Amaryllis by Jayne Castle Page A

thought. Maybe it was his own hormones. They had been vegetating for longer than he cared to contemplate.
    Several months ago, without conscious motivation, he had lapsed into an extended period of self-imposed celibacy. It was as if something inside him had finally balked at the prospect of going through the ritual of beginning and ending another extended affair.
    Perhaps the decision to register with a marriage agency had roused his dormant physical needs, he thought. He certainly seemed to have sex on the brain tonight.
    “’Evening, Trent. Good crowd, eh?”
    Lucas stilled at the sound of the familiar voice. He nodded politely to the silver-haired man and the elegant, middle-aged woman who stood with him. Jackson Rye’s parents. Just what he needed to make this evening complete.
    “Good evening, Calvin,” Lucas said. “Beatrice.”
    Beatrice Rye inclined her head in a gesture that obviously required extraordinary willpower. “Hello, Lucas. How nice to see you.” Her hostility burned just beneath the surface of her blue eyes.
    Lucas relaxed slightly when he saw the young man who had accompanied the Ryes. “How’s it going, Dillon? Congratulations on graduating from UNS.”
    Dillon, the only member of the Rye family who seemed to have any fondness left in his heart for Lucas, smiled his irrepressible grin. “Thanks. Thought I’d never get out of the university. Now all I have to do is find a job.”
    “That shouldn’t be too difficult.” Lucas took Amaryllis’s arm. “Amaryllis, I’d like you to meet the Ryes. Calvin, Beatrice, and their son Dillon. Amaryllis Lark.”
    “How do you do.” Amaryllis gave the three a gracious smile.
    “Miss Lark.” Calvin tipped his silver-maned head in a patrician gesture. His voice was crisp and formal.
    “A pleasure,” Beatrice murmured. Several generations of good breeding hid most but not all of the cool reserve in her voice.
    “Nice to meet you, Miss Lark,” Dillon said cheerfully. “Aren’t these artifacts like totally synergistic? Leave it to Lucas to find them in the middle of a jungle. Dad says Lucas has the luck of the devil.”
    “They’re incredible.” Amaryllis seemed oblivious to the undercurrents that were flowing back and forth between Lucas and the older Ryes. “Absolutely fascinating.”
    “You must excuse us.” Calvin grasped Beatrice’s elbow. “I want to have a word with Senator Sheffield.”
    “Of course,” Amaryllis said. “Nice to meet you.”
    Beatrice favored Lucas with a measure of silent condemnation before she moved off into the crowd with her husband.
    Dillon hung back. He waited until his parents were out of earshot before he took a step closer to Lucas. “Can I stop by your office next week? I need to talk to you. It’s really important.”
    “Sure.” Lucas glanced at the retreating Ryes. A whisper of the old sense of loss flickered through him. He squelched it with ruthless will.
    There had been a time when he had been welcomed into the Rye household. He had valued the tenuous ties of quasi-adopted kinship far more than the Ryes had ever realized. Intellectually, he had acknowledged that Calvin and Beatrice’s acceptance of him was prompted by pragmatic business considerations, not true affection. Nevertheless, they had been warm and cordial. Lucas had settled for the reasonable facsimile of a family that the Ryes had provided.
    He had tried to be realistic about the situation. He knew that they had all been bound together by the brilliantly successful partnership between Jackson and himself.
    But three years ago, Jackson Rye had been murdered by the pirates who had invaded the Western Islands. His mother had made it clear that the Ryes held Lucas morally responsible. After all, Lucas had been the one with experience in the islands. He had been raised amid their dangers.
    Dillon leaned closer with an air of urgency. “Listen, Lucas, do me a favor and don’t mention this to Mom and Dad, okay? I don’t want them to