Night Whispers - Leslie Kelly [53]
“We can do this one of two ways,” she said as she began pulling the chain hand over hand, shortening the distance between them as Mitch feigned protest. “Stick together and go for food as a team…” she continued.
“Or?”
“Or I pull out the key and release you.”
Mitch frowned in thought. He was not ready to be “released” from duty. “Hmm, tough choice. I think maybe we’d better leave the chain for now. I don’t trust you enough to let you out of my sight. The next thing I know you’ll have me volunteered to go onstage and sing ‘The Monster Mash.’”
“I remember hearing you sing in the shower when you were a teenager, and I wouldn’t dare!”
“Very funny…coming from Miss Two Left Feet.”
“All right, let’s call it even,” she said. “You can’t sing. I can’t dance. Together, though, we’re very talented.”
“Together we’re very…something.”
“Perfect?” Kelsey said with a determined flippancy she didn’t feel.
Mitch leaned forward in his chair until their faces were mere inches apart. Her heart started pounding as she recognized the dangerously seductive look on his face.
“Maybe we could be, Lady Love.”
She thought for a second he was going to close the gap between them and kiss her again. She leaned imperceptibly closer, silently urging him to do it, not caring that hundreds of people milled around them.
“There you are, Mitch. I’ve been waiting for you to finish chaperoning Kelsey here. My, my, Kelsey, you certainly are the sly one. Imagine, Mitch’s little childhood friend being the infamous Lady Love!”
Kelsey sighed in frustration and glanced up at the sound of Amanda’s shrill voice. The blonde stood close to Mitch’s chair, breaking the intimate spell they’d been under, as she’d obviously intended.
“Goodness, Mitch,” Amanda continued, her saccharine tones irritating Kelsey tremendously. “How on earth did you let Kelsey talk you into helping her with this…well, titillating performance of hers? I don’t imagine anyone ever dreamed that this was how you’d end up ‘taking care’ of your pseudo-sister. My, my, what would the folks back home say?”
Kelsey could see Mitch retreat from her, mentally and physically, as he sat up straighter in his chair and adopted his usual calm expression. The dangerous Mitch she remembered from her childhood was tucked safely back inside and she was going to spend the rest of her evening with the college professor. Kelsey suddenly wanted to punch someone. Someone blond.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Mitch the way he was now. She liked him too much, that was part of the problem. He was smart and funny, thoughtful and sensitive, and sexy in the way brainy men are. But when he allowed a little tiny bit of that dark rebel to slip out, he was absolutely irresistible. And only with the rebel would Kelsey have a chance to make him admit how good they could be together.
Amanda’s intrusion hit Mitch like a gallon of cold water. The sultry mood was gone. He tried hard not to think of how the night might have ended if he’d gone on pretending he was only with Lady Love. He probably ought to thank Amanda for splashing him with a dose of reality by bringing up the Logan family. But he didn’t feel very grateful.
“Amanda, I was just about to ask Kelsey to dance. You will excuse us, won’t you?”
Not waiting for her answer, Mitch helped Kelsey up and led her onto the dance floor, brushing aside her protests that she really was a lousy dancer. Pretending she wasn’t too bad, he ignored the half-dozen times she stepped on his toes. Bruised toes were a small price to pay for avoiding a major heartache. And the moment he and Kelsey had shared just before Amanda interrupted could easily have led to one major emotional pain.
Throughout the rest of the evening, Mitch treated Kelsey with polite cordiality, and nothing more. They danced a few times, ate a late dinner and had a few drinks. At one point, Kelsey needed to go to the ladies’ room, and surrendered the