Page 31 of Boss of the Year

I turned, and in that moment, I realized heknew. I couldn’t have said how, exactly that arrow-straight gaze could see right through me, but it did. Without a shadow of a doubt, Lucas Lyons knew more about me than I’d ever thought possible.

He knew I’d been waiting in that room for Daniel.

He knew I was here to see Daniel tonight.

He knew that I’d been desperately in love with his brother for ten long years.

“You don’t disapprove?” I found myself asking.

Lucas tipped his head back and forth. “I can’t say it’s my favorite idea in the world, for obvious reasons.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant. Me waiting for Daniel? Or being in love with him?

“Because I work for you?” I guessed.

Lucas snorted. It was surprisingly cute. “Ah, no. If my family were going to get on that high horse, we’d all fall off, starting with the woman who hired you. She was the old gardener’s daughter, you know.”

My eyes popped open. “Your mom was the gardener’s daughter at Prideview?”

Lucas looked like he wanted to spit out his champagne. “Absolutely not.Mymother grew up on a ranch outside of Santa Fe. She and my father weren’t together long. Winnifred’s father, though, worked for my grandfather here at Prideview.”

A wave of astonishment washed over me.

“You didn’t know that Winnifred is my stepmother?”

I probably should have, but I didn’t. I could hear Joni tsking at me:This is what comes from being a shut-in, Mimi.

At fifteen, I wouldn’t have cared about this kind of gossip, bewildered as I was by Daniel and a shiny new paycheck. Ten years later, most of the staff here probably assumed I knew this detail. After all, we were the keepers of the family’s secrets.

It made sense now that I thought about it. Lucas was much older than Daniel, and other than blue eyes, basic stature, and a similar dimple, they looked nothing alike.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t. I’m not very good about things like that.”

“Things like what?” His mouth twisted wryly. “Dirty gossip?”

I shrugged but nodded. “Yeah.”

Lucas looked at me hard for a moment. I held his gaze until the lines on his face softened.

His next move caught me by surprise. Gently, he took my mostly full champagne glass and set it down, along with his own, on a concrete bench. When he turned back, his hand was outstretched.

Just like his brother’s.

“He said he owed you another dance. I’m just following orders.”

Unsure of what to do, I stared at the hand until I hesitantly put mine in it. Lucas pulled me close and led me in a simple two-step, our feet crunching in time with the lilting music still audible from the party. No longer the familiar bars of “The Way You Look Tonight.” But I had a sneaking suspicion I’d remember this song forever anyway.

“I can understand why he’s smitten.” Lucas’s dark eyes flickered over my face, pausing on my bare shoulders. I tried to ignore the way his gaze set everything alight. “I would have been too, had I seen you first. Half the damn party was staring at you the moment you arrived.”

I bit my lip. “That’s ridiculous. You didn’t even see when I arrived.”

His broad palm stretched across the whole of my bare back, then led me through a turn that was so sudden, it stole my breath as it forced me to follow effortlessly.

Lucas moved in that way, I realized. All at once, or not at all.

In other words, he was a hell of a lead.

I found myself flush against him, close enough that I felt his heart beating and smelled the sweet hints of mint and champagne on his breath. He didn’t wear cologne, like Daniel. Instead, his scent, mixture of soap and musk and something all his own, was indelibly him.