Dangerous Games (16 page)

And away from her.

The thought stung far more than either her lip or her cheek. But there was nothing she could do about that. He had his world and she had hers. Besides, he’d never asked her to enter his world and she couldn’t very well just ask him to stay in hers. That would be presuming too much.

Suddenly she didn’t want things to end. “You should give me your e-mail.”

He looked at her, confused. “Why would you want that?”

“So we can stay in touch with each other once you leave town.” Even that had a desperate ring to it, she thought, upbraiding herself. Damn it, where was her pride? “You know, drop each other the occasional note around the holidays, things like that.”

He took a good long look at her. So long that she was about to ask him what was wrong when he had a question of his own for her. “Are you trying to give me the bum’s rush?”

Talk about getting his signals crossed, she thought. “What?”

“You have me leaving town,” he pointed out. “Who said anything about leaving town?” He certainly hadn’t mentioned it.

Did that mean—nope, hold it, don’t go there unless you’re sure the ground isn’t going to open up beneath your feet.
So instead, she lifted her chin defensively. “Well, aren’t you? The only reason you came back to Aurora was to help Eric clear the murder rap and now Eric’s going to be released. Case closed,” she announced with unmistakable finality.

They took a corner and the gurney moved a little. He put his hand out to steady Rayne.

“You’re right, that is the only reason I came back to town. But I’ve been thinking, maybe I can find a reason to stay.” His eyes washed over her, caressing her. “What I do is pretty mobile, but I can have a central base of operations anywhere.”

Her heart suddenly accelerating, Rayne made the natural assumption. It almost felt like it came out of a fantasy. “Here?”

“Maybe.” He struggled to keep a straight face. “If I find a good enough reason to stay.”

Rayne could feel her breath hitching itself in her lungs. “And what do you consider to be a good enough reason to stay?”

He pretended to think. As if this hadn’t been forming in his head from the very beginning, even without his knowledge. “Well, if I had a house here. Or better still, a wife here, that might do it.”

Stunned, she stared at him. She’d thought he was just talking about staying in town, not anything more. “A what?”

“A wife,” he repeated. “You know, kind of like a husband, except shorter and prettier.” He resisted the temptation to trace the outline of her mouth with his tongue, the temptation to take her into his arms and kiss her soundly. “Know where I can find one?”

She reminded herself to breathe. Maybe she was just light-headed and that was why she was hearing what she thought she was. “Just any old one?”

“No, I’ve got a few requirements.” He began to elaborately tick them off his fingers one by one. “She has to be fiery, has to be intelligent, and be her own person, except that once in a while, she has to realize that I’m my own person, too.”

So far, it sounded perfect. But then, Cole was pretty much perfect in his own right. From where she stood, it was a package deal.

“Go on.”

“I’d like her to come up to here.” He hit his shoulder with the side of his hand. His eyes shifted to her face and a smile curved his mouth. “And have gray-blue eyes and curly blond hair. Oh, and legs that don’t know when to quit.”

God but she loved him, she thought. The black sheep and the rebel, who would have ever thought? “Anything else?”

This time he did gather her to him. “She’s got to rock my world.”

Did she? Did she do that for him? “I wouldn’t know about that part—”

“I would.” His eyes grew very serious as he looked at her. “I can’t begin to tell you what went through my head when I realized that Longwell had taken you prisoner. All I could think of was that if I couldn’t reach you in time, I was going to kill him.”

“In front of my whole family?” she asked incredulously.

That had never been a deterrent. “Didn’t matter. If Longwell had killed you, I wouldn’t have anything to live for.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you, that’s why, damn it.”

“I love you, too, damn it.” She grinned broadly at him. “Now go back to the other part.”

He wasn’t sure he understood what she was asking him to do. “What other part?”

Her grin went straight to his heart and then to his gut. “The part where I’m filling out the application to be your wife.”

He took her hand in his. He had no ring, no proper words, but that didn’t stop him. “Will you?”

She wanted to drag the moment out just a tad more. “Will I what?” she asked innocently.

She deserved the full sentence. “Lorrayne Rose Cavanaugh, will you marry me?”

He knew her middle name. The thought that he’d gone to the trouble to find out filled her with a gentle sweetness. Rayne felt the ambulance come to a stop.

“In a heartbeat,” she declared. “Now kiss me quick before they do something to my lower lip and I can’t use it.”

Pulling her up to her feet, Cole gathered her into his arms and lowered his head.

But before contact was successfully made, the back doors opened.

“We’re here,” the paramedic told them.

“Not yet,” Cole told him. He pulled the door out of the paramedic’s hand. “But almost.”

As the paramedic looked on in surprise, Cole shoved the door closed again. Just before he kissed his future bride-to-be.

Epilogue

A
t two o’clock, the parking lot on the side of the diner looked fairly empty.

Andrew pulled up in a space that was neither too close nor too far. With slow, deliberate steps, he got out of his vehicle, crossed to the diner and walked up the two steps directly in front of the door.

He paused for a minute, his hand on the door handle, bracing himself for disappointment. So many times before it had assailed him, sneaking around corners, robbing him of his prize. Every time he thought he had a lead, a clue, a path that would finally unite him with Rose, he found himself looking at a dead end.

And yet, he never gave up, never turned his back on the small kernel of hope that refused to vanish. Refused to give him peace.

“You going in, or you just gonna stand there like a statue, blocking everyone’s way?” a deep voice behind him demanded impatiently. “C’mon, pal, in or out, just do it now.”

In. He was definitely in.

“Sorry,” Andrew murmured to the man, not even glancing in his direction. The man didn’t count. What was inside might.

The woman at his left immediately took his attention. Sitting behind a cash register, she was full-figured, with short, strawberry-colored hair and a ready smile that she sent in his direction.

She wasn’t his Rose.

He looked around, orienting himself. There was nothing outstanding about this diner, nothing to set it apart from the hundreds of other diners that were scattered throughout the country. The counter was long and scarred, the booths old and in need of refurbishing, the menu uneventful, a duplicate of so many others.

And then everything else faded.

He saw her.

His mind wasn’t on the counter or the booths or the menu. His eyes and attention were riveted to the blonde in the pink uniform at the far end of the counter. Leaning over a newspaper, she seemed engrossed in what she was reading.

His heart raced as he moved closer, then sat down at the counter.

After a moment, as if sensing his presence, she raised her head and looked up.

“Rose?” he whispered.

She flashed a smile at him, a smile that had always brought him to his knees.

“No, Claire, see?” With her thumb and forefinger the waitress framed her name tag for him. “Claire,” she repeated.

There was no recognition in her eyes as she looked at him.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-6851-1

DANGEROUS GAMES

Copyright © 2004 by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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