A MATTER OF TRUST (6 page)

Maddy’s denial was cut short when a feminine voice called out again, “Chase, are you back there?”

Interpreting Chase’s abrupt change of mood and hasty step backwards as the guilty response of a man caught in the act of cheating, Maddy could do nothing but stand there and wait for the woman to appear. Her heart sank in her chest when a tall, leggy brunette stopped at the top of the steps, her sultry smile faltering for a fraction of a second as her eyes swept over Maddy then dismissed her as insignificant and focused on Chase.

“Darling,” she cooed, sauntering over to him, “I heard about your horrible accident and rushed over here as soon as I could to take care of you.”

“It’s just a broken arm, Angela,” Chase said stiffly.

“I can see that, but it must be difficult for you to do even the simplest of tasks like dressing…” she ran her hand down his chest with familiarity, “or more importantly, undressing.”

He gritted his teeth and plucked her hand off his chest, taking a pointed step backwards. “I’ve got all the help I need,” he said tersely.

He looked at Maddy, praying she wouldn’t jump to conclusions or at least give him the chance to explain once he’d gotten rid of Angela, but it was impossible to know what she was thinking or feeling with her expression so carefully guarded. Even so, she had to be hurt considering how intimate they’d just been and the way Angela was acting as if she was his lover. Chase smiled reassuringly before turning back to Angela.

“As you can see, I’ve got what I need right here.”

Angela arched an elegant brow. “Really, Chase, you can hardly expect your…housekeeper to make sure you’re properly taken care of.”

“She’s not my housekeeper,” he ground out.

“Housekeeper, cook, whatever she is, I’m sure she’s capable of tending to your meals and such, but I’m talking about satisfying your personal needs.”

She turned an icy stare towards Maddy, again dismissing her as any type of competition. And who could blame her, Maddy thought dismally. The woman was gorgeous with her mane of dark hair and exotic looks, and she was obviously confident that Chase couldn’t possibly find Maddy attractive, not when he had Angela to warm his bed. It was degrading the way Angela was looking at her but she refused to cower in front of her. And she wouldn’t give Chase the satisfaction of knowing how badly he’d hurt her either, or just how humiliated she felt for the way she’d been kissing him.

Chase was furious at Angela, not only for what she’d just insinuated as far as their relationship went but because of the condescending way she was treating Maddy. “For the last time, Maddy is not my housekeeper or my cook, she’s my…”

“Home Health Care Provider,” Maddy interrupted. She kept her eyes locked to Angela’s and even managed a weak smile. “Mr. Malone hired me to help out until the cast comes off, but I can see he’ll have no need of my services today.” Shoving her turbulent emotions aside, she turned a blank face to Chase. “I’ll just be on my way and leave you two alone.”

“Maddy wait…”

“I’ll be back in the morning,” she said as she skirted around him and hurried back into the house.

Maddy’s chest tightened painfully when she heard Angela’s silky voice telling Chase to let her go. How stupid and naïve she’d been to think he didn’t have a girlfriend; men like Chase always did, and it was even more foolish of her to feel so damn crushed by it. She all but ran to her room to grab her purse then raced down the stairs and out the front door before the tears that were welling up inside of her could break through.

She fired up the engine and headed down the hill towards town. She’d get a hotel for the night, allow herself one good cry, and in the morning she’d return as if nothing happened. It was just a kiss after all. It didn’t mean anything. Maddy wiped away the tears, wondering just how many times she’d have to tell herself that before she actually believed it.

Chapter 4, Part 1

“Go home, Angela.” Chase gripped her elbow and steered her towards the stairs.

“But you’re little helper has gone for the night, who’ll take care of you?”

He trotted her around the house to her car, desperately trying to keep his temper in check. “Angela, please. I’ve been as patient with you as I can be, but showing up at my house unannounced is the last straw. We spent a few nights together, but that was ages ago and I have no desire to pick up where we left off.”

Angela ignored the door he held open for her and stuck her lip out. “But we were so good together, Chase, and I still care about you. I dropped everything to come running to you as soon as I heard about the accident, doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “All it means is that you’re not listening to me. Look Angela, you’re a beautiful, desirable woman and I’m sure there are a ton of men that would kill to go out with you, but I’m just not interested.”

“Why not? Is it because you have the hots for your little housekeeper?”

“She’s not my…oh, forget it! Do yourself, Angela, and set your sights on someone else. You might want to lose the dumb act too. You demean yourself and it only works on men who are looking for a quick romp and nothing else.”

Angela’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Are you telling me that’s all it was to you, that you were just using me for a few nights of great sex?”

Chase laughed. “First of all, I didn’t use you. As I recall, you asked me up to your room, not the other way around. And just for the record, the sex wasn’t that great.”

She let out a most unfeminine grunt of anger and hurled a string of expletives at him that would have been quite shocking if he hadn’t already pegged her for the fraud she was. Angela Donelli was a spoiled little rich girl, pure and simple, and though Chase harbored no ill-will towards her for wanting to find a wealthy man to support her lavish life style, he had no intention of playing that role himself. The few times he’d slept with her had been pleasurable, but she ranked no higher than any other woman he’d been with and Angela’s aspirations for marriage would have deterred him from taking her out again even if her mediocre skills in bed hadn’t.

“You’re a cold-hearted bastard,” she hissed venomously. “Do you really think that little nothing of woman you’ve hired can even come close to satisfying you the way I can?” With a haughty flip of her head, Angela climbed into her car, her pretty face red with rage as she peeled out of the driveway.

Chase imagined she’d find some way to repay him for what he’d said but he didn’t have time to worry about that now. Finding Maddy was his first priority. Somehow he’d convince her Angela wasn’t his girlfriend and get her to come back to his house. That little nothing of a woman, as Angela called her, had awakened a fiery passion inside of him that had lay dormant for years and all she’d done was kiss him. How much hotter would that flame burn when he got her into his bed? And once he’d bound her to him physically, Chase would work on her heart and bind her to him emotionally as well.

He laughed at himself as he grabbed the keys to his truck and headed back outside. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him. He’d spent most of his life dodging relationships with women, preferring to keep his heart intact and his encounters brief and meaningless. He never promised them more than what the night would bring and though they agreed eagerly enough at the time, inevitably they hounded him afterwards just as Angela was doing. Most of the time he just ignored their calls until they finally gave up, but with women like Angela he had to take a firmer stand and be downright cold to make them see how futile their efforts were.

And then there was Madysen Sawyer. In a class of her own, that woman was. She stirred something in his heart and made his insides turn to mush with nothing more than a shy smile. How she could have him dreaming of white picket fences and making babies and a future together when he barely knew anything about her was beyond him. Chase wasn’t a dreamer, and he didn’t believe in love at first sight, but he did believe in destiny and following his own instincts and those instincts were telling him that nothing in his life would ever be right again if he let Maddy get away. Their destinies were intertwined, and he was going to make damn sure they stayed that way.

****

Maddy drove into the small town that was nestled in a valley a short distance from Chase’s house, searching for a hotel to hide out in until morning. If she hadn’t left all her paintings and supplies behind, she would have been tempted to just keep right on driving and let Angela have the cheating louse all to herself. Not that the stunning brunette would have wasted much time doing just that once Maddy was gone anyway. Her stomach churned as she envisioned Chase leading Angela up to his room and making love to her, their bodies clinging to each other intimately while he kissed her with that same intense passion he’d unleashed on Maddy not thirty minutes ago.

“Don’t be so childish,” she chided, “it was just a kiss that got a little out of hand.”

She was acting like a teenager with a crush for Pete’s sake. Getting jealous because Chase’s girlfriend showed up; honestly, wasn’t that proof enough that she’d lost her mind? At least she’d been smart enough to give Angela a plausible excuse for being there, which was more than she could say for Chase. Either he’d never been caught before and wasn’t very good at coming up with a cover story that quickly, or maybe he simply didn’t care if Angela knew or not. Now that she thought about it, the woman certainly didn’t seem upset to find her there. In fact, she’d dismissed Maddy as a threat almost immediately. Was that because Angela trusted Chase or because she’d been confident Maddy was so far out of her league she hadn’t concern herself with it?

It didn’t really matter anyway, the point was Maddy had behaved childishly and was now driving around in an unfamiliar town trying to find a place to hole up for the night. If Chase made a big deal about it tomorrow, she’d act wide-eyed and innocent and insist the reason she left was so that he and his girlfriend could spend the night alone. As for the kiss, she’d play that off as a mistake; a foolish lack of discretion that wouldn’t be repeated. Assuming of course that Angela didn’t decide to make her visit an extended one, Maddy would stay for the month as she’d promised. Having a course of action helped steady her nerves. She’d show Chase Malone he wasn’t as irresistible to women as he thought he was!

Maddy continued down what she believed was the main strip of town and heaved a sigh of relief when she finally spotted a small hotel. It wasn’t as upscale as the places she was used to staying at, but it looked clean and she wasn’t in the mood to scour the whole town in the hopes of finding something better. Maybe after she’d settled in she’d drive down to the beach and take that walk anyway. The exercise would do her good and it would help clear her mind. She eased into a parking space and killed the engine, absently reaching for her purse and opening the door at the same time. The sound of screeching brakes not three feet away made her heart leap to her throat and brought her head around sharply.

With a groan, she realized the big black pickup must have been swinging into the parking space beside her just as she opened her door and only quick responses had kept the driver from plowing into her and taking the door off. She reached out and yanked it towards her, waiting until the truck had pulled completely into the space before getting out. The apology she’d worked up instantly died on her lips when she saw the blistering scowl on the man’s face as he rounded the front of his truck and advanced on her.

“You are a damn accident just waiting to happen,” Chase growled. “Someone needs to lock you up in an ivory tower where you can’t do harm to yourself or anyone around you.”

“You were the one who came whipping into the parking space,” she shot back. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Looking for you.”

“Why? Can’t your girlfriend cook or does she even know what a frying pan is?”

A slow grin spread across his face. She was actually jealous! “She’s not my girlfriend and never has been. As for whether she can cook, I don’t know and I don’t care. I told her to leave and made it clear I didn’t want her to come back.”

Maddy fought to keep her emotions in check and squelch the bud of hope that started to bloom. Both were exercises in futility. “I…I don’t understand. Why would you do that?”

He closed the distance between them, trapping her between his body and her car. “Because she’s not the one I want.”

“Chase…”

“Listen to me, Maddy. I’ve dated a lot of women in my life, women like Angela who were beautiful on the outside and pretty much vacant on the inside. They were warm and willing and that’s all I cared about. But you…” his voice softened as he drew her into arms, “you’re different. I knew it before I ever kissed you, and afterwards I was more even more certain. I felt something in here,” he put his palm to his chest, “and I think you did too.”