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He stared out at the night. “I wanted to start my own company based on a home security app I invented that would alert you if you forgot to lock your doors, close your garage, or turn off the water. But another company beat me to the punch and got it out on the market. And to be truthful, I wasn’t that disappointed.” He glanced over at her. “So to answer your question… I don’t have a clue what I want to do with my life.”
It surprised her how lost he looked and how much sympathy the look evoked. He had started out as the Dark Seducer and had moved to the arrogant billionaire. And now he was just a man. A man with as many faults and insecurities as everyone else.
Just then the sliding doors opened, and Mimi stuck her head out. “You and Nash better get yourselves in here before the dessert is all gone.” She smiled. “Grayson seems to love my special brownies.”
CHAPTER TEN
What the hell happened last night?”
Nash glanced up from the newspaper he’d been reading to see Grayson stagger into the kitchen in a pair of cutoff sweatpants. “Before or after you started giggling like a girl, telling inappropriate redneck jokes, and eating the Huckabees out of house and home? How many glasses of wine did you have?”
Grayson held up his hands. “I swear to God, I only had one. I think the old gal slipped something in it.”
“More than likely it was a sugar high from all those brownies you consumed. By the time Eden and I got inside, there weren’t any left.”
“You hate chocolate, so stop complaining. And it wasn’t a sugar high. It was more of a drug high.”
Nash shook his head. “Admit it, baby brother. You’ve becoming a metrosexual city slicker who gets tipsy after one glass of wine.”
“Let’s talk about metrosexual. Are those nylon running shorts you’re wearing, Bro?” Grayson opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of milk. He opened it, sniffed, and then took a healthy drink. When he finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at Nash. “So what was with you last night? I might’ve been giggly, but that fake smile you wore all night wasn’t fooling anyone. I guess you were surprised to find out that the bartender you were lusting after was the Huckabees’ granddaughter.”
Surprised didn’t quite cover it. Broadsided was more like it. But not as broadsided as finding out that Eden knew he was the guy who had hired her. Of course, everything had worked out in the long run. She might know who he is, but he also had found out who she is. Which meant that Nash now had something to hold over her head.
Although he wasn’t sure that the fear of her grandparents finding out about her being an escort was enough to keep Eden’s mouth shut. Nash had learned from experience that girls liked to tell secrets. They especially liked to tell secrets about boys and sex. Which placed Nash in a quandary of what to do to ensure that Eden wouldn’t talk.
“I can see where that puts you between a rock and a hard spot,” Grayson said as he carried the carton of milk with him to the cupboard where he pulled out a box of Cap’n Crunch cereal. “It’s kind of hard to seduce someone’s granddaughter.”
“I don’t want to seduce her.” It was an out-and-out lie.
“Well, you might not want to seduce her, but she certainly wants to seduce you.”
Nash dropped the newspaper and stared at his brother. “What?”
Grayson finished chewing the big bite of cereal he’d just scooped into his mouth. “You’re so used to women falling all over you that you’ve lost your perspective. Eden might pretend to ignore you, but when you’re not looking, her eyes say something completely different. She wants you, dude.”
Eden wanted him?After the way she had treated him last night at dinner, he had been convinced that she only put up with him because he’d paid her. Except he hadn’t paid her. She’d refused to take the money. And maybe she refused because she desired him as much as he desired her.
Of course, it made no difference now. Now that she knew who he was, there would be no more sexual interludes. He didn’t know why the thought depressed him, and why it continued to depress him during his morning run with Grayson. A run they had to cut short when Olivia called and reminded them that they had their fitting for the Lover’s Ball costumes that morning.
“I’m not wearing panty hose,” Grayson said as he stared in horror at the cream-colored tights draped over the hanger Olivia had just handed him.
“Those are not panty hose,” Olivia said. “They are… well, okay, in Romeo’s time, I guess they were called hose, but all the men wore them.”
“Well, I’m not.” He lifted a puffed sleeve of the velvet top. “And I’m not wearing this either.”
“It’s better than wearing white balloon pants and a bunch of scarves.” Deacon held up his costume. And as far as Nash could tell, it did look like balloon pants and a bunch of colored scarves.
“Now, honey,” Olivia said, “you don’t want to hurt Mother’s feelings, do you? She went to a lot of work to get these costumes put together. I realize that she’s taken the job of party coordinator to a new level, but I’d rather see that than her moping around like she did after Michael died.”
“I never mope.” Olivia’s mother swept into the design studio looking like the high-society matriarch she was in her fashionable dress and matching shoes. Deirdre Harrington Beaumont had always been a force to be reckoned with. When she wanted something, she usually got it. And right now, she wanted the Beaumonts to be her dress-up dolls.
“Deacon, Rudolph Valentino wore similar pants and a headdress in the movieThe Sheikand won the hearts of millions of women. So quit your whining and go try it on.” She looked at Grayson. “And that goes for you too, young man. You are Romeo, and Romeo wore tights.” She turned to Nash. “I take it that you don’t have anything to say about your costume, Nash.”
Nash glanced at the black pants and shirt on the hanger he held. Compared to his brothers’ costumes, he figured he had gotten off easy. “No, ma’am.”
“Well, you might be fine with it, but I’m not. While it wasn’t difficult to come up with costumes for your brothers, Lothario had me completely baffled. So I figured solid black would have to do for the seducer of women.” She clapped her hands. “Now let’s see them on you.”
Minutes later, Nash stood in a line next to his brothers while Deirdre walked in front of them like a general with her troops.
