Lead Me On

Dani cleared her throat. “Riley told me he heard Brad’s going to break away from work this weekend. He’ll be here, all right.”

Leigh waggled her eyebrows. “You plan to have a special mark on your basket so he can bid on it?”

“A burst of gold and silver stars.” Margot smiled at the waitress as she brought the new round of drinks.

Leigh murmured, “A burst of stars, just like he’ll see after Margot—”

She cut Leigh off. “When did Riley say Brad was coming, Dan?”

“I think he’s here already, playing golf with Riley and some of the guys before things really get started.”

Everyone would be here by tomorrow for the homecoming football game, then a casual meal and the auction, followed on Sunday by a more formal dinner before they all headed off in their different directions again.

Leigh leaned back in the booth, surveying Margot. “Honestly, I never really saw Brad’s appeal. He always reminded me of the type of guy who checks himself out in windows when he walks by them. He was kind of self-involved, if you ask me.”

“He was not.” He was smart and ambitious, going places. Margot had related to that. Plus, he’d been in the area, and they’d gotten to know each other without all their Greek brothers and sisters around.

Dani was leaning her elbows on the table, looking at Leigh. “I never thought Brad was that hot, either.”

Hot?

The word conjured up a maddening image of Clint Barrows. That damn video had shoved him into her mind and was making him stay there beyond a decent hello. God, she hoped he wouldn’t be at the reunion.

Margot took another drink, as if she could wash him away.

Dani started to slide out of the booth. “Don’t hate me, but I’m really bushed, you all. I catered a big fortieth birthday party last night. Can we meet up later?”

When Margot started to protest, Leigh stood to leave, too. “Don’t hate me, but I’ve got a script to look over and approve tonight so we can hit the ground running at the studio on Monday.”

“Lightweights,” Margot muttered. She wasn’t nearly ready to hole up in her room yet, even if her classmates would soon be here to tease her about the video.

Bring them on.

Leigh seemed impressed. “You’re actually staying here?”

“To face the lions when they arrive? You’d better believe it. I want to get this over with. Besides, if Brad’s already in town, he might drop in for a post-golf drink.”

“Okay, Braveheart.” Leigh smiled. “How about dinner with us later?”

“No doubt.”

Dani just grinned again, swinging her small, patchwork purse over her shoulder. They both waved as they walked away, and it wasn’t four seconds later that Margot started rethinking this Braveheart stuff.

Did she really want to suffer through the ribbing all alone?

But it wasn’t in her nature to wimp out, so she took another drink.

A deep voice behind her made her almost spray the Midori out of her mouth.

“I’ve always wondered what’d be in your basket.”

She knew that voice, even years later.

Clint Freakin’ Barrows.

2

INEXPLICABLY, A DELICIOUS shiver danced up Margot’s back, just like fingers running over bare skin then stopping at her neck, stroking until the fine hairs stood on heated end. And that wasn’t the only part of her body that responded; she went tight nearly everywhere, from her sensitized nipples to the clenching of her belly.

She also felt a sharp ache between her legs, but she chased it away.

She blew out a breath, wishing her stomach wasn’t all scrambled. Then she turned around to find the one and only Clint Barrows leaning off the edge of the bench seat, his arms resting on his thighs, his cowboy hat tipped back on his head.

A slow melt started inside her as she took in his grin. This wasn’t the college kid she remembered. Not exactly. The Clint Barrows who’d lured her to his room that one night had been cute—no doubts there—but now?

Now he had shoulders this wide under his white T-shirt. And his thighs hadn’t been so muscular under faded jeans. And there was some age to him—smile lines around his light blue eyes and hair that seemed to be an even thicker golden mess under his hat.

Like a fine bourbon, he’d aged well.

Damn him for looking so good. Damn her for feeling a little dizzy just from standing near him.

How...after all these years...?

And, after what he’d done?

“You’ve got some gall,” she said.

He laughed. “Because I’m saying hi?”

She just stared at him. Talk about thickheaded.

“Darlin’,” he said, clearly knowing that she was talking about the video. “Don’t go accusing me of anything. First off, I don’t have the time to be digging through old videos and sharing them with the world. Second, I destroyed that tape.”

“Well, then, I guess it magically came to life again and found itself a cozy home on YouTube. You’re in the clear, Stud.”

He laughed once more, smooth and low, and her clit gave a vicious little twist.

Oh, come on—she hadn’t gone without a man that long. Or maybe she had. Now that she thought about it, it’d been months. She’d been locked away, pounding out a draft of her most recent book, which had given her more trouble than most. The wildness and joy just didn’t come as easily as it used to. Maybe that’s why her book sale numbers were going down....

She lifted a finger at him. “If you’re not here to rub that video in, then why did you show up? I didn’t think reunions would be your scene.”

“Just call it a last-minute decision.”

Cryptic, and so Clint Barrows. And with that grin of his, she wanted to solve whatever mystery he was putting out there.

Or did she?

“Come on,” he said. “Why don’t you just sit down and talk about this.”

“Are you kidding? First, I don’t believe your story. Second, I think we’ll get along much better if I’m on one side of the room and you’re on the other.”

He sighed. “Have it your way, then. For now.”

For now?

Shaking her head, she grabbed her Fendi purse and got out the hand-worked leather wallet she’d bought in Florence once upon a time. Earlier, she’d told the girls she would be taking care of the bar tab, even though she wasn’t sure she could afford many flights of generosity like this in the future.

“So about those baskets...” Clint said.

Once a tease, always a tease.

“Don’t even start.”

“Start what? If you recall, there’re things I start that you have a problem ending.”

“See? Rubbing it in. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.”

“Give me a chance here, Shakespeare.”

Her libido gave another hot jerk. She’d liked how he used to call her English author names the few times they’d actually talked during parties. He’d amused her—and she’d been turned on that a cowboy had known his literature, to tell the truth.

But that was before she’d found out he’d only wanted to set her up for an adolescent joke.

“You think this is all so funny,” she said.

He sobered and, for a second, she thought he was actually being sincere.

“I don’t think it’s a bit funny. But—”

She slapped her cash on the table and left, even while every cell in her body was pulling her toward his booth, vibrating with the curiosity she hadn’t been able to fully appease on that long-ago night.

But if there was one thing Margot would guard until the end, it was pride.

Luckily, that’s when she heard her name being called from the other side of the bar.

A group of fraternity brothers, including Dani’s fiancé, Riley, had just walked in, and she recognized her ex-boyfriend Brad among them.

Or, at least, she thought she did.

He looked like one of the businessmen at the bar—creased khakis and a crisp, long-sleeved shirt. His dark hair was neatly trimmed, unlike a certain cowboy’s that looked as if he turned tail and ran every time a barber came near.

Brad lifted a hand in greeting to her, giving her a friendly smile. He didn’t seem to care about the video. None of them did, maybe because Riley had told them to back off during their golf game.

Margot waved back, then waited for the rush of heat to swamp her horny body, just as it had with Clint.

Waiting...

Waiting...

It only happened again when she heard Clint’s voice behind her.

“You’d best go to Brad,” he said. “Good ol’ dependable Brad....”

She felt Brad watching her from across the room, and she didn’t want to give him the impression that she was taking up where she’d left off in that video with Clint Barrows.

“You can walk away now,” Clint said. “But I’ll be seeing you later.”

“Dare to dream,” she said over her shoulder.

And she left him with that, his laughter skimming across her skin, heating her to blazing for no good reason she could think of.

Except for the million and one tongues of flame licking at her, daring her to turn around and scratch the itch that’d never quite gone away.

* * *

CLINT WATCHED HER leave, enjoying the sway of her hips beneath her tight pants, which were tucked into high boots, giving her the kind of flair you’d normally see with a hoity-toity princess out for a ride on an English saddle.

He’d always been a legs and ass man and, thanks to those clothes, both were on cock-teasing display with Margot Walker.

She got to him in a lot of ways, with her long, layered dark brown hair that was somehow classy and gypsylike at the same time. With pale sea-hued eyes that always seemed to be shining with a sense of humor that also came out in her carefree laugh. Her delicate features—a slightly turned-up nose, high cheekbones, a heart-shaped face—reminded him of one of the wood fairy figurines that his mom used to keep on the top shelf in the family room. Statues that had stayed there even years after she’d died, when Clint was just learning to break in horses.

Dignified, delicate, yet slightly wild. That was Margot Walker to a T.

Something fisted in his gut, reminding him of how much he’d wanted her ten years ago. The smart girl who knew how to put down the books and have fun. The life of every party, who lit up a room just by walking into it.

And that was the exact reason he’d been over the moon when she’d come up to his room with him that night.

The thing of it was, he’d genuinely been aiming to watch a movie with her, since they’d been chatting about The Untouchables down at the party and he’d owned a copy.

Her willingness to be alone with him had stunned him, because Margot had always seemed untouchable herself, the only girl who never gave him the time of day...until she’d let down her guard in his room.

At first, he’d sat a decent distance from her on that Naugahyde couch. But, slowly, they’d gotten closer, as if attraction had pulled them together like magnets. And by the time Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia went to the train station to intercept a witness for their case against Al Capone, his gaze was on Margot, not the screen.

And she had been watching him, too, with a softness in her eyes he’d never seen before.

“God help you if you tell anyone about this,” she said before they’d come together.

He’d never been swept away by a girl before, but this one night, it’d happened. And as they kissed—her breath in his ear as she whispered his name—he’d thought that this was it. Margot Walker was the one woman who could make him think there was no one else, just as his dad had thought the same about his mom when they were both alive.

Then, unbeknownst to him, she’d seen the camera, and before he could ask what had gotten her so upset, she’d slapped him, pulled her shirt together, angry as hell, and bolted out of the room without telling him what was wrong.

As confused as he was, he hadn’t gone after her.

And he hadn’t noticed the camera hidden in the corner.

Soon afterward, he’d gone back down to the party to see if she was still there, but she’d left him in the dust, wondering what he’d done.

It wasn’t until the next morning, when his roommate, Jay Halverson, the fraternity historian, couldn’t hold it in any longer, that he found out what’d happened: Jay had seen Clint downstairs, making inroads with the one girl who’d always eluded him. He’d bet that Clint would pull through and bring her back to his room and that the moment should be recorded for the brotherhood’s posterity.

Clint’s blood had been boiling, but when Jay had cued up the video and shown it to him, they’d come to blows. As collateral damage, the video was decimated, smashed to pieces.

But it didn’t matter, because Jay had already made a copy and had given it to some of his friends to watch.

Of course, Margot had sent Clint an email about it that night but he hadn’t seen the message until after the fight with Jay. The content was curt and crisp, barely hiding the hurt that he knew she must’ve felt. He’d written back that he’d destroyed the tape, leaving out the part where Jay had actually been the one who’d filmed her. But she never answered.

Especially after the video made its way from the TV of one fraternity member to the next.

The copy was never found and, for more reasons than the video, Jay was eventually blackballed. But that didn’t give Clint another chance with Margot. It didn’t make him forget her, either, as he ran the cutting horse ranch he loved just a half hour away from Avila Grande, California, and their alma mater.

As he sat in that booth now, watching her walk to Brad, he thought how sad it was that he’d actually come to understand why Margot had reacted the way she did: she didn’t intend to be just an item on a list, or a person a man would forget when he moved on to the next girl. She’d never been merely one of the crowd, and she’d gone out and proved it to the world with that sophisticated career of hers.

And she hadn’t wanted to be the fool, caught on tape as Clint “conquered” her.

Who would?

Seeing her today, a disturbingly hot woman who grabbed him and twisted him inside out, Clint was fascinated all over again. Not that she’d given him the chance to explain, but he’d come to this reunion for one reason and one reason only.

To set matters straight and make it up to her.

He hadn’t planned on coming, not when there was so much going on with his younger twin brothers and the ranch. But when he’d been told the video had found new life on YouTube, he’d blown a gasket, immediately sending an email to his fraternity brothers saying that if they razzed Margot about it this weekend, they’d answer to him.

So far, it looked like they were respecting his requests. Margot stood at the bar with Brad Harrington, laughing and pushing a hank of that stylish gypsy hair away from her face. She was saying hi to the group that had just walked into the dark-wooded room. From this distance, it was pretty obvious that Brad was being amiable enough, but...

Could it be that he wasn’t really in to her?

Nah. Clint couldn’t imagine a red-blooded male anywhere within the boundaries of the U.S. of A. who wouldn’t be eating up her charms.

As Clint toyed with his shot glass, one man broke away from the crowd and moved toward the booth. Clint nodded in greeting to Riley Donahue, then stood to shake his hand just as the waitress came with the other whiskies he’d ordered.

“Took you long enough to get here,” Clint said.

“We were having too much fun. You should’ve come with us.”

“Golf’s not my game.” Again, he stole a glance at Margot, who’d taken a seat on a bar stool and was leaning toward Brad. From here, he could see her sweater gaping open, revealing a gut-punching hint of black bra. Her breasts were round and full, pressed into smooth globes by the tight lace.

He could feel himself getting hard, and he pulled his gaze away. “How’s the life of a happy bachelor?” he asked Riley instead.

Riley, who’d also pledged with Clint and become a good friend, ran a hand through his short black hair. “Happy? I guess you must not have heard the news.”

He wasn’t talking about getting married, seeing as Riley and Dani had been engaged for about a year. They’d been friends until they’d “awakened,” or some such greeting-card crap, one day and really “seen” each other.

Fairy tales, Clint thought. His parents had had a lot of great years together, but it’d just never happened for him. Then again, it wasn’t as if he’d ever wanted to settle down. He’d grown up as a lone wolf while his brothers had depended on each other, forming their own inner circle and keeping him out, and he’d been the same way with everyone else, especially women.

The true love of his life had always been the ranch—a paradise invaded by twin snakes, aka his own flesh-and-blood siblings. Funny how he’d found much better brothers, like Riley, away at college.

Clint made himself comfortable in the booth. “Oh, I’ve certainly heard the news. I’ve already heard more than I bargained for about the auction.”

Margot telling Dani and Leigh about her basket... The sparkly stars that would be a sure sign that it was hers...

But she meant the damn thing for someone else, so why was he even dwelling on it?

Because there are definitely at least eighty ways you could get around her, he thought. And he could guarantee that she enjoyed every one of them, making up lost time with her.

Saying sorry about that tape in every way he could.

Riley spoke, his voice edged with mild frustration. “The guys were all over me about this auction when we were playing golf. I guess the girls’ email loop got everyone talking before we got here and Dani didn’t know it. Nothing like finding out that everyone is swimming in your personal business. I damn well hope Dani put an end to it this afternoon.”

“From what I hear, the girls just want Dani to have that wedding she always planned for. No harm, no foul.”

“I already feel like shit that I can’t give that wedding to Dani myself, and to have us turn into some kind of charity case...?” He shook his head.

From what Clint had overheard, Dani hadn’t asked Margot and Leigh to call off the auction. But—

Sparkling stars... Around the Girl in Eighty Ways...

Riley interrupted. “Ever since I heard about that auction, I’ve wanted to tell Dani that I’d rather elope to a Vegas chapel. But then I think about how much she’s always talked about the dress with one of those long trains or whatever they call it, and how she wants things to happen in a big church with a big reception, and...I just lose the words.”

Clint signaled for yet another round. Riley sure looked like he needed it. Honestly, Clint could use some more drinks, too, because every time he glanced at Margot across the room canoodling with Brad, he felt a keen urge to water down.

“What’re you going to tell Dani, then?” Clint asked. “I think the sisters who keep in touch on email are looking forward to this auction.”

And he was, too?

But that was idiotic, because that basket of Margot’s was aimed at Brad. Plus, she wanted Clint on one side of the room and her on another.

He was damned sure going to change her mind about that.

Riley blew out a breath. “I know Margot and Leigh went to a lot of work. Everyone who brought a basket did, and their intentions are good.”

“Then let everyone play. You can tell the sisters that you’re not taking a dime and the proceeds can go to a charity.”

Riley’s head jerked up, and he looked at Clint as if he were a genius. Yeah, well, he would be about the only one to think that.

But Clint wasn’t here to dwell on the troubles back on the ranch, not when he was among people who’d been even closer to him for a time than his own family. He hadn’t ever thought that his relationship with the twins could get worse, except it had, a couple years ago, when Dad had passed on and split up his estate, giving Clint 60 percent of the cutting horse ranch and Jeremiah and Jason each 20 percent. It made all the sense in the world to Clint, who’d come back home after getting his agriculture business degree and developed the Circle BBB, while the twins had opted for the city and an agriculture development firm they’d built from the ground up.

Things never changed, and the twins still stuck together like glue. According to them, Clint didn’t know what he was doing with the ranch, even though he ran a solid and profitable operation. But, with their business experience “out in the world,” they thought they knew better.

“Why don’t you just drink on this auction business,” he said to Riley, raising his shot glass.

They slammed back their whisky, then bolted their glasses to the table.

As the waitress slid another round to them and left, Clint’s gaze inevitably fixed on Margot again. By now, she was resting her hand on Brad’s arm as they shared another joke.

Clint threw back the newest shot. He kept telling himself Brad was his fraternity brother. Brad was making her laugh when she needed it, which was more than Clint had accomplished earlier.

Riley was rolling up his sleeves, as if acknowledging it was going to be a long-ass reunion weekend. Then he noticed the direction of Clint’s gaze, and he followed it out the booth and over his shoulder, spying Margot.

He turned back to Clint, holding back a grin. “Got your email about the video this morning. Still have some feelings for her?”

“Not even a speck.” He was pissed that it was so obvious. “I just figured it’d be proper to do some damage control for her sake.”

“Right.” Riley fiddled with his glass. “Was Jay the one who posted that video?”

“It appears so. He runs his family’s farm now, so I got a hold of him there. He took the video down already.”

“Did you threaten to cuff him again?”

“No. I just did what my brothers do and I threw a few legal words around. That did the trick.”

“Why’d he even post it?”

“He said it was his contribution to the reunion, but you remember Jay well enough. He was bitter after we blackballed him for not paying dues and—”

“In general being a douche bag.”

“That, too.” Clint pushed his glass away. “Him posting the video was nothing against Margot, but it sure feels personal.”

Riley paused, making Clint shift in his seat. No use lying about how interested he still was in Margot.

“Just a warning,” Riley said. “Dani will even tell you that Margot is still as hard to get as ever.”

Now Clint’s pride was poked, and dammit, it’d been happening too much lately for him to tolerate it.

“She may be hard to get,” he said, “but not impossible.”

“Good luck, after what happened last night with the video.”

“She’ll put it behind her.”

“Whoa. Is that a challenge I hear?”

Clint smiled, then jerked his chin toward the bar. Margot sat right next to Brad, arm to arm.

God.

He glanced away, not wanting to watch, but clearly unable to help himself.

“Not that I want to encourage you,” Riley said, “because I think she’s a lost cause, but Brad doesn’t seem all that interested in her. I remember way back when he dated Margot that summer and it didn’t work out.”

Clint’s smile was back. “Why do you think that was?”

“You know Brad. His parents were conservative as hell and raised him to marry a girl who’d be a good wife. Margot was just a fling while he was interning far from home and both of them probably knew it wouldn’t go anywhere. Besides, he got divorced a few months ago, and he’s a long way from dating anyone again.” Riley picked up his next glass. “But if your mind is set on Margot, I’ll be your wingman. Dani knows that you’re not really the guy with the bad reputation you got because of some college joke. I don’t know why you never stressed to Margot that Jay was behind it all.”

“Wouldn’t have done any good. She’d already written me off.”

“So why do you think things will change now?”

“Just a hunch.”

Clint glanced at the ill-fated couple. Brad leaned his elbow on the bar instead of canting toward Margot, his disinterest clearer than shiny glass.