Sherryl Woods - The Calamity Janes - Gina and Emma

He caught on more quickly than she had expected. He wasn’t good, but he wasn’t tripping over his own feet or stepping on hers, either.

“You do rise to a challenge, don’t you?” she teased.

“There’s very little I won’t do to win,” he agreed solemnly.

“Are we still talking about dancing?”

“Were we ever?”

Gina sighed. So that was the way it was going to be. He was never going to let her forget why he was here.

“I think I’ll have that beer after all,” she said, even before the music ended. She started away, then turned back. “Leave my friends out of this.”

“I won’t say anything,” he agreed, then had to ruin it by adding, “For the time being.”

“Look, Mr. O’Donnell...”

“I think since we’re going to become so well acquainted over the next couple of weeks, you should call me Rafe.”

She shrugged off the request. “Whatever. The point is, they don’t know anything about this and I don’t want them to.”

“Why? Your friend Lauren makes ten million a movie. She could write you a check and put an end to this right now. You could pay off all those people who’ve been bilked, settle up the restaurant’s accounts and life would go on. You’d never have to see me again.”

“She could,” Gina agreed. “But it’s not her problem. It’s mine.” She leveled a look straight into his eyes. “No, let me correct that. It’s Bobby’s.”

“But he left you holding the bag, didn’t he?”

She held up her hands. “I’m not doing this. Not now. Good night, Mr. O’Donnell.”

She deliberately turned her back on him and walked away, but with every step she took, she felt his gaze burning into her. She was glad he couldn’t see her face, because then he’d know exactly how badly the encounter had shaken her.

Halfway across the field, she ran into Lauren.

“What did you do with that gorgeous man?”

“That gorgeous man is a viper,” Gina snapped.

Instantly her friend’s teasing expression faded. “What did he do?” Lauren demanded, her gaze searching the field for the man who’d offended her friend.

Gina grinned. “It’s okay. Settle down. It’s nothing I can’t deal with.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

But even though she managed to inject a note of confidence into her voice for Lauren’s sake, Gina couldn’t help wondering if Rafe O’Donnell wasn’t way more than she could handle. She thought of the way her pulse had skipped in his presence, then amended the thought: he might be more than she could handle in more ways than one.

2

Rafe had been stunned when he’d realized that the woman sashaying over to him earlier in the evening was the Lauren Winters, an actress renowned for her beauty and her box office appeal. Who would have imagined finding such a glamorous superstar in a one-horse town in the middle of nowhere? To top it off, she seemed to fit right in. No one was gawking. No one was begging for autographs. Clearly she wasn’t just a celebrity imported for the event, but a hometown girl.

But as intrigued as he was to be face-to-face with the superstar, he’d barely been able to pull his gaze away from her friend. From the moment Lauren had introduced him to Gina, he’d been captivated. That was the only word for it, and it was damned inconvenient. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t like her. But his body didn’t seem to give two hoots about any of that.

Gina Petrillo was tall and slender with black eyes and dark hair that curled to her shoulders in sexy disarray. There was an earthy quality to her that reminded him of some of the most legendary Italian beauties. He could instantly envision her standing over a steaming pot of tomato sauce and just as easily imagine her in his bed, in a steamy tangle of arms and legs. He couldn’t think of the last time he’d reacted on such a purely male level to a woman.

Of course, the fact that she was a thief—okay, an alleged thief, he conceded, thinking of Lydia’s admonition—took a little of the fun away from the discovery that he was attracted to her. He had a feeling he was going to spend a lot of time reminding himself that Gina Petrillo was trouble. He would probably spend even more time in cold showers.

Holding her for that dance, watching the sway of her hips as she’d walked away from him, he’d found himself regretting the fact that she was so thoroughly forbidden. Then, again, maybe that was the real allure.

And not only was she forbidden, she didn’t seem to trust him any more than he did her. That offended him. Most people considered him solid and reliable. In fact, he was one of the most respected attorneys at a firm that prided itself on its respectability. In some circles he was even considered a prize catch.

Not that he was any sort of playboy, but he was used to women being eager to see him. He seldom had time for even half the women who called asking him to accompany them to social functions. He had a hunch it would be a cold day in hell before Gina asked him to dance again, much less to join her for dinner. That made her a challenge, and as she had already guessed, he loved a challenge.

The smart thing would be to speak to a local judge, arrange a quick deposition—first thing tomorrow morning, if possible—and then hightail it out of town before he lost sight of his professional ethics.

The only problem with that was that it would leave Gina Petrillo on her own in Wyoming. She’d be able to sneak off to who-knew-where the minute his back was turned. And she was his best link to Roberto Rinaldi. The deposition was only half of what he wanted from her. He also wanted her to lead him to that sleazebag partner of hers. Sooner or later she was going to make contact with the man, if only to strangle him herself...or to get her share of the cash he’d stolen.

No, he concluded, he was here to stay. At least until Gina went back to New York, which she’d insisted would be in two weeks.

Two endless weeks, he thought despondently. Lydia would be elated.

He listened to the annoying whine of a fiddle as the band tuned up for yet another round of country songs, and shuddered. Why couldn’t the woman have run off to Italy? Or Paris? Or anyplace civilized where the music tended to be classical?

“Care to dance, Mr. O’Donnell?”

He gazed down into Lauren’s crystal-blue eyes and wondered why he wasn’t the least bit tempted by the superstar. Because the only eyes on his mind were black as onyx and belonged to a woman who was off-limits, he made himself nod.

“I’d be honored,” he told her. If nothing else, it would be a story to tell when he got back home. Maybe even to repeat to his children, if he ever got around to marrying.

They had taken only a few awkward steps to the unfamiliar rhythm when Lauren came to a stop and dropped any pretense of friendliness. “You don’t know much about the Texas two-step, do you, Mr. O’Donnell?”

“Can’t say that I do,” he admitted. “Tonight is the first time I’ve tried it.”

“Do you consider yourself a quick learner?” she asked.

He regarded her warily. “Under most circumstances.”

“Okay, then, here’s another lesson,” she said. “You don’t know any more about Gina than you do about the two-step. She won’t tell me why you’re here, but your presence is clearly upsetting her, and I don’t like that. She’s a terrific person and she’s among friends, Mr. O’Donnell. You tangle with her, you tangle with all of us.”

He grinned at the feisty defense and the warning. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m not saying that for your amusement,” she snapped. “I mean it. People who underestimate me live to regret it.”

He managed a more somber expression. “I’m aware of that, Ms. Winters. You’ve made your point.”