James, Stephanie (22 page)

was…”

“…vulnerable, sensitive and shy. I know,” he finished wryly. “But, honey, that’s exactly what I am. Well,

maybe I’m not particularly
shy
,” he conceded honestly, “but I am vulnerable and sensitive and…”

“Dev, I think we’d better go on to another topic before I pour this excellent Chardonnay over your

head,” Tabitha threatened violently.

His mouth hardened and for an instant she thought he might override her demand. But he didn’t. Instead

he obediently changed the subject, asking her about Port Townsend and how long she’d had The

Manticore. In a surprisingly short time Tabitha found herself chatting freely once again, just as she had on

the ship. Slowly Tabitha began to relax. In spite of all the uncertainty, this was where she wanted to be

and this was the man she wanted to be with tonight. She loved Dev Colter.

Dev watched her gradual relaxation with a sense of gratification. It was working. She was rapidly turning

back into the charming, soft, feminine creature she had been on board ship. He was managing to undo

some of the damage. She was seeing him now less and less as the ruthless agent she had watched in

action on the island and more as the ordinary, non-threatening businessman he truly was. Dev began to

relax a little himself. He hadn’t realized just how tense he had been for the past few days.

It had taken careful planning and thought to decide just when to pursue her to Port Townsend. His

instincts had warned him to give her a little time to get over her hurt and resentment. But his instincts had

very nearly kept him away too long, he thought in annoyance. Walking in on that little morning-after scene

today had told him that much. How did the tabby cat dare play around with her newfound

self-confidence?

Grimly Dev tamped down the rising irritation. He had arrived in time. There would be no repeat

performance. Tabitha would not be practicing her unique seduction techniques on anyone except him

from now on! Belatedly he realized that something of his determination must be showing in his face,

because she was eyeing him a little warily from the other side of the table. Dev smiled blandly.

“Have some more wine, Tabby. It’s very good. I had no idea your northwestern wines were becoming

so competitive with California’s.”

The caution in her eyes eased once again and she went on to tell him about the thriving wine industries in

Washington and Oregon. Dev listened attentively. He found her so soothing to listen to, he realized

vaguely. Soothing and charming and sweetly exciting.

By the time he drove her home after dinner Dev was feeling quite certain of his progress. Tabitha, he

decided happily, was very nearly back in his lap. The wariness in her had diminished to almost nothing

and the warmth was back in her sherry-colored eyes. She hadn’t resisted at all when he’d taken her hand

to walk her back out to the car, and he felt quite sure she wouldn’t resist when he took her in his arms

later. Once he had her safely in his arms, he told himself, everything would be perfect.

He was right up to a point.

“Is this the beginning of the seduction?” she asked with grave interest as he closed the door of her

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cottage behind him, hooked his cane over the knob and started to pull her close.

He smiled sensually down at her, inhaling the tantalizing, female fragrance of her hair and skin. “I do

believe it is,” he murmured. Actually, the seduction had been going on all evening, but if she didn’t realize

it, who was he to tell her? His smile widened, lighting his eyes as he traced the line of her cheek with his

finger. God, it was good to be touching her again. So very, very good. Dev sighed softly and bent his

head to taste her lips.

“Well, in that case, this is where I say good night,” Tabitha declared firmly and planted both of her small

hands against his chest.

Dev blinked in surprise. “What?”

“You heard me. Good night, Dev. I had a lovely evening.” She smiled a bit too brilliantly for his liking.

“Tabby…!”

“You have to go now, Dev, because I haven’t made up my mind about us yet. I still have a lot of

thinking to do,” she explained very kindly.

He bit back the rather violent four-letter word which came to his lips. He wouldn’t push her. She was

almost back where she belonged, and he could afford to wait until she came the rest of the way of her

own free will. He had the rest of his life to think about. Surely he could hold off for another night or so

before securing his future? Where was all that much-vaunted patience he had learned through the years?

With a supreme effort of will he summoned another smile and bent down to brush her lips.

“Thank you for trusting me enough to come out with me tonight, Tabby,” he murmured, injecting as

much humble gratitude into his voice as he could manage under the circumstances. “I’ll call you in the

morning.”

For just an instant she hesitated, a worried expression coming to her eyes. “Have you got a place to

stay?” she asked a little gruffly.

It took fortitude, but Dev succeeded in passing up the obvious opportunity. What would she do if he

said he had nowhere to go tonight? Offer him a couch? He’d never know because he had already made

up his mind to go on playing the gentleman. “I’m staying in one of those old Victorian monstrosities

someone has converted into a bed and breakfast place. Don’t worry about me, Tabby.”

“I won’t,” she agreed with alacrity. “Good night, Dev.”

“Good night, Tabby.” He hesitated wistfully, but could think of no further excuse for staying. Without

another word he grasped his cane and let himself out the door. Patience, he instructed himself grimly.

You’re supposed to be good at waiting. Just give her a little more time and she’ll be yours. The woman’s

in love with you. She had to be in love with him, damn it!

Dev was still consoling himself with that promise four days later as he dressed for yet another evening

out with Tabitha Graham. She had to be in love with him; he refused to consider any other possibility. But

why the hell was she insisting on keeping him at arm’s length?

With a savage twist, he finished knotting his tie and reached for the jacket hanging on the chair.

Automatically he checked for his keys and wallet and then headed for the door of the room. Was she

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playing some kind of game with him? Punishing him perhaps for not being the man she had wanted him to

be on board ship? Or was she just uncertain of herself?

If it was uncertainty, he had to decide how long to let it go on before putting a stop to this nonsense. If

she was playing games, he would damn well put a halt to them as fast as possible. And if she was trying

to punish him… He winced at the thought. Perhaps he deserved it. Down in the tiny parking lot of the old

Victorian Inn he slammed the rental car in gear and pulled out into the street, heading for Tabby’s little

cottage. One way or another he had to find out what she thought she was doing, and then he had to put a

stop to it. His patience was nearly gone and all his instincts were coming uneasily alive in warning.

Warning of what? That Tabby might really have changed? That she might have become a harder, slightly

vicious little cat? No, he didn’t want to believe that. He couldn’t believe it. He had seen the gentle

compassion in her eyes too often during the past few days. She couldn’t have changed so fundamentally.

So why was he feeling that sense of restless unease again tonight? God, he hated these prickly sensations

of impending disaster, even if he did occasionally owe his life to their warning signals.

Tonight was the night, he decided grimly, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. Tonight he would

settle matters once and for all. Tabitha belonged in his bed, and the sooner she rediscovered that fact, the

better for both of them. This fencing game she was playing with him was going to drive him out of his

mind. He had been so sure that she’d surrender right away. After all, she
loved
him.

God help him if she didn’t.

With admirable self-mastery, he hid the growing sense of desperation he was feeling as he took Tabitha

out on yet another dinner date. This time she had recommended an expensive French restaurant housed

in yet another of the restored Victorian homes for which the town was famed.

“One of the best examples of Victorian architecture north of San Francisco,” Tabitha had told him

proudly as she had taken him through Port Townsend the day before. “We’ve been designated a

National Historic District, you know.”

“I didn’t know,” he’d murmured, wondering what she would do if he just dragged her down onto the

grass of the nearest park and made love to her right then and there. But of course he hadn’t. He was a

gentleman.

But tonight urgent instincts were overriding the refined, sensitive gentleman in him. Dev knew he had to

get things settled. His nerves, once thought by many to be made of steel, weren’t going to survive this

torture much longer.

“A new piece of jewelry?” he asked politely halfway through the shrimp in cognac cream sauce that they

had both ordered. He peered at the necklace more closely.

“Do you like it?” she asked excitedly. “A friend of mine made it. It’s a centaur. Half man, half horse.

Supposed to be a very lusty animal.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Dev knew she regretted having dragged the topic of sex

into the conversation. He saw the pink tinge in her cheeks and smiled to himself. At least the concept of

sex was also on her mind!

“Lustier than dragons?” he asked innocently.

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She coughed and reached for her wineglass. “Well, as I told you, no one seems to know much about the

sex habits of dragons…”

“Except you,” he reminded her bluntly.

“If you don’t mind, I would prefer to change the subject,” she replied loftily.

“Whatever you say, honey.”

She could change the subject, but damned if he was going to let her get away with forgetting about sex

altogether! Tonight he was going to make love to her and still these nagging, restless prickles of warning

which had been haunting him all afternoon. He needed the reassurance now of having her back in his

arms.

“Will you come in for a nightcap?” she asked easily at the door later on that evening. She’d invited him in

for the preceding two nights and had found him simple enough to get rid of afterward, Dev thought wryly.

He hadn’t yet given her a reason to think tonight would be different.

“Thank you, Tabby. I’d like that.”

He watched her disappear into the kitchen and then he carefully lowered himself to one knee in front of

the fireplace and began building a blaze on the hearth. He was getting to his feet, using the cane as a

lever, when she returned a short time later with two brandies in snifters. Dev winced and then smiled

bravely.

“What’s the matter?” she demanded in immediate concern. “Is your leg bothering you tonight?” Hastily

she set down the brandies and came forward to help him to the couch.

“A little. It’ll be fine in a moment. All that walking around town yesterday afternoon might have been a

bit much.”

“I shouldn’t have run you all over the place looking at Victorian houses,” she chastised herself, assisting

him onto the couch. “Here, have some brandy.”

Gratefully he accepted the snifter. She sat down beside him and frowned intently until he took a sip and

then assured her his leg was better in its present position. “I’ll just have to stay off of it for a few minutes.

It’ll be fine by the time I leave.”

Since he didn’t intend to leave until morning that would probably not be a lie, he told himself. A night in

Tabby’s bed would be more than enough medicine to soothe the slight, aching twinge he had experienced

when he’d used the cane to get to his feet a moment ago. Then he noticed she was still frowning.

“That’s something I want to talk to you about, Dev,” she began very precisely.

“Leaving?” He tensed but hid the reaction with a faint whimsical smile. “Already? I haven’t even finished

my brandy.”

“I don’t mean tonight,” she countered carefully. “I mean for good. What exactly are your plans, Dev?

How long will you be staying here in Port Townsend?” She raised her eyes determinedly to meet his

quizzical gaze.

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He took a long breath and let it out slowly. “For good, I think.”

“For good!” The brandy sloshed precariously in her snifter as she stared at him. “What are you talking

about?”

“About opening a travel agency in that shop next to yours, the one that’s going to be for lease soon,” he

told her flatly, holding her eyes with his own. “About moving permanently from Houston to Port

Townsend. About marrying you.”

He watched the expressions chase each other across her sensitive features. She hadn’t been prepared

for anything quite so blatant tonight and it showed. Well, the waiting was over as far as he was

concerned. There was no reason not to be blunt.