Barely Mistaken

Olivia corrected her posture and Adam straightened, dropping his arms to his sides.

“We should go inside. It sounds as if it’s much warmer in there,” Olivia regained her voice along with her coherence.

Together they moved toward the door. Adam’s fingers found the small of her back and settled there. Shivers chased along her spine.

“It can’t be any hotter than it is now.” Adam’s muttered comment absolutely wrecked her small measure of composure as they joined the party.

LUKE NAVIGATED through the crush of people hovering about the door without stopping to talk. Kissing Olivia had damn near rendered him incapable of speech. He was still reeling from the impact of that kiss. Holding her in his arms, tasting her mouth, breathing in her scent, had felt like a homecoming. Thirteen long years and he realized the way he’d felt during that first kiss hadn’t been a fluke. He barely refrained from grinning like an idiot. If Adam had ever experienced even a sampling of Olivia’s brimming sensuality and passion, he’d have never referred to her as an ice princess.

He mentally compared the country club to Cecil’s Bar and Grill. As a matter of course, Luke didn’t frequent the country club. This was foreign territory. No dartboards. No pool tables. No neon lights advertising beer. No babes in leather bustiers.

Just as he’d anticipated, the lighting in the ballroom consisted of candles on small, white-clothed tables scattered around the dance floor perimeter. A cash bar in one corner did a steady business. He headed the other way. The less contact he had with people, the less likely he was to blow his disguise. Whoever was supposed to make contact with Adam, would surely seek him out. The safest way to avoid conversation was to hit the dance floor, Luke reasoned as he steered Olivia in that direction. And quite frankly, the prospect of holding her close didn’t pose a hardship.

The microphone hummed as the song ended and the band’s singer stepped up. “We’re going to slow it down before we take a break.”

The music began and Olivia turned into his arms with a quiet smile that slammed his heart against his ribs. Unfortunately, her smile was intended for his brother.

“I know you don’t like to dance, but I’m glad we’re out here,” she murmured as he clasped her hand, small and delicate, against his chest. She cupped his shoulder with her other hand. He didn’t dance much and certainly not with women like Olivia. She felt amazingly right in his embrace.

He was far happier to know Adam had never held her like this than he should’ve been.

“You inspire me.” He pulled her a fraction closer, achingly aware of her soft curves beneath the stiff starch of her dress. She radiated classy elegance. She’d been too good for him years ago when he’d stolen a kiss. She was still out of his league.

Behind the black velvet mask trimmed in feathers, her gray eyes studied him intently, almost squinting. Did she recognize he wasn’t Adam? No. He wanted to continue to hold her in his arms and sway to the sultry song. “What is it?”

Tugging her hand free of his, she reached up and rubbed the pad of her thumb against the edge of his upper lip. “I branded you with my lipstick.”

To hell with the lipstick, her touch branded him. Her hands drifted farther up, resting between his shoulders and his neck, touching his bare flesh. He’d seen fine-looking women naked and not been nearly as turned on as he was now.

Luke traced his finger along the satin skin near her lips.

“Am I smeared?” Her voice resonated low and husky, her breath warm and moist against his finger.

She wasn’t, but it offered a good excuse to touch her mouth. He lingered, tempted by the fullness of her lips and the memory of their recent kiss. “No, they’re perfect.”

Behind her mask, her gray eyes flirted, as she tilted her head coquettishly. “My Lord Pirate, your flattery goes to my head.” Her fingers cupped the nape of his neck. His belly clenched in response.

“And your nearness goes to mine, Lady Olivia.” Both of his heads.

With a sigh, she melted against him. This was the woman his brother referred to as the “ice princess”? Once again, he was fiercely glad Adam seemed oblivious to the passion that simmered just below her surface, that lit the seductive light in her eyes.

Silently swaying to the music, Luke absorbed Olivia. Her sensual mouth so at odds with the angular lines of her face. The graceful length of her neck that begged to be nibbled. The alabaster mounds of her breasts teasing at her neckline. The curve of her waist beneath his hand. The errant brush of her nipples against his chest. Her subtle fragrance wove about him, tantalizing and exotic. She was a hidden treasure and he knew just the pirate to explore her.

A giant marshmallow dancing with a peanut M&M’s bumped into him, jostling Olivia enough to bring her head up off his shoulder.

“Sorry, Adam. Olivia,” the marshmallow stammered an apology.

Luke managed not to glare at Mr. Sta-Puf as he steered in the opposite direction. For a few, brief minutes he’d forgotten Olivia was only in his arms on sufferance.

“I forgot to tell you earlier, Jeff was looking for you.” The feathers trimming her mask tickled against his chin. Fine strands of her hair brushed his cheek like dark silk.

“Good old Jeff.” Who the hell was Jeff? Obviously someone he should know, so he could hardly ask Olivia to point him out. Was he Adam’s contact at the party?

The song ended. Couples drifted off the crowded floor as the band dispersed for a break. He twined his fingers through Olivia’s, reluctant to release her.

A smile turned up the corners of her mouth and lit her eyes. “I have a table in the back.”

Several people greeted them. Luke returned the greeting, but continued to wind his way to the back of the room. Olivia glanced at him in surprise. “You don’t want to stop and talk?”

Oh, yeah. Adam was a schmoozer. “Not tonight.”

“Here it is.” Olivia stopped by one of the draped tables in a back corner. As Luke pulled out a chair for her, she sat in the one next to it. “You can have the seat facing the mirror.”

Luke glanced over at a mirror reflecting his pirate image. He bit back a smirk as he sat down. When they were teenagers, he’d teased Adam about frequently checking his appearance in the mirror. Apparently Adam still liked to admire himself. And apparently Olivia had noticed. His knee brushed against hers as he settled his legs beneath the table. The brief contact sizzled through him.

Olivia felt it too. Awareness echoed in her sharp intake of breath and the widening of her eyes. “I raised more money for the library addition tonight,” she said in a rush, as if desperate to say something.

“Good. Are you excited construction starts Monday?” Driven to touch her, he captured one of her hands and brought it to his mouth. He nuzzled the soft center of her palm. Her fingertips curled against his jaw. Her luscious lips parted. She appeared slightly dazed as she murmured a yes.

“You know Luke’s going to supervise the job personally.”

Her mouth tightened and her hand clenched within his grasp. “But Mr. Klegman is supposed to.”

Yes, Dave was supposed to until about two seconds ago when Luke decided he would take on the project. Dave wouldn’t care. “Change of plans, I guess.”

Olivia tensed. “No one mentioned it to me.”

Luke shrugged with feigned carelessness. He knew he shouldn’t tread where he was about to go, but daring had always faced down judiciousness. He leaned close, fascinated by the delicate shell of her ear. Luke inhaled her scent with each breath. “Don’t you like my brother?”

“No.” Her gut response rang low and vehement. She scrambled to recover as politeness warred with truth in the depth of her eyes. “I mean yes. Of course I do.”

It was ridiculous that something he already knew carried a sting. It was the why of the matter he didn’t understand. Tomorrow—when she realized he’d tricked her—tomorrow she’d have a reason to dislike him, but why now?

“I think your first answer was the truth. Why don’t you like Luke, Olivia?”

Her chin jutted at an obstinate angle. She gazed at the flickering candle. “He makes me uncomfortable. He doesn’t follow the rules. He’s a loose cannon and I’ve got enough of those in my own family.” She shifted her attention to stare directly into his eyes—well, his eye and the eyepatch covering the other one. “I don’t want to discuss Luke anymore.”

Quite frankly, he’d lost his appetite for hearing why she disliked him. “Fair enough. Why don’t I get us a drink?”

“Tonic with lime would be great.”

He found himself oddly reluctant to leave her for even the brief time required to fetch drinks. Without forethought or planning, he leaned forward and brushed the soft fullness of her mouth with the hard line of his own. It was difficult to say who was more surprised, her or him. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be here.” She appeared as bemused as he felt.

Luke managed to cross the room to the bar without getting snagged into a conversation, which was a good thing because quiet, demure Olivia had thrown him for a loop. Quiet, demure women should have a calming effect on a man. Olivia affected him just the opposite. Something about her stirred up the wildness in his soul. Every damn time he was around her, he wound up kissing her.

He ordered two tonics with lime—as much as he’d like a healthy splash of gin to doctor his up, he needed to keep a clear head and that was already something of a challenge with Olivia. Drinks in hand, he turned and found himself face-to-face with Henrietta Williams, head of the Welcome Committee and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

“Hello, Adam. You look so dashing as a pirate. I declare, you almost take my breath away.” Henrietta batted her lashes and simpered.

It was far more likely that Henrietta’s girdle rendered her breathless. Luke, however, in a rare moment of gallantry, refrained from making that observation. “Why thank you, Henrietta. That’s quite a…” he searched frantically for a way to describe a woman with the proportions of a sumo wrestler wearing a Geisha getup “um…inventive outfit you have there.”

“Candy and I are Oriental sugar and spice tonight.” Henrietta giggled behind a lacquered fan, and indicated her daughter at a nearby table. Candy, a younger replica of her mother, both in build and costume, waved in his direction. “I know you’re glad to have all that fund-raising over with. It was generous of you to give up so much of your time to that Cooper girl. Very sweet of you to invite her tonight to the club.” She lowered her voice and raised her penciled eyebrows. “Let’s just hope she doesn’t get any ideas she belongs here.”

“I know what you mean, Olivia’s much too good to belong here,” Luke even managed to smile at the snobbish battle-ax.

Luke turned on his heel and walked away even as Henrietta tittered behind him. “Now Candy’s going to save you a dance as long as you don’t make her walk the plank. I’ll tell her to look for you when the band starts up again,” she sang out to his retreating back.

He cut across the empty dance floor, eager to avoid any more matchmaking mammas.

Luke presented Olivia with the watered-down drink, the ice having given up the fight with the crowded, overheated room.

“Sorry, the ice is pretty much gone. Henrietta Williams waylaid me.”

“Let me guess, Henrietta was trying to set you up with Candy.” She took the drink. He watched as Olivia tipped the glass, fascinated by the movement of her throat as she swallowed. Moisture dripped from the glass to the valley created by her cleavage. She lowered the tumbler and sighed with satisfaction. “At least it’s wet.” She held the glass against her neck. “Are you as hot as I am?”

The lack of guile in her gray eyes combined with her sexy words left him dry-mouthed with want. He fought the urge to lick off the moisture where it clung to a tempting expanse of her neck, to follow that wet rivulet to her valley. If she ever realized her own sensuality, she’d be lethal.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been hotter.” Desperate, he tossed back a portion of water, mourning his decision to forego a stiff measure of gin. Alcohol couldn’t possibly unhinge him any further.

“Let’s take a moonlight stroll in the gardens.”

Once again, desire slammed him. “I don’t think that will cool us off.”

“I know.”

A rush of tenderness filled him at the hint of uncertainty flickering in her eyes, despite the invitation issued by her smile. Luke sat rooted to the spot, momentarily incapable of moving, overwhelmed by his good luck.

The microphone squealed as the band’s singer announced the next set. In the mirror, he caught a glimpse of Henrietta urging Candy in his direction. That was enough to dispel his inertia.

As the other couples rushed to the dance floor, he slipped out the back door with Olivia.

3

MOONLIGHT DANCED through bare branches, casting an ethereal spell along the garden path. Gravel crunched underfoot as they passed a fountain where a stone maiden spilled water into a pool below. The fecund fragrance of fertile soil underlaid the brisk bite of autumn air.

Caught up in sensual enchantment, Olivia wouldn’t have been surprised to spot a satyr in fleeting pursuit of a nymph. She herself had become a lady-in-waiting absconding with a dangerous pirate. Tomorrow she’d go back to plain Olivia the librarian, but this magical night had transformed her into Lady Olivia.

Neither spoke until they reached a trellised archway where countless couples had exchanged vows over the years. Within the shadowed confines of the archway, Adam turned to her. He wrapped his hands around the back of her neck, tugging her closer with a tender urgency. She’d never guessed such an innocuous spot could be so rich in sensory nerves. She felt his touch all the way to her toes.

Even as she slid her hands around his waist and met his lips with her own, Olivia realized she’d never felt more alive than at this moment. Her eyes drifted closed. His mouth tasted faintly of lime. Was it seconds or hours that they stood wrapped in one another? Olivia had no idea, she only knew it hadn’t been long enough when the kiss ended. She leaned back against the latticed wall of the trellis, seeking support. Give Adam a pirate costume and he became a different man.

Adam leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. Just that simple contact and his proximity, and her knees threatened to buckle. It was as if some magic thread bound them together.

“Olivia, I need to tell you something—”

She quieted him with a finger against his lips. “Shh. Tonight’s magic.” She traced the firm line of his mouth with her fingertip and felt his shuddered response. A thrill shot through her that she affected him as deeply as he affected her. And much like a tiny piece of rich, dark chocolate melting against her tongue, his kisses were sinfully delicious but gone so quickly, she merely craved more.

“But, I’m—”

“Please.” She leaned against him and teased her tongue against his lips. “When you…when I…I’ve never felt that way before when we kissed.” Olivia summoned all her courage. “I don’t want to talk, I just want to feel like that again.”

With a groan, he swooped down and captured her mouth. Forget feeling that way again—this was even better. His lips probed, fierce yet tender. She opened her mouth to him, eager for the thrust of his tongue against hers. Heat scorched her, from the inside out. He splayed his broad hands against her back to pull her closer, and she arched into him. Her breasts welcomed the hard wall of his chest. She moaned her pleasure into his mouth and felt him swell, hard and fast, against her belly.

A sense of destiny shook her.

He dragged his mouth away from hers. Their breathing rasped into the quiet of the garden. Before she could protest his abandonment, he scattered kisses along her jawline. Olivia dropped her head back to allow him fuller access to her neck. Quick study, her pirate. As he lavished her with kisses, his breath warm and moist against the chill of her exposed skin, she quivered and her body tightened.

He slid her dress off of one shoulder, baring it to his mouth. “So…very…very…sweet.” Nibbles punctuated his words and drove her further out of her mind, into a state of blissful sensation. “So…beautiful.” His tongue swirled against the exposed slope of her breast. Desire flashed through her, like a rampaging river swollen by torrential rains.

He slipped his thumb inside her bodice and brushed against her pearled tip. Olivia whimpered. A faint scrape of his thumbnail against her nipple and her hips undulated against him in supplication. He pushed aside the starched material and freed her breast to the nip of the night air.

She felt vulnerable. She also experienced a peculiar sense of belonging and shelter in his arms. Exposed, yet safe. It was an intoxicating combination.

“You…” he cupped her breast in his hand “…are…” he bent forward until his breath warmed her tight bud “…mine?” Part declaration, part question.

“Yes.” Part answer, part demand.

He suckled her deep into his mouth, then released her to tug at her nipple with his lips. Pleasure pulsed from her breast to her thighs. She clutched at the lattice behind her, bruising the delicate vine twining around it, and whimpered.

The sharp sound of crunching gravel nearby interrupted. Teasing laughter floated over the flowers and shrubs, as another couple sought the enchantment of a garden stroll.

Olivia froze, acutely aware of her semidressed state in the shadow of the trellis. Before she summoned the wherewithal, Adam restored her clothing with unsteady hands.

Instead of anticipated embarrassment, mild annoyance at the interruption stirred in her breast—and other parts farther south.

The night air carried a woman’s voice. “It’s cold out here. Let’s go back to your house.” A man murmured indistinctly, but retreating footsteps left Olivia and Adam alone once again.

Olivia had no intention of squandering even a minute of this night out of time. She smoothed her palms over the flat plane of his belly up to his chest. Standing on tiptoe, she whispered into his ear, “I don’t think it’s cold at all. In fact, I think it’s very, very hot.”

His wig, gathered at his nape with a leather strap in true pirate fashion, tickled against her nose, surprisingly silky and real. Tonight Adam had abandoned his hair gel with the annoying odor. She infinitely preferred the clean scent of sandalwood present beneath the wig.

“Honey, you are killing me.” His low murmur stirred her hair and her feminine self-esteem.

“Am I really?” Go figure. She, Olivia Cooper, a femme fatale? From the time she’d donned her costume and mask, it was as if she’d slid through the rabbit hole—Olivia in Sensual Wonderland.

He brushed his groin against her, the thick ridge of his erection apparent. “Really.”

Her thighs quivered and clenched in response. “Oh, my. Is that a sword in your pocket or are you just glad to see me, Captain Hook?” And now she was glib and flirtatious. Really, altogether too strange.

She sensed his smile in the dark as his thumb played against the hollow of her cheek. “Baby, I’m so glad to see you, there’s no damn way I can go inside now.”

Up until now Adam had always addressed her in a formal manner. His earthy sensuality struck a chord within her.

Where such boldness came from she would always wonder, but she reached between them and palmed him. He pulsed at her touch. “We could go to my house.”

“Are you propositioning me, Olivia?” Was that a hopeful note underlaying his incredulity?

She knew she’d stepped—make that leaped—beyond her self-imposed boundaries. But one night. For one night her mask and the shadows offered a measure of anonymity. She drew a fortifying breath and seized the opportunity. “Yes. I believe I am.”

“Thank God.” He wrapped her in his arms. “Pillage and plunder?”

“Hmmm.” Instinct took over. She licked at the base of his throat. He shuddered in response.

“Let’s go.” The strain in his voice and the fact she’d put it there, excited her.

She traced her tongue against the pulse hammering in his neck. He groaned and set her from him. “Let’s go now. No more of that.”

Compelled to seek one more touch, Olivia kissed the strong column of his throat. The slight chafing of his beard aroused her unbearably.

“Olivia, you’ve got to stop.” His voice echoed his harsh breathing. “We’re about one kiss away from the point when I won’t care if fifty people are inside that building. Before I prop you against the lattice, raise your skirts, and slip inside you while you wrap your legs around me.”

His words inflamed her. Moisture slicked her. Her nipples further tightened to hard points of want. She teetered dangerously close to the edge of not caring herself. The ten-minute car trip to her house loomed like an eternity.

She couldn’t get him home fast enough. “Let’s go. You can follow me.”

He twined his fingers through hers and tugged her along, leaving the privacy of their hidden corner behind. She sensed his urgent need matched hers. As they reached the front steps of the club, Adam tossed his ticket at the snoozing teenager on valet duty. “I’ll be back in a minute for my car.”

The boy scrambled for the appropriate key. “Yes, sir, Mr. Rutledge.”

Without speaking, they wound through the parking lot. When they reached her car, Adam caught her up in his arms and kissed her hard, as if he hadn’t touched her for days instead of a matter of minutes. His mouth’s demanding hunger reduced the world to just the two of them. Still holding her in his arms, he raised his head.

“Olivia, I want you to know there hasn’t been anyone for a long time.”

“Does that mean you’re desperate?” she blurted out, her insecurities running away with her mouth.

He chuckled as he slid the backs of his fingers against her cheek. Although she couldn’t see it, she felt the intensity of his gaze. “No. It means I’m choosy. Very, very choosy.” He bent his head and kissed her, a slow, lip-clinging, mind-drugging, heat-infusing kiss. “But I am desperate for you.” He brushed her lips with his once more. “I’ll be right behind you,” he promised, looking back as he strode away.

Olivia remained against her car, uncertain she was actually capable of driving.

She opened the door and fell into the seat, the bright light of the interior harsh compared to the soft moonlight. Olivia killed the dome light and fumbled for her glasses. She slid her mask to her forehead and donned her glasses. She cranked the car and pulled out of the space. Adam’s car lights flashed in her rearview as she turned left onto the highway.

If she hadn’t seen him drive up in his car, wearing the costume he’d described earlier, she wouldn’t have known him. Tonight everything about him—his voice, his scent, his touch—tapped something deep inside her.

Although she had her occasional wild impulses, there had never been anything of this magnitude. Tonight was so out of character for her, she should be frightened. But it was excitement that rendered her hands unsteady on the wheel. The only thing that scared her now was that Adam might change his mind on the drive.

She checked her rearview mirror. Yeow! Let him get a look at this and he’d change his mind for sure. Tortoiseshell glasses and a black velvet mask hiked to her forehead—not pretty. Without her glasses, she was a one-woman wreck waiting to happen. But the minute she pulled into the driveway, they were history.

LUKE FOLLOWED OLIVIA. Don’t change your mind, he silently willed her.

But what kind of son-of-a-bitch considered sleeping with his brother’s girlfriend? A worrisome remnant of his conscience niggled him. The kind who knew Adam didn’t really care about Olivia. The kind who knew she had never responded to Adam the way she responded to him. The kind who couldn’t manage a coherent thought after kissing her. The kind pulling into her driveway behind her…