Honey slammed into the clubhouse, not one whit the elegant Miss of the Manor House, or her usual calm, cool self. She was blazing, anger lighting up her topaz eyes like an amber flame. And the object of her ire faced off against her, hands on narrow hips; a frown marring his handsome face – and just as wrathful as she was.
"I just don't get you, Brian Belden," she ground out, teeth clenched. "I really don't. Why did you have to embarrass Jim and Trixie like that at the Cameo?"
Brian shrugged, a male gesture designed to raise her internal temperature even higher.
"I don't like your brother pawing at my sister. Especially in the balcony of a public theater." His hand ran through his thick, black, wavy locks. "He had his hand…"
"I know exactly where he had his hand, you jerk. And I am positive if Trixie did not want his hand there, she would have let him know in no uncertain terms."
Brian widened his eyes in surprise until they were coal black nuggets. "Yeah, and like my sister would have stopped him. This is Jim we're talking about, Honey. Trixie would let him shave her head if he asked nicely enough," he snorted.
"Look, Brian. It's not your place to interfere. Neither is it mine. What goes on between Jim and Trixie, well, it's theirs. You didn't have to bellow like that in the theater. It was so embarrassing."
Her cheeks pinked at the remembrance of Brian's earsplitting shout of "Frayne! That's my sister! Watch your hands!" Just about everyone in the balcony turned to look at them.
Brian scrubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah, well I guess it wasn't one of my finer, subtler moments," he admitted.
"No it wasn't," Honey agreed. "I just don't know why you're so upset about Jim stealing some of Trixie's popcorn."
Brian closed his eyes and pinched at the bridge of his nose. "Popcorn?" His voice was incredulous. "He was getting popcorn? The bucket was in her lap?"
Honey rolled her eyes. "What did you… oh my God, Brian! You thought…you thought…" she couldn't hold the laughter in any longer, and it pealed out of her like so many silver bells.
"Oh, I am soooo dead," Brian groaned, just as the clubhouse door swung open to reveal the very annoyed faces of the mortified couple.