Brenda Jackson - A Wife for a Westmoreland / Claiming His Royal Heir - A Wife for a Westmoreland

He leaned back in his chair remembering how years ago when she’d been about eighteen—about to leave home for college—and he had been in the process of moving back home from university, she had caught his eye. In memory of his parents and his aunt and uncle, who’d died together in a plane crash while he was in high school, the Westmorelands held a charity ball every year to raise money for the Westmoreland Foundation, which had been founded to aid various community causes. Lucia had attended the ball that year with her parents.

He had been standing by the punch bowl when she had arrived, and the sight of her in the dress she’d been wearing that night had rendered him breathless. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her all evening. Evidently others had noticed his interest, and one of those had been her father, Dusty Conyers.

Later that same night the older man had pulled him aside and warned him away from his daughter. He let Derringer know in no uncertain terms that he would not tolerate a Westmoreland sniffing behind his daughter, creating the kind of trouble that Carl Newsome was having with Derringer’s cousin Bane.

Bane had had the hots for Crystal Newsome since junior high school, and since Bane had a penchant for getting into trouble, Newsome hadn’t wanted him anywhere near his daughter. Unfortunately, Crystal had other ideas and had been just as hot for Bane as he’d been for her, and Crystal and Bane managed to get into all kinds of naughty trouble together. Once, they’d even tried their hand at eloping before Carl Newsome had found his daughter and shipped her off to heaven knows where. A brokenhearted Bane had decided to take charge of his life by going into the Navy.

Derringer knew that although he didn’t have Bane’s badass reputation, he was still a Westmoreland, and a lot of mamas and daddies were dead set on protecting their daughters from what they thought was a Westmoreland heartbreak just waiting to happen. A part of him couldn’t fault Dusty Conyers for being one of them; especially since Derringer had made it known far and wide that he had no plans to settle down with any one woman. A wife was the last thing on his mind then as well as now. Making a success of the horse-training business he’d just started was his top priority.

“I’m back.”

He glanced up and stood for her to sit and thought that Lucia was even more beautiful up close. She had a nervous habit of licking her lips with her tongue. He would do just about anything to replace her tongue with his the next time she did it. And he also liked the sound of her voice. She spoke in a quiet yet sexy tone that did things to his insides, and he decided to keep her talking every chance he got.

“Tell me about the classes you’re taking at the university and why you decided to go back and get your master’s degree.”

She lifted a brow and then her lips curved into one of her smiles again. Evidently, he’d hit on a subject she liked talking about. “Although Chloe hasn’t made any announcements about anything, I can see her spending less and less time with Simply Irresistible. Whenever she does come into the office she has the baby with her, and it’s obvious that she prefers being home with Susan and Ramsey.”

He nodded, thinking he’d had that same impression as well. Whenever he paid Ramsey and Chloe a visit, they appeared to be a content and very happy couple who thoroughly enjoyed being parents. He’d heard from his other brothers that already Ramsey and Chloe were thinking about having another child.

“And I want to be prepared if she decides to take a leave of absence for a while,” Lucia continued. “She and I talked about it, and because my bachelor’s degree was in business, we thought it would be a good idea for me to get a degree in communications as well.”

The waitress chose that moment to return with their food, and once the plates had been placed in front of them, she left.

“I understand Gemma is adjusting to life in Australia.”

He couldn’t help but smile. Although he missed his sister, it seemed from all the phone calls they got that she was adjusting to life in Australia. He’d known Callum, the man who used to be the manager of Ramsey’s sheep farm, had loved Gemma for a while, even if his sister had been clueless. He’d always known Callum’s feelings for Gemma had been the real thing and not for the sole purpose of getting her into bed. He’d wholeheartedly approved of Gemma and Callum’s relationship.

“Yes, I talked to her a few days ago. She and Callum are planning to come home for the Westmoreland Charity Ball at the end of the month.” He wondered if she planned to go and if so, if she already had a date.

“Are you dating anyone seriously?” he decided to ask and set his plan into motion.

She looked over at him after popping a strawberry into her luscious mouth, chewed on it a moment, and then she swallowed it before replying. “The only dates I have these days are with my schoolbooks.”

“Um, what a pity, that doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. How about a movie this weekend?”

She cocked a surprised eyebrow. “A movie?”

He could tell his suggestion had surprised her. “Yes, a movie. Evidently, you’re not spending enough time having fun, and everyone needs to let loose now and then. There’s a new Tyler Perry movie coming out this weekend that I want to see. Would you like to go with me?”

Lucia’s heart began pounding in her chest as she quickly reached the conclusion that Derringer had to have figured out that she was the woman who’d brazenly shared his bed. What other reason could he have for asking her out? Why the sudden interest in her when he’d never shown any before?

Their eyes held for what seemed like several electrifying moments before she finally broke eye contact with him. But what if he didn’t know, and asking her out was merely a coincidence? There was only one way to find out. She glanced back over at him and saw he was still staring at her with that unreadable expression of his. “Why do you want to take me out, Derringer?”

He gave her a smooth smile. “I told you. You’re spending too much time studying and working and need to have a little fun.”

She still wasn’t buying it. “We’ve known each other for years. Yet you’ve never asked me out before. In fact, you’ve never shown any interest.”

He chuckled. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to show an interest, Lucia, but I love my life and all my body parts.”

She raised a brow and paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean?”

He took a sip of his iced tea and then his mouth curved ruefully. “I was warned away from you early on and took the warning seriously.”

She nearly dropped the fork from her hand and had to tighten her grip to place it back down. “What do you mean you were warned away from me?” That was impossible. She’d never had a boyfriend jealous enough to do such a thing.

A grin flashed across his face. “Your dad knows how to scare a man off, trust me.”

Her head began spinning at the same time her heart slammed hard against her rib cage. “My dad warned you away from me?”

He smiled. “Yes, and I took him seriously. It was the summer you were about to leave for college. You were eighteen and I was twenty-two and returning home from university. You attended the Westmoreland Charity Ball with your parents before you left. He saw me checking you out, probably thought my interest wasn’t honorable, and pulled me aside and told me to keep my eyes to myself or else …”

Lucia swallowed. She knew her dad. His bark was worse than his bite, but most people didn’t know that. “Or else what?”

“Or else my eyes, along with another body part I’d rather not mention, would get pulled from their sockets. The last thing he would put up with was a Westmoreland dating his daughter.”