she said speculatively, her eyes narrowing as she examined him. He couldn’t escape the feeling she was laughing at him on the inside. “Are you jealous, Clay?”
He dropped her hand. “Just wanted you to remember our agreement, that’s all.” He had to come up with another distraction. “Here’s Jen and Andrew,” he suggested, tilting his head toward the couple who had just come in. “Good safe people for both of us, right?”
He didn’t want to touch her too much so he merely put his hand beneath her elbow as they started across the parlor. Jen and Andrew greeted them with hugs and handshakes and it wasn’t long before they were joined by Lily and Noah and Dawson and Tara—the old wing night crowd that Megan had avoided for so long. Now she was a shining star in the midst of them. He couldn’t take his eyes off her animated face. How difficult had it been for her to come here tonight? he wondered. However challenging, she’d made more than one conquest already. She looked like a woman who could accomplish anything. He ran a finger over his bottom lip. Offering her his arm tonight was a small favor when all was said and done. He wished there was some way he could help her with her expansion plans. He’d have to give it some thought, see if he could come up with a solution. There was always more than one way to skin a cat.
“You did a wonderful job on the dress,” Jen commented to Lily. “You look like a movie star, Meg. I had my doubts about velvet, but you and Lily were right.”
“And you were right about the accessories, Jen,” Lily said generously. “But Meg, the shoes. The shoes are to die for. Who helped you pick them out?”
Meg grinned. “I picked them out myself.” She turned her ankle, showing off the impossibly high slingback heel. Clay’s gaze caught on her very fine, toned calf. “I know I’m a bit of a tomboy, but I’m not totally oblivious.”
Was she sure about that? Because she seemed to be completely oblivious to what she was doing to Clay with her soft laughs and knockout body. Nothing was working as a distraction. He looked up as Stacy and Mike came through the door, laughing and smiling. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tom talking to his dad, but with one eye watching Meg constantly. Clay didn’t want to leave her side, but he did have official duties to perform. He let his hand rest proprietarily on the small of Meg’s back, the heat of her skin warming the velvet against his palm. “They’re here,” he announced, sounding a little sharper than he intended.
“I need to head back to the kitchen and check up on things,” Jen said, handing her empty glass to Drew.
“I suppose we should begin to be seated.” Clay put his glass down on a nearby tray. “Meg, you’re at the head table with me.” There’d be no chance for Tom to move in now.
He saw Tara and Lily exchange significant looks and set his jaw. He hoped they didn’t have any ideas of matchmaking. Meg had been right after all. People were seeing a romance where there was none—even if Clay did feel like he’d been hit by lightning. Even if he did feel an absurd need to put his mark on her tonight.
He was in a heck of a jam—being Meg’s date, being hugely attracted. He was feeling proprietary and he had no right. It shouldn’t matter that Tom had his eye on Meg. Tom was a good guy. But it did bother Clay and that put him on edge, because while he could be friends with Meg it could never be anything more.
It was enough to give him a headache.
Throughout the meal Clay was painfully aware of Meg at his side.
“Could you pass the butter, please?” Meg leaned toward him slightly.
“Oh. Sure.” He picked up the dish of perfectly formed butterballs and handed it to her. Their fingers brushed as she took it from him and something strange and electric shot from his fingers to his elbow. Meg’s gaze snapped up to his and he took his hand away. The air around them changed as she lowered her eyes and her lips pursed as she carefully put a ball of butter on the side of her plate.
This was not going how he’d planned. He couldn’t look at her. He couldn’t touch her and yet he didn’t want anyone else to, either. How on earth was he going to get through the rest of this evening?
Meg broke a piece off her roll and concentrated on spreading a bit of butter on it so she wouldn’t have to look at Clay. What was wrong with him? Granted, she’d wanted to blow him away today and by all accounts she could tell she’d succeeded. Not just with Clay. So many people had been friendly. Heck, Tom Walker had overtly flirted and asked her for a dance later.
But the old teasing Clay was gone and in his place there was an awkward stranger. He couldn’t even hand her the butter dish, for heaven’s sake! And he’d barely said two words through dinner. She thought back over everything they’d talked about today. There was nothing she could think of that might have made him angry or standoffish. But ever since they’d met up with the rest of the gang he’d closed up tighter than a clam.
“Could you pour me some more wine, please, Clay?” she asked sweetly, lifting her glass. It was still half full but she wanted to try something. As he reached for the bottle, she moved her glass closer until her arm brushed the fine fabric of his white shirt.
He immediately pulled away.
No touching then. Meg pasted on a smile for the table’s benefit, said a polite thank-you and took an obligatory sip of the wine even though the liquid had no appeal to her now.
Maybe he’d been momentarily dazzled by her appearance today but the shine had obviously worn off. And maybe she’d let herself believe in the old crush once more—maybe it was the sentimentality of the wedding or something equally foolish—but that wasn’t real. She would not make an idiot of herself. And if Clay ended up giving Lisa Hamm a turn on the dance floor tonight, well bully for him. It was no more than he deserved.
When guests rose to get pictures of the couple cutting the cake, she picked up her purse and slid out the side door. It was early April and the wind held a chill; she chafed her arms with her hands and savored the brisk crispness of it. She’d had to escape the perfection. It was all around her today—the romantic setting of the Victorian-style inn, the pretty dresses, the happiness in Lily’s eyes and the contentedness she saw in Jen’s as Andrew rested a hand on her rounded tummy where their baby grew. It was too much when Meg’s life held so much uncertainty. Maybe someday she’d be ready for love, but it wouldn’t be easy as a survivor. It stung that everywhere around her were reminders.
It was like starting the game at a deficit, and most of the time she did okay with it. But today the proof lurked in every corner. She rested a hip against the porch railing and looked out over the fields, still dotted here and there with clumps of stubborn snow. This was what was real. The ranch land, the herds, the never-changing mountains. This was her life—not the muted laughter and music she heard coming from inside. It had been fun to pretend for a few hours, but the girl in the red dress and high heels and makeup—that wasn’t Meg Briggs. That was Meg Briggs trying to prove something. Now that she had, it felt empty.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
Clay’s voice came from behind her—a surprise. She didn’t turn around. “I thought you were avoiding me.”
“How could I avoid you when you were sitting right next to me?” He chuckled but she heard the tightness in the sound. She stared at a circling hawk and shrugged.
“It sure seemed like you were trying.”
There was a long silence, and then the sound of his
