CHAPTER ELEVEN

Over Labor Day weekend, the hospital was holding a charity fund raising dance. Everyone in Lucy's family would be there; in one way or another, the whole crew was involved with PPTH. Lucy had dressed and gone over to the hospital ballroom early. She and one of her cousins were making sure all the details had been attended to.

Greg was having a little trouble tying his tie, but he finally got it. He stepped back and took a good look at himself. "Not bad." he said. He had trimmed his scruff close. He looked at his reflection. Pretty good looking, tall, muscular, athletic; nothing for Lucy to object to, and he definitely would please her in bed. He knew she liked him. Why was she being so damn stubborn?

Although he freely admitted that he went from woman to woman with no emotional attachments, he had not gone out with anyone since he moved to Princeton, even though every female over the age of 18 at the hospital had tried to hit on him, and he hadn't even gone to a hooker; he didn't want to. He, Greg House, was going the self-satisfaction route because of a little spitfire that he just met a few months ago. He was all tied up with the feelings he had for Lucy; they weren't like anything he had ever experienced before. He knew Lucy was as attracted to him as he was to her, but he didn't know how to make her admit it.

He realized that in order to have a relationship with her, he had to do it the old-fashioned way. He had to "court" her. He had never "courted" anyone in his life! He was not a patient man, but before he could start a "courtship" with Lucy, he had to get her to accept his apology, and it was going to be tonight. The past two weeks had been hell for him. It suddenly dawned on him that he really was in love with her. That was funny. Love 'em and leave 'em Greg House ready, willing and able to commit himself to one woman!

Greg searched the ball room for Lucy, but couldn't find her. Then he saw her come in with a few of her cousins. His heart skipped a beat. Lucy's hair was out of the ever-present pony tail she kept it in. The dark reddish brown curls fell to just beneath her shoulders. She was wearing a deep amethyst strapless cocktail dress with one ruffle around her small waist. The dress clung to every curve of her body. She had on black sandals and some gold jewelry. Frank and Tony noticed Greg's appreciative perusal of Lucy; they approved. Jim wondered if Lucy would even be civil to him or if there would be fireworks.

As the girls walked past Greg and Jim, Greg could not help but let out a long, low wolf whistle. Lucy whirled around. She had spotted Greg before they got to the door and was hoping to get by him without having to say anything. Her emotions were just too jumbled up and she didn't want to deal with him tonight, but Greg wouldn't let that happen.

"Huh." Lucy snorted. "You scrub up pretty good. You actually look human." She continued into the ballroom with her cousins, who were all looking at her in amazement. The night of the cookout, they had all guessed as much, but now they had confirmation that this man definitely adored her and she just showed her claws and hissed at him like a little cat. What was wrong with her?

The cousins and their spouses or significant others were sitting together, which meant they had taken over at least two tables. The DJ they hired was playing all kinds of music and was also taking requests. Lucy loved to dance, and she took a turn around the dance floor with her father, uncles and even her brother. When she was dancing with Jim, he tried to dance her over to Greg, but she refused to be steered in that direction. "Please don't, Jim." she said. Jim had forgotten his resolution about not interfering. He couldn't stand the hangdog look on House's face any more and Lucy seemed to have lost some of her spunk. "Why, Goosey? He wants to apologize." "Please leave it alone, Jim, mind your own business." Jim looked down at her. She was near tears, and she made it a point to stay as far away from Greg as she could.

Greg danced with Lucy's mother and aunt, and when he was dancing with Aunt Loretta, it looked like she was chewing his ear off with advice, but he wasn't listening. Even though Lucy would turn away from his gaze, Greg kept her in his sights. Afterwards, he just stood there with Jim, a forlorn look on his face, sipping bourbon. After about an hour, he went up to the DJ and took him off to the side for a little conversation. He swallowed the rest of his bourbon in one gulp and strode over to Lucy's table.

Lucy had her back turned to him again. Her cousin Gina had had enough of Lucy's shenanigans. She grabbed Lucy by her shoulders and spun her around to face Greg. Before she had a chance to protest, Lucy found herself looking right up into those blue eyes. Everyone at the table could read the expression on Greg's face; he was in love with their prickly little cousin. They all just sat back and waited to see what was going to happen next.

"Lucy, may I have the next dance?" Greg softly asked her. She was still angry for being dumped in the pool, and said sarcastically, "Why? Did you find another pool to throw me into?" "Lucy!" her cousins gasped. Greg looked rather sheepish and said, "I wouldn't want to ruin your pretty dress." Lucy could feel everyone looking at her, daring her to be mean, so she begrudgingly took the hand Greg had been holding out to her and went out on the dance floor with him. Greg didn't realize that he had been holding his breath until Lucy agreed to dance with him. He was relieved.

At Greg's request, the DJ played Ronnie Milsap's "Lost in the Fifties Tonight" when he got Lucy out on the dance floor. He pulled her close to him and that gave him a good view of her breasts, but she would not completely relax in his arms. As he danced her around the room, he noticed that everyone in her family that was not on the dance floor themselves was watching them. He mentioned that to Lucy.

She looked around, groaned and pounded her head against Greg's chest. "You're already in a tux, so they're measuring me for a wedding gown." she told Greg sarcastically. "You might want to get the hell out of Dodge now!" Greg laughed. It suddenly came to Lucy that by any stretch of the imagination, Greg should have already run screaming from Princeton and the State of New Jersey with all her family was trying to do, but he hadn't. Looking up at him and hearing him laugh made Lucy realize that it didn't bother him at all; he actually seemed to welcome the aggravation that was her family. She finally relaxed.

Greg pulled her even closer to him, and she didn't resist; he had an even better view of her beautiful breasts now. He looked down at her and said she was the most beautiful woman in the room. She started to tense up again. "If it were socially acceptable," he went on, "I would take all your clothes off and make love to you on this dance floor." Why did he have to say that? The expression on her face never changed, but she tried to turn her face up to tell Greg off, but they were dancing near a photographer at the time. All that happened was that her face was turned halfway toward Greg and she couldn't say anything, but the photographer knew a good shot when he saw one. Greg had to calm her down. Fast.

"Lucy," he whispered in her ear in Italian. "It's not an insult when I call you a beautiful woman and say that I want to make love to you. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met. Why do you think it's a crime for me to feel that way or to let you know it? I don't have any ulterior motives; I don't need them, and please stop being mad at me for throwing you in the pool." She looked up into those blue eyes. He was waiting for her to forgive him.

Lucy's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Greg, I was never mad at you, and I did make you lose your balance." That was the first time she had called him "Greg" in two weeks. He looked down at her in total amazement. Finally, he just shook his head and said, "Lucy, you've been mad at me since the day we met!"

By "sheer coincidence", the next few songs were all slow ones, and Greg was able to keep Lucy in his arms for about the next 15 minutes or so. She looked up at him and realized that he had gotten the DJ to do that. As she moved closer, she gave a small, contented sigh that Greg felt more than heard.

Without realizing it, she had put her hand behind his neck and was stroking it; Greg rested his chin on the top of her head as they moved around the dance floor. For once, she was actually appreciative of the fact that a man had gone to such lengths to get this close to her. She didn't see her father nod his head in approval.

Greg finally took her back to her table. Little Tony was crying. Lucy picked him up and asked him what was wrong. Still bawling as only a four-year-old could, he said "You were supposed to dance with me tonight," he sobbed "not Dr. Greg!" Everyone laughed and when Greg tried apologize to the little guy, he tried to hit him!

Greg wondered where that trait came from. Cousin Lucy perhaps? Lucy calmed him down and said she didn't know she was supposed to dance with him and not Dr. Greg. As soon as the DJ played another song, they would dance. Little Tony slowly stopped crying, but he never got to dance with Lucy. He had cried himself to sleep with his little head on her chest.

Greg had been sitting close to Lucy and had his arm draped possessively over the back of her chair. He whispered in her ear so no one would hear, "Lucky little boy. He's sleeping on my girl's chest. That's what I'd like to do!" He gave her a quick kiss. Lucy was quiet. He had called her "his girl", and she wanted him to fall asleep with his head on her chest, too.