The Vaudeville Star

“Ah, yes. Ruby Mae Sutton and her admirers.” Ford turned to her then. “How many admirers to do you have?”

Ruby flushed.

“Let’s see. There’s King. We all know he wants to marry you. That’s nothing new. Then there’s poor Archie Moore. A puppy love.”

“You’re being cruel.”

Ford came to stand next to her. “Then there’s the actual king,” he said, grabbing her arm. “Who meets you one day and suddenly the next you are here at the Devonshire Ball.”

“And what of it?”

“Do you have any idea the prestige attached to this house and its parties? Women would probably kill their rivals if they could to obtain an invite to this party.”

“So?”

“But you obtained one so easily. I wonder how.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Nothing. Just that maybe you don’t want to be King’s wife or mistress, but for the king of England, you might just lift up your skirts to show those pretty little legs.”

“Bastard!” Ruby swore at him, but when she lifted her hand to strike him, he easily dodged the blow.

He pressed her against the wall, pinning her there. “Maybe you just like attention so much you can’t help yourself. Can you?” He leaned down, his mouth inches from hers.

“You don’t know me, Ford.”

He grinned. “Haven’t we been over this? Aren’t you the same girl who stripped naked and went into that watering hole knowing damned well I was supposed to marry your sister?”

“She was wrong for you. You know that.”

“Maybe. Possibly. But you still did it.”

“I don’t regret it.”

“And then you gave yourself to me in Connecticut.”

“Yes.”

“And you think of all the men in your life, I don’t know you?” he whispered.

She smelled the whiskey on his breath. “Perhaps you do a little.”

“Perhaps I do a lot. And perhaps I know you too well, Ruby.” He released one arm and brushed his other hand along her collarbone and over the tops of her breasts. Ruby couldn’t stop the little moan that escaped her lips.

“Moan for me.”

“Ford—”

“Just don’t tell me I don’t know you. I do know you, Ruby.”

His mouth crushed against hers, and when he pulled her against him, she threw her arms around his neck.

“Ford,” she whispered in his ear.

He pressed against her, and she could feel the muscles in his chest and arms. He held her so tightly she could feel the tension in him as well. He was jealous. She was joining a world that was far removed from his own, with a king who now admired her.

Ford was tightly wound. He had spent much of the afternoon with King and all of it had been on his upcoming nuptials to Ruby. Ford knew well that Ruby had no intention of marrying King, yet King certainly wanted her.