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Lana chuckled, her gaze returning to Laird as he chatted up Sutton and she jerked her attention back to Emma with a shrug. “I guess you were right: time to start living again.”
Emma caught the quick glance and frowned but she didn’t have time to remind Lana of all the reasons Laird was wrong for her, and for that, Lana was grateful. She had bigger problems and hustled over to Vince with a wide, confident smile that would’ve given any Oscar-willing actress a run. Go get ‘em, big sister. Lana smiled and turned to find something to drink when she was startled by an incredibly handsome man wearing a tailored suit and a charming smile. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” she apologized with a short embarrassed laugh.
“No worries. The fault is mine. Please tell me you’re not attached because these family parties are dreadfully boring without a beautiful distraction,” he said, hazel eyes twinkling. “And you, my sweet, would brighten any occasion.”
“Do all the Buchanans take a class on how to charm women?” she teased, allowing him to kiss her hand.
He grinned, saying, “You can’t teach natural born talent.”
How could she not laugh? His confidence bordered on arrogance but he was devilishly handsome and he knew it. The fact that he wasn’t afraid to wield his charm with impunity was both intriguing and mystifying. She swore that the Buchanan world of extreme wealth was something she’d never understand. “You must be…Sutton Buchanan?” she surmised, thanks to Emma’s hastily whispered intel.
“You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name but I still don’t know yours.”
Suddenly Laird was at her side, possessively sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her close, shocking Lana as electrical currents danced beneath her skin at the contact. “Sutton, it’s nice to see you never change,” Laird said, his tone faintly laced with something that Lana didn’t recognize. “Always bee-lining for the prettiest girl in the room. Too bad she’s not available.”
“Laird Tiechert. Still hanging around the Buchanans, I see. Don’t you have your own family to bother?”
“I do but the Buchanans offer no shortage of entertainment,” Laird answered smoothly.
“Forgive poor Laird, he comes from a blue-collar background — construction at that — sometimes he forgets his manners. You were just about to introduce yourself when we were rudely interrupted.”
“Her name is Lana and as I said, unavailable.” This time there was no mistaking the hard tone but Sutton just chuckled at Laird’s unaccountable rudeness. There was certainly some kind of history between the two and Lana couldn’t help but shiver at the difference in Laird who was usually so laid-back. “Vince, I think Sutton could use another drink,” Laird said, drawing Vince’s attention.
Vince, seeing that Sutton and Laird were like circling dogs, came over and grabbed his cousin with an annoyed sigh. “When are you going to stop being such a prick, Sutton? I swear, leave off, for crying out loud,” he muttered, practically dragging the cousin away.
Laird gripped Lana’s hand and took her out of the drawing room, into a private office off the main hallway. “Laird, what are you—“ but before she could finish the question, he’d sealed his mouth to hers in an urgent kiss that rocked her foundation. When he broke the kiss, they were both breathless. “What was that all about?” she managed to ask once she could speak.
“Sutton Buchanan is a dick. Always has been and always will be. And…we have a bit of history together.”
“As Vince’s best friend, that doesn’t surprise me,” Lana said dryly. “But you can rest assured I wasn’t snowed by his gentleman routine. It takes more than a pretty face to compel me to trust someone these days.”
Laird’s expression turned serious yet warm as he dipped his head and swept his lips across hers, drawing her close as if he couldn’t stop himself from touching her. It was heady and addictive, something she barely remembered except with Laird. “Why did you say I wasn’t available?” she asked breathlessly.
“Because you aren’t. Not for him.”
That wasn’t exactly what she’d hoped for but she should’ve been grateful because she didn’t know what she wanted or expected from Laird. “Shouldn’t we go back to the party? People will start to talk.”
“Let them,” he said carelessly, rubbing his thumb across her bottom lip as if mesmerized by her. “I’d rather leave. If I’d known the cousins were coming, I would’ve declined the invite.”
“Is there that much bad blood between you and the other Buchanans?”
“It’s complicated. Vince is my best friend but Sutton and me…we aren’t buds.”
“I can see that.”
Laird hesitated a moment, then asked, “You want to get out of here? Go someplace else?”
“I can’t. I promised I would be a buffer for Emma. She thinks that Whitney doesn’t like her.”
“Ah, yeah, Whitney…” His chagrined expression told her that he had history with Whitney, too.
“Oh God, please tell you haven’t slept with Whitney Buchanan,” she said, cringing. She really hated that idea. But when he didn’t deny it, she groaned. “Great.”
“It was a long time ago,” he assured her. “We were high school age. There’s been nothing since and there will definitely be nothing going forward. You know how the reputation of the Buchanans is a pretty wild one? Well, Whitney is probably the wildest. Frankly, I’m surprised she’s still alive. The woman used to have quite a habit, if you know what I mean.”
“Let me guess…coke?”
“Yeah but you didn’t hear that from me. I don’t want to spread rumors. For all I know she’s matured and is a different person but I know too much about the woman. Way too much.”
“Now I definitely don’t want to leave Emma,” she said, wrinkling her brow. “Especially with Emma being…” she almost said pregnant but stopped just shy of spilling the beans. Laird gave her a funny look but she just shook her head and said, “I just can’t leave her like that. She needs me.”
He sighed with regret and it actually warmed her a little to know that he wanted to leave to spend time with her. “All right, I’ll stay but Sutton better keep his paws off you for the rest of the night or I might just remove them at the wrist. It’d be the least that he deserves.”
“Are you going to tell me what he did to you or leave me in the dark?”
“He’s just a spoiled prick.”
“Forgive me, but aren’t you also a bit spoiled?” she ventured tentatively, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
“Not like the Buchanans. The Tiecherts are new money; the Buchanans are as blue-blooded as they come. Generations of wealth — and Sutton never missed an opportunity to point that out.”
“So he was a bully?”
“Yeah.”
Knowing that Laird had suffered at the hands of a bully when he was younger made him seem more three-dimensional. Intellectually, she knew that he was more than just a rich guy who’d never known a day of struggle in his life but it was hard to see more than that when she’d been closed off to the human being he truly was. She didn’t think it was possible but suddenly he seemed ten times more attractive than before — and that was a feat. She surprised him when she lifted on her toes and planted a soft kiss on his lips. When she dropped back down to her heels, she grinned shyly at him, loving that he was caught off-guard in the best way possible. “I never got the chance to thank you for taking care of me all those months ago. You could’ve taken advantage but you never did. You might not want to admit it but you’re a good man Laird Tiechert.”
He ran his index finger lightly across her cheek, a playful smile playing on his lips. “Don’t go spreading vicious gossip. I have a reputation to protect.”
She smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him out of the private room, saying, “Maybe it’s time to make a new reputation.”
He eyed her with something akin to reluctant curiosity but also intrigue. “Which would be?”
To that she just gave him her sw
eetest, most beguiling smile and for a moment, she could’ve sworn his knees buckled.
And that just about made her day.
-8-
Dinner seemed interminably long, particularly when he had to suffer through the obviously flirtatious comments Sutton kept lobbing Lana’s way as if he couldn’t see Laird shooting lasers at him from across the expansive table. What was wrong with him? Sutton was a prick and always had been. Nothing had changed. So what if he was into Lana, who was he to say they couldn’t become close. It’s not as if he were officially attached to Lana and vice versa but even as the thought zipped through his brain, every muscle clenched as if he were preparing for war.
Fuck this. What, jealousy? Is that what this was? Unreal.
