Taking Him (Lies We Tell) (15 page)

She picked up her wine glass and took another sip of the expensive champagne, suddenly dry-mouthed with want. The past four days she’d tried hard to give him the space he’d asked for, but going back to their old relationship had been difficult. Especially considering she’d thought she’d never have to deal with all the
little sister
crap again. Like all the heat and desire between them had never happened. A problem when it only made her want to get closer to him. Cross the distance he kept putting between them.

On the other side of the room, Hunter shook his head at something his father said, his whole posture broadcasting unease. Ellie frowned. She’d noticed his discomfort earlier, when they’d first arrived. In fact, now she thought about it, the whole evening he’d been radiating a kind of wary expectation, like a solider in enemy territory, constantly on the lookout for attack. His father too, although outwardly pleasant, had been stiff. Very formal and precise, asking her tight questions about “Vincent” and how the business was doing. As if he couldn’t have found that out from Hunter.

Ellie’s frown deepened as she watched the interaction. Hunter was smiling but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. It looked more savage than anything else.

How weird. There was a funny dynamic going on in the Chase family, that was for sure, and it made her curious to find out what. Mainly because any insight into what made Hunter tick would be welcome.

“You’re fascinated by him, aren’t you?”

Ellie turned abruptly in her seat as Elizabeth Chase, Philip’s second wife, sat down beside her. An exquisite ice-blonde in her late forties or early fifties, Elizabeth was clearly much younger than her husband and had
trophy wife
written all over her. She wore a simple wrap dress in ice blue that was simultaneously modest and yet managed to show off every inch of her perfect figure.

“Fascinated by who?” Ellie asked, feigning innocence. There was something about the woman she didn’t much like, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

Elizabeth gave her a knowing smile. “Hunter, sweetheart. Oh come on, it’s obvious. You haven’t been able to take your eyes off him all evening.”

Ellie shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. “He’s a friend.”

“I think he’s more than that, isn’t he?” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “Does he know you’re in love with him?”

Cold shock crept down Ellie’s spine. “I’m not in love with him,” she said, far too fast, the words echoing in a way she didn’t want them to.

Elizabeth merely smiled as if Ellie had proved a point. “Of course not.”

Ellie wanted to keep protesting, but she knew it would only dig the hole she was in even deeper. She grabbed her wine glass again and took another sip. “I think he’s hot, that’s all.”

The other woman glanced over the ballroom toward where Hunter and his father stood. “Of course he is. But be careful of him, my dear. He’s a dangerous man. And you’re…well, you’re a little young for him.”

“I’m twenty-five,” Ellie said, probably pointlessly.

“That’s young. Believe me, I know.” Elizabeth kept her gaze on the two men across the room. “He was your babysitter, wasn’t he?”

Ellie stared at the other woman. Where was she going with this? “Uh, yeah. He did on occasion. Not anymore, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“I’m sorry, is there something you wanted to say to me?”

Elizabeth lifted an elegant shoulder. “Only that you should be careful not to get hurt. His tastes don’t usually run to younger women.”

How the hell would she know what Hunter’s tastes were? And, more to the point, why did she care? The woman was starting to sound like a jealous ex-girlfriend. “Well, thanks for the tip,” Ellie said, not sure what else to say. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

At that moment a hand settled on her shoulder, warm and not a little possessive. She went still, knowing without having to turn, that it was Hunter.

“There a problem, Liz?” His voice had a sharp edge to it she’d never heard before, and she couldn’t help glancing up at him. His expression was set, hard. And something glittered in his eyes. Something dark.

Elizabeth appeared to be unfazed by his apparent unfriendliness. “No, of course not, Hunter. I was only saying hello to Ellie here. She’s certainly grown up, hasn’t she? Seems like only yesterday you were babysitting her.”

The hand on Ellie’s shoulder tightened, the tension in the air almost palpable. “Not yesterday. Not for the past ten years.”

“Ten years? Well, doesn’t time fly?”

A look passed between the two of them, a look Ellie couldn’t interpret. There were undercurrents here. A complex mix of anger and hostility and something else she couldn’t put her finger on. The intensity of it scared her.

“Hey, Hunter,” she said, attempting to sound bright and casual. “I feel like dancing. What do you say?”

“Yes, Hunter, do go and dance,” Elizabeth agreed. “Then you can ask me afterwards.”

“I don’t want to dance with you,” he said with so much flat certainty that Ellie blinked.

But Elizabeth didn’t. She only smiled again. “Don’t be silly, darling. Of course you do. You have to, anyway. Not to do so would be rude and you wouldn’t want to be rude, would you?” She gave him a calm, level stare that Ellie found unnerving. “I suppose I can’t force you though. Perhaps I’ll sit here with Ellie and fill her in on some embarrassing stories about you.”

Hunter’s fingers dug into Ellie’s shoulder, his grip hurting, and she had to stifle a gasp. “Actually,” she forced out, striving for a normal voice, for some reason unwilling to let on to this woman what effect her seemingly innocuous words were having. “I’d rather dance than listen to stories.” She reached up, put her hand over Hunter’s, felt how cold his fingers were. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Yes, go.” Elizabeth fluttered her fingers at them. “You heard the girl. Dance. Don’t stay here on my account.”

Beneath her hand, Hunter’s grip mercifully eased. Getting to her feet, Ellie twisted around, keeping hold of his hand, lacing her fingers through his. Then she led him away from the table and over to the dance floor, suddenly worried and not sure why. The interchange with Elizabeth had seemed harmless yet…those undercurrents she’d sensed were in no way harmless.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she put her hands on his shoulders, drawing close. It was a relatively slow song, which gave her the perfect reason to touch him.

His face looked carved from marble, hard and cold. Only his black eyes seemed to have any life. A stranger’s eyes. Full of anger.

“Nothing,” he said. He wasn’t even looking at her, his gaze off over her shoulder.

“So you nearly broke my damn shoulder over nothing?”

At that he looked sharply back at her. Then he stopped dancing and pulled aside the neck of the black lace over-dress, examining her. “Jesus Christ.” His voice was low, rough. He touched her skin gently, and she couldn’t help shivering. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.”

Ellie eased away from him, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. “I’m okay, I wanted to know what the deal with you and Elizabeth is.”

“No big deal, it’s only that we’ve never got on.” Hunter reached for her again, warm hands spreading over hips, pulling her close as they began to dance.

Tension eased inside her. Oh, she’d missed being close to him these past four days. Missed it so much. “Do you get on with anyone in your family?”

“What makes you say that?”

“You never talk about them. And you’re all so weird with each other. In fact, it’s like you don’t want to be here.”

“I don’t want to be here. And no, if you must know, I don’t get on with any of them.”

“Why not?”

Hunter looked down at her. “I thought you weren’t going to ask questions.”

“Hey, how was I supposed to know your family was out of bounds? Anyway, you have to expect a few questions, considering you invited me to this wedding.”

For a long moment he didn’t say anything, his long, powerful body moving to the music with hers. Beneath her hands, she could still feel that unease in him, his muscles tight with it.

“Hunter,” she said softly. “What is it?”

“My family is fucking difficult. That’s all I can say.”

But she could see the walls in his black eyes. So thick and deep. He was protecting himself. Distancing himself. His family was more than “difficult”, she’d bet anything on it.

Frustration coiled low inside her. God, she didn’t like not knowing what the problem was. It made her feel powerless, and she hated feeling powerless. Like watching her mother’s episodes and knowing there was nothing, absolutely nothing, she could do to stop the madness. Or seeing Vin work himself to the bone because their mother couldn’t hold down a job and someone had to keep the family together.

Powerless and insignificant. Christ, how she hated that.

Her hands tightened on his shoulders. “Hey, why don’t we get out of here? You’ve shown your face, surely that’s all you need to do.”

“No.”

“Why not? When you don’t want to be here?”

“Because it’s only family bullshit, Ellie. I can handle it.”

“If it’s only family bullshit then why do you look like you want to murder someone?”

His gaze slid away. “You know families.”

Evasion. Evasion and distance. She bit down on the instinctive need to push him. Really, she should be grateful she’d gotten this far with him, not pushing him for more.

“Yeah, boy, do I ever,” she said. “I want to kill Vin on a regular basis.”

“He cares about you, sweetness. Cut him some slack.”

So, he was in big brother mode again. Jesus, that was all she ever seemed to get from him. Either big brother or silent lover. Ellie stared up into his face, at the perfect line of cheekbone and jaw. The curve of his mouth. The deep black of his eyes. “You really don’t know how to deal with me sometimes, do you?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean now I’m back to being Vin’s little sister to you, aren’t I? Despite what I said. That’s how you’re most comfortable with me. You can’t seem to cope when I step outside the box. When I ask you questions you don’t want to answer or act in a way you don’t want me to act.”

For a long second his gaze focused on her with an intensity that took her breath away. “It’s a little difficult to know how to treat you when you don’t seem to know what you want from me either. First it’s sex, next you’re asking me all these bloody questions. Perhaps you’d better make up your mind which it’s going to be.”

Ellie bit her lip hard, hating that he was right. She’d thought it was only about sex, but then that had proved far more complicated than she’d ever imagined. Shit,
he
was more complicated than she’d ever imagined.

“What about if I want both?”

The look on his face didn’t change. “Sorry, sweetness. Both is not an option.”

And deep inside her, a small tendril of hope, one she hadn’t even known was there till now, shriveled up and died. She swallowed, ignoring the anguish that followed. “Do I even get a choice?”

His eyes glittered in the light. “No.”

“So it’s sex or nothing?”

“Pretty much.”

For a second she really wanted to say nothing. But she’d had nothing before and that had sucked so badly she didn’t want to go back. “Then I guess it’ll have to be sex.”

Chapter Nine

“You promised me a dance, Hunter.”

He hated her voice. It made his muscles tight and other parts of him stir in a way he loathed. Jesus, it had been sixteen years, yet the way she said his name made his body spring to attention. Like fucking Pavlov’s dog.

Hunter turned to find Liz behind him, the perfect ice queen in her blue dress, all coiffed blonde hair and immaculate makeup. Over the years he’d perfected a way of handling her, affecting a bored disinterest he knew drove her crazy. It usually worked except he’d shown his hand when he’d seen her talking with Ellie earlier. Liz would take that scrap of anger, no matter how brief it had been, and use it to her advantage. Make it all about her. Because that’s what she always did whenever she was around him. Pushing and pushing for a reaction, any reaction, she didn’t seem to care what kind it was as long as she got it.

“Oh, did I?” he said carelessly. “Sorry. I forgot.”

The hotel foyer was largely empty; most wedding guests were inside the ballroom. He’d escaped an interminable conversation about the state of the construction industry with one of his father’s old friends and had slipped out of the ballroom to see where Ellie had got to. After their dance, she’d said she’d had to go to the ladies’, but he was sure she’d been gone longer than she needed to.

Liz stepped a little closer and he had to fight the instinctive urge to move away. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she made his skin crawl.

“You didn’t forget, dear.” She smiled at him. “You’re avoiding me.”

Ah, that smile. His world used to begin and end with that smile. Back when he’d been a kid ruled by his dick and the stupid belief that she loved him as much as he loved her.

“Avoid you? Why would I want to avoid you?”

“Oh, no reason. I thought you seemed a little upset when I got chatting with Ellie.”