silly. She always wore her hair up in a bun or pulled back in a low ponytail, but not tonight. She was turning over a new leaf. Willa Merris was coming out of her father’s shadow for Gabe.
Her courage faltered momentarily when she put on the gown. Its sweep of copper satin down her body in a formfitting drape was more revealing than she remembered from the store. The dress’s boatneck swept across her collarbones, but then swooped down her back, baring her spine—almost all the way down to her buttocks.
No, she was not going to chicken out. The dress was exquisite and she looked smashing in it, if she did say so herself. She hadn’t been dressed particularly sexy the night James Ward attacked her, so it wasn’t like dressing like this was going to put her in particular danger of a repeat assault.
Ropes of crystal tied across her upper back to hold the dress on her shoulders, their ends falling in a sexy shimmer down her bare back. The skirt had a slit that rose nearly to her right hip. It was simple, stunning and by far the sexiest thing she’d ever worn. Carefully, she took her hair down and sprayed its lush waves as they fell over her shoulders. The effect was retro, harkening back to 1940s movie stars. In keeping with that theme, she applied bright red lipstick that made her fair skin look like velvet cream.
The doorbell rang promptly at seven-thirty, and she quickly slipped on crystal-encrusted mules that added several inches to her height. She threw on a silk wrap, grabbed her clutch and opened the door. Gabe’s fist froze in midair as he reached for the door to knock.
His gaze slid down the smooth satin, taking in every curve and every inch of leg peeking through the high slit. His voice deep and a little rougher than usual, he commented, “I approve.”
“You’re looking pretty sharp yourself, Mr. Dawson.” He wore a tuxedo like he’d been born to it. Although she supposed it wasn’t the wealth a man was born to but the confidence within him that made a tuxedo work.
He held out his forearm to her and she took it shyly. He led her down the front walk to his Escalade, and helped her into the passenger’s seat. Her slit gaped open, and her entire right leg was revealed before she snatched at the copper satin.
But his hand got to the edge of the skirt first, and he gently draped the sleek fabric across her leg, his fingertips trailing fleetingly down the length of her inner thigh. She looked up at him, shocked and thrilled at the intimacy of his touch, but then the door slammed shut and he was gone.
His door opened and he slid into the seat. They were silent for the short ride to the college campus and its grand ballroom where the dinner, dance and charity auction were to be held.
Valets parked vehicles out front, and she and Gabe blended into the trickle of people moving into the venue. She took a deep breath and let it out carefully.
“Nervous?” he asked her, sounding surprised. “Haven’t you done a thousand of these things?”
“Yes, but always as John Merris’s daughter. Never as myself.”
“Well, then. Here’s to the coming out of Willa Merris. And in case I don’t get a chance to say so later, it’s an honor to escort a woman as stunning as you.”
“I could say the same for you, Gabe. You cut quite a dashing figure in that tux. Thank you for doing this for me. I know how you hate these things. Any number of your, umm, former companions, have mentioned that they can never get you to go out to big social functions.”
He laughed heartily. “Former companions, huh? You mean the ring-hunting sharks trying to rope me into marriage, or at least hoping to be seen by every other ring-hunting shark in town as having landed the elusive Gabe Dawson fish?”
“Exactly.” She laughed. “Do you need help fending them off? I could always put out the word that you’ve decided to become gay and swear off women for good.”
He grinned. “In the first place, that wouldn’t slow them down because it’s my money they’re after and not me. And in the second place, no one on earth would believe I’m gay as long as I’m with a woman as sexy as you.”
Her jaw sagged.
“What?” Gabe responded in quick alarm, pausing at the top of the long row