Reckless Promise Read Online Free Page A

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attention to the women at the table or the predatory brunette, had
swept her off to play ping pong. He got another beer and drifted
toward that end of the room.
    Alice met him halfway. "I see you've noticed
her. Poppy."
    "Yeah. Who could miss her?" Poppy. The name
fit. Bright. Beautiful. Probably addictive.
    "If you could stop drooling on your boots for
a minute and listen to me..." Alice's hand tightened on his arm in
an unmistakable I-mean-business way.
    The glitter of tears in her eyes
short-circuited his impatience. "Alice. Honey." He led her to one
of the benches that ringed the room and pulled her down beside him.
"Don't you think you're overreacting? I'll grant you she's
gorgeous." What an understatement. Repressing the urge to sneak
another look, he swallowed against the dryness in his mouth and
went on. "But she hasn't done anything except play ping pong.
Hardly the behavior of an evil temptress."
    "She'll be here for two whole weeks," Alice
wailed.
    Alice didn't act like this. Not strong,
I-can-do-it Alice. "There won't be any problem with the redhead."
He put his hands on her shoulders. "Trust me. She won't have time
to bother Tom. I'll take care of her."
    Alice relaxed against him. Strange that she
was so worried about Tom and other women all of a sudden. An uneasy
feeling in the pit of his stomach diluted his satisfaction at
fixing her problem. The promise he'd just made might be walking off
a cliff. He sneaked a glance across the room at Poppy again. He'd
take the fall a happy man.
    But he could flirt with guests without
getting too close or involving any messy emotions, he reminded
himself. After one more long look at her luscious promise, he
revised that. Not this time. He didn't know a thing about her
except the way she looked, but his attentions weren't going to be
pretense. This time, he wasn't sure he could stay detached.
    He didn't care.
    * * *
    Poppy missed the last serve and set her
paddle on the corner of the table. "You win." She let her new
buddies drag her to the bar in one corner of the room where she
perched on a stool and accepted a soda.
    "Wouldn't you like something a little
more...adult?" The voice coming from close behind her held a
leering, suggestive note that raised her hackles and defenses. She
hadn't seen any unattached men in the room except for the two she
was with, and from the way they looked at each other, she'd guess
they weren't exactly unattached. The voice must belong to Alice's
unfortunately gorgeous boy toy, Mac.
    Charming him away from Alice lost its appeal
fast, no matter how much he looked like her fantasies. Even if the
picture of him with his arms full of Alice hadn't turned her off,
that lame pick-up line would do it. But if she had to lure him,
she'd better be nice. Swallowing her distaste, she turned to him
with the best smile she could manage.
    The smile faded when she got a good look at
him. This wasn't the man Alice had flung herself at. This man, all
sandy hair, drug store cowboy clothes, and wedding ring glinting in
the light, had been sitting on a sofa with his arm around a pretty
blonde when Poppy had come in. Now he leaned back against the bar,
shiny new boots crossed, the whole posture designed to showcase his
package. His bedroom-eyed gaze locked somewhere south of her
chin.
    She wanted to smack him, for thinking she'd
be dumb enough to bite on a tired line like that, for pushing in
when she was trying talk with two perfectly nice, perfectly gay—and
after sharing an apartment with Jase, she could tell every
time—men, and for behaving as though this were a meat market. "I'm
sure your wife would love to have a drink," she said, and turned
her back on him.
    It wasn't until dinner time that she saw The
Other Man. He'd been sitting back in a dark corner. With Alice, of
course. They came out into the light, and he took a step away from
her.
    He turned his head, and his gaze pinned Poppy
like a collected butterfly. His eyes were light gray, pale as
polished