Into the Fire - Leslie Kelly [2]
She shrugged, then sighed. No, most people wouldn't be able to grasp that mental image. Not with the Lacey they knew now. The Lacey most people knew now.
Raul obviously noticed the smile fade from her lips. "My car's out back. Wanna run away and find the nearest bar?"
"You know I can't."
"I know," he admitted. "J.T.'s still going to do it?"
Lacey nodded.
"Okay, then, we're stuck. But I know you're bored outta your skull. If we have to stay, we can at least stir up some trouble. You know you're just dying inside to go up to Norm Spencer's wife and tell her everyone in the room can see the line of her girdle because her dress is too small."
"She either needs a better girdle or a dress two sizes bigger," Lacey admitted.
"That's my girl."
Lacey shook her head. "You're so bad."
"Maybe that's why we get along so well." Raul's eyes glittered. "Birds of a feather…"
"Get shot down together? No, I have to behave myself."
Raul gave her a gentle squeeze on one shoulder. "That's the problem, doll face. You keep trying so hard to be good, ore day you're gonna just explode."
Before Lacey could toss off a reply—feeling the need to assure him that being good was more effort than instinct—her attention was drawn to the bar where one man in a sea of black tuxedos stood out. Around her, conversations continued to drone on, but the voices and high-pitched laughter faded to an indistinguishable buzz. Lacey suddenly found herself tense and aware for the first time this evening.
"Who's he?" she wondered aloud, not really directing the question at Raul, though he stood beside her.
"Who?"
Lacey didn't reply, still studying the man. She didn't stare because he was gorgeous, though he was. He didn't catch her eye because he filled out his tux better than any other man in the room, though he did. No, it was his obvious boredom that caught her attention. His looks merely kept it.
He was taller than average, long and lean. His dark blond hair was thick and wavy, and she imagined his wife or girlfriend would be unable to keep her fingers out of it. The way he held his body screamed self-confidence.
She wasn't the only one who noticed him. Lacey watched a curvy redhead approach the bar, try to strike up a conversation, then walk away in a pique. The man shrugged and kept talking to the bartender. His boredom radiated toward her from across the room. He barely looked at the crowd surrounding him, instead giving all his attention to the guy making drinks.
The lean, strong line of his jaw made her wonder, suddenly, what color his eyes were. And whether his mouth was really as impossibly gorgeous as it appeared to be from over here. When he laughed in response to something the bartender said, Lacey sucked in a breath. Yes, the man had one heck of a mouth.
"The guy at the bar?" Raul asked, narrowing his eyes as he noticed her interest. "Not your type, Lace."
"So, you do know him?"
"In passing. And I'm afraid he wouldn't do for you."
"Why not? What's wrong with him?"
"He's a bonehead, Lacey. A jock with a Jaguar. Not a brain in his head. Got where he is on his looks."
"Oh, great." She sighed. "A Nate Logan type, you mean?"
Raul snorted a laugh. "Well, he's maybe not that bad. But definitely not someone you'd be interested in."
Too bad. It had been a long time since Lacey had looked at a man and felt such a sudden, overwhelming attraction. When she thought about it, she didn't think she'd ever gone breathless and jittery just from spying a stranger across a room.
Of course, she was a woman and she could appreciate a good-looking man. This one had looks to spare. But as her eyes kept returning to him, she knew it was more than looks. There was such power in his masculinity, such magnetism in his self-confidence. It was damned unfair for a creature so breathtakingly male not to have the brains to go with the rest of the package. 'What a shame," she murmured as she forced herself to look away.
"True," Raul replied.
Raul chuckled again, and Lacey wondered if he was up to something.