Lingerie Wars (The Invertary books) (32 page)

"You'll get your money. It's under control." Lake took a long drink of water. "What's the story on Kirsty's scumbag ex?"

John whistled.

"You were right to be worried," he said.

"Not worried. Curious."

"Whatever. The guy is in it up to his neck. He was smuggling for some pretty serious people and got sticky fingers. Word is that he's paid it all back now, but that means he's broke again. He's gone through your girlfriend's money like water."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"As I said. Whatever. The point is, this guy is more dangerous than he looks. As far as I can gather, he's desperate—and we both know how unpredictable desperate can be."

"He isn't likely to come near Kirsty again," Lake said as his eyes narrowed. "He cleaned her out. She doesn't have any money."

"It's probably a good thing she doesn't," John said. "I'd keep an eye out for him anyway. As for the accident, you were right. It wasn't one."

Lake clenched his jaw.

"There was one witness, an old woman. She saw another car force them off the road. It was swept under the carpet. I think money changed hands."

It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Kirsty's scumbag ex had crossed too many of the wrong people. They'd had enough of him.

"Bet there were some grim faces when he was the one who walked away from the wreck," he said tightly.

Lake heard his friend sigh down the phone.

"Look, I don't think there's a chance he'll turn up in Invertary, but it might pay to warn Kirsty."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Although he had no idea how she would defend herself against a thug like that.

He looked around his workout room. The sooner he dragged her over and taught her how to fight properly, the better.

"Thanks," he told John.

"Thank me by getting the money to me at the start of the year," John said with a laugh. "By this time next year we'll be rolling in babes and cash. I'm telling you Lake, this is it. We're going to have a blast."

Lake grinned. John was always going to have a blast at something.

"I'm looking forward to it," Lake told him, but it felt like a lie.

Lake glanced out the window to the snow-covered road. Everything was peaceful in Invertary, but he couldn't help feel that there was more than a snowstorm on the horizon before the winter was through.

"I've had an amazing day," Kirsty said when she opened the door to Lake. "I know you're the enemy, but I'm going to tell you all about it anyway. Plus, it might make you keep Betty on a tighter leash."

Lake grinned at her. She was bubbling over. Her eyes sparkled, her cheeks were flushed and she was practically bouncing on the spot. Perfect. He stepped into her doorway, wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her hard. She even tasted good. When he'd finished kissing her, she smacked him on the chest.

"Stop it," she said, but she was smiling. "People will see."

Lake looked over his shoulder. The street had about an inch of snow covering it and the place was deadly silent.

"What people?" he said.

"That's not the point," she said as she hauled him inside and shut the door behind him.

Lake followed her up the stairs to her tiny flat. She wore blue jeans and a white version of that black ribbed polo neck he was over-fond of, and for some reason the fact she was barefoot was driving him wild. Her toes were painted the palest pink and there was a tiny silver ring on the fourth toe of her right foot. Lake honestly couldn't remember ever finding feet this sexy before. She was weaving a spell over him and he wasn't sure if he minded that much.

"What's the big deal, then?" he said as he hung his old denim jacket in her closet.

"I'm back in the show!" she squealed.

Lake plopped himself into the corner of her sofa.

"I never thought you were out of it," he said.

"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes. "I found a way to replace the stolen underwear."

She paused and he wondered if he was supposed to mimic a drum roll.

"I've designed a new collection and mum has organised her friends to sew it. I'm showing my own work!"

"That's great," Lake said.

He reached out, tugged her hand and pulled her onto his knee. That was better.

"Can you believe it?" she said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I'm showing my designs."

"Good for you." As thrilling as the news was for her, he was definitely more interested in how soft her jumper felt to his touch.

Kirsty chewed her bottom lip.

"What if it's a disaster?" she said.

Lake shrugged.

"Then you move on." He caressed his way up her spine, feeling her respond to his touch.

"I could make a complete fool out of myself."

"It's not going to happen."

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Really? You know so much about designer lingerie that you'll be able to tell if my work is good or not?"

"That's my point exactly," he said as he slipped his hand under the back of her jumper.

The feel of her warm, soft skin made his concentration dip for a minute.

"If I can't tell if it's good or not," he said, "and I own a lingerie shop, I don't see how the town will tell."

Kirsty looked a little deflated.

"There will be pictures in the paper too. People outside of Invertary will see. They might think it's rubbish."

"How will you know? Do you plan to call everyone who reads the paper and ask for an opinion?" He leaned forward and kissed the corner of her mouth. "You need to forget what people think and have some fun."

His other hand slid under the front of her jumper. He was slightly surprised that Kirsty didn't stop him.

"While we're on the topic of the show," Kirsty said, "I'm two models down. Can I have one of yours to even things up?"

"No way," Lake said as his fingers traced over her stomach. "This is war, and you don't help the enemy in a war."

"You helped me when Betty stole my lingerie."

"That was different. I was fresh from bed and too lightheaded to think straight." He grinned at her as his hand drifted upwards. "You're not getting one of my models. What happened to yours, anyway?"

"Claire and Megan, the Donaldson twins, have been put on house arrest by their brother for dyeing Kitty Baxter's sheep pink."

Lake's hand stilled, then he threw back his head and laughed.

"I love this town," he said with delight. "You're still not getting any of my models."

His fingers crept over the lace of her bra.

"Why are you here, anyway?" she said.

He knew she was trying to sound grumpy, but her eyelids were a little heavier now, betraying the fact her mind was on his touch rather than the words. Her beautiful rose-coloured lips parted slightly as his hand traced the curves of her breast. All thoughts of telling her what he'd learned about her scumbag-ex flew from his mind. The last thing he wanted to do was mess with the look of sheer bliss on her face.

"I came to see you," he said instead.

He'd tell her another time. A better time. A time when he wasn't dying from jeans that were too tight and a deep frustration from not getting Kirsty naked as fast as humanly possible.

"I've told you." Her voice was a little breathless. "I'm not ready for you to see me."

"That's not what I meant." He smiled at her.

His left hand flicked the back of her bra and performed the one and only trick he knew. A second later, his right hand was under the lace and holding her. Kirsty's eyes fluttered shut. Lake groaned.

"Come on," he said. "We need a bed." He grinned at her wickedly. "With the lights out."

"But I have work to do," she moaned. "I don't have time for this."

He stood, took her hand and dragged her to the bedroom.

"Don't worry," he told her. "I'll make it fast, then you can get back to work."

"Great," she grumbled. "That's four little words every woman wants to hear on the way to the bedroom." She lowered her voice to mimic him. "I'll make it fast."

Lake laughed as Kirsty, more than willingly, followed behind him.

"Are you going to London to help your brother or not?" Alastair asked.

He was sitting on the floor beside his bed. They were eating vegetable curry because it was the only vegetarian meal that Alastair knew how to cook. Rainne didn't mind, it tasted fine.

"I don't know," she said. "It wouldn't be for long, anyway. These things don't last that long. A few months tops."

"Months?" He put the half-finished food down on the floor beside him.

The curry was eerily similar in appearance to the swirls on the yuck-brown carpet.

"I thought it was only one protest," he said.

The bed behind him was calling to her. They'd been dating for weeks and he hadn't made any suggestions that they get into it. The bed was beginning to mock them. Rainne guessed that he was biding his time out of respect for her, but that was wearing a bit thin. She had to figure out how to bring the topic up before she died of frustration.

"Rainne?" he said, making her focus on the conversation again and not on that blooming bed.

"These things take time to set up. There's a lot more organisation involved than you'd think."

"What I think," Alastair said as he drew his knees up in front of him and leaned his arms on them, "Is that someone else should do the organising and you should stay here and look after your shop."

Rainne found she had lost her appetite too. She put her plate beside the one Alastair had abandoned.

"I need to ask Lake what his plans are and what he wants me to do."

"No," Alastair said firmly. "It doesn't matter what your parents want you to do, or what Lake wants you to do. You need to do what you want to do."

That was easier said than done. Especially when she really wasn't sure what she wanted.

"I've always helped my family," she said. The words sounded weak, even to her own ears.

"There's a difference between helping your family and being used by them. Your parents are bossing you around, expecting you to jump when they want something done. Lake took your shop off of you and expected you to do what you were told. When are you going to do what you want?"

"Lake had every right to do that," she said. "It's his shop. I'm the manager, kind of."

She wasn't even that. These days she was the lackey.

"Aye, and he would have bought an underwear shop all on his own. He did it for you, Rainbow. But he's come in all gung ho and taken over. Is it even what you want it to be?"

She shook her head. No. It wasn't. But then, she really wasn't sure what she wanted it to be. All her great ideas about sustainable underwear were just that, ideas. She hadn't been able to put a plan together.

"I'll talk to him," she said, knowing that she was saying the words more because she wanted Alastair to stop harassing her and less because she wanted to do it.

Alastair sighed and Rainne wondered if he could see right through her.

"I don't want you to do it because I tell you to," he said. "I don't want to be another person who tells you what to do."

"You're not," she said.

She wasn't sure that was true.

"What am I going to do with you?" he said as he came to crouch in front of her.

Rainne didn't have an answer for that. She didn’t know what to do with herself, either. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I shouldn't be giving you advice," he said. "I'm invested. I want you to stay here. With me. And part of me thinks that if I tell you to do it with enough force, then you might stay." He sighed again. "But I don't want you to stay because I tell you to stay. I want you to be here because this is your choice."

Rainne swallowed hard. It didn't make any sense that he could be so certain about what he wanted out of life and she didn't have a clue.

"I'll try harder," she said.

"Oh Rainbow," he said with a shake of his head.

He cupped her cheek and kissed her gently.

"I'll get pudding," he said as he gathered the dishes. "I need to learn to make something else. This curry stinks."

As he disappeared downstairs, Rainne tried to figure out what to do. She'd spent a lifetime pleasing her parents, and that was a hard habit to break. Plus, as Lake kept pointing out to her, she had no skills for the real world. All she knew how to do were the things she'd grown up doing—fighting for her parents' causes. She had to find out if Lake meant to stay on, or if she was ever going to get a chance to run the shop. Her stomach clenched at the thought. She worried that it was just a matter of time before she was back in the same boat as Lake had found her three months earlier—running the business into the ground while waiting for him to turn up and sort it out.

Kirsty was astonished at how quickly her new Scotland-themed collection was coming along. Her mother's friends really knew how to sew. Although they had insisted that they needed new T-shirts to sew in. They were all now proudly wearing ones that said
SOD-OFF
while they worked. It was only a few days to the show and it looked like she would actually have a collection to present. Which was fantastic, as the town was buzzing with people. There were even photographers from magazines and newspapers, lured there by the "InverTARTY" headlines and the fact that Kirsty Campbell had come out of hiding. It was a lot to live up to—especially since she was still two models down and no closer to finding replacements.