Page 33 of Landry
That was definitely not somewhere he wanted to go, but he felt his gaze drawn to her. She was wearing green, something slinky and sexy. Her blonde hair was to her waist, and even from across the room, he could feel the power of her smile.
Shaking his head again, he turned away. It would be madness for another member of the family to get involved with a Crenshaw. Besides, she was way out of his league.
***
Kady was so acutely aware of him that it took a concentrated effort not to turn around and look at him. She was circling the room, making conversation. His parents had greeted her cordially enough, but she saw the underlying coolness, reminding her that they had never really approved of her. It didn't matter. She was no longer involved with their son. Andshe was no longer a teenager, trying to impress the parents of the boy she was in love with.
Those days were long gone.
He hadn't approached her. In fact, he made it his duty to avoid her, which was all well and fine. She was having the time of her life and wasn't short of male companions. She flirted, something she wouldn't normally do under any other circumstances. She wasn't a flirt after all, but tonight she was feeling reckless and edgy.
After dancing the third time with someone named Michael Ranger, a trust-fund baby and an executive at his daddy's financial institution, she became conscious of the fact that he might have mistaken her intentions and was reading something more into her harmless flirtation. She also realized that, as the evening progressed, he was getting more tipsy. He was also getting a little too handsy.
And her brother seemed to have disappeared.
As soon as the song ended, she made her escape. Requesting her wrap from the attendant, she made her way out of the room and into the hotel lobby. Needing a bit of air, she went outside, pulling the wrap around her. The wind had a bite to it. She wasmaking her way to an enclosed gazebo in the lush garden when she heard footsteps behind her.
"I wondered where you'd gotten to."
Closing her eyes in irritation, she turned to face the now weaving, determined young man. "I went to get a drink, and you'd disappeared."
"I came out here to be alone," she said pointedly. "You need to go back in."
He came forward instead. "I like you a lot, and I have a feeling that you like me too."
"I'm sorry I gave you that impression. Now..."
She tried to step back when he reached for her, but she wasn't quick enough. His hands clamped on her arms, fingers digging in.
"Michael..."
"I think we should go back to my place," he leered. "Or I could get a room here. Much nearer."
"Kindly take your hands off me."
"What do we have here?" His leer turned into a sneer. "A tease? You were practically rubbing up against me back there, stirring me up. Playing hard to get, sweetheart?"
Before she knew it, he ducked his head and started slobbering all over her. His breath suffocated her, and she could not get out of his hold. Panic threatened to set in when he clamped his mouth on hers, his hands banding around her waist. When she managed to sink her teeth into his bottom lip, it only served to make him angry.
"Bitch!" His hand dug into her back, causing her to cry out in shock. One minute he was all over her, and the next he was on the pavement. It all happened so quickly that for a moment, she stood there paralyzed. It was when he was being hauled up by his collar that she was shaken from her stupor.
Landry was slowly and viciously using the man as a punching bag.
Galvanized into action when Michael started gagging and men were beginning to rush outside, she rushed over and grabbed his arm.
"Stop it!"
"Step back." Without even looking at her, he had the man by the throat and was squeezing.
"Landry, you're killing him!" Her cries and the fingers gripping his arm were not getting through to him. She almost sagged with relief when several beefy men rushed forward to intervene. It was then she spied her brother.
"Mr. Crenshaw, we got this," one of the men told him.
"Get him the hell out of here!"
Kyle had come next to her, his arm going around her waist.
When Landry whirled to face her, his anger was like a live thing that had her stepping back.
