Earth Angel (8 page)

She reached the fence, lay on her stomach, and scooted under the bent links in the blink of an eye. Leaping to her feet, she lifted the jagged ends even higher. “Come on!”

He set his jaw, then squirmed under the fence, feeling the galvanized steel scrape his back and legs. If his Saville Row suit survived all this, it would be a tribute to his tailor. The moment he stood up, Catherine grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the darkness beyond the refinery’s perimeter lights.

As soon as they were swallowed by the night, she let go of him and ran even faster. He instantly realized that now she was trying to escape from
him
. He leaped toward her, taking her down to the uneven ground.

They hit it with a thud. As she yelped and struggled against him, he scrambled up until he was literally lying on top of her back, stretching her arms up above her head and effectively pinning her underneath him. She bucked and jerked futilely, and he rode her out. He couldn’t quite ignore the primitive surge of conquest at her writhings, and struggled to remember this was about Earth Angel and Wagner Oil, and not about him and Catherine. Finally, she was still, her chest heaving with her exertions.

“Get off!” she gasped. “You weigh … a ton.”

He lifted his body slightly to ease his weight … She instantly slid sideways, nearly getting out from under him. Cursing, he flattened himself on her again, his hips pressed tight against her derriere. His thigh was high between hers. He could feel the most intimate part of her …

“You’re breaking your promise to explain,” he said, desperate to shatter the sensual spell.

“So what?”

“Catherine, don’t play games with me,” he said wearily. “Clearly, you’re the Earth Angel doing her little bit to save the world and thumb your nose at your family, all at the same time. Now what little bit did you do tonight in that building?”

“Nothing.”

“Catherine.”

“I never got a chance to do anything! You came along too fast. Okay?”

He wasn’t that stupid, and it annoyed him that
she
thought he’d buy her story. At least she hadn’t denied she was the Earth Angel. He would have felt even more insulted if she had.

“If you don’t tell me,” he said, “I swear I’ll drag
you back into the refinery and stand over you until you fix whatever you’ve done.”

She twisted her head to look at him. “Are you nuts? There are guards all over the place! I was lucky to get in and out of there once. And Miles, I don’t think you want to be caught with the Earth Angel. Or haven’t you thought about that yet?”

He admitted to himself that he hadn’t. He also admitted he wouldn’t even want to begin to explain his presence, or hers, to brawny security guards. “All right. We won’t go back in. Just tell me what you’ve done, and I’ll see it’s corrected, somehow.”

She snorted. “I told you I didn’t do anything!”

He sensed he wouldn’t get any information from her. She was too ready to be a martyr for the cause. Her first two escapades had been embarrassing but harmless. It looked like he would have to trust that this one was the same.

He remembered his overwhelming concern that morning when he’d thought she was alone and ill. Fury shot through him as he realized she must have been damming up that creek, not lying feverish in her bed. There he’d been feeling all … She had played him for a fool. Unfortunately, a deserted field in the dark was no place to force a confession. He had to have one answer, though.

“Just tell me why, Catherine.”

“Why what?”

“Why you are doing this?”

“Why am I doing what?”

Something snapped inside him at her evasion. He was all too aware of the softness of her body and his need to have the upper hand with her, at least once. Muttering a curse under his breath, he pulled her to her feet and strode toward his car,
keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her. Her feet dragged and stumbled, but he didn’t stop.

“Miles, what are you doing?” she snapped, struggling against him.

“Taking you home.”

They reached the two cars parked off the road by a pillar of the freeway overpass. He frowned at both of them, then made a decision. With one hand, he loosened his tie and whipped it off, somehow managing to keep Catherine pinned to his side. He used the strip of silk to tie her wrists together, both of them fighting all the way. Roping a two-ton Brahma bull had to be easier, he thought.

“I promise I won’t run away again,” she said when he was finally done.

“I suspect that promise is as good as the one about explaining everything once we got away from the plant.” A devil rose up in him, and he pulled her closer. Raising her bound arms, he looped them around his neck. Her body pressed intimately against the length of his. He grinned. “This has great possibilities.”

“Do you feel all nice and macho now?” she asked, glaring at him.

He backed her against his car. “Don’t tempt me, Catherine.”

Her gaze never wavered. Even in the darkness he could sense the challenge radiating out of her. That coupled with the feel of her body against his was almost too much for his willpower. She would kill a weak man, and she damn near broke him. He sensed their anger would quickly turn to passion for both of them if he so much as kissed her now. But afterward, she would absolve herself with the excuse that he’d overwhelmed her by being “macho.”
He wanted Catherine, but not now, not like this.

He ducked his head out from under her hands, his chin brushing along her breasts. Her nipples were diamond hard even through the sweater she was wearing. He wondered how stupid he could be, then opened the passenger door.

“Get in the car,” he said between clenched teeth.

“But what about mine?”

“I’ll have someone pick it up.”

“But—”

He pushed her inside, then locked and shut the door. Once in the driver’s seat, he started the car and backed it out onto the dirt road.

“All right,” Catherine said. “I’ll play prisoner until we get to my house—”

“My house.”

He liked the way she gasped.

“I am not going to your house,” she announced.

He grinned. “Who’s driving?”

“Miles, this is ludicrous!”

“No more ludicrous than your being the Earth Angel. You have been playing a dangerous game, and it’s going to stop before you get hurt. I’ve decided that tonight was Earth Angel’s swan song. And you’ll be staying with me so I can ensure it.”

She gasped again, this time in pure outrage.

He smiled to himself.

Life definitely had its moments.

Catherine watched Miles as he pulled the curtains shut in his study, then checked the messages on his answering machine. His dark hair, usually so stiffly brushed back, was tousled by
their fighting, and the front locks fell across his forehead. She realized she was getting a glimpse of what he’d looked like as a young boy. She turned away quickly, refusing to admit how endearing he looked. Considering how he’d treated her, the last thing she should be feeling was attracted to him. She yanked on her hands once more, but he’d firmly tied them to a drawer of his filing cabinet, forcing her to sit on the floor with her back to the cabinet.

“You have no right to do this!” she told him for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“I suppose not,” he agreed. “But you had no right to do whatever you did at the refinery.”

“Come on, Miles,” she said, trying a wheedling tone. “You don’t really mean this. Think of what the neighbors would say if they saw this.”

He smiled grimly. “They’d say hurrah for taking care of public enemy number one.”

She scrunched her backside around on the Persian carpet and licked her lips. Her body was sweaty, her clothes were filthy, and her hair was hanging in stringy hanks around her face. If she was going to be stuck sitting on the floor tied to a filing cabinet, she ought to be comfortable. And clean.

“Can I take a shower?” she asked.

“Anytime you want,” he said. “Of course, I’ll have to wash you. You won’t be able to do it properly with your hands tied. I’m ready, willing, and very able to help you.”

“Thank you, but no,” she said curtly. “Miles, this is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Probably. But I can’t let you loose to play Earth
Angel anytime you please. And you’ve already proven I can’t trust a promise from you.”

She made a face. “You can’t keep me here forever.”

“The thought is appealing.” He sat down on the floor next to her, and every muscle in her body tensed at his closeness. “You’ve been having fun poking at the family because they won’t listen to you. But sooner or later, you’ll go too far and somebody will get hurt. And that someone will be you.”

She stared at him. He sounded so sincere, as if he really cared about what happened to her. She shook her head sharply, tossing away the silly thought. His “concern” was no doubt motivated by fear of the scandal that might erupt if the press found out she was Earth Angel. The headlines would be a corporate and personal embarrassment to him.

“Are you going to turn me in to Byrne?”

“Hardly.” He chuckled dryly. “I think you wouldn’t mind that at all right now. No, you’ll be my guest for a while—at least until you confess what you’ve done tonight.”

“I already told you—”

“And I don’t believe you.”

She set her lips together and just gazed at him, silent.

“How lovely to have you with me for an extended stay, Catherine. I’m hungry. Catching earth angels sure works up an appetite. Want something?”

She shook her head, privately deciding to go on a hunger strike until he let her go. A day of watching her starve ought to send him into a panic. He’d release her in no time.

“Okay,” he said, and got up.

“I want my own room,” she said.

He grinned wickedly. “Only if it’s mine.”

“Miles!” she screeched at him, but he calmly walked out of the room.

This was only supposed to happen in pirate stories, she thought, frustration and panic running through her. She felt too much like a heroine helplessly trussed to a pirate king’s bed. So when did Errol Flynn come crashing through the window to rescue her? No time soon, she bet. Instead, she was at the mercy of Miles Kitteridge.

She closed her eyes and shuddered. He was just trying to scare her with this prisoner business, she told herself. He really didn’t mean to keep her until she confessed. He couldn’t. He would probably only keep her until the morning to put the fear of Miles into her.

She leaned her head back, weary from the lack of sleep, weary from wrestling in the dirt with him, and weary from the aftermath of tension. She was worried about her car too. That wasn’t the best place to abandon a vehicle for any length of time.

What frightened her the most was being alone with Miles. Turning her in to the family wasn’t the worst thing he could do to her. Sitting close to her, touching her, that was the worst he could do. She knew all of her anger would melt away if he showed her the slightest tenderness, gave her the lightest kiss. She was simply much too vulnerable with him.

She would just have to stay awake, she vowed. Very awake.

•     •     •

Miles walked back into the study, carefully balancing a loaded tray.

“I brought you some cheese and crackers,” he began, then looked up. Catherine was sound asleep, her head back between her arms. “But I guess you’re not hungry.”

He set the tray on a small table, then picked up a bottle of beer and an apple. Settling onto the sofa, he said, “You’re missing one heck of a snack.”

A very faint, very genuine snore answered him.

“Thank you for that editorial comment.”

He took a sip of beer, then a bite of the apple, the bitter and the tastes clashing in his mouth.

Just like Catherine, he thought.

Catherine slowly surfaced from a black void.

Soft sweet kisses brushed along her cheek, her jaw. Enticing lips grazed hers, strayed away, then returned, teasing and tormenting. She sighed as the kiss deepened, those wonderful lips moving over hers in a rhythm that swirled through her senses. Tongues mated in a slow, sensual dance. Strong hands caressed her back, the curve of her hip. She tried to reach up and embrace her dream lover, but she couldn’t move her hands …

The night came back with a vengeance.

Her eyes snapped open to meet Miles’s amused gaze. She scooted away from the warm hard body next to hers, but she didn’t scoot far.

Her tied wrists jerked her back. She was no longer tied to the file cabinet. Instead, she was tied to Miles, her two wrists to one of his. They were
lying together, pressed disconcertingly close, on his couch.

“Good morning,” he said cheerfully.

“Miles, you son of a—”

“Tsk, Catherine. Such language.”

She glared at him. “I didn’t get to say it yet.”

“But you will.”

“You bet.” Her head was full and pounding as if she had a bad hangover. She desperately wanted to yell and scream her frustrations at him, but she refused to appear anything but calm and cool in front of him. “Miles, I cannot believe you are doing this.”

He ran his forefinger down her cheek. “I know. Brilliance comes along only once in a lifetime. Maybe twice. Do you remember when I asked you into my bed?”

She wasn’t likely to forget, not now. The scent of him, musky and unique, surrounded her. The warmth and strength of his body was a magnet pulling her closer. Holding herself still against the sensual shiver that threatened to run through her, she said, “Yes.”

“And here you are tied to me.” He smiled. “Not exactly how I expected things to work, but we did spend the night together.”

“I’m thrilled to my toes. By the way, are you planning to leave me tied up and alone for the rest of the day while you’re at the bank?”

“If I have to, I will. Or maybe I’ll ask Grandmother to come over and watch you again.”

“Lettice would let me go,” she said triumphantly.

He chuckled. “You don’t know my grandmother very well. This is the kind of thing that would tickle her.”

He sounded so sure, she wondered if he was right. As she gazed at him, she knew he was prepared to go on with this absurd charade for days. And she wouldn’t be able to take even another morning of this. Feeling defeated, she asked, “What will it take, Miles?”