oh!” Ginger
shot another look at Lucas as if she was surprised he’d had it in him.

Andie hugged
Roni.

Roni let a tear
escape.

“What if it does
happen again?” she asked. “It’ll kill me.”

Ginger got up
and moved to Roni’s other side. She put her arm around Roni too. “But you love
him back, right?”

There was zero
sense in trying to deny it. Even Lucas knew she loved him. “Yes.”

Both girls
hugged her tight. “We’re so happy for you,” Ginger whispered. She pressed her
cheek against Roni’s.

Roni chuckled.
“I don’t even know what I’m going to do.”

“You’re going to
go to Dallas, of course,” Ginger said. “And you’re going to meet that little
girl. And you’re going to fall in love with her too.”

Roni shook her
head and felt two more tears track down her cheeks. “And what if she gets
sick?”

“Then you’ll be
strong for her,” Andie told her. “Just like you were strong
for Zoe.”

Roni didn’t know
if she could do that. However, the thought of
not
going home with Lucas was almost laughable.

“What if I
decide to go back out on the road again?” she asked.

Ginger pulled
back. “Are you thinking about it?”

Andie didn’t say
anything. She just continued holding Roni, while lowering her head to Roni’s
shoulder.

“I don’t know,”
Roni said, “but I want to do something. I miss it too much.”

“Then you figure
out what you want,” Andie instructed. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”

Ginger nodded.
“You can have piano and a life.”

Roni stared at
her friends. “And if Gracie gets sick while I’m away?”

“Then you’ll
know that Lucas will be there with her until you get back.” This came from
Ginger. Roni hadn’t thought for one minute about the fact that if Gracie did
fall sick again, she would still have her father there with her. As well as her grandparents. She would never be alone.

“Hmmm,” Roni murmured.

Andie laughed softly.
“She can make a good point when she wants to, huh?”

Ginger looked
offended. “I make good points all the time.”

Andie and Roni
snorted with laughter, and Ginger finally joined in. Maybe she did, but mostly Ginger
was just romantic. And Roni hoped she never changed.

Someone in the
crowd gasped and the three of them forgot Roni’s problems and watched the men
on the beach. Gus was three pears and a partridge to being finished. Lucas was
six pears. He’d already placed his partridge high up on the tree.

A surge went
through the women as they all began to cheer on their favorite. Roni sat
forward in her seat and watched. It was a good day. She had a good thing with
Lucas. And Ginger had made an
excellent
point.

Did that mean
she and Lucas
did
stand a chance? She
certainly hoped so.

Because she
wanted to see where this could go.

Gus placed the
last pear and Cookie handed the partridge up to him and he attached it about
two-thirds of the way up. Everyone held their breath, waiting to see if
anything would fall. Lucas was one pear from being finished.

But he was too
late.

Gus and Cookie’s
tree stood, and after Gus threw his hands in the air and the crowd cheered, he
picked up Cookie and swung her around in a circle. Then he planted a huge kiss
on her mouth, and the women cheered even more.

Andie and Roni
grinned. Ginger sighed.

Out on the sand,
Lucas hugged his partner. When they broke apart, he searched the clusters of
women with his penetrating gaze, and he didn’t stop until he landed on Roni. He
didn’t smile, just looked at her as if waiting for an answer.

She knew what he
was asking. It was time to make a decision.

Suddenly
everything felt right. Her and Lucas. The idea of calling her manager and telling him to put out feelers.
She’d start with just a CD. She wanted to record her new music. Maybe she’d
even consider more.

And her and
Lucas and Gracie.
They just might be able to work.

She nodded and
watched Lucas go still. She wanted to go to Dallas. Then a wide grin broke
across Lucas’s face and she returned one of her own.

Kayla appeared
at Roni’s side and pulled her attention from the man she loved.

“They backed
off,” Kayla said. A look of relief swept across her face and the woman smiled a
real smile for the first time in days.

Andie perked up.
“Scott Grainger?” Andie hadn’t been at the meeting that morning because she’d
been hugging the toilet. “What happened?”

“Owen did some
research on Mr. Grainger’s friend. The man runs the charity that Scott planned
to donate his winnings to.”

Roni’s jaw fell
open. “You mean he was voting heavy for Scott so that Scott would win and his
organization would get the money?”

“Exactly.” Kayla shook her
head. “Not exactly against the rules, but talk about unethical. When I
presented the evidence, they decided it wasn’t worth their time to push
anymore. Those two have had me twisted up for days. I just want to kick their
butts.”

“How about I do
something to make it better for you instead?” Roni asked.

Kayla looked at
her. “You’re going to kick their butts?” All four of the women laughed. Then
Kayla sobered. “What are you going to do? Buy enough votes to ensure Lucas wins
just so I can rub it in their faces?”

“That’s an idea,”
Roni noted. “But I’ll stick to my current strategy. It’s been working so far.”

“Then what?”

Roni smiled
broadly. “I’m going to play for you tomorrow.”

It took a couple
seconds, but Kayla’s eyes went wide. “The piano? We’re
having a concert?”

“How about a
modified concert?”
Roni suggested. “In the parade.”

“You want to
play in the parade?”

“You think you
can make arrangements between now and then? If you can, I’ll play a new piece
I’ve been working on. No one has ever heard it.” Except
Lucas.

Kayla was a
woman who loved a good challenge. She looked at Andie as if wanting to make
sure her boss heard her loud and clear. “A piano on a float
tomorrow. You got it. I’ll make it happen.”