Falling for His Proper Mistress(23)
Author: Tessa Radley

Camera crews were setting up for a segment that was to be filmed for a television show.

Guy was nowhere to be seen, and Avery rather suspected he was caught up in the kitchens overseeing the chefs, making sure that every detail was perfect. She was learning that the laid-back, carefree persona he cultivated concealed a far more complex, intense man. A perfectionist.

The wine selections had already been made—a collaboration between herself, Guy and Louis—and Avery was pleased with how well they complemented the dishes. Guy had been pleased, too.

She had done the job Uncle Art had wanted her to do. She would be leaving with her pride intact. Her heart was a different matter. There would be a large chunk left behind at Jarrod Ridge.

But she’d have Guy’s baby to fill the hole.

Erica and a woman Avery had never seen before were fiddling with the flower arrangements.

“The flowers look beautiful,” Avery told Guy’s half sister. She smiled, and for the first time Avery saw a hint of Guy in her features. Her heart tugged. Would their baby have that look, too?

“Don’t they?” Erica introduced Avery to the woman standing beside her, a local florist, who was overjoyed to have been given the job for the fundraiser.

“I only opened my shop three months ago, this is an amazing break for my business.”

“Avery is right, the arrangements do look beautiful. I’m sure you’ll get a lot of business.” Undetected, Guy had come up behind them. “Erica said from the start that you are very artistic.”

“Christian and I will be among those customers—for our wedding. And heaven knows I’m not easily impressed.” But Erica looked delighted with Guy’s praise. “I’m so glad we’re supporting local businesses.”

“It was a great initiative.”

Avery saw the glances Guy and Erica exchanged. There was understanding…and fondness. She couldn’t help feeling pleased for Guy. The discovery of Erica’s existence had been a shock—but both of them had gained so much.

The ballroom started to fill.

By the silver flashes of light Avery gathered that the beautiful group moving to one of the tables at the foot of the stage must be movie stars.

Gavin and Trevor came over to join them, both tanned and athletically built, with an appealing surf-and-sun openness that made them look so similar. Avery looked from one to the other, then to Blake and Guy. All four brothers were clad in tuxedos and looked devastatingly handsome. But only one held her heart….

“You know,” she announced, “Gavin and Trevor should be twins. They look far more alike.”

Erica was the first to agree. “Funny, I had a similar thought when I first arrived in Aspen.”

“Let’s go settle down at our table,” Guy murmured to Avery.

The siblings had divided themselves among different tables, to spread the effect of having hosts throughout the ballroom. Avery hadn’t inspected the final table lists, but it made sense for her to sit with Guy. After all, they were working together, and it would be downright weird if she objected.

And her only reason to object was one she didn’t want made public: she loved a man who didn’t love her, and she was expecting his baby.

He rested his hand under her elbow, and the contact sent a shiver of awareness through Avery. Oh, heavens, would this wretched wanting ever stop?

It grew worse when she discovered that she had been seated beside him. His thigh brushed hers as he sat down, and she was conscious of his dinner-jacketed arm beside her bare arm. She shifted a little away—the seat on her other side was the only one at the table not yet occupied. To her surprise she found a familiar face on the other side of the empty seat.

It broke the ice.

“Nancy!” She turned her head. “Guy, this is Nancy who rescued me…and called you.” When the excitement settled, Nancy introduced the older couple beside her as her parents.

“We’ve been coming to this event for years,” said Nancy’s mother. “But this is only the second time Nancy’s been with us.”

“I’ve been working in Boston.” Nancy rested her fingers on her mother’s arm. “But I decided I missed home. So I came back to Aspen.”

“I’m back after years, too—” At the arrival of the white-jacketed waiter, Guy broke off.

Avery chose a spinach-and-bacon salad as a starter, while Guy had wild mushrooms. The wines she’d selected worked well as an accompaniment and she couldn’t stop herself from giving Guy a triumphant smile as he kissed his fingertips in appreciation.

He leaned toward her. “We make a good team.”

“Glad you’ve got confidence in me.”

“I have every confidence in you.”

“You didn’t to start with.” She tossed her head and gave him a mischievous smile. “Are you ready to eat your words?”

Then she froze.

Beyond Guy a man was wending his way through the tables, a man she’d hoped never to see again. Avery whispered, “What’s he doing here?”

A desperate look around showed that the only empty seat was the one right beside her.

Guy glanced up as the newcomer stopped beside their table, and cursed.

Thirteen

“What are you doing here, Jeff?” Guy demanded.

Jeff stuck his hands in his pockets and swaggered forward. “Already forgotten that you ordered me to come?”

Avery gasped.

Guy placed a steadying hand on Avery’s arm and felt her tremble.

“I arranged our meeting for Monday afternoon—not tonight.” A fierce emotion filled Guy. Jeff had come to cause trouble. Guy didn’t doubt it.

Jeff had tried to pressure her to sleep with him, and Guy no longer had any choice but to break his partnership with Jeff, and walk away from the years of friendship they’d shared.

He believed Avery trusted that she’d told him the truth.

Avery came first.

Stunned, Guy looked at her. He took in the doll-like features, the blue eyes, the tendrils of blond hair that had escaped her upswept hairstyle. Why had he never realized how important she’d become to him?

Because he hadn’t wanted any commitment.

Hadn’t wanted the pain—the loss and loneliness—it might bring. Yet when Avery departed for California there would be a chasm in his heart that no one else would be able to fill.

The empty feeling had a name. Grief. He was already missing Avery. But this was different to his father’s experience. His father hadn’t had a choice in losing his Mom. He did.

And he wasn’t going to let Avery go.

Or the baby.

They were his…and he was going to keep them both safe. In any way he could. It was about far more than sex, about sating his senses with her. It was about waking with her beside him in the morning, sharing a joke with her. Simply knowing she was in the same room as him brought him joy. That could only be love.

He loved her.

He narrowed his gaze on his business partner.

Jeff glared back.

“You shouldn’t have come tonight, Jeff,” he said quietly. “I would’ve listened to your side of the story on Monday.”

Avery clambered to her feet. “Excuse me, I need the bathroom.”

Guy gave her a few seconds to get a head start. Then turning to Jeff, he said, “Maybe you’re right. Let’s talk now and finish it. Come.”

Without a second look, Guy rose to his feet leaving his erstwhile friend to follow.

Avery was standing in the pre-function lobby off the ballroom. In the light of the chandeliers overhead, Guy could see that her face was pinched with strain. Placing his hand around Jeff’s arm, Guy marched Jeff over to where she stood.

Her blue eyes went wide.

“Jeff, first, I think you owe Avery an apology,” Guy said as they reached her.

Avery’s lips parted in astonishment.

“I have nothing to apologize for,” Jeff blustered. “She got what she was asking for.”

Avery started to object, but Guy was too quick. He stepped forward until he stood nose to nose with his business partner. “Then why have you all but disappeared off the face of the earth since I tried to call you to confront you with what Avery told me? Why did it take an e-mail from me saying that our business partnership was over before you had Vivienne contact me to set up a meeting for Monday?”

Beside him, Avery gasped.

“She lied to you,” said Jeff heatedly.

“I haven’t even told you what she accused you of, so how can you know that she lied?” Guy asked gently.

Jeff pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the beads of sweat that had popped out over his forehead.

“You’re not going to let a little bitch like her ruin what we’ve built up together?”

“Watch yourself!” Guy’s tone was as dangerous as a lash. “And she didn’t ruin anything. You did that all by yourself.”

“You don’t really mean to dissolve our partnership.” The bluster had evaporated.

Avery’s hand touched his sleeve. “Guy, you don’t have to—”

“You don’t need her.” Jeff spoke right over Avery. “Surely you don’t intend to be ruled by a piece of—”

“Don’t say it.” Even Jeff knew better than to argue with the lethal softness.

Guy rested his hand on Avery’s waist and drew her close.

“We’re both waiting for your apology, Jeff.”

Jeff looked from Avery to Guy and his shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry.”

Avery tipped her head up. “He told you he didn’t—”

“No,” Guy cut across Avery’s words. “He didn’t have to. I know you told me the truth when you said that he arrived at my apartment pretending that I’d asked him to pick you up, and fed you a pack of lies. You need to believe that I never sent Jeff to you as a birthday gift. I had something else planned.”

A flicker of curiosity lit her eyes, and she opened her mouth to say something. But Jeff spoke first, “I’d been drinking. Sometimes I do really stupid things when I drink.”

Guy remembered that years ago when he’d first met Jeff he’d sometimes gotten into sticky situations at parties. It had stopped soon after. He’d thought Jeff had simply grown up. He’d never suspected that Jeff had a problem.

“But why lie to me?”

“I made a move on Avery, and I knew that if she told you, you would get rid of your share in Go Green. I never intended for that to happen.”

Guy gave a laugh of disbelief. His fingers itched to yank Jeff by the collar and shake him like a dog. Avery would not appreciate such violence. “That’s it?” he asked. “That’s all you can come up with?”

“I’m sorry.” Jeff seemed to shrink still further. “Give me another chance. You can’t end our partnership. I’ll resume the counseling I gave up a few years ago.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Jeff,” said Avery. “You need help.”

“Our business relationship is over,” said Guy.

Jeff looked utterly miserable. “You don’t need to dissolve the partnership—I’ll agree to it. I’ll sell out my share.”