Page 92 of The Rebel Billionaire

"Do you need me to help?" Iasked.

I'd done her hair for her the night she'd gotten engaged to Vance. She'd looked like a siren in a black wrap dress and all that red hair in wild curls. I wasn't surprised Vance had begged her to marry him. He was too smart to let go of a woman likeMaggie.

"Not this time, but thanks. I got a new curling iron and Vance is watching Rosie while I getdressed."

Maggie finished with my hair, gave me a hug, and rushed off to get ready. I didn't spend too long on my makeup. I could do business appropriate makeup in ten minutes and black tie makeup intwenty.

I'd probably look better if I learned to contour and shade and do all those other things to ramp up the glamor, but I'd never learned and tonight wasn't the time tostart.

Just before Lucas was due to show up, I finished my face and put on my dress. I'd bought it months before, planning to wear it to a different event, one I hadn't ended up attending. It was formal, definitely black tieformal.

Unlike Maggie's dress, which I suspected was on the slinky side, my dress was a fairytale. Yards of creamy satin in a silver so pale it was almost white, overlaid with a fine netting sprinkled with tinycrystals.

The bodice was strapless and embellished with more crystals and finely stitched embroidery in the palest pink, the back held together with lacing, like acorset.

The dress was more fanciful than those I usually wore, but I'd fallen in love with the sheen of the satin and the sparkle of the crystals the moment I'dseenit.

It had been more expensive than what I'd planned to spend, but I'd talked myself into it when I'd remembered that I had the perfect shoes to match waiting in mycloset.

I was halfway dressed when Lucas walked in, already in his tux. Heat flushed my skin and my nipplespeaked.

Lucas looked good in anything, but in a tux, he made me crazy. All that black-and-white elegance wrapped around his raw strength. I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off him allnight.

When he saw me, his eyes went wide and hefroze.

"What? Is the dress no good?" It was a little over the top between the sparkles and the full skirts. Maybe it wastoomuch.

He shookhishead.

"Can you help me with the back?" Iasked.

There was a zipper hidden in the side seam, but I still needed the wide satin laces tightened so they didn't droop. Lucas moved behind me and went to work, pulling on the laces here and there until he had them inplace.

He gave a last tug at the bottom, pulling me backward so I bumped into him. Slowly, he tied the lacing in a bow and secured it, then leaned down to press a kiss to myshoulder.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he saidquietly.

I flushed withpleasure.

He straightened and stepped back. "We'd better get going," he said. "If we stay in here much longer, I'll undo that bow, strip off that dress, and we'll neverleave."

I took a long look at him in that tux and agreed. If I hadn't promised my family that I'd be there, I'd forget the benefit and jump Lucas. But I had promised, and he was right. If we didn't get a move on, we'd nevermakeit.

Lucas was quiet in the truck on the way to the benefit. He'd been out all day, I thought with Detective Brennan or Cooper, but hehadn'tsaid.

"Did you find out anything else about Marissa Archer?" Iasked.

"She's not talking," Lucas said. "She hasn't said a word since last night. But it's looking like she's responsible for everything. The police are ready to pin itonher."

"Whataboutyou?"

"I'm not completely sold. She fits, and she had opportunity. She's also bat-shitcrazy."

"Does that make her more or less likely to be guilty?" Iasked.

I was still thrown that Marissa Archer was involved at all. I knew she'd been friends with my parents back in the day, but to stalk us? Send us pictures of theirbodies?

She seemed so certain she knew the story behind their deaths, had taunted me with it, and now she wasn't talking. None of it made anysense.