Evan

“Yes.” Nina sighed complacently. “My career has taken off since Evan helped me find that new agency.”

“Anything to help,” Evan said suavely. He was trying not to notice Anna and failing miserably. In that silver gown, her exquisite skin was displayed almost too blatantly. Her honey-brown tan made her complexion even prettier and emphasized her big blue eyes. It was an effort to keep away from her.

“The band is very good,” Nina remarked. “Evan, do let’s dance!”

She took his hand and headed for the dance floor without giving him time to speak to Randall or Anna. Not that he would have, anyway, Anna thought. He was giving her a blatant message—hands off. She lifted her cup of punch to her lips with a sigh.

“This punch needs help,” one of the guests remarked, slipping a bottle of whiskey from under his dinner jacket. “Here goes!”

Anna watched him fill the bowl with a wry grin. She knew one of the guests would have hives if he saw that. Evan didn’t like punch, though, so there was little likelihood that he’d imbibe. He hated alcohol. Anna had heard that he actually took a glass of wine back to the kitchen one night when he was having dinner with Justin and Shelby Ballenger.

She mentioned that to Randall after the punch spiker had sampled his handiwork and retired to the dance floor with his partner.

“Yes, I heard about that,” Randall remarked. “Justin and Shelby have three boys now, haven’t they?”

“Yes. They’re neck and neck with Calhoun and Abby.”

“They have two boys and a girl,” he reminded her. “I heard Harden and Evan’s brother Connal mention it at a party I attended a week ago.”

She laughed gently. “Connal insisted that Calhoun and Abby had a daughter just after their second child was born. They don’t. They have a son named Terry, and when Connal heard the name, he assumed they’d gotten the daughter they wanted. He knows better now, of course, but it’s become something of a family joke. Not that anybody mentions it to Calhoun or Abby.”

“Terry is kind of a unisex name,” Randall said.

“It’s short for Terrance, which isn’t,” she corrected. “Imagine that—two brothers and six sons and not a girl in the bunch.” She shook her head.

“What about Shelby’s brother, Tyler?”

“He and his wife can’t have children,” Anna said with quiet regret. “But they’ve adopted five! Nell was very upset, but Tyler involved her in one of those foster parent programs. In no time, she was knee-deep in kids who’d had no real home at all. They said the children are the greatest miracle of their lives.”

“A unique solution,” Randall agreed. “One couple in seven is infertile. It must be difficult, although they seem to have found a way to cope with the loss.”

Anna lowered her eyes to the punch table and thought about never having Evan’s children. Not that she would, because he had Nina. It was sad and sobering.

“I suppose if you love each other, no obstacle is insurmountable,” she said dimly.

“I suppose. Here. Try some of this. It’s rather good.”

He handed her a cup of spiked punch and she sipped it, wincing at the sting of the alcohol on her tongue. The ice fruit ring hadn’t diluted the whiskey very much, and Anna seldom drank.

“That’s strong stuff,” she remarked.

“Only if you aren’t used to it.” He chuckled. “You’re just like Evan about alcohol, aren’t you?”

She averted her face. He obviously had no idea how much that remark hurt her. “I don’t like alcohol,” she said absently.

“Yes, I’ve noticed.”

She didn’t hear the faint mockery in his tone. Her eyes had been drawn against her will to Evan. He was so tall and husky that he dwarfed almost every other man in the room. He had the lovely Nina close in his big arms and he was holding her with casual intimacy. Both her slender arms were looped around his neck; his hands on her waist held her carelessly close. He’d never held Anna like that. Probably he never would.

Her eyes softened and saddened at the sight of him. In evening clothes, he was devastating. His dark tan was emphasized by the white shirt he wore, and the black tie, dinner jacket and slacks made him look taller and very dignified. Just looking at him made Anna feel warm and safe, like coming home. If only he felt that way about her. It would be heaven.

Evan felt her rapt gaze and met it across the room. It was like lightning striking. His body tautened helplessly, and his eyes narrowed. Anna again, he thought angrily, playing with matches. She didn’t know what she was doing. At nineteen she was just beginning to feel her power as a woman, and she was using it blatantly with every man who came close to her. That was all it was, so he’d better remember.

He tore his gaze away and bent to kiss Nina in front of the whole assembly. He did it thoroughly and with fierce need, to banish the sight of Anna’s wounded face.

Nina was breathless when he let her go, and Anna had vanished. At least he’d accomplished that much.

“Want to take me home right now, big man?” Nina asked huskily. “I’m willing.”

But Evan wasn’t. He shook his head. “We’d better not vanish before Polly makes her speech,” he said with forced humor.

Nina sighed. “You still don’t really want me, do you?” she asked quietly. “I can’t get you within a mile of my apartment.”

“We’re friends,” he reminded her, smiling. “Otherwise, why would I be giving your career a helping hand?”

“To make some other woman jealous, I’m beginning to think,” she said candidly, watching his eyelids flinch. “Or to use me as camouflage. Because you certainly don’t want me just for myself. You hardly ever take me out.”

He smiled. “I keep busy.”

“Not that busy, and you don’t go out with many women. That’s right—” she nodded when she saw his puzzled expression “—I still have friends in Jacobsville who keep me up-to-date on who’s seeing whom. You don’t date anyone regularly. The gossip is that Anna Cochran has been seen pursuing you everywhere except up a tree.”

He drew in a heavy breath. “That’s partially true.”

“So that’s why you brought me here. Probably why you kissed me, too.” She smiled lazily. “Okay, lover. If you need protection, here I am. Do your worst. We’ll say it’s for old times’ sake.”

“You’re very generous,” he mused.

“You’ve been that,” she replied seriously. “I’ll help you scrape the kid off, no problem.”

He didn’t like it put that way, as if Anna was a leech. He frowned.

“She’s a babe in the woods, isn’t she?” Nina was saying, her eyes on Anna standing at the punch bowl with Randall. “Is she going to marry the medical student, do you think?”

“How should I know?” he asked irritably. He’d never thought of Randall as much of a threat to Anna’s maidenhood, but she was spending a lot of time with the younger man lately.

“She’s well-to-do. Or her mother is,” Nina mused, thinking aloud. “A young doctor going into practice needs a rich wife.”

Evan stiffened. “Anna isn’t that stupid.”

“Darling, she’s a teenager. What does she know about men? My God, I’ll bet she’s even a virgin!”

Evan didn’t want to think about that. It made his blood run hot. He turned Nina to the rhythm. “Anna is Randall’s business, not mine. Dance. Help me get her off my neck.”

Nina smiled warmly. “My pleasure.”

Anna watched them dance and took another sip of her punch, and then another. “I wish you could dance, Randall,” she said, the words sounding a little slurred. She felt very relaxed.

“So do I, sometimes. Want to try it?” he asked, putting down his cup. “I feel pretty loose right now.”