Page 29

NAOMI'S BIRTHDAY PARTY officially started the next day, and with it Fox Lodge temporarily closed its doors to guest bookings while transforming itself to a Great Gatsby-themed paradise.

The party also came with a structured itinerary, and the first item in the program had the whole family welcoming guests and escorting them to the three key areas for morning entertainment: women were directed to the patio for a winter spa brunch, the kids were taken to the play area at the basement, while the men were escorted to the library.

Or so she thought.

A guy had just come up to her, introducing himself as someone playing for the NFL, when an arm suddenly curved around her waist, and Sarah stiffened, knowing who it was without having to look.

"It's nice to see you again, Garth," Damian drawled.

"Yeah, you, too, Fox."

When the other guy's questioning gaze swung between Sarah and the billionaire, Damian said easily, "Sarah's my stepsister."

"Right." The younger man couldn't seem to stop staring at the way Damian's fingers were idly caressing Sarah's hip. "That's, ah, cool." And then he coughed and cleared his throat, saying, "Anyway, I gotta go."

"What the hell was that?" Sarah burst out as soon as the football player was out of earshot.

The billionaire lowered his head, his arm tightening around her waist as he whispered straight into her ear, "Marking my territory."

Aaaaargh!

Color burst in her cheeks, and she waited until she was sure no one was looking at them before stomping on his foot as hard as she could. It had Damian grunting in pain, but Sarah didn't care. "Stop messing around!"

" It's not as if you truly found him attractive," Damian dismissed with typical arrogance. "You saw the look on his face when he found out you're my stepsister. Men like him will never be able to defend you—-"

"I don't need defending—-"

"You don't," the billionaire agreed silkily, "but you wouldn't mind it either if I were the one doing the defending." His tone turned pensive. "What was it that you used to like saying about us? You'd happily be the sub to my—-"

"Will you shut up?"

"Only if you call me what you used to call me."

"Damian! Be serious!"

"If you don't—-"

"Dom."

"That's not quite it."

Oh God.

"Last chance," he warned.

She took a deep breath and whispered, "My handsome Dom."

A devastating smile curved over her lips, and oh God, it was like seeing the sun shine for the first time—- aaah!

Damian had bent down to brush his lips over her mouth and had already pulled away before she could do a thing.

She looked around, horrified, embarrassed, and aroused all at once, and while none of the locals were acting any differently, there were various out-of-state guests who were now staring at them with scandalized expressions on their faces.

She turned to Damian, hissing, "Do you see what you've done? If Mom's guests start walking out—-"

"Let them," the billionaire dismissed with a Gallic shrug. It was Damian Fox at his cockiest, and she hated it. Hated, hated, hated it so much because it was also times like this when he looked his sexiest in her eyes.

Aaaaargh! Control, Sarah! Control!

Yanking her hand out of his hold, she shot him a quelling look, saying, "Whatever it is you think that's going to happen between us—-"

"It's already happening," he corrected her gently.

"No, it's not—-"

"Sarah? Oh gosh, it is you!"

Sarah quickly whirled around at hearing her name called out, and then she found herself grinning with genuine pleasure at spotting a familiar face.

"It's been so long, Harry!" She rushed forward to give her friend a quick, warm hug while Damian went on to shake hands with Harriet's husband, who had their five-year-old son up in his arms.

"Does this mean you're back in Jackson Hole for good?" Harriet asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure," she admitted.

"And... him?" Harriet subtly nodded towards Damian's direction. "Are you two in good terms again?"

"We're civil," was all Sarah allowed herself to say. "My mom wrote to me—-"

" Wrote? Not text?"

"Yes, wrote, " Sarah confirmed with a snicker, "and I bet you love that, don't you?

" A little-known secret about Harriet's marriage was the fact that she had arrived at Texas as an honest-to-goodness mail-order bride, and even now, Sarah was still blown away by how much courage it took for Harriet to bet everything on love and marry a stranger.

Fortunately, things had worked out pretty well, with Harriet happily married to Devon Montgomery, a Texan billionaire who was a "first-generation" member of San Antonio's Finest Eligibles, aka SAFE.

After escorting dropping five-year-old Jamie Montgomery at the play area, Sarah went back to the lobby to see Damian talking with Olivier Winterbourne. There was a pretty woman standing next to the mayor, and Sarah quickly moved forward with a smile.

"It's nice to see you again, Frankie," she told the mayor's secretary. "You, too, Mayor O."

"It's good to see you back in Wyoming," Olivier commented.

A sly smile curved over Frankie's lips. "You mean back together with Mr. Fox. Right, mayor?"

Sarah was about to protest when Damian answered, "I'm working on that."

Frankie flashed him a thumbs up sign. "Good for you."

And then the two were off before Sarah could even make her position clear.

Aaaaargh!

She tried stomping on Damian's foot again, but this time he was able to sidestep her efforts to make him limp. "Did I make you mad, love?"

"You know you did!" His arm slipped back around her waist as she spoke, and Sarah jerked in shock when she saw his head bending down.

Oh my God, what was he thinking?

But instead, his lips only brushed over the top of her head. "Try leaving my side again," Damian promised lightly, "and I'll do something worse next time."

Her eyes flew up to him in horror. "Are you—-"

"Serious about winning you back?" the billionaire asked pleasantly. "Yes. Crazy over you? Yes. Any other questions?"

Sarah's mouth opened and closed. Shit, shit, shit. The sound of footsteps reached her, and she quickly turned her gaze away from Damian, relieved to have something else to focus on. "Hello. Welcome to Fox Lodge—-" Her jaw dropped. "Pippa? Acheron?"

"I hope you're happy to see us," Pippa teased.

After exchanging quick hugs with her former employer, Sarah pulled back, demanding, "But seriously, what are you guys doing here?"

"You'll have to thank your stepbrother for that," Pippa's Greek billionaire husband drawled. "He insisted that we come as a surprise to you." A pause. "Or is he no longer just your stepbrother?"

Sarah's eyes widened.

"A little bit premature, my friend," Damian commented, "but I am actively working on it."

The level of comfort and familiarity between the two outrageously handsome men was just too obvious, and she asked suspiciously, "Do you two happen to know each other?"

"Yes," Acheron confirmed without a shade of discomfort.

"But as you made no mention of him, I thought it best not to make mention of Damian either.

" The explanation was a little too slick for her taste, but Pippa's huge all-women brood had popped up behind the couple by then, and since she was friends with all of them, Sarah soon found herself busy catching up.

Acheron watched his wife's family carry Sarah off, figuratively of course, and turned to his friend, saying bluntly, "The last time we spoke, you were determined to stay away from her."

"Things have changed," Damian said evenly.

"I see." Acheron's gaze turned contemplative. "And does she—-" Warning glinted in Damian's eyes as he spoke, and without missing a beat, Acheron went on to ask, "—-enjoy seeing the two of her children together again?"

Sarah, catching her former boss's last words, said with a smile, "Are you talking about Mom?"

"We are, although I must say, your mother is very much like my mother-in-law. The two of them could be easily mistaken as a big sister to their own children."

"I know, right?" Sarah was pleased as punch at the compliment since Pippa's mom was an incredible beauty. "Oh, and Frankie—-"

"Olivier's secretary? I didn't realize they were here already." At her nod, Acheron said with a smile, "Then I'll have to beg to be excused. I try to sneak in as much work as possible while the wife's not looking."

While watching her former boss stride off, Sarah couldn't help commenting, "It's true, you know. When I was working for them, the other employees told me about how Acheron used to be a workaholic, and he only started taking days off when he married Pippa."

"I promise to be the same," Damian murmured, "when we marry."

"Ha!"

"You don't want to?"

"Ha!"

The billionaire chuckled. "That's not exactly a no, love."

She knew that, but since to say yes would be sheer stupidity while to say no would be another pathetic lie—-

"Ha!"

And then she hurried past him to welcome the next set of guests. Part of her expected the billionaire to follow her, but he didn't, and Sarah resolutely told herself she wasn't disappointed. She was actually happy and—-

Several anxious-looking staff members suddenly ran past her, and Sarah called out to one of them in concern. "What's happening?"

Mr. Fox...Mr. Moore...

The other girl was barely coherent, but the little she understood was enough for Sarah to break into a run. A crowd of onlookers had gathered at the lodge's parking lot, and Sarah couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Damian about to take a swing at Colton.

"Oh my God, stop!"

COLTON USUALLY HAD a carefree air about him, but this time the younger man looked grim and strung up at the same time, like someone running purely on adrenaline for the past few hours.

"I got your email," Colton said shortly. And boy, what a fucking thing to wake up to. Sarah's stepbrother had somehow dredged out what not even the media and Colton's most obsessed fans had a clue about, with the email containing nothing but a series of photos showing him and Beth together.

Colton took a deep breath, knowing he needed to play this just right.

Until Beth graduated from college, he needed to keep his girlfriend out of the limelight and free from all the toxic hate that came with dating someone like him.

And since the billionaire appeared to be waiting for him to speak first, he said warily, "This is about Sarah, isn't it? "

Damian surveyed the younger man's tension with dislike. "Does Sarah know about her?"

"Of course—-" Fuck. Too late, Colton realized he shouldn't have said that, and as swift as his reflexes were, they just weren't as swift as Damian's, and the sudden punch to his stomach had him bending over with a groan of pain.

Grabbing Colton by the collar, Damian hauled him back up and snarled, "Don't fucking lie to me again. You really think I'd believe Sarah's fine with you having another girl on the side?"

That much was true, and that was why Colton had realized he had said the wrong thing.

And when he saw the fury mounting in the billionaire's gaze, he threw his hands up and burst out with the first excuse that came to his mind.

"You got it all wrong, dammit." I'm sorry, Sarah Bear.

But a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to save his ass and his girlfriend's.

And he heard himself say, "I'm saying she knows because it's mutual—-" Seeing Damian raise his fist again, Colton started to babble.

"Sarah knows the real score between us, and she doesn't mind that I have Beth because she, ah, has someone else, too—-" Damian suddenly released his hold on Colton's shirt, and he crashed to the ground.

"Who is it then?" the billionaire bit out.

Picking himself up, Colton said lamely, "Someone she knew you won't approve." A stupid excuse, but hopefully the billionaire would be satisfied with it—-

"Why would Sarah think we wouldn't approve of this man?" Damian demanded.

Shit. Colton hadn't thought that far ahead, and stuck for something to say, he once again rashly blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. " He's...married? "

Which turned out to be another mistake, with Damian pulling his fist back.

"Oh my God, stop!"

Relief washed over Colton at hearing Sarah's voice, the sound of which was apparently enough for Damian to check his violent impulses, and Colton started breathing more easily as the billionaire took a step back.

"Colton, are you alright?"

Damian, seeing Sarah about to reach for the younger man's bruised face, grabbed her hand and pushed it back down, saying brusquely, "He's still alive, isn't he?"

Colton, seeing the glint in Damian's eyes, quickly nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. We just had things to...thrash out," he finished awkwardly.

"Are you really okay?" Sarah asked anxiously.

Furious at the way Sarah kept fussing over the boy, Damian didn't wait for Colton to give his answer. "Forget about him, dammit. We're leaving."

And with his fingers still tightly curled around her wrist, Sarah found herself being dragged off, her legs working overtime to match Damian's furious pace.

"Why did you hit him?" she demanded.

"Doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters!"

"Then I'll tell you," he said curtly, "once I'm certain he's telling me the truth."

Sarah froze. What truth? Could Colton have given the billionaire a hint about her feelings for Damian? Made him realize that she might not be as over him as she wished?

Damian could feel the violence inside of him simmering back into life when he saw a fleeting expression of guilt on Sarah's face. "Tell me the truth," he bit out. "Do you know about Beth Cohen?"

The way her face paled was answer enough, and Damian's lips tightened.

With Colton's words about Sarah being aware of Beth's existence proving to be true, did that fucking mean the rest of the boy's claims were true as well?

Was Sarah seriously having an affair with a married man?

And if she was, had Damian's constant rejections of her driven Sarah to doing it?

Was that why she had told him it was too late?