How to Trap a Tycoon(64)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

"It’s for your own good, Lucas. You’ll see."

In fact, Edie was already beginning to see. A woman standing just behind and to the right of Lucas was inspecting his … oh, dear, Edie thought … his, uh, his backside with much interest. The woman looked to be in her mid-forties, had an incredible figure and perfectly coifed red hair, was wearing the most amazing sea-green dress cut down to there, and was obviously looking to make Lucas’s acquaintance—if not his night—very soon.

"Tycoon at ten o’clock ," Edie whispered, bending her head toward his.

Lucas’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What?"

Edie bent in a little further. "There’s a woman back there who’s been giving you the once-over for the last couple of minutes. And she has some decent body parts you might want to attract. I think she saw us arguing, and she figures you’re fair game. I’m going to pop off to the ladies’ room," she added when she saw Lucas begin to object. "And when I get back, I hope to find you springing your tycoon trap. Do not disappoint me, Grasshopper. Oh, and no offense, but…"

She stepped backward and feigned total and severe outrage, then lifted her hand and slapped him hard across the cheek. "How dare you!" she cried. "Lucas Conaway, I never want to speak to you again for the rest of my life!"

Without awaiting a reply, and trying not to laugh at his utterly shocked and offended expression, Edie spun on her heel and left him to spring his tycoon trap on his unsuspecting prey. Strange, though, how the look on his face had made him seem so much more the hunted than the hunter. She bit back a smile and hurried along, wanting to get back in time to see the end of the show. It ought to be good. She did so enjoy romantic comedy.

* * *

Lucas lifted a hand to his burning cheek and gaped at the hastily departing and extremely attractive back of Edie Mulholland, too stunned to do anything other than … well … ogle her. She was, after all, more than a little oglable this evening, in her little—very little—black dress and smoky—very smoky—black stockings and high—very high—heels. And that black beaded choker around her neck was simply too arousing for words, because all Lucas could do was imagine what she’d look like wearing nothing but that choker. Boy, could he imagine. And had been for most of the evening. But once he got past all that and recalled what Edie had just done to him, he could not believe what Edie had just done to him.

She’d just touched him. Voluntarily. And she hadn’t flinched from him when she’d done it.

Okay, so the touch in question had been a slap to his face. That was just a minor technicality. She had touched him. In a manner of speaking. It was progress. In a way. He just wished he could figure out exactly which way.

"Well, my goodness, but that was dramatic."

Lucas spun around at the sound of the velvety smooth comment to find a truly spectacular—and very oglable—redhead ogling him as shamelessly as he had just been ogling Edie. Wow. She was incredible-looking. Tall and slim and—whoa, momma—stacked.

How had she escaped his attention until now? he wondered. And how was it possible that his capricious attention wanted nothing to do with her? Because that was exactly what was happening. As appealing as the woman was, Lucas was far too preoccupied with thoughts of Edie to care one way or another about the redhead.

In spite of his appalling lack of interest in the woman, he smiled at her. At least, he thought he was smiling at her. He couldn’t be sure, seeing as how half of his face was still numb from the flat of Edie’s hand. "Yes. Well. Um," he began eloquently. "I suppose to the casual observer, that might have looked a bit dramatic, yes."

She smiled back and sauntered closer. "Oh, I assure you, my observation was anything but casual."

Lucas took a step backward as he replied, "Ah. I, uh, I see."

Clearly undaunted by something so minor as his obvious retreat, the woman continued with her forward progress and sidled closer still. "And in my not so casual observation," she murmured as she drew nearer, "I’ve deduced that you’re a man who could use a friend—or something—about now."

Lucas took a few more steps backward. "Uh … yeah. Yeah, I could definitely use … something," he said cautiously. Then, because he knew he was behaving abominably—no self-respecting man would run away from a woman like this … unless, of course, he’d just been slapped senseless by Edie Mulholland, which, now that he thought about it, surely explained his utter lack of interest in this woman—he forced his feet to halt their rapid retreat. And he wondered how long it had been since Edie’s departure and if she would be back anytime soon and if there would be any of him left unconsumed by this vibrant piranha once she did return.

The redhead stopped, but only when a scant breath of air separated her from Lucas. Then even that scant breath was gone, because he sucked it in quickly and nearly passed out on the overwhelming aroma of Chanel Number Something Really Annoying that accompanied it.

The woman seemed not to notice, though, because she tilted her head in the general direction in which Edie had just departed and said softly, "She seems to be pretty upset."

Lucas nodded. "Yes, she does."

"Looks like you might have your work cut out for you tonight winning her back."

"It does look that way, doesn’t it?"

The redhead considered him thoughtfully. "Then again," she puffed. Actually purred, Lucas noted. How incredibly off-putting. "You don’t seem like the kind of man who needs to keep a woman like that," she finished.

Uh-oh. "No?" he asked.

She shook her head slowly and lifted a hand to smooth out what he was sure was a nonexistent crease in his lapel. "No," she said softly, flattening her hand over his chest. "You look more like the kind of man who needs keeping himself."

Oh, man . "Do I?"

This time she nodded. "Young women are just so excitable, aren’t they?"

Lucas swallowed hard. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I … I guess. Edie can be a little vixen sometimes. A little minx, a little spitfire, a little tigress, a little … little… Where was I? Oh, yeah. A little firebrand."

The redhead seemed in no way impressed by this revelation. "Yes, she’s certainly something," she said blandly. "But it seems to me that what you need is a woman who has a little more patience. A woman who takes her time. A woman who has more experience in … handling … a man like you."

Yikes . "You, uh, you really think so?"