Ravensong (17 page)

Elena leaned her elbow on
the table and braced her head on her hand. She gave Joshua a
pointed look. For the first time, he seemed remotely uncomfortable.
He looked up into the waitress’s face and narrowed his
eyes.

“
A mineral
water.”

“
Anything else?” said the
waitress with an obvious smile.

“
I wonder how much those
cost,” Elena heard her own voice say as she motioned toward the
woman’s nearly exploding bust line

Joshua blinked in astonishment and the
woman straightened with an indignant huff. Kate was staring at
Elena with her mouth open, her straw poised on her bottom lip.
Elena sat up, shrugging her shoulders. She was furious with the
world, she realized, and especially with Joshua.

“
Come again,” he said,
raising his dark brows.

Elena pursed her lips a
moment. “Plastic surgery, you know.” She smiled at the waitress. “I
was wondering if I should get it done myself and how much it
costs.”

The waitress’ eyes got even
more enormous. She whirled on a stiletto heel and click-clacked
back to the bar. Elena’s gaze shifted from a half-amused Joshua to
an astonished Kate.

“
I’ve never heard you say
anything like that,” said Kate in awe.

Elena turned back to the
stage, picking up her mineral water. She tried to appear
nonchalant. “Women need to know how they’re subjugating themselves
in the name of fashion and men’s perception of beauty.”

“
A feminist crusader,”
mumbled Joshua, looking downward.

“
What?” both Kate and Elena
snapped, turning on him.

He glanced up at them
sheepishly, the corner of his mouth twitching. “I said it’s getting
later,” he answered

Elena and Kate glanced at
each other frowning. Kate lifted a finger, starting to say
something, then stopped and put her hand down. Elena glared at him,
but she was trying hard not to laugh. He was clever, she’d give him
that much.

Rage
took the stage. The band had only four members, a singer,
bassist, guitarist, and drummer. The singer also played harmonica
and when he played, the notes drifted over the audience with a
haunting, lilting wail. Elena was entranced. They were every bit as
good live as they had been on the MP3.

The singer was a tall, exceedingly
thin man with a long face and black hair that was swept up in a
pompadour. His clothing and look harkened back to a time of the
smoky, secretive speak-easys of the twenties.

Elena leaned forward, her
elbows on the table. She wasn’t aware that Joshua was close enough
to touch until his velvet voice spoke in her ear. “They’re good,
aren’t they?”

“
Yes, I think we’ve found
our opening band.”

He didn’t answer, but
leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and swaying to the
music. Other patrons left their seats and moved into the center of
the dance floor, rocking to the seductive sounds, pressing their
bodies close together.

Elena’s eyes lowered to
them and she swallowed hard. She longed to join them, encircled in
the arms of the man beside her, swaying in rhythm and feeling the
motion of him against her.

As if he read her mind, he
opened his eyes and met her gaze. His look was shuttered and
seductive. Elena’s mouth went dry.

“
Want to dance?”

Elena could only shake her
head
no.
To dance
with him would be to erode the last of her resolve.

He seemed momentarily
surprised, then a mischievous look entered his eyes and he pushed
himself to his feet. “Let’s dance,” he ordered, holding his hand
out to Kate.

She blinked stupidly at him, shifting
her gaze from his face to his hand and back again. Then she gave
Elena a crafty grin and grabbed his fingers, bounding from her seat
before Elena could do more than gape at them.

Joshua could dance.

Elena knew this. She had
seen him perform on DVD many times; however, this wasn’t the
uninhibited dancing that made teenage girls go wild. This was swing
dancing - precise steps of complete control. He whirled Kate around
the floor, spinning her in and out of the swaying couples and
sending her into delighted peels of laughter.

Elena smiled, despite
herself. There was nothing provocative about this dance, but the
fun they seemed to be having was infectious. She longed to be as
free and easy-going with him as her friend was. Sure, Kate thought
he was gorgeous, but she didn’t have any other expectations. Elena
knew she would never feel that easy with him again. Too much had
happened between them, and there were too many feelings, as
conflicted as they might be.

When the song ended, they came back to
the table, breathless and laughing. Elena smiled at Kate as she
plopped into her seat again, grabbing her pink drink and downing
the remaining amount.

“
I need another,” she said
with a giggle. “Can I get you both anything?”

“
A beer, please,” said
Joshua.

Elena shook her head.

Kate grabbed her purse and
headed to the bar, weaving through the growing crowds of people.
When she was out of sight, Elena met Joshua’s eyes.

“
That looked like fun,” she
said conversationally.

Joshua’s gaze never
wavered. “I wanted to dance with you.”

“
I know.”

“
Why does it have to be
like this, Elena?” he asked with a frown.

Elena shook her head. “I
wish I knew. It just isn’t the right time, Joshua. Everything
between us is too complicated.”

Joshua looked out at the
band, offering Elena a view of his profile. “That seems like a
convenient excuse.”

“
How do you
figure?”

“
Why shouldn’t two people
who want each other the way we do just be together until it no
longer works? Why does it have to be any more complicated than
that?”

“
Because other people are
involved.”

He looked back at her and started to
say something, but he caught himself and simply stared at
her.

Elena met his look as long as she
could, then she shifted, forcing her eyes to the band.

“
You’re not wearing his
ring any longer,” he said.

“
No, it seemed wrong and
adulterous.”

“
You aren’t married to him
yet.”

“
But I was committed. We
violated that.”

Joshua made a noise of disgust and
slumped back in his chair.

Elena glanced over her
shoulder at him. “That’s another reason why it wouldn’t
work.”

“
Care to
explain?”

“
It doesn’t bother you that
I cheated on my fiancé.”

“
You never loved
him.”

“
But I told him I would
marry him.”

“
Out of confusion and
fear.”

“
That doesn’t change the
commitment, Joshua.”

He moved so suddenly, she
didn’t have time to stop him. He rose to his feet and grabbed her
hand, hauling her up with him, then he pulled her onto the dance
floor. Elena didn’t try very hard to stop him, but when he swept
her into his arms, she braced herself against his chest.

“
This isn’t
right.”

“
Shut up,” he snarled, then
drew her closer. Despite her resolve, Elena found her hands easing
against him until she had them pressed to his back. The music
seeped into her, pulsing up from the rhythm in the floor, through
her feet and muscles, until she was pressed the length of Joshua,
her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed, swaying with him, their
bodies flowing into one.

She forgot where she was.
Joshua’s arms around her, the scent of him, the pounding of his
heart beneath her ear felt so right. He wrapped himself around her,
his hands against her lower back, his face pressed into the fall of
her hair. He enveloped her and she swayed with him, letting the
music wash away their differences for the moment.

Then it ended and Elena
came back to herself. People were brushing past them, leaving the
dance floor. Joshua’s hold eased and she moved away from him,
looking up into his dark eyes. He didn’t say anything, just let her
go, and they turned together, heading back toward the table as if
the previous moment had never occurred.

Kate watched Elena carefully. Elena
could see that her friend knew more than she wanted her to know.
She sank into the seat beside her and Kate pushed her own pink
cocktail toward Elena. Elena took it without speaking, drinking
deeply and closing her eyes.

The rest of the set passed
in a haze for Elena. Mostly she was aware of the man beside her,
the heat of him, the pressure of his thigh against her own. She
wanted him to touch her, but beyond that
incidental
contact he made no further
moves. By the time the band took its first break, Elena’s head was
buzzing with drink and her body felt strung tight.

The crowd on the dance floor disbursed
as the band left the stage. A few moments later, the singer with
the long face and slicked-back pompadour appeared before them. He
held out his hand for Joshua, who rose to his feet and accepted it,
allowing himself to be pulled forward in a rough, male embrace,
then they released each other. The singer folded his long frame
into the chair Joshua pushed out for him and offered his hand to
Elena.

“
This is Evan Brown,” said
Joshua as Elena shook hands with him. “Elena Harris, our assistant
manager, and her friend, Kate Murphy, the photographer who shot our
last album cover.”

“
Nice to meet you,” Evan
said, grasping Kate’s fingers. He leaned back in his chair and gave
Joshua an appraising look. “How the hell are you?”

“
Good,” answered Joshua. A
waitress offered Evan an open beer and he lifted it for Joshua to
clink his own against. “To old friends.”

“
To old friends,” Joshua
said before they both drank.

Elena watched them. It was
beginning to make sense. “How do you know each other?”

Evan glanced at her. “We
were in the same band together back in high school. Actually,
Joshy’s brother James was the front man. How is James?”

“
Good, married. His wife’s
gonna have a baby in about two months.”

“
Holy shit.”

“
I hear ya.”

“
He still a
cop?”

“
Gun and
everything.”

“
Never would have guessed
it.”

“
Neither would
I.”

“
When you left
Blazes
to go do the
Hollywood thing, James said he would never sell out
B
music was his
life.”

“
Yeah, well, Margaret’s his
life now.”

Evan laughed. “Poor
bastard.”

Joshua shrugged, twirling
his beer bottle in his fingers. “He’s happier than I’ve ever seen
him.”

Evan shook his head with a
smile. “I can’t get the road out of my blood. Don’t think I ever
will.”

“
Speaking of that,” said
Elena, taking the opportunity to break into the conversation. “I
have a proposition for you.”

Evan gave her a startled
look, then he waggled his brows. “I’m open for
propositions.”

Kate giggled and Elena
blushed. “Not that kind,” she said, but she couldn’t stop an
embarrassed smile. “Actually, I’m looking for an opening band for
the
Avalanche
tour. Joshua recommended you and after hearing you play, I
think you’d be perfect.”

Evan’s eyes shot to
Joshua’s face. “You don’t have to do this,” he said, sliding
forward in his seat.

“
She’s right. You’re the
best band for the job.”

“
Joshy...”

“
That’s all it is, Evan,”
Joshua said sternly, giving the singer a narrow-eyed look. “I’m
serious. Nothing more.”

Evan started to protest,
then shook his head. His eyes drifted back to Elena. She glanced at
the two of them in surprise. She wasn’t sure what just happened,
but there was obviously more to the discussion than she or Kate
understood.

“
I can’t speak for the
whole band, but this is an opportunity that we can’t pass up.” He
cast a sideways glance at Joshua, but his attention was focused on
Elena. “If they’re in agreement, what do we do?”

“
Come to my office on
Friday and we’ll work up a contract. You’ll have to meet with the
manager and his assistant, but I don’t think there’ll be a problem
once they know Joshua and I both back you.”

He held out his hand again.
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” he said, then rose to his feet.
Joshua rose with him and Evan grabbed him in a tight embrace. He
said something into Joshua’s ear that Elena couldn’t capture, then
held him at arm’s length, patted his shoulders, and walked
away.

Elena wanted to ask Joshua
what it was all about as he took his seat again, but the expression
on his face told her he wouldn’t answer.