Million Dollar Mistake

Nicholas.
Her expression darkened. How could she have been such a fool? Thinking for
a moment that he felt something for her. He’d played on her sympathy for the
boy he’d been, confusing her, and most of all kissing her in that bone-melting
way, making her want more than he’d ever offer. And he knew Jackson was
there watching all the time. How could she have thought for even a moment—
As if she’d conjured him up, Nicholas stepped out of the library and into the
hall. He just missed bumping into them, then scowled as he focused on Raven’s
hand entwined with Jackson’s.
“What’s up? House on fire?” His joking tone contradicted the hard question in
his eyes.
Raven tossed her head in her cockiest gesture. “Jackson and I are going for a
sleigh ride.”
He looked from one to the other. “Is that so?”
“Yes, that’s so,” Raven announced, daring him to correct her. She’d give
anything for an excuse to blast him with her temper.
He turned to look at Jackson. “Bit dangerous at the moment, isn’t it?”
Jackson’s jaw firmed. “I wouldn’t suggest it if there were any danger to
Raven.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t.” Raven smiled, patting his hand.
“Besides, I know the countryside around here like the back of my hand.”
Nicholas smiled. A smile Raven didn’t trust. “Then I’d say it sounds like a
plan. I’ll round up Lorianne and we’ll join you.”
Jackson said, “What?”
“Some bracing fresh air is just what we need.” With an expert move he
detached Raven’s hand from Jackson and pushed her toward the stairs. “Change
into something warm, darling.”
“Don’t tell me what to wear,” Raven muttered, stunned at the expert high-
handed control Nicholas had taken of the situation. She started up the stairs and
surprised Lorianne coming down.

---

“What’s going on?” the small blonde asked, her expression concerned as her
gaze passed over the three of them. “Is there a problem?”
“Not at all.” Nicholas moved in smoothly, looking up at Lorianne with a
charming smile. “Jackson’s suggested a sleigh ride. Why don’t you come
along?”
Lorianne clapped her hands together, bringing a sour taste to Raven’s mouth
as Nicholas chuckled at her. “That sounds like yes.”
“Yes, yes. I’d love to go.” Lorianne smiled, her eyes sparkling.
Jackson stepped next to Nicholas, his expression a bit like a kid who’d lost his
candy. “Fine. Since we’re all going, let’s meet down here in fifteen minutes.”
With that, everyone tromped up the stairs to their rooms, with Raven staying
next to Lorianne to avoid Nicholas. She couldn’t trust what she might say to him
at the moment. As they turned into the upper hallway and went their separate
directions, she heard Nicholas’s smooth, deep voice flowing after her.
“Raven. A word, please.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “No.”
That stopped him cold. “No?”
“That’s right, no. I have nothing to say to you.”
“That call was from my secretary about some business, not from—”
“I don’t care.”
He frowned, reaching for her arm. “What game are you playing now?”
She jerked it away. “You’re a fine one to talk about playing games.”
“Meaning?”
“You know very well what I mean.”
He stepped closer and snarled, “Pretending to be engaged was for your
benefit, not mine, remember?”
“And I’m sorry I ever agreed to it,” she snarled right back, then whirled
around to enter her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Twenty minutes later, the quartet, now bundled up in snug jackets, hats,
scarves, boots and gloves, trooped into the hallway only to be stopped by a
bright-eyed Nana.
Nana sent a look around, her sharp glance passing from Jackson to Raven to
Lorianne to Nicholas. “What a happy group. Where are you off to, darlings?”
She hid a smile as her glance passed again from Nicholas to Jackson, taking in
their bristling positions, which reminded her of two male dogs ready to charge.
Her interest quickened. “Going out for a snowball fight, perhaps?”
Nicholas chuckled before sending Jackson a sidelong glance. “No, ma’am. At

---

least, I don’t think so.”
“Jackson suggested a sleigh ride,” Raven said. “It sounded like fun.”
“It is.” Nana nodded. “I remember coming up here with my husband during
the winter. We’d bundle under warm blankets and furs and go out whatever the
weather.” She sighed, but her gaze was mischievous as she added, “So
romantic.”
“It should have been,” Jackson muttered under his breath.
“What’s that, Jackson? Speak up, dear.” She smiled, enjoying the sulky look
on her grandson’s face. There was nothing she liked more than stirring the coals
to heat things up a bit.
“I’m sure it would have been if you and Grandfather were alone,” Jackson
commented.
Nana let a smile play around her mouth. “Yes, he was a very dynamic, sexy
and attentive man. Especially under the blankets.” Her smile broadened as she
glanced around the group. “So make sure you have enough of them.”
At that, Nicholas laughed, Raven chuckled, Lorianne sighed and an appalled
look shot onto Jackson’s face.
“Grandmother,” he said in a choked voice, “for God’s sakes.”
Satisfied that she’d done something to liven up the gathering, Nana moved to
the stairs. “Have fun, children.”
Her elderly heart leapt for a moment as she watched the group leave, her gaze
lingering on her grandson’s knitted cap and fine form as he went out the door
into the wintry weather. Jackson looked so like his grandfather, Black Jack
Exeter. And he was just as blind when it came to love. In her day, she’d had to
force Black Jack to look in her direction, so it wasn’t surprising that his grandson
needed the same lesson. She’d have to help Jackson discover what was under his
nose. Raven wasn’t for Jackson. Lorianne was. Just as Raven was for Nicholas—
not that they seemed to know it either.
Nana grinned as she ascended the stairs. “A bit of matchmaking sure beats the
hell out of talking to Margaret.”
The snow was still falling, making the landscape resemble a scenic post card;
but Jackson had been right, Raven realized as they reached the barn, the winds
had stopped. She followed the others.
“Wait here,” Jackson said, “I’ll get the horses.”
“I’ll help,” Lorianne offered, following him into the recesses of the barn.
Raven looked around, her memory tugged by the high arched enclosure with
its cement walkway and parking spaces for a sleigh, buggy and wagon. For a
long moment, she just absorbed—the hard-packed horse stalls and animal

---

warmth, mixed with the pungent smell of saddle leather, liniment, hay and grain,
not to mention the horse sounds, from curious snorting nickers to soft whickered
hellos.
“Seems familiar, huh?” Nicholas’s voice whispered into her ear.
“Yes,” she said, surprised by the longing for home that swept over her.
“No matter where I travel or how I spend my time, I always need to come
back to something basic. Come back to what’s real. Like working my muscles,
caring for an animal…” He gave a self-conscious shrug when Raven turned her
head to stare up at him.
“It’s hard to imagine the sophisticated Nicholas Demetrious needing to shovel
manure.” She forced her voice into an acerbic tone, wanting to cut off the
connection she’d felt at his statement, reminding her that he’d deliberately baited
and then misled her earlier.
Nicholas closed down as if she’d slapped him. “No more than the thought of
the racy, cosmopolitan Raven Rutledge hanging out in the barn.”
“I didn’t hang out. I merely pointed at an animal, then rode for pleasure.”
“You forget who you’re talking to, sweetheart. You haunted the barn as a kid.
As well as the fields, the woods, the bushes, anywhere you could hide from your
family troubles.”
Because he was right, Raven lifted her chin and snapped. “You don’t know
what you’re talking about.”
“And it was generally trouble you caused.”
“You make me sound like a horrible child.”
“I remember you were always getting the short end of your mother’s tongue.”
She shrugged, keeping it light. “I could never please her.”
“You didn’t try to, sweetheart.”
“Not true.” Oh so not true, she thought, her heart hurting. She’d never been
the perfection her mother expected. She couldn’t hold a match to her older
sisters in looks, manners or obedience. She’d always been the ugly duckling and
her mother didn’t let her forget it. Not consciously, but she’d known.
“Look, Raven—” Whatever Nicholas was going to say was interrupted by
Jackson and Lorianne leading two horses toward them.
“This is Oscar and Ophelia. Aren’t they beautiful?” Lorianne asked, indicating
the perfectly matched set of bay horses.
“Very,” Raven agreed.
“We’ll be ready in a few minutes,” Jackson said.
Nicholas took one of the leads from Lorianne and moved toward Jackson. “I’ll
take it from here, Lorianne.”
Lorianne joined Raven, who’d walked over to open the barn doors while the

---

two men hitched the horses and maneuvered the sleigh from its berth. The jaunty
sleigh was decorated with bells. Its red-painted body, complete with bench seats
in the front and back, sat sleek and fast on its two shiny metal sleds that slid to a
stop in front of them.
“Ladies,” Jackson came around the sleigh, sweeping an elegant bow, saying
with a charming grin, “your carriage awaits.” Then he outmaneuvered Nicholas
by helping Raven into the front seat and scrambling in beside her.
After one slicing glare at the two in the front, Nicholas turned to Lorianne and
held out his hand. “May I?”
“Oh.” Lorianne blushed as she placed her hand in his.
Nicholas assisted her into the seat directly behind Jackson, closed the barn
doors, then joined the group in the sleigh.
With a smooth tap of the reins against the horses’ flank, Jackson called,
“Giddyup,” and away they sailed on the smooth snow with sleigh bells jingling.
The horses tossed their heads, pleased to be released from the barn and out in
the wintry sunshine. They didn’t mind the snowflakes any more than the
occupants of the sleigh. Lorianne even demonstrated the fine art of catching
them on her tongue and encouraged Nicholas to do the same. They drove for a
while before turning off onto a side path that circled a small lake. It wasn’t a lane
as it was too narrow and close to the edge for that, but Jackson reassured them
all that it was safe. It was certainly beautiful with the snow falling onto the ice-
covered lake and tall marsh grasses that surrounded it.
Delighted, Raven dropped her sophisticated affectation and clapped her hands
as the air streamed by them. “Oh, it’s wonderful.”
“How’s your headache?” Jackson asked.
“Gone,” Raven answered.
“Didn’t I say I know what’s good for you?”
“Isn’t that funny? I had a headache, too,” Lorianne chimed in, shouting to be
heard over the swish of the sleigh and the cotton wool muffling of the falling
snow. “Was it the champagne? Or your sinuses? Because for a while I thought it
might be my sinuses. Then I thought I might be catching a cold, but I think it
could have been the alcohol.”
Nicholas could barely contain a laugh as he joined the conversation, “Raven
can’t handle champagne. I don’t know what we’ll do at our wedding.”
“Have you set a date for the wedding, Raven?” Lorianne asked, grasping the
back of the seat in front of her as Jackson sped up, hurtling the sleigh over a
bump then a dip in the path.
“No,” Raven practically snarled it over her shoulder. “And I’m not sure I’m
going to either.”

---

“Darling,” Nicholas said, leaning forward, his voice smooth as aged Southern
Comfort, “I don’t think we can elope, no matter what you think. The family
would be so disappointed. Remember our agreement.”
Incensed that Nicholas had the nerve to mention the non-existent wedding and
the earlier discussion they’d had about strategy, especially since he was a sneaky,
slick, manipulative, high-handed, pain-in-her-ass, she turned to annihilate him.
“I remember our agreement. It’s a shame someone, whose name I won’t mention,
took advantage of it and misled me into thinking—” She swallowed her words as
the sleigh suddenly dipped on the right side.
“Damn,” Jackson exploded as he fought the sleigh and the stumbling horses.
“We’ve hit the marsh.”
Jackson shifted his weight toward the left to try to counteract the imbalance as
the horses slowed down and struggled to get back out of the tall grasses and
uneven sheets of solid ice on to firm ground. He’d almost managed to right the
vehicle and turned to say so when the sleigh hit a raised sheet of ice. He lost his
balance and dropped the reins.
“Jackson,” Lorianne yelled, leaning over the seat to reach for the reins that
had slipped from Jackson’s hands. The move also put Lorianne off balance.
When the sleigh did a slow-motion lurch through another bump and dip, both
Lorianne and Jackson flew out of the vehicle and toward the marsh.
Raven scrambled to reach the reins, which had now dropped behind the horses
as Nicholas climbed over the seat. He pushed Raven back to safety and balanced
himself to lean over the horses to grab the leather straps. With a loud “whoa” he
pulled the horses up as short as possible, scarcely waiting until they’d slid to a
stop before leaping from the sleigh and running back to where Jackson and
Lorianne had fallen. Raven jumped down and ran around to reassure the
trembling horses before running back toward Nicholas.
Nicholas waved Raven toward Jackson while he went after Lorianne who was
farther out, lying on her side on a slab of ice that covered the reeds and grasses.
Her landing had been cushioned by a mound of snow and clump of marsh grass,
but the ice had broken to allow what resembled lake water underneath to bubble
up and reach her. Nicholas gingerly stepped toward her, calling her name.
Raven reached Jackson, who was now sitting up in a mass of snow-covered
reeds and a small pool of water. He was swearing a blue streak.
“Jackson,” Raven said, “are you okay?”
“No. I’m soaked and pissed off,” he replied. Then he shook his head, rose to
his feet in a cautious manner, and took a good look at her before reaching for her
hand. “What about you? Are you all right?”
Raven stepped back from the uneven surface. “I’m not the one you should be

---

asking.” She jerked her head toward Nicholas.
“What?” Jackson followed her gaze. “Lorianne? What the hell?” He waded
through the thin ice covering his area of the marsh, managing to slip and slide
his way toward Nicholas and Lorianne.
Nicholas was hunched over, running his hands over Lorianne. “Lorianne,
Lorianne. Come on, honey, open your eyes.”
“Is she…hurt?” Jackson asked, his voice anxious as he held Raven back from
attempting to move forward. “No, don’t go any farther, you’ll get wet.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Raven snapped.
Nicholas looked back at Raven. “No, he’s right. Stay back there, the ice is
iffy.”
“Then hurry up and get her out of there,” Raven responded, her voice worried
as she took in Lorianne’s white face.
Nicholas started to gather Lorianne into his arms when she opened her eyes
and said in a weak but indignant voice, “I’m totally wet.”
Nicholas laughed, lifting her as he stood up. “So you are.”
Her eyes fluttered open to focus on his. “Oh…oh wow.”
Raven couldn’t help but sympathize with the awed expression on Lorianne’s
face. Being held that close in Nicholas’s arms was enough to close down
anyone’s thought processes. She stepped back as Nicholas walked in her
direction, followed by Jackson.
“Can you tell me if anything hurts, honey? Head, arms—”
“My knee hurts a bit. I must have hit it when I fell. Oh and my head. A
headache. I really have a headache.”
“You had a headache before, remember?” Jackson said, his voice tense. “Are
you sure this is from—”
“Now it’s different,” Lorianne said, her voice stiff with dignity and
discomfort, her teeth chattering from the cold as Nicholas bundled her into the
backseat of the sleigh.
“What…” Jackson couldn’t finish his sentence since he was chattering as hard
as Lorianne.
“Get in the back with Lorianne, Jackson,” Raven ordered. She and Nicholas
wrapped all of the blankets around both of them before climbing into the front
seat.
Nicholas grabbed the reins and turned the horses around for home as Raven
glanced back. “Stay under those covers and hold on.”
“What,” Jackson tried again, staring at Lorianne, “did you think you were
doing? How did you fall out?”
“What do you mean, what was I doing?” An indignant Lorianne stared back.

---

“I was trying to help you.”
“I didn’t need your help. All you did was get yourself hurt.”
“Well, exc-u-u-s-s-e me!”
“I’m trying to. You scared the hell out of me,” Jackson yelled.
“You scared the hell out of me, too,” Lorianne yelled back.
“Next time, don’t help.”
Lorianne sniffed, lifting her nose in a snooty gesture. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Jackson nodded and folded his arms. “Okay, fine.”
“Yes, fine,” Lorianne said, her teeth chattering from the cold.
Raven checked over her shoulder again, then back at Nicholas. “Get us back
to the house before they kill each other.”
“Done,” Nicholas agreed, whistling and giving the horses their heads. The
horses leapt forward, eager to get back to the barn.
They made the trip back in record time.
Nicholas pulled up in front of the house, glancing over his shoulder at Jackson
and Lorianne. “Out you go. Get a hot bath and a warm drink.”
“I have to see to the horses,” Jackson chattered.
“I’ll take care of them. Raven, get them inside before they turn into ice
statues.”
Nicholas watched as the duo headed for the porch, their blankets wrapped as
tight as a mummy’s dress. As Raven ushered them to the front door, he slapped
the horses lightly with the leather, urging them over the snow to the barn. Once
inside, he took a few minutes to calm down before maneuvering the sleigh back
to its berth. He’d just started to unhitch the horses when Raven came in.
“Nicholas.”
Seeing her, he realized that it could have been Raven lying in the snow instead
of Lorianne. Raven he’d lifted into his arms. His eyes narrowed. And wouldn’t it