Page 87 of Angel In Armani

The tone in which she said baseball team should have dropped the temperature in the ballroom a good few degrees. The look in her eyes dropped it farther still. Brown eyes should be warm. But Flavia’s were a shade you might get if you froze bitter chocolate. Lucas must have gotten his eyes from his dad. And he apparently hadn’t been kidding about his family’s views on baseball. She might be here at the fund-raiser, but Flavia was definitely not a Saints fan.

Where the hell was Lucas? Though maybe it was just as well he wasn’t here. She didn’t want Flavia’s chill directed at her personally. “Yes, I work for the Saints,” she said.

“That must be interesting.”

There was that tone again. Sara set her teeth. “Yes, it is.”

“What is it you do there?”

“I fly their helicopter,” Sara said.

Surprise flared in the dark eyes, and Flavia’s forehead wrinkled infinitesimally. It seemed Lucas’s mom liked her Botox. For some reason, that made Sara feel slightly better.

“I wasn’t aware they had a helicopter.”

“It’s a trial thing,” Sara said. “While spring training is on.” She wasn’t going to offer any more of an explanation. Over Flavia’s shoulder she thought she caught a glimpse of Shelly’s pale-blond head. She wasn’t going to stand here and chat to Lucas’s mom without him any longer than she had to. And she definitely wasn’t going to offer the news that she was dating Lucas when Flavia had shown no reaction to her name. Which meant Lucas hadn’t told his parents about her.

Why the hell hadn’t he told them about her? He hadn’t mentioned that he hadn’t when he’d said they were coming.

She managed to smile at Flavia. “It was lovely to meet you but I see someone I have to speak with. Enjoy the ball.” She made her escape, heading toward Shelly, but she was fairly sure she could feel Flavia watching her as she left.

Shelly was standing by the bar, talking to the bartender.

“Sara, hey,” she said. “That dress looks fab.”

“Thanks to you,” Sara said.

“Nope, the dress is nothing without the woman inside it.” Shelly smiled. Her dress was a short shift—kind of flapper style—silver embroidery glimmering over black net. “Now, I was just asking Tom here if he can make me a very dirty martini. Do you want anything to drink?”

She had never wanted alcohol more in her life, but she was flying later. “No, I’m fine.”

“Are you having fun? Where’s Lucas?”

Maggie had, out of necessity, told Shelly about Sara and Lucas during their shopping adventure. But Shelly had promised to keep her mouth shut until the news became public. “Held up in surgery,” Sara said, trying not to sound annoyed. With Flavia prowling the ballroom, she really wished Lucas were here.

Shelly grimaced in sympathy. “That’s the problem with surgeons. Always on call. Well, the ones who do anything interesting, at least.”

“Given that I tend to be on call, too, I guess I can’t complain about that,” Sara said. She wondered whether to mention that she’d just met Lucas’s mom but decided to wait for the man himself to arrive to discuss that particular experience.

She stood and chatted with Shelly for a bit, telling her about spring training and letting Shelly—who worked as an entertainment columnist—give her the lowdown on half the people in the room. Just as she was starting to think that Lucas was never going to arrive, the crowd parted and he was suddenly in front of her.

“Oh thank God,” she muttered as he bent to kiss her hello.

“Sorry,” he murmured against her lips. “Surgery.”

“So Mal told me,” she said.

“Good.” Lucas pulled back from her, still holding her hands. Then he scanned up and down and up again. His eyes went hot and dark and the breath caught in her lungs as an answering heat stroked her skin.

“You look beautiful.” His fingers tightened a little on hers, stroking gently as he looked at her. “More than beautiful.”

Her breath caught, the room suddenly shrinking to just the two of them. He really did think she was beautiful. And he wanted her. Both those things shone clearly in his eyes. The certainty suddenly arrowed through her, making her knees go weak. What Lucas saw when he looked at her wasn’t what she saw in the mirror. No, it was better. And maybe, just maybe, it was the real her. Not the mess of a woman who couldn’t keep a business afloat, but the woman who filled Lucas’s eyes with wonder and happiness.

She didn’t know what to say. Didn’t quite know if she could make lips and tongue cooperate to find any words.

Instead she stepped in and stood on tiptoe to kiss him again. Let her body say what she wasn’t ready to say. A kiss of heat and tenderness in equal parts that didn’t do much to still the spinning in her head.

Lucas saw her. And gloried in what he saw.

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