Free Lucifer's Lover by Tracy Cooper-Posey

and moved in their direction. He nodded as he reached them and looked at Lindsay.
    “Are you all right? I saw you rush off.”
    Luke’s hand was on her back, warm and firm. “Actually, that was my fault,” he said. He touched his temple. “Migraine. Lindsay did a dash of mercy for some Tylenol. Sorry.”
    Gormley looked relieved. “Oh, well, that’s good. I mean, it’s not, of course but I’m glad it’s not anything worse. Migraine, huh? You’re pushing yourself too hard, Pierse. I heard about your big coup, by the way.”
    “Thanks. Although I couldn’t have done it without Lindsay.” She felt his hand give her a tiny nudge and she smiled mechanically as Vince glanced at her.
    “Really?” he said. “You two appear to be building a bit of a team here. That’s good. That’s very good. It all helps the hotel, of course.”
    “Of course,” she echoed.
    If Vince had heard about Luke’s landing of the medical association account from someone else, then what had Luke been doing up in Vince’s office the morning after her disaster?
    “Anyway,” Vince said, lifting his glass of champagne. “Don’t forget to mingle, you two.”
    “Of course,” Luke assured him. “It’s the only reason for being here.”
    Her heart gave a little leap. Mingle . Yuck.
    But Luke’s hand was pushing her forward. He grabbed two glasses of wine from a waiter who appeared magically in front of them and handed one to her.
    “Let’s go,” he murmured and led her further into the middle of the room.
    She was deeply uneasy now. Most people were already talking in intimate little groups, their heads together. And even if Luke found someone just standing there looking lost, what was he going to do? Just walk up and introduce himself? Her heart fluttered at the thought of doing that herself.
    But instead he aimed for a small group of guests standing together. There were no hotel staff with them. She watched him carefully. He was looking straight at them and inevitably one of them saw his approach. As soon as they saw him, he smiled warmly and moved to stand with them.
    He drew her along, pushed by his hand on her back. His right hand he stuck out, grasping the offered hand of the man whose glance he had caught.
    “Hi. Luke Pierse. I’m with the hotel.”
    It was that easy. Suddenly the others were all echoing their own names and affiliations. A hand was offered to her and she shook it. “Lindsay Eden, Director of Marketing.”
    “Really?” Myopic blue eyes behind thick lenses stared at her. “I’m in marketing, myself. Small electronics firm—try to compete with the Valley in California. You should know something about big city competition. How do you compete, way up here in the mountains?”
    The sudden interest, the intense stare and on-point questions threw her. She swallowed, feeling the edges of panic returning.
    “Lindsay has turned our remoteness into a marketing bonanza,” she heard Luke say. “For a hotel, location can be everything. Right, Lindsay?”
    His hand slid across the back of her hip, warm and reassuring. Without thinking about it, she found herself moving back a few inches until she bumped up against Luke, her shoulders and buttocks firmly against him. It was like a wall of warmth and reassurance behind her and she was gratified when his hand slid around her waist to lie over her hip, in an intimate, possessive gesture.
    “We’ve got bloody great big mountains all around us and snow that never fails. And sun that rarely quits. No city can offer that,” she answered the man in front of her.
    He blinked at her forcefulness, then smiled. “Well, yes. Put that way…”
    “It’s just a matter of figuring out what you offer that the competition can’t. Marketing isn’t rocket science, after all.”
    Another man in the group—she hadn’t caught his name—laughed a little. “Know a bit about rocket science do you?” he asked.
    “I should,” Lindsay said. “My father is a rocket