Texas Heat (58 page)

“Look in the mirror, Ivy. They make your complexion positively glow,” Lacey said.

“Then eat your heart out, because they'll never find their way around your neck,” Ivy said irritably. The sincerity in Lacey's voice had to be some kind of trick. Lacey never said nice things to her. She still wanted the pearls; it was that simple.

Ivy stared at her sister with a mixture of disgust and jealousy. She always thought of Lacey as having been created and then shellacked, all five feet ten inches of her. There was never a hair out of place, never a nail broken or a chip in her nail polish. She applied her makeup as if she were following a road map—a dab here, a dash there, blended, blended, blended. She was a farther uptown version of Christie Brinkley with none of the model's winsomeness. Everything about Lacey was perfect, from the top of her fashionable hairstyle to the tip of her manicured toes. Hard, glittering eyes, high, sharp cheekbones, small, elegant nose that was usually in the air, and a thin mouth that rarely, if ever, smiled. There was nothing real about Lacey. The feathery eyelashes, the porcelain caps on her teeth, the artificial nail tips and silicone breast implants. Where, she wondered, was the real Lacey Buckalew?

Lacey's hackles rose. Why couldn't she and Ivy be nice to each other? Why did they have to end each meeting, each conversation, on an angry note? Or was it a jealous note? As they made their way back to Tess's bedroom, Lacey decided it was all her mother's fault.

Tess's narrowed eyes took in the dull brown dress and the string of pearls. The dress did nothing for Ivy's figure. She blinked, her eyebrows arching at the clear, rosy, almost ethereal complexion of her younger daughter. Even so, she looked dowdy next to her glamorous sister, who had poured herself into a black sheath skirt with a sparkling sequined top. So very fashionable; a mannequin, hard and glittering.

Tess sighed. She just knew that the way Ivy was dressed was some kind of omen. Things were not going to work out. She didn't like the calculating look in Lacey's eyes, either. She'd seen that look before. It meant Lacey was determined to do something, something her mother wouldn't approve of. It had to be Cole Tanner. Lacey hadn't been the same since they'd broken up. Thrown into the same company with Cole, she might do something tonight that she'd regret later. She'd talk to her in the car, Tess decided. Better yet, she'd warn her. Cole would have to be history.