the dark violet material looked like a splash of vivid excitement against the white comforter. It was just as she had envisioned it when she and Mikayla had discussed the design. Strapless, with an empire waist and yards of violet silk falling to her feet over the white silk underskirt, it was both romantic and sensual.
The bodice cupped and loved her breasts, while the rest of her curves were hinted at and teased the senses. An illusion of height was added, then given a boost by five-inch matching heels that had been delivered with the dress.
A soft, matching cape with a white silk lining, and a white clutch purse for essentials, and Tehya knew she would be drawing gazes. Thankfully, the flesh-colored bandage Jordan had somehow procured, normally used for wounded operatives on covert assignments, hid the wound on her arm.
That had been one of Jordan’s requirements for the dress, that it be eye catching. That it please his senses and arouse him. When he had seen the drawn design, his lashes had lowered, and Tehya herself had become aroused by the look of latent lust in his expression.
“We’ll be arriving a little late,” he informed her as she ran her fingers over the shimmering silk. “I prefer an hour. Tonight, entrance means everything. The invitation list went out to all the guests and we’ve already begun receiving other invitations from those my family and I are acquainted with as well as associates of the Taites. We’re here only to support Senator Stanton and his son-in-law though.”
She nodded slowly. “I understand.” His friends would wonder about her, and ask questions later, when she was no longer a part of his life.
Of course, he would be uncomfortable with that. Jordan rarely chose a lover in the position of associating with his family. She let her fingers run over the material of the dress once again. She wasn’t going to allow his reluctance to take her around his friends affect the memories she was making.
It was the thought of the Taites though that had her chest tightening.
“Tehya?”
It was her silence that had him moving closer to her, watching her expression as she lifted her gaze to meet his.
“Would they have liked me, Jordan?” she asked, her voice almost too soft to hear, her expression so vulnerable, so filled with a hunger to belong that he wanted to kill Sorrel himself. She was so damned beautiful, kind, compassionate. Any family would be proud of her.
“Tehya, they wouldn’t be able to help themselves.” It was in that moment that he knew he was in serious trouble where those unnamed emotions for her were involved. They rose like a tidal wave inside him and threatened to swamp his normal good sense.
His arms went around her, drawing her close to him as he suddenly realized all the emotions she had hidden through the years. She had kept to herself, staying in her suite as he had done when there was no work to bury himself in.
She had fought for the same distance he had, and for similar reasons. Because the pain was too intense when the illusions were ripped away. Or, in her case, when she lost those she loved.
He should have never allowed her to hide in such a way, Jordan admitted.
“It’s too late,” she whispered against his chest, her fingers curling against his shirt to hold on to him. “It’s just too late.”
It was too late to go home. Too late to be a part of a family that would never understand the woman reality had shaped. And in a way, Jordan agreed with her. Unless they had an idea of the world that had created her, then they would never be comfortable around her.
“Perhaps you can never go home,” he whispered. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t forge your own place, as Teylor Johnson.” Easing back, he stared down at her once again. “You don’t have to admit to your familial ties, Tehya, to be a part of a family. All you have to do is be willing to be a friend.”
She would be an asset to any friend or family she chose, he thought. The honesty and compassion that was so much a part of her would always draw others to her, like a moth to a flame.
As she drew him. There were days he wondered if he would ever escaped the tangled web of emotion he knew she would wrap around him if she could.
Love. Hell, that illusion was stronger, was