Always a Lady (8 page)

"It's good to see you smile, Lily."

"For pete's sake, Case," Lily muttered, as she swiped uselessly at the soap and water dripping down from the cabinet onto the floor, "you startled me. I didn't know anyone was still here."

"Sorry," he said, but he lied.

He was not sorry he'd stayed behind, and he definitely wasn't sorry that the water that had soaked into the front of her blouse was making it almost translucent. He should have been. But he wasn't. Lily was so beautiful, and she curved in all the right places. He wanted to pull her into his arms and imprint himself into her body as persistently as the wet blouse that was sticking to her breasts.

"Just look what you've done," Lily accused, as she picked helplessly at the collar of her shirt.

"I'm looking," Case said, "but I'm not sure you'd be wanting me to if you could see what I see."

He struggled with the need to grin as Lily's face turned twelve shades of red and exploded into instant fury.

"If you were a gentleman, you wouldn't be looking," she blustered, and turned away in angry embarrassment.

"Oh no, Lily Catherine," Case said softly, "only a fool wouldn't look at a beautiful woman. Gentleman has nothing to do with it."

Lily forgot to breathe or argue with the fact that he'd taken to calling her by the name reserved for her family. Beautiful! Her hand shot toward her face in reflex to his words but it never reached the scar. Case caught it before it touched her cheek.

"I told you never to hide your face from me again, didn't I," Case said, as he threaded his fingers through her shaking hand and turned her in his arms to face him.

Lily nodded, although she refused to meet his gaze. She couldn't bear to see pity on his face.

But it wasn't pity that Case wore, and Lily should have looked.

"I almost forgot why I came back," Case said softly, tilting her head up to meet his look. "Don't cook tonight. Set out some sandwich fixings. The men can fend for themselves. I'm taking you and your family out to eat."

The pleasure that shot through her died almost as quickly as it was born. She hadn't been out socially in public since her accident and the panic that followed the pleasure made her stiffen in Case's arms.

"I don't think that's such a . . ."

"I didn't ask you what you thought, Lily. I don't even want to hear it. I'm not asking anything of you that you're not ready to face. It's not like I asked anything so difficult of you. I could have asked you to my bed, Lily. But I didn't. I only asked you to dinner. Please . . ."

If he just hadn't mentioned his bed she wouldn't have forgotten to be angry. It was the image his words painted that made her forget what she'd been about to say. But he had, and she folded in his arms like an umbrella in a windstorm. She shrugged.

"You could ask, Case Longren, until your tongue fell out, but bed is the last place I'd go with you." The expression of cool disdain she was trying to effect was failing miserably. "However, since you said please, I suppose dinner isn't out of the question . . . as long as my father and brothers are along."

Case grinned. When he left, she was going to be furious with him as well as herself, but he'd take what he could get and for now, dinner was it.

"That's the most ladylike insult I've ever received, Lily love."

He leaned forward, his mouth opening, opening, and then Lily watched in shocked fascination as it pursed. Case took a deep breath and blew long and slow at the soap bubble hanging suspended on the side of her face. It lifted off her cheek and floated into the air at eye level where Lily saw Case stick out a finger and burst its errant flight. The tiny pop it made was almost nonexistent, but Lily heard it just the same. At least she thought it was the bubble, but it might have been one of the icicles breaking away from her heart. She wasn't sure, and she didn't want to find out.

"So you're having a barbecue Saturday night?" Lily's brother Buddy asked between mouthfuls of salad he was shoveling into his mouth with less than precision.

It was the first Lily had heard of any barbecue and she alternated between panic at the amount of food she would have to prepare and the fact that Buddy needed his manners cleaned up. She'd been away from home too long.

"Buddy, you still haven't lost it, have you?" Lily asked sharply.

Her brother looked up, the question hanging from his eyes as accurately as the string of lettuce hanging from his mouth.

"Lost what?" he mumbled.

"The ability to talk and chew at the same time," Lily drawled.

Buddy blushed and shoveled the bit of lettuce inside with the rest as he grinned at the good-natured banter he was receiving.

"Sorry, sis," he said. "I guess you need to come back home more often and give us a refresher course on manners. There's too many men living in that big old house alone."

"That's not my fault, brother dear," Lily teased. "I still can't fathom why four perfectly healthy men haven't been able to find just one woman between you. You're either all awfully selfish and set in your ways, or there's something you guys haven't told me about your choice of life-styles."

Case burst out laughing at the look of indignant shock that flew around the table. Lord, it must be nice to have such a family! And he wished with all his heart that he was a part of it.

"I don't think any of us have anything to apologize for," Cole muttered. "We just haven't found the right woman yet, just like you hadn't found the right man, Lily Kate. You know we all hated Todd 'The Bod' from day one. We weren't far off the mark on him, so there's still hope for us . . . and for you, too." Then he grinned and looked pointedly at the big man sitting to her left.

Lily flushed and looked down at her plate. She knew they were right. She'd never guessed so wrong about a man in her life. And that was one reason she didn't trust her budding emotions about her boss, either.

She glanced nervously around the crowded restaurant, smoothed at the bodice of the pink silk sheath she was wearing, and imagined that everyone was staring at her disfigured face. She breathed a tiny sigh of relief when she could see no one looking in their direction. She started to slide her hand up to her cheek when she remembered Case's warning and turned wide, green, shell-shocked eyes toward him instead.

Sure enough, hot blue was watching her every movement as intently as a spider watches a daredevil fly. Glaring at his temerity, she tilted her head back in defiance, unaware of the seductiveness of the movement as the curls clouding around her neck fell down her back and over the top of the chair in which she was sitting.

Case caught his breath as he watched her hair slide like hot honey over and down the furniture and wished they were somewhere alone. He'd take off every stitch of clothing she was wearing and clothe her in nothing but that abundant, glorious gold.

Lost in thought, he almost missed it as Lily's father chided Cole for mentioning Todd Collins at all.

"You didn't have to bring that up," Morgan said angrily.

"No, Dad," Lily said. "It's all right. And he's right. What can I say? As J.D. always says, I was suckered."

Case watched the hurt come and go in her eyes and wished he had the right to take her in his arms and heal the pain. But he didn't and had to satisfy himself with less.

Lily caught her breath and let her mouth fall open in slight surprise as Case slipped his hand beneath the tablecloth, pulled the napkin from her hand, and threaded his fingers through hers.

He'd known, even with all her laughter and teasing, that she was still hurting. He'd heard the bitterness in her words just as he now felt the anger.

Lily looked up and saw the expressions on his face flash and flare as his work-roughened palm slid across her smaller, softer one, engulfing it in a strong, sensuous stroke of comfort.

Morgan caught the look that passed between them and wondered if Lily was just getting out of one problem and into another. They knew little about Case Longren other than the fact that he was successful and hard-working and seemed to worship the ground Lily walked on. But Todd Collins had those traits and look what he'd done! However, there was one thing in Case's favor. He didn't seem to be aware of the long red scar down Lily's face. In fact, he didn't act like he even knew it was there.

Morgan sighed. He knew that it did no good to worry. His daughter was grown and could and would make her own decisions. He just prayed that it wouldn't get her hurt again.

"So," Buddy continued as if nothing else had ever been said, "what's with the barbecue?"

Case grinned as he answered.

"It's kind of an annual tradition. Neighbors come bringing everything good to eat and I furnish the meat. Duff, my foreman, is an expert when it comes to outdoor cooking. Usually we help him with the calf fries, but the side of beef is his priority."

"Calf fries?" Lily hadn't heard the term before but the answer she received did nothing to assure her that she was ever going to let a morsel of it pass her lips.

"You mean you eat . . . you cook what was . . . people actually want to eat what was once . . ." laughter was rising around the table as she continued in shocked horror, ". . . the reproductive organs of poor unfortunate animals?" Lily gasped and pressed her fingers to her lips.

"Oh God! Lily, you're priceless." Case couldn't contain his mirth. "That's the most ladylike description I ever heard put to . . ."

Lily interrupted him before he could finish.

"I don't eat such things, and I can't imagine anyone else doing so either." Her indignation was rising.

Case leaned back in his chair in full view of everyone in the restaurant and let a full belly laugh flow forth. He couldn't help it. His L.A. woman was suddenly out of her depth in more ways than one.

"Remember when I was afraid you'd feed my men sunflower seeds?" Case said, trying to pull himself together. "Well, why don't you just look at calf fries as . . . hamburger seeds? After all, if they'd stayed where nature intended, somewhere down the road they'd have been responsible for hamburger. What do you think?"

"I think you're all full of bull," Lily said distinctly, as she rose and excused herself from the table. "And I think I should go powder something . . . or," she mumbled as she walked away from the table, "take a powder. It might be safer. I'm definitely outnumbered tonight."

The next few days saw increased activity as the roundup got back in full swing and preparations for the barbecue began. Lily was relieved that the night would amount to an evening off for her. She didn't have the usual mountain of food to prepare, only some fruit pies as her contribution to the buffet. She'd refused point blank to have anything to do with cooking the small, oval, milky-white slices that would ultimately result in the famous calf fries.

Just remembering their origin made her wince. Poor animals! It did no good to listen to Case's patient explanations about the futility of having too many bulls on the same ranch and the dangers of inbreeding that could result. It just wasn't something she was comfortable discussing. Now if they'd wanted to discuss the stock market instead of the beef market, she'd have been more confident. But she was in the wrong place and the wrong state for such matters. Oklahoma was definitely more than a state of the union, it was a state of mind.

"Lilleee!" Buddy's bawl echoed down the long staircase and throughout the downstairs area with persistent pathos.

She rolled her eyes, dusted the flour from her hands, and eyed the fruit pies. They were at a safe stage to leave for a few minutes. From the sound of her brother's call, he was in some sort of difficulty. However, with Buddy, it wasn't always easy to tell.

She started throught the wide, spacious downstairs, letting her eyes feast on the old-fashioned, almost Victorian look the house wore and knew that nothing had been changed or redecorated since Case was a child. But she liked it. It was always clean, open and inviting, and she wished she had an excuse to venture through it more often. Case had a professional cleaning crew who came weekly. They did their job, stayed out of Lily's way when she was busy, and disappeared as quietly as they appeared.

At first the presence of two men and one woman who moved throughout the house in their crisp green coveralls like garden shadows was disconcerting. But now she took them as a matter of course and was grateful for the fact that all she had to do was cook. The house was enormous and almost more than one person could have managed. It was a shame that Case lived in it alone.

"Lilleee!" Buddy repeated, only louder and longer.

She took the stairs in double-time.

"Coming," she called, and met him ambling out of his room with a shirt in one hand and a string tie in the other.

"What's wrong now?" she asked with a grin, as her beloved Buddy shoved both objects toward her with a panicked look on his face.

"The top button is off, and I don't know how to tie this tie."

"Lord love a duck, Buddy. I thought you were being killed or something."

Buddy grinned helplessly and shrugged.

Lily's sigh was one of loving disgust.

Buddy was the second oldest, but the least able to cope with problems. He lived in a world of computers and machines that didn't allow the human connection. He was a computer programmer and just shy of brilliant. But he was the least likely to ever marry. He evaded personal relationships like the plague and the only female allowed in his world was his baby sister, Lily.

"Something wrong?" Case asked, as he burst through the bathroom door with nothing on save an oversized bathtowel.

Oh God! I didn't need to see this. I know I wondered if he was brown all over, but I really didn't want to know. Now how am I going to forget?

"Ooops," Case grinned, and grabbed at the twist of towel at his waist, just to make sure that it was still secure. "I didn't know you were up here, Lily. I was in the shower and heard someone yelling over the racket the water was making. Thought someone was in trouble."