Seducing Her Rival (12 page)

Chapter Eleven

Mercedes had her feet soaking in
the sudsing bat
h and had managed to relax into a nice state of thank-God-all-these-women-stopped-talking Zen when her cell phone rang. Her eyes popped open as she jerked upright. The others might not be talking anymore but, considering the way everyone glared at her, apparently her ringtone was a much bigger offense in the pedicure room than their chatter had been.

“Sorry,” she said quietly as she answered the phone. “Kels? What’s wrong?” There was no way Kelsey would call unless something was wrong—both because she’d insisted on R & R and because she knew how expensive the roaming charges would be.

“Wrong is an interesting choice of word. Nothing is
wrong
exactly.”

Mentally ticking off a minute in her head and hoping the call wouldn’t run more than a buck per, Mercedes heaved a sigh. “Okay, then what’s up?”

“Just kind of wondering what Luc Bellamy is doing sending a very nice donation to Better Todays. It struck me kind of odd, and I wondered if you had any idea why he might do that.”

Shit. If it weren’t for Kelsey specifying the donation, she would have thought Eva squealed. “That was supposed to be anonymous.” She winced as soon as the words left her mouth.
Great answer, Mercedes.

“Is that so? Well someone screwed up then, but you didn’t answer the question.”

Damn Kelsey and the smile in her voice. This was the last conversation Mercedes wanted to have right now. “He lost a bet. Paying up meant paying the charity. Nothing more complex or sinister than that.”

“A bet with you?”

Why did this sound like things were about to get worse? “Yes…”

“And how precisely were you going to pay him five grand if you lost?”

“Five? It was only supposed to be two.” Because of course she had two thousand dollars lying around for gambling purposes. Mercedes wished she could ask one of the other women in the room to please smack the stupid out of her.

Then laughter echoed over the line. “When I told you to solicit donations, I didn’t mean get busted for solicitation.”

“He did
not
pay me to have sex with him!” Judging by the ears perking up around her and the heads ducking in from other rooms, she might have said that bit a little louder than intended. “Damn it, Kels, I’m surrounded by people, do we have to have this chat now?”

“Have to? No. Going to? Hell yes because if we don’t, you’ll find a way to avoid it forever. Even if he isn’t paying you for it—which I know you’d never do—you had sex with him, didn’t you?”

Mercedes ground her teeth together and wished she could chuck her phone out a window.

“Yes,” she groaned, knowing she’d never live this down.

“It’s okay, if the society pages are any indication, he’s yummy. I can see the appeal. Plus, you must have done something—or a lot of somethings—right since he threw us such a nice, meaty bone.”

“Ha-ha. You’re real funny. Are you satisfied? Can we forget about me sleeping with the enemy and let me go find some artificial rock to hide under now?”

“Sweetie, you get that we only hate him because he’s going after the same property as us, right?”

“That and he has a reputation.” One he hadn’t really been living up to since she met him.

“Did you ever wonder if maybe that’s not at least partially contrived by the media? You know, the way they do with movie stars? Plus…the man gave us five grand that he has to know will go toward the property if we can get our money together before the zoning board gives the go-ahead for his school. He could have waited until he got home to pay on the lost bet. Or even waited until after he already had the property and made it feel like some consolation prize. I’m not suggesting sainthood or anything, but maybe he’s not quite the ruthless shark the press likes to paint him as. And if that’s the case—because I know you weren’t talking about that part of his reputation—it could be he’s not as much of a playboy as they make him out to be either. With how generous he was to the ‘enemy,’ maybe, just maybe, he actually likes you, which I’m pretty sure is an angle you never considered.”

Mercedes almost dropped the phone into the footbath. Sure, he’d said he “adored her thorny nature,” and she’d wondered about it herself a bit. But if Kelsey was bringing it up… No, she couldn’t believe it—couldn’t
let
herself believe it. He liked having her in his bed was all. Even that would be over after the cruise ended. She couldn’t let herself believe otherwise—not beyond the boundaries of her revenge scheme. Could she?

“And now that I’ve gotten stunned silence from you, I’m going to give you some time to process everything and stop running up your phone bill. Have fun, and for God’s sake, stop overthinking everything. Enjoy the cruise. Enjoy the man. I’ll see you Sunday.”

Just like that, the call clicked off.

Mercedes didn’t even notice when the nail tech pulled her foot out of the water and got to work. Her thoughts were spinning, pausing briefly on all the little things that had happened since meeting Lucas.

Setting up the dinner with the captain so she could propose Better Todays as a charitable organization for the sailing.

Volunteering to help and actually following through even though she’d walked out on him that first morning.

Encouraging her to face her fears and being there to hold her when she crumbled.

The ridiculous bets that channeled money straight to her charity.

More than doubling the amount he’d lost.

The crazy gift of the dress and today and…

If he liked her as much as all of that said, as much as he had said earlier, then there was the distinct possibility he’d back off the property. Eva’s ridiculous plan had worked, even if Mercedes had started to fall for him, too. A weight eased from her shoulders, sliding to the depths of the ocean. If Lucas Bellamy cared about her that much, he wouldn’t try to block the property deal once he knew it was the one thing that meant the world to her. She just needed to find the right time to explain everything to him.

And if he liked her that much, maybe good-bye on Sunday might not actually be good-bye for real. Crazy as the thought was, maybe there
was
a place for an ex-druggie princess in his fairy-tale world.

…

When Lucas had sent Mercedes off to get dolled up, he hadn’t expected her to have the spa call him a
nd tell him not to be in the room when she came back there to change. He’d argued that she needed to eat and they’d simply informed him that her meal had already been taken care of. For a few minutes, he’d bristled and contemplated sticking around anyway.

Then he remembered her need to take control earlier and gave in again. He paced outside the entrance to Dazzles, waiting for her as other couples entered. Though it was still early, he recognized a few of them as people he’d seen in the concierge lounge, which meant they were either Diamond members or had booked suites—a good sign.

In the midst of contemplating how to best help Mercedes make the night a success, his breath caught. A goddess stood in front of the elevator, her gaze darting around like someone would admonish her for being there. Hell, anyone who glanced her way would only end up as enthralled as he was.

The dress had been pretty enough on the mannequin. On Mercedes… It made her incandescent. The stylist had done her hair in loose cascading waves that caressed her bare shoulders, just brushing the tops of the copper silk gathers that swooped off her shoulders. A matching copper-hued detail dipped at the waist, enhancing the curve of her hips as the rose chiffon skimmed her body, swooping in near her knees before flaring again. They’d even managed to find jewelry that was 100 percent Mercedes and still complemented the dress.

She toyed with the hammered copper necklace as she met his gaze. “Hi.”

He strode over, took her fingers from the metal, and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. “There isn’t a princess—alive or dead—who can compare to you tonight. You look amazing.”

Her lips twitched as if hunting for a smile. “I feel like an impostor.”

He tucked her arm in the crook of his. “Well then it’s time you start listening to me and stop listening to that silly inner voice of yours. It obviously doesn’t know how incredible and beautiful you are.”

She laughed and let him lead her toward the doors. “It knows you’re a silver-tongued devil.”

“Call me that again and we’ll have to see just what I can do with this tongue later, because I’m pretty sure the last time I used it on you, you were screaming God’s name like you were at a revival service.”

“Blasphemer.” She sounded aghast but ducked her head to hide a smile as she said it.

“Oh please, Little Miss Sin-on-Legs, I have figured out at least one word you use a lot, and I’m pretty sure taking the Lord’s name in vain counts when you say it in Spanish, too.” She opened her mouth and he pressed a finger to her lips. “And, if you’re about to claim those exclamations were prayers in disguise, then I’m still going to argue that my tongue just encourages you to pray more.”

Laughing again, she nipped at his finger. “Okay, fine. You’re my new priest. Happy now?”

“Hell no. The celibacy thing totally doesn’t work for me, especially not with you around.”

“So what are you then?” she asked as she pointedly avoided looking at the people already milling around the club.

“I’m the guy who wants to make all your dreams come true.” He tipped up her chin and immediately got lost in her eyes. She brushed a tender kiss over his lips, breaking the spell, and he yearned to deepen it into something that wouldn’t raise her charity a single cent but would make him a very happy man. How was he ever going to get enough of her? Did he really even want to? He cleared his throat and tried to chase away the thought. Fund-raiser first, and then he’d deal with the future. “Which means for right now, my sole job is to help you get through the craziness of tonight.”

She bit her lip, fidgeting with her jewelry again until he captured her hands. “I’d like to know how exactly you plan to manage that, since I’m pretty sure I’m going to puke soon.”

He reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, his fingers lingering until her eyes met his at last. “By making you have such a fantastic time you forget all about how much money people have. By showing you off so you know damn well when people look at you, it’s with admiration and appreciation. By letting you know I’m with you every step of the way. If you stumble, I’ll catch you.”

He steered her onto the dance floor and spun her into his arms. She stumbled as if she hadn’t expected the move. “And if you trip me?” She laughed. “What then?”

“Then I’ll fall first so you know you have a soft place to land.”

…

Dios
. Could the man let her catch her breath for one stinking minute before throwing yet another declaration at her? She’d barely com
e to grips with the possibility he truly felt something and what it might mean beyond the next few hours, and here he was tossing out “a soft place to land.”

Sure, he likely had no idea how desperately she’d always wanted someone like that—someone who would always be there—or how much she feared he’d run screaming if he knew too much about her. Still, if he was in this for more than a fling on the cruise, she had to come clean about her life.

For now though, he promised to get her through tonight, and that was enough.

He twirled her across the dance floor so effortlessly she felt as if she was gliding. Pinks and purples from the lights swirled around her until she felt lost in some magical realm.

Damn it. She actually did feel like a princess, just as Lucas had promised. And for a few minutes, she managed to forget that princesses had greater duties than dancing and looking pretty.

Then the band stopped playing and Lucas winked at her. “Showtime.”

Had an hour passed already?

The happy thoughts fled from her body as she stared at the microphone on the stage. Lucas was waving her toward it and she moved, floating like she didn’t even have feet. This was the moment that was going to ruin everything. She had to talk to these people, beg them for money like a panhandler on a damn corner. Which would be fine, since she’d done it before, only…never in a room like this.

It didn’t matter that the dress she wore probably cost more than her first car or that she’d been pampered all day or that one of the richest men in the country had her back. She was just a girl from Queens who made it through her days on snark and caffeine. Sure, she could run bake sales and coat drives in the neighborhood and collect nickels and dimes for their projects, but this wasn’t pocket change.

And she wasn’t ready.

Two steps from the stage, she spun on one gleaming stiletto, ready to bolt, and came face-to-face with the man who challenged her at every turn. His fingers combed through her hair, arranging it over her shoulders. “No backing down. It’s time for you to make a leap of faith.”

Her lips twitched, thinking back to her last one. “That’s so much easier when there’s clear money just for taking the jump. There’s no guarantee here. I could get up on that stage and be an embarrassment. People would go right back dancing and it would all be for nothing.”

He nodded like he was agreeing with her. Great. Even Lucas thought she’d make a fool of herself if she went up there.

As she tried to dart past him, he caught her arm. “Sorry, I was just doing some math. Since you need something more than my promise it won’t happen that way, how does this sound? You go up there and do this, and I’ll round up my donation to ten times our original bet. That’s ten grand, guaranteed.”

She opened her mouth to retort that it was only five thousand more than he’d given already and then snapped it shut again. What was she turning into? Just a few days ago, she’d have done cartwheels on the captain’s table for five grand. Now she’d actually considered complaining?

Lucas Bellamy was rubbing off on her and suddenly she wasn’t so sure it was a good thing. Time for her to remember who Mercedes Vega was deep inside—the girl who didn’t back down from anyone. She looked around the room at the money displayed there. This was another game, just like the one she’d been playing the last few days. All she had to do was jump in. Just like Lucas had said.