Tales of the Forbidden (11 page)

“Call me sir again and you bet your sweet ass I’ll hurt you.”

Kera smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

Devon kissed her on the cheek. “Be back in a flash.”

Shaking his head, Dane watched him leave. “Poor bastard has no idea what he is walking into.” He looked at Kera. “Gram is in a mood and will have her hand on his arm until she is pried away with a damn crowbar.”

Kera laughed. She couldn’t help herself.

“Come on.” He tilted his head to the side. “Let’s check out the food.”

Kera ’placed her hand in Dane’s crooked elbow and walked around the room with him. He pointed out different people to her, even introduced her to a few. Some thought she was his wife and seemed very shocked to find out she was Devon’s. A couple of girls even looked down their noses at her.

“Don’t pay any attention to them.” Dane told her. “They’re all so damn jealous because you landed him, not them.” They stopped walking at the far end of the ball room. “Devon’s been the one to grab since Blaine left town years ago.”

“Devon mentioned him before, and the other one, Darius.

Said they haven’t been around for years, but not why.”

“They were shipped off to boarding school. Darius comes around once in a while, but as for Blaine, well, we haven’t really seen him in a while,” Dane shrugged his shoulders. “He’s called a few times. He keeps saying he going to come back, but as of yet, no Blaine.”

95

“Well at least you have friends,” she sighed. “People tended to stay away from me because of my father.”

“Well you have friends now.” Dane took a drink of his champagne and smiled tightly.

“Be careful.” Kera warned. It ’hadn’t taken her long to realize Dane hid behind his humor. “Your reputation could suffer if you socialize with me.”

Dane almost choked on his drink, “Hello! My reputation is already in the toilet. Half the fathers in this town keep their daughters close because they’re afraid I’m going to ruin them.”

“And do you?” Kera fought a smile, which was damn hard to do.

“Used to,” he winked roguishly.

“Devon!”

Both Kera and Dane snapped their heads around as a beautiful blonde rushed toward Devon, took his face in her hands, and kissed him in front of everyone.

“Oh shit,” Dane groaned, hiding his face with his hand in mock despair.

Kera was about to say something else but stopped when Dane swore again and quickly rushed over to an elderly woman who was making some kind of ruckus.

“So you’re the latest notch in his belt.”

Kera snapped her head around to another blonde standing behind her. “Excuse me?”

“It’s all around the ball tonight that you’re his wife. However, I find that just a bit too hard to believe”

Kera felt a slight tingle of anger mix with her fear. She had known she was going to get some kind of hell for being here tonight, ’but she wasn’t expecting it so soon.

A brunette walked up and stood next to the blonde. Together they blocked her view from seeing Devon, or the woman kissing him.

“Well I must say, Beth,” another said from behind Kera, looking her up and down, “he has gone down in his style.”

Keep your mouth shut, and everything will be okay. Just
keep the lips shut. Damn it! Don’t do it.
“Maybe snobs weren’t his type after all.” She looked them up and down also. “After all, bitches in bed are known to be cold as ice.”
Crap. Couldn’t do it.

96

“Well, well, well,” the blonde purred, glaring at Kera with so much hatred Kera could have fallen over dead from the glare.

“You can dress them up as fancy as you wish, but one will ever take the trash out of them.” Her voice lowered, almost becoming dangerous. “You don’t belong here. Never will. And as much as you try, you will never satisfy a man like Devon Noved. A stallion like him can never be happy with anything that isn’t pure bred.”

“And isn’t he a dish in bed?” the brunette stated. “I never wanted that ride to end.”

“Oh, I have to agree there,” the blonde was now smiling cruelly. “What I wouldn’t give to have him in my bed one more time.”

Kera made to move away, but the blonde grabbed her arm, holding her in place.

“Why the rush?” she asked Kera in an overly sweet voice. “I have some things to share with you. Maybe give you a few pointers to keep him satisfied with you a bit longer. After all, it would be a shame if he tired of you so soon.”

“I’m not interested in the shit you have to say,” Kera stated sternly. “And if you don’t get your damn hand off of me, I’ll break it.”

“Don’t threaten—” Kera tipped her drink just enough that it poured right out of the glass and onto the front of the bitchy woman’s red gown. “You bitch!” The blonde raised her hand to slap Kera.

“Ladies, is there a problem?”

Dane came up behind the two with a cold smile on his face.

The woman holding Kera’s arm let it go and both straightened their spines.

“Look at my gown! It’s ruined,” the blonde moaned with what Kera thought was decidedly second-rate acting.

“Oh I don’t know, Beth, seems to me it looks just fine.” Dane pushed past Beth to stand next to Kera. He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. “Not starting trouble again, are we?”

Her lips thinned out and she was breathing hard through her nose, “I would never do that. We were just introducing ourselves to Devon’s new… um…”

“Wife,” Dane finished for her with a glare.

“I must say, I do have a hard time believing Devon got 97

married.” Beth looked Kera up and down once more.

“And why is that?” Dane cocked his head to one side.

“Well, you know.” She moved her hand in a way that was supposed to mean Dane already knew all about Devon and how he was with the ladies. “You know he only did it out of pity. I mean, why would a man like him want to marry someone outside of his social class?”

“Watch it Beth,” Dane warned.

Kera pulled away from Dane on shaky legs, so angry she could spit. She wanted to cry, scream, and hit Devon. Hell, she wanted to throw something at his head.

“Kera?”

“I need to get out of here,” she said under her breath, looking for an exit. She made it to a side door before Dane caught up with her, stopping her from escaping by grabbing hold of her arm. “I knew I shouldn’t have come here.” Kera said.

“Horseshit.” Dane snorted. “You belong here a hell of a lot more than those bitches.”

Kera put her hands up to him, backing away. “I know you’re trying to help, but stop. I know what I am, and this” —she indicated the room full of people with her hands— “is not it.

Devon needs to let me go and find someone who fits into his class of people.”

Dane cocked his head to one side and placed both hands on his hips. “Wow. They really rattled you, didn’t they?”

Kera snorted. “Forget it.”

She made to turn but was stopped when Dane grabbed onto her arm again. He dragged her to the other side of the room into a niche where they could be alone.

“I don’t usually get in the middle of other people’s shit, but from what I’ve seen of my buddy over there, Devon is crazy about you.” When she rolled her eyes in denial, the humor left his voice. “No bullshit. If he wanted this crap, he would’ve married one of them years ago. But he didn’t. He picked you! He wants you. I just hope to hell that one day I can get as lucky as he did. Stay here. I’ll go get him to take you home. One thing’s for sure, you do need to get the hell out of here, and I’m sorry I pressed for the two of you to come. You’re way too good for most of these people.”

98

Dane left her standing there. Alone.

Kera looked around the room. Women were staring at her, some whispering. ’When her gaze landed on Devon, he was in a corner still
talking
with that blonde. The woman had her hands all over him.

Kera grabbed another glass and quickly downed it, feeling the burn as it went down. When she grabbed yet another, she finally caught Devon’s eye. He frowned at her, clearly not understanding what was going on, and ignoring what the blonde was saying. Kera tipped her glass in a toast to him, drank the whole thing down, then turned and walked out before Dane reached him. She headed outside to the garden, hoping some fresh air would cool down her temper.

Kera walked outside in a daze. She couldn’t seem to get that woman’s smile out of her mind. For the first time in a very long while, she had begun to feel happy. She’d felt as if she were Cinderella at the ball. However, that changed when she had heard what the other women at the ball had to say. Most of it had to do with her and was not kind. Hell, it wasn’t even neutral.

“You have got to be kidding me!”

She stopped when she caught the tail end of a conversation.

She tried to act as if she had not heard a thing, but the more she heard, the more difficult it became.

“He was dynamite in bed. It’s hard to believe that he picked someone like that to be his wife.”

“Well, if you ask me,” another said, “I think he has lowered his standards. Why in the world would he pick someone like that?”

Another chuckled. “Who knows? Maybe he felt sorry for her.”

Kera’s good mood disappeared again, festering itself into something boiling inside, waiting to blow. Before she had a chance to talk to Devon about it, he became involved in the business of his responsibilities, which encompassed seeing to the success of the charity ball, then being cornered by someone who definitely knew him. The moment she was alone, women surrounded her, women that seemed to be old mistresses to Devon that wanted only to make her feel out of place. Well, their heinous efforts had worked. She wanted to go back to her world, back to her poor life.

99

Women, in the best that money could buy, huddled in the garden. Jewels of all sizes sparkled in the dim light as they laughed.

“You know, I can remember when he used to deck me out like that,” one woman said, “Great sex always got you great clothes.”

“Oh, do I ever remember!” a red head said. “The necklace I got after a weekend with him, oh honey, that story could melt candles.”

“And when he gets bored, he just moves on, as if you were never there.”

Kera could only stand there as the women talked about how Devon had used each and every one of them then let them go.

As Kera wondered how long she and Devon would last she felt her anger soar so high she shook with it. What she needed to do was to get Devon to let her go now instead of waiting until later.

If he waited, she wouldn’t have anything left of her heart because he was starting to wedge himself in. If Devon took her whole heart, Kera knew deep down she would die.

Her head throbbed with the churning emotional roller coaster the night had been, and with each painful pulse her anger increased. She would be so glad when the party ended and she was out of there. “That son of a bitch,” she hissed to herself, walking between one of many rows of fruit trees around the grounds. “Bringing me here just to shove it in everyone’s face.”

She kicked at a small rock petulantly, wishing it was one of those women, or even Devon for ignoring her fears. “Fancy dress bullshit.”

“Running away only gives them what they want.”

Kera stopped and looked up sharply at a man leaning against a tree smoking a thin cigar. “Excuse me?”

The man blew out smoke before he closed his mouth on the blunt and looked over at her. “Them.” He indicated with his head towards the mansion. “They’re all like vultures waiting to strike at the first sign of weakness.” He turned, leaning his shoulder on the tree looking at her with the most intense green eyes. “Believe me, I know.”

“And what would you know of it?” Kera crossed her arms over her chest defensively. “You look like the type of guy that 100

belongs with them. How would you know how they’ve been?”

The guy smiled, rolling his cigar between a set of perfect white teeth. “Don’t judge all books by their covers honey.”

Kera lowered her eyes and looked behind her at the mansion longingly. She had so wanted to have a good time. For so many years, she’d longed to go through those doors. But her dream had turned into one big nightmare.

“Don’t sweat it so much,” he went on. “There will be other parties, and some you will actually enjoy.”

Kera looked back at him. “Who are you?”

He smiled, pulling his cigar out of his mouth. “Blaine Cedric.”

Kera frowned. “So you’re the one Devon and Dane have mentioned,” she looked him up and down before snorting.

“Funny. I thought you’d be bigger.”

Blaine laughed, “Yep. You’re perfect for Devon, without a doubt.” Blaine dropped and stomped his cigar out before folding his arms over his chest. “So what are you doing out here alone?”

He paused, thinking. “Hell, the real question is what are you doing dressed and out of a bed?”

“Excuse me,” Kera didn’t care for the constriction in her voice as she spoke, or the uncertainty either.