Bachelor On The Prowl (9 page)

Where had this remarkable woman been all his life? And, now that he’d found her, wasn’t it just as remarkable that he was actually worried whether or not he could
keep
her? Him, Colin Rafferty, the guy who could get any girl he wanted, wanted a woman who just might not want him.

“And
I’m not
hypoglycemic,” he added, hoping complete
honesty
would win the day for him.

Her eyelids narrowed over those now cloudy green
eyes
that reflected her every mood, every nuance of every mood. “If you’re trying to remind me that I’m also gullible, believe everything people tell me, I think you’ve made your point. Now, is there anything else? Are those really your teeth? Are you wearing blue contacts over brown eyes? I know you don’t have a wooden leg, but after what you pulled yesterday, I’d like to think
I’m
fi
nally looking at the genuine Coli
n Rafferty.”

“This is
all
me,”
Co
li
n said, spreading his arms.
“My own teeth, my
real
eye
color,
my
very own hair weave.”

Her eyes opened wide. “You have a hair weave? You’re kidding! You actually have a hair weave? But it looks so natural. I never would have
…
wait a minute.”

He raised his eyebrows, looked at her, waited, watched as the color invaded her cheeks.

“Oh, you bum! You don’t have a hair weave. You just said that to see how I’d react. As if it would matter. Do you really think I’m that shallow?”

“No, I really think I get a kick out of watching your mood meter go up and down. I came after you to grovel—Max’s suggestion was that I grovel—but I’m having a lot more fun this way. It’s probably a good thing I threw the flowers in the trash.”

“You brought me flowers? What kind?”

“I don’t know. Yellow ones.”

“And you threw them in the trash? Where?”

“Back there, at the Frick,” Colin told her, then
grinned. “Do you want to go back and get them? I’ll cover you, keep the guard busy while you grab them out of the trash.”

“No, thanks,” Holly said, walking across the wide sidewalk to a vendor cart near the curb. “If I’m going to start a life of crime, I’d rather bash you again with my purse. Right after you buy me a hot dog. Or maybe you’ve forgotten that we were supposed to be having lunch at Julia’s right about now. I’m hypoglycemic, you know.” She held out one hand. “Look, I’m shaking. My goodness, I could pass out at any moment.”

“You don’t give up easy, do you?” Colin asked, fishing in his pocket for some loose bills, then ordering hot dogs for both of them, sans onions. “I suppose you’re going to keep bringing up every little mistake I’ve made since we met yesterday for the rest of our lives. Say it was your fault, then turn the screws a little about how, just maybe, it was my fault. My fault that you thought I was a male model, my fault that there really wasn’t a right time yesterday to explain that I wasn’t. My fault I don’t have hypoglycemia, my fault you got chased out of the Frick—my fault we missed lunch at Julia’s. Anything else?”

Holly pointed to the water bottles sitting in chipped ice on the food cart and raised two fingers at the vendor, who handed her two bottles. Then she looked at Colin. “Just one thing. What’s this
for the rest of our lives
business?”

Colin handed her the hot dog in exchange for one of the water bottles, hoping she didn’t decide to hit him with hers five seconds from now. “Oh? Didn’t I tell you? Well, I guess there is just one more thing you’re
probably going to bring up from time to time over the years, so maybe I should have mentioned it sooner. You see, I’ve given it some
thought, and I’ve decided that I’
m going to marry you.”

Okay, Colin acknowledged to himself as he pounded on Holly’s back until she could breathe again, so there were
two
things he probably should have said to her sooner. One, he was going to marry her and, two, “Maybe you shouldn’t take a bite out of that hot dog until I tell you number one.”

Five

H
olly looked askance at the Caller ID box, then reluctantly answered the ringing phone, hoping against hope that Co
li
n Rafferty wasn’t calling her from Julia’s condo.

She could just let the answering machine pick up, but that would be cowardly. She’d rather be sneaky. Besides, if it was Colin Rafferty, boy, did she have a few choice things to say to that man!
“Sutherland,”
she purred into the receiver. “So
rr
y, the offices are closed right now, but if you wish to leave a message just wait for the tone and then speak slowly and distinctly—”

“Holly? Is that you?” Julia asked over the wires. “Thank goodness I found you. You weren’t at the hotel, you weren’t at your apartment. What are you doing in Allentown? I thought you weren’t going back until tomorrow. Imagine how surprised I was when the desk clerk at the Waldorf told me you’d checked out. And without telling me.”

“Sorry, Julia, I should have told you, but I was in a bit of a hurry to get out of the city before rush hour. I hate all that traffic in the tunnel, even if I’m not the one behind the wheel.” Sitting back in her chair, looking at the clock on her desktop, Holly added, “I just changed my mind and came back tonight. We’ve got faxes, faxes and more faxes here, Julia, so it’s a good thing I did. Somebody has to sort them out, get these orders moving.”

“At nine o’clock at night? I don’t think I pay you that well. Not after the three days you just put in for me in New York.”

Holly was still looking at her clock. “Nine-oh-seven, if we’re synchronizing our watches. And you pay me very well, thank you,” she told her friend.

“I’m glad you think so, because I’m not giving you overtime to work yourself into a frazzle. Go home, Holly. Really, you need to go home.”

“Look, Julia, it’s okay. Irene is still at the Waldorf, packing up the gowns, doing everything she does so well, which left me free to come back here to start work on the postshow orders at this end, among other things. Or are you forgetting that there’s a full line of Sutherland to watch over, on top of the bridal wear? So, is that it? Because I’ve got a desk piled high with work I have to get to tonight before I can finally go home.”

“I don’t know. Is there something else, Holly? You sound sort of huffy,” Julia said after a slight pause. “You
are
huffy, aren’t you? Why? Why are you in a huff, Holly? What did Colin do?”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Coli
n didn’t do anything, Julia. I saw him this afternoon, he apologized. End of story.”

“I don’t believe you. There has to be more to it than that.”

“Honestly, Julia, do you have to see secrets and drama in everything?”

“I see secrets, Holly,” Julia pointed out calmly.
“You
see opportunities for drama. And there’s nothing in any of those faxes, or piled on your desk, that couldn’t have waited until tomorrow. We make clothing, Holly, we aren’t milkmen, or florists. Our stock won’t perish if it sits around one single extra day. Oh, and speaking of florists—did Colin bring you flowers? We told him to bring you flowers.”

“Milk persons,” Holly corrected Julia, because it was easier than answering Julia.
“
Milkman is politically incorrect in our highly evolved society. It might even be dairy product delivery persons.”

“Well, consider me corrected. Now, did he bring you flowers? Because, after he left, I thought that maybe that wouldn’t really be a good idea, since Richard was always bringing you flowers, and look how that ended up.”

Holly pushed the palm of one hand against her head. “He didn’t bring me flowers,” she said, sighing.
“Julia, I’m really busy here…
”

“He didn’t? Goodness, that’s rather depressing. I wouldn’t have thought he’d show up empty-handed. Not after that fiasco at the showing and after the way you stormed out of here when you saw him again. Didn’t he bring you
anything?"

“He bought me a hot dog from a vendor down the
street from the Frick,” Holly said, sighing, blinking back sudden tears. How she hated to cry, which was unfortunate, since she had always been a world champion crier. At sad movies, at really good baby products commercials, at old songs playing on the radio. At back-handed, even high-handed, marriage proposals. Especially at them. Definitely.

“Oh, well, he bought you a hot dog. That changes everything, makes it all better,” Julia was saying, and Holly could hear the smile in her friend’s voice. “For me, roses, red ones. But for you? Food is perfect, just perfect. Especially junk food. I didn’t know Colin was that perceptive. Did you cry? I’ll bet you cried.”

“No, I did not cry,” Holly singsonged, sitting up straight in her soft leather chair, the one chair she’d finally found at a local office supply store that let her feet actually reach the floor. “I thanked him, I ate the hot dog and then I came back to Allentown. Are we done now?”

“I’m done with you, yes,” Julia said, her voice velvety soft, almost suc
ceeding in hiding the sledgeham
mer she had wrapped inside it. “But I do know Co
li
n’s number at the Waldorf. Bye now.”

“No! Wait! Don’t hang up!” Holly jumped to her feet at this barely veiled attempt at blackmail, or coercion, or whatever it was—because, whatever it was, Julia Sutherland Rafferty was very, very good at it. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Aha! So there
is
something else. I knew it, I just knew it. Or did you think I can’t tell when you’re in one of your poor little Holly moods? You didn’t rush back to Allentown without saying goodbye to me because you needed to go to work, Holly. You
ran
back to Allentown to get away from Colin. Come on, Holly, tell me. Spill your guts. You know you’re going to tell me sooner or later, so why don’t we just skip the middle, where you keep saying no, and go right to the end, where you tell me yes. Yes?”

Holly hit the button putting the phone on Speaker and hung up the receiver as she stood up, began to pace. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“That’s a rhetorical question, right?” Julia responded, and now Holly could hear the laughter in her friend’s voice. “Start at the beginning and tell me everything. Max is out, at a meeting with a vice president who just flew in from the plant in Phoenix, and the baby is in bed for the night. I have a pot of tea, some lovely warm scones to munch on and all the time in the world to listen.”

Holly decided to cut to the chase. After all, she knew she was going to have to tell Julia sooner or later. This way, sooner, might just be less painful. “He said he thinks—he’s pretty sure, actually, that he’s going to marry me.” She all but moaned the words as she shoved both hands through her already spiky hair. And she wasn’t being overly dramatic, or in a mood, damn it. The man said he was going to marry her. What kind of crazy, dumb statement was that?

“What? What did you say? Holly, your voice sounds all hollow. Did you put me on the speaker?
I
hate being put on the speaker.”

“I said, he said he’s going to marry me,” Holly repeated, slapping both palms on the desktop and leaning toward the phone. “Did you hear me now?”

Silly question. Obviously Julia had heard her, because what Holly heard next was some coughing, a few gasps, and then some more coughs. “Sorry,” Jul
ia said after a moment. “
I was taking a sip of tea, and it went down wrong.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around,” Holly said, still leaning on the desk top.

“What? Oh, never min
d. I’m all right now. He said…
he said he’s going to
marry
you?” Julia asked. “When did he say that?”

“When? Don’t you mean
why?”

“Well, yes, that too, I suppose, except that Colin is Max’s cousin, an
d the Raffertys are pretty well-
known for making up their minds in a hurry, then doing everything in their power to—oh, brother. Holly, sweetie, brace yourself. I think you’re in for a siege.”

Holly had a quick flash back to Max’s dogged pursuit of Julia once he’d reentered her life, determined to get her back, win her love once more. “Julia, this is different. Colin isn’t Max, and Colin and I aren’t married. You and Max were. This is just different. Besides, he was only teasing. We were both teasing—once I got done being so upset. He didn’t really mean it. He couldn’t have meant it.”

“Which explains why you’re back in Allentown?”

Wasn’t it just like Julia to confuse everything with facts? “That also has nothing to do with anything. Look, you had to be there, okay? We were just fooling around. We were chased out of the Frick for making too much noise, and then we were cracking jokes, buying hot dogs. It was just something silly he said. Impulsive, spur-of-the-moment. It didn’t mean a thing. I
mean, he was buying me a hot dog at the time. How serious could that be?”

“Okay, I’m convinced,” Julia teased. “Now convince yourself, because you don’t sound convinced. And tell me, what did you do after he said he was going to marry you? Did you laugh? Did you both have a good laugh?”

Holly wished that’s what they’d done. Instead, after horking up a bit of hot dog—such an elegant, romantic sight for Colin to witness—she’d run from him as if he’d just threatened her with a knife or something. She’d jumped into a cab, and raced back to the Waldorf to pack, to call for a limousine, to escape to the safety of Allentown.

“Laugh? Oh, yeah, sure. We both laughed,” Holly said, hoping the distortion of the speakerphone would cover the fact that she was lying through her teeth. “He’s quite a card, your husband’s cousin. But we’re fine now, both of us. He apologized, I accepted, we had a few laughs and we’re fine now.”

“Cross your heart?”

“Cross my heart,” Holly agreed rather fervently. “So now can I please go organize these faxes and check my phone messages before I go home and feed my goldfish? Helen’s Joey was supposed to come feed them, but I’m sure he forgot. They’re probably starving. You have no idea how guilty a goldfish’s glare can make a person feel.”

“Certainly,” Julia said, her tone so sweet, so satisfied, that Holly felt the hairs on the back of her head begin to prickle. “I’m completely satisfied now, and absol
utely not worried a bit that Coli
n stopped by here
earlier, asking directions to Allentown in general, to your apartment in particular. Good night, Holly, don’t stay at the office t
oo long. Because, as I believe I
said earlier, you really,
really
should go home now.”

Holly stood very still for a long time, then slapped at the phone to cut off the dial tone that buzzed through the office like a swarm of angry bees. “You’re a rat, Julia Rafferty,” she said to the dead air. “A dirty, stinking, nosy
rat.”

Then it hit her, really hit her. Here? He was coming here? Colin Rafferty was coming
here? When
was he coming here?
Why
was he coming here?

And where was
here?
Here, Allentown
…
or here, this office. Her office. Where she was now. Right now. Where she maybe shouldn’t be right now if she was smart. Because maybe she should be at home, in her apartment. But if she was there, she’d have to barricade the door, because Colin might be coming to her apartment, and what would she do if he showed up at her apartment? If he showed up here? If he showed up, period?

Holly closed her eyes, took three deep, steadying breaths. “Okay, now that you’ve panicked,” she told herself, “it’s time to slow down, calm down, think like a rational adult. You can do this, Holly.”

She closed her eyes, drew her breath in on a not quite silent sob. “No, you can’t. You cannot handle Colin Rafferty. You don’t even
want
to handle Co
li
n Rafferty.
”

She winced. “
Okay, so maybe you do want to handle Co
li
n Rafferty, but that’s neither here nor there, and
probably X-rated, so just forget it, okay? And think. Think!”

What she thought was that she had passed beyond the “drama” Julia had talked about, heading straight for melodrama. She had to stop that, stop that now. She could not afford to indulge herself in one of her flights of fancy, one of her interior scenarios that were so often built around her extremely overactive imagination, her ability—or curse—that allowed her to go to extremes with the speed of a sports car going from zero to sixty in mere seconds.

Colin was coming to Allentown, might already be in the city. Might already be camped on her doorstep, waiting for her, lying in wait for her.

She, Holly Hollis, extremely unexceptionable short person, was being hotly pursued by a Greek god who said he wanted to marry her.

And this was a bad thing?

How was this a
bad
thing?

“Oh, let me count the ways,” Holly moaned, collapsing once more into her desk chair.

One, the man was gorgeous, and she’d
sworn off gorgeous, even if Coli
n wasn’t a male model. He was still prettier than she was, and who wanted to go through life
feeling like she should know darn
full well that, hey, the two of them were
not
a matched set?