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The only challenge to serving herself was the lack of toast. She scanned all around the tower of caviar, spotted the serving bowls of sour cream, another bowl of finely chopped onions, another with minced hard-boiled eggs, and finally, tray after tray of mini pancakes. That was a first for her. “Who the heck serves caviar on pancakes?” It took a few short seconds to decide she had little to lose giving the mini-cakes a try. Dish in hand, she reached for one, spread a bit of caviar on it, then went for a dollop of sour cream. She would have preferred cream cheese, her grandmother’s secret, but this would do. Just one little teeny problem. No sooner had she slapped on the sour cream then the flimsy pancake folded over. She barely caught it with her other hand before dropping the whole shebang on the floor. “This is why normal people use toast.”
“For what?” A low and husky male voice rolled over her.
The next few seconds seemed to play out in slow motion. Startled by the spine-tingling voice, one hand flew up to her chest, the pancake dropped again, the caviar bathed in sour cream cascaded down the front of her dress and settled not on the floor, but on the voice’s very shiny and expensive dress shoes.
“Oh my.” Strong hands with long narrow fingers splayed open wide moved in front of her. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Stunned by the display of food on her favorite gown, Eve lifted her gaze, not sure who she was more annoyed with, the chef who thought soggy pancakes were good for caviar and sour cream or… Oh dear Lord. Mister broad shoulders and sun-kissed hair.
Way to go, Lamebrain. For over half an hour, since he’d first spotted the lovely blonde across the room, he’d been trying to make his way over to her. There were two kinds of women here tonight. The ones whose hair was teased or sprayed within an inch of its life and whose face was caked in makeup, or the ones with slits from the bottom up or the top down, leaving little to the imagination. And then there were the ones like the classy blonde in the flowing midnight blue strapless gown. Her hair, twisted above her bare shoulders in a simple bun, glistened under the overhead light. High cheekbones with only a hint of rose, and deep blue eyes to match the gown, under lush long lashes, showed off her natural beauty while looking magazine elegant at the same time. The moment she strolled into the hall she’d caught his eye and kept his attention. It had taken this long to get away from his mother’s friends and get close enough to see if her left hand bore a keep-away ring.
To his delight, within a few feet, it was clear her left hand was bare of any tell-tale jewelry. Unfortunately for him, it was also busy with the messiest hors d’oeuvres he’d had the misfortune of dealing with. The same hors d’oeuvres that were now dripping down her dress thanks to him. Not sure of what he could do to save face, he pulled his hanky from his breast pocket and handed it over.
Her hands held out to either side, she stared down at her dress before looking up and meeting his gaze.
“I’ll be happy to pay the cleaning bill.” It was the only thing that came to mind. Normally, he was known for being a smooth talker. As one of Houston’s top ten most eligible bachelors five years running, ladies held him in high regard. Tonight, he seemed to have the vocabulary of a nervous teen.
Fire in her eyes, lips pressed tightly into a thin line, she took in a deep breath and shook her head. “It’s not your fault.” Looking around, she grabbed a single nearby napkin and wiping up the larger clumps of white stuff, shook her head again. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to clean up before I have to deal with people.”
“Of course.” Again, he stretched out his arm with the cotton handkerchief he kept in his pocket. “This might help.”
Once more, her gaze lifted from her dress to his face. He had no idea if she was going to accept or slug him. Finally, she nodded and took hold of the hanky. “Thank you.”
Another moment and she was gone.
“Close your mouth. You’ll catch flies.” His mother came up beside him. “Chasing girls away, are you?”
“Hmm?” He turned to see the teasing smile on her face.
“I saw you talking to a woman and then she ran off. Was it something you said?”
“For what?”
“Excuse me?” Amusement gave way to confusion.
He shook his head. “I asked herfor whatand she spilled her caviar on her dress.”
“Oh, no.” His mom looked over in the direction his mystery lady had run off to. “I think I’ll go see if she needs help.”
“Good idea.” If the woman wasn’t giving up on the high brow event and going home, maybe he’d get another chance to talk to her, or at least learn her name. A phone number would be nice, but he couldn’t stand here like a stalker waiting for his mother and the beautiful blonde to return. Turning on his heel, he almost bumped into another woman.
“Jared. So glad you could escort your mother tonight. I understand you both are at the same table with the Governor and me.” Mrs. Baron slipped her elbow into his and nudged him into walking. “It will be lovely to catch up. You know, rancher to rancher.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lila Baron’s grandson Kyle had been one of Jared’s regular cohorts in college. It was actually rather ironic that the two families lived side by side yet Jared hadn’t had the opportunity to get to know any of the Baron grandkids until he met Kyle in college. But, as much fun as they often had, eventually Jared had a hard time keeping up with the jet-setting racer and balancing the ranching life he truly loved. Especially once his dad turned the reins over to him.
Seated at the table with one of his mother’s longtime charity cronies, he kept an eye out for his mom and the blonde. When they finally appeared in the doorway to the banquet hall, his heart rate kicked into high gear. To his delight, his mother, bless her, was escorting the woman who’d captured his attention to their table.
Pushing to his feet, he waited for the two women to close the distance. Despite plastering on his best winsome smile, the blonde’s only response was wide eyed surprise. Surprise that teetered on shock, and he was pretty sure not in a pleasant way. There was another thing he was pretty sure of, it was going to take more than a picture perfect smile and an offer of dry cleaning to get himself out of the dog house.
Lila Baron’s eyes widened in a bookend image of the blonde’s surprise. “Eve, what happened to the front of your dress?”
His mom waved the older woman’s comment off. “A little mishap. It will be dry in no time. Right, dear?”
So the beautiful blonde was Eve, one of the dozens of Baron grandkids, and if his memory served him correctly, Kyle’s kid sister. Only now there was nothing little kid about her anymore. Not one bit.
With a smile clearly meant for her grandmother, since she’d made no effort to smile for anyone else, Eve patted the older woman’s arm. “Mrs. Gold is correct. By the time we’re done with the salad my dress will be dry and no one will know I just took a caviar bath.”
