When Honey Got Married (10 page)

Chapter Six

Though the night was long, steamy, and satisfying, when the first rays of dawn penetrated the drapes at Rainer’s bedroom window, Eve wasn’t allowing herself to dream of a future. This was a fling confined to a weekend. People flirted, made love, and moved on. Once the wedding was over, the marriage knot tied, and the husband and wife flown away on their honeymoon, she’d be packing her suitcase, kissing darling Minna ,and taking the flight back to her empty life in New York.

As for Rainer, heaven knew where his work would take him next.

These were the things she was thinking when she was lying in bed with Rainer’s arms around her, blissfully battered in all the best places, sated beyond her wildest imaginings.

“I’ll have to go home,” she groaned, reluctant to move. “There’s a wedding to prepare for. But it was so good.”

“Fantastic,” he murmured, nuzzling her ear with a bristly jaw. “The sweetest woman I ever knew. Thank you, ma’am.”

She smiled. “I should be thanking you.”

He said casually, “Will you and Minna be ready if I drop over to collect you at three?”

“Sure.” She hugged herself with sheerest relish. How the Dixons would hiss when she and Auntie sashayed in with Rainer. “You know that woman who tried to drown herself over you?”

He sighed. “
That
woman. Well, you do know she was twenty-five years older. I was all of eighteen.”

She sat up. “Honestly?
Twenty-five years
? Oh my God. Were you in love?”

He laughed. “Thought I was. Young fool. But my folks were scandalized. They wouldn’t agree to the wedding.”

“But twenty-five
years
.” She stared incredulously at him, shaking her head.

“I was a precocious lad,” he said modestly.

“And is it true she fled to a Buddhist nunnery?”

“Doubt it. Though she may well have taken a vacation in Thailand until the scandal died down. ” He was silent for a minute, then he said, “Truth is, she’s doing well now and lives right here in Bellefleur.”

“
What
?” Eve opened her eyes wide. “
No
. Who? Who is she?”

He wouldn’t answer, no matter how hard she begged and cajoled. In the end he capitulated part of the way and Eve had to be satisfied.

“All right, all right. I promise I’ll tell you tonight. But only if it stays right here in this bed.”

“Right here?” Such a beautiful promise. Eve settled back on her pillow, glowing so warmly she felt as if smiles were bursting out all over her.

Another night with Rainer. One more beautiful, heavenly night.

She snuggled up to his chest. “Will she be at the wedding?”

He chuckled. “Try keeping her away. I might even dance with her, for old times’ sake.” He gazed teasingly down at her.

Eve wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or sorry about that, when he murmured, “What are you doing Tuesday?”

She glanced at him in surprise. “I’ll be in New York.”

He sounded offhand. “Yeah, I’ll be in New York. I’ve been attached to the UN there for six months or so. Maybe a year. ” His gray eyes gleamed. “How about we do dinner?”

“Dinner?”

“At least dinner.” His stirringly sexy mouth edged into a grin.

Eve was filled with a warm and wondrous joy.

About the Author

Anna Cleary loves to shuffle off the humdrum realities of the workaday world and escape into exotic realms where romance, passion, and excitement reign supreme.

Like many escape artists, Anna was absent for much of her childhood, often tucked in a shady corner engrossed in a fairy tale, either someone else’s or her own. As an adult she was lucky enough to indulge her pleasure in fantasy by becoming a teacher, and considers her successes in teaching young children to read and write wonderful stories of their own to be among her finest achievements to date.

Anna now writes romantic escapes for grown-ups, and laces them with pleasure, excitement, and more than a soupçon of passion.

Readers are welcome to visit her at
www.annacleary.com

Nina Tempted the Lord

Kelly Hunter

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Kelly Hunter. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 109

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at
www.entangledpublishing.com
.

Edited by Shannon Godwin

Cover design by Danielle Barclay

Ebook ISBN 978-1-62266-092-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition May 2013

The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Vincent, Jaguar, Hummer, Corvette, University of Oxford, Washington Post, Cadillac, Audrey Hepburn.

To Kimberly, Anna and Ally
Thanks for all the joy and laughter along the way.

Chapter One

Official rumor had it that at seventeen, Judge Moreau’s youngest daughter had run away and joined the circus. Unofficial rumor had it that Nina Moreau had run off with a hard-bodied Irish boy whose dimpled smile had burned hotter than the southern sun. Neither rumor was strictly true.

At seventeen—with a dozen years worth of ballet, gymnastics, and bone-bending focus already behind her—Nina Moreau had quite simply followed the dance.

The circus and Connor Boyd had merely been bonuses.

Connor was long gone—he had the itchiest feet on the planet—but Nina had stayed with the Night Circus, and new friends had gradually replaced the family she’d left behind. The Englishman Alexander Carradice for example, had joined the company some two years ago in the role of finance director. A desk job, one would have thought. No need to get out on the floor and find out what performers needed or what the support staff wanted. No need to figure out how to improve the touring experience or how best to advertise the circus. Not his job. But Alexander Carradice had done all of those things and the circus had flourished and Alex
still
seemed to spend more time out of his office than in.

Fair of face and exceptionally well formed, Alex was also sharply observant, and Lord, he could be blunt when the mood came upon him.

The mood was very definitely upon him now.

“Nina, if you’re
not
going to concentrate, get back on the floor before you fall,” he roared from his spotter’s position some forty feet below.

Nina paused, mid-reverse-flag-climb, and shot him a glare, never mind that his aristocratic English accent usually made her want to smile and—on rare occasion—swoon. Yes, the aerial silks were dangerous and involved hanging in midair by a slender bolt of silk or two. Yes, she was a long way off the ground and her Isabella drop had been sloppy. But she’d do it again in a minute, and this time she’d do better. That was what practice was for. “Carradice, what is your problem?”

“You! You are my problem.” Alex matched her glare for glare. “Your timing’s off, your last drop scared me witless, and who knows where you left your focus, because it’s certainly not up there with you. Kat, bring her down.”

“Kat, I’m fine right where I am.”

But Kat minded Alex, not Nina, and lowered the rig.

“Don’t you scowl at me, Nina,” Alex told her the minute her feet hit the floor, striding up to her, towering over her, because that’s what happened when one person measured in at over six feet and the other one could barely lay claim to being five-four. And a half. “You’ve been distracted for days and you’re driving me nuts. I fear for you up there. I
know
your concentration’s shot. So either tell me what’s wrong so we can fix it, or stand down and let Kat perform in your stead. She’s ready. You’re not.”

“That is
not
your call to make,” snapped Nina, and eighteen-year-old Kat winced and tried to make herself even smaller than she already was. “Sorry, Kat.” Nina turned to Kat and tried to put the younger performer at ease. “I didn’t mean you
weren’t
ready. You need to go take a look at the new performance roster.” Nina allowed herself a crooked little smile. “I think you’ll like it.”

“Now?” asked Kat, and Nina nodded and watched the younger woman hurry toward the door.

This wasn’t the beginning of the end.

Kat
wasn’t
as good as Nina on the aerial silks.

Yet.

“C’mon, Nina. Spill.” Alex’s voice had gentled considerably. “What’s got you so spooked?”

“A wedding,” she said with a weary slump of her shoulders. “My sister Honey’s getting married.”

“And?” he asked warily.

“And she wants me to be her maid of honor. She sent me a dress. It’s sleek and gorgeous and flattering and it fits as if it were made for me.”

“Really not seeing the problem here, Nina.”

“The problem is I haven’t been home in seven years. Not
once
, since I chose this way of life. I’m kind of estranged from my family.” Nina tugged gently on the silk she still held in her hands, testing the strength in it and the give. “Honey tracks me down and takes me to dinner every year on my birthday. My mother sends money and a card and phones me a couple of times a year. My father sends nothing at all. And now Honey wants me in her wedding party? It’s not going to fly. Honey doesn’t need that kind of stress on her wedding day.”

“Sounds to me as if that decision’s already been made,” Alex offered. “Bride’s prerogative.”

“Bridal insanity,” Nina said.

“Perhaps she’s counting on people to behave.”

“Seven
years
, Alex. My father hasn’t laid eyes on me in seven years.”

“His loss.”

“He’s a district court judge. He doesn’t lose.”

“He lost you.”

Kind words. Words that made her want to confide in him just that little bit more. “I’m scared, Alex. Scared of going home and finding that everything has changed and nothing has changed.”

Alex looked around the practice gym as if weighing his options. Finally, he spoke. “Would you like me to come with you? Be your plus-one? I know a little something about family disapproval. Moral support in the face of it is my specialty.”

Maybe, but seduction and the breaking of hearts came effortlessly to Alex as well, and he wasn’t exactly known for backing down in the face of a challenge. He called things how he saw them and he was very fond of taking control.

“If I take you, you’ll cause absolute chaos,” she said with utter certainty. “You’ll charm all the women and the men will want to shoot you and I’ll be the one who brought you.”

“I’ll be the perfect gentleman,” said he of the ratty track sweats and faded T-shirt. “I’ll be so respectable you won’t even recognize me. People will wonder where on earth you found me. They’ll be lining up to congratulate you on landing me. Even the judge.”

“Carradice, unless there’s a wedding ring on my finger I won’t have landed anything. We’re funny that way in the South. What I
can
guarantee is that if you come as my date, my unfortunate fascination with penniless, no-good circus bums will be confirmed in full.”

Alex smiled, and wasn’t that a sight: all reckless sensuality wrapped up in boyish charm. His shoulders were wide, his body lean, and he had hazel eyes framed by ridiculously long lashes. The less said about his messy, dark-blond hair the better. There was a very good chance he didn’t own a comb. “Or we could play it that way,” he murmured. “Could be fun.”

“
Do
you own a comb?”

“I own several.”

“Ever use them? Or did someone once tell you that ‘just rolled out of bed’ was a really good look for you?”

Alex grinned some more. So much for Englishmen having bad teeth. His teeth were even and pearly white. “When’s the wedding?”

“This Saturday.”

“Have you asked for time off?”

Nina nodded. “I got the go-ahead this morning.” Which went some small way to explaining her possible lack of focus. “Two weeks’ leave. Kat’s performing in my place. The wedding’s being held in Bellefleur, just outside of Baton Rouge.” Nina unclipped her silk from the rig and started rolling it around her hand, more for comfort than anything else. “I’m thinking I’ll head off on Thursday and drive there. Take a couple of days to get there. Stop and catch my breath along the way.”

“Gather your courage,” Alex murmured. “Strengthen your defenses.”

He knew her too well. “Still feel like coming with me?”

“I have two conditions,” he said.

“Only two?” Odds were he’d have more than that once he got started. But the knot in her stomach was already easing at the thought of having Alex along for the ride.

“One,” he said, shooting her a quelling glance. “Driver chooses the music.”

“Fair enough. What’s your second condition?”

“I drive.”

Chapter Two

Two days later, Nina sat on her suitcase outside her modest apartment building and waited for Alex to arrive. It wasn’t that he was running late; it was more that her apartment was suddenly too small, the heels of her shoes were too worn, the shoes themselves too cheap, never mind that they’d been chosen for comfort and she’d never hated them before. Her mother would notice. Honey would notice. New shoes would appear overnight to go with the new season’s dresses that would magically appear in her closet.

A gift from one sister to another, Honey would call it.

Making sure Nina didn’t embarrass her family completely was another phrase that sprang to mind.

My Little Brown Mouse, her father had called her during childhood, never mind her mother’s protestations. Brown eyes, straight brown hair, pale skin with a tendency toward freckles. Nothing remarkable about her at all. Honey had been Honeybun. Honey had been blessed with golden hair and much lighter brown eyes than Nina’s. Honey glowed.

Nina, not so much.

Not until she started to dance.

Nina grimaced and stared down at the hands in her lap—hands that weren’t soft and ladylike but strong and calloused. Nothing she could do about those, although she’d gone and gotten a manicure so that her nails at least looked nice. So what if they were fake? She was making an effort. That had to count for something, right?

She’d done everything right. She’d even remembered to tell Honey that Alex would be accompanying her to the wedding as her date. Honey had grumbled at the last minute addition to the guest list and fretted about where to seat him. Nina had told Honey to pass the matter over to the wedding planner and let her do her job.

Nina closed her eyes and willed herself to stay calm and wait patiently for Alex. Alex, who’d added another condition to his list of demands—namely that they were driving
his
car from Florida to Louisiana and not hers.

Nina hadn’t even known that Alex
had
a car. She’d only ever seen him ride an old Vincent motorcycle—the kind that made old men stop and talk and young women stop and sigh.

Hard to think of a car that might suit Alex’s particular brand of sexiness, but Nina gave it her best shot as she sat in the sun and tilted her face skyward. A muscle car—matte-black with a throaty roar? She wouldn’t put it past him. But Alex also favored elegance over flash, so maybe not. Something quirkily British, perhaps, to go with his accent? A Jag? That’d suit him, but Alex was also fond of immersing himself in local culture. Maybe he’d turn up in an American classic.

If he turned up in a Hummer, could she justify shooting him?

She heard a car pull into the pickup circle but kept her eyes firmly closed until it came to a purring stop. Not a Hummer.

Might not even be Alex.

Nina opened one eye just a fraction. Moments later she had both eyes wide open because frankly, the view was magnificent.

Alexander Carradice lounged lazily behind the wheel of a vintage indigo-colored Corvette. The car was all gleaming chrome and shiny, shiny paint. If it had a roof, it was currently down. If the wire rims were any glitzier they’d have blinded her.

And if Nina had more manners, her mouth might not have dropped open as far as it did.

Not your average, everyday means of transport, she’d gotten that right. As elegant a piece of motoring machinery as she’d ever seen, she’d gotten that right too. Maybe he’d borrowed it. Rented it.

Stolen it?

Damn, but he looked good in it.

Alex’s smile came slow and sure as he looked her over. “Ask me where it came from,” he offered finally. “You know you want to.”

“I
do
want to.” He was absolutely right. “But a lady wouldn’t.” Nina looked Alex up and down, this time noting that his clothes were a distinct cut above his usual fare. Not the jeans—they were the same—but his jacket had a couple of rows of what looked like brass buttons incorporated into the design, and the cut was truly superb, emphasizing his broad shoulders and lean, muscular body to perfection. The antique timepiece on his wrist likewise signified an income level that stretched way beyond average. “It suits you, though.” She gave him that. “The car. The watch. The sweet smell of money.”

“You noticed.”

“You mean I wasn’t meant to?” Truth be told, Nina had absolutely no idea of Alex’s financial status beyond the facts that he presumably drew a financial director’s wage and that he always paid his own way. He dressed down more often than he dressed up. He treated people as equals until they failed to do the same and then he dismissed them as if they didn’t exist. She’d assumed that he came from a relatively moneyed background, but in the few years she’d known him, she’d never actually asked. She trusted him to know how to hold his own with her family. To fit in—or not—as he chose.

But she hadn’t quite expected…
this
.

“Honestly, Alex. You didn’t have to go to all this trouble to impress. I value the scruffy, T-shirt-wearing, checks-his-phone-when-he-wants-to-know-the-time Alexander Carradice quite a lot.”

“You do?”

“Never doubt it.” How could this man not know his worth? Surely she hadn’t been
that
unappreciative? “Accessories don’t make the man, Alex. I value
you
. Having said that, I’m really liking the jacket you’re wearing. It’s a little bit debauched and a whole lot hot.”

“I’m aiming for English aristocracy,” he murmured.

“And you’re nailing it.” Her family wasn’t going to have the faintest idea what to do with this man when it came to fitting him into their social scheme of things. The notion made her smile. “Thanks for coming with me. Seriously.”

“My pleasure.”

“Hold that thought. Especially when my father gets you off by yourself and offers you bourbon and starts quizzing you about your pedigree. Because if you’re wearing that watch and driving this car, he will.”

“So?” Alex grinned and got out of the car and came around and opened the passenger-side door for her. “Milady.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Get in the car, Nina. I can handle your father.”

Nina got in the car and Alex shut the door behind her. He loaded her luggage while she ogled the car from the inside. Beautiful ride. Old-fashioned glamour and the scent of luxury leather all around her. Somewhere between here and home she was going to have to buy a scarf and have herself a little Audrey Hepburn moment.

Alex eased into the driver’s seat and on instinct Nina leaned over and slid her hand around his neck and drew him closer, loving the scent of him, his familiar face and the shadowy green color of his eyes.

“Thank you for making this drive something to look forward to.” The kiss Nina aimed at his cheek missed by a mile and she wound up bussing his lips instead. His lips were warm and soft and very still. They’d never done this before. Plenty of touching, yes, but no kisses on the lips.

Why had they never done this before?

Alex’s body had gone statue-still as well, and Nina frowned. She’d seen him bestow public kisses on others; he wasn’t exactly shy. She’d seen him deliver easy, reckless kisses and his eyes had always been laughing and his lips had always been responsive.

Why had he gone so still?

And then his gaze dropped to her lips and the day suddenly got a whole lot hotter.

“Just how big a distraction do you want me to be for you, Nina?”

She could feel his hair beneath her fingertips and the warmth of his skin. The weight of his gaze. So many things she shouldn’t be feeling…that she’d tried so hard not to feel for this man, because Alex’s love affairs were notorious for being lighthearted, fleeting things that were over almost as soon as they began, and Nina wanted this man in her life forever. She had a far better chance of keeping him in her life forever if she kept their friendship strictly platonic.

That
was why they didn’t kiss.

There was just too much to lose.

“I, ah, sorry.” She let go of his neck and pulled back abruptly. “Really sorry. I didn’t mean— I mean you don’t have to be that much of a distraction. I would never jeopardize our friendship for a quick… For a quick…

Lay.

“It wouldn’t be that quick, Nina.” Alex’s voice came at her gravel-rough and deeper than usual. “For you I’d take my time.”

Oh, boy.

It wasn’t as if Nina hadn’t seen Alex work his magic on women before. He flirted shamelessly with seasoned performers and backstage cable crew members of all shapes and sizes. He cajoled and smiled and they sighed and blushed and fell so easily under his spell. But he’d never been serious about a woman as far as Nina could tell, and he’d never before turned all that lazy charm on her. Nina felt it, yes indeed she felt it burn. “I bet you say that to all the girls,” she said lightly.

“No,” he said, as he pulled away and turned his attention to the car, and the engine purred to life. He reached beneath the seat and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and slipped them on. “I don’t.”

They hit Gainesville just at lunchtime and stopped for a po’boy. Nina found a baggy blue cap, and the color matched the car so she bought it instead of a scarf. For Alex she bought the biggest slice of key lime pie she could find and watched him devour it with every evidence of enjoyment. And then he licked his fingers and laughed at her when she offered him a wipe, but he took it and cleaned the sticky off and grinned at her when he was done.

“Sybarite,” she murmured, amused afresh by the way he treated life as if it was a playground developed specially for his enjoyment. Didn’t matter if they were in the middle of nowhere or if he was in the middle of fixing the latest circus crisis. If there was fun to be had, Alex would find it.

“Nothing wrong with taking pleasure where you find it,” he countered.

“You’re right. I like watching you wallow in luxury and pleasure. You do it with such flair.” Nina was going to have to have serious words with Alex about his smile, though. He really needed to use it a little more sparingly. Maybe only in the dark.

They reached Tallahassee and found a hotel just off I-10 that looked okay. The woman at reception gave them connecting rooms and that was okay too. Together but not. Close enough to ask Alex what he felt like for dinner and hear him reply from his bathroom.

“Buffalo wings.”

“Seriously?”

“Steakhouse, then. Bar and grill.”

Moments later Alex appeared in the connecting doorway between the two rooms, freshly showered and wearing nothing but a low-slung white towel. Nina was used to being up close and personal with other people’s scantily clad bodies. She’d come to expect a certain level of fitness and strength from the performers and acrobats she worked with. Alex wasn’t a performer though, so she hadn’t really been expecting quite such a stunning body on
him
.

Nina’s gaze slid south, following a happy trail that started somewhere below his belly button and disappeared beneath the towel.

“Nina.”

‘What?” Eyes to his face, Nina. No,
not
his entirely too kissable lips. Try his eyes. There. Much better. No inappropriate lusting happening here.

“Steakhouse,” he said again, with the quirk of a dark eyebrow. “Ribs.”

Yes indeed. Ribs. Right there, somewhere below all that magnificently defined muscle. Eyes, Nina. Concentrate on his warm hazel eyes with the lovely long lashes. Did the man ever
not
laugh with his eyes?

“Perfect,” she whimpered. Whimpering was so not her style. Nor was simpering—so whatever her mouth was doing, it wasn’t that. “I’m just going to go and get”—she gestured toward the room behind her with one arm and reached for the door handle with the other—“clean.”

The connecting door swung shut with an audible thump. Nina slumped against the nearest wall with an audible curse.

So much for spending this trip worrying about returning home. There just wasn’t enough time for that, what with worrying about all the mixed messages she was sending her dear, platonic friend Alex.

How was it that he managed to shine so much brighter outside the circus scene than within it? Because, truly…even within the circus family he shone plenty brightly.

The first time they’d ever met—at the “let’s get to know the new financial guy” meeting Alex had insisted the entire circus attend—Nina had pegged him as someone who couldn’t be ignored. The way her body had reacted to his handshake wasn’t cool. The heat at her fingertips and the furnace low in her belly. The way she’d wanted to straighten her shoulders and maybe change out of her sweat-stained practice clothes and into something a little more elegant. A little lip gloss wouldn’t have hurt either.

And then she’d watched him turn his charm on every other person in the room, and the notion that something wild and unique had sparked between her and Alexander Carradice had been well and truly laid to rest.

He had that effect on everyone. Smiled at every person he met as if they were the only person in the room.

Just good social politics, as her mother might say. A handy thing for a man in a position of power to have.

The next time they’d met, she’d felt the heat of him again, only she’d been ready for him this time and she’d swatted the desire away. Alexander Carradice was a player, and Nina didn’t play.

Friendship. That was what she’d offered and that was what he’d taken. Movie marathons with a dozen other people present and bottled water breaks in the middle of a busy day. A certain level of attentiveness—like the way he always seemed to know when all was not well in her world.

Friendship, strong and nurturing. Better than being his lover.

His lovers never lasted long, and the break was absolute.

“No lusting, Nina,” she murmured to herself. “Not now. Not that one.”

Better his friendship than nothing at all.