Thwarting Cupid (22 page)

She gave him a smirk and flounced off toward Del. He watched her go. She was quite a woman. Hutch couldn’t have gotten through today without her. That thought led to another. Now he had another question he would have to find the courage to ask her. But only once he was ready to hear the answer. Or he’d managed to stack the deck to get the answer he wanted.

* * * *

Carissa took one more look in the mirror and sighed. She was as ready as she was going to be. If she’d had more time, she could’ve done a whole lot more with her hair. Instead, she’d settled for a jeweled headband to keep her tight, springy curls in check. Her salmon colored gown was the perfect complement to her skin tone. It contoured her bust and fell to the floor from an empire waist. The silver heeled sandals added another inch of height to her frame, but were still low enough to be comfortable. Her makeup was minimal, limited to what she’d found in her bag. The necklace Hutch had given her that morning was the only jewelry she wore. Still, Carissa felt put together and ready to face the crowd.

And if she hadn’t, Hutch’s face would’ve done the trick when she knocked on his open door to announce her arrival. He was in the process of shoving his feet in his shoes when she came over to check on him. He froze mid-shove and sat up to get a good look.

“Wow,” he said in a whisper. “I owe Del big time.”

Carissa smiled. “Yes. You do. I would be super ticked if I had to stay up here all by myself while everyone is out there enjoying the party just because I didn’t have anything to wear.”

Hutch rolled his eyes. “Like you’re not just as gorgeous in a potato sack.” He bent over to tie his shoes. His fingers on his left hand lacked a bit of dexterity. Carissa crossed the room to kneel in front of him. She tied the shoes then tried to rise. Before she could, he caught her chin and placed a quick kiss on her lips. The expression in his eyes made it really hard to breathe all of a sudden.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

She struggled to find enough air to speak, but just managed. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Her voice sounded so airy.

“The natives are getting…never mind,” Del said when he came to the door. He made an abrupt about-face when he saw he was interrupting. However, it was too late. The moment was gone.

“It’s okay, Del. C’mon in,” Hutch invited. He’d surprised Carissa with his sudden change of mind regarding the man. She stood up and smiled at the attorney.

“You look handsome,” she said.

“Thank you. You both look great, too.” His brow furrowed. “Anyway, by ‘natives’ I mean Trudy. And by ‘restless’ I mean freaking out. I told her I’d come find you.”

Carissa looked to Hutch. “We’re ready,” he answered.

The three of them headed downstairs and out to the back of the property to a large open building. On the drive up from Los Angeles, Hutch had told her it once housed the ice skating rink his great grandmother had talked her husband into building. She’d loved the sport and had given skating lessons. Along with his mother’s renovations on the main house, they’d converted the rink into a hall suitable for large parties. They could still use the ice, but that was pretty rare these days.

Carissa took in the baroque wall decorations, the heavy silver satin curtains that hung from ceiling to floor and the masses of red roses interspersed throughout, and had a hard time imagining the place being anything other than the height of elegance.

The town’s population was small enough that Carissa was starting to recognize faces when they mingled. They exchanged friendly smiles and chatter while Hutch reminisced with them. Del remained with a group of partygoers while Hutch and Carissa moved on to the next. She tried to stop thinking about that surprise kiss he’d laid on her, but couldn’t. He didn’t make it easy for her to forget since he kept a hand on the small of her back or was always touching her in some way. Deciding it wasn’t fair that she be the only one off balance, she responded in kind. A brush of the hand here. A gentle squeeze on the arm there.

When the band slowed their upbeat tempo to a gentle ballad, Hutch pulled her to the dance floor. He wrapped his arms around her waist while she linked her fingers behind his head. They began to sway. She couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on her face.

“Are you sure you should be shirking your duties like this?”

“The only duty I care about is this one. And it’s so much more like play than work.”

“Agreed.” Carissa gave into the impulse to lay her head on his shoulder. The day was turning out to be a whole lot closer to perfect than she could have imagined. Happy birthday to her.

They danced and danced until she noticed his muscles were getting more and more tense. She leaned back so she could look at him. “Are you okay? Does your arm…”

“My arm is fine.”

“So, what’s wrong?”

“Some wise woman once told me not to ask a question if I didn’t want the answer.”

“But if you’re hurting, of course I’d want to know,” Carissa insisted.

He stared at her for a moment. He looked like he would’ve raised an eyebrow if he still had them. His hold tightened against her back, urging her forward until her hips were flush against his. She sucked in a breath when the problem became obvious.

“Oh.” She could feel a blush staining her cheeks.

“Regretting the question now?”

Carissa took a moment to think it over. He loosed his hold on her, but she shook her head. “Don’t. At the risk of pushing things faster than is probably wise, I must admit…I kinda like…that feeling.”

Hutch smiled and retightened his grip. “I’m glad.”

They danced that way until the band finished the set. When the music stopped, they were reluctant to part. To compromise, Hutch kept his arm around her waist while they chatted with more people. Carissa felt so secure in their budding relationship she didn’t even mind when Trudy squired him away to talk with some dignitaries who’d just arrived.

She took that opportunity to visit the ladies’ room to freshen up. She couldn’t stop smiling the whole way.

“…usual waver on Carissa?” Carissa paused when she heard the unfamiliar woman say her name. She waited just out of sight of the women, using a large potted plant to hide her from view.

“Are you kidding? He’s getting older. I think her lifespan will be even shorter than the last.”

“Don’t you feel the least bit bad for her? She seems like a really nice person.”

“Yeah, well, Trudy is nice, too. It’s so rude of him to keep bringing these women around and flaunting them in her face.”

Carissa frowned. Women? As in plural? And she was the latest?

“I don’t know about rude. You know how men are. Jimmy’s always been more clueless than most. I keep telling Trudy she needs to smack him over the head with a two-by-four to get him to see straight.”

“Ha! You’re just trying to move lumber.”

The two women giggled. “So shoot me for being a good multi-tasker. It’s hard work keeping a lumber yard profitable.”

“Selling Trudy one two-by-four will put you solidly in the black?”

“Every little bit helps.”

“Yeah, well as hard headed as Hutch is, those two-by-fours might put you in the black for generations.”

Carissa eased away from her hiding spot. She looked around the room for Hutch. He smiled at her when he met her gaze. She tried to smile back, but her face felt like it would crack if she did. In less than a minute, her mood had done a complete one eighty. She needed to think this through. It would also be wise to talk to Hutch first. Carissa remembered Del’s warning about this being a small town. A conversation with Hutch was definitely in order.

Chapter 20

Quincy needed to step up his game. He’d arrived at the ball just in time to witness James and Carissa’s touching dance. The two hadn’t even seemed like they’d known anyone else was in the room. The fact that they were closer than ever meant everything he’d tried thus far had failed. He wasn’t used to failing. He didn’t like it.

He looked at James, who was chatting with a man so full of himself that it was all but stamped on his forehead. Trudy stood dutifully by James’s side, full of smiles and ready to help if needed.

Hmm. Quincy may have just found his drastic step. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of this before. Maybe he didn’t need to get Carissa away from James. He could achieve the same effect by getting James away from Carissa. Shooting an arrow to match James with another woman, like Trudy, would be perfect. So what if she was still too self-centered for a relationship? The two of them would fall in love and Carissa would be all his again. Excellent.

Quincy looked around at the hall’s elaborate decorations. Everyone here had seen James and Carissa’s little dance. They’d never buy his sudden turnaround so soon after that. But if he got James and Trudy alone, everyone would think the couple had gone off and rekindled an old flame. Perfect.

Quincy unfurled his massive wings to lift himself high above the crowd of partygoers. He took a moment to admire how wonderful everyone looked in their after-five finery. He sure missed the era where people still dressed up for dinner.

He spotted Carissa. She was working her way through the crowd at a pretty good clip. It didn’t take a genius to know she was heading for James. For a change, her smile looked phony. He’d have to check on why, later. Right now, he had a crowd to orchestrate.

He pointed an arrow at James and Trudy and swept it out and up. The two smiled at their companions and moved on to another set of guests in the direction Quincy indicated. The move took them out of Carissa’s path, but she wouldn’t be able to see that until the crowd parted. Which it wouldn’t if Quincy had anything to say about it.

He took a second arrow and swept them both in. The crowd tightened around Carissa, hemming her in. She wasn’t to be deterred. She pressed through anyway. Of course, James was no longer where she expected so the move had been useless. She paused and looked around. Quincy frowned. What had her so determined to find the man?

Quincy held one arrow with his teeth so he had a hand free to read her file. He smiled when he learned about the conversation she’d just overheard. No wonder she was so determined to get to James. After all, Carissa was one who liked to get the facts from the horse’s mouth. But if those same ‘facts’ came from multiple sources…Quincy could work with this.

He re-filed her paperwork and got back to the crowd orchestration. He kept James and Trudy moving with ease, while Carissa had to fight for every step she gained. Then he added his
piece de resistance
.

“Excuse me,” Carissa interrupted a conversation. “Have you seen Hutch?”

The couple looked around.

“He was just here,” the woman said. “I’m sure he can’t be far. Not in this crowd.”

Carissa smiled at them. “Thank you.” She moved on.

Quincy closed the gap in the crowd behind her right before he had the woman say, “I’m glad she can’t find them. Give Jim and Trudy a little time together.”

Carissa turned with a frown. Of course, she could no longer see the pair. She took a moment. Quincy hoped she was going to give up. He should’ve known better. She hitched up the gown’s hem and continued her quest.

Hours later, they were still at an impasse. Despite overhearing people calling her pathetic and musing how perfect James and Trudy were together, Carissa pressed on. She’d stopped smiling a while ago, which told Quincy just how frustrated she was.

He was more than a little frustrated himself. He couldn’t believe she thought James was worth this much effort. The more she fought, the more Quincy had to counter. He was exhausted.

Not to mention, there was a new challenge surfacing. The party was starting to thin. Pretty soon, he wouldn’t have enough people in the room to keep them apart. He looked down and noticed James looking around with a concerned expression on his face. Trudy had attached herself to his good arm a while ago and wasn’t paying attention to much else.

Uh oh. It was one thing to give one determined person the runaround. Two was a whole different ball game. More so now that the crowd had dispersed to a dangerously low concentration. There was one option left for him to take. Quincy flicked his arrow toward the older man next to James.

The older man clapped a meaty paw on James’s shoulder and said, “Jimmy, my boy. It sure was great to see you again.” The three of them began walking toward the exit.

“You tell your daddy that he can run off to Greece all he wants. It ain’t gonna cool my winning streak none. Me and the checkerboard will be right here waiting when he has the nerve to return.”

James laughed. “No, sir. That’s a message you’ll have to deliver yourself. I learned to stay out of your rivalry years ago.”

The man gave a booming laugh then continued the conversation while they walked. Quincy had a tense moment when Carissa walked right by the trio. It took every bit of finesse he had, but he managed to block their view of each other with a swell of partygoers.

Crisis averted, he shooed James and Trudy out the door. He swirled enough people around Carissa to keep her busy for a little while longer inside. It was time for him to go shoot James and Trudy. Then it would be game over.