Last Chance Beauty Queen (Last Chance #3)(22)
Author: Hope Ramsay

“Sharon was proud of me for sticking to my guns. She might have been the only one. And I miss her.”

Caroline pressed the handkerchief to her cheeks. “I’m sorry. You didn’t need to know all that, did you?”

Hugh reached out and patted her hand. His skin was warm and his hands conveyed a sense of gentle strength. “Darling, small villages can be trying sometimes. People must have their heroes, and when the heroes fall, someone has to be blamed.”

“What do you know about small towns?”

“I’ve lived my entire life in Woolham, which is about the same size as Last Chance. And being the lord there, everyone in the village expects me to live up to a standard set by my grandfather. I’m afraid I’ve been a terrible disappointment to them at times, and they’ve blamed my aunts for it.”

“Your aunts?”

“Yes, they raised me after Granddad got sick. And my aunts are a bit, well, peculiar. They get blamed for everything I do that isn’t exactly like what my grandfather did. It’s not quite fair to them because I’m the one who’s a failure.”

Somewhere close by, a cicada turned on its motor. The sounds of children laughing and country music floated on the summer air. And suddenly it seemed hotter and more humid than it had been a moment before. Everything seemed clearer, louder, larger than life. Even the texture of her tulle skirt against her legs seemed to affirm that she was alive. She could feel the life in everything around her.

“How are you a failure?” she asked. “You seem very successful to me. You went to college. You’ve invented a new kind of loom. You’re going to build a factory and employ people.”

He smiled with his eyes. “Well, the jury is still out on the factory, isn’t it?”

“Yes but—”

“You are so lovely,” Hugh said, halting her arguments. He raised his hand and adjusted the ribbon garland in her hair. His stiff upper lip softened. “Like the Queen of the American faeries. You look like you belong right here, among the palmettos and Spanish moss.”

Caroline closed her eyes and swallowed hard, but neither of those things did anything to stop the shivery feeling overtaking her middle or the prickling of her scalp where Hugh touched her hair. He thought she was lovely? She’d just shown him the worst parts of Rocky Rhodes and he’d taken them all in stride.

She opened her eyes, expecting him to have vanished like a magical fantasy lover. But he remained, looking down at her. His eyes were soft and warm. There was a little smile on his lips now. His hair was all-over curls. He was like some dream come true, only he was better. There were depths to him.

So she didn’t resist when he cocked his head and moved in. She didn’t stop when his not-so-stiff-upper-lip hit hers.

His mouth took her to some other world of heat and desire and wonderful sensation. He kissed like he waltzed. Closer than the air, but still farther away than she might like. Her body sang in reaction.

Holy smokes, this kiss was like something from out of a romance book. The fact that it was happening on the second pier at the country club in Last Chance, South Carolina, didn’t diminish it in any way. She relaxed into the heat of his kiss and was just beginning to really enjoy the whole experience when a voice wafted down to them from the path.

Chapter 12

Hugh, where are you?” The sandpapery voice tugged Hugh right out of the moment.

Damn. It hadn’t taken the bloody heiress long to find him, had it? He pulled away from the incredible woman in his arms.

Caroline’s kiss had been like the river, carrying him off to some new, but remarkably familiar place. Her scent made him dizzy. She looked up at him with those pixie eyes. She was amazing, despite her runny makeup and her wild, untamed hair. His chest felt heavy in a way that was new and strange.

That kiss had been… otherworldly.

He wanted to get back to it and discover what secret doors it might open to strange and lovely places.

“Hugh?” Cissy’s voice sounded louder.

He stood up and put several paces between himself and Caroline.

“Oh, there you are.” Cissy emerged from the undergrowth and stepped onto the pier. Her high heels rang hollowly against the boards. She reached for his arm and took complete possession of it, just like William the Bastard conquering England.

It was only after she had staked her claim that she turned and pretended to notice Caroline for the first time. There was nothing genuine about this show. Hugh had no doubt Cissy knew exactly what he and Caroline had been doing.

What had they been doing?

Had he been dallying with her, like Granddad used to dally with young, common girls? The thought made him slightly sick.

Maybe he should thank Cissy for rescuing him from his own libido. But one look at the tousled and buxom Miss Rhodes and his libido was not feeling thankful at all.

Perhaps he was more like his grandfather than he had imagined. His chest constricted at the thought.

“Oh, Caroline, Daddy was looking for you,” Cissy said, then paused for a moment before continuing. “Honey, your mascara is a mess. You really need to go put yourself back together.” Hugh heard the disdain in Cissy’s voice. He didn’t like it very much.

Caroline dabbed her cheeks with his handkerchief. “Where is the senator?”

“Oh, he’s up at the pavilion but he’s fixing to go. That’s why I came to get Hugh.” Cissy turned her blue-eyed gaze on him. “You’ve been invited up to Columbia to our city house for the next few days. Daddy has suggested that we just let Caroline get the job done while you come and visit with us. Come along now. We’ll take you over to collect your luggage. Daddy figures nothing much is going to happen down here until the town council meeting that’s scheduled for Tuesday. Might as well enjoy what the city has to offer.”

Cissy turned and gave Caroline an icy smile. “Daddy wants you to stay here and lobby the town council on Hugh’s behalf. I hope you have something a bit more professional to wear.”

A muscle ticked in Caroline’s cheek, and her shoulders tensed. But she kept whatever she wanted to say to herself. She stood up, stepped forward, and pushed the balled-up handkerchief into Hugh’s chest. “Thanks for listening,” she said, then turned on one bare foot and made her way with the grace of a queen toward the pathway leading up to the pavilion.

He tucked the cloth into his trouser pocket.

“Really, Hugh, I’m surprised at you,” Cissy said. “Caroline has a nice shape, even if she’s a tad top-heavy, but beyond that there really isn’t much there.” She reached out and took Hugh by the arm.

“You know you need me, don’t you?” she said. She ran her fingers up his arms and over his shoulder and tipped up on her toes to give him a kiss.

The woman certainly knew her way around a French kiss, but for all that experience, there wasn’t much magic in it. The kiss was competent and almost interesting. But in comparison to what had just happened with Caroline, Cissy’s kiss fell utterly flat.

She pulled back, her blue eyes sparking in the late afternoon sun. Her index finger played over his chin.

If he wanted to do his duty to the deBracy legacy, he should be considering the size of Cissy Warren’s bank account right now. That was how Granddad took care of things.

That was how every deBracy took care of things, except for Hugh’s failure of a father. And given that Hugh had allowed himself to be swindled, and the land in Last Chance was swamp, and Elbert Rhodes was never, ever going to give up that marvelous golf course, Hugh looked to be following in his father’s footsteps.

Hugh could still salvage his situation by doing the one thing Granddad would approve of—marrying Victoria.

Granddad would also approve of his doing business with Cissy Warren, who, in addition to being a senator’s daughter with a trust fund, was also the chairwoman of the largest textile manufacturing company in the United States. Granddad would point out that Cissy was perfect for him, and Caroline was utterly unacceptable.

Just like Elisa.

Just thinking about Elisa made Hugh’s hands tremble. An old and deep-seated anger percolated through him. He gritted his teeth and sucked in air.

No, he wasn’t going to give in. Not this time.

“I do appreciate the invitation to Columbia,” he said in his most polite voice, “but I think I’ll stay here with Caroline and see what happens next.”

Cissy’s eyes grew round. “You honestly want to stay here?”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s in the middle of nowhere, populated by rednecks, and their chief form of entertainment is spitting watermelon seeds.”

This was exactly the kind of thing his granddad used to say about the people of Woolham. It was the kind of thing that brought out Hugh’s rebellious schoolboy every time.

He gave Cissy a polite smile. “Well, Cissy, the people in Last Chance are ordinary working people, it’s true. I hope, one day, they will be the people who work in my factory. That being the case, I plan to stay.”

Caroline ducked into the bathhouse down near the baby pool. She gazed at herself in an ancient mirror whose silvering had begun to deteriorate. The hazy image gave her a start.

Like every mirror, this one was brutal with the truth. She looked exactly like she’d been crying. In addition, the woman staring back at her had lost any pretense of being professional. It was like all her hard work had been swept away by Dash’s Lasso Fiasco—not to mention the forbidden kiss Hugh had just laid on her.

Her stomach flip-flopped, and she got that shivery feeling again. She was in trouble, wasn’t she? That kiss had been amazing. It was going to be hard to forget.

She dampened a paper towel with cold water and pressed it against her cheeks. She couldn’t seriously entertain kissing him again, could she?

No, absolutely not. She had a job to do, and kissing Hugh would get in the way of it.

“Hey, Rocky.” The voice carried an unmistakable note of derision. Caroline turned to find Cissy Warren leaning in the doorway with a smirk on her face that seemed to confirm every single one of Caroline’s self-doubts.

She should thank Cissy for her sudden appearance down on the pier. Really, the senator’s daughter had probably saved Caroline from making an utter fool of herself. She hadn’t expected to have anything in common with Lord Woolham.

“I told Hugh I would go make sure you were okay,” Cissy said. “You look okay to me. A little windblown and tacky in that dress. But still, okay.”

“Thanks,” Caroline said between clenched teeth as she continued to dab away the ruined mascara on her cheeks.

“You need to keep your mitts off Hugh.”

Caroline said nothing. Cissy was Senator Warren’s daughter, a big mucky-muck in the textile industry, and everyone knew that whatever Cissy wanted, Cissy got. And besides, Cissy and Hugh were both playing in the same league.

“You hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“Good, because I’m telling you that the idea of becoming a baroness has some attraction for me, and according to Daddy’s research, his Lordship is just the kind of man who might be looking for a rich wife.” She let go of a little gravelly laugh and reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She lit up and blew out a plume of smoke.