Home Is Where the Heart Is (Welcome To Redemption) (14 page)

Lindy made brief eye contact with Jimmy and a chill raced up her spine. He kept his coat on, she noticed. No doubt so he could stuff his pockets full of her valuables. “No, of course not.” She masked her alarm and gestured toward the dining room. “Go grab yourselves some champagne and something to eat. You can toss your coats on the bed in the room across from the library; I’m pretty sure the hall closet is full.”

“Great, thanks. I’m hoping there’s some cannoli left.” Hannah touched Lindy’s arm. “You look incredible, by the way. Drew’s a moron.”

Lindy smiled her gratitude. “Thanks. And so do you. Love the sweater, it’s quite...glittery.”

“A Christmas present from Drew,” Hannah admitted with a sheepish grin before striding off in search of cannoli.

Jimmy looked around with open interest as he followed in her wake, making the hairs on the back of Lindy’s neck stand up. The guy was shifty, no doubt about it. Lindy made a mental note to speak with Drew about him. She couldn’t imagine he’d want his sister dating a thief.

Though Lord only knew when she’d see him again—if ever.

An arm suddenly snaked around her waist, and Lindy nearly jumped out of her Manolos. “Whoa, take it easy,” Matt said giving her reassuring squeeze. “What the hell’s got you so wound up?”

Leaning into him, Lindy thanked God for Matt. Her rock. “Remember the night I bought pizza and my bracelet came up missing?”

“I remember. And I forgot to ask, did you ever find it?”

“No. But guess who Hannah brought as her date tonight.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I’m going to have to go with the pizza delivery guy.”

“Exactly. Matt, I have such a bad feeling about him. Hannah said he’d asked to come along. Isn’t that a little odd?”

Matt shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s odd exactly since this is the most extravagant party Redemption’s ever seen. But I’ll keep an eye on him if it’ll make you feel better.”

“It would, thanks.”

He gave her one last comforting squeeze. “Now go have some fun, and that’s an order. I’m going to snag a few cannoli before they all disappear.”

“Better hurry, Hannah’s on the same mission.”

No sooner had Matt strode off than Mike appeared at her side. “I was hoping I might be able to steal a dance from you.”

Lindy hesitated. Though Bernie swore up and down she wasn’t interested in the handsome officer, Lindy suspected her new friend was full of it. So...if she looked at from that perspective, Lindy would be doing Bernie a favor, wouldn’t she? Maybe a visit from the green-eyed monster was just what the stubborn brunette needed. On the flipside, maybe dancing with Mike would keep Lindy from mooning over Drew for the next few hours; maybe she’d actually enjoy herself for awhile. “I’d love to, thanks.”

The DJ had set up in the parlor, the largest room in the old mansion. Several couples were slow dancing to the old classic
When A Man Loves A Woman
. Mike swept her into his arms and suddenly they were swaying to the music. Lindy caught Bernie watching them, her heart-shaped face void of the crooked smile Lindy had become so used to.

“She looks miserable, doesn’t she?”

Lindy almost laughed over the hopeful tone in his voice. “Oh, yeah. I’d say she’s about ready to scratch my eyes out.”

“Good.” He must have realized what he said and quickly amended, “I didn’t mean ‘good’ as in...well, you know what I meant, right?”

Now Lindy did laugh, a tinkling of sound that felt wonderful considering the turmoil of her own heart. “I know exactly what you meant, and I’m delighted to be your partner in crime, Officer Donovan.”

He grinned, then asked in a near whisper, “Is she still watching?”

“Yeah, though she just set her glass down. Crap, I think she’s getting ready to leave.”

“I apologize in advance, but you know what they say about desperate times.”

With that odd warning, Mike bent her over his arm and laid one on her, slanting his mouth across hers with dramatic flair. Shocked to the tips of her toes, it took Lindy a moment to respond. She placed her hands against his chest to push him away, but before she could, Mike was yanked back so hard Lindy stumbled sideways and fell on her ass. She looked up in time to see Drew draw back his fist and clock Mike in the jaw.

Chapter 12

Before Drew could take another swing, Charlie and Matt nearly tackled him to the floor in their effort to restrain him. Son of a bitch! He’d been pining for the woman since the moment he’d left her arms, he’d come back to apologize and put a ring on her finger, only to find her kissing another man?

“You need to calm the hell down,” Charlie warned. “You just hit a cop, you moron.” Out of the corner of his eye, Drew watched Hannah help Lindy to her feet. His remorse was quickly overshadowed by the insane jealousy surging through his veins. Which only pissed him off more. Jealous? He’d never been jealous a day in his life.

“What the hell’s your problem, Porter?” Donovan cursed, testing his jaw.

“You know what my problem is, you asshole,” Drew countered, struggling against his friends’ constraints. “I’m fine, dammit, let me go!”

Charlie and Matt cautiously released him, but continued to flank his sides, ready to grab him again if necessary. No doubt they were just as shocked as Drew by his passionate explosion.

“What? I was dancing with our hostess, the moment felt right, so I kissed her. What’s it to you?”

At that moment, Bernie pushed past them and tore from the room. With a muttered curse, Mike ran after her.

Drew settled his eyes on Lindy, who glared poisoned arrows at him. Damn if she wasn’t magnificent in her outrage. Not to mention sexy as hell in that strapless red number. He wanted to toss her over his shoulder caveman style, race upstairs to her room and lock out the world so the night could end the way it was supposed to—the way he’d meant for it to end. With a proposal. The ring box stuffed into his front pocket was an unwelcome reminder of just what an idiot he’d been to think a rich socialite like Melinda Spalding would ever agree to marry a nobody like himself.

Lindy broke eye contact first as she marched off in the same direction as Bernie and Mike. Drew eyeballed Charlie and Matt, who both stood alert, no doubt ready to wrestle him to the ground on a moment’s notice. He almost laughed at their watchful vigilance. Not that he blamed them. Drew had always been known as the peacekeeper, as even-tempered as a person could be. But all that had changed the moment Matt’s infuriating sister skidded into his life. She’d bulldozed her way through his heart, leaving a path of destruction the likes of which he’d never known. Hell, she’d turned him into a jealous, raving lunatic!

And damn if he didn’t want her even more now than he had the night they’d made love.

The night she’d declared how eager she was for the plant to open so she could race back to L.A.

Okay, to be fair, that’s not actually what she’d said; just that she was thankful the job was running on time. Possibly he’d overreacted a bit. Hell, he’d been grieving for his mother, worried sick about his father and sister. Not to mention he’d panicked a bit on the emotional front. Having never been in love before, he’d realized that night with complete certainty that he’d fallen head-over-heels with Miss Melinda Spalding. And the revelation had scared the shit out of him. He’d rushed the hell out of there, which may have left the impression he’d used her for sex.

Then he’d spent an extra week in Michigan with his grandparents after his mother’s funeral, and had his father slap an ‘On Vacation’ sign on the front door of the garage. It had been his grandmother who’d talked some sense into him, reminding him of how precious life was and how short it could be. She’d given him the courage to come home and take a chance on love.

Too bad Hot Stuff decided to move on the first chance she got.

“Well? Aren’t you going to go after her?” Matt demanded.

“Why should I? She made her choice pretty clear.”

“Idiot. Mike’s in love with Bernie, has been since high school. He was trying to make her jealous, any fool could see that.”

“Maybe not any fool,” Charlie countered.

Hope blossomed in Drew’s chest. “Then why didn’t the jerk-off just ask her out and keep his lips off my girl?”

Matt grinned. “
Your
girl? If the way Lindy just looked at you is any indication, you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

Drew propped his hands on his hips and blew out a hard breath. “I really screwed up, didn’t I?”

“Hell,” Charlie chimed in, “you’ve been screwing up with women since you spilled chocolate milk down the front of Tracey Hillman’s new white dress in the third grade.”

“You just have to bring that shit up, don’t you?”

Charlie laughed. “And in sixth grade you hid a garter snake in Lisa Nutter’s backpack.”

“Yeah, well, I’d like to think I’ve evolved since then.”

“Maybe a little.” Charlie gave Drew a thump on the back. “My advice? Go find her and apologize. Might be a good idea to toss an ‘I’m sorry’ at Mike, too.”

“Donovan can kiss my ass.” As Drew strode off in search of Lindy, he heard Charlie mutter “Moron”.

He found Lindy in the kitchen speaking with Nino. She gave a few quiet instructions, then breezed right past Drew as if he were invisible. A reluctant smile tugged at his lips. Hot Stuff was plenty pissed at him. Undaunted, he pursued her, determined to have it out. And apologize, though maybe not in that order. He certainly owed her that much. If not for tonight, then definitely for avoiding her for the last week and a half. For letting her think the worst when the simple truth was he’d fallen madly in love with the infuriating woman.

She surprised him by grabbing her coat and slipping out onto the back porch. Drew hadn’t shed his jacket yet, so he followed her outside. She grasped the railing and gazed off into the glistening, snow-covered forest. Snow that wasn’t supposed to have arrived until the wee hours of the night—when he and Lindy would’ve been snuggled together under her fancy down comforter if things had worked out the way they were supposed to. He watched the twirling flakes come down as he tried to figure out just the right words to say to make her understand.

“Can we please talk?”

“I have nothing to say to you.” She didn’t so much as look at him.

“That’s okay because I have plenty to say to you.”

“Unless you want assault charges filed against you, maybe it’s Officer Donovan you should be speaking to.”

Drew stuffed his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulder. “I’ll square things with Mike later. My only concern right now is you. I’m so sorry you got caught in the middle when I grabbed Mike. I never meant for you to get hurt.”

Lindy crossed her arms and gave a delicate shiver. Drew stepped forward and grasped her shoulders, pressing himself against her to share his warmth. She flinched, but didn’t move away. Which was something, he supposed.

“I’m fine. Just fell on my butt. I seem to do that a lot in this town.”

He laid a gentle hand against her bruised backside, but she shrugged away with a whispered, “Don’t.”

He huffed out a sigh of frustration. “Look, I screwed up and I know it. I’m truly sorry about the other night. I had a lot on my mind and…I wasn’t thinking straight. Just give me a chance to make it up to you.”

“Why?” She stepped away, but finally spun around to look him in the eye. “Because you have an itch you want scratched and I’m convenient?”

Christ, he’d never known a more exasperating woman! “If scratching an itch was all I wanted, I could find plenty of willing women.”

“There’s that ego I know and despise. So go, find some other ‘willing women’ and leave me the hell alone.”

“Dammit, Lindy, I only want
you
. Why are you giving me such a hard time?”

The wind picked up as the snow began to fall in earnest. Huge flakes swirled around them, and Lindy gave him one last considering look before stepping past him to head back inside. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’d like you to leave now. Please.”

She slid the patio door closed behind her, leaving Drew staring after her in mounting frustration. Okay, fine. She needed some time to get over her anger. Drew understood that. He’d needed exactly the same thing after she’d informed him she had every intention of leaving Redemption—and him—once the plant was operating.

Deciding the best thing to do for both of them was to give her some space, Drew hopped over the porch railing and headed home.

* * *

The party lost steam and wound down quickly after the Drew fiasco. By 11:00 p.m. everybody had gone home, except Matt and Carrie. Wanting nothing more than to do a little reading in a nice bubble bath, Lindy promised them she’d be fine.

“Are you sure?” Matt asked as he hugged her tight. “I can stay.”

“No, please, I’m fine. Just tired. I’m going to take a hot bath, then sleep till noon.”

Matt released her with a kiss on the forehead. “Fine. But call me as soon as you wake up.”

Lindy shared an eye-roll with Carrie over Matt’s zealously protective nature. “Yes,
dad
.”

She shut and locked the door behind them with a sigh of relief. Though she loved her brother dearly, all she wanted tonight was to be left alone.