New and…Improved? & Andrew in Excess

Besides, he spoke the truth. She was beautiful.

“Stop it, Kat.”

She halted in the middle of putting on her earrings, eyeing him as if he’d suggested they dance naked in the street. “What? It’s just an earring.”

He waved a hand. “I couldn’t give a damn about the earring. Don’t tell me you’re not beautiful.”

A hint of vulnerability shadowed her blue eyes before she masked it. “There’s no audience here. Save it for the party, Andrew. You don’t need the practice.” Kat turned away from him. “I’ll be in the car.”

Andrew watched the play of silk fabric over her hips and rounded behind in bemused fascination. He’d always considered himself fairly adept with women.

Until his wife.

7

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT he had the nerve to say to me tonight?” Kat fumed.

Bitsy backed her further into the empty corner of the club ballroom. “What?”

“He told me I was beautiful.” She all but spit out the last word. And she’d believed it for one brief moment. Her choices had been indignation or puddling at his feet. She’d opted for the safest and tidiest of the two-indignation. “Can you believe it?”

“String him up. That’s the sentence I’d hand down for something so offensive.” Bitsy waved a cheese cracker for emphasis. “Imagine. He called you beautiful.” Rolling her eyes in mock disgust, she popped the cracker into her mouth.

A uniformed waiter flourished a champagne-laden tray before them. Kat passed a glass to Bitsy.

“Go ahead. Make fun. It just gets worse.” She touched her hair bouquet, careful not to damage the fragile flowers. “To top it off, he gave me these.”

Kat swigged the effervescent wine.

“That brother of mine! It’s barbaric-a compliment and flowers for his wife.”

“For goodness’ sake, Bitsy. He’s not supposed to do these things.” She lowered her voice as a guest drifted by. “He only wants his stinking partnership. And I only want my baby.” A baby with gray eyes and a thatch of black hair.

“Are you sure about that?”

Kat wasn’t sure of anything anymore. She felt as if she was standing on shifting sand. And she loathed sand. “We signed an agreement.”

“Well, hey. You’ve got your agreement, so I don’t see what the problem is.” Bitsy peered over Kat’s shoulder, “Unless you consider that Mother and Father just arrived. Oops. And there’s Claudia bringing up the rear with her date.” Bitsy grabbed Kat’s arm. “Come on. It’s party time!”

“YOUR PARENTS ARE HERE.” Playing to their guests’ expectations, Kat slid her arm about Andrew’s waist, and was surprised to find odd comfort in his solid warmth.

“I know.” Andrew dropped an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her closer. His breath stirred against her temple, unleashing a rising tide of need. “Let’s get this over with.” With a subtle movement of his broad shoulders, he nudged her in the direction of the older Winthrops.

The band segued into a classical piece reminiscent of a funeral dirge. Kat considered it an omen on her imminent meeting of the in-laws. Actually, with Andrew by her side, she wasn’t nearly as uptight as she’d anticipated.

Nodding and smiling at guests, they skirted the room.

“There’s no doubt who you look like.” Andrew was a replica of his father, except for A.W.’s gray hair and lined face-and a ruthless air mercifully absent in Andrew. Her husband might possess an aloofness, but she’d seen more than a generous amount of kindness in him, as well. A.W. didn’t look as if “kind” existed in his vocabulary.

“Yes, I’ve always been my father’s son.”

And none too pleased about it, if his tone was anything to go on. Did he base his own supposed shortcomings as a husband and father on the fact he shared similarities with his father? Kat tucked the thought away to examine later.

“Your mother looks much younger than your father.”

“Actually, only a year or so. Mother believes in aging as gracefully as financially possible. It’s the up side of keeping one of the finest plastic surgeons on retainer.”

As they navigated around a small cluster of people, Andrew’s hand bumped against her silk-clad breast. An instinctive and instantaneous response rippled through her, tightening her nipple into a bud of want and anticipation. Had he tensed as well?

“Oh. What’s the down side?” She managed to keep her voice steady.

A shadow of a smile softened the hard line of his mouth. “It costs the old man a hell of a lot of money.”

The older couple awaited Kat and Andrew-regents receiving peasants. Kat quelled the urge to genuflect before their haughty bearing.

“Good evening, Mother. Father.” Andrew’s arm tightened around Kat’s shoulders until it was as rigid as his tone. “Kat, I’d like you to meet my parents, A.W. and Margaret Winthrop.”

No hint of softness cushioned the steel of A.W.’s gray gaze. “You seem to have a penchant for scandal, girl. That’s not something we Winthrops embrace.”

“Consider yourself lucky, darling.” Andrew retorted, earning himself a scowl from his father and a star from Kat.

A waiter paused at the group, proffering a tray of canapes. Kat sighed and loaded up a small napkin. Good Lord, what she wouldn’t do for a pint of Chunky Monkey right now. Instead she popped an anchovy into her mouth.

Margaret Winthrop stared down the length of her surgically perfected nose, a chilly smile revealing even, white teeth. She fairly dripped West Palm, understated elegance, from her perfectly coifed blond hair to her designer gown. “Wherever did you find that dress, darling? It’s so…well, quaint.”

And welcome to the family. Kat had spent the better portion of a paycheck on her dress, determined to uphold her end of the bargain with panache. She’d help Andrew secure his partnership, but she wouldn’t be a doormat for these people with more money than manners.

Andrew began to say something, but she silenced him with a slight nudge.

“There’s a great thrift store near my old house. Maybe we can go shopping together sometime.” Andrew’s arm, slung across her shoulder, relaxed considerably, and in that instant she knew everything was okay. Whatever this evening brought, they’d face it together.

Margaret’s nose wrinkled as if she’d caught a whiff of something stuck to the bottom of her shoe. “I don’t think so. My schedule’s terribly busy.”

Far too busy to make time for a little boy with a string of nannies.

Andrew dropped Kat a lazy wink of approval before turning to face his parents. “Kat’s got a great nose for a bargain. It’s one of the things I love about her.” He squeezed her close, planting a kiss on the end of her nose. “Isn’t it, Bunny?”

She recognized Andrew’s act for what it was, nonetheless, his declaration of love set her heart rate to double time. “Oh, Muffin…” She didn’t have to try to sound breathless. She was.

“For God’s sake…” A.W. grumbled.

Margaret sniffed an admonishment. “Really, Andrew! You seem to have forgotten yourself.”

“Kat tends to affect me that way.” On the Richter scale, his cavalier grin registered a ten. The husky note in his bourbon voice stroked her like an arousing caress.

She liked him on a good day. When he switched on the devoted husband routine, he turned lethal. She munched another cracker under her in-laws’ disapproving stares.

A.W. and Margaret prepared to excuse themselves and Kat prepared a sigh of relief at their impending departure. All the preparation proved for naught. Claudia wafted over on a cloud of perfume and the arm of a