Colton by Marriage Read online

  That definitely pleased Donald who laughed expansively. The deep, throaty sound could be heard above the din of voices coming from the crowd. “Now you’re talking, Bonnie Gene.”

  His wife was quick to shoot him down. “That wasn’t meant for you, Donald. That was for our guests.” Keeping her “public smile” in place, Bonnie Gene uttered her threat through lips that were barely moving. “You eat any more than your allotted portion and there’ll be hell to pay, Donald.”

  “I’m already paying it,” Donald mumbled under his breath.

  About to walk away, Bonnie Gene stopped abruptly and eyed her husband. “What was that?”

  The look on Donald’s round face was innocence personified. “Nothing, my love, not a thing.”

  Duke held his peace until the senior Kelleys had moved on. Once they had disappeared into the crowd filling the house, he lowered his head and asked Susan, “She always boss him around like that?”

  “She does it because she loves him,” Susan answered, feeling the need to be ever so slightly defensive of her mother’s motives. “Mother’s convinced that if she doesn’t watch over him, Dad’ll eat himself to death. It’s because Mother wants him around for a good long time to come that she tends to police him like that.”

  Duke nodded, saying nothing. Knowing that if it were him being ridden like that, he wouldn’t stand for it. But to each his own. He wasn’t about to tell another man how to live his life.

  They’d moved inside the house by now and Duke looked around absently, noting faces. There were more people inside this room than he normally saw in a month.

  He wondered how long he would have to stay before he could leave without being observed. As he was trying to come up with a time frame, his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a flushed, flustered young woman who accidentally stumbled next to him. About to fall, she grabbed on to the first thing she could—and it was Duke.

  Horrified that she’d almost pushed him over, Mary Walsh immediately apologized.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she cried with feeling. “I didn’t mean to bump into you like that.” Her face was growing a deep shade of red. “New shoes,” she explained, looking down at them accusingly. “I’m still a little wobbly in them.”

  He’d been ready to dismiss the whole thing at the word Oh. “No harm done,” he assured her.

  Drawn by the voice, Susan was quick to throw her arms around her flustered friend. “Mary, you made it after all! I wasn’t sure if you were coming to the reception.” She punctuated her declaration with a fierce hug.

  “Yes, I made it. Just in time to step all over—” she paused for a moment, as if searching for a name, then brightened “—Duke Colton.”

  The next moment Mary made the connection. A sense of awkwardness descended because she wasn’t altogether sure how to react. This was Duke Colton, the brother of the man who had been convicted of killing her father. Still, manners were manners and she thoroughly believed in them.

  “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to bump into you like that. New shoes,” she explained to Susan in case Susan hadn’t heard her a moment ago.

  “She’s wobbly,” Duke added, looking ever so slightly amused.

  “Who’s wobbly?” Bonnie Gene asked, materializing amid them again with the ease of a puff of smoke. She looked from her daughter to her daughter’s long-time friend, sweet little Mary Walsh.

  The girl should have been married ages ago, Bonnie Gene thought. Maybe, if Mary was married, Susan wouldn’t be such a stubborn holdout.

  “I am, Mrs. Kelley,” Mary explained. “These heels were an impulse purchase and they’re too high for me. I really haven’t had a chance to break them in yet,” she added sheepishly.

  “Well, break them in by the buffet table,” Bonnie Gene urged. With a grand wave of her hand, she indicated the line that was already forming by the long table that ran along the length of the back wall. Leaning in closer to Mary, she added with enthusiasm, “Right next to that really good-looking young man in the tan jacket. See him?” she wanted to know.

  “Mother,” Susan cried, struggling to keep her voice low.

  “Susan,” Bonnie Gene responded in a sing-song voice.

  She knew that none of her children appreciated her matchmaking efforts, but that was their problem, not hers. She intended to keep on trying to pair off the young people in her life wherever and whenever she had the opportunity—whether they liked it or not. People belonged in pairs, not drifting through life in single file.

  Mary already knew what Susan’s mother was like, but Duke undoubtedly hadn’t a clue. So Susan turned toward him and said in a soft voice, “I suggest we make our getaway the minute her back is turned. Otherwise, she’ll probably have you married off by midnight.”

  “I don’t think so,” Duke answered with a finality that told Susan that not only was he not in the market for a wife, he’d deliberately head in the opposite direction should his path ever cross that of a potential mate.

  Susan vaguely recalled that there had been some kind of scandal last year involving Duke and an older married woman. She thought she’d heard that the woman, Charlene McWilliams, had committed suicide shortly after Duke broke things off with her.

  Something of that nature would definitely have a person backing away from any sort of a relationship, even the hint of a relationship, Susan thought sympathetically.

  God knew she backed away from them and she had no scandal involving a man in her past. As a matter of fact, she had nothing in her past. But there was a reason for that. She just wasn’t any good at relationships.

  Her forte, Susan was convinced, lay elsewhere. She was very good at her job and at raising other people’s spirits. For now, she told herself, that was enough. And later would eventually take care of itself.

  “There’s an open bar over there.” Susan pointed it out. There were a number of people, mainly men, clustering around it. She wanted to give him the opportunity to join them if that would make him feel more comfortable. “If you’d rather drink than eat, I’ll understand,” she added, although she doubted that would make a difference to him one way or the other.

  Duke wasn’t even mildly tempted. He liked keeping a clear head when he was on someone else’s territory. Drinking was for winding down, for kicking back after a long, full day’s work. He hadn’t put in a full day yet.

  “Nothing to understand,” he replied. “I’d rather eat.”

  She couldn’t exactly say why his answer had her feeling so happy, but it did.

  “So would I,” she agreed, flashing a wide smile at him. “Why don’t I just go get us a couple of—”

  She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence. Linc had swooped down on her like a hungry falcon zeroing in on his prey.

  “There you are, Susan,” he declared, looking relieved. “I’ve been looking all over for you. You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this.”

  Oh, please, not now. Don’t smother me now. She wanted to remain polite, but she wasn’t sure just how long she could be that way. Linc was beginning to wear away the last of her nerves.

  “I’m hardly alone, Linc,” she informed him. “There’re dozens and dozens of people here.”

  Her answer didn’t deter Linc. “You know that old saying about being lonely in a crowd.” He slipped his arm around her waist as comfortably as if he’d been doing it forever. At the same time, he looked smugly over at Duke. “I’ll take it from here, Colton. Thanks for looking out for my girl.”

  She had to stop this before it went too far. Linc was being delusional. They’d dated a few times in the past, but it had gone nowhere. She thought they were both agreed on that point. Obviously not. “I am not your girl, Linc,” she insisted, lowering her voice so that she wouldn’t embarrass him or wind up causing a scene.

  She still had feelings for Linc, but they were all of the friendly variety. The romance that Linc apparently had so desperately hoped for had never materialized, although she really had tried to make herse
lf love him the way he obviously wanted to be loved. It just wasn’t meant to happen. Linc was handsome, funny and intelligent. But there was no spark, no chemistry between them. At least, she’d never been aware of any.

  Apparently, Linc had been the recipient of other signals.

  “You’re just upset,” Linc told her in the kind of soothing voice a parent used with a petulant child. “Once things get back to normal, you’ll change your mind. You’ll see,” he promised.

  “There’s nothing to see,” she informed him tersely, framing her answer more for Duke’s benefit than for Linc’s.

  But she might as well not have bothered. Linc obviously wasn’t listening and Duke, when she turned to look at him, wasn’t there to hear.

  What is he, part bat? she silently demanded. That was twice that he’d just seemed to disappear on her. Once outside the hospital and now here. Both times, it had been just after Linc had attached himself to her side as if they were tethered by some kind of invisible umbilical chord.

  Stop making excuses for him. If Duke had wanted to hang around, he would have, Susan told herself.

  Besides, she had more guests to see to than just Duke Colton.

  The next moment, she was saying it out loud, at least in part.

  “Excuse me, Linc, but I have guests to see to,” she told him, walking quickly away before he could make a comment or try to stop her obvious retreat with some inane remark.

  When it came to being the perfect hostess, Susan had studied at the knee of a master—her mother. Bonnie Gene Kelley was the consummate hostess, never having been known to run out of anything, and always able to satisfy the needs and requirements of her guests, no matter what it was they wanted.

  Like mother, like daughter, at least in this one respect.

  Susan wove her way in and out of clusters of people exchanging memories of Miranda along with small talk. She made sure that everyone ate, that everyone drank and, just as importantly, that she didn’t find herself alone with Linc again.

  And all the while, she kept an eye out for Duke. She spotted him several times, always standing near someone, always seeming to be silent.

  And watching her.

  Their eyes met a number of times and, unlike with Linc, she felt a spark. There was definitely chemistry or something that seemed to come to life and shimmer between them every time she caught his eye or he caught hers.

  She would have liked to put that chemistry to the test. Purely for academic purposes, of course, she added quickly.

  But there was a room full of people in the way. Maybe that was the whole point, she thought suddenly. The room full of people made her feel safe. Not threatened by the tall, dark and brooding Duke.

  Still…

  Get a grip and focus, Susan, she upbraided herself. Her best friend was barely cold and she was exploring her options with Duke Colton. What was wrong with her?

  She had no answer for that. Besides, right now, there was really nothing she could do about exploring any of these racing feelings any further.

  And maybe that was a good thing. Everyone needed a little fantasy to spice up their lives and it only remained a fantasy if it wasn’t tested and exposed to the light of day.

  She was fairly certain that hers never would be. Not if Duke kept perform his disappearing act.

  Chapter 5

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to avoid me.”

  Startled, Susan swallowed a gasp as her heart launched into double time. She’d left the reception and come out here to the side veranda to be alone for a moment. She hadn’t realized that Linc was anywhere in the immediate vicinity, much less that he’d follow her outside.

  She took a deep breath to calm down. Linc was right. She had been avoiding him and she felt a little guilty about it. But at the same time, she felt resentful that he was making her feel that way.

  Was it wrong not to want to feel hemmed in? And lately, that was the way Linc was making her feel—hemmed in. By avoiding him, she was trying to avoid having to say things she knew would hurt him.

  She could see that he was hopeful that they could “give their relationship another chance.” But kissing him was like kissing her brother and that was the way she felt about him, like a sister about a brother. She cared for him, but not in that way.

  To try to turn that feeling into something more, something sexual between them seemed more than a little icky to her. But there was no graceful way to say that, no way to avoid hurting his feelings and his ego.

  So she’d been trying to avoid Linc and avoid the awkwardness that was waiting out in the wings for both of them once she made her feelings—or lack thereof—plain to him.

  Susan shrugged, hoping to table the discussion until she felt more up to having it out between them. “I’m not trying to avoid you, Linc, I’ve just been trying to be a good hostess.”

  He nodded his head, as if he was willing—for now—to tolerate the excuse she was giving him. “Well, now it’s time for you to think about taking care of you,” Linc said with emphasis.

  If someone had asked her about it, Susan had nothing specific to point to as to why alarms were suddenly going off in her head, but they were. Loudly.

  Survival instincts had her taking a step back, away from him. She wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but it had her uneasy.

  “What do you mean?” she asked him.

  “I mean,” Linc replied patiently, like someone trying to make a mental lightweight understand his point, “that you need someone to wait on you for a change.”

  As he spoke, he moved in closer and didn’t appear to be too happy that she was taking a step back the moment he took a step forward. Pretending not to notice, he continued moving in toward her until the three-foot-high railing that ran along the veranda prevented her from moving back any further. He’d effectively managed to corner her.

  “Someone who would put your needs ahead of their own,” he continued. With a smile, he slowly threaded his fingers through her hair.

  Susan pulled her head back with a quick, less-than-friendly toss. He was so close to her, if she took a deep breath, her chest would be in contact with his. She didn’t want to push him back, but he wasn’t leaving her much of a choice.

  “Linc, don’t.”

  His voice was low, almost hypnotic as he continued talking to her. “You’re confused, Susan. Your emotions are all jumbled up. You need someone to take care of you and there’s nothing I’d like more than to be that someone,” he told her. He bent his head so that his mouth was closer to hers.

  But when he brought it down to kiss her, Susan quickly turned her head. He wound up making contact with her hair. “Linc, no.”

  Despite her reaction, Linc gave no sign that he was about to back off this time, or let her step aside. Instead, he coaxed, “C’mon, Susan. You know I’m the one you should be with.”

  She moved her head in the opposite direction, awarding him another mouthful of hair. “Linc, no,” she insisted more firmly. “I want you to stop.”

  Her words fell on deaf ears. “Might as well give in to the inevitable.” This time, his voice was a little more forceful.

  The next moment, Linc found himself stumbling backward. Someone had grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him away as if he were nothing more than a big, clumsy rag doll.

  “The lady said stop,” Duke told him. His voice was deep, as if it was emerging from the bottom of a gigantic cavernous chasm. There was no missing the warning note in it.

  Anger, hot and dangerous, flashed in Linc’s eyes as he glared at the man who had interrupted his attempted play for Susan.

  “This isn’t any business of yours, Colton,” he snapped at Duke.

  Placing his range-toned muscular frame between Hayes and the target of Hayes’ assault, Duke hooked his thumbs in his belt and directed a steely glare at the shorter man.

  “Man forcing himself on a defenseless woman is everybody’s business,” Duke said in his steady, inflecti
on-free voice.

  Susan’s chin shot up. She didn’t care if this was Duke Colton, she was not about to be perceived as some weak-kneed damsel in distress. “I am not defenseless,” she protested with just enough indignation to make Duke believe that that little woman actually believed what she was saying.

  She might be spunky, Duke thought, but there was no way that Susan Kelley could hold her own if Hayes decided to force himself on her. Or at least not without a weapon—or a well-aimed kick.

  Still, he wasn’t about to get drawn into a verbal sparring match with her over this. He’d had every intention of retrieving his truck and leaving, until he’d discovered the vehicle was barricaded in by two other cars that would have to be moved in order for him to get out. He’d been on his way to enlist Bonnie Gene’s help in finding the owners of the other two vehicles when he’d seen Hayes crowding Susan.

  So he shrugged now in response to Susan’s protest. “Have it your way. You’re not defenseless.”

  But Duke gave no indication that he was about to leave, at least, not until Hayes moved his butt and went back inside the house or into the hole he’d initially crawled out of.

  Instead, Duke continued to stand there, his thumbs still hooked onto his belt, waiting patiently. The look in his eyes left absolutely no doubt what he was waiting for.

  “I’ll see you later, Susan,” Linc finally bit off and then marched into the house, looking petulant and very annoyed.

  Once Linc had retreated, closing the door behind him, Susan took a breath and let it out slowly. She turned toward Duke. “I suppose I should thank you.”

  A hint of a shrug rumbled across his broad shoulders. “You can do whatever you want to,” he told her.

  His seemingly indifferent words hung in the air between them as his eyes swept over her slowly. Thoroughly.

  It was probably the heat and her own edgy emotional turmoil that caused her temporary foray into insanity. That was the only way she could describe it later.