CHAPTER FOUR #13
He leaned close to her. “I will make you pay for finding amusement at my expense.”
She met his eyes. “It’s well deserved. I seem to remember a familiar situation with roles reversed, and you had little sympathy for me. In fact, you found it just as amusing.”
“Refreshing,” he corrected. “I found it very refreshing coming from you.”
She chuckled. “That doesn’t sound much different. Perhaps you need to reserve that alpha male for someone who’ll listen. You don’t scare me Councilor Hartley. ” She knew she was pushing his patience, but this was so much fun.
He cocked his head. “Is that right? I seem to remember taking you home and reminding you of who I was with for the three hours following that dinner. I was on top, alpha male and all.”
Oh she couldn’t forget that. Her pelvis reacted instantly and contracted.
“I have more than just ties in my wardrobe Tammy. Be careful.
She blushed bright red.
“See? You will lose this game darling. I have more experience.”
“I may enjoy losing this one,” she breathed as his fingers caressed the inside of her thighs.
He chuckled and leaned back shaking his head in disbelief. “You never cease to surprise me Miss Easler.”
The night progressed quickly and Tammy actually had a lot of fun.
The auction started and she found herself laughing at the friendly competition among people.
Once or twice Lance leaned over to speak to Marianne, and Tammy decided early on not to let it bother her, even when the woman put a hand on his shoulder in an obvious flirtation or brush up to him sort-of-not-accidently way when he made her laugh.
Tammy was doing her best to put faith in what he’d told her even though it was proving difficult.
Then she reminded herself that it was her legs wrapped around his hips, his gorgeous hips, just a few short hours ago making him late meeting the woman. She smiled, wide.
The master of ceremonies introduced Marianne.
Everyone stood and applauded. She sashayed up to the front podium and gave a wonderful speech on how the money has helped victims in the past, present and future.
Then she spent the next ten minutes talking about how Lance launched the charity after his own personal tragedy and, after some brief history, how he was passing the reigns to her this year.
She motioned to their table. Suddenly there was a spotlight on him.
There was more applause as he stood and waved.
People cheered. Tammy couldn’t believe how calm he was with all of the attention.
He was being treated like a celebrity and gosh, he looked heavenly under that bright light.
Marianne continued to explain that in the first year the charity raised just over a hundred thousand.
However it made over a million to help victims of crime.
She humorously dared the audience to surpass that to show Lance she could do a good job with his ‘baby’.
Laughter reverberated in the room. She then went on and thanked the mayor, who Tammy found out, was another person responsible for helping Lance get the charity going.
She should have expected it, but Marianne gave the mayor of New York less airtime than Lance.
Tammy watched him but he didn’t seem to care about that too much, or maybe he didn’t notice.
He stood like everyone else and clapped as Marianne left the podium.
Lance stood and gave her a hug and a kiss on her cheek. “Great speech.”
“I was so nervous,” she placed her hands on his chest and leaned into him.
Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Tammy was doing her best to stay positive, but Marianne was breaching that line of propriety.
Then the MC appeared again and asked for all the non-married women to raise their hands. Well, Tammy noticed there were about a dozen. Suddenly Marianne jumped up and grabbed her hand and raised it with her own. “There’s two, right here!” Tammy stared wide-eyed at Lance, who just looked amused.
“Let’s give them a round of applause and get them up here! Who wouldn’t want the rest of the evening out with these beautiful women?”
The place erupted in applause, but no one moved.
“Remember ladies, this is for charity. If your man loves you enough, he’ll buy you back. If not, I guess you are better off.” A wave of laughter went through the crowd.
Marianne half dragged Tammy out of her seat and Lance still looked completely amused.
She already knew this was going to turn into a bachelorette auction. Oh why didn’t she take some time to look at the program that was on the table?
“Really Lance. You’re engaged. Are you going to let her get up there?”
“He said non-married Elizabeth. Tammy is not yet my wife,” answered Lance in his legendary calm and ever controlled tone.
Tammy heard her mother scold him again, but it was her father that told her to hold on and just watch. She felt her heart soar at her mother’s defense of her. Did she really mean it, or was she just putting on a display?
The lights were so bright on the stage that she couldn’t see anything beyond it.
When the bidding started, she was shocked to hear digits in the five figure range followed by humorous coaxing from the MC and the loud ‘SOLD!’.
She and Marianne were soon the last two.
Marianne went first, sashaying out on the stage like she owned it.
There were cat calls emitting from the hall.
If Lance dared, she’d kill him. Too bad she couldn’t see him.
To her utter surprise, Marianne got a few hundred shy of twenty thousand.
It helped that she moved back and forth across the stage enticing the men with that beautiful body in blue sequin.
She whispered to the MC who announced, she came with no one.
The bidding increased quickly after that.
Apparently Doctor Anderson wasn’t the only single man to show up there that night.
Then came her turn. Gosh, she felt so nervous.
The MC urged her forward and suddenly she couldn’t hear anything.
Noise faded. It was as if things were unfolding around her and she could see the man waving to the audience for higher bids, but couldn’t hear anything.
She was as scared as hell that Lance would abandon her.
Finally a sound broke through her embarrassment and fear.
“Forty thousand.”
That, she heard. Her head turned toward the left where she knew her table was, but it wasn’t Lance’s voice.
It was Doctor Anderson’s. That was twice as much as Marianne’s bid.
Her face went red. Suddenly she realized that Marianne got her up here to auction her off and get her away from Lance.
Her heart started thrumming in her ears.
The place went completely quiet after that call. She could hear whispers among the crowd, and she just wanted to crawl off the stage and hide.
“Forty five!” a voice from the right this time. What?
“Fifty!” countered Doctor Anderson.
Oh my God!
Over the next few minutes the numbers kept climbing. More male voices joined the frenzy—except one. What was wrong with these people?
Then she heard a stretch of silence before the MC announced that the final bid was going once. She would just cry. It wasn’t from her table. It was near the back of the banquet room. Oh, why did she have to challenge him? Was he going to let her go to the highest bidder and not intervene?
Going twice…
“Two hundred and fifty thousand!”
She could have wept. Lance.
“Sold!” It was as if the MC was waiting for that bid alone to end the sale.
Applause erupted. People stood in their seats still clapping.
She covered her face in her hands and smiled. She should have never lost faith.
Lance came up on stage then, and applause increased.
“For those of you that don’t know him, may I introduce one of your major benefactors,” the MC announced. “Retired ADA, Lance Hartley.”
More applause.
He approached her with his long confident stride.
One of his hands was elegantly tucked into the pocket of his pants.
There was a sudden barrage of flashes on top of the ear splitting noise of applause.
His expression was unreadable but there was amusement in his eyes.
He bent and kissed her cheek. “Do you honestly think I’d let you go? ”
She beamed at him. “I was getting worried. I thought I might have pushed you too far earlier.”
“Tsk tsk darling. Have faith.”
He moved his arm around her waist and led her off the stage.
“Well Tamara, you’re fiancé certainly knows how to put on a show,” Elizabeth said as they took their seats across from her. “Shame on you for putting her on display like that.” she further chastised Lance.
“I’d frame her and hang her on the wall if I could,” he answered casually. “She’d put my Renoir to shame.”
Her father laughed. “Lance, I’m so happy you are becoming part of my family.”
Marianne just gasped, then lifted her napkin to feign a slight cough.
Tammy couldn’t help but be impressed at the way Lance stood up to her mother, and it was done with finesse so she couldn’t possibly be insulted.
She stared at her. Now there was definite approval in her eyes as she watched Lance.
Yes, now she could see how prestigious Lance was, and rich obviously.
Oh, how she hoped that it was genuine just because she was her daughter and not because of who Lance was.
“Here! Here!” shouted the mayor raising his glass in a toast “Congratulations you two.”
“I’m reluctant to celebrate that, but it’s for a good cause,” the doctor said with a grin.
“Sore loser.” Lance murmured getting laughter from those within earshot.
“Hell yes!” he raised his glass again. “To a sore loser.”
“Here! Here!”
More laughter followed.
Despite her embarrassment over the auction, she couldn’t help but laugh.
What made it even better was that her parents seemed to be having the time of their lives too. She’d never seen her mother smile so much.
***