Taming Clint Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [55]
“Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?”
Alyssa glanced up at the tall, handsome man who hadn’t left her side all evening. She smiled up at him. “Yes, you told me. Thank you,” she said.
And if he hadn’t, his gaze had said it all when she had walked out of the bathroom after getting dressed. Casey, who had once owned a clothing store, had been instrumental in helping her select a dress, a short, black, clingy number that Casey claimed would hit her brother between the eyes when he saw it. Alyssa wasn’t sure whether Clint had gotten hit between the eyes, but it was evident he liked seeing her in the dress. And if she was reading his mind correctly, he was counting the hours until he would get the chance to take it off of her.
“Well, well, look who’s here. I can’t believe my eyes. What are you doing here, Alyssa?”
Dread settled in the pit of Alyssa’s stomach at the sound of that voice. She turned and tried to retain her composure when she not only saw Kim but also Kevin. She shook her head, shocked, not believing they were here tonight, of all places, and together. Kim was plastered to Kevin’s side as if she wanted to make it obvious that tonight they were a couple.
Alyssa found her voice to speak. “Kim, Kevin, how are you? It’s nice seeing the both of you and I’m here for the same reason you are, to support the children’s hospital.”
“Like you can afford to do that,” Kim said with an obvious sneer, not caring who standing around her was listening. “Aunt Claudine claims you left Waco to go work for a client, but I figure you’re still licking your wounds because I took Kevin away from you.”
Alyssa knew Kim was deliberately trying to embarrass her in front of everyone and a part of Alyssa wished at that moment she was anywhere but there. Having all her personal business exposed to everyone, especially the Westmorelands, was humiliating.
But then she happened to notice that Clint had moved closer to her side, had placed a protective arm around her waist. And out of the corner of her eye she saw the other Westmorelands closing ranks around her, as well.
“Please introduce me to your friends, Alyssa,” Clint said.
Only someone as up close, intimate and personal to Clint as she was would detect the edgy steel in his voice. She glanced up at him. He hadn’t taken his gaze off Kim and Kevin, and the look in his eyes matched the tone she had heard in his voice.
She cleared her throat. “Clint, this is Kevin and Kim. Kim and I are cousins. Kevin and Kim, this is Clint Westmoreland,” Alyssa said.
It was only then that Clint shifted his gaze back to her and she was aware that already he had figured things out. Kevin was her former fiancé and Kim was the woman who had deliberately slept with him to ruin her wedding day. Kim was also Alyssa’s cousin.
Kim, who appreciated a good-looking man when she saw one, smiled sweetly at Clint. “So, you’re that client she ran off to work for,” she said in a smooth, silky voice as her flirty gaze rake him from head to toe.
Clint smiled at Kim, although anyone knowing him could see the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “No, I’m not Alyssa’s client,” he said in a clear and firm voice. “I’m Alyssa’s husband.”
Fourteen
A lyssa thought for as long as she lived she would never forget the shocked look that appeared on Kim’s face with Clint’s statement. Kim was dumbstruck. Kevin had also seemed to lose his voice, but had quickly regained it. While Kevin stood there babbling, trying to apologize for Kim’s rudeness, Clint had taken Alyssa’s hand in his, and he, as well as the other Westmorelands, had walked away leaving Kim and Kevin looking like fools. In the end, the embarrassment had been theirs.
They had returned home a few hours ago. Neither Clint nor any of the other Westmorelands had brought up the incident with Kim and