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Willow whirled around. "Mom!" she exploded. "Don't put him on the spot like that. If he doesn't want to go—"
"I don't mind going," Raith cut in.
Brenda gave her daughter a smirk. "See? He wants to go."
Willow frowned. "Only because you twisted his arm. If you hadn't made him feel like he has to—"
"Oh, honestly, Willow," Brenda said on a sigh. "Officer Malloy doesn't strike me as the type to do anything he doesn't want to do." She turned back toward him. "It'll be a huge event; the entire family's going to be there. But with all the people and commotion, I'd still breathe easier if someone stuck by Willow the entire evening."
"I don't need a babysitter," Willow groused.
"No, but it sounds like you need a solid swat on the bottom," her mother retorted. "How dare you try to deny a mother her right to make sure she feels that her only daughter is being protected?"
"I'll be fine without some bodyguard shadowing me everywhere."
Brenda quirked a brow and glanced at the bodyguard in question. "Actually, I was thinking we'd call him your date, not your—"
Raith must've decided it was time to break up the brewing catfight. "Uh... ladies." He stepped between them. "Call me whatever you like, but I'm going to be there. This is the perfect kind of crowded, chaotic event a stalker relishes." He looked at Brenda and firmly stated, "Mrs. DeVane, I'll see you tonight." And then he winked at her. Turning to Willow, he added, "And you—be good." Then he quickly reached out and touched her face. "Take care of that bubble," he added softly before striding out of the house.
Both Willow and Brenda stopped bickering. In unison, they moved to the window and watched him climb into his police cruiser.
"Well, I can't say I blame you for sleeping with him," Brenda said.
Willow lifted her eyebrows. She'd only ever heard her mother talk lovingly of one man, and that was the Honorable Judge Walter DeVane.
But Brenda met her gaze and shrugged. "He is pretty devastating on the old hormones, isn't he?" Then she giggled like a schoolgirl. "He winked at me."
Willow threw back her head and laughed. Tossing her arm over her mother's shoulder, she agreed full-heartedly. "Yes, he can definitely run a number on you."
Twenty Four
Since he didn't own a tux, Raith had to borrow one from Willow's brother. He had gone to a rental, but there hadn't been anything on hand to match his size. Chase's suit at least fit in length and at the waist even if it was a bit snug in the shoulders.
As soon as they stepped through the entrance, they were swamped by people. He realized most of the horde was Willow's family as she introduced him to cousin after cousin.
"Hey, remember me?" a voice spoke from his left. Raith turned to find a grinning Kit Fletcher, wearing a tux, with a stunning petite blonde perched on his arm. After he introduced his wife, Tina, he picked up a little boy, who was also wearing a mini-tuxedo and held him under the armpits to show him off.
"And this is one of my boys," he said, only to turn the child to see its face and quickly revise, "No, it's not." He thrust the toddler at Chase. "That one's yours. Where the hell are my kids?" Sending Raith a helpless smile, he shrugged. "There's three of them running around here somewhere."
"This is Schyler," Willow said, tugging Raith's arm and forcing him to turn back toward the child still wiggling in Chase's arms to be let back down on the ground to run free. Then she motioned toward Schyler's mother. "And you met Allison earlier when she brought Chase's tux over."
"Hello again," Allison DeVane said with a gracious smile, holding out her hand in welcome. Before he could shake, however, Willow was whirling him away to face yet another couple.
"This is my cousin, Eric, and his wife, Shay." Raith barely opened his mouth before Willow hauled him off into a different direction. "Aunt Silvie's calling us over. We should say hi."
"Well, hello there, Malloy." A familiar voice interrupted them.
/> Raith pulled to a halt and found himself eye to eye with his boss. The sheriff darted a curious glance from him to Willow—or rather to Willow's hand clasping Raith's arm—and back again. "I wasn't aware you'd be here tonight," he finally said, returning raised eyebrows to Willow.
"Neither was I," Raith answered honestly. "Not until this morning."
As he spoke, he slipped his gaze around the room and swallowed. Running into his boss at a social function made his skin prickle with unease. Lowly deputies usually attended entirely different get-togethers. But just about every upper crust member of the community was present and accounted for.
Suddenly, his tux didn't fit right anywhere. He was way out of his league. Next to him, Willow greeted the sheriff and thanked him for coming before something caught her eye across the room.
"Oh, there's the new baby."
Raith glanced over to catch the Taggarts approaching the group of cousins Willow had just dragged him away from. She touched his arm. "Excuse me, gentlemen. I'm going to greet my new cousin."
