Fortunately, he’d neglected to contact the newspapers, which was probably the only reason people had shown up at all. Well, that wasn’t quite true. When Linda informed her of the radio fiasco, she’d called the stations and asked for quick mentions. The DJs had been happy to oblige, so the auction had gotten some good last-minute promotion. Still, Damon had probably done a lot of damage by canceling several days worth of ads.
So now she stood all alone on the stage while guests submitted private bids on the merchandise displayed in the gymnasium and tents, and here she was, trying to think of ways to entertain them and convince them to bid. She’d managed a “hello” and a “welcome to the auction”. Really impressive.
The two television monitors mounted in the tent’s rear corners showed her terrified face, and to her horror, it was true that the camera added ten pounds. She looked positively bloated and distorted.
Static blackened the screen, and then George’s face appeared. She nearly groaned. She’d forgotten to watch the tape he sent, but Linda hadn’t forgotten to play it. Great. Who knew what he’d say?
“Hey, bidders! Welcome to the auction. Your coordinator asked me to emcee, and since she’s a close friend of mine, I wanted to do it. Unfortunately, I can’t get out of this crazy town of Los Angeles.” He winked, and some of the women in the audience giggled. “But I do have something for you. It’s nothing as special as the woman who put all this together, but I had to try. Meet some of my other friends.”
Robyn watched, as stunned as the guests, as George introduced several pop stars, all of whom addressed the audience and encouraged them to bid for a worthy cause. By the time the tape had finished ten minutes later, tears stung her eyes and she felt warm inside. George’s contribution had taken more thought and care than anyone had shown her in a long time. Anyone other than Sean, anyway.
Forcibly shoving any thoughts of Sean away, she put her lips to the mic, confident for the first time today that she could do this.
“Ladies and gentlemen. I know I thanked you, but I’ll be honest. I was terrified and hardly knew what I was saying. Now I mean it; thank you for coming. Your bids will help children who otherwise might never learn the joys of skiing, and more importantly, who might never have been given the opportunity to develop skills and friendships and confidence that’ll last a lifetime.”
She looked out over the crowd that seemed considerably happier after the video. Behind them, what had been a trickle of people wandering inside became a flood so huge that the band-class guys had to open up the tent’s two sidewalls. Where had they come from?
Confused but pleased, she reached for the list of merchandise to be auctioned, unhooked the mic from its stand and held it close to her mouth. “And now, let’s go over some of the items…”
Her voice trailed away. She blinked, unsure if she was really seeing what she thought she saw. A group of men and women, all wearing jackets corresponding to their nations’ ski teams, spilled inside the tent. In their arms, loads of ski equipment, and in their lead…
Sean.
Her knees went weak. Her heart somersaulted. She felt dizzy, so dizzy. The man she both hated and loved was walking toward her. He wore an easy smile, but his golden eyes glowed with intensity as they caught and held hers.
Tracking her open-mouthed stare, people turned, and immediately a low rumble of voices stirred the crowd, which parted to allow the athletes through.
A wave of people followed him inside, and even before he came to a complete stop at the base of the stage in front of her, the tent had filled to capacity. Still more people gathered outside. How had he done this? Though she had no concrete proof he was responsible for the sudden increase in visitors, she knew nevertheless.
“What’s going on?” Janice whispered from the back of the stage and Robyn shook her head, unable to speak and as confused as the other woman.
“Can I have the mic for a second?” Sean asked.
Numb, she nodded and handed it to him as he hopped up on the stage. He looked magnificent in jeans faded in all the right stress points and a black ski-patrol logo sweatshirt, and his vibrant expression only made him more irresistible.
“Hey, everyone!” he began, and several people in the crowd shouted return greetings, stirred by the sudden excitement in the air. “Robyn Montgomery, a very special friend, asked me to emcee today, but I had another obligation. I feel like a heel, and I’m trying to make it up to her. I brought some friends, members of several US and international ski teams, and they were all kind enough to donate autographed equipment for auction. They’ll be happy to meet everyone, sign autographs and pose for photos, hams that they are.” Laughter swept the assembly in a wave and Sean grinned, completely at home on the stage.
“I’d be grateful if you all would help me wriggle back into Robyn’s good graces by buying everything and paying a ton of money for it.” More laughter and Sean shot her a smile she felt all the way to her heart. “Now, I’m going to see how else I can help, so if you’ll take a look around, place some bids, someone will be back to talk to you in a minute.”
A buzz ran through the crowd, and it seemed as though a renewed sense of excitement sent people hurrying to the items up for auction. Fingers flew, pencils scratched out numbers on the item bid forms.
Robyn cast a glance at a group of her classmates standing near the buffet table, all of whom were watching her with approving smiles. All of them except Gigi, who scowled until Janice elbowed her in the ribs. Gigi rolled her eyes and sent a reluctant nod in Robyn’s direction.
Sean jumped off the stage and pulled her toward the rear of the platform where the audio and video equipment afforded them a little privacy. “Hi,” he said.
For lack of a better response, she replied, “Hi.”
“I’m sorry.”
For that, she had no words. She wasn’t sure how she felt about all that had happened, the lies, the betrayal, but what he’d just done had definitely confused the hell out of her.
People started to migrate toward them, so he took her hand and drew her outside, which was nearly as crowded as inside the tent. He looked around and then gave her hand a gentle tug. “I have an idea.”
She didn’t even think to protest as he led her into the gym, where they weaved through the throng of bidders before ducking into the school hall.
When the door closed, he faced her and jammed his fingers through his hair. “I’m going to be completely honest with you, okay?” She nodded, a quip about him not knowing the meaning of the word stuck on her tongue because she was still too stunned by what he’d just done, and he continued. “The day I met you, I was trolling for women. Any woman. To get laid.”
“This…is supposed to make me feel better?”
He quirked a smile and squeezed her hand. “Todd wanted me to go for something easy, a sure thing to get me past my issues. Two years ago, that’s what I went for. Fast, easy women who liked to party as much as I did. But the other day in the Moose…for some reason that type of woman didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t know what was wrong.”
He took a deep breath and fixed his intense gaze on hers. “And then I saw you. You’re the exact opposite of everything I’d ever liked. You’re beautiful, but you’re real. You’re intelligent. And strong. And resourceful.”
He reached out and twirled a lock of hair around his finger, and it took every ounce of restraint she had not to sink her cheek into his caress. “I love that your hair is dark and you aren’t six-feet tall. I love that you have curves. And brains. And I think what really hooked me is the fact that I wanted you, but you didn’t want me. Do you know how refreshing that is?”
She knew all too well what it felt like to want someone when they didn’t want you back, and the last word she’d use for the feeling was refreshing. Humiliating, excruciating, mortifying. But not refreshing.
“This is all very flattering, but I’m still not sure what your point is.”
He smiled that disarming smile of his and cupped he
r cheek in exactly the way she’d wanted him to. “I wasn’t sure why someone as different as you appealed to me that day. But now I know. Deep down, I didn’t want a quick lay. I didn’t want a fling. Robyn, I wanted a relationship. I still do. Yes, my goal when I met you was to get you in the sack, but it turned into something else before that ever happened.”
Her heart believed him, what with the way it hammered away inside her chest like it was trying to break out and get to him. Her brain, though…it needed a little more convincing.
“But?”
He looked down at his feet before looking back up. “But not before I made the deal with Damon.”
“So you’re admitting you lied to me to get me into bed.”
“Sort of,” he said soberly. “I mean, I didn’t tell you about the announcing job because I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. And I wasn’t sure my agent would be able to score anything else.” He twitched a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “I figured that since we were just going to be doing the fling thing it wouldn’t matter. And the deal with Damon, well, I honestly thought I was helping. He said if I kept you busy he’d make sure you had a job.”
This all sounded so reasonable, so not the evil plan she’d thought it had been. “Still, I’m sure it didn’t hurt that he was willing to give you a job.”
His shoulders slumped as though the weight of the truth was too much to bear. “No, his job offer didn’t hurt. I think I was fooling myself into thinking it was about you, but it was about me. At least, it was about me until I started falling for you. Then it became about you real fast.”
Emotion clogged her throat and she had to swallow several times before asking, “You fell for me? Even after you saw that picture?”
“Did you think less of me after you found out what I’d lost to cancer?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. But that’s different.”
“How? It’s all external. Stretch marks, weight, missing body parts. I don’t care what’s on the outside. For the first time, I want what’s inside. I love you, Robyn.” His voice broke, and splotches of pink colored his cheeks. “I don’t want all the fame and fortune if it means losing you.”
“Sean. I-I don’t know what to say. You’d really be willing to give up all that for me?”
He nodded. “I already have. I told Damon to take a hike, that I wasn’t going to his party to schmooze with the execs for a job. I don’t want it. I want to patrol. And I want to come home to you.”
She slapped a hand over her quivering mouth as tears spilled from her eyes. What he was saying, what he was willing to do…it was too much.
“I can’t let you do that,” she murmured from behind her palm. “I can’t be responsible for you giving all that up for me.”
“Sweetheart, don’t you get it? I want to give it up. I want to be with you. I realized today how much more important it is to be happy than it is to be famous. And you make me happy. I know you need to get a job somewhere, but I can transfer to a nearby ski area and ambulance company. We might still have a bit of distance between us, but—”
Gathering his hand in both of hers, she pulled him closer, until she could smell his woodsy aftershave. “No. I’m moving here.”
“What?”
“I worked out a deal to buy Hausfreunde from my parents. I’m going to run it. I have all these plans! Remember the rosemary cheddar loaves? You gave me a great idea. I’m going to bake them as bread bowls. And I have some thoughts on eventually expanding the business…” She trailed off at the stunned expression on his face that turned to radiant pleasure.
“Then please, please say we have a shot. I’m so sorry about everything. Please say you forgive me. Give me another chance.”
As much as she wanted all of this to be over, it wasn’t. There was still an issue between them. “I can only forgive you if you do the same for me.”
“Robyn, I’m the one who screwed up. Not you.”
She shook her head and gripped his hand tighter. “No, you were spot on when you said I was using you. And just because I was upfront about it doesn’t make it right.”
“It’s okay—”
“No. It’s not. I treated you like you were nothing but a famous face. I didn’t look beyond your name and accomplishments, and that’s something that I, of all people, should know better than to do.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “You deserved better than that. I’m so very sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”
“You shouldn’t even have to ask,” he said in a voice so rough with emotion that a sob formed in her own throat. “Of course I forgive you. Can you do the same?”
Warmth swelled in her heart, and she threw her arms around him. “Yes, yes and yes! I forgive you, and I love you, Sean Trenton.”
He kissed her hard, as though his very life depended on it. His lips crushed hers, and his tongue swept inside, robbing her of her breath and sending electric tingles over her skin and through her bloodstream. The hall was empty, and he took advantage of that, pushing her back against the lockers, winding his fingers through her hair as he held her close.
As always, her body responded to him like they’d been lovers for years. Her breasts tightened, her thighs clenched as heat and moisture built between them. The hard ridge of his erection behind the seam of his fly pressing into her belly told her that he was as affected by the kiss as she was.
“Sean,” she whispered against his cheek, “I know where there’s an empty room.”
He groaned and pulled back. “As much as I want to make love to you right now, we can’t. I have an auction to emcee.”
What a wonderful man. She smiled and shook her head. “You don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do. I let you down, and I’m going to make it up to you.”
“You already have. The equipment, the ski teams…” She frowned. “And how did you get all the people here?”
“I announced your auction during the competition,” he said with a sly smile.
Oh, but he was a gem of a man. Damon had managed to cancel her radio announcements, but the announcement had still gone out on his television network during his time and on his dime. What delicious irony.
“I can’t thank you enough.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “I also can’t let you emcee. I’m going to do it. I want to do it. More importantly, I need to do it, just like I needed to buy Hausfreunde to prove I’m stronger than I’ve always believed. I can find a better use for you.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. And afterward, I’m going to show you how grateful I am.” She kissed him, a brief but intense kiss that left no doubt as to how she’d demonstrate her gratitude.
Breathlessly, he took her hand to lead her toward the gym doors. “And I’m going to show you how much I love you.”
She couldn’t wait. But she stopped him just short of the doors. “I don’t suppose you could show me something else, too?”
“And what would that be?”
She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment and then blurted, “Ever heard of a game called hide-the-mitten?”
A slow, secret smile curved his luscious mouth. “Oh, baby, I know it. And the best part?” He leaned down, brushed his lips across her cheek and whispered into her ear, “In that game, there are only winners.”
She glanced down the long, empty hall and smiled. Here in the high school that had been little more than a giant torture chamber for her, Robyn the Troll had found happiness. She most definitely was a winner.
About the Author
Air Force veteran Larissa Ione traded in a career as a meteorologist to pursue her passion of writing. She now spends her days in pajamas with her computer, strong coffee and supernatural worlds. She believes in celebrating everything and would never be caught without a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge…just in case. She currently lives in Wisconsin with her U.S. Coast Guard husband, her teenage son, a rescue cat named Vegas, and her very own hellhound, a King Shepherd named Hexe.
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br /> To learn more about Larissa, please visit www.LarissaIone.com. Send an email to Larissa at
[email protected] or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers and authors as well as Larissa! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writeminded_readers.
He opened his home. She stole his heart…and his money.
Trespass
© 2011 Meg Maguire
Many would envy veterinarian Russ Gray’s life in rural Montana’s wide-open spaces. Russ calls it lonely. In a country with more cattle than eligible females, he doesn’t envision his seven years as a widower ending anytime soon. Until a mysterious woman lands at his door in the dead of night, riddled with buckshot.
Sarah Novak hates lying to such a kind, handsome man, but if an upstanding citizen like Russ finds out why she’s been three weeks on the run, he’d surely turn her in. Yet she can’t refuse his offer to let her stay until she heals, no questions asked.
From the start they fall into an easy companionship, then teasing flirtation flares into an unexpected intimate connection. But no matter how right it feels in his arms, guilt tugs at Sarah’s heart. Russ doesn’t deserve what she must do next.
When Russ wakes up with an empty bed—and an empty wallet—his first instinct isn’t to call the cops…it’s to catch her and find out why his urge to protect her overshadows all reason. Because he’s had a taste of real passion, and he’s not letting it slip away without a fight.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Trespass:
Sarah rose first and cleared Russ’s yolk-stained plate. He let her do the dishes and start a fresh pot of coffee, turning back to his newspaper while she puttered. She did an overly thorough job of wiping down the counter, watching him through the open space in the wall that separated the kitchen and den. He had a dab of yellow at the corner of his mouth, sleep-mussed hair glowing gold at the edges from the morning sunshine. She glanced at the pocket watch before her on the ledge and the antique medicine bottle beside it, its thick, cloudy glass the same gray-green as Russ’s eyes.