Pass Interference (23 page)

“Where are we sitting?” she asked Rafe as he guided her toward the front of the room.

He nodded to a table not far from the podium. “Same place I always sit.”

“With your friends,” she guessed. Of course. Other years she’d deliberately ignored him, or pretended to, putting on her very stupid act. “I hope—” She stopped.

“It will be fine.” His voice was a little less harsh and held the first note of sympathy and understanding she’d heard from him.

He guided her easily through the crowd of people standing around, chatting, sipping drinks. Several people greeted Tyler, most of them with stunned looks on their faces before they got themselves under control. She managed to give everyone a cordial greeting and tell them how pleased she was to be representing the Hawks tonight.

“They must think I sent a clone tonight,” she whispered to Rafe.

“Actually, I think they’re stunned at the real thing.” He squeezed her arm. “Are you doing okay?”

“So far.” She gave a shaky little laugh. “But the evening’s far from over.”

“You can do it,” he murmured. “And I’m right here.”

Yes, but as her bodyguard, her keeper...or what she really wanted?

Rafe nodded to everyone and exchanged smiles as he kept them moving. She faltered a moment when she spotted Chad sitting at a table off to her left. Although a very attractive woman was sitting next to him, his eyes were glued to Tyler and followed her progress through the room. She shivered slightly at the look on his face. There was something just so ravenous about it. And possessive. Where had that come from?

“Problem?” Rafe murmured in her ear and turned to look over at Chad. “Just keep moving and be thankful we have to behave tonight.”

“Why?”

“If he makes a move in your direction, I might have to deck him and that would destroy the line of my tux and ruin my reputation for self-control.”

“Oh, ah, well…”

“Come on, we’re almost there.”

Then finally they were at their table and everyone was looking at her with great interest.

“Say hello to Tyler Gillette,” Rafe said as he held out a chair for her.

A few jaws dropped and a couple of people frowned momentarily before smoothing out their expressions. Apparently they had seen her previous performances here. But they all nodded and there was a smattering of friendly hellos as Rafe introduced her to everyone. She tried to file away all their names away for later. Joe Reilly, the guiding force for the event, and his wife Shay. Jake Russell and his fiancee, Erin Brody. Mike and Shana Lazarus. Jilly and Jason Mackenzie.

“Nice to meet you.” Okay, now what? She wasn’t quite sure how this new Tyler should act.

“I’m pleased you’re sitting with us this time.” Joe Reilly smiled at her, a warm smile that did a lot to ease her nerves. “On behalf of the scholarship fund, I want to thank the Hawks for their incredible contribution. It will greatly increase the number of scholarships we’ll be able to award.”

She hoped her own smile didn’t look as stiff as it felt. “We’re happy to do it. My father has always believed in supporting young athletes. I think everyone should be thanking you for your commitment to it.” Then she unfolded her napkin in her lap and reached for her glass of ice water, taking a slow sip.

“I’m going to hit the bar before they bring the food.” Mike Lazarus stood up. “Can I get anything for anyone?”

Only one person took him up on his offer.

“Tyler?” he asked. “Something for you?” He winked at Rafe. “In case Rafe forgot to ask you.”

“Nothing, but thank you.”

Rafe looked surprised when she didn’t order a drink, but he shook his head also.

Tyler inhaled and let out a slow breath, calming her jittery nerves. She was stunned when Rafe actually reached for her hand beneath the table and gave it a gentle squeeze. She glanced sideways at him but he was engrossed in conversation with the man to his right. Jason? Right, Jason Something.

She took a moment to look around the room, taking it all in without the haze of alcohol. Tony Castillo’s words about her father suddenly popped back into her head. Was it possible he hadn’t known how to deal with his grief? But they could have grieved together, couldn’t they? If he didn’t know how to raise a daughter as opposed to a son, they could have stumbled through it together.

People could change. She knew that. Look at what she was doing with herself. Did the gruff Kurt Gillette want to change, too? Was this whole setup with Rafe protecting her a way for him to reach out to her and try to build a relationship? Difficult as it might be, she’d have to give it some thought, and see what his next move might be.

She was still lost in thought when Rafe nudged her and whispered, “Wake up, Tyler. Someone’s talking to you.”

She blinked. “Oh, sorry.”

One of the women, Jilly, if she remembered right, laughed, but it was a friendly sound, not disparaging.

“So it seems Rafe has been hiding something from us,” she said.

Tyler frowned. “Excuse me?”

“He hasn’t brought a woman around us for a long time,” she explained, a smile teasing her lips.

“Right.” This was Shana speaking now. Yes, Shana. At least, Tyler thought. She was pretty good with names. “I even tried to fix him up with my sister but they were never more than friends.”

“Oh,” she protested, “We’re not—We’re just—” Just what? What should she tell them? She wished Rafe would jump in.

But when he did she was stunned.

“She’s definitely something, isn’t she?” he asked.

Okay, that was about as noncommittal as it could get. But he didn’t deny the whole thing and she wondered why.

“Are you a big football fan, Tyler?” Shay asked her. “I think all of us are immersed in it one way or another.”

Great. Just great.

“I, um, well, that is—” Could she sound any more like an idiot? She should just lie, for heaven’s sake.

“Tyler hasn’t been as involved in the team as she’d like,” Rafe broke in smoothly. “But that’s going to change pretty soon.”

It was? She turned to him and hoped the shock she felt didn’t show on her face.

“You should get Rafe to bring you to some of our get-togethers,” Shana said. “These guys like to pretend they’re still in high school and relive the glory years. And we like to laugh at them.”

Tyler didn’t know what to say. “That’s very nice of you to offer.”

“I’m sure she’d enjoy it,” Rafe said. “I’ll make sure it happens.”

And wasn’t he just full of surprises tonight.

“Maybe Shay will give us another of her impromptu performances,” Mike said with a grin.

Shay Reilly smiled but a red flush crept up her face. “You guys ever going to let me forget it?”

“Not if we can help it.” He turned to Tyler. “First time Joe brought her to the house we were having a pickup football game in the backyard—”

“Which they do whenever it’s possible,” Shana broke in. “The boys and their toys.”

“Anyway,” Mike went on, winking at his wife, “Shay used to try to get Joe and her brother Hank to let her mix it up with them when they tossed the ball around in her yard. So when someone tossed the ball and it headed toward her, she just jumped up, caught it, and ran it to the end of the yard for a touchdown.”

Everyone at the table laughed, including Shay. Tyler wondered what it would be like to feel that easy and relaxed with people. Not that she couldn’t let it all hang out with Betsy and Lynn, but there was an altered feeling to the connection between and among these people. A different flavor. And when she glanced at Rafe she saw him looking at them the same way.

It amazed her that these men had been friends since high school. That had to be at least fifteen years ago. Where was that school? Oh, yeah, Granite Falls. About an hour from San Antonio, she thought. She and Betsy and Lynn had formed what she called a defensive friendship. Their bond defended and protected them against the lack of a real family environment and parents too involved in their own lives to care about their children. But these people had come together because of a milestone and bonded as friends.

“I guess you’ll be sitting in the owner’s suite, right, Tyler?”

She looked up, startled, as Shay called her name. “Excuse me?”

“Rafe said you’ll be at the game tomorrow.”

“That’s one you definitely don’t want to miss.” Erin grinned at her. “Jake played for the Mustangs and Rafe and Jason played for the Hawks. Um, when they were the Bison.” She looked across at Joe.

“You’ll be sitting with your dad, right?”

Tyler wasn’t even sure how to answer that.
It’s bad enough I have to go to the game. I’m not sitting in the owner’s suite? My father and I barely speak.
Holy shit. How was she going to get herself out of this one?
Thanks a whole hell of a lot, Rafe.

She searched her brain for some kind of logical answer. “I, uh, think you get a better flavor of the game sitting in the stands, don’t you?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Jilly agreed. “Rafe, is her ticket anywhere near us? Maybe you can get someone to switch.”

“Maybe next time,” he said in a smooth voice. Then he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Anything I can help with? You seem really distracted.”

She lifted her glass of ice water and took a sip. She thought what she really needed was a glass of wine to calm her nerves but not tonight.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “And I’ll pay better attention.”

Somehow she held it together, the new Tyler without the false front and without a drink. Especially since it seemed all they talked about was football, the women as well as the men. She was proud of herself for actually carrying on a conversation about a game she had little knowledge of.

Fake it till you make it.

How many times had she heard that in more different circumstances than she could count? Now she knew what it meant. And while Rafe said very little to her directly, he made sure to give her hand a squeeze just enough to let her know he was there for her. She tried not to read anything into it.

As the evening progressed, to her astonishment Tyler actually found herself enjoying the event. She’d forgotten how to have real conversations with anyone but her closest friends. Certainly at the public events she attended, she’d been more interested in making a spectacle of herself and embarrassing her father. But tonight people who knew who she was actually stopped by the table to say hello and pass along their gratitude to the Hawks for their support. She even fell into the rhythm of the conversation at the table, enjoying the easy give and take of these people who were Rafe’s friends.

And a funny thing happened on the way to dessert. Listening to the other women, it occurred to her if she could divorce football from her father, she might even enjoy watching a game. Maybe tomorrow would be a good time to find out.

She sat through the speeches and the announcement of the funds raised, still worried that before the event was finally over she’d do or say something to embarrass Rafe in front of his friends. At one point, he reached for her hand again and gave it a gentle squeeze. Her heart gave a little skip and she turned her head enough to whisper to him.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“How would it look if I wasn’t?” he asked.

Of course. It was all a front, everything tonight. An act. He was behaving exactly the way her father would expect of him, an attentive escort. Certainly not as a bodyguard, someone who would attract questions neither of them wanted to answer. The tiny bit of hope that he was remembering how good last night had been was immediately extinguished.

At last it was over and she was saying good-bye to Rafe’s friends. Joe and the woman who chaired the scholarship fund thanked her profusely again for the Hawks’ contribution. The women, who she supposed had now gotten it into their heads that she and Rafe were an item, insisted she exchange cell-phone numbers. She really liked them, just on such short contact. Would she ever see them again? Would she ever see Rafe again when this was all over, except in passing?

As they headed out of the dining room, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Chad Sinclair smiling down at her.

“It wasn’t the same tonight not being with you.” The smile he gave her was polite but tinged with traces of both want and irritation.

“It’s just an event,” she pointed out to him. “I mean, it’s not like we’re a couple or anything.”

He leaned down and put his mouth close to her ear. “We could be.”

Tyler tried to figure the best way to answer him without making a scene. Then Rafe jumped in.

“She’s otherwise occupied Sinclair.” He laced his fingers through hers. “She’s off-limits.”

Chad scowled. “Really? How’s that?”

Tyler opened her mouth to say something, but Rafe put an arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze.

“I don’t see that it’s any of your business,” he said in a deceptively mild voice. “If you’ll excuse us.”

He guided Tyler out the door so smoothly she hardly realized it was happening. As they stood waiting for the valet, she gave him a look filled with curiosity.

“That’s twice you gave people the indication we’re some kind of item. Aren’t you afraid it will tarnish your image?”

He was silent for so long she wondered if he was going to answer her at all.

“We have a situation here that requires both of us to play a part.” He said the words in an even, measured tone of voice. “It’s better than telling them the truth. And if Sinclair is the stalker, I don’t want him getting a heads-up.”

“He already thinks it’s strange that the head of security is hanging out with me. Won’t he get even more suspicious?”

“If it’s him, I don’t think he’ll put it together. He’s too egotistical. But if he does, maybe he’ll step up his game, make a mistake and we’ll nail him.”

Before she could say anything else, the valet drove up with Rafe’s car. Rafe tipped him, and then they were headed home. Once again, a heavy silence filled the car. Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“You don’t like me much, do you, Rafe?”

She could almost hear him digging around in his brain for an appropriate answer.

“Let’s just say I wasn’t crazy about your lifestyle or the image you chose to show the world.” He studied her face with heated intensity. “But if I’ve learned anything since this all started, it’s that there’s a real person beneath the masquerade. A person, if I’m not mistaken, who is really beginning to like herself.”