There was nothing more unsettling than a devil in church.
Swathed in a black chiffon Vera Wang bridesmaid dress, her red hair piled on top of her head, Tess York stared at the man in the fourth pew, her palms going damp around the base of her bouquet of red peonies. His name was Damien Sauer and he was tall, dark and fierce looking—just as she remembered him. Once upon a time they had been together, boyfriend and girlfriend, lovers and friends, but then another man had come along. A man who was mild and shy and had seemed the safe choice at the time. Back then, she’d been a sucker for safe, and had walked away from Damien and the look of seething animosity that had followed her out the door.
The scent of pine from the decorative holiday garland strewn around the church ceased being romantic and festive and instead gave way to a horrible bout of nausea. What is he doing back here? she wondered nervously. He didn’t belong here anymore. As far as she knew, he’d gotten out of Minnesota years ago and had moved to California. Rumor had it that he’d taken on the real estate market, flipping houses at the rate of two per month. Supposedly, he was unstoppable, went into every deal without a conscience and was now worth millions.
Tess was hardly surprised by his success. Six years ago he’d worked as lead carpenter for a construction company in town. His ideas were so clever, so innovative, his handiwork so skillful and beautiful, he was wanted by every contractor in the city.
But local jobs and local pay hadn’t been enough for Damien. He’d wanted more and had been willing to risk everything to get where he wanted to go.
Tess watched him sit immobile in his seat with that arrogant lift to his chin as he witnessed Mary and Ethan exchange wedding vows. Tension moved through her neck and shoulders like a snake in search of a fat mouse. She had done everything to bury her wretched, mistake-filled past, erase the so-called life she’d lived, married to the most worthless of husbands. Along with her partners, Olivia Winston and Mary Kelley, she’d helped build a winning wife-for-hire business and had created a smooth, comfortable life for herself. All she wanted to do these days was act as though the past had never existed and continue to live happily and cautiously in the present.
But the devil had shown up in church.
Behind her, someone took to the keys of the piano, playing the introduction to Phantom’s “All I Ask of You.” Everyone in the wedding party turned—as rehearsed—to watch the two performers walk to the piano, then sing.
Everyone except Tess.
She couldn’t take her eyes off Damien. Maybe if she stared hard enough at him he’d get up and leave. She almost laughed out loud at the stupid thought. He wasn’t a man to be chased out, scared off. He had the strongest will of anyone she had ever known.
Her gaze moved over him. He had grown leaner in the body and broader in the shoulders since she’d last seen him, but his mouth was as hard as his expression now, as though he didn’t make a habit of smiling.
What is he here for? Does he know Ethan? Or God forbid, Mary?
Tess shifted, her black heels feeling suffocatingly tight. There was no way she was ready to spill her guts about the past to her partners…
Beside her, No Ring Required’s culinary expert, Olivia Winston leaned in. “Hey, I know the singing’s not Broadway caliber, but no spacing out, okay?”
“Yeah. Right. Sure,” Tess muttered, utterly distracted.
The pretty brunette frowned at her. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Tess said quickly.
“Doesn’t look like nothing,” Olivia muttered.
Refusing to make a scene at her partner’s wedding, Tess forced herself to face the singers. She had to get a grip here. Maybe Damien didn’t even know she was there—maybe he’d forgotten all about her. Maybe he was married…with two kids and a dog named Buster. After all it had been six years. Look at all that had happened to her….
But as she half listened to the singers belt it out for the bride and groom, the music swelling and filling the church, she had an odd feeling, as though she were being watched, as though little bugs were crawling into the red curls at her hairline and nipping at her skin. It was a feeling she’d had only one time before.
The day she’d turned her back on the devilish Damien Sauer and walked out.
“Sir, would you like me to take you home?”
As his driver navigated through the congested downtown Minneapolis traffic, Damien sat in the back of his limousine, the collar of his black coat kissing the hard line of his jaw. “No. I’m going to the Georgian.”
“I’m sorry sir. I don’t think I heard you—”
“Take me to the Georgian Hotel,” Damien said evenly. “I’m going to the reception.”
“But, sir, you never go…” The driver’s voice trailed off.
“Is there a problem, Robert?” Damien asked impatiently, as outside the long, black car, snowflakes pelted the windows.
“Sir?” Robert glanced up into the rearview mirror, his pale brown eyes not exactly meeting that of his employer’s. “If I can speak frankly—”
Damien raised a brow. “You may…if you keep your eyes on the road while doing it. This isn’t the dry and mild Los Angeles weather. The roads in Minneapolis can be pretty slick.”
“Yes, sir.” Robert turned his attention back to the road, two hands locked to the wheel.
Damien released a breath. “So, what do you want to know?”
“In the four years I have been working for you, this is the first wedding reception of a business associate you have ever attended.”
“Is it?” Damien said tonelessly.
“Yes, sir.”
“Hmm.”
“Very important business then, sir?”
The car slowed, made a turn then stopped. Damien looked up, frowned. “Are we here?”
“Yes, sir, but there’s a line of cars ahead of us.”
They were more than a few yards from the entrance to the hotel, but Damien wasn’t a man to wait. He reached for the door handle and pulled. “I’ll get out here, Robert.”
“But, sir?” The driver glanced over his shoulder, uncertain. “Shall I—”
“No, no. Stay in the car.”
Robert nodded. “All right, sir.”
Damien was half out the door when he turned back. “And, Robert?”
“Yes, sir.”
“To answer your question, this reception is about something far more important than business.” He stepped out of the car. “Be out front in one hour.”
The ballroom in the Georgian Hotel was the most spectacular sight in Minneapolis for a wedding reception, beautifully appointed with gilded ceilings, crystal chandeliers and a black-and-white-marble dance floor. In any season the room could knock you off your feet, but in December, there was an extra shot of fabulous as the ballroom was decked out in white Christmas lights, spruce trees, mistletoe, and atop every black glass place setting, handmade chocolate candy canes nestled sweetly inside mini Christmas stockings.
Tess York was a self-described chocoholic, and five minutes after her arrival to the hotel her mini stocking was empty. Beside her seat was Olivia’s, and the only reason a candy cane still lay safely on her plate was that Tom Radley, No Ring Required’s very first client five years ago, and a family friend of Mary’s, had taken Tess by the hand and forced her onto the dance floor before she could snatch it up.
On a rectangular stage beside the dance floor, a woman who sounded shockingly similar to Natalie Cole belted out love songs.
Next to Tess, Olivia and her fiancé, Mac Valentine, moved to the music. The pair were so handsome, so sharp looking they could have easily been mistaken for a Hollywood couple. Stunning in a black bridesmaid dress similar to Tess’s, her dark hair long and loose about her bare shoulders, Olivia turned her brown doe eyes on Tess and cracked a smile. “You are one amazingly bad dancer, you know that?”
“Gee, thanks,” Tess said dryly.
“Not true,” insisted Tom Radley, sidestepping to avoid contact with the heel of Tess’s shoe as she executed an awkward spin. “Don’t listen to her, Tess.” He glared at Olivia. “She’s as graceful as a swan, light as a feather.”
Olivia snorted. “As long as she doesn’t step on your feet, right?”
“Easy now, my love,” Mac said, pulling his girl closer.
Tess made a gesture with her hand as though she was flicking away an annoying bug. “Move along, Winston. I’m sure there are other people on this dance floor whose self-esteem you can destroy tonight.”
Olivia laughed. “Right. As if you could ever be bested, Tess. You have more confidence in your little pinky than a grizzly bear at feeding time.”
“Hmm,” Tess said, her brow creased. “Not sure how I should take that.”
Ever the gentleman, Mac jumped in. “As a compliment. And I think you dance beautifully.” He attempted to look innocent, but the guy’s smile had way too much rascal in it to be believable.
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere with me, Mr. Valentine,” Tess said, ducking her head to walk underneath Tom’s arm as he led her into a spin.
Mac shrugged, then turned to his fiancé and leaned in to kiss her neck. “How about you? Will flattery get me anywhere with you?”
Olivia snuggled closer in his arms. “Yup.”
Tess rolled her eyes. Leaning into her partner, she whispered, “Let’s move away from the lovebirds before the cherubs flying over their heads accidentally shoot us with their arrows.”
Laughing, Tom said, “You got it,” and steered her away.
But when they reached the other side of the dance floor, there was a man standing there. He was clearly waiting for them, his cool blue eyes regarding them with an interested, though unfriendly stare. He was tall, wide in the shoulders and dressed in a very expensive tux. His black hair was cropped short and his full mouth looked hard and capable of cruel words.
Tess’s heart leaped into her throat and remained there, pounding away unsympathetically. It was one thing to have him sitting ten feet away, his gaze trained on Mary and Ethan as they gave themselves to each other—it was another to have him in front of her, reaching for her hand.
Damien Sauer glanced at Tom, lifted an eyebrow. “If you don’t mind.”
Slightly nervous, Tom’s answer came out sounding winded. “Of course I mind. But…well, I’m good at sharing.”
“That’s admirable,” Damien said darkly, easing Tess from Tom’s arms into his own. “I’m not.”
Tess was not the kind of woman who would allow a man to call the shots—not anymore, at any rate. If anyone else at any other time had jumped in and pulled her away from her partner the way Damien had, she’d have been tempted to deck him. But this man was different, and so was her reaction to him. It was as though time had never separated them, and once in his arms, she felt so good, so warm, she didn’t even attempt to pull away from him.
As the music played all around them, Damien settled into a slow rhythm, his gaze burning into hers. “Hello, Tess.”
She hadn’t said his name out loud in six years. Guess now was as good a time as any. “Damien Sauer. Wow. It’s been a long time.”
“Not that long,” he said. His voice was deep, deeper than she remembered, but the tone was the same and it washed over her, bringing back a hundred different emotions. “I saw you at the engagement party, and I thought you saw me. Maybe not.”
“No, I did. I mean, yes. But I didn’t think…” She shrugged at her own inability to speak coherently. “I guess I wasn’t sure…”
“You’re stuttering, Tess,” he said, arching a brow. “That’s not like you.”
No, it wasn’t. But strange, complicated things had always happened when this man touched her. And right now his hand, wrapped lightly around hers, and his body just inches away were making her breathe a little funny. “What I was trying to say, completely inarticulately, was that I didn’t know you and Ethan were friends.”
“We’re not,” he said plainly. “He’s looking to buy one of my properties and I was looking for an invitation to his wedding.”
Her heart dropped. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He gave her a sardonic grin. “I’ve heard that your business is quite a success,” he said, ignoring her question. “You’ve done well for yourself.”
His words sounded more like an observation than a compliment. “I think so. But not as well as you, it seems.”
He nodded. “After you left town, I became very focused.”
Of course he was going to go there. Make her damn uncomfortable, maybe break out in a sweat. “Well, focused can be good.”
“Yes, it can. In fact, I might go so far as to say that I owe a great deal of my fortune to you.”
The scent of the spruce tree to their left was overpowering. “I’m sure that’s not—”
“Don’t be so modest, Tess. You were an inspiration…”
It was too much. The whole thing—his sardonic compliments, her nervousness. She was not going to put herself in the position of being freaked out around a man anymore. She stopped dancing. Music played and people swayed, but she stared expectantly at Damien Sauer. “What’s going on here? Why did you come?”
“I wanted to see you.” There was zero warmth behind his eyes, and the look he gave her chilled the blood in her veins.
“Well, you saw me,” she said, turning away. “Thank you for the dance.”
He took her hand and placed it through his arm. “I’ll take you back to your table.”
She thought about wrenching her arm free, but she wasn’t going to cause a scene, so she let him lead her. As they walked, Tess couldn’t help but notice the way women stared at Damien: hungry, needy. Just the way she’d stared at him once upon a time.
When they got to the table reserved for the wedding party, Tess sat and hoped that Damien would just take off, that the dance and the verbal sparring would be the end of it. But he didn’t leave. Instead he sat beside her.
“So, how’s Henry?” His voice was low and cold.
She stared at him, looked into those deep blue eyes and found clarity. He wasn’t here on business or to just “see” her. He’d come to the wedding to confront her or hurt her. But why now, after six years, she wasn’t sure. She looked directly into his eyes and said evenly, “My husband passed away. About five years ago.”
Damien nodded, but didn’t look surprised. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you?”
His brows lifted. “I could say no but what would that make me?”
She shrugged. “Cruel.”
“How about honest?”
“How about both?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Tess spotted Mary and Olivia on the other side of the dance floor, and her heart jumped. They were staring at her and Damien, curious looks on their faces. Tess knew her partners well enough to know that in about thirty seconds they were going to be headed her way. She wasn’t about to have her past and past mistakes laid bare at her partner’s wedding.
She turned back to Damien, hoping that her face had not gone pale. “Dinner is going to be served soon. Maybe we can catch up another time.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me, Tess?” he asked, studying her face.
“No.”
“I can tell when you’re lying. Always could.”
“Fine.” Her jaw tightened. “My partners are on their way over here and they know—”
“Nothing about me?” Damien finished for her, a flash of venomous pleasure lighting his eyes.
“They know nothing about you or Henry or my life before we started the company.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s none of your business.” There was no time for this. Mary and Olivia were just a few feet away. “You can say whatever you need to say. But not here, not now. Another time.”
He considered this for a moment, then nodded. “All right.”
Relief accosted her, and she said quickly, “Okay. Goodbye, then.”
He stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Tess.”
She looked up. “What?”
“I’ll be at your office tomorrow at one.”
“No!”
Mary and Olivia were almost upon them. Damien leaned in close to Tess’s ear, the heat from his breath making her hair stand on end and her heart twist painfully. This she remembered, and long ago this she had loved.
“I’m not here to reminisce about old times,” he uttered darkly. “I’m here to collect on a debt that was never paid.”
Tess’s head started spinning. What debt was he talking about?
“Six years ago,” he continued, “you made a promise to me. One that was never fulfilled. I’m here to make sure you fulfill it. Because if you don’t, everything you hold dear will crumble.”
He stood just in time to greet Mary and Olivia, shaking their hands and complimenting the bride on the ceremony and reception. Dumbstruck, Tess just stared at her plate and the empty stocking. Through the din of her overactive brain, she heard Damien wish them both well, then walk away.
“Nice,” Olivia said, taking her seat beside Tess. “Very cute.”
“Gorgeous and charming,” Mary remarked, righting her tiara before sitting in the chair designated for the bride. “And looking smitten with our girl here.”
“Did you get his number, Tess?” Olivia asked.
Tess nodded and said hoarsely, “Yes. I’ve got his number all right.”