Wild Ride: Lance and Tammy (24 page)

Marianne was distracted by someone else who greeted her as Lance turned and walked away without a word.  Tammy could see the look of disappointment on her face as he’d left, but she’d yet to recognize her yet. 

His arm went around her waist and he leaned down and kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear. “This is not a fair fight. Marianne is going to faint.”

She smiled. “I never claimed to play fair.”

“I just want to rip that thing off you right here. You are the most desirable woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.  I’m going to be impatient as hell to get you home and be inside you again.”

His deep husky voice just exacerbated that promise. And her heart leapt. Oh lord, she could just melt.  Every inch of her throbbed at those words.

“Oh Tamara, how lovely for you to join us.  I wasn’t sure you were coming when you didn’t show up with Lance.”

Us?
She moved back and saw Marianne come and stand a little too close to Lance for her liking. “I was getting ready.”

“Of course.  Your dress is lovely.”

Marianne wore a black sequined number that was strapless, and she could see now that the woman was heavily endowed.  She was practically spilling out of the top. Gosh, she was really pretty and the dress only flattered her more. “You look beautiful.”  Tammy couldn’t help it.  She was being honest despite her jealousy.

“Oh, this old thing.  I’ve had it for months now.”

As if sensing her failing confidence, Lance moved his arm around Tammy’s waist as if confirming who he came with. “Ready?”

“I am.” She smiled widely at him.

“We’ll see you in there Marianne.” His eyes stayed on Tammy as he led her away and into the building.

Tammy could feel the other woman’s eyes burning into her back.  She saw the unveiled expression of surprise when Lance showed his possessiveness.  She felt some pity for her because she knew exactly what she lost.  Tammy would have a problem with his affections turning elsewhere too. It was then that she decided to do all she could to be polite.  She couldn’t help it.  This was who she really was.

“Tammy, you are a real genuine sweetheart.”

“How so?”

“You could have made this difficult for her, but you didn’t.  She even called you Tamara again.  Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”

“I did.”

“Just when I thought you were out of surprises, you keep on shocking me.  You are an angel.”

She didn’t think so, but she still thanked him for the compliment.

He led her toward their table and she was delighted to see her parents, mostly her father, already seated, and talking to none other, than the mayor of New York. “Is that—“

“Yes,” he answered tightening his hand on her waist. “But don’t worry.  He’s pretty down to earth.  He’s also a hockey fan.  We argue quite bit about the state of our teams.”

“How so?”

“I love the Rangers.  He’s an Islanders fan.”

She laughed.

Both men at the table stood when they approached.  Lance introduced Tammy to the mayor, and her father gave her another reserved hug.  Her mother, to her shock, actually told her she looked lovely.

She took the offered seat beside her father that Lance pulled out for her.  He sat beside her and soon, two more prominent couples joined them.  There were just two seats left, and one obviously belonged to Marianne.  She was hoping the woman brought a date, but she didn’t.  She took the seat right next to Lance explaining that she’d been so busy, she couldn’t find someone on short notice.  Her eyes flicked to Lance when she spoke. Tammy wondered if it was because she thought that she and Lance would be a couple.  Did Lance not tell her he had a date?  He must’ve because he had two tickets.

Introductions went all around, and try as Tammy might, she knew she wouldn’t remember names.  She was too busy being aware of Marianne’s close seating to Lance.

Lance leaned over and told Tammy that this particular table was going for two thousand a plate.

“Why?”

“The mayor, and those two men are very important council members.  People want to sit next to them during dinner.”

Soon the seat next to Marianne was filled. He obviously also came alone.  It was a familiar face.

“Well as I live and breathe.  Tammy Easler, where have you been?”

She ignored the look of disdain on her mother’s face at the use of her grandmother’s maiden name. “Hello Doctor Anderson.”  She was surprised actually.  Most doctors don’t remember your last name, just the name they read on the nametag you wore on your uniform.

Marianne gave a flirtatious laugh. “Well, I see we don’t need much for introduction.  Doctor Anderson is a prominent cardiac surgeon,” she said to Lance in particular.

“Yes, and we miss you something terrible,” he said directly to Tammy as if Marianne hadn’t spoken.  “My patients miss you even more.”

“I moved to Montana.”

“So far?” His brows lifted.

Tammy suddenly felt Lance’s hand slide to her thigh. She ignored the look she knew she was getting.  Doctor Anderson was in his mid-forties, fairly nice looking and a widow.  He got a little promiscuous after the death of his wife.  It was the way he coped.  He was very much in love with her, well, she’d heard. Yes, he was known to chase nurses, but he never chased her.  He had an unusual respect for her.

“Do you still have that surefire temper?  Hell, I miss that.” he directed his attention to the rest of the people at the table. “She would threaten to cleave me in two if I didn’t listen to her. She was all about patient advocacy.  I swear I’ve never prescribed more treatments before or after you.”

“Is that right?” George asked.

She looked at her father and felt a blush rising.  She could see pride in his expression.

“I thought about going into nursing,” Marianne spoke up hoping to draw the attention back to her.  She then went on some long winded story about how she had low arches and couldn’t work the floor for those long shifts.

“We will discuss
that
relationship later.” Lance bent over and said quietly in her ear while the others were occupied.  His long fingers curled over her thigh.  The material of the dress easily stretched to accommodate them.

“There never was one. He’s not interested in me,” she whispered back keeping a smile in case anyone got suspicious.

“I’ll be the judge of that. He looks at you like Richard does—like all men do.  You don’t even know your own desirability.”

He seemed a little angry. Her eyes went over his handsome profile as he straightened to answer a question the mayor asked him.  To her own surprise his mood didn’t bother her like she thought. For some reason she believed she’d be feeling a little insecure, but instead she bit her lip to keep from smiling.  Lance Hartley was
jealous!
She could certainly get used that.  Just then his eyes flicked to her seeing her restrained smile.  He gave a very subtle, almost undetectable, shake of his head before angling it just enough for a look of warning.  She grinned this time unable to hold it back any longer. Then, she suddenly dropped her grin to stifle a gasp as his warm hand slid through the slit of her dress, over her thigh and up between her legs.

He leaned close to her. “I will make you pay for finding amusement at my expense.”

She met his eyes. “It’s well deserved. I seem to remember a familiar situation with roles reversed, and you had little sympathy for me. In fact, you found it just as amusing.”

“
Refreshing
,” he corrected. “I found it very refreshing coming from you.”

She chuckled. “That doesn’t sound much different. Perhaps you need to reserve that alpha male for someone who’ll listen.  You don’t scare me Councilor Hartley. ” She knew she was pushing his patience, but this was so much fun. 

He cocked his head.  “Is that right? I seem to remember taking you home and reminding you of who I was with for the three hours following that dinner. I was on top, alpha male and all.”

Oh she couldn’t forget
that
. Her pelvis reacted instantly and contracted.

“I have more than just ties in my wardrobe Tammy.  Be careful.

She blushed bright red.

“See? You will lose this game darling. I have more experience.”

“I may enjoy losing this one,” she breathed as his fingers caressed the inside of her thighs.

He chuckled and leaned back shaking his head in disbelief. “You never cease to surprise me Miss Easler.”

The night progressed quickly and Tammy actually had a lot of fun.  The auction started and she found herself laughing at the friendly competition among people.  Once or twice Lance leaned over to speak to Marianne, and Tammy decided early on not to let it bother her, even when the woman put a hand on his shoulder in an obvious flirtation or brush up to him sort-of-not-accidently way when he made her laugh.  Tammy was doing her best to put faith in what he’d told her even though it was proving difficult. Then she reminded herself that it was her legs wrapped around his hips, his gorgeous hips, just a few short hours ago making him late meeting the woman.  She smiled, wide.

The master of ceremonies introduced Marianne.  Everyone stood and applauded.  She sashayed up to the front podium and gave a wonderful speech on how the money has helped victims in the past, present and future. Then she spent the next ten minutes talking about how Lance launched the charity after his own personal tragedy and, after some brief history, how he was passing the reigns to her this year. She motioned to their table. Suddenly there was a spotlight on him. There was more applause as he stood and waved.  People cheered. Tammy couldn’t believe how calm he was with all of the attention.  He was being treated like a celebrity and
gosh
, he looked heavenly under that bright light. Marianne continued to explain that in the first year the charity raised just over a hundred thousand.  However it made over a million to help victims of crime.  She humorously dared the audience to surpass that to show Lance she could do a good job with his ‘baby’.  Laughter reverberated in the room. She then went on and thanked the mayor, who Tammy found out, was another person responsible for helping Lance get the charity going.   She should have expected it, but Marianne gave the mayor of New York less airtime than Lance.  Tammy watched him but he didn’t seem to care about that too much, or maybe he didn’t notice. He stood like everyone else and clapped as Marianne left the podium.

Lance stood and gave her a hug and a kiss on her cheek. “Great speech.”

“I was so nervous,” she placed her hands on his chest and leaned into him.

Okay, this was getting ridiculous.  Tammy was doing her best to stay positive, but Marianne was breaching that line of propriety. 

Then the MC appeared again and asked for all the non-married women to raise their hands.  Well, Tammy noticed there were about a dozen.  Suddenly Marianne jumped up and grabbed her hand and raised it with her own. “There’s two, right here!”  Tammy stared wide-eyed at Lance, who just looked amused.

“Let’s give them a round of applause and get them up here!  Who wouldn’t want the rest of the evening out with these beautiful women?”

The place erupted in applause, but no one moved.

“Remember ladies, this is for charity.  If your man loves you enough, he’ll buy you back.  If not, I guess you are better off.” A wave of laughter went through the crowd.

Marianne half dragged Tammy out of her seat and Lance still looked completely amused.

She already knew this was going to turn into a bachelorette auction. Oh why didn’t she take some time to look at the program that was on the table?

“Really Lance.  You’re engaged. Are you going to let her get up there?”

“He said non-married Elizabeth.  Tammy is not yet my wife,” answered Lance in his legendary calm and ever controlled tone.

Tammy heard her mother scold him again, but it was her father that told her to hold on and just watch.  She felt her heart soar at her mother’s defense of her.  Did she really mean it, or was she just putting on a display?

The lights were so bright on the stage that she couldn’t see anything beyond it.  When the bidding started, she was shocked to hear digits in the five figure range followed by humorous coaxing from the MC and the loud ‘SOLD!’.  She and Marianne were soon the last two.  Marianne went first, sashaying out on the stage like she owned it.  There were cat calls emitting from the hall.  If Lance dared, she’d kill him.  Too bad she couldn’t see him.  To her utter surprise, Marianne got a few hundred shy of twenty thousand.  It helped that she moved back and forth across the stage enticing the men with that beautiful body in blue sequin.  She whispered to the MC who announced, she came with no one.  The bidding increased quickly after that.  Apparently  Doctor Anderson wasn’t the only single man to show up there that night.

Then came her turn.  Gosh, she felt so nervous.  The MC urged her forward and suddenly she couldn’t hear anything. Noise faded. It was as if things were unfolding around her and she could see the man waving to the audience for higher bids, but couldn’t hear anything.  She was as scared as hell that Lance would abandon her.  Finally a sound broke through her embarrassment and fear.