A/N: We both want to thank you for your reviews and favorites. They really mean a lot to us. Tell your friends too! And if you haven't already, please check out our respective stories: "Love is a Ruthless Game" and "How to be a Heartbreaker"! Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 3: Wanting What You Can't Have

*.*.*.*.*

"Well, who is it from?" Virginia's curious voice and wide grey eyes centered Lucius back on the present- the dinner in front of him and his lovely mistress. He quickly folded the note and slipped it into the breast pocket of his jacket under his robes. Regardless of what they had been doing previously, Lucius always made sure that dinner was formal affair, as he loved to see Virginia in the gorgeous dresses he was having tailored to fit the curves of her body perfectly.

"An old friend," Lucius lied smoothly, "He's never been very fastidious with his stationary."

The strange note quickly left Virginia's mind as she focused on the sumptuous meal in front of her, and they ate in comfortable silence for a while, as she thought about what had transpired in Lucius' bedroom. She felt a blush creep up her neck to her cheeks as she remembered, but it wasn't something that could be helped. Virginia had never done something so dirty before, but she had liked it, and more than that, loved the way it had pleased Lucius.

"Something wrong, my dear?" he arched an eyebrow at her delicate, flushed face but she shook her head.

"Not at all." Her reply was soft and she lowered her eyes demurely.

However, Lucius knew exactly what was bothering her, and it was enough to make him consider taking her back to his bedroom that very minute. He had to use all of his willpower not to do just that, and after their late dinner was finished he gave Virginia a lingering kiss 'goodnight' and retired to his study.

When he was sure he wouldn't be disturbed, he pulled the crumpled note out of his pocket and smoothed it out before him on his desk. He studied the curves of the writing, as it was something he had always found interesting-a way to tell so much about a person just from how they moved their hand.

Lacey's 'when' was large, the thickness of the lines was uneven, and her letters slanted slightly to the left. She was definitely not neat by any means, and the haphazard scribble suggested Lucius was probably in for more than he bargained for with the girl, but something pushed him forward in his bizarre pursuit of her. Lucius had no real need for her, but he knew he wouldn't be satisfied until he had her.

Thinking carefully about his reply, he readied a fresh sheet of parchment and wrote:

Is tomorrow evening, 8 o'clock, at the Tavern agreeable to you?

L. Malfoy

He folded the note, sealed it with the Malfoy crest in forest green wax, and sent it off. As it was late already, he hardly expected a reply that night, but couldn't help pacing the length of his study for the better part of an hour thinking about Lacey, and subsequently, Virginia.

Part of Lucius hoped that once he met Lacey for dinner, that he might tempt her to bed and promptly get her out of his system. It would certainly make things less complicated with Virginia, and from what he had seen of Lacey, although she was sexy, she clearly lacked the refinement he was used to. But still…

Lucius went back and forth with himself until it was well past midnight. Deciding to put the issue to rest for the time being, he made his way to his bedroom and found his Virginia sleeping peacefully.

*.*.*.*.*

"You know Gin, Harry's about as thick as champ if he can't see what he has in you," Lacey looked up at her oldest friend, slurring her words a bit.

"True, but maybe it's time you ease up a bit on the whiskey for the night. As your captain, I don't want to have to watch your sorry hung over arse mope around the pitch tomorrow. Got it?" Ginny tried to take on her very best authoritative tone as she took an extra hearty swig of her own highball of firewhiskey. It was a little before midnight and the two best friends were sitting in Lacey's small apartment on her even smaller bed, drinking and gossiping. Lacey picked up one of her well-worn pillows and hit Ginny playfully with it, causing the red-head's drink to slosh about.

"Hey!"

"Well, listen to me alright? I don't care if I'm hung over tomorrow, I have to drink to get up the nerve to tell you this…but your boyfriend is a bloody wanker. You know he's shagging every pair of tits from here to Wales! You deserve better Ginny…"

"Oh, we both know you have plenty of nerve without the drink Lace. And what about you? You had my brother! Harry may or may not be fucking around on me, but I know a good thing when I see one and I've seen it since 6th year. You, though…" Ginny narrowed her eyes in what she hoped was a scary way, but it just caused Lacey to lose her head laughing.

"Fred wanted to settle me down and impregnate me as quickly as he could," Lacey's words came in between laughs, "You know I loved him, still do, but you should know better than anyone that to me, 'commitment' might as well be added to the list of Unforgivables."

"You have a soft spot in there somewhere Lacey, at least I hope so for the next man who falls in love with you," Ginny smirked but paused in her teasing when she heard a tapping on the small window above Lacey's dresser.

"Rubbish," the brunette finished before glancing curiously at the window, barely able to make out the silhouette of an owl, before hopping off the bed with her drink still in hand to let the bird in.

The second it entered the small room, it dropped a sealed letter on her bed and flew around the room gracefully before perching on her nightstand where a half-eaten tin of biscuits sat. With a quick pat to the head of what Lacey deemed the most beautiful owl she had ever seen, she picked up the note and ripped it open.

"I recognize that owl…it's the one that came today at the pitch…so that means you actually replied to him?" Ginny's eyes widened as she peered over her friends' shoulder to see Lucius Malfoy's handwriting, "Shite, so this is really happening?"

Lacey read the simple note over and over again, but it didn't change the meaning. Tomorrow she would be going on a date with Lucius Malfoy, and she still didn't have the slightest idea why she even owled him back in the first place. His pushiness had gotten on her nerves, and she truthfully had no idea what he would want with her, "Looks like it."

"Well, are you actually gonna go?" Ginny asked, suddenly all business. She sat her whiskey down and changed positions on the bed so she was sitting crossed-legged in front of Lacey. Patting her palms on her thighs in commencement of the conversation, she warily suggested, "You know…maybe it's best if you don't…"

"You were the one that encouraged me in the first place!"

"I didn't encourage you, I just thought answering might chill him out!"

"Well, now you've done it!"

Both girls sat in heated silence for a moment with the letter in between them until finally Lacey reached for a pen, "I promised, and Delaney's always keep their word. And besides, what's the harm in a little fun with the man? It's a free meal after all…" She knew she couldn't get out of it, and figured she might as well make the best of it.

"The problem is that it isn't just a free meal. I'm just as curious about this whole thing as you are, but you know what he wants, right?" Ginny pushed back her hair and lifted her chin up with a smart look on her face, as if she was suddenly the guru of all dating advice.

"Do enlighten me," Lacey laughed, finishing off her drink with a gulp slightly too big, causing her to cough as the burning firewhiskey raced down her throat.

"He wants to shag you into next week," Ginny said simply, not sure if she liked the idea of the Malfoy patriarch after her best friend, but it was amusing in her current, inebriated state, even if it wouldn't be so tomorrow.

"Well that just makes things more interesting doesn't it?" Lacey suddenly smirked, and her best friend could tell she was developing some sort of plan.

"How so?" Ginny abandoned her sitting position and flopped down on her side, snuggling drunkenly into the sheets.

"Well…I mean, don't you want to know what's going on with him? After all of the awful things he did in the war he disappears for years, finally resurfaces with even more money to his name and a pardoned record, gets a divorce, runs off to France, and now is supposedly set to marry some sickeningly young French bird? Helluva story, I'd say. And I want to know it," Lacey leaned over to her nightstand to grab the firewhiskey bottle and top her and Ginny off, "And it's going to be priceless to refuse him when he wants me to put out."

"But what if he manages to charm you?"

"Lucius Malfoy?" Lacey snorted, which only caused Ginny to fall into another peal of laughter, "Blonde, disgustingly rich, and Slytherin? Not my type."

Ginny's smirk crept up her face until the faintest wrinkles formed by her eyes, "Weren't you just telling me the other day that you wanted to start dating men different from your 'type'?"

"And what's my type then, Weasley?"

"Piss-poor, mediocre Quidditch players," Ginny answered and saw her friend about to protest, but stopped her, "And don't argue it…you know it's true…you know you are a control freak and can't date a man that would ever be better at you than Quidditch, let alone anything! Look Lace, this whole thing with Lucius is a bit sketchy, but I do think you should start trying to date guys that are a little more different than you, that can offer you something more. And when I mean date, I mean more than just shagging…"

"Since when did you get so bloody philosophical?" Lacey's eyebrows furrowed and she crossed her arms, "You make it out like I'm some slag!"

"Lace!" Ginny groaned, "You aren't a slag. You know the benefits of a well-handled hook up and I respect that, but you've only seriously dated two guys. Two best friends. Two carbon copies of each other minus the hair color. Just promise me while you are out with Lucius trying to pry all of his deepest, darkest secrets out of him, that you might keep an eye out for a bloke. The Tavern's the real deal, it's always crawling with Ministry hot-shots. You never know…"

Lacey thought about it for a second, and although she wasn't entirely convinced, Ginny did have a point. "Alright, deal. Now the only question is, what am I going to wear?"

*.*.*.*.*

"Darling I have a dinner meeting tonight and I won't be home until very late. Try your best to behave yourself and find something to occupy your time. And don't wait up for me, understood?" Lucius ordered as he stood in the doorway to Virginia's room. He watched her at her vanity applying a hint of makeup and although he could only see her reflection in the mirror, he saw disappointment flit across her refined features. She turned around and looked at him with innocent eyes and slightly parted lips, "I wish you didn't have to."

Virginia regretted the words even before she finished speaking them, but it was how she felt inside. That morning had been lovely; she had awoken in Lucius' arms and their cuddling had turned into passionate sex, but when they were finished he vanished for a while and was now standing rigidly by her door, keeping his distance. His behavior simply didn't make sense.

"So do I, Virginia. Have a lovely day," Lucius finished and with a small smile, disappeared out of her line of vision and headed directly into the office. This time his previously underprepared secretary was waiting for him, bouncing on the balls of her heels in nervousness.

"Mr Malfoy," Charlotte began, her arms laden with thick files. Lucius simply walked right past her into his office, signaling her to follow with a jerk of his serpent-headed cane. She walked in anxiously, closing the door behind her as he sat down at his desk and started looking over some paperwork left there for him.

"Sir…I have what you requested about Miss Delaney…" her voice was a flighty squeak.

"Read it to me, I have a meeting in ten, which you should know, because you scheduled it…" he snapped, in no mood to be crossed. When he had discovered Lacey's answer on the desk of his study that morning, a sudden rush of guilt had hit him. He cared about Virginia immensely, more than he thought he would, and part of him didn't like lying to her. The other part of him, the one desperate to hear the information about Lacey and see her for dinner, mocked him for being so emotional. It gave him a thrill to want something he shouldn't, and although he feigned indifference and perused the papers before him without really reading them, Charlotte's words about Lacey enraptured him.

"Well, she seems to be best friends with Miss Ginevra Weasley. Apparently she frequents the Leaky often with her and her Harpies teammates…" Charlotte began, her voice hesitant as she glanced up from one file to Lucius, who seemed like he couldn't be bothered.

"I know this information, Charlotte," he said irritably, his icy eyes finally meeting his secretary, causing her to rifle manically through other files.

"Erm, she takes a run every morning, she has an older brother and a younger sister…"

Lucius did not look impressed and Charlotte stammered, "Sir, she was very hard to find information about. She seems to be very secretive…"

"There are ways around that Charlotte. Are you completely incompetent?" Lucius asked in a soft, cool voice, which was significantly more frightening than if he would have yelled at her, "Her past relationships…what of them?"

Charlotte looked relieved and pulled a file from the back, opening it up, "I do have some information on that, sir. Lacey dated Oliver Wood from her 6th year at Hogwarts until she was 19. He's currently a Chaser on Puddlemere United. Her next boyfriend seems to be…ah, Fred Weasley. She dated him right after Wood until about six months ago. He's a Beater for Pride of Portree and he has that joke shop in Diagon Alley…"

"I don't give a damn what these boys do for a living Charlotte. Is there anything else?"

Charlotte blushed, apparently reading something more in the file, "There's quite a list of men who were rumored to be with her at some point in time."

Lucius' left eyebrow raised and he pushed the paperwork in front of him to the side, "What exactly do you mean by that?" His voice was clipped and he was far from pleased.

"She's quite a celebrity in her own right, sir. The Prophet seems pretty interested in her love life. It's all rumors though…and most of them are Quidditch players…but oh…" Charlotte had been running her well-manicured finger over what appeared to be some clipped articles from the Prophet and giggled, an even deeper blush rising to her cheeks.

Lucius tapped his fingers impatiently against the desk, "What is so amusing? Who has she been rumored to be with?"

"This particular article links her to Cormac McLaggen, Seamus Finnigan, and…Sirius Black…"

Lucius's countenance darkened. Every time he heard that name he wished to Merlin that the man had stayed dead. When it came to finding mistresses in London when Lucius wanted them, Black was his only competition. "Very well, leave that here," he told his secretary dismissively. When the file was in his hand and he looked at the five names Charlotte had pointed out, he had a feeling resembling jealousy and was suddenly very glad that Virginia had been a virgin before he was with her. He also noted that four of the men played Quidditch….and Black seemed the odd man out of the group. It also didn't set well with Lucius that the girl seemed to be solely sleeping with men somehow related to Harry Potter.

Yet despite all of those annoyances, Lucius couldn't help but still want Lacey, as the files in front of him only further proved that she would be a challenge, and there was hardly anything he loved more than a challenge.

*.*.*.*.*

Lacey walked into the Tavern restaurant a few minutes before eight, looking the picture of calm, even if she didn't feel like it. She took in the warm, cozy interior of the ridiculously expensive restaurant nestled behind a Muggle shopping center in the middle of London, charmed on the outside to look like a vacant thrift-store. The whole place was dimly lit, romantic, and the epitome of British sophistication. Lacey was seriously glad she had opted for a very dressy outfit, as everyone around her seemed to have money to spare.

She kept her eye on the floo in the quaint little waiting area, but Lucius Malfoy never stepped out of it. Fiddling with her thin gold ring out of the nerves she was trying her best to hide, Lacey approached the snooty-looking hostess and inquired about their reservation.

"You are meeting Mr Malfoy?" The way her perfect button nose scrunched up at Lacey made her want to kick the leggy thing in the shins, but she followed her obediently through a few rooms until she saw the back of his platinum head. The hostess left Lacey there with an obvious eye roll and Lacey took a deep breath before walking over to him.

"Um, Mr Malfoy?" Lacey's voice had all intentions of being confident, but came out rather shaky as he stood up from his seat, took her hand gently from her side, kissed it, and pulled out her chair for her. Lacey kept her eyes on him the entire time, begrudgingly noticing that he looked nice in his dinner jacket and impeccably tailored robes. He noted her distinct Irish accent and her height-she was directly at eye level with him in her heels.

"I'm so glad you decided to join me Miss Delaney," he smirked at her once he was sitting down again. A smartly dressed waiter was upon them immediately, asking what they would like to drink.

"We'll have a bottle of the Superior Red, to start," Lucius told the waiter, and Lacey's face fell at his nearly instantaneous attempt at futilely trying to impress her by bringing out wine known to be bottled by the Malfoy Apothecary, one of dozens of Malfoy family endeavors.

"Actually, I can't stand wine. Can you bring me a Simison Steaming Stout instead? That'd be great," Lacey smiled at the waiter, and although he paused in shock for a moment, he dutifully nodded and rushed off. Lacey turned the same smile on Lucius, "There are two things about me you should know right now. I hate wine, and I hate people ordering for me."

Lucius took a moment to compose himself, but he finally answered, "Very well then, Miss Delaney."

"Lacey, please."

"Lacey," he nodded and clenched his jaw as he looked at the woman in front of him. She was already driving him mad and she hadn't even been there for two minutes. She had chosen to wear a very short black velvet dress that clung to her body, with a demure scoop neck and long, tight sleeves. Her hair was down in messy waves, her long legs accentuated with tall black pumps, and her face bare save for blood red lipstick. She looked nothing short of smoldering and he could already feel the effects of her appearance on his body, but her attitude left much to be desired. Lucius knew in that instant that this was going to be harder than he had anticipated.

"So, Mr Malfoy, why is a woman like me sitting across from a man like you? If you wanted an autograph, you really could have just asked…" she laughed.

"Please call me Lucius, and no, an autograph was not exactly what I had in mind. I simply thought dinner with a beautiful woman would be a nice way to spend my evening. You certainly have been occupying my mind since I saw you at the Canons match," his voice was low and he watched her face intently for any give away that she was pleased to be there. He found nothing but a stubborn, seemingly impenetrable wall.

"Well, here I am, all yours for the night," Lacey cocked her head to the side, already feeling more confident, her voice laced with a hint of sarcasm. The waiter came back and placed a glass of wine in front of Lucius, and the beer in front of Lacey. He took their order and although Lucius was dying to make a suggestion for her food, Lacey went ahead and ordered what she wanted. When he walked away, Lucius lifted his wine glass, "I do hope you will be mine for the night."

Lacey replied with a wink and clinked her beer glass to his, taking a subsequent sip of the steaming ale. "So, are you considering this a date then?"

She's rather blunt, Lucius thought to himself, but her boldness impressed him, "I sent you flowers, I invited you to dinner, so yes, in my opinion this is a date. And you look exceedingly gorgeous, Lacey, I have to say."

He watched a coy smile creep up her face, and a hint of a blush tinged her cheeks, but her pale blue eyes that matched his so exactly stayed unreadable, "I'm very flattered, Lucius, but it just seems odd to me that you are looking to date so soon after your divorce, and especially since I heard you were getting married again…"

Lucius nearly choked on his wine and his face flushed for a second, "Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, people talk," she sighed breezily with a triumphant little grin, "It shouldn't come as a surprise to you that the whole mess with Narcissa kinda made headlines. The Prophet said you came back from France with a girl you were planning to wed," Lacey leaned forward, really laying into him. She couldn't wait to get back and tell Ginny about every flustered nuance of his face.

"That's utter speculation. The Prophet is unreliable and constantly inaccurate. And honestly, I don't see how my divorce is any of your business," Lucius looked around the room to make sure no one else was listening into their conversation.

"Oh, please, I don't care about your divorce. I just try to not date men that already have girlfriends. It doesn't look good, ya know?"

Lucius found the little smile on her face nothing short of infuriating and decided she wouldn't have the upper hand, "If you truly want to believe things the Prophet writes, then I have no choice than to think poorly of you for sleeping with a convict."

For the briefest of seconds, Lacey looked stunned and her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. She finally managed, "That…that didn't happen…"

"No?" It was Lucius' turn to sport an amused smile, "Judging by the way you can't string together a coherent sentence, I think maybe it did."

Lacey turned red and looked down into her lap. That whole debacle with Sirius had turned her world upside down for a few weeks just because she had let her persistent wild streak get the best of her. Thankfully she had squashed it down so that all of her friends believed it really was a rumor, but it hardly mattered anymore, and she had no idea how Lucius managed to find out. It was this wild streak that she was desperately trying to prevent popping up while sitting in front of Lucius.

To her, the whole night had been even more of a disaster than she thought it would be, all made worse by the fact that he was sitting there looking so devastatingly good and yet she loathed every word out of his mouth. She was still avoiding eye contact with him, thoroughly pissed off, when their food was set in front of them. Lucius picked up his knife and fork and cut into his steak, "Do you have a thing for 'bad boys' Lacey?"

Her crystal blue eyes darted up to meet his, "Maybe I do, but Dark Marks and a history with Voldemort are where I draw the line."

"Ah, there's that Gryffindor fire, how adorable," he said mockingly her before taking a piece of the steak in his mouth and chewing it slowly.

"How is it that you know so much about me?" She asked him, livid, her lips pursing.

"I have my ways, but how is it that you think you know so much about me Lacey?"

She ignored his question for a moment, cutting into a steak twice as big as his filet and eating in silence. She took long swigs of her beer when she needed it, and then wiped her mouth with the cloth napkin demurely afterwards. Every move she made simultaneously incensed and turned Lucius on and he was afraid she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Look," she finally broke the silence, and Lucius was grateful for it because he was tired of playing her little game, "Do you or do you not have some little French girl locked up in that great big castle of yours?"

His thoughts went to his lovely Virginia and he felt the need to protect her, "She is not some 'little French girl'…" he hissed at Lacey.

"Right, so there we go, she's real," Lacey nodded, "And does she know you are having dinner with me?"

"That is enough," his voice was threatening and it made Lacey stiffen. She had enjoyed teasing the man, and particularly getting back at him for bringing up unwanted memories, but now she was a little frightened that she had taken it too far. Lacey sighed and reached for her purse, fished around in it for some galleons and placed them on the table to pay her share of the dinner. She stood up and took two steps to where Lucius was sitting in his seat, gripping his steak knife tightly, and leaned down. Her red lips moved to his ear and her hair tickled his face. He breathed in the smell of her-wood, leather, and roses, and he closed his eyes as she whispered in his ear.

"I'm sorry for bringing up your little girlfriend, but I only play dirty on the pitch, not in relationships. I know you want me Lucius, but I'm just something you can't have," she told him before standing up and looking down at the dumbstruck, but decidedly very handsome, blonde. She gave him a small wave and started to walk away from the table but paused, and called over her shoulder, loud enough for some other tables to hear, "Oh, the bedroom…I play dirty in the bedroom too. G'night Lucius!"

And with a playful shrug of her shoulders, she was gone.

A/N: Will Lucius keep pursuing Lacey? Will Virginia find out about her? What did you think of that awkward and tense dinner? Do tell us all in the review section and we will love you forever and always.