Bound to the Bachelor (3 page)

The saloon was starting to fill up, women coming into the warmth from the cold night, laughing and smiling with their friends. Lily fretted about her absent bachelor as she watched groups settle at tables and into booths. She saw Paige Joffe from the Main Street Diner with McKenna Sheenan and Taylor Harris and gave them a wave. Andie McGregor rushed through the door, closely followed by her husband, Heath. Andie sent Lily a big grin and two thumbs up to wish her luck as Heath helped her out of her coat. There were a lot of women she only vaguely knew, and some she knew only too well – women who’d looked down their noses at her when she’d first arrived in Marietta, and it had gotten around that once-upon-a-time, Lily had been a stripper. These days, their disapproval was more a subterranean rumble than a Vesuvius waiting to erupt, but Lily hadn’t forgotten the judgment in their eyes during her first few months in town.

It was all too easy for those women to decide how she should live her life when they hadn’t walked a mile in her shoes. The Rottweilers – that was how she thought of them – all considered her a hussy, a woman of dubious virtue because she’d once taken her clothes off for money. They went to church on Sundays and listened to sermons about the milk of human kindness, forgiveness, and acceptance, and then turned their backs on her at the supermarket. Once, Cora Bartlett had even gone so far as to hustle her seventeen-year-old son across the street, worried, Lily imagined, that Lily’s astonishing powers of vice and corruption could leap across the sidewalk and infect him with animal lust.

If it weren’t so ungenerous and ugly, it would be funny. Clearly, Cora Bartlett and the other Rottweilers had never had a Luther in their lives, someone who had forced them to choose between a bad situation and a worse one. Clearly, they’d never gone hungry for days on end, or been rejected for every menial, low-paying, unskilled job they’d applied for, or been desperate to find a place safe enough to sleep for a few hours.

How very fortunate for them.

Lily tore her gaze away from where Cora and a gaggle of the other Rottweilers were settling into a booth. Frankly, she was surprised they were here, but she wasn’t above taking their money on Josh’s behalf. In fact, she’d squeeze every spare cent she could out of them if she could.

She spotted Molly and Josh then, making their way toward the table Lily had reserved for them. She met them halfway, leaning in to kiss Molly’s cheek, which was still cold from the walk from the car.

“Hey. Sorry we’re so late. Gosh, there are a lot of people here,” Molly said, looking around with wide eyes. “I didn’t know there were this many women in Marietta.”

“I know. Pretty awesome, huh? Ka-ching!” Lily said with a wink.

Molly looked uncomfortable. “You make me feel so mercenary when you do that.”

“Suck it up, sweetheart. We are solving all your problems tonight,” Lily said.

Molly smiled. “Promise? I have a list.”

“Well, maybe not all of them…” Lily turned to Josh, holding out her fist. He matched the gesture and they bumped fists, following up the contact with a series of elaborate hand moves that culminated in a second fist bump that morphed into a slow-motion hand explosion. Their not-so-secret shake, a ritual that had been choreographed and refined over many months.

“You two. One day I am going to work out how to do all that hand origami,” Molly said with a laugh.

Lily became aware that Buck, the auctioneer, was trying to catch her eye over near the stage and she signaled she’d be over in a second.

“You guys get settled. I need to go talk to Buck,” Lily said distractedly, already moving off.

“Is there anything you need me to do?” Molly called after her. “I’m yours to command.”

“Enjoy yourself.” Lily caught Josh’s eye. “And you – look sick and pitiful. The more pitiful the better.”

Josh sucked his cheeks in and drooped in his chair. “How’s this?”

“So good.”

Josh grinned.

“I’ll see you crazy kids later,” Lily promised.

She checked the time on her phone as she wove her way through the tightly-packed crowd to the stage. She was going to kill Beau Bennett when she saw him. Painfully. Slowly.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when she glanced over her shoulder and saw him easing his way through the glut of people blocking the front entrance.

“Thank God,” she breathed.

Then she registered his damp, messy hair, sweat pants and raggedy old sweatshirt.

Sweet baby cheeses, was this his idea of selling himself?

He caught sight of her and altered his course, heading her way. She pressed her lips together and tried to swallow her anger at his tardiness and lack of preparation. She’d known he wasn’t keen on being recruited, but making such a half-hearted effort was insulting, to her and to Josh and Molly.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late. Had an emergency call out at work,” Beau said. “Is there someplace I can change?”

Which was when Lily registered the garment bag draped over his shoulder, the coat hanger hooked on one of his fingers. Apparently he hadn’t let her down after all. Her relief was so profound she momentarily forgot her habitual wariness where he was concerned and offered him a huge smile.

“Beau. Thank God. There’s an empty room off to the side upstairs where you can get changed. We’re about to get this thing started so you’re going to have to hustle.”

Instead of heading off immediately like a good, obedient bachelor, Beau stared at her, his expression unreadable, a strange tension in his shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He frowned. “Nothing. Give me five, and I’m all yours.”

He moved off, cutting a path through the sea of very interested ladies, some of whom had recognized him as one of the offerings on tonight’s menu. Lily watched with a wry smile as a table full of women almost fell out of their chairs trying to maintain a sightline on his ass as he made his way to the stairs.

The next five minutes passed in a whirl as she dealt with Buck’s questions and touched base with Reese. Checking her watch, she saw they were already running late, and she raced upstairs to wrangle her bachelors.

Lincoln, Ryan, Jett, Jesse, and Gabriel were talking with Dillon at the bar, nursing drinks and looking more than a little nervous.

“Don’t worry, boys. It will be mostly painless, I promise,” she told them.

“There are a lot of women down there,” Jett said.

“Yep. Lots and lots of single, interested, cashed-up women,” Lily agreed mischievously.

All the bachelors except for Jesse Grey shifted uneasily, like a herd of gazelles getting a whiff of a lion nearby. Jesse just continued to glower darkly. Lily got the sense that he was
not
happy to be here. He was the one recruit she hadn’t roped in herself, having been volunteered by his uncle, Jason Grey.

“I’ll just check on Beau,” she said, patting Ryan reassuringly on the arm.

Slipping into the short hallway that ran off the main room, she knocked on the first door.

“Beau?”

“In here.”

She pushed the door open, stopping dead in her tracks as she caught an eyeful of firm male backside clad in stretchy boxer-briefs before Beau pulled up his suit pants, effectively ending the impromptu peep show.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize –” She whirled on her heel, heat rushing into her face. “When you said ‘in here’ I thought you meant you were dressed.”

“I promise not to sue for sexual harassment, don’t worry,” Beau said.

“I’ll come back later,” she said, stepping into the hallway.

“I’m decent now, no need to evacuate the premises, reverend mother,” he said dryly.

Lily rolled her eyes at his little dig, then snuck a glance over her shoulder. Sure enough, he was buttoning the last buttons on his shirt, his slim-cut navy trousers belted at the waist.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I wanted to talk you through how everything’s going to work tonight,” she said.

“Fire away.”

He continued to dress as she explained the running order and what was expected of him, slipping cufflinks into the French cuffs of his shirt before sitting to pull on socks and shoes. For some reason, the sight of his big, bare feet made her nervous, and she found herself fiddling with the side-tie on her wrap dress as he pushed himself to his feet again.

“You think I need to bother with this thing?” Beau asked, holding up a discreetly striped blue and black tie.

“Definitely. That blue is an almost exact match for your eyes,” she said without thinking.

Beau flicked her a quick look before threading the length of silk around his collar. Lily tried not to stare as he went through the uniquely masculine ritual of knotting the tie. There was something so intimate about watching him dress like this. Like a wife watching her husband prepare to face the day.

She was still frowning at the thought when Beau shrugged into his suit jacket.

“Presentable?” he asked, turning to face her, eyebrows raised in question.

She almost laughed out loud at how much of an understatement it was. Presentable didn’t begin to cover how good he looked in his precisely cut navy wool suit. The expertly tailored fabric enhanced his broad shoulders and lean torso, the slim trousers hinting at his powerful thigh muscles. His white shirt highlighted the fact that even in the depth of a Montana winter, he’d managed to acquire a tan, and the blue in his tie somehow gave his eyes even more depth and intensity.

“You’ll do,” she said, dragging her gaze from his chest. “I need to go. Dillon will hook you up with free drinks.”

She swiveled on her heel, suddenly very keen to be out of there.

“Aren’t you going to wish me luck?”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. He didn’t need luck; he was going to bring the house down. Women were going to fight to the death over him.

“Good luck,” she said.

Then she made her escape.

‡

B
eau Bennett shot
his cuffs and adjusted his tie as he listened to the rapid click-click of Lily Taylor’s high heels retreating. He was going to be one very happy man when this night was over and done with, and a lot of that happiness would stem from the fact he wouldn’t have to deal with Lily any more.

He still couldn’t quite believe he was about to auction himself off to the highest bidder – all because Lily had guilted him into being a part of this circus. Why she couldn’t have just let him write a check was beyond him.

But nothing was ever easy with Lily Taylor. He should know that by now. She was always difficult. Argumentative. Mouthy. Disruptive. Distracting.

Take tonight, for example. He’d come here prepared to simply endure the next few hours and get them over and done with – then he’d spotted Lily and felt the unwanted, unwelcome pull of attraction that always hit him when she was within reach. One look at her breasts and hips, wrapped in a dress made from something that looked as though it would be good to touch, had been enough to trip all his most primitive instincts. While one part of his brain had been greeting her and asking where he could get changed, the rest of him had been calculating how quickly he could get her naked and beneath him.

Then Lily had smiled, a bright, no-holds-barred, boy-am-I-glad-to-see-you smile, and for a split-second he’d been so dazzled, so blown away, he’d been unable to do anything but stare like an idiot.

She never smiled at him like that. Ever. From the moment they’d first met, she’d always kept a wary distance, something he’d been more than happy to encourage. His whole life right now was his business. He didn’t want to be so drawn to a woman. He’d poured his every waking hour into Copper Mountain Security over the past five years, and he was only just starting to see a return on his investment. He didn’t have the time or the energy to get involved with anyone, especially someone as compelling, as fascinating as Lily.

Beau gave himself a mental shake, then transferred his phone, wallet and keys from his tracksuit pants into his suit before going in search of a beer. Even though his main strategy in regard to the bachelor auction had been to pretend it wasn’t happening right up until the last moment, he’d taken five seconds to check out the Facebook page Lily had set up, so he knew that the group of men laughing and talking at the balustrade near the top of the stairs were his fellow victims. He’d gone to school with Ryan Henderson, and he’d played pool with Jett a few times over the years. The other three were either strangers or folks he’d only ever seen at a distance around town, but he figured there was no time like the present to change that.

He stopped by the bar to grab a beer and exchange a few words with Dillon, then joined the other men at the rail. Ryan performed a brief round of introductions and they all shook hands.

“I know why I’m here, but how did the rest of you poor bastards get suckered into this nightmare?” Beau asked, leaning a hip against the railing.

“You’ve met Lily, right?” Jett Casey said.

There was grudging admiration in the other man’s tone.

“Yeah, I’ve met Lily,” Beau said, allowing his own self-disgust at being unable to resist her to color his tone.