Virgin Seductress

Nell froze with her fingers still wrapped around Riley’s penis.

“Nell, honey,” came a once-familiar trilling voice. “It’s Mama. I’m home.”

Chapter 4

Speechless, Nell stared at her mother. Lucy Evans stood in the entry, her eyes going wide first with surprise, then disbelief and finally mischief.

Lucy dropped her suitcase on the floor. The dull thud reverberated through the silent house. “Nell, honey, whatever is going on here?” Her dark eyes raked over Riley who, after a paralyzed moment, scooped his pants up off the floor and held them in front of him. “Or do I want to know?”

Sliding a glance at Riley, Nell noticed he’d hidden that wonderful part of himself that most intrigued her and that she’d so enjoyed touching. Her fingers still ached to touch him, but not with her mama standing in the doorway and staring at her with that all-knowing expression on her incredibly beautiful face.

The first thought into her head sent shame through her. Nell’s greatest fear had just happened, she had become just like her mother.

“Mama, what are you doing here?” Nell stepped in front of Riley to shield him from Lucy’s questioning gaze, giving him a chance to put his clothes back on. Her own clothes felt way too tight, but at least they were still on.

“I’m visiting,” Lucy replied.

The words sank in as Nell stared at her mother.

Lucy Evans hadn’t changed since Nell had last seen her over seven years ago. Her slender, petite body was as delicate as ever. Not one wrinkle marred her high-cheekboned face and her flawless, bronze-tinted skin glowed with vitality and health. Her eyes were large and tilted up slightly at the outer corners, her nose was straight and her mouth wide and generous.

Lucy Evans was the most beautiful woman Nell had ever known, with the kind of sensual allure prized by modeling agencies and movie producers. She was perfection, with her black hair flowing smoothly about her shoulders and the way she moved with such fluid, elegant grace. She was the kind of woman who could wear a potato sack and make it look like high-end fashion. She was the kind of woman Nell would never be.

“Oh.” Nell straightened her clothes, mad at herself that oh was the only word she could think to say. She began feeling unattractive again. Her mother always made her feel dowdy and undignified. Nell was a mud hen, brown and nondescript, next to Lucy, the awe-inspiring peacock.

Riley struggled into his pants and zipped them up, his eyes rolling just a little when he hit a sensitive spot. “Miz Lucy,” he said politely, though his voice was strained and tight. “How are you?”

Lucy gave him an up-and-down look. “I’m fine, Riley, considerin’ everything,” Lucy replied in a cool, amused voice. Her sharp gaze flicked over him, taking in his bare chest and tight jeans. “But I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised to see you here, playing fast and loose with my little girl.” She gave a flirtatious little giggle and a knowing smile.

Nell felt two inches tall. She tried to hide her embarrassment, but her only defense was to look away.

Lucy Evans tended to blow in and out of Nell’s life like a Texas thunderstorm, leaving behind chaos and anger. And here she was back again to wreak her special brand of bedlam just like the seven-year locusts.

“What are you doing here?” Nell asked as she racked her brain on how to get rid of her mama. Lucy had been walking in and out of Nell’s life since she could remember. And nothing good ever seemed to come from it.

“I just heard about my mama.” Lucy walked over and pulled Nell into her arms and patted her hard on the back. “I just can’t believe she’s really dead. I always thought the old girl was indestructible.”

Nell clamped her mouth shut before something truly ugly flew out. The grief she kept at bay threatened to push beyond the walls she’d built, but she fought to keep her heartache contained. With Lucy, she couldn’t afford to lose her focus.

Lucy broke away with a shrewd glance at Nell. “I tell ya what, seeing as you two have some unfinished business, I’ll just take my luggage upstairs and get unpacked.” She kissed Nell on the tip of her nose. Her touch was as brief and light as a butterfly. “Come talk to me when you’re done.” And then she winked before prancing back to her luggage.

Nell felt Riley at her back as he watched Lucy. “Miz Lucy,” he drawled, “I’ll take your luggage up.” Ever the polite Southern gentleman.

Lucy dimpled at him, her delicate hands fluttering. “Aren’t you a sweetie? But I can see y’all are busy.” She tapped Nell on the cheek. “I’ll be fine. Y’all just go right on doing what y’all were doin’.” She winked at Nell and waltzed back through the front door and dragged her other suitcases in.

“I’m sorry, Riley,” Nell said after her mother had traipsed up the stairs. She tried to control her runaway emotions and keep the awful ache in her middle from exploding. She’d come so close to losing herself in him, and the memory of his smooth skin under her fingers sent her pulse racing. Now her mother had to show up and ruin everything just as she always did.

Riley pulled Nell into his arms. “We’ll continue this at a later date.” He kissed her, his mouth open and exploring, his tongue tangling with hers. Nell almost melted with the strength of her desire.

Pushing that desperate feeling in her stomach down, Nell tried to smile. “Promise?”

“Oh yeah,” he said, touching the tip of her nose with his finger. He pulled on his shoes and grabbed his shirt on the way out the door, and not until he was at the door and looking back at her with a look she couldn’t interpret did she realize how he brought her grandmother’s house to life.

Nell wrapped her arms around her middle, still not sure if she believed him. “I understand if you—”

“I always keep my promises,” he interrupted her just before he turned and headed out into the night.

Nell stood in the center of the living room listening to the sound of his car. She looked at the stairs leading to the second floor wishing she could put off the family reunion. A wave of foreboding washed over her as she wondered what she was going to do with her mother.

Lucy Evans was one of the big mysteries in Nell’s life. Always lingering in the background, but never really a part of her life.

Nell sighed as she walked up the stairs, down the hall to the bedroom her mother always occupied when she visited.

Lucy sat on the bed in her old bedroom, her legs crossed and a cigarette lighter in her hands. She flicked open the lighter and lit the cigarette dangling between her lips.

Nell snatched the cigarette out of Lucy’s mouth. “There is no smoking in my grandmother’s house,” she snarled and crumpled the cigarette in her fist, then threw it in a small trash can next to the night table.

Lucy’s eyes went wide. “My goodness, the little kitten has claws after all. Who’d have thunk it?”

Nell stared at her mother, not knowing how to answer. “Why are you here?” She tried to sound cordial, but her tone was strained.

“Sugar,” Lucy said with a tremor in her voice, “I came back to say a proper goodbye to my mama. You can’t be all by yourself now, grieving and all. I know you two were close. I thought you might be lonely. And I really just wanted to see you.”

Yeah right, Nell thought, her thoughts skittering around. “What do you know?”

“That it was sudden and you already had the funeral without me.”

Staring at her mother sitting on the double bed, Nell searched for signs of guile in her face, but she didn’t see any. Which confused her to no end. Usually her mother came back home with an agenda. An agenda Nell usually had no trouble figuring out. It had to be the money. She wanted her share. “Why didn’t you come to the funeral?”

Lucy stuffed the lighter back into her black leather purse. “I’ve been in the Bahamas working for the last three months and I just got back. I had major postal issues and didn’t find out she’d died until yesterday. As soon as I read the letter from Billy Ray, I hopped a plane and here I am.” She spread her arms wide. “I just can’t let you go through this difficult time all by yourself, baby.”

Nell snorted. Gee thanks. “The funeral was three weeks ago. I’ve already gone through this difficult time all by myself, Mama.”

Her mother took a big breath and smiled. “But, sugah, I came as soon as I heard.”

Nell folded her arms over her chest. Her gut feeling was her mother wasn’t lying, but that didn’t mean Nell was going to let her guard down. Eighteen-point-five million dollars was a lot of money to go around and it brought out the worst in people, even people Nell had known all her life. Though she felt badly thinking about Lucy’s greed, one thing Nell wasn’t, was a fool. “I really am fine.”

Lucy winked. “I can see that. Riley Martin in the living room completely undressed. And who knows what else is going on. I am surprised. My baby seems to be growing up at last.”

“I haven’t been a baby in a very long time.” As if Lucy even cared. She’d dropped Nell off when she had been a baby, appearing now and again during Nell’s life, and never once had she asked Nell how she was going on. “I don’t think I need any advice from you.”

“Is that why Riley was buck-naked in your grandmama’s living room doing things we don’t need to mention?”

“I’m twenty-five years old.” And she knew exactly what she’d been doing. If Lucy hadn’t arrived, she’d have done a whole lot more.

Lucy folded her arms across her chest. “And Riley Martin knows exactly how to plan an assault on a sweet woman like you.”

“A sweet woman like me!” Nell was incredulous. “You don’t know who I am.”