Million Dollar Mistake

Nicholas doing here?
Coincidence? Could be. But knowing how Nicholas worked, she doubted it.
No matter, if fate in the shape of Nicholas was stepping in, then she’d use it.
Raven moved closer to the railing in the upper hall, feeling as if she were
seated in a front-row theatre box. The moment and the players were etched onto
her memory. The hallway thrown into sharp shadows from the storm outside, the
titter of polite conversation, and Nicholas—all charm and appealing danger—
standing calmly in the center of it.
Her nerves continued to tingle as Nicholas greeted Jackson, who suddenly
resembled a teenage pup standing in the shadow of a mastiff. Nicholas was only
three or four years older than Jackson, but in terms of experience and sheer
presence, he overwhelmed the man shaking his hand. That’s when she got the
idea. Her lips curved in a smile that her mother, had she been around, would
have told everyone in the vicinity to beware.
She must have made some sound because suddenly she found herself looking
straight down into Nicholas’s alert gaze. She couldn’t pull away. Her breath
caught as he took a small step forward, head lifted, eyes gleaming. Suddenly, she

---

remembered that she couldn’t wrap him around her finger as she did most men.
For a moment she faltered, then stiffened her resolve. Showtime.
“Nicky,” she purred, loud enough to capture attention as she tilted her lips into
her most alluring smile.
Raven ran along the hall to the stairway and practically danced down the
steps, her hand trailing lightly over the railing for balance. Her eyes never left
Nicholas’s, not even when she saw the wary question in his.
“Nicky, darling.”
She spread her arms wide and raced toward him, giving everyone the
impression that she was a woman on her way to her lover from whom she’d been
separated for eons.
“Oh, Nicky, you came.”
She flung herself into his arms, leaping up to clamp her legs around his hips,
her arms encircling his neck.
Thank God the man had good reflexes. With a sharp exhaled “Whoosh!” he
grabbed her and adjusted his stance as he wrapped his arms around her body to
pull her close.
Without giving herself time to consider the wisdom of the move, Raven
fastened her lips to his, but not before she caught a glimpse of uncharacteristic
astonishment in his eyes. That shocked her so much—Nicholas always seemed
in control—that she forgot to be careful. Her lips sank into his, stunned by the
soft texture of that firm, well-shaped mouth that was usually scowling at her.
But not now.
Her lips opened, relaxing into the kiss, the heat of him warming her,
beckoning her to come closer, to singe her wings. Then for an instant, reality
returned.
What am I doing?
The opportunity to stop was lost as Nicholas responded, his hand cupping the
back of her head to hold her mouth on his when she started to draw away. His
mouth took control, his tongue darting forward to open her lips farther before
slipping inside for a light caress. She could feel her breasts swell, her nipples
automatically harden, much as he was hardening against the sensitive V where
her passion lived. Her legs tightened as she pressed closer. Where this might
have gone was up for grabs. Luckily for both of them, the background noise
rushed to the foreground.
“Raven,” Jackson cried. “What are you doing?”
“Good lord. This is outrageous,” Margaret sniffed.
“I see you two know each other,” from J.R. with a manly chuckle.
“Oh,” sighed Lorianne, “how romantic.”

---

Recalled to the present, Raven lifted her head, her reluctant lips leaving those
of Nicholas. With a small, “Oh, wow,” she unclasped her legs, allowing herself
to slide down his body. Her eyes met Nicholas’s. The passion she’d surprised in
them was rapidly being replaced by his guarded gaze.
“Never a dull moment,” he muttered, so low she wasn’t sure if she imagined
it.
“What?”
“What a nice welcome. Maybe I should go out and come in again,” he said in
a light tone, which belied his tense mouth and firm jaw as he continued to stare
at her, obviously wondering what was coming next.
Raven slipped her arm through his, turning to half face the group while
keeping her gaze firmly on his as she said, “This is my fi…” The word fiancé
stuck in her throat. Suddenly the impulsive plan she’d concocted when she first
saw Nicholas seemed a disaster. “This is my f-friend, Nicholas Demetrious.”
She risked a quick peek around at their audience. They stood as if petrified,
shocked into silence. Raven took that moment to seek Nicholas’s gaze, to try to
read his expression. He was looking at her with a calculating gleam in his
smoke-gray eyes that made her wonder if all of her brain cells had died. She
might as well dangle red meat before a starving predator as involve Nicholas in
one of her schemes.
“Friend,” Nicholas queried with just enough playful suggestiveness to add
fuel to the fire she’d already set.
“Point taken.” She pasted a smile on her face. “My cousin, actually.”
Oh, why couldn’t she hit rewind? Tell everyone the kiss was a mistake, that it
was just a joke. Before she could say a word, everyone started speaking at once,
but one imperious voice cut through the din.
“Child, are you telling us that this is your cousin?”
“Kissing cousin, I’ll bet,” Lorianne giggled. Then she shut up as everyone
sent her a look that could have fried eggs.
Raven turned to look at Nana standing in the center of the staircase. She found
it hard to meet the old woman’s shrewd eyes; sure she must be seeing right
through her. “Um, yes, my cousin. We’re not closely related, not blood-relations
or anything…” The hole was getting deeper.
Rescue came from an unexpected source. “But we have been getting closer,”
Nicholas commented with a smile. “Much closer.”
“Obviously,” Margaret said.
Nana looked confused. “I thought you came here with Jackson?“
“Yes, I, um, I did.” Raven hung her head, her feigned shame a bit too real for
her comfort. “Nicholas and I…had a fight, you see, and then I met…um, I left

---

Nicky a message, but he didn’t, so I came… Well, anyway, I behaved in a stupid,
impulsive, irrational—”
“Oh, now there’s a surprise,” Nicholas murmured in her ear, taking a firmer
grip on her arm.
She couldn’t help but glare up at him, before turning back to Nana. “I thought
we were over, but now he’s here and…” Raven allowed herself to trail off, the
very picture of confused womanhood. She peeked at her audience to see their
reaction, trying to avoid looking at Jackson. She knew she’d have to deal with
him, but was determined to put it off as long as possible. Maybe she could just
write a note? Probably not an option.
“Now everything is just peachy fine, I suppose?” The razor sharp eyes that
sliced from her to Nicholas and then back again belied Nana’s soft comment.
Nicholas answered, “We still have a few things to sort out.” He gripped
Raven’s waist, pulling her closer. “Wouldn’t you agree, sweetheart?”
Raven had no problem recognizing the threat in that statement. “Oh, without a
doubt.” She was a bit unnerved when she heard Nicholas’s soft chuckle.
“Raven,” Jackson said, his tone tense and sharp, “I want to talk to you.”
“I think this situation calls for a drink.” Nana took control, switching her
focus from Raven to her son and daughter-in-law. “Don’t you, J.R., Margaret?”
Always the society hostess, Margaret nodded. “Yes, of course. Shall we go in
by the fire?” She and J.R. moved toward the living room. “Lorianne, dear, would
you ask Tilda for some tea, coffee and those little sandwiches she does so well?”
Lorianne placed Nicholas’s coat on a chair, sending a reluctant look over her
shoulder before walking down the hall to the kitchen.
Nana continued down the stairs. “Jackson,” she said in an autocratic voice,
extending her hand to her grandson, stopping him as he stepped toward Raven
and Nicholas. “Let’s give them some privacy, shall we?”
Jackson halted mid-stride and looked back at his grandmother.
“I’m thirsty, Jackson.”
With a glare in Raven and Nicholas’s direction, Jackson muttered, “I could use
a strong drink myself.” He sent Raven a look that promised they would talk later
before tucking his grandmother’s hand into the crook of his arm and escorting
her into the living room.
Only Raven and Nicholas were left in the hall. Raven was reluctant to look at
him. Escape seemed the best alternative for the moment. She started to walk
toward the archway when strong fingers encircled her wrist, jerking her to a
stop.
“Oh no, you don’t.”
Nicholas pulled her farther down the hall under the stairwell arch, out of view

---

of the living room. “No kiss and run for this guy.”
Raven summoned a saucy smile and tossed it over her shoulder. “I guess
you’re wondering what this is all about.”
“Well, you could say,” Nicholas drawled, “I’m a bit curious.”
“I can explain everything. But not now. They’re all waiting.”
Nicholas sent her a look. “Oh, you’ll explain, trust me on that. It’s not every
day a woman tries to climb me like an elm tree—at least not in public.”
Raven flushed.
“What’s the matter, cat got your tongue? You didn’t have any trouble
communicating before. Of course, a lot of it was non-verbal.” He pulled her
close to him. “Come to think of it, I prefer that approach. You always get in
trouble when you talk.”
Raven scowled as she stumbled against him. Her cheeks flamed as she jerked
away from his tantalizing body heat. Damn him. If that wasn’t just like Nicholas.
He couldn’t let anything go without commenting on it and making her feel like
an idiot. She sent him a sideways glare from under her lashes. “I had to give
them the impression that we were— Well, obviously I had to be convincing.”
Nicholas gave her a grin that hit her like the sun breaking through a cloudy
day. “Oh you were convincing, all right. You almost convinced me right out of
my briefs. You’re damn lucky I didn’t wrestle you down to the floor.”
“What?” Raven’s jaw dropped as she stared at him. “But you don’t even like
me. And I don’t like you,” she added, voice defiant.
His eyes twinkled. “Get real, sweetheart, you don’t have to like someone to
screw their brains out.”
“Who said anything about screwing? All I said was—”
His grin grew. “I think it was that non-verbal communication thing of yours
that put the thought in my mind.”
Raven bit her lip, taking refuge in the ladylike behavior her mother had tried
to beat into her as a child. “This subject is not appropriate. I’d rather not discuss
it.”
Nicholas practically shouted with laughter. “Christ’s britches, Raven, you
have a funny idea of what’s appropriate. Lord, the man who takes you on better
have a big stick and nerves of steel. You’d make mincemeat of anyone else.” He
jerked a thumb toward the archway into the living room. “Like poor Exeter in
there. I wonder if he knows how lucky he is to get away from you.”
“That’s a horrible thing to say.”
“Truth hurts, luv.”
Her mouth opened with a hot response when it suddenly hit her. “What are
you doing here, anyway?”

---

“I was in the vicinity.”
“Oh, you were?” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. “You just decided to drop
into a remote country house and say hello to whomever answered the door?”
“Maybe I caught your ‘get me out of this someone’ vibe and came to the
rescue.”
Her eyes narrowed, unwilling to admit the truth of that. But she crossed her
fingers just in case she was struck down for lying. “I don’t need any rescuing.
I’m perfectly able to rescue myself when necessary.”
“Oh, right. Then that little scene we just played was what?”
“A mistake, that’s what.”
Arching a brow, Nicholas pinned her with his gaze. “A mistake?”
“Yes. I had this unexpected problem. Then I saw you and got this idea,
because you were convenient. So I—”
“Didn’t think? Used me?”
Raven lifted her chin. “Look, Nicholas, I don’t know why you’re here, but this
really doesn’t concern you, so you can—”
Nicholas laughed, the sound no longer as amused. “You’re wrong. This
concerns me more than you think. You made it my concern the minute you
jumped up and kissed me as if your life depended on it.”
“I was trying to—”
“To what? Get away from a man you got too involved with too fast? Story of
your life, isn’t it?”
Raven flushed, but narrowed her eyes, ready to fight. “I’m not involved with
Jackson. I didn’t know he was—” Why did she always look her worst around
Nicholas? She felt so idiotic that she attacked instead. She always fought the
hardest when she was in the wrong. Raven fisted her hands on her hips. “How
did you know about Jackson, anyway?”
Nicholas lost his smile. His face froze over like a winter lake. “It’s
complicated.”
“Did you talk to my father or something?”
“I spoke with your father, all right,” he said, his tone ice-cube cold. “And now
I’m here to speak with you.”
“What do you mean by—”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt.” Lorianne stopped in the hallway
so suddenly that Tilda, who was walking behind her carrying a tray of goodies,
almost walked into her. “Tilda, take the refreshments to the living room, please.”
Thank God they were interrupted before he throttled her. Nicholas forced
himself to look away from Raven’s fascinating face. He’d come here to drag

---

Raven out by her hair, if necessary, and get her to release Jackson Exeter from
her clutches—not get entangled in them himself. Of all the outrageous tricks
Raven had pulled over the years, he hadn’t been prepared for her inventing a
scenario like this.
Nicholas gathered his manners before turning to smile at the young woman
holding a crystal platter filled with petit fours with one hand, nervously fingering
her pearls with the other. “No apologies necessary, Miss Sterling.”
Lorianne gave him a self-conscious smile in return. “Lorianne, please.”
“Lorianne.” His voice gentled. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s good to put a
face with the name. And such a pretty face at that.” He moved forward and took
the plate from Lorianne’s hand. “Here, let me take that for you.”
Color swept over Lorianne’s cheeks. “Oh, that’s very nice of you.” She cast an
uncertain look at Raven. “But you don’t need to bother. I’m sure you have other
things to—”
Nicholas cast a glance back at Raven who was standing as if turned to stone.
“Don’t worry. They’ll keep.”
“But you just got here and I can make your excuses to the family if you want
to…” Her face flamed as she realized what she seemed to be indicating.
Nicholas smiled at her again, then nodded at Raven to follow him, knowing
that simple gesture would get a reaction. “We’ll make our own excuses, won’t
we, Raven?”
He started off with Lorianne, but could feel Raven’s eyes stabbing him in the
back every step of the way. He glanced back and smothered a grin as he met
Raven’s annoyed gaze. Getting under her skin could become a habit. Not that he
wanted her type of chaos every day, but every once in a while she was worth the
price of a ticket. Not worth sacrificing a business deal over, however, especially
not one the size of this one, which opened so many opportunities to the Kristof
family.
Nicholas swallowed a chuckle as he realized that, for reasons of her own,
she’d made his visit a lot simpler. He’d thank her, but as he stopped in the
entrance to the huge living room and caught sight of Jackson’s determined face,
decided it might be premature. He had a feeling the problems were just
beginning.
Nicholas handed the plate of delicacies to Lorianne, who crossed the room to
place them on a side table. He turned back to Raven and asked, “Would you like
a drink?”
For a moment, Raven stood in the archway like a deer frozen in the
headlights. “A drink?”
“Whiskey? Wine? Hemlock?” he added with a chuckle, hoping to wipe the

---

panic-stricken look from her face.
Nicholas could see her composure returning when she tossed her head at his
joking offer of poison. He could also see the bravado that lay underneath, which
surprised him. He’d never thought of the adult Raven being anything other than
fearless, always impatient with the status quo. Why else would she conduct her
life in such an over-the-top manner? To see this hint of vulnerability gave him a
twinge. Then she sent him a mocking smile and he decided he’d imagined the
entire thing.
“Whiskey, neat.”
“Perhaps a touch of the Irish? Didn’t your sister marry an Irishman? Someone
in horse racing.”
She grinned. “Yes, a jockey, but my father wants nothing to do with the lot of
them. He says they’re too reckless.”
“He has no room to talk,” Nicholas said, his voice grim.
“What do you mean?”
Nicholas shrugged. “Nothing.”
Raven sent him a demanding look. “Was that a jab at me somehow, then?”
Nicholas stared at her for a moment. Was it possible she didn’t know about
her father’s financial dilemma? That her father, Sebastian Rutledge, was in
financial trouble again, and was appealing to the Kristof family to help him out?
Nicholas had refused after talking to his cousin, Darcy. Refused for all the right
reasons, not that Sebastian would agree.
“Was it?” Seeming to forget there was anyone else in the room, Raven tapped
his chest. “Are you calling me reckless?”
Nicholas pushed her hair behind her ear. “Now why would I do something like
that in front of all these people?”
Raven inhaled, then gave the room a guilty glance. “I forgot about them.”
“Did you, luv?” Her expression was so delightful that he dropped a casual kiss
on the tip of her nose. “Well, there are only five of them. Not the size of your
usual audience.”
Her hand fisted automatically, but Nicholas caught it with his before she could
lift it and do any damage. He glanced around and discovered everyone was
trying to avoid staring at them, except for J.R. who waved them toward the bar,
telling them to take their time and help themselves.
Nicholas chuckled. “Come on, let’s find something to calm you down.”
Keeping her hand tucked in his, he pulled her across the room to the self-
standing bar at the far end. Jackson, who seemed to be waiting for his chance,
immediately joined them.
He waved his hand at Nicholas. “Raven, I’d like an explanation.”

---

Nicholas reached for a bottle of whiskey and poured a tot, which he handed to
Raven. “I don’t think this is the time.”
“Who asked you?” Jackson demanded in an undertone. “Who are you
anyway?”
“Raven, would you mind getting me something to eat, please? I missed
lunch.” With a slight push on her behind, he removed her from the field of play.
“Wait a minute, Raven, I—”
Nicholas stopped Jackson from moving by shoving a drink in his hand. “You
know, you won’t believe this, but you are a very lucky man.”
Jackson took an automatic sip, his gaze still following Raven. “How so?”
“You had a lucky escape.”
He glanced back at Nicholas. “From?”
Nicholas indicated Raven who was now across the room, talking to Nana and
the rest of the family, attempting to pretend everything was normal. Since Raven
was maintaining her cool and had resurrected her society manners, Nicholas
shifted his attention back to Jackson. “From making a disastrous mistake with
Raven.”
“How can you talk about her like that? She’s your—you want to explain just
what the hell she is to you?”
Nicholas grinned, feeling a bit sorry for the guy but determined to turn him off
Raven for good. “She’s my cousin, like she said.”
“I’m not that friendly with my cousins.”
“Raven is a law unto herself.”
“She’s the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Nicholas looked around the tasteful, yet stuffy house. If this was indicative of
the Exeter family atmosphere, it was an understatement. “She’s been that way
for a number of men.”
Jackson firmed his chin. “Take that back.”
“Why? Her exploits aren’t a secret.”
“That’s the gossip magazines talking. You know how they exaggerate.”
Nicholas eyed him. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”
“I’ve decided to marry her. No matter who tries to stand in the way.”
Nicholas met Jackson’s determined gaze. “I’m sorry,” he said in a soft tone, “I
can’t let that happen.”
“Why? Because you’re in love with her yourself? Or because my father
somehow put you up to this?”
Nicholas sent a glance in J.R.’s direction. He ignored J.R.’s wide smile,
instead shifting his focus back to Jackson, who watched him with a sharp,
knowing expression. “What makes you think your father had anything to do with

---

it?”
“The way he welcomed you. You’ve got something going on, don’t you?”
“My relationship with your father has nothing to do with this,” Nicholas said,
the lie rolling easily from his tongue. ”Don’t forget, Raven came running down
those stairs to me. Not the other way around.”
“Are you really her cousin?”
“Yes, I am.”
“But that wouldn’t stop you if you wanted her?”
“Like I said, we aren’t related by blood.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No. You’re right, so listen up.” Nicholas chiseled each word in the air as he
warned Jackson off. “If I want Raven, nothing will stop me from having her.”
Jackson wasn’t intimidated. Instead he fired back, “Just so we know where we
stand. Do you want her?”
Nicholas laughed. “Something wrong with your eyesight? Who wouldn’t want
her? She’s a very sexy woman.”
“Yes, but do you really want her?”
Nicholas looked across the room at Raven before he answered. His eyes
lingered on her animated face before moving over the traffic-stopping curves of
her body. Her low smoky chuckle caressed his ears.
“Do you?” Jackson demanded.
Finally, he looked back at the younger man standing tense near him. “Yes.”