So much for her saying there would be no kissing involved between them. Seductive minx. He wondered what else she might do. She definitely had thrown him off balance.

  Rafe and Jade soon joined him, and Jade said, “I thought this was supposed to be a pretend date.”

  Rafe was smiling. “We told you she was the one to take to the ball.”

  “It is a pretend date. Kate is just very good at playing her role.” And working Derek up. He couldn’t believe how much that brief little kiss had affected him. “She’s doing her usual, visiting with clients.”

  Rafe and Jade were watching Kate move through the crowd, someone getting her a glass of champagne. That should have been Derek, he thought belatedly.

  Then two more men were talking to her—about cosmetics, Derek hoped.

  “She seems to be very popular tonight,” Jade said.

  Too popular. Now that Brenda didn’t have Derek’s undivided attention at one of these affairs—or she would throw a fit about it—he couldn’t help but watch Kate and see her growing crowd of enthusiastic potential suitors capturing her attention. She was sipping from her champagne glass and then laughing. He frowned. At least they were humans, not wolves.

  He had noticed that everyone had taken notice of her when she had walked into the ballroom. She had been all smiles, independent, seeming to just connect with people, the way he liked his women.

  Rafe motioned to her with his head. “If you need me to rescue her, just let me know.”

  Derek wouldn’t need Rafe’s help in rescuing Kate. And Derek didn’t think she needed his assistance either. He certainly didn’t want to interrupt her business talks with the other men, if that was what they were, when he had agreed to the rules of engagement.

  Rafe slapped Derek on the back and took Jade’s hand to head over to one of the tables. Even though the wolves liked sitting together as a wolf pack at different social gatherings, the couples often sat apart at a charity function like this so they could meet and greet others too.

  Then Derek saw Brenda headed his way, and he had the sudden urge to rescue Kate, if by doing so, he got himself out of having to deal with Brenda. He was totally an alpha, so he didn’t know why he was feeling that way! Before Brenda reached him, Rafe’s brother, Aidan, and his pregnant mate, Holly, came to speak with him, but Derek noticed that didn’t stop Brenda from continuing in his direction.

  “So why aren’t you with Kate?” Holly scolded.

  Derek wondered again when Holly’s twin babies were due. Holly looked like she was ready to give birth any minute.

  Derek shrugged. “She wanted to take care of business. It was the deal we made.”

  “It looks like Brenda’s coming to speak with you,” Aidan warned.

  “Yeah. I hope she doesn’t make a scene.” That was all that Derek needed. He really hadn’t expected Brenda to show up to the gala, but he knew word would have soon gotten back to her that he had a date. He figured she was dying to see if he had someone to take to the ball on such short notice and who might replace her or maybe that he was alone at the affair and she had a chance to make it up to him.

  “Well, don’t let the other men monopolize Kate’s time,” Aidan said.

  Derek would, if that was what she wanted and it made her happy. Then Aidan and Holly told him they would talk to him later as soon as Brenda drew close.

  “So,” Brenda said, joining him. “That was fast.”

  “I could say the same thing about you,” Derek said.

  “Isn’t the woman you came in with Lexi Summerfield’s assistant and bodyguard?” Brenda asked as if she didn’t really know whether she was.

  “Yeah. We’ve been friends.” Not exactly. Especially not after he had turned her down for a job.

  “I could see. So how long has this been going on behind my back?”

  “I haven’t been out with her before.” Though Derek and Brenda had agreed that they weren’t dating each other exclusively. He hadn’t been seeing anyone, but he didn’t know about her. “I’m glad you found someone new to date.” He suspected Brenda had seen Kate kiss him, and he wondered if Brenda was jealous. Here he thought Kate had just kissed him to play her role in front of anyone at the ball who was observing them—not just the ex-girlfriend.

  “Oh, that. I’m just with him as a fill-in. His girlfriend wasn’t able to attend, and I told him I was available. He was thrilled to bring me here,” Brenda said.

  Kate suddenly appeared next to Derek like a wolf would on a hunt, silently and self-assuredly. “I’m glad your new relationship is working out so well for the two of you, Brenda.” Kate acted as though she hadn’t heard what Brenda had said, but with their wolf’s hearing, Derek was certain she had. Then Kate smiled brilliantly at Derek. He was getting a big kick out of her. “Do you want to dance?” She slipped her hand around Derek’s and pulled him away from Brenda, not giving him a chance to say yes or no.

  “I thought you were busy.” Derek pulled Kate lightly into his arms on the dance floor, modestly, not like how he wanted to hold her close as they were waltzing. Hell, already his wolf hormones were firing up a storm.

  “All work and no play…” Kate danced superbly with him, all her concentration on him as if she truly were his new temporary girlfriend. Because all his girlfriends were temporary.

  “I hadn’t expected to see Brenda here,” Kate began, “but I should have known. She’s just an opportunist. Pardon if I’m stepping on your toes, as they say.”

  Derek shook his head. “Not at all. Everyone knows she’ll go with anyone she hopes will marry her and leave her a nice billion-dollar nest egg. I guess she’d been after me for some time to make up my mind about us. I just hadn’t seen the signs. But it wasn’t in the cards.”

  Kate slid her arms around his neck and pressed her body closer. He settled his hands around her waist.

  Okay, so this wasn’t what he thought would happen once he’d picked her up at Lexi and Ryder’s home, but he was certain that was exactly where this would have headed had she been his bodyguard. Maybe not as quickly as this, since she was serving in the capacity of his date this time. Kate seemed to want to show Brenda he was with her, so lay off him, which worked well for him as long as Brenda didn’t try to take it out on Kate.

  “Is Brenda watching us?” He assumed that was why Kate was getting so intimate with him.

  “Hmm,” Kate said.

  He started to glance in the direction he thought Brenda might still be, but Kate warned, “You will blow the whole scene if you scan the ballroom to see if Brenda is observing us. I can tell you right now she is, and I don’t even have to look. Why else would she have come over to talk to you when you’re with me? She’s not ready to give you up, and she wants to know if we’re really an item or not. Since I wasn’t protecting you from her earlier and instead visiting with other men, she figures”—Kate smiled and laughed a little, and he thought that was more of Kate’s act—“that we’re just putting on a show for her benefit.”

  “Well, you put on one hell of a show.”

  “Thank you. But it isn’t for real.”

  He knew it wasn’t real for her, but he couldn’t hide how real this felt to him, his body ready for a whole lot more.

  When the dance was done, he asked, “Did you want to get something to eat?” This time he wasn’t looking to see where Brenda had gotten off to. He didn’t care one little bit. He knew she was a gold digger and as long as they both had filled a need, he’d been fine with taking her places. But now? He was ready to move on.

  Kate sighed. “All right. I guess we can eat together.”

  Immediately, he wanted to tell Kate she didn’t need to put on this faux scene for him or anyone else. He was perfectly fine eating something with the others. He didn’t want her to feel that she was doing a job for him. She was just supposed to be his date and enjoy herself like she did when she accompanied Lexi, only this time she was on more of a—dare he say it?—date.

  She went with him to eat at one of the grazing tables during the drink reception time. They snacked on lobster and shrimp canapés and champagne before they sat down at a large, round dinner table covered in a white tablecloth. Even though the wolves usually sat at separate tables at a gala like this, tonight they seemed to gravitate to one table, maybe worried for Kate if Brenda tried to cause trouble for her and Derek. The pack was gathering, like wolves who had to protect one of their own.

  Charity auctions and raffles were in full swing, and everyone was getting into the business of donating money to the event. Several charity organizers were giving speeches, and in between raffles, live music was playing.

  Steaks and lobster were the main courses for dinner. Some of the attendees were offered some kind of vegetarian dinner, but the wolves loved their meat.

  “You know,” Rafe said, offering a toast to Derek, “this is the first time we’ve been at a gala where you could comfortably sit with us.”

  Which had to do with Derek’s date being a wolf this time, which meant they could talk freely among themselves.

  “I agree,” Derek said, raising his glass to Rafe. Visiting with the wolves was really nice.

  “Are you having a good time?” Lexi asked Kate.

  “Yeah, we made some sales—”

  “No business talk,” Rafe warned playfully. “Jade’s rules at one of these functions.”

  Jade smiled at her mate and caressed his hand with hers. “You’re right. You learned so fast.”

  But Derek was certain the others were interested in just how Kate was getting along with him and vice versa. He had to admit he was enjoying himself with her, but he still felt she believed she was only on a mission.

  Chapter 3

  Kate didn’t know what got into her to rescue Derek from Brenda. For all she knew, he’d wanted to make amends with the woman. Though when Kate led Derek onto the dance floor, he hadn’t been reluctant in the least to dance with her. Still, she could have let him fend for himself. He hadn’t been in any real danger.

  Kate felt the tension between them as she sat next to Derek. And she felt awkward among her friends. None of them had seen her on a real date before, even if this wasn’t an honest-to-goodness date. It was as close as they came. Derek was cute and sexy all in one hot package, his light-brown hair streaked with blond. His amber eyes always drew her in, and he had the most kissable mouth. She hadn’t expected him to kiss her back like he had. She loved it. She hadn’t been kissed like that in a long time. She had the unfathomable urge to take it further—an alpha female wolf wanting to claim the alpha male.

  If she’d really been on a date with a wolf, she wouldn’t have felt this uncomfortable. She kept feeling she had a role to play, but she wasn’t sure how far to go with it. Like rescuing him from Brenda to dance with him. Kate thought she’d gone a little too far with that. Then again, she was a wolf, and he’d brought her to the ball, so he wasn’t available to anyone else. Not tonight. She wanted to make that clear to any women who were getting any ideas about him being free.

  Women could line up to give him their phone numbers for some other occasion, but tonight, he was hers. Okay, now that she had that worked out, she felt a little better about it.

  While eating their delightful dinner, everyone was talking about a camping trip they were all going on next weekend, and she thought it would be fun. Derek hadn’t been on one with them since Rafe and Aidan had met their mates. Lexi hadn’t been on one with them either, so it would be the first time for all of them to be together.

  From what Jade had told Lexi and Kate, their camping trips were wolf affairs, all of them running as wolves in the dark of night. Kate was looking forward to camping with Lexi, Ryder, and Mike, but she and Mike would have their own separate tents. Kate was good friends with Mike, but they didn’t have what it took to be wolf mates. Of course she was looking forward to being with the others too.

  Derek looked so left out of the conversation, Kate felt bad for him. “You ought to come along.” Kate thought afterward that she shouldn’t have invited him—it was someone else’s call. She’d probably had a little too much bubbly.

  Derek actually smiled at her.

  “I mean, I’ll be in a single tent.” That didn’t sound right, like Kate wanted to share her tent with Derek. What was the matter with her? “Mike will be there in his own tent too. You could bring your own or maybe even share with Mike if you wanted to keep each other company, though he’ll be serving guard duty some of the time. Me too.” Why she was suggesting that Derek stay in Mike’s tent, she didn’t know! Mike would probably be furious with her for offering if Derek wanted to take her up on it!

  Everyone else at the table was sharing small, conspiratorial smiles. She should have kept her mouth shut. The others could have invited Derek to go camping with them if they’d wanted to. She knew he hadn’t gone on the trips before because he’d been dating a human, and even if a human date had wanted to go on the trip, she couldn’t have. Not when one of the purposes of going camping as a pack was to run as wolves.

  Derek was still smiling at Kate as he pulled out his phone, and she could see he was checking his calendar. “Well, that’s good news. I’m free that weekend. I’ll be going to a business conference with Rafe the following week, so that works out perfectly for me. I would love to take you up on it.”

  Not her. The others. She felt her face warm in embarrassment. What was she supposed to say now?

  She sighed. “Good. I’m sure everyone else will be glad to see you there.” Kate purposefully didn’t tell him she would be glad to see him there. Maybe she should bow out and stay home and do her nails or something. Not that she would really consider skipping out on the adventure when she’d been really looking forward to it.

  When they had finished their meals and had flaming chocolate balls for dessert, the others were still talking when Derek leaned over and asked Kate, “Would you like to dance?”

  His sexy voice warmed her. “We had our one dance.” Though Kate loved to do it and she had enjoyed dancing with Derek the one time already.

  “That was a rescue.”

  She smiled at him. “Okay, so if that didn’t count as one, let’s go.” She had learned to enjoy these functions, though the first time she’d ever gone, she’d felt out of her element. Even though she’d been saving up her money, Kate felt that she was a nobody when all these people were rich somebodies. Now, she was comfortable with the affairs. Oh, sure, some treated her like a nobody still because she wasn’t one of the fabulously wealthy. To them, she was just a bodyguard and personal assistant to Lexi, but she’d learned to ignore them.

  She had thought she and Derek would dance just one more time, maybe because he wanted to show Brenda he was really with Kate or maybe because he just loved to dance. But once Derek had escorted Kate to the floor, he wasn’t letting her go. She was thoroughly enjoying herself though, and she couldn’t have been happier. Dance after dance, they swayed and shimmied on the floor to the live band music.

  During one of the breaks, they stopped to get drinks of water, and then she excused herself to go to the bathroom.

  When she was in the restroom, she heard three women come into the room. She had just finished her business in the stall when one of the women said, “Can you believe that bitch came here with Derek?”

  Brenda.

  “Yeah, you ought to trip her or spill a drink on her. You and Derek aren’t meant to be over yet,” another woman said.

  Kate left the stall, not about to hide in there, listening to their conversation. She walked over to the sink to wash her hands. “You know, you had a great thing going with him, but you wanted more than he was willing to give.”

  “You think you have what it takes to make him marry you?” Brenda asked, getting in Kate’s space. It really wasn’t a good idea to badger a wolf.

  “Yeah, I do. But it would have to be mutual.” Which Kate was beginning to think it could be.

  “You’ve been seeing him behind my back, haven’t you?”

  “Nope. Of course I’ve known him since I interviewed to be his bodyguard. And he’s friends with all my friends, but I’ve never dated him.”

  “Yeah, right. As if the two of you would be kissing so hot and heavy when you hadn’t already dated him.”

  “There’s just something so sexy about him that it’s hard not to give in to temptation, don’t you think?”

  Brenda glowered at her. “He turned you down for the job because you weren’t good enough.”

  “No, he turned me down because he was afraid it would lead to this. And he’d fall in love with me when I was supposed to be working for him. So now we’re free and clear of that hurdle.” Kate smiled. She needed to dry her hands, and she wanted to return to dance with Derek, but the women were blocking her in. She really didn’t want to get physical, but she would if she had to. “Excuse me, I need to dry my hands.”

  Brenda crowded her more, reaching out to shove at her just as the door opened, and Kate planted her wet hands on Brenda’s bodice to gently move her aside. Brenda shrieked when she saw Kate’s wet handprints on her dress. She went to swing a fist at Kate, but Brenda must have forgotten the part about Kate being bodyguard trained. She easily blocked the blow.

  “Is there a problem?” Jade asked.

  Everyone turned to see Jade, Lexi, and Holly standing there frowning at Brenda.

  “Did you see what she did?” Brenda said, outraged, showing off her wet gown.

  “We saw her ask you nicely about moving out of her way so she could dry her hands and you trying to shove her,” Holly said, rubbing her belly full of babies.