Call Me Irresistible (Wynette, Texas #5)(5)

He didn't seem either offended, flattered, or taken aback by Meg's crack. "Lucy exaggerates."

"I do not," Lucy said. "I swear that woman standing by the trophy case genuflected when you walked by."

Ted grinned, and Meg caught her breath. That slow grin gave him a dangerous boyish look that Meg didn't buy for a moment. She plunged in. "Lucy is my dearest friend-the sister I always wanted-but do you have any idea how many annoying habits she has?"

Lucy frowned, but she didn't try to derail the conversation, which spoke volumes.

"Her flaws are small compared to mine." His eyebrows were darker than his hair, but his lashes were pale, tipped with gold, as if they'd been dipped in stars.

Meg edged closer. "Exactly what would those flaws be?"

Lucy seemed as interested in his answer as Meg herself.

"I can be a little naive," he said. "For example, I let myself be roped into the mayor's job even though I didn't want it."

"So you're a people pleaser." Meg didn't try to make it sound like anything other than an accusation. Maybe she could rattle him.

"I'm not exactly a people pleaser," he said mildly. "I was just taken by surprise when my name showed up on the ballot. I should have anticipated."

"You're sort of a people pleaser," Lucy said hesitantly. "I can't think of a single person you don't please."

He kissed her on the nose. Like she was his pet. "As long as I please you."

Meg left the border of polite conversation behind. "So you're a naive people pleaser. What else?"

Ted didn't blink. "I try not to be boring, but sometimes I get carried away with topics that aren't always of general interest."

"Nerd," Meg concluded.

"Exactly," he said.

Lucy remained loyal. "I don't mind. You're a very interesting person."

"I'm glad you think so." 

He took a sip of his beer, still giving Meg's rudeness serious consideration. "I'm a terrible cook."

"That's true!" Lucy looked as though she'd stumbled on a gold mine.

Her delight amused him, and once again that slow grin claimed his face. "I'm not taking cooking lessons, either, so you'll have to live with it."

Lucy got a little starry-eyed, and Meg realized Ted's self-inventory of flaws was only making him more winning, so she redirected her attack. "Lucy needs a man who'll let her be herself."

"I don't think Lucy needs a man to let her be anything," he countered quietly. "She's her own person."

Which showed how little he understood this woman he was planning to marry. "Lucy hasn't been her own person since she was fourteen years old and met up with her future parents," Meg retorted. "She's a rebel. She was born to cause trouble, but she won't stir the pot because she doesn't want to embarrass the people she cares about. Are you prepared to deal with that?"

He cut right to the chase. "You seem to have some doubts about Lucy and me."

Lucy confirmed every one of Meg's misgivings by toying with her lame-ass pearls instead of jumping in to defend her decision to marry. Meg dug in. "You're obviously a terrific guy." She couldn't make it sound like a compliment. "What if you're too terrific?"

"I'm afraid I'm not following you."

Which must be a new experience for someone so crazy smart. "What if . . ." Meg said, " . . . you're a little too good for her?"

Instead of protesting, Lucy set her mouth in her White House smile and fingered her pearls like they were prayer beads.

Ted laughed. "If you knew me better, you'd understand just how ludicrous that is. Now if you'll excuse us, I want Lucy to meet my old Boy Scout leader." He slipped his arm around Lucy's shoulders and drew her away.

Meg needed to regroup, and she made a dash for the ladies' room only to get ambushed by a short, fireplug of a woman with razor-cut vermilion hair and lots of carefully applied makeup. "I'm Birdie Kittle," she said, taking Meg in with a sweep of her heavily mascaraed eyelashes. "You must be Lucy's friend. You don't look anything like your mother."

Birdie was probably in her mid to late thirties, which would have made her a child during the heyday of Fleur Savagar Koranda's modeling career, but her observation didn't surprise Meg. Everyone who knew anything about celebrities had heard of her mother. Fleur Koranda had put modeling behind her years ago to establish one of the most powerful talent agencies in the country, but to the general public, she'd always be the Glitter Baby.

Meg plastered on Lucy's White House smile. "That's because my mother is one of the most beautiful women in the world, and I'm not." Which was true, even though Meg and her mother shared more than a few physical characteristics, mainly the bad ones. Meg had inherited the Glitter Baby's marking-pen eyebrows, as well as her big hands, paddleboat feet, and all but two inches of her mother's nearly six feet of height. But the olive skin, brown hair, and more irregular features she'd inherited from her father kept her from staking any claim to her mother's extravagant beauty, although her eyes were an interesting combination of green and blue that changed color depending on the light. Unfortunately, she hadn't inherited either the talent or ambition both of her parents possessed in abundance.