She should have known better than to attend
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Lora Leigh
the party. Her emotions were too high, her control too fragile right now. She prided
herself on that control and the small slips she was displaying were starting to worry
her. Lucian and Dev were becoming a weakness she could ill afford.
Silently, she made her way along the rock walkway that led deeper into the
shadowed expanse of flowering bushes and trees. Terrie’s idea, she knew. Her friend
had a green thumb that often went out of control, but the garden was a masterpiece of
serenity. Nearly a square acre of lush vegetation and miniature trees.
Finally, Tally made her way to a secluded waterfall on the western edge of the
gardens and the hidden padded bench beneath the shelter of a small, vine-covered iron
gazebo.
The bench was wide, softly cushioned and, most importantly, private. Tally needed
time to come to grips with herself before facing Lucian or his twin. It wasn’t that the
thought of a ménage with the two men bothered her. Tally was extremely liberal in her
opinions of sexuality and completely honest with the darker side of her own sexual
desires.
The fact was, there would be problems attached to any affair she entered into with
Lucian, or Lucian and his brother. Her emotions were involved. How it happened,
when it had happened, she wasn’t entirely certain. But she knew when she stepped into
that office and saw Lucian fucking Terrie she had been furious.
She had known it would happen eventually. Hell, she could have stopped it. When
Jesse asked her if there was anyone who shouldn’t be involved in such a situation with
him and Terrie, she could have said something then. Her pride had demanded her
silence, though.
It wasn’t so much that Lucian had been fucking the other woman, contradictory as
it sounded; it was that he wasn’t fucking Tally.
“This is so stupid.” She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.
She wasn’t jealous of Terrie—not really. She was just so damned consumed with the
thought of Lucian, and now Dev, that she couldn’t make sense of anything else. She had
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Wicked Intent
been ever since their first meeting at Delacourte Electronics and their mocking appraisal
of her as she led them into Jesse’s office.
She finished her champagne before leaning her head back against the bench and
drawing in the warm night air. The steady sound of falling water, the heady scents of
the night and her own weariness were about to get the best of her.
“Hiding, Tally?” Lucian’s smooth, dark voice had her eyes opening in resignation.
Had she known he would follow her?
She stared up at him, seeing the halo of light around the white-blond of his hair and
silhouetting the wide breadth of his shoulders.
“Well, it should be pretty evident I wasn’t looking for company.” She injected what
she hoped was just the right amount of cool mockery into her voice. It was hard to do
after their last confrontation.
He chuckled. The sound was low and wickedly amused as she rose to her feet,
intent on returning to the house. He had been furious when he left the week before, he
and Dev both were literally fuming over what she had done. She expected a return of
that anger now.
“Tally.” His hand on her arm as she moved to pass him stopped her. More from
surprise, perhaps, than from anything else.
She stared up at him in the dim light, wondering at the serious cast of his
expression. She had seen him mocking, sarcastic and downright furious. But she had
never seen this expression on his face. Intent, his gaze shadowed with a bit of regret.
“I missed you,” he whispered, his hand smoothing down her arm until he gripped
her hand lightly, lifting it to his face.
Tally fought the tremor of response that started low in her belly and began to work
its way through her body. His touch was gentle as he pressed her hand against his
cheek. She could fight their dominance, enjoyed doing so actually. But