He grinned.
“We’re to go in costume.”
The grin slid off of his face.“Like hell.”
Casey groaned.“Ryder, please.Don’t be difficult about this.I love you madly.You can’t blame me for wanting all of my acquaintances to meet you.”
“Yeah, right, and I’m supposed to remember these people the next time I see them when I’ve been introduced to them in costumes?Let’s see, what would I say?Oh, I know.You were the pirate, right?And you—weren’t you that Playboy Bunny?”
She grinned.“I can heartily assure you that there will not be a single Playboy Bunny present.”
He yanked his shirt from a hook and pulled it on with a jerk.“Well hell, you know that refusing you is impossible.However…just remember you’re going to owe me, big time.”
Casey threw her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips.“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The corner of his mouth tilted as he nuzzled the spot just below her right ear.“You’re very welcome.”
Before their play went beyond a point of no return, Tilly stepped out the back door.“Casey, honey, telephone call for you.”
Casey waved to let Tilly know that she’d heard, then turned back to Ryder.“So, what kind of costume do you want to wear?”
He cursed beneath his breath.
“Ryder, you promised.”
“You don’t worry about what I’ll wear,” he muttered.“I said I’d go, so I’ll dress the part.”
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but knowing Ryder, it was the best she was going to get.
“Want to go out to dinner?”she asked.
“Want to go to Smoky Joe’s?”
Casey groaned.She knew when she’d been had.“It’s not alligator night.”
He grinned.“I don’t care.I have a hankering to see someone else’s tail get slapped in the mud besides mine.”
She made a face and then ran for the phone.
“Don’t run in those damned heels,” he yelled, but it was too late.She’d already done it.He frowned.One of these days she was going to break her leg pulling a stunt like that.
* * *
Casey leaned over the deck and waved at Miles and Erica as they came out of the main house.Erica’s white antebellum dress floated just above the ground, billowing out around her and swaying with every step that she took.Miles looked dashing in black and quite reminiscent of a riverboat gambler.Eudora was sick with a cold and had declined the invitation with no small amount of regret.But she couldn’t show up at a party with a box of tissues beneath her arm, no matter what costume she might wear.It just wasn’t done.
“Hurry up!”Miles shouted, pointing toward a long white limousine pulling up in the driveway.“The limo’s here.”
“I’ll be right down!”she called, and ran back into the apartment, closing and locking the patio door behind her.
Without Ryder, the apartment seemed too large and empty.He’d been gone for more than two hours, and although he called over an hour ago, claiming his costume had been undergoing alterations, he still wasn’t back.
“Oh, Ryder, if you let me down at this late date, I’ll never forgive you,” she muttered, as she made a last-minute check through the apartment, making sure she had everything she’d intended to take.
She paused before the mirror then turned, glancing over her shoulder, making sure her own costume was in place, then smiling in satisfaction at the fluffy, white bunny tail right in the middle of her backside.She turned, ignoring the plunge of fabric barely covering her breasts and readjusted her long white ears.The black fishnet stockings made her legs look sexy, and her three-inch heels completed the picture.Yes, she made a darn good Playboy Bunny, even if she did think so herself.
As she started down the stairs to the waiting limo, she made a bet with herself.By the time I get to the bottom of the stairs, Ryder will be driving up.When her foot hit the last one she looked up.The Lincoln was nowhere in sight.
“Damn and double damn,” she mumbled, and started across the courtyard.Okay, by the time I get to the limo, he’llbe home.
