She relaxed her shoulders. “Fine. I’ll have one more drink. Then I must go.”
“That’s our girl.” Charly handed her a margarita. “Are you having fun?”
She nodded, glancing around and taking it all in. Charly’s bachelorette party was quite different than she’d expected, not that she’d been to one before. Sure, she’d attended her share of affairs, fund-raisers, charitable balls, and A-list parties back in Denver—her press badge had unlocked a ton of doors over the past few years—but tonight’s bash exceeded the opulence of those extravaganzas by far.
The Wilde Mansion was decked out like a fairy tale with extraordinary decorations of ice sculptures, wispy fabrics, soft candlelight, and other lavish delights throughout every room. A live band provided the music here in the large ballroom where people were dancing their toes off. The songs were being piped throughout all the mansion’s rooms and grounds by a state-of-the-art sound system. Servers in crisp white shirts, black pants, and bow ties were weaving in and out of the crowd, keeping all the glasses filled.
The very air in the place was thick with wonderful scents of colorful roses, amazing aromas of delicious food, and the pleasing perfume of an approaching autumn rain.
The typical Western wear of the males of Wilde was noticeably absent, replaced by tuxedos, heightening the special sense of the evening.
The women wore classic evening gowns that sparkled in the perfect lighting of the mansion.
What a blowout.
Mac glanced down at her own dress. The one-shoulder gown was a lovely shade of lavender. The fabric was soft. She couldn’t stop touching the sides of it with her fingertips. She’d borrowed the garment from Jessie, since she hadn’t brought her one and only evening gown with her from Denver. There certainly had been prestige in being an investigative reporter for her, though the pay was lacking. Unlike that peach dress that looked more like a bridesmaid’s castaway, this gown was sexy and draped Mac’s curves nicely, and by the glances of the unattached males around the room, they were noticing.
“Looks like you have a ton of admirers,” Charly said, as if reading her mind.
“I don’t know about that,” she feigned, feeling heat in her cheeks.
Jessie laughed. “Open your eyes, girl. They’re all over the place.”
“Whatever.” She suddenly felt uncomfortable and exposed. “Maybe I should be leaving.”
“Forgive me, Mac. No more teasing.” Charly held up her glass to her and Jessie. “A toast. To the three toughest women in Wilde, and all of them outsiders.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Jessie slammed down the remaining liquid in her glass.
“Me, too.” Mac took a long sip on her drink, knowing her head would remind her tomorrow of her foolishness but needing the tequila to calm her nerves.
The whole town had learned from these two loose-lipped cousins how cool she’d acted during the whole incident at the diner when the serial killer, Charly’s biological brother, had suddenly appeared with gun in hand. Cool on the outside, maybe, but a total mess on the inside, definitely.
“Excuse us, ladies,” Seth Strong, one of Charly’s fiancés, said. He had piercing pale blue eyes that paired beautifully with his wavy wheat-colored hair.
Mac’s own blonde hair never looked quite that good. Keeping it in a ponytail made sense, especially at the diner. The twists she’d forced into her mop with the curling iron before coming to the bachelorette party were nearly all gone.
“Hey, honey.” Charly leaned into Seth.
He kissed her fully on the mouth. The men of Wilde never held back their expressions of affection in public. PDA was quite normal here and even expected. Though not fully at ease with such intimate exhibitions, she wasn’t shocked by them anymore. If ever allowed to enter Austin’s club, she would need to keep her inexperience and surprise from showing on her face. Though she’d learned some of what went on inside its walls, her imagination and curiosity about the club stimulated her thoughts to a point that was of late disturbing her sleep.
Seth released Charly’s lips but kept her close. “My brothers and I would like a moment with our girl.”
With reddened cheeks, Charly glanced at Seth and then at her. “Don’t go anywhere. Promise?”
Mac nodded.
“You make sure she doesn’t,” Charly instructed Jessie.
“I will tie her to a chair if need be.”
“That won’t be necessary,” she told the cousins.
“I wouldn’t doubt that you might actually like it as much as my girl,” Seth said.
“Monster.” Charly hit his chest and smiled.
“Your monster, my love. Let’s go.”