Romancing the Holiday (2 page)

“Oh, right. Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Describe him,” Travis suggested.

She preferred the option where she finally got to her cabin at the campground and showered for six or seven days and then never stepped foot in Holloway again. “Couldn’t we forget this?”

“I know this sucks, but I still have an identity issue here,” Austin said.

Travis snorted. “And he’ll need to protect the guy from Carrie, who will unleash the angry-wife-from-hell wrath on his ass.”

Austin blew out a long breath. “I’m hoping she finds this funny or at the very least unleashes on someone other than me.”

Guilt pinged Lila. She was standing there trying to ignore the flare of heat on her cheeks and this guy was worried about his wife’s reaction. That realization kind of put things in perspective. On the checklist of who got royally screwed in this situation she still thought she won, and not in a good way, but Austin had something huge to lose here, too.

“Dark brown eyes and hair, but his has some lighter streaks in it, I assumed from working in the sun.” She eyed up Austin. “About your height, somewhere around six feet, with kind of an outdoorsy look about him.”

“That fits a lot of people in this county,” Travis said.

“He said he was a businessman and a botanist, which was the first time I ever heard that line.”

Austin shook his head. “I’m an arborist.”

She had absolutely zero idea what the difference was between those two occupations. But there was one more thing that struck her from the first time she saw this Austin’s face. “There’s something about him that reminds me of you, actually. You could almost be related. Your hair is longer but you sort of look alike, though he struck me as pretty intense and serious.”

Austin froze.

“What did I say?” Something big, clearly. Something that made his face fall.

The swearing started a second later and kept going. He finally wound down and said the same one a few times. “Son of a bitch.”

Travis shook his head. “No way.”

This couldn’t be good
. “What are you guys thinking and any chance you could fill a girl in?”

Austin mumbled under his breath about “idiot relatives” as he leaned over the desk and jammed a finger against a button on the telephone pad. He grabbed the receiver in a grip that made the plastic crunch under his fingers. “Mitch’s office. Get in here now.”

After that, the only sound in the room was the crack of the phone hitting the cradle again. When she started to talk, Travis gave her a wide-eyed shake of his head. A few more minutes passed before her control broke over the heavy silence and she piped up. “So, I guess you think you know who used your name?”

The door flew open. “What was that call about? I was on my way to the house. There’s a reason I work up there. No interruptions.”

Lila didn’t have to turn to see the face of the newcomer. She’d recognize the sexy voice coming from over her shoulder anywhere. He’d whispered in her ear, over her bare skin, for days. Even the mint scent she associated with him in her memory followed him now.

“I see you still need some work on your anti-social issue,” Austin said as he exhaled.

“Let me help move this along.” Travis rubbed his hands together. “Lila Payne, this is Austin’s brother, Spencer.”

The introduction had her moving. She shifted until she faced the one guy in the room with the hands and mouth and other impressive body parts she knew all too well. Same hair. Same sexy smile, or it was until he looked at her and the corners of his mouth fell and his eyes popped open.

The lying idiot.

Holding onto the last slip of dignity she had left, she held out her hand in greeting. “I’m Lila Payne.”

That fast Austin was beside her. “You’re saying you don’t know Spence?”

“Did you say Lila?” Spence asked in a harsh whisper as the color left his face. Well, except for the green around his mouth. That got worse with each second. He looked ready to pass out.

She could only hope.

Austin’s hand touched her shoulder. “Lila, is this the guy you met at Berkley Springs?”

“You told them?” Spence’s voice echoed with shock and something that sounded suspiciously like fury.

As if he had a right to be ticked off. She was the winner of that prize. Her and the real Austin. No way was she giving Spencer, or whatever his name was, the satisfaction of seeing her squirm. Those nights had meant nothing to him. She got that. Boy, did she get that now. She couldn’t control his behavior but she could keep him from stomping all over the last shreds of her pride.

“If I met Spence before it must have been pretty dull because I don’t remember him at all.” She cut the-guy-formerly-known-as-Austin off with a turn of her head before he could shoot back a response. “Travis, could you help me get that order?”

Travis coughed, making a strangled noise that sounded more like a laugh. “Yes, ma’am.”

Then she walked out before the idiot from her past could ruin one more minute of her day.

Chapter Two

Spence sat down hard on the edge of the desk. The thud made his back teeth snap together, which probably meant he wasn’t dreaming. That was a damn shame because he’d had some bone-burning fantasies starring that woman ever since their three-night-stand months ago.

In every version she was sprawled across white sheets or against shower walls wearing nothing but him. In no version was she standing in the middle of his place of business during a busy workday, fully clothed with a face flushed red from anger as she denied knowing him.

The non-fantasy version sucked.

Having a hometown audience made the whole situation worse. Thanks to the wall of windows they stood in full view of the nursery floor in the office of their friend and business manager, Mitch Anders, who also happened to be Austin’s brother-in-law. Spence could feel the stares burning into him through the glass. The gossip telephone tree would start ringing any minute. He’d tried to live his adult life in a way that kept his name out of all the talk but he feared that wasn’t possible this time.

Nothing in Holloway, the small town about two driving hours and a world away from Washington, D.C., stayed private for long and having a scene play out in full view of some of the chattier citizens begged for trouble. The townsfolk liked to make up little names for everything. Spence guessed this one would go something like, The Fall Of Spencer Thomas.

A shadow moved in front of him and the light from the outside area dimmed. Spence glanced up into the furious eyes of his younger brother as he hovered.

Spence said the first and only coherent thing bouncing around his muddled brain. “What is she doing here?”

Austin crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll answer that after you give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you.”

“She didn’t use her real name.” Spence couldn’t shake that thought from his mind. She’d been hot enough to singe his hair and had the confidence to tell him what she wanted and liked without blinking, but he’d called her the wrong name.

Austin rapped a knuckle against Spence’s forehead, and threw some muscle into it. “Hello?”

Spence shrugged him off. It was a shame the years of burning through extra energy by pounding his brother into the ground were behind him because a fight sounded good right then. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to knock some sense into you. Are you serious about the name thing?” Austin’s voice grew flatter and lower with each word. Much more and he’d be hissing. “You told her you were me.
You
lied.”

Spence fought off a wince and the wave of guilt crashing right behind it. It had been spur of the moment and stupid at the time and he didn’t want to explain his reasons now. Or ever. “I know. I get that.”

“Do you? You have three degrees and an I.Q. near the crazy-intelligent zone and you can’t reason out her name. How is that possible?”

He went with a cut-and-stall move instead. “She said her name was Delilah.”

Austin stared at the ceiling and let out a sound somewhere between a groan and a yell. When he looked back down the fury tightening his facial muscles had loosened a bit. But only barely.

“I’m thinking it really is since she called herself Lila.” The silence stretched out for almost a minute before he spoke again. “Delilah. Lila. Are you really not seeing the connection?”

Damn
. Spence rubbed a hand over his forehead, hoping the haze that had fallen over him at seeing her face would soon clear. Somehow he’d skipped right over the name thing. “I’m off my game. I clearly wasn’t expecting the visit.”

“That makes two of us.”

Reality sucker punched him. The sudden pain in his gut brought back his part in the lying issue. His mind slammed shut a second later. He wasn’t ready to go back and relive those days leading up to the hotel. He’d been messed up, fighting off frustrations and disappointment that followed him everywhere he went. But none of that excused dragging Austin’s name into this mess.

“I can explain,” Spence said.

“You have a minute before I slam you through that window. People in town can call it The Scene or The Fight or whatever they want. I prefer to think of it as The Day I Kicked Your Ass.”

Spence exhaled but the anxiety revving inside him didn’t lessen. “I wasn’t supposed to see her ever again.”

“Obviously that plan failed.”

“She was at the hotel then was supposed to take off for some management job.” He searched his mind for details but could only call up the naked parts of their time together. No way was he talking about that. “I don’t know. Some sort of resort thing.”

“Mountain View, Spence. She is running the campground fifteen miles from here. Fifteen miles from where I live part of the year with my wife.” Austin stepped up until only a foot or two separated them. “You remember Carrie? The same woman who will smack the shit out of both of us once she hears about this.”

Spence guessed he’d be lucky if she stopped there. He’d known Carrie since they were kids, had been friends with her brother Mitch forever. She was smart and when it came to protecting Austin she was downright scary. Spence loved that about her.

“I’ll tell her it’s my fault,” he said.

Austin’s eyes bulged. “It
is
your fault.”

Time to change the subject. It was either that or risk watching his brother’s brain spew all over the glass.

“Lila is really staying at Mountain View? That place is a wreck.” The idea didn’t make sense to Spence. She’d been at a high-end hotel when he met her. Switching to a campground with cabins that provided less protection than a sleeping bag seemed like an odd choice.

“She’s running it.”

Spence’s few remaining brain cells misfired. “But she...why would...”

“I see you’re finally getting this.” Austin threw him a knowing look. The kind that said you-are-in-deep-shit.

No kidding
. “You mean she’s going to live nearby?”

“Yes, big brother.”

“And she thinks I lied to her.”

“Because you did.” Austin sat next to Spence on the desk, joining him in staring out the windows and into the main floor area. “Have I mentioned you’re an idiot?”

“That probably goes without saying.” As Spence watched, the crowd outside the glass dispersed. Most people scurried back into the aisles while a few others lingered, clearly hoping to hear a stray sentence through the wall.

Austin exhaled loud enough to rattle the window. “You want to tell me why you used my name in this scam? Since when do you need me to play wingman in your dating life? I thought that shit stopped when we were in our early twenties.”

“Things piled up and I needed a few days away. She sat down and for some reason I blurted out your name instead of mine in the introduction. Once it was out there, I was committed.” Spence left some parts out, like the reason for his stress and his bad decisions, but he’d hit the highlights.

“That’s not much of an excuse.”

“It wasn’t—” Spence searched for the right words, for just the right sentence to say something and nothing at the same time. When he couldn’t find an excuse that made sense, he stopped trying to duck the truth. His brother deserved that much. “Sorry.”

Austin’s head pushed back as his eyes went wide. “Man, didn’t see that coming. I expected denial and excuses.”

So did Spence. Those qualified as his go-to responses but he didn’t have the energy for all of that right now. “Yeah, not this time.”

“You’re kind of ruining this for me. Hard to be ticked off when you immediately concede.”

Spence laughed, wondering why he hadn’t come up with this plan a decade ago. “I thought I’d try a new strategy.”

“Well, since you’re not usually one to apologize, I’ll let the subject drop.”

The force of the relief crashing through Spence surprised him. “Thanks.”

“For now.” Austin broke the silence of the room by tapping his fingers against the desk. “So, how soon before you head out to the campground?”

Spence had to concentrate to keep his shoulders from tensing. “What makes you think I will?” There were limits after all.

“Probably has something to do with knowing you my entire life. You like to be in control but have been known to bend your keep-things-casual rule for great sex. Hell, I think you even dated a woman for one whole week once.”

“We’re not discussing my sex life or what happened in that hotel.” The way Spence figured it he’d been enough of a dick where Lila was concerned and he wasn’t looking to add to his list of sins.

“Fair enough.” The tapping grew louder. “But I’m still betting there’s part of you that wants to rush out there, all fired up, because she dared to show up on your turf after her time with you was over.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Spence went back and forth between being confused and being pissed, not able to pick one and stick with it.

“After the name stunt I’m wondering if she’ll drop you to your knees and make you apologize.”

Looks like pissed won
. Spence felt a kick of relief. He could handle pissed. “I’ve never gotten on my knees for a woman except to have some fun while I’m down there.”

“Yeah, I used to say that kind of nonsense, too.”

“You’re stupid in love now. I just had sex.” Sex, yeah the word tasted funny in Spence’s mouth. What he’d shared with Lila had been uncontrolled and so damn hot his heart threatened to stop a few times. Equating it with the sex he usually had—once or twice, over and forgotten—struck him as wrong.

Oh, he’d had great sex before. At thirty-three and living in a town where everyone knew not only your name but what you ate for dinner the night before, he usually traveled to meet women. He was lucky to find success often enough to keep him satisfied. But women rarely stayed in his head past breakfast.

Delilah or Lila or whatever she wanted to call herself had. If he closed his eyes he could call up the softness of her skin and smell of her hair. He chalked it up to the fancy hotel and room service. The trappings made it all better somehow.

“I’m just impressed you know the difference between sex and love.” Austin laughed. For the first time since the conversation started, the stiffness across his shoulders eased.

“Do you care to explain any of these cryptic shots you’re taking at me?”

“You’ll figure it out.” Austin stood up. “I’m heading back to D.C. tomorrow morning to take my lovely wife to her fancy holiday work shindig then help her pack to come back here for an extended holiday vacation at home. So, if you don’t go to Mountain View tonight, let me know and we’ll have dinner before I leave.”

“I am not going to the campground.” Spence was adamant on that point.

“If you say so.”

He’d had his uncomfortable meeting-after with Lila. She’d pretended not to know him. Fine. He was a big boy. He could take it and now he could go back to forgetting her. There was no need to drive to Mountain View. None.

And he refused to take the bait any more than he already had. “I do.”

Austin put his hand on the doorknob. “I won’t wait up for your call.”