Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [66]
By eight o’clock that evening, when the cocktail party was set to begin, his mood had grown even darker. He hadn’t expected her to fly into his arms and say she’d forget about her father and her brothers and her whole life for him. Still, for the first time ever, he’d tried to tell a woman he truly loved her, and she’d practically thrown his declaration back into his face before he’d even been able to voice it.
Dressed in a suit and tie, since the evening was supposed to be an elegant one, he made his way downstairs to the large reception room. The owners of the house apparently entertained a lot, for there was another bar in here, even larger and more well stocked than the one in the library. The comfortable furniture was arranged in small groupings around the perimeter, with the large center area available for dancing, should the occasion demand it.
“No dancing,” he told himself as he walked into the place. It was already loud, brimming with conversation and excitement. Everyone on the crew was here. Every one of the instructors—right down to a frowning Mr. Halloway, who watched them all with blatant disapproval even as he sipped from an enormous martini.
Ginny, dressed in a low-cut black cocktail dress, stood chatting with one of the camera operators. Judging by the way she kept bending closer, she knew he was staring down her dress and she didn’t care.
Drew somehow didn’t suspect she was going to be named lady of them all.
Sukie and Robin spoke quietly with the director, while Jacey and Sam circled the room, getting shots from every angle possible.
The only person missing was Tori.
“Where is she?” Drew asked Jacey as soon as she came within earshot.
“Who?”
He just stared until she shrugged, admitting, “I haven’t seen her come down yet.”
She’d better not stay in her room. If she chickened out on this event, he’d go up and drag her down here by the hair. Because in truth, she would only avoid tonight to avoid him.
At half-past eight, just when he thought he was going to have to march upstairs and kick her door in to get her to face him, he heard a rumble of conversation roll across the room. He was standing near the fireplace, sipping a gin-and-tonic, barely paying attention as the party continued all around him.
“Hey, y’all!”
That got his attention. That loud, twangy voice definitely interrupted his thoughts.
“Sorry I’m late. Shew-ee, I had a hell of a time finding my long underwear. Somebody musta hid ’em on me and it’s too dang cold to go around without ’em. My ass about turned numb today on that sleigh ride.”
Drew closed his eyes. He didn’t have to turn around, didn’t have to see, to know exactly what was happening. Her strident tone and heavy accent were proof enough. Not to mention the shocked silence that had descended in the room.
“Didj’all save any good food? I ain’t had me a decent meal in days. Mr. Monahan, if ya only ordered finger food or some’a them slimy-as-snot snails, I might have to tan yer hide.”
Finally, his eyes still closed, he slowly turned on his heel. Then, sending up a silent prayer that he’d misheard, he opened them to see Tori. Not the Tori they’d all come to know and love as she transformed into the elegant woman he’d escorted Sunday night. But the rough-edged, loud and gruff Tori who’d shown up here two and a half weeks ago.
She wore faded jeans and her scruffy black boots. Her flannel shirt hung down over her hips and was not only slightly dusty, but also misbuttoned. Her hair was slung up in a casual ponytail and her face completely bare of makeup.
And her expression was pure evil.
On any other occasion, he would have loved seeing this wild, exuberant side of her again. He’d wanted her from first glance, when she’d been exactly the girl appearing here tonight. Her clothes, her speech, her attitude—none of them made any difference to how he felt about her. He’d take her however he could get her…on any other night.
But not tonight.
Tori, what are you doing?
Even as he wondered, he suspected he already knew the