The Lawson Boys: Marty (11 page)

Belle had to
practically tear her gaze from the enticing picture and turn her
attention to her host. Forcing herself to think of other things,
she wondered what excuse she should give when breaking the news of
her leaving to Mr and Mrs Lawson, and when would be an appropriate
time.

Mrs Lawson took
Belle’s arm and led her into the lounge room. “Let me introduce you
to my daughter and son-in-law.”

Cindy and Tim
were now standing side-by-side, his arm around her waist while she
leaned her head against his shoulder. His expression was openly
loving as he looked down at her.

As Belle
entered the room with Mrs Lawson, Tim and Cindy both looked at her.
Tim smiled, and Cindy’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, “You’re
wearing a Harly Bentley!”

“What?”

Cindy strode
forward and reached out to finger the silky material of the floaty
top with the sweetheart neckline and little puffy sleeves. “Harly
Bentley made this. I’d know her work anywhere.”

“Well, yes.”
Belle glanced down at the top, one of her favourites. It made her
feel feminine, and the tiny flower print was so attractive in her
opinion. “I order many of my clothes from her. She’s an awesome
lady.”

“You can say
that again.” Cindy nodded. “I’ve tried to talk her into going into
business, but the damned woman is so stubborn!”

“Pot, kettle.”
Tim waggled his eyebrows.

“One day,”
Cindy told him, “I will win her over.”

“Not
happening.”

“One day.”

“In your
dreams, hot stuff.”

“Sweetie, I’m
afraid Tim’s right. Harly’s mind is made up and you won’t change
it.” Mrs Lawson shook her head.

“Alex could
change it.”

“Alex loves her
too much to make her do anything.”

“Poop.”

With a light
laugh, genuinely amused, Mrs Lawson touched Belle’s shoulder.
“Belle, this is my daughter Cindy, and my beloved son-in-law, Tim.
Kids, this is Belle, the daughter of one of my best friends.”

Cindy smiled
widely. “Pleased to meet you, Belle.”

Tim shook her
hand. “We’ve just got a new litter of abandoned kittens at home.
How many do you want?”

Belle blinked.
“Oh, I uh - well, I have a cat at home and she’s a little
possessive. I don’t think-”

“Relax.” Mr
Lawson patted her shoulder as he entered the room. “Tim, behave
yourself.”

“Just trying to
spread the love, Sir.”

Mr Lawson
looked him up and down. “I sincerely hope that’s not how you look
after spreading the love, son. Not with my daughter.”

Cindy took in
Tim’s tousled hair, shirt hanging out of his pants, torn pocket and
now slightly red cheeks, and she grinned. “Well, he kinda does look
like-”

“I’m hungry.”
Managing to commence tucking his shirt into his pants while
crowding his wife with his body towards the door, Tim started
speaking fast. “Jesus. I don’t mean
that
kind of hungry. I
mean I really want to eat.”

“Kinky,” Cindy
drawled.

“No. Cripes.
Sir, I don’t mean…I just…” Tim stopped and hung his head.

Though his lips
twitched, Mr Lawson eyed him gravely. “Yes, son?”

“Can we forget
the last few minutes?”

“I think that’d
be just fine.” Laughing abruptly, Mr Lawson clapped his son-in-law
on the shoulder and walked past him. “Dining room, everyone.”

Mrs Lawson
linked her arm through Belle’s and led her from the room, but not
before Belle caught sight of Tim pinching his wife’s ample bottom.
She squealed, reached back and smacked him. He grabbed her hand,
swung her around and kissed her soundly. He was a fast mover, she’d
give him that. Mrs Lawson glanced around to find Cindy standing
there with a big grin on her face and her cheeks flushed, while Tim
managed to look innocent and was straightening his shirt. When Mrs
Lawson looked away, Tim leered at Cindy.

The by-pass
between them was so loving and teasing, so genuinely fun, that it
tugged a little at Belle’s heartstrings. To find a love like Cindy
and Tim had, like Mr and Mrs Lawson, like her own parents, it
seemed something she’d only ever view from afar.

In the dining
room everyone sat down and by some design, however intentional or
innocent, the only vacant chair for Marty was that opposite
Belle’s. Tim and Cindy sat opposite each other, while Mr and Mrs
Lawson sat at either end of the table.

It was already
set with platters of sandwiches and several jugs of chilled orange
juice. Within seconds the platters were being passed around and Mrs
Lawson was pouring the glasses of orange juice and handing them to
everyone.

For several
minutes there was general chit chat and catching up between the
family members and Belle was content to let the conversation drift
over her head. She only looked up when Marty entered and sat
opposite her, looking every inch the neat, relaxed, business man
and far removed from his tousled state. His shirt was clean and
tidy, his hair combed, and every button done up except for the top
two. A tie hung loosely around his neck.

She rather
preferred him in the torn shirt with that rebellious nipple
piercing, but it wasn’t as though she had any say in the matter.
Besides, she had other things on her mind, namely making
excuses.

Picking up a
sandwich, Marty starting eating but his gaze stayed on her and
finally she had to meet it.

“So, how are
you feeling?” he queried quietly.

Since everyone
else was still chattering, she felt safe in replying just as
quietly, “Good, thank you. It was kind of you to see me home.” She
blushed a little under his regard. “Thank you for everything.”

“No worries.”
His smile was easy.

So easy, in
fact, that it shouldn’t have made her heart stutter and skip a
beat. Clearing her throat, she took a sip of orange juice.

“Marty.” Mr
Lawson turned his attention to his son.

“Dad.” Marty
gave Belle one last long look before switching his regard to Mr
Lawson.

“How did the
meeting go this morning?”

“Very good. The
Olsen’s have agreed to our price and the paperwork is being sorted
out as we speak.”

“Excellent.” Mr
Lawson practically beamed. “When’s the signing?”

“Thursday.”

Mr Lawson
rubbed his hands and beamed. “Ah, the sweet taste of victory!”

“And another
one bites the dust.” Tim raised his glass. “To victory!”

Belle half
expected him to be admonished by Mrs Lawson, who was shaking her
head reprovingly, but then she broke into a wide smile and raised
her own glass, giving out a very unlady-like “Whoo hoo!”

Cindy laughed
at Belle’s expression. “Don’t let Mum’s innocent demeanour fool
you. She’s a shark in a guppy tank.”

“Really, dear,
that’s not a nice comparison.” Mrs Lawson winked and the sudden
similarity between her and her son’s wicked humour was clear to
see. “True, but not nice. I prefer to think of myself as a pussycat
in a cage of mice. A much nicer comparison.”

“Oh yeah,” Tim
agreed. “A pussycat it is.”

“Thank you,
dear.” Laughing, Mrs Lawson patted his hand.

“I guess you’re
going to take a holiday now?” Cindy asked Marty.

“What for?”

“You haven’t
had a break in over a year.”

“You noticed?
I’m touched.”

“We know you
are, we’re just too kind to point it out to you.”

“You’re
supposed to sharpen your claws on Tim now.”

“Yeah, but I
find it so entertaining when she does it on you instead,” Tim
said.

“Want to go
back into the lounge room for round two?” Marty drawled.

“I already won
round one.”

“In your
dreams.”

It was a little
hard to believe that the two men bantering were a respected
veterinarian and an equally respected businessman. It was harder to
believe that they weren’t brothers.

“Don’t mind
them.” Cindy obviously read her thoughts. “Inside every man is a
little boy just waiting to bust out and create havoc. You’ve just
got to go with the flow.”

“You like the
flow.” Tim smirked.

Cindy smiled
widely.

“Oh, please.”
Marty picked up his glass. “Ugh.”

“Speaking of
disgust.” Cindy turned her attention to him. “Are you still dating
Marcia?”

Marty glanced
at Belle before returning his gaze to his sister. “Maybe.”

“Maybe? Last I
heard, you were shagging her pretty regularly.”

“Cindy. Dear.”
Mrs Lawson looked pained.

Mr Lawson just
continued eating without a flicker of an eyelid. The man was truly
a zen master. Or he just knew his son.

Most definitely
the last one.

Belle couldn’t
help but feel a little pang. Okay, so Martin Lawson was dating
another woman. He was a man who loved women, she’d heard it from
her own mother. So what? It didn’t affect her.

But she
couldn’t help but listen closely.

“I’ve taken
Marcia out a few times,” Marty replied. “I wouldn’t say it’s
serious.”

“Really?” Tim
gestured with his sandwich. “I saw her and one of her friends at a
jewellers the other day. They were both trying on engagement
rings.”

Maybe it was
more serious than anyone thought.

Marty’s face
was a classic. He actually paled a little under his tan. Okay,
maybe it was more serious than even he’d thought!

“Oops.” Tim
smirked. “Did I let a clanger drop?”

“You’re going
to cut her loose,” Cindy predicted. “Unless you want it to be
serious?”

“I can’t
believe we’re discussing my love life in front of a guest.” Marty
cleared his throat and reached for the jug.

“Okay, we’ll
get off engagement rings and onto weddings.” Cindy beamed. “Marcia
went to Trevor’s wedding with you, didn’t she? Maybe that’s where
she’s getting ring ideas.”

Belle glanced
at Marty, but he kept his gaze on the jug as he poured the juice
into his glass.

“She went with
me, but she was just as quick to dump me to meet with her friends,”
he said calmly.

“I bet she was.
That little scandal of Trevor’s was hot-wiring all over the city
within minutes.”

Marty caught
Belle’s gaze. She stared helplessly at him for several seconds
before looking down at the glass she was rotating slowly between
her fingers.

Oh please,
don’t let anything come out now!
She silently prayed. One more
night and she’d be gone. Just one more night.

“Trevor is an
idiot,” Marty replied levelly. “He got what he deserved.”

“It was only a
matter of time,” Tim pointed out. “I’m surprised that you didn’t
know about it earlier, Marty.”

There was
something in that sentence that had Belle’s gaze flying across the
table to Marty. Was it her imagination or was there a slight
tension about him?

“I don’t know
everything Trevor does,” Marty answered.

“Being a friend
of your’s, I just bet he was on the phone to you right after the
wedding, wanting a sympathetic ear.” Tim laughed.

The words hit
Belle and she almost dropped the glass as she stared at Marty. So
he was a friend of the groom’s, and undoubtedly had the inside
story to boot. No wonder he’d been able to guess exactly what had
occurred when Trevor had visited her.

Mortified, she
looked down at her plate, playing with the sandwich for which she’d
just lost all appetite.

“He was,” Marty
admitted. “He didn’t get much sympathy, though.”

“I hear the
woman who slapped his lights out - God bless her, by the way -
wasn’t his usual sort,” Cindy said, completely oblivious to Belle’s
silence. “He’s not into BBWs.”

“BBWs,” Tim
mused. “Big Beautiful Women. I like that.”

“You’re married
to one,” Cindy reminded him dryly. “You better like it.”

“Oh, sugar,
I’ll show you just how much tonight.” Tim waggled his brows at her.
“Or maybe this afternoon?”

Mr Lawson
cleared his throat.

“Right.” Tim
coughed and turned back to Marty.

Swallowing the
dry lump in her throat, Belle managed to fake polite interest in
the conversation as any good guest would do. The only thing she
couldn’t bring herself to do right then, was look at Marty.

The low-life
bastard. He’d known! And he’d been so bloody nice to her! Probably
laughing at her the whole time.
She wanted to rip his head off.
And cry a bucketful. Instead, she raised her brows at Cindy in
polite query.

“Trevor likes
his women on the slender side,” Cindy explained. “They look like
models. Some of them
are
models. So when the word went
around that the woman who’d finally caught out his cheating arse
was a large woman, everyone was in shock. Those who saw her at the
wedding say she was quite pretty, but a big girl, not his type at
all.” Cindy’s eyes twinkled. “I think her shouting out that Trevor
had taken her virginity only days before really made the gossips
swoon in delight.”

“I bet.” Belle
managed not to slide under the table in sheer embarrassment.

“I’d love to
meet that lady.” Cindy looked at her brother. “You saw her, right?
You were there. What did she look like?”

Marty took
several seconds to answer. “She was beautiful. You’d like her. She
had fire.” His gaze slid to Belle, locking onto her with an
intensity that was almost unnerving. “She was too good for an arse
like Trevor. I just hope she knows that.”

“I’m sure she
does now,” Cindy said.

Unable to
maintain eye contact with Marty, Belle glanced down the table to
find Tim watching her with a thoughtful expression on his face.
That was dangerous. Beneath his fun-loving exterior the vet was a
thinker, and if he thought too hard he’d soon put two and two
together.

Tim looked from
her to Marty, and his eyes narrowed.

Uh-oh. Time to
put out that fire before it blazed into awareness.