Jeopardy (7 page)

Somehow that didn’t make her feel better. “No, I don’t suppose you did.”

“But on the other hand, I’m not sorry it happened.”

Now she felt better. “Thank you for saying so.”

“I mean it.”

She nodded, appreciating his kindness. It made her all the more determined to get on with her life—something she was sure she would not be able to do if they made love again. Lord, where had such a thought come from, she wondered.

There was no chance of that happening, though. His purpose there was obviously to try to let her down easy. But to her chagrin, she was discovering she could not take his polite, gentle dismissal easily.

She felt as If he had flung her off a cliff last night when he had taken her Into his arms, and now she was about to crash on the rocks below. To come out of this in one piece, she had to go on the offensive, soften the landing.

"Why did you leave without telling me?” he asked, his voice lowering into its purr.

Once again he had managed to throw her off balance, she thought, dismayed. “I woke up and decided it was time to leave.”

“But why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were sleeping deeply. I thought it would be rude to wake you.”

He rarely slept deeply, he thought, but then, he couldn’t remember ever staying up all night and making love. And he almost always awoke alone. But this morning, when he had awakened and found her gone, he had been deeply disturbed.

He averted his gaze from her. Just being near her had his blood heating. He couldn’t seem to look at her too long without wanting to kiss her until she was senseless and then undress them both and repeat last night down to the finest detail. How in hell had he managed to keep his hands off her for so many years? He wished he knew. All this time he must have been walking a tightrope without realizing the enormity of his feat.

“It was a mistake,” she was saying. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

His gaze flew back to her. “That’s damned ironic. A day ago I said the same thing about the kiss, and you got angry. Now you’re saying last night was a mistake, and
I’m
angry as hell. Our opinions have reversed. How did that happen?” She threw up her hands. “This is pointless. I’m not the one with the answers. However, I am the one who’s tired. Please, leave.”

He suddenly grabbed her arms and pulled her to him. “Dammit, we ignite whenever we’re near each other, Angelica! I want to know why! After all these years,
why?"

She couldn’t think. Being in contact with his hard, muscled body put her in a type of peril with which she could not cope. At this moment the contact seemed an even greater peril than the rocks she was hurtling toward. With an immense burst of energy she broke free of his grip. Taking shuddering breaths, she forcibly pushed air into her lungs. “I told you I don’t know the answers, and we don’t seem to be able to have a sensible discussion about it, or anything else, for that matter. So stay away from me, and I’ll stay away from you.”

He didn’t like her response at all. “And you think
that’s
going to solve everything?”

“Yes, yes, I do.”

He stared at her, clenching and unclenching his hands. Dammit, he couldn’t get a handle on what was happening, and it was driving him crazy. She had been on the edge of his life for years, and now she was square in the middle of it. He wasn’t sure he had the strength to shove her back to the edge, and staying away from her seemed an intolerable solution to the problem. “You weren’t a virgin,” he said softly.

Her breath caught in her throat; she pointed a shaking finger at him. “You’re going to have to stop doing that.”

“What?”

“Making unexpected statements straight out of left field."

“I’m sorry," he said, looking anything but contrite. “It’s just that I didn’t know you had slept with anyone.”

“Why in heaven’s name should you know?” she asked, incensed. “That’s a very personal, private matter.”

“And last night we were together in a very personal, private way.” His eyes glittered like beautiful hard stones. "Wouldn’t you say, Angelica?”

 “What I would say is that last night is over with.”

He took a few steps away, then turned and returned to the spot where he had been standing. “We see each other often enough so I pretty much know whom you’ve dated through the years. But there’s never been anyone I’ve seen you with that I thought you might sleep with. Not even the jerk you almost became engaged to.”

“Roger wasn't a jerk.”

“He was a jerk.”

She sighed inwardly. Amarillo was tenacious as a bulldog, and she wasn’t up to a struggle. She held up a hand in surrender. “Gary McKee. I had a short affair with Gary McKee. Okay?”

A muscle in his jaw jerked. He could barely manage to get the name out, and his words positively stung with sarcasm. “I never met a Gary McKee.”

“That’s because you were in Texas.”

“When? Which time?”

She wrapped her arms around her waist. “When you took Rebecca Randolph with you to show her where you grew up and to meet your relatives. I thought you must be pretty serious about her because you had never taken any other woman, but you came back alone.”

His expression turned strange and unreadable. “Rebecca and I were only casual friends. She was going to Texas because her family was living in Austin at the time. I offered her a ride in my plane, since I was going there anyway. I touched down at the Austin airport, let her off, and within fifteen minutes I was airborne again, on my way to Lubbock, alone.”

She stared at him as a horrible thought occurred to her. Could it be remotely possible that she had thrown herself into an affair with someone, who in the end had meant nothing to her, because she had believed Amarillo had finally found a woman who made him want to marry again? She remembered now that her affair had ended about the same time he had returned from Texas without Rebecca. By turns, she went hot and cold. It was extremely unnerving to think it possible she had not been conscious of the true reason why she had done something.

He raised his hand toward her. “Angelica—” The phone rang.

She started at the shrill noise. It rang again. After a moment she walked to the phone and answered. “Hello.”

“You shouldn’t go out with blond-haired men. 
You shouldn’t go out at all. You had better start minding me or I'll have to punish you. ”

The high-pitched, muffled voice went through her like a knife. The phone slipped through her nerveless fingers and slid to the floor. Amarillo was instantly by her side.

“What’s wrong?” he asked even as he picked up the receiver and held it to his ear. “The line's dead. Who was it?” He replaced the receiver in its cradle.

She gave a hollow laugh. “He thinks your hair is blond. How silly.”

His brows knitted with concern and confusion., “Who does?”

“The man who keeps calling. Your hair is sandy, not blond, but he said it was blond.”

He put his arm around her, led her to the nearest sofa, and pulled her down beside him. "Okay, now tell me what’s going on. Who is the man who keeps calling? And what does he say?” 

She exhaled a breath and drew in another one. “It’s really nothing.”

“Nothing
wouldn’t upset you. The call did.” “Yes, and that’s just it. I shouldn’t let the calls affect me. He’s only some crank.”

“Calls? How many times has he called you?” 

“Four.” The number startled her. She hadn’t realized it had been so many times. “I guess that’s right. Four. The first was here, two nights ago, right before Nico phoned. The second was the next morning at work. The third was in the evening, here again. And now this one.”

“And what does he say?”

She shrugged. “He keeps telling me to mind him, to stay home, to not go out, to be a good girl. That sort of thing. Just then he said I shouldn’t go out with blond-haired men. It’s ridiculous when you think about it.”

“Have you told your father? Why in hell haven’t you told me before?”

“No, I haven’t told my father and for the same reason I haven't told you. Because it didn’t seem important.” And it hadn’t, but now she was vaguely surprised to realize she was relieved he knew.

Amarillo geared up for action. “There are things that can be done. And the first thing is to place a trace on both your home and office phones.”

 "No, no. It’s too much trouble. He may not even call again. Remember about five years ago when you and Nico were still on the police force and I began getting crank calls?”

He nodded. “Nico came unglued.”

“And you were there right along beside him.” 

His gaze was cool. "What’s your point?”

“The two of you brought to bear as much technology and police department weight as you could manage trying to trace and locate whoever was doing it. Remember?"

“I remember. We were never able to catch the bastard.”

“And the person finally stopped calling. Since then, I’ve had other calls, usually right after my picture has appeared in the paper, as it did last week.”

“Did you tell Nico about the other calls?”

“No way. The two of you insisted I stay here in the house under guard the first time it happened.I couldn’t even go to the store. They had to messenger my work to me. It was awful.” A shudder went through her.

He frowned. “Why would that upset you? You had eveiything you needed here."

“But I couldn’t walk out my own front door If I wanted to,” she said with real distress. “I have to be able to get out of a place If I want to."

He didn’t understand the fear he saw In her eyes; more than that, he didn’t understand why her fear should hurt him so. “Sounds like a form of claustrophobia.”

“Call it what you will, it doesn’t matter. I vowed never again to allow my life to be interrupted like that. The calls are a nuisance, but they eventually stop. This guy, whoever he is, will too.”

He leaned forward, his expression intent. “Listen to me, Angelica. You’re right, up to a point. A great majority of calls like this are harmless, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take every precaution possible. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, this guy is watching you.”

A cold chill slid down her spine.

“How else would he know that you were seeing a blond-haired man?” he added quietly.

Her lips firmed into a stubborn line. “I still say he’ll get tired and go away soon. He’ll find someone else’s picture in the paper and bother them for a while. And there'll be someone after that.”

 “You may be right about this guy being harmless. I hope you are. But I don’t take anything for granted. And until your theory proves out, you are going to have bodyguards round the clock and your home and office phones tapped.”

She surged to her feet. “No bodyguards. Absolutely not.”

He copied her, coming to his feet as quickly as she. “Yes, absolutely. If you think for one minute I’m going to stand-by and do nothing while some bastard harasses you, think again.”

She lashed out without thought. “Since when did you become my protector?”

"Nico—”

“Forget Nico,” she said heatedly. “He’s not here.”

“Exactly."

“Oh, I see. You’re taking over the role of big brother. Well, you can forget it.” The idea was abhorrent to her, but at the moment she couldn’t think why.

“The role of big brother is probably a damned sight better and safer role than the one I played all last night!” He stared at her, noting her stricken look, then plunged rigid fingers through his hair.
“Damn,
why do I let you get to me?"

She held up a shaking hand. “Okay, let’s stop this. This argument about bodyguards and phone taps is academic anyway. I’m leaving for SwanSea first thing in the morning.”

He stilled, his volatile energy and power suddenly, frighteningly, contained. “When did you make your decision?”

“Today. It seems like the thing to do."

“And did telling me enter anywhere into your plans?”

“I would have told you.” She paused. “If you had asked. Anyway, I was already scheduled to go there in a few days. I’m only stepping up my plans.”

“And how much of this sudden decision has to do with me?”

Lying to him would have been an easy solution. Unfortunately it was beyond her at the moment. “Just about everything.”

"We’re not through. Angelica. You know that, don’t you? We haven't settled a thing.”

She tried to laugh, but couldn’t even come close. “There’s that word again.
Settled.
We never get anywhere with it. Like I said before, we can’t even carry on a normal, sensible conversation. I say we give up.”

“Can you? I can’t.” Without warning, glints of heat appeared in the depths of his golden eyes.

An unbidden warmth swept over her, adding to her turmoil. And, she realized, she had begun to develop a headache. “It’s late. I have a long drive tomorrow. I want you to leave now.”

“I’m going with you.”

“Where?” she asked, unable to follow his rapid-fire mind.

“SwanSea.”

She gasped. “SwanSea? I asked you to come, and you said you couldn’t. Remember? You said with Nico out of the country—”

“I changed my mind.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

He appeared utterly controlled. She didn’t trust him. “Why, Amarillo?"

“The Children’s Fund is an excellent charity. It’s been a while since I’ve been up there. I need to check on my horses. I need a break. Pick any one, and you'll have a legitimate reason.”

“You changed your mind because you suddenly think I need protecting, and I won't have it.” 

“You have no choice.” His soft voice was like cold steel.

She whirled away, strode into the entry hall, and jerked open the front door. “I can’t keep you from going to SwanSea, but I can keep you from going with me. Don’t even try to come by here in the morning.”

“I was thinking I could fly us up,” he said, sauntering into the hall.

“I’m driving.”

“All the more reason for us to fly. You drive like a maniac.”

“I’m driving. Alone.”

He paused at the door and looked down at her. “Okay, Angelica, you win the point. Drive up alone if you like. But when you arrive, look behind you, because I’ll be there. Whatever the reason, I can’t seem to let you go off without me.” He smiled slowly. “And maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe we’ll actually manage to have a few normal talks that won’t end in lovemaking. Maybe.”