Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Marcie

Poor Ethan looks like a man marching off to a life sentence as he makes his way onto the stage. I cut a glance over at his mom to see the back of her hand pressed to her mouth to hide her smile. His sister isn't worried about being obvious. She's cheering and cackling at the same time and shoots me a wink.

I'm clapping as well but I'm momentarily distracted when someone sits down in the seat Ethan just left. I turn to see my sister and she's not smiling and laughing the way everyone else is.

She leans over to me. "I have it on good authority that Diane Turner entered him in the auction and she intends to have the winning bid tonight."

"What?" I exclaim, twisting in my seat to look at a table behind ours where I saw Diane sitting a bit ago.

Sure enough, she's clapping enthusiastically and grinning like a damn fool as her hungry eyes follow Ethan onto the stage. She's sitting next to another pretty woman who whispers back and forth, triumphant gleams in their eyes like they've pulled off a major coup.

Turning back to Michelle, I caustically mutter, "I've got twenty dollars in my purse and an educator's salary. I assume Diane will outbid me."

"Oh, hell no, she won't," Michelle says and puts her auction paddle—number107—into my hand. "Consider that paddle an American Express Black Card with no spending limit."

"No way," I say, horrified at the idea of my sister buying my date for me. I push the paddle back at her but she holds both hands up and away, as if she'll get burned by taking the piece of cardboard stuck to a popsicle stick.

"Marcie." She levels a glare that says she doesn't have time to argue. "Use the paddle and bid on him. Don't you dare let that nasty woman win."

I shake my head. "I am not using your money to bid on a man. It's ridiculous."

Harry Hagen booms into the mic. "Okay, ladies… it seems like Ethan Blackburn is a hot ticket item. Let's just go ahead and start the bidding on him."

I twist back toward the stage and see Ethan standing ramrod straight, his shoulders level but his hands clenched into fists. The glower on his face tells everyone he's not happy about this.

"Five hundred dollars," a woman calls out, and I cringe because it's Diane Turner's voice. I look back at her, find her challenging eyes right on me, her paddle still in the air.

I swing back to look at Ethan. His eyes are also on me, and he shakes his head slightly, indicating he doesn't want me to spend a dime on him. I trust that if Diane wins, nothing will happen between them. He might be obligated to take her out to dinner or something, but the joke will be on her if she thinks she'll get something more. I don't know why I have that faith in him, but I do.

The paddle is pulled from my hands and my sister yells out, "Seven fifty."

My head whips her way and she's got her hand raised high.

"My, my, my," Harry says with a chuckle. "We have us a battle brewing, folks. Anyone else want in on this?"

"Michelle," I hiss at her, making a grab for the paddle but she scrambles out of her chair and takes five steps from the table.

"A thousand," Diane practically screeches, and I see she's out of her chair, waving her paddle maniacally. People start cheering and hooting.

"Fifteen hundred," Michelle calls out, very calmly but loud enough to be heard over the crowd.

Everyone turns to Diane who opens her mouth but Ethan's voice bellows, "Enough!"

The ballroom falls silent and Ethan turns to Harry. "I'll pledge ten thousand dollars right now to take myself off the block."

My jaw drops at the staggering amount Ethan is willing to part with to stop this lunacy. But Diane isn't deterred.

"Ten thousand, five hundred," she says and everyone gasps.

Slowly turning his head, cool green eyes move from Harry out into the crowd and lock on Diane. "You can make that bid, Diane, and I'll let Harry accept it, but I'm not going on a date with you. I didn't sign up for this bachelor auction, so I don't have to abide by the rules," Ethan says. The silence is so heavy, I expect everyone is holding their breath, including me. Ethan then turns to Harry. "Ten thousand. Take it or leave it."

"Sold!" Harry yells with a flourishing arm pump. "Ten thousand dollars for… well… for Ethan to buy himself. Now that's how you raise money, folks."

The room erupts into cheers and everyone at the Blackburn table stands to give Ethan an ovation. Trey and Wade laugh hysterically onstage and I turn to see Diane storming out of the room, her cohort trotting along behind her.

Ethan casually strolls off stage and when he passes my sister, he says, "Thanks for trying."

"I would have paid more," she quips.

"Wasn't going to let you do that." He then grins at her. "But if you want to buy another horse, feel free."

"I'm good," she says with a laugh and then hands the paddle to me. "Here's a memento for the evening."

I roll my eyes at my sister but accept the paddle. Ethan eyeballs it and I shrug. "I still have twenty dollars in my purse. Maybe I can get another Blackburn brother."

"Funny," Ethan mutters and holds my chair out for me to sit.

The rest of the Blackburn family have already returned to their chairs, except for Trey and Wade who are still onstage. Harry Hagen resumes the auction and the tempo stays fast and the money rolls in. The men up there are clearly having a good time, hamming it up by flexing muscles and making fun of each other. We cheer on the winning bidders and an amazing thirty-seven thousand dollars is raised, although ten of that is Ethan's.

Dessert is served along with after-dinner drinks, the evening winding down. I have so much fun learning more about the Blackburn family and by the time we're ready to leave, I have a lunch date set up with Ethan's mom and a drink date set with Kat, which will also include Michelle. I get a shameless, flirty invitation to dinner from Wade, which is quickly quelled by a very pointed glare from Ethan across the table. Fi slaps a hand backward against Wade's chest. "Now leave your brother be, will ye? He's been through enough tonight."

That, of course, causes Wade to cackle and another round of jokes circulate about the ridiculous pledge Ethan made to get off the auction block.

"I can't believe that woman signed me up," he grumbles, and gives me another apologetic look. I've gotten plenty from him tonight, but I think it's funny.

Kat snickers before draining the last of her wine. "Diane is not going to appreciate the way the gossip mill will go crazy with this. I bet your public slap-down has already made the rounds. I'm almost looking forward to her lesson at the barn on Tuesday."

"She's a paying customer," Ethan rebukes his younger sister. "Don't rub it in."

"Oh, I won't," Kat says with a devilish smirk. "But I will be sure to talk up what a great evening we had getting to know Marcie."

My face heats not only from the direct compliment, but the indirect statement that Ethan's family sees me as important. I mean… this is only our first date and while I've had such a great time, it's been a family affair. It's not like it was romantic or anything.

"As lovely as it's been hanging out with you fine people," Ethan announces as he stands from his chair, "I'm going to escort this lady home as she has an early start tomorrow."

This surprises me because I told Fi earlier tonight that I have a seven a.m. meeting with my administrative staff and need to finish up a PowerPoint presentation before then. I hadn't realized Ethan was listening as he'd been engaged in conversation with Trey at the time.

And while I would gladly take a late night out with Ethan so I could get to know him even better, I am tired and I still have work to do.

I stand and glance around the table, receiving warm smiles in return. "It was really nice spending time with you tonight. Thank you for letting me join."

"Our pleasure," Tommy Blackburn says. He's been the quietest throughout the evening and I take him to be more the observer in the family who sees things the others don't because they're too busy talking. That's exactly how Ethan is, but the other Blackburns are extroverts, fighting to talk over one another. "We hope to see you again soon."

"And thanks for all ye've done for Sylvie," Fi adds. "She's a different child this past week."

This pleases me so much. I've gotten plenty of updates from Ethan but it's nice to know that something I did has had such a positive impact on so many people. "She's a bright, resilient and caring girl. She would've gotten to the right place eventually."

"Aye, but with your guidance, ye removed the stress of her having to fumble her way through. So again, thank you." Fi inclines her head and Kat reaches out to take my hand, squeezing it affectionately.

"Okay, we're out of here before the womenfolk start a group hug," Ethan teases, and his hand comes to my lower back where he keeps it as he guides me through the ballroom. There's no sign of Diane, so she presumably never came back after Ethan embarrassed her. I'm only thinking of the maybe fifteen-minute drive we'll have to my house and what we might talk about.

Possibly another date?

Michelle would never stop rubbing it in my face, but God, I hope so.

I'm brought up short by someone stepping in my path and I look up to see an older man glaring over my head at Ethan. He's as tall as my date with a chest twice as wide and a slight belly, but he looks powerful and without yield. That might be because of the iron-gray hair with eyes the same color and hard set to his jaw.

"I want to see my granddaughter," the man says, and it's then I realize this must be Lionel Mardraggon. "We have rights as her grandparents."

His wife is not at his side but I assume she's here as he doesn't seem the type who would be bothered with events such as this. Just based on this short interaction, he doesn't seem to have an ounce of fun in him.

"The court thinks otherwise," Ethan says smoothly, and I'm a little alarmed that his hand drops from my back and he moves to stand slightly in front of me.

Does he think Lionel will throw punches and I might get caught in the middle?

"The court didn't address visitation," Lionel snaps.

"Exactly." Ethan's chin tilts upward with defiance. "Which means the judge didn't think it was appropriate."

"I'll rectify that then." Lionel leans toward Ethan and lowers his voice. "I'll take this to court, but you'll regret fucking with my family. Don't think I'm going to let any of this pass."

I brace for some scathing comeback, but Ethan inclines his head and in a polite tone that I'm astonished he can muster, he says, "Have a good evening, Lionel. Give my regards to Rosemund."

Ethan takes my hand, pulls me away from the angry man and leads me through the ballroom and out the door. His strides are long and I can tell he's irritated from that exchange.

"Hold up," I say, as I need to break into a trot to keep pace with him.

"Sorry," Ethan says, running a hand through his dark hair as he slows down. His other hand stays firmly wrapped on mine though. "That man pisses me off like no other. I know you didn't witness it, but he treated Sylvie so poorly I have no clue why he wants to spend time with her. You can tell there's no love between them so he must be playing a game with me."

Based on my conversation with Sylvie, this all jibes, but I think I have a different perspective to offer. "You might want to consider letting them see her."

Ethan comes to an abrupt halt and turns to face me. I'm glad to see curiosity and not anger over the suggestion. "Why's that?"

"They're the last connection she has to her mother. And while I agree that she doesn't have a deep connection with the grandparents, she does love her uncle Gabe."

Ethan sighs, rubs at his jaw. "I don't want to ruin any gains we've made with her."

"I don't think it will. I think you're seeing authentic Sylvie now. She's starting to trust in you and your family, and I believe she's decided to make her own judgments and not listen to what others are saying. But she's not my daughter, so feel free to disregard what I just said."

"No," Ethan says quickly. "I trust your opinion. I trust it more than mine. I've got to call Gabe on the trust and winery, so maybe I'll talk to him about it then. Thank you."

"Sure," I reply, realizing that while we've stopped walking, Ethan hasn't let go of my hand. He holds it all the way to his car and then we're headed to my house.

We chat some more about Sylvie on the way, Ethan running potential scenarios where he would be comfortable with her spending time with the Mardraggons, but with every mile closer to our destination, I get more nervous.

This is it… the end of our date.

Will he kiss me? Do I invite him in for a drink? Does that seem slutty, as if I'd let him get into my pants so soon? Or maybe I would let him?

"Here we are," Ethan says and I blink out of my thoughts, realizing he's at the curb in front of my house. He doesn't shut off the car but exits the driver's side, only to trot around to my door and open it. Offering his hand, he helps me step out and then escorts me up to my front porch.

My guts swim with nerves, not silly little butterflies, and I wonder if my breath smells bad.

Hell, I wonder if I still know how to kiss a man. I never gave Jeff Timmons the chance for a good-night kiss. George was the last man I've lip-locked with.

When I'm under the glow of the porch light, Ethan squeezes my hand and stares down at me. "Thank you again for going with me tonight. I had a nice time."

Nice? Isn't that a bit of a bland word? "So did I. Thank you for inviting me."

Was that too formal? Do I sound disinterested?

Ethan bends toward me and I think to myself, This is it, but his mouth doesn't touch mine. Instead, he lands a very chaste, slightly lingering kiss on my cheek before murmuring, "Sleep well, Marcie."

My fingers touch the skin that tingles from his lips and I watch in utter confusion as he heads back to his car.

That was no true kiss good night but rather a brotherly, affectionate kiss on the cheek.

He most certainly didn't try to get in my pants.

And he didn't mention a second date.

My heart sinks as I realize that I've become way more invested in Ethan Blackburn than I should have. I've gotten my hopes up that maybe this could be something.

Clearly not.