Somewhere in His Arms (62 page)

             
“Really?” he leered at her, hoping he could get her into one of the spare bedrooms upstairs. “Are you here with anybody?”

             
“Me?” she feigned confusion and smiled down at him, waiting for the right opportunity to inquire about her brother-in-law. “I’m here all by my little self,” Lucy shook her head sadly. “No one wanted to come with me!”

             
He gasped in shock. “A pretty little thing like yourself? If that’s not a crime, it
should
be!” Harvey grinned when she dissolved into a fit of giggles, her delectable breasts heaving dangerously over her bodice.
Damn, she was fine!
He only hoped Gavin wouldn’t see her. Harvey wanted her all for himself, and maybe if she was willing, a career between the sheets. She had the face and from the looks of it, the body as well. “Have you ever considered a career in film?” he asked innocently.

             
“Oh!” she gasped in surprise. “Are
you
a director?”

             
Harvey chuckled evilly. “You could say that, little lady.”

             
“What kind of films do you do?”

             
“Well, it’s one of the largest industries in the country.”

             
“Oh,” she sounded disappointed. “I don’t know anything about film making.”

             
“You wouldn’t have to do anything. I’d do all the work. You’d just have to be your pretty self. It’s easy!”

             
“Is it?” Lucy tilted her head to one side and acted as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. “What do you mean? I’ve never acted before. What would I have to do?”

             
The music changed to an upbeat, and Harvey decided to sit this one out. He steered her towards the refreshments, his eyes wandering over her slender figure, and wondered how she would feel beneath him. He reached for a glass and handed it to her. “You’d have to audition. But I think you’d pass with flying colors,” he reached and pulled her fan away from her bosom. “You have the right…equipment.”

             
“Do I?” Lucy was getting tired and wanted to ask him about Gavin when Vivian showed up.
Damn her!

             
Vivian draped a slender arm around Harvey’s neck. “Well, well, well,” she purred. “Harvey, who
is
this? Your latest paramour?”

             
“I-I’m sorry,” Harvey frowned at Lucy, “I didn’t get your name, miss…?”

             
“Maria,” Lucy said softly, avoiding Vivian’s eyes, and sipped her wine. “Maria Sutcliffe.”

             
“Maria,” Harvey smiled with pleasure and gestured toward Vivian. “This is Vivian Havilland, the most beautiful woman in Hollywood.”

             
“How do you do?” Lucy said politely, wishing Alec would swoop in right this minute and save her from this embarrassment.

             
Vivian eyed the small woman with contempt. She’d never seen her before, but she looked familiar. There was something about her that she didn’t like. Vivian’s eyes swept over the petite figure that all the men had been drooling over since she sashayed in on the arm of that stud. Where
he’d
gotten off to, she didn’t know, but she wanted to find out. She allowed herself to take in the costume clinging to her young figure, and Vivian wanted to rip it off her. How
dare s
he come in dressed like that, with
that
rose in her hair, and
that
flawless skin? Who the hell did she think she was? “Harvey, you must tell me about this… child,” she said mockingly. “I mean, where are her parents?”

             
Harvey felt his blood run cold. She
did
look young. It would serve him right if she was underage! “How old are you, my dear?” he asked fearfully and was met by a ripple of musical laughter.

             
“I’m twenty,” Lucy giggled. “My sister says I look twelve, but I don’t think so. What do
you
think?”

             
“You see?” Harvey smiled in relief at Vivian who looked like she wanted to strangle the girl. “She’s old enough!”

             
“Old enough to
what
, Harve?” Vivian sniffed disdainfully. “I don’t think she’d last two seconds with Jimmy.”

             
“Who’s Jimmy?’

             
Harvey glared at Vivian. “Don’t worry your pretty head about that. You’ll meet him soon enough,
won’t
she Viv?” He shot her a baleful glare, which she tossed back.

             
“I’m sure,” she said scornfully and headed toward one of the Casanovas who was too busy eyeing Lucy much to her frustration.

             
“What was all that about?” Lucy pouted. “I don’t think she liked me!”

             
“There, there,” Harvey said, rushing to soothe his future mistress. “Don’t let her get to you.” He handed her another glass of wine and bade her wait for him. “Don’t go anywhere, I want Jimmy to meet you. I think you’ll like him.”

             
“Okay!” Lucy said brightly and sipped her wine.
Where was Alec?
He should be here!

              “Well, well, well,” Vivian’s voice said smoothly behind her, “if it isn’t the prodigal daughter!”

             
Lucy’s spine stiffened painfully at her stepmother’s voice. She didn’t sound happy. She turned slowly and tried to act nonchalant.  “I’m sorry…?”

             
Vivian’s eyes narrowed. It
was
the little bitch… in the flesh! It had taken a few minutes for it to sink in, but only one person sipped wine like a nun trapped in a bordello.
Lucy!
“Come off it, you little crow! I know that’s you!”

             
“Hello…mother!” Lucy spat out the last word and gulped back her wine. Vivian’s eyes widened a little. “How long did it take you?”

             
“You’ve learned to drink! Impressive.”

             
“I’ve had a lot of practice!”

             
“So…” Vivian crossed her arms over her chest. Lucy must have stuffed her bodice with a year’s worth of tissue, there was no way in hell she filled that dress with those bones! “What brings you slumming, crow? Don’t tell me you’ve decided to climb down off the mountain to join us heathens in hell!”

             
Lucy wasn’t about to let Vivian bully her into submission. “I got bored, dear. What’s your excuse?”

             
“Sharpened your tongue, too,” Vivian observed coldly. “My, my. But then, an attempted murder tends to do that to people, doesn’t it?”
She’d hit a nerve.
Lucy paled beneath her blush and Vivian, tasting blood, went in for the kill. “I hear you also had a miscarriage, and here I was thinking you were going to take it with you to your grave. But it’s all for the best. I mean you wouldn’t want to poison the gene pool… with your mother and all?” She picked up a glass of wine and took a triumphant sip.

             
“Where did you hear all that?” Lucy asked calmly, trying not to launch herself at the bitch and scratch her eyes out. “I’m surprised you’d have that kind of information.”

             
“I have my sources, dear,” Vivian said flippantly. “They all said the same thing, Pity he didn’t finish the job.”

             
“My heart bleeds, mother dear,” Lucy shot back. “Where’s Draco? I heard his wife proved to everyone once and for all that you’re about as real as those flotation devices you wrangled out of dad. Really Viv, didn’t anyone ever tell you married men
sleep
with whores, they don’t
marry
them?” Then she added loudly so their audience could hear: “Oops, my mistake! I forgot all about dad not knowing about your Whore of Babylon impersonation in high school.”             

             
“You little bitch!”
Vivian shrieked, beside herself with furious indignation, and hurled her wine at the little crow. Before anyone could react, the tall stud in black leaped in front of Lucy, and saved her from being doused. Alec had been searching for his wife and spotted her arguing with Cleopatra. It didn’t take him long to realize it was her stepmother. The open hatred in the woman’s eyes had him rushing to get to Lucy before the witch stabbed her with the butter knife. He’d seen what she was about with the wine glass and had flung himself in front of Lucy before she was able to do much damage.

             
Alec turned to his wife. “All right, my love?”

             
“My hero!” she smiled, and wrapped her arms lovingly around his waist. “How did you know?”

             
“I heard,” he grinned, snatching a napkin to blot up the excess liquid. He found himself the object of a
very
pissed off woman. “I assume you’re the stepmother,” Alec drawled. He held out a damp hand. “I’m the husband.”

             
Vivian snorted.
“Husband?”
she sneered, ignoring the stares of those who wanted to know what man-trouble she was having now. “You
must
be joking! What did you do, pry her knees open with a crowbar?”

             
Alec’s eyes narrowed. Lucy hadn’t been exaggerating. The woman was certifiable.
“I
married her, and if you say
one
more thing about
my
wife…” he leaned in so only she could hear, “I’ll tell
everyone
in this room how you let a thirteen year-old girl be raped in her
own
bedroom, you miserable cunt!”

             
Vivian paled beneath her heavy makeup and for the first time in her life, backed down from a man. She slunk off, humiliated, shoving people out of her way. She left soon after…alone. She spent the rest of the evening getting loaded and throwing Walter’s priceless collection of baseball memorabilia into the fireplace.

             
There was a round of uproarious applause from their audience, and Lucy finally dragged her husband away and upstairs to an empty bedroom to clean him up. She wet a towel and tried to salvage his costume. “Guess
who
I ran into?” she said as she dabbed at his face.

             
“Superman?” he quipped and took off his hat. He was drenched.

             
“No, silly! Harvey!”

             
Alec stared up her in disbelief. “You’re joking!”

             
Lucy blushed. “He…um…sort of shanghaied me.”

             
“He did? How?”

             
“He just grabbed me and we started dancing. He was about to introduce me to Gavin, before mommy dearest showed up.”

             
“You were dancing with another man?” Alec growled in mock anger and pulled her onto his lap. “How dare you!”

             
She giggled as he nuzzled her neck. “It was all in the name of getting information, my love. He stepped all over my toes. You’ll probably have to carry me home!”

             
He frowned suddenly. “Why would he want to introduce you to Gav?”

             
“Um…he said something about an audition,” Lucy flushed and removed his mask and tossed it on the floor. “I think he was trying to get me to do something
very
naughty!”

             
“You think?” He brushed his lips against her hair and slid his hand up her thigh. “I thought that was
my
job.”

             
“It is,” she kissed him softly sighing as his tongue parted her lips and caressed hers.  He kissed her cheeks and allowed his lips to trail down her throat. Lucy slid her hands into his hair, murmuring his name. 

             
“Lovely wife,” he breathed against her breasts. “I want you so.”

             
Lucy sucked in her breath when his hand moved between her thighs and slid upward to find that most tender of flesh. He growled in disappointment when his hand met a barrier of stockings and lace. “Didn’t you ever hear of thigh-highs, woman?”

             
“Take them off,” she whispered against his mouth, gently peeling off the moustache. She pressed eager kisses against his face. “I want you, too.”

             
Alec groaned, reaching up beneath her skirts to tug at the waistband. Fortunately, fishnet stockings and lacy panties were no hindrance, and they shredded like tissue paper in his hands. He moved quickly to flip her beneath him on the bed and fumbled with his breeches. “Help me,” he panted.