some reason, Madeline was eyeing the guy like she wanted to nail him in the shin.
Spike frowned, wondering how close they were. And in what manner of closeness it might be. He thought about what little he knew of the woman. She came from big money, supermarket money. So maybe O’Banyon was an advisor to her or something.
Sean winked at Mad.
Yeah, or maybe it was something more personal.
From out of nowhere, a mighty testosterone surge knocked out Spike’s frontal lobe and higher reasoning. He was struck by an urgent need to push his body in between them. And maybe drag that handsome, dimple-sporting, eye-twinkling Sean O’Banyon into the hall closet.
He’d look just perfect hanging next to Spike’s biker jacket. In the dark. Away from Madeline. Winking at himself. The bastard.
With a groan, Spike threw a leash on his inner gorilla, pointing out that Sean was a friend. FRIEND.
But then Mad looked at the man like the two shared a secret. And Spike’s core primate started to thump its chest.
Sean is lunch, the thing said. LUNCH.
Okay, it was now retreat time. If he stayed much longer, his personalities were going to start arguing with each other. Out loud.
“Excuse us,” he murmured, turning away. “I mean, me.”
Chapter Two
Mad watched Spike work his way through the crowd. People stepped aside for him, eyeing his looks with curiosity and a hint of wariness.
And in the case of the women, a good shot of blatant sensual appraisal.
But then he was the kind of man who made you think about making love. The way his big body moved with such power and grace told you he knew how to use those muscles and bones of his. In all kinds of different ways.
“So, Mad, what is going on with Spike? I’ve never seen you this entranced.”
She glanced at Sean and dodged the question. “I thought I was staying here tonight?”
“You are.”
“You have one guest room.”
“With two beds in it. And you guys are grown-ups, at least in theory. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Sean’s grin got wider, if that was possible. “And, you know, if you get cold at night, I’m sure Spike would—ow!”
Mad hesitated, and then gave him a second nuggie, in case the first one hadn’t made a big enough impression.
“Don’t you dare throw me at that man,” she said tightly.
Sean kept smiling, even as he rubbed his upper arm. “Who’s throwing? I’m not throwing. He needs a place to stay, so do you. Copious amounts of no throwing.”
She closed her eyes, feeling as if her heart had turned into a fist. “Sean… I’m serious. I can’t—Please don’t embarrass me.”
There was a pause and then a heavy arm came around her shoulders. “Hell, honey, I’m sorry. I’d never do that. Come here.”
She let herself get pulled up against Sean’s chest. As she took a deep breath, her eyes focused on the doorway Spike had disappeared through.
Sean stroked her back. “It’s just… I’d like to see you with someone like him. He’s a good man. I know him well. He comes down here all the time and we hang together.”
“Yeah, well, in case you haven’t noticed, he didn’t even look in my direction. He has no interest in me whatsoever.”
“That can change.”
“Not with me, it can’t.”
Sean cursed. “That stuff with Amelia and your boyfriend, it doesn’t mean—”
“I don’t want to talk about my half sister. And it wasn’t boyfriend, it was boyfriends. She slept with two of them.”
Another curse. “Do you want me to tell Spike to go somewhere else?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine spending the night in the same room with him. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he decides to leave. Now, look, you need to get back to your guests, okay?”
“Why don’t you come with me and have some food?”
“I’m not hungry,” she replied, which was her automatic response whenever anyone asked her to eat. “But thanks. Go on…I’m just fine.”
After Sean left, and for the rest of the party, Mad kept to herself. And watched Spike.
He’d struck her as a quiet person when she’d met him up at the lake, but tonight, he was a real charismatic crowd pleaser. He and Sean started trading stories in the living room and soon there was a crew of people around them. A crew with a lot of women in it.
Which made sense. Sean had always been a lady-killer and Spike evidently was one, too. He had this half-cocked grin he sported whenever he let a good one-liner fly, and like the other women, Mad felt her heart kick up a notch every time that wry smile came out.
As the knot of people around him laughed once again, she shook her head. Boy, she’d read him wrong. He wasn’t an introvert at all.
He was also very secure in himself. He seemed singularly unimpressed by the guests at the party and there were some pretty famous people around. It wasn’t that he was unfriendly, though. He smiled and talked, shook hands and clapped shoulders. He just didn’t kiss up. No matter who was standing in front of him, he never lost the slightly aloof, mocking confidence that drew people to him.
And speaking of magnetic, two women in particular had cozied up to him. Both were blond and aristocratic-looking, and pretty soon, one had her arm around him while the other tried to sit in his lap.
Mad shook her head, telling herself she had no right to be jealous.
Abruptly, Spike roared with laughter, the sound rich and very male. And then his eyes shifted across the room. As he caught her staring, his face tightened and the smile dropped off his lips. When the blonde sitting beside him playfully swatted at his chest, he recovered quickly and grinned down at the woman.
Yup, this was it in a nutshell, Mad thought. The story of my life.
The only time she wasn’t invisible to men was when she was giving them attention they didn’t want.
Spike had been totally surprised to find Mad looking at him and the shock of meeting her eyes had cut off his train of thought. He managed to finish his story about the first fish he’d cleaned as a chef only because he’d told the thing so many times, it was rote.
No doubt Mad thought he was just a rowdy show-off. And as the people around him broke out into laughter, he thought she was probably right.
Mad, on the other hand, wasn’t rowdy or a show-off. She stayed away from the crush of people, lingering near the bank of windows,
