Body Work Read Online Free PDF Page B

isn’t it?”
    Lisa shook her head lightly.
    “Of course it is. He’s working on Harris’s cars and you at the same time.”
    “ What do you mean, working on me?”
    “ Tyce has a rep. Well-deserved, too. Great hands, that man.”
    Lisa felt the floor of her belly drop away. “I hadn’t noticed.”
    “ Right, of course you haven’t. I didn’t notice either until he used them on me.”
    The world tilted.
    “Oh, pooh,” Felice said gently. “Don’t worry; I won’t say anything to anyone. None of his conquests would. We’ve all just . . . enjoyed him when the opportunity arose. Never serious, our Tyce. But a lot of fun.”
    Lisa had nothing to say, nowhere to take the conversation. She was so much adrift in the wind she couldn’t form a coherent thought.
    Felice moved to the door, turned the handle and looked back at her. “But, Lisa, when you’re finished with Tyce, keep your distance from Lawrence. I mean it.”
    “ No worries there, Felice. I’m moving to Europe as soon as I can.”
    Felice raise d one finely sculpted eyebrow. “Good idea. I’ll keep it in mind for later.” With that, she slid through the narrow opening in the door and closed it, leaving Lisa out on the balcony alone.
    She caught her breath, controlled it, smoothed her shaking hands down her thighs and tried to focus. Tyce had been through this circle of women like the alpha wolf he was. She shouldn ’t be surprised. She shouldn’t even care.
    She kept her body still while inside she raged. Damn that man . And every one of the women he’d slept with here. She couldn’t go back into the fund-raiser and wonder how many women knew more about Tyce than she did. How many knew his unique scent, the feel of his hands and the taste of his mouth.
    The irony was that Tyce ’s love of cars had driven her away from him twelve years ago and now that same love had brought them back together.
    She ’d had no way to know he’d been right all those years ago. His backyard tinkering had turned him into the “go to” mechanic for wealthy car collectors. At eighteen, all she’d known for certain was that no one would get her out of the La La Land Trailer Park but her. To depend on Tyce Branton would have been foolhardy. Lisa had never been a fool.
    In deep lust, yes. Foolish, no.
    She’d wanted Tyce desperately, with all the passion of a girl in love, but girls in love ended up with babies and Mcjobs and no way out.
    She ’d had to leave. She’d had no choice.
    And now, all she could think of was leaving again. She stepped across the length of the balcony to peer out into the darkened gardens and think.
    The other wives had been despicable in their rudeness all evening, but she expected nothing better so let it slide. When Harris was alive, the animosity had been better hidden, but now all bets were off. Harris had explained she would be seen as a threat to the other marriages and he’d been right.
    More stupid assumptions, she thought bitterly. Women assumed she ’d be looking for husband number two. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Lawrences of the world were safe. Felice and the others had nothing to fear from her.
    “ Well, well, if it isn’t my own sweet stepmother.”
    Franklin. She turned, leaned against the balustrade and waited while he closed the door behind him. When he got nearer she smelled alcohol wafting about his face and stepped sideways away from him, keeping her eyes firmly on the French doors.
    “I thought you were still in New York,” she said evenly, pleased at how easy and careless her voice sounded.
    He leaned on the balustrade, in no apparent hurry to leave. “I got in this afternoon.”
    “ I hope your trip went well.” She moved to cross to the door. “Please excuse me.”
    “ Wait. We have to discuss my father’s cars.”
    “ What about them?” She reached for the door handle and waited, ready to turn it to escape into the crowded ballroom. She didn’t know if Harris had told his sons