Flirting with Disaster (7 page)

“Do you want anything to drink?” Maggie asked.

Josh finally met her gaze, which he'd been avoiding up till now. Hearing her voice earlier had cut into one very hot fantasy he'd been having about her. He'd been afraid seeing her in person would kick those hormones right back into gear. It did.

“Nothing,” he said gruffly. “Let me get to this.”

“Sure. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming over here like this.”

“Not a problem. I wasn't doing anything.” Except thinking about her sexy body, but that definitely didn't bear mentioning.

She gave him an odd look, as if she was trying to figure out what to make of his suddenly irritable mood, then went back into the apartment, leaving a trail of some seductive perfume to torment him.

Installing the lock took less time than he'd hoped. He could have used an hour or two to get his equilibrium back. Instead, he was forced to go into the apartment.

“Okay, ladies, you're all set. The lock's in, and combined with that door, you should be safe enough,” he said to the woman seated beside Maggie.

“Thank you,” she replied softly. “It was really nice of you to come over and do that for me.”

“Ellie, this is Josh Parker. He's in charge of building that house I told you about.”

“Of course,” Ellie said. “What a sweet thing to do!”

Josh shrugged. “I don't know about sweet. It's a job.”

Maggie grinned at him. “Don't be modest. You know you did it to rack up points.”

“Really? And just who do you think I was angling to rack up points with?”

“Cord,” she suggested. “Maybe Amanda.”

Josh laughed. “Miss Maggie, you have me all wrong. I don't need points with Cord and I'm not interested in Amanda.”

She studied him curiously. “Then why did you agree to do it?”

“Just in case I'm a little short on recommendations when I arrive at the pearly gates,” he claimed. He wondered if she'd buy that his admission wasn't all that far from the truth.

“I suppose your fate there all depends on who's checking in the newcomers,” she retorted. “If it's a female, you won't have any problem at all sweet-talking your way inside.”

“Well, just in case, I'm trying to accumulate a few good deeds. Speaking of which, where are these paintings you want me to move?”

“I'll show you,” Ellie offered.

Maggie gave her a concerned look that Josh couldn't quite interpret.

“Are you sure?” she asked Ellie worriedly. “Want me to move the others out of the way first?”

“Which others?” Josh asked.

“The ones Brian destroyed,” Maggie explained.

Josh got the message. What Ellie was facing was that first gut-wrenching sight of the destruction of something that was important to her. He'd known that feeling once when vandals had gotten into a historic house he was renovating and had themselves a field day with paint. The devastation had clawed at his gut for days.

“How about you just point me in the right direction and I'll take care of it?” he suggested.

Ellie shook her head. “I'll have to see them sooner or later. I'm ready now.”

As soon as he followed her into the studio area and she switched on the bright overhead lights, Josh saw why Maggie had been so concerned. Ellie took a look around and swayed. He caught her and led her to a stool in front of an empty easel. He gently turned it away from the worst of the destruction.

“Why don't I bring over the rest of the paintings and you tell me which ones go and which ones stay?” he suggested.

She nodded, color finally coming back to her face. “Thanks.”

Maggie came over and stood beside her, a hand resting on her shoulder.

Josh didn't know enough about art to make an educated judgment, nor did he want to waste much time examining each of the works, but something in his gut told him to treat the paintings with extra care. He supposed people tossed around the word
genius
a little too casually, but he had a hunch he'd just stumbled onto one.

In the end, there were a dozen paintings Maggie wanted to take to the gallery. She and Ellie stood guard at the truck, while he brought them downstairs one by one and loaded them carefully into the back of his pickup.

Then all three of them rode to the gallery, where Maggie supervised their storage in a secured vault in the back. Josh checked all the locks and nodded with approval.

“They'll be safe enough here. How's your security system?” he asked.

“Top-of-the-line,” Maggie assured him. “But I'm going to have the security guys go over it just the same.”

“Then let's lock this place up and I'll take you two out for something to eat. I'll bet neither one of you has had dinner.”

Maggie regarded him with surprise. “To be honest, I'd forgotten all about food, and you're right. I'm starved. Ellie, what about you?”

“I think I'd rather go back home,” she said. “I can walk.”

“Not a chance,” Josh said. “If you insist on going home, we'll take you. I want another look around before I leave you there alone.”

“You don't need to do that,” Ellie protested.

“Yes, I do,” he said flatly.

“Let the man get his full quota of brownie points for this,” Maggie advised. “He probably has to overcome a lot if he wants to get into heaven someday.”

He winked at her. “You have no idea.”

“Oh, I think I do,” Maggie retorted.

But Josh thought he detected a glint in her eyes that suggested she found this reply intriguing. It seemed Miss Maggie might just have a thing for dangerous men.

 

Only after she and Josh were seated at an all-night diner in a part of town she rarely visited, did Maggie start to tremble. It could have been hunger, but she had a hunch it was a delayed reaction to her encounter with the out-of-control Brian Garrison.

Josh's hand immediately covered hers. “You okay? The worst is over. Don't fall apart now.”

“It's probably low blood sugar. I'll be fine as soon as I've eaten something.”

Magically, a waitress appeared at that instant, her artificially red hair sprayed into a dated beehive style and adorned with a frilly white cap held in place with bobby pins. A pin on her pocket said her name was Linda Sue.

“Hey, sugar, you're out late,” she said to Josh. “You want your usual?”

Maggie regarded Josh curiously. “Come here often?”

“Most nights like clockwork, right at seven. I could set the clock by him,” Linda Sue claimed. “Hasn't changed his order once in all these weeks, either.”

Josh looked vaguely unsettled by the revelation. “Maybe I'll do something totally unpredictable tonight.”

“Such as?” the woman asked skeptically.

“Yes, Josh,” Maggie encouraged, eager to see what he would consider a daring break with tradition. “Do something wild.”

“Okay, you two,” he chided. “Stop trying to turn this into some sort of dare. I happen to like burgers and fries.”

“But not tonight?” Linda Sue asked. “Is there something different about tonight, besides the fact that you finally have a good-looking woman with you?”

Maggie watched as Josh struggled to find a suitable comeback for the question. She grinned at his obvious dismay, then decided to give him a break.

“Well, while you're making this life-altering decision, Josh, I'm ordering the burger and fries. If you have it every night, it must be good.”

“Best in town,” the waitress assured her. She turned to Josh. “Made up your mind?”

He shrugged finally. “What can I say? I like the burger. But I will be daring. I'll have onion rings tonight.”

Maggie chuckled. “That
is
daring. I'm impressed. And just so you know, if you try to sneak even one of my fries, I will hurt you.”

Josh sighed dramatically. “Then you'd better bring me a side order of fries, too.”

“Coming right up,” Linda Sue promised.

The whole exchange had succeeded in calming Maggie's nerves, but as she met Josh's gaze, her pulse set off at a gallop all over again. However, he was the first to blink and look away.

“Why don't you tell me more about what happened earlier tonight?” he suggested. “What set the guy off?”

Maggie finally blinked and looked away. “I gather Brian was Ellie's mentor. When he heard I'd offered her a showing at the gallery, he freaked.”

Josh frowned. “You think she'll stay the hell away from him after this?”

“She says she will. Problem is, he doesn't seem to want to stay away from
her.
”

“Do you think he's dangerous? Does she need protection?”

“I wanted her to get a restraining order, but she refused. She says he would never hurt her.” A look flashed across Josh's face that startled Maggie. “You think she's wrong, don't you?”

“Women make that sort of mistake a lot,” he said tightly.

“And you know this because…?”

He shook his head. “It's not important.”

“I think it is,” Maggie contradicted, seeing the evidence in his stormy gaze.

But before she could press the point, Linda Sue came back with their food. The heavenly aroma and the gnawing sensation in her stomach forced her to push her questions aside for the moment. When she picked up her burger instead of prying into his life any further, there was no mistaking his relief.

Maggie met his gaze. “I won't forget what we were talking about,” she told him, determined to put him on notice.

“Have a French fry, sugar. They're just about good enough to make you forget everything.”

“Nothing's that good,” Maggie countered, but she popped one into her mouth. It was excellent. Crisp on the outside, tender inside and sprinkled with just the right amount of salt.

“Well?”

“Not bad,” she said, deliberately playing down the tastiness.

His eyes locked with hers. “Oh, really? That's the best you can come up with?” He picked up another fry, dipped it in ketchup and held it to her lips.

Maggie swallowed hard, then accepted the unspoken dare. She licked the ketchup off the fry, then slowly took it into her mouth. When she did, Josh's fingers brushed her lips.

And
that
had the effect he'd desired. She promptly forgot everything except the sensation of his work-roughened finger skimming across her lower lip. The jolt shot right through her. Something told her she'd be remembering that long after she was home—alone—in bed.

M
aggie hated nothing more than having her curiosity aroused and then not satisfied. Once the impact of Josh's touch finally wore off sometime in the middle of the night, she recalled why he'd deliberately set out to distract her. He'd wanted her to forget all about his inadvertent mention of his past.

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do this morning to track down any answers. She was scheduled to open the gallery at ten and was hoping to hear from Ellie that everything was quiet at her studio. With any luck at all, Brian had gotten the message that he wasn't to return.

When she arrived at the gallery, she found Dinah already waiting on the doorstep. Maggie regarded her suspiciously.

“What brings you by this early?” she inquired as she unlocked the door and turned off the security system.

“You called last night. I just came by to see what you'd wanted.”

“How did you know I called? I didn't leave a message,” Maggie said.

“That's the wonder of modern technology. Answering machines reveal all sorts of things. Cord insisted we have a top-of-the-line machine so we could screen calls.”

“Were you home when I called?” Maggie demanded, suddenly irritated. What good were best friends if they didn't pick up the phone when you needed them most?

Dinah blushed. “We were, but we were otherwise engaged.”

Maggie knew she should have seen that one coming. “Is this honeymoon of yours ever going to end?”

“Goodness, I surely do hope not,” Dinah replied, a grin spreading across her face. “So, what did you want? I figured it couldn't be that important since you didn't leave a message.”

“It was an emergency, as a matter of fact,” Maggie retorted. “So I had to call someone who actually answers the phone when it rings.”

“Warren?”

“No.” Maggie hesitated, then reminded herself that she was dealing with Dinah, the intrepid reporter who'd made world leaders squirm. There would be no peace until Maggie revealed who she'd turned to. “Josh.”

Dinah's eyes widened. “Really? How absolutely fascinating!”

“Is that all you can say?” Maggie asked in disgust. “Aren't you the least bit curious about the emergency?”

“Did Josh handle it?”

“Yes.”

“Then that's all that matters. I'm more interested in why you chose him.”

“He had technical expertise I required, along with a truck.”

Suddenly Dinah looked worried. “You weren't disposing of a body, were you?”

“Good Lord, no. You really do need to rein in that imagination of yours.” She frowned at Dinah. “And what on earth makes you think Josh would have the technical expertise needed for that? What kind of background does he have, anyway?”

Dinah shrugged. “He's an edgy kind of man. Something tells me he has all sorts of dark secrets.”

“And yet you're encouraging Amanda O'Leary to get all cozy with him,” Maggie said wryly.

“I am not encouraging anything between him and Amanda,” Dinah said impatiently. “That's
your
imagination working overtime. The woman made an offhand comment about how hot Josh is, and you've pictured some sort of relationship blossoming ever since. Since you claim you're not interested, I have to wonder why it even matters to you.”

“It doesn't matter,” Maggie insisted irritably. “At least, not the way you mean.”

“Is there some other way it could matter?” Dinah asked, amusement dancing in her eyes.

“Would you just drop it?”

Dinah chuckled. “Happy to, now that I've got the answer I was looking for.”

“You don't know squat.”

“That's what you think,” Dinah replied mildly. “So what happened that had you calling for reinforcements?” she asked, pushing to get the topic back on her track.

Maggie described the scene she'd come upon when she'd gone to visit Ellie. “I wanted to get a new lock installed and those paintings of hers away from there before that Neanderthal came back and tried to destroy any more of them.”

“They're here now?”

Maggie nodded. “Secured in the vault in back. I'm not taking any chances that he'll figure out they're here and decide to come by to ruin a few more.” She shuddered at the memory of the fury in his eyes just before he'd stormed out of Ellie's studio. “The man's scary.”

Dinah studied her with increased concern. “For you to say that, Maggie, he had to have been awful. Notify the police.”

“I can't. I promised Ellie I wouldn't do that, at least for now.”

“I think you're being foolish. At least tell them to keep a closer watch on the gallery,” Dinah pleaded.

“The vault's secure enough,” Maggie insisted.

“And the rest of this place? If he can't get to Ellie's work, he might take it out on the gallery.”

“I don't think he's that stupid or that crazy,” Maggie said, though her certainty was shaken by Dinah's concern. “This is personal between him and Ellie. He's jealous of her talent.”

“Really? Her paintings are that good?”

Maggie's enthusiasm for the paintings overcame the last of her irritation at Dinah for shutting her out the night before. “They're fabulous,” she confirmed.

Dinah's eyes gleamed the way they did when she was on the scent of a great story. “May I peek?”

Maggie grinned. “Are you asking as a reporter or as a friend who's capable of keeping a secret?”

“As long as you promise me an exclusive when the time comes, I'll keep your secret,” Dinah bargained.

“Okay, then,” Maggie said, knowing that she could trust Dinah's promises. They'd both kept silent about an awful lot of youthful misadventures. “Come with me.”

She opened the vault and switched on the overhead light, then gestured at the individual storage bins. “The paintings are in those.” Then she waited, holding her breath for Dinah's reaction.

The hundred-watt bulb in the humidity-controlled vault was nothing compared to what the gallery lighting would be when it came time for the show, but Dinah gasped at the first painting she pulled out to view.

“Oh my, she really is talented, isn't she?” Dinah said in a hushed voice, stepping closer to the still life. “Not that I'm half the expert you are, but this is amazing.”

Maggie beamed as relief flooded through her. “Don't sell yourself short, Dinah. The art collection your folks have is nothing to sneer at. You grew up being able to tell a masterpiece from junk the same way I did.”

Dinah gently retrieved each painting from its protective bin. At last she turned back to Maggie. “When's the show?”

“I want to take my time planning it, so I'm thinking September at the earliest, maybe October,” Maggie replied. “That will give me time to create a certain amount of buzz and maybe lure a few art critics down here from New York.”

Dinah regarded Maggie with evident curiosity. “What did Josh think? I assume you paid close attention to his reaction.”

“He seemed impressed,” Maggie said carefully. “But he was more interested in getting these things out of Ellie's place and tucked away here than he was in examining them.”

“So he's not an art lover.” Dinah studied her. “Is that a problem?”

“I needed his muscle last night,” Maggie said defensively. “I wasn't interested in his opinion of Ellie's work.”

Dinah looked doubtful. “But you're attracted to him. Don't even try to deny it. Could you start seeing someone who doesn't have something this important in common with you?”

“I'm not seeing Josh or considering seeing Josh. He came to the rescue last night. Period,” Maggie said flatly. “Don't try to make this into something it isn't.”

“Maybe you're the one who should heed that advice,” Dinah warned. “I know you, sweetie. You listen to your hormones before you pay the slightest bit of attention to your head. Your head's saying all the right things, but I'm willing to bet that your hormones are doing a fancy tango right about now.”

“Oh, for pity's sake, you're making way too much out of this,” Maggie repeated.

But even as she spoke, she wondered if Dinah wasn't right. Her reaction to Josh's touch the night before was enough to set off alarms all over Charleston. She couldn't deny it.

For once in her life, maybe she ought to do the smart thing and steer clear of a man so obviously unsuited for her. There were things in life she valued, and art was definitely one of them. If Josh didn't value it, how could there possibly be anything meaningful between them? Then again, her parents' world was filled with couples who went their separate ways when it came to cultural events.

She might have heeded Dinah's advice for once and steered clear of Josh—if she hadn't recalled his reaction to the gallery. He'd said exactly the right things about the atmosphere she'd achieved. Maybe he didn't know a Monet from a Picasso, but he had good instincts. He might not have gushed over Ellie's paintings, but she'd seen the care he demonstrated when handling them. He'd known instinctively that they had worth. And he was a fine craftsman, which was a brand of art in itself.

“Don't you worry about me and Josh,” she told Dinah staunchly. “We're not even friends, much less lovers. I'm not convinced yet that he doesn't have a thing for the lovely Amanda, so why would I risk anything under those circumstances?”

Dinah smiled. “Because there's nothing you like more than a risky challenge, Maggie, especially if you know it will set your mother's teeth on edge. I recognize all the signs. Josh Parker is a little rough around the edges and he has danger written all over him, therefore you're going to fall for him. Hard, more than likely.”

“You don't know everything,” Maggie said, scowling.

“When it comes to the way your heart works, I do,” Dinah contradicted. “Just be careful, okay? Take your time for once. Get to know the man before you fall into bed with him.”

Maggie studied her friend with a narrowed gaze. “I thought you liked Josh. What's with all the warnings?”

“He seems like a good guy, but like I said before, he's edgy. He doesn't say much. I doubt even Cord knows him really well, and they've worked together for a couple of years now.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “Of course, I could dig around a little, see what I can find out.”

“Don't you dare,” Maggie said.

“Lots of women these days, especially wealthy ones, hire private investigators to be sure they're not dealing with some sort of scoundrel. You don't need to go that far,” Dinah advised cheerfully. “You have me.”

“Stay out of it,” Maggie said again. “If I decide there are things I need to know about Josh, I'm perfectly capable of finding them out for myself.”

“It could be too late. Let me at least do some sort of basic background check.”

“Don't you think Cord probably did that before he put him in charge in Atlanta?”

“I doubt it,” Dinah said. “Cord goes on gut instinct.”

“Has it failed him yet?”

“I suppose not,” Dinah conceded reluctantly.

“And Josh did excellent work for him in Atlanta, right? That
is
what you told me?”

“Yes. But trusting a man to renovate a building is hardly the same as trusting him with your best friend's heart.”

“I'm not worried, so leave it be, Dinah. I'll be spending a few hours with the man on Saturdays, surrounded by lots of people. How much trouble can I possibly get into?”

“It's not Saturdays I'm worried about,” Dinah argued. “You've already come up with one excuse to see him away from that project. I suspect that's just the beginning. You can be pretty creative when you want to spend more time with a man.”

“I didn't manufacture an excuse to see Josh. This was an emergency,” Maggie stressed. “Besides, I called you and Cord first.” Tired of the whole debate, she gave Dinah a pointed look. “Don't you need to go to work or drive your husband crazy or something?”

Dinah sighed. “Okay, I'll go. But I'm keeping my eye on the two of you. If I don't like what I'm seeing, I won't keep my mouth shut.”

Maggie laughed. “No surprise there.”

Dinah grinned. “Yeah, I suppose not. Love you.”

“You, too.”

Maggie's smile faded as Dinah left the gallery. She was not going to fall for Josh in the same headlong, impulsive way that always got her into trouble. She wasn't.

She sighed when she recalled her response to his touch. Famous last words.

 

Josh was shaken by what he'd come close to revealing to Maggie the night before. He never talked about his mother and the steady parade of men through their lives. He'd only told Cord that he was from a single-parent home and they'd moved around a lot. He'd never explained why, never said that Nadine had a tendency to fall for the losers of the universe.

She'd always done it with such incredible optimism, too. Each man had been the love of her life, the one who was going to turn their lives into a bed of roses. When she discovered those roses were riddled with thorns, she'd packed Josh up and moved on, defeated for a time, but always bouncing back as soon as the next handsome scoundrel gave her a second glance.

At first Josh had hated her for getting sucked in again and again, but now that he was older he'd almost come to admire her determined ability to ignore history. He'd stuffed down his own considerable emotional baggage from losing a prospective dad again and again.

He'd come away from all those years of observing his mother's emotional ups and downs with a grim determination of his own to play fair with the women he met. He never made promises he had no intention of keeping. Hell, most of the time he never made promises at all. And he never, ever dated women with kids who could be hurt when he took off, as he inevitably would.