McIver's Mission (10 page)

Colin nodded. "I guess that's good enough for
now."

"What's good enough for now?" Nikki asked,
stepping out onto the porch and into the cool early-October evening.

Shaun flashed his brother a warning look. The last
thing he needed was for Nikki to mention to Arden that he'd been talking to
Colin about her. Arden would be furious. Not that he could really blame her.
She'd made it clear that she didn't want Nikki worrying about her, and he knew
Nikki would worry if she thought there was something going on between her
cousin and her brother-in-law.

"Shaun's promised to help me clear out the spare
bedroom upstairs so we can turn it into a nursery for the baby," Colin
told her.

Shaun didn't know whether to be impressed by his
brother's quick response or ticked that he'd managed to turn the situation to
his own advantage. But he managed a smile for his sister-in-law.

"That's so sweet," she said, lowering
herself onto the swing beside her husband.

"That's me," Shaun said dryly. "A sweet
guy."

Colin laughed. "Of all the adjectives I could
think of to describe you,
sweet
would not be one of them."

"This from the man who wants me to clean his
house."

"And paint," Colin added.

Shaun just glared at him.

* * *

After
Carly's
birthday party, Arden resolved that the best
way to deal with Shaun was to avoid him. She usually faced a problem head-on,
but she had no idea how to handle Shaun. He'd said that he couldn't be in the
same room with her without thinking about the kiss they'd shared, so she
decided not to be in the same room with him. It seemed like a simple solution.
The problem was, it didn't stop
her
from thinking about that kiss.

But she figured the more time that passed, the easier
it would get. All she had to do in the interim was avoid Shaun.

Unfortunately she had less than forty-eight hours to
test her strategy before she crossed paths with him again.

It was just before ten o'clock Monday morning and she
was at the courthouse filing documents for an upcoming hearing when she saw
him. He was standing outside Courtroom Four talking to Warren Blake. Whatever
they were discussing, their conversation seemed heated, almost antagonistic.

She should have taken her documents and made her
escape, but she couldn't help lingering a moment to observe the two men. She
knew Shaun didn't like Warren, which wasn't surprising since they were destined
to be on opposite sides of the courtroom all the time.

"Is it the assistant district attorney who has
you looking all dreamy-eyed, or the other guy?"

The question startled Arden out of her reverie. She
turned to Marcy Crawford, the young associate she'd hired only two months
earlier.

"I'm not dreamy-eyed," Arden denied,
stuffing the papers she'd been holding into her briefcase.

Marcy just grinned. "It must be the other guy.
He's coming this way."

Arden glanced up, saw that Marcy was right.
"Damn," she muttered under her breath.

"Waiting for me?" Shaun asked when he'd
joined them.

Arden flushed, embarrassed that she'd been caught
loitering in the courthouse, wondering if he'd seen her watching him.
"Actually, I was waiting for Warren."

Shaun scowled. "You're kidding."

Arden laughed. "Yeah, I am."

Shaun turned to Marcy and gave her one of his
trademark killer smiles. "Shaun McIver," he said, offering his hand.

Marcy looked pretty dreamy-eyed herself as she smiled
back at him. "Marcy Crawford, and I'm very pleased to meet you."

"Marcy's my new associate," Arden said,
annoyed with Shaun's flirtatious manner and Marcy's predictable reaction. It
shouldn't matter to her; she shouldn't care. In fact, if she was smart—and she
liked to think she was—she'd be trying to set Shaun up with Marcy. It might get
him off
her
back. The idea held little appeal. Suddenly she wasn't so
sure she wanted him off her back.

"Do you ladies have time for coffee?" Shaun
asked.

"I wish I did," Marcy told him. "But
I've got a pretrial in ten minutes."

"Arden?" Shaun asked, turning to her.
"I wanted to talk to you about something, if you've got a minute."

No
. All she
had to do was say that one simple word and she could go back to her office and
back to her plan of avoidance. But her brain and her mouth were obviously
having some kind of communication problem, because when she opened her mouth to
respond, she said, "Sure."

"I don't think they have Jamaican Blue
Mountain," Shaun said as they made their way down the stairs to the café.

"As long as it has caffeine." She assured
herself that she had agreed to this meeting only because he said they needed to
discuss something, even though she had no idea what that "something"
was.

They took their coffee—or rather, Arden took her
coffee and Shaun took his tea—to a small table on the perimeter of the café
where lush, overgrown foliage spilling out of clay pots gave the misplaced
illusion of a tropical rainforest.

"How is the new lawyer working out?" Shaun
asked when they were seated.

Arden wasn't sure if she detected some personal
interest in the question or if he was just making conversation.
"Fine," she said.

Shaun's lips curved, and Arden felt her insides melt.
At least she knew she wasn't the only woman to react this way. Marcy had
practically dissolved at his feet when he'd aimed that smile at her.

"Good. It will be easier for you to get away for
a weekend if you have someone to hold down the fort."

"I don't have any reason to get away for a
weekend," she told him.

He smiled again. "I'm working on it."

"Is this part of your elaborate ruse to get me
into bed with you?"

"Sometimes simplicity is best," he said.
"And I won't need a ruse. When we make love, it's going to be because you
want it as much as I do."

Despite the arrogance of his words, she couldn't help
the heat that flooded through her. She did want him, and God help her if he
ever figured that out.

"Some women might find that kind of arrogant
machismo appealing," Arden said. "I don't."

"We'll see."

"You said you wanted to talk about
something."

"Not really."

Arden set her cup down, narrowed her eyes.

"That was just an excuse to spend some time with
you," he admitted.

"I don't have time for games."

"You have to learn to make time for the fun
things in life."

"I have fun," she said defensively.

"That's why you left
Carly's
birthday party early to go to the office."

She picked up her coffee and sipped. She had gone into
the office, only because she'd needed something to occupy her mind. Work had
always succeeded before, but Saturday night, after he'd stood in Nikki's
kitchen and matter-of-factly told her he wanted to have sex with her, nothing
had banished the echo of those words from her mind. Or the corresponding
twinges of excitement and apprehension that coursed through her system.

"I had work to do," she told him.

"Speaking of work," he said, "I picked
up the wood for your bookshelves. If you're going to be home tonight, I could
come around and get started."

Arden frowned into her mug. "I do appreciate the
offer, but I'm not sure this is such a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Oh." He nodded in apparent understanding.
"I get it."

"Get what?"

"You're afraid to be alone with me."

"Of course not," she denied.

"You're worried that if we spend time together it
might weaken your resolve not to get involved with me."

"I don't weaken that easily," she said.

He grinned. "Then why don't you want me to build
your shelves?"

"I just think you must have better things to do
with your time."

"Not at all."

"Fine." Arden pushed her empty cup aside and
stood up. "I should be home by six-thirty. Come over and build the damn
shelves if you're that intent on doing so."

Chapter
6

«
^
»

B
ecause
he was intent on building her shelves, and because it gave him a valid excuse
to spend time with her, Shaun was at Arden's apartment promptly at six-thirty
that night. Just as she was arriving home from the office.

Arden frowned at the armful of wood he carried into
her apartment. "If you took all the measurements you needed, why can't you
just build the shelves at your place and bring them over here when you're
done?"

"Because," he explained as he set the
mahogany boards on the living room floor, "then I wouldn't have the
pleasure of your company."

"I don't plan on keeping you company," she
said. "I have reading to catch up on."

"Then I'll just enjoy being in the same room with
you."

"I'll be in my bedroom."

"I can bring my tools into the bedroom," he
suggested hopefully.

Arden shook her head, but she was smiling.
"Forget it, McIver."

He shrugged. "It was worth a try."

"Try forgetting I'm here," she said.

Then she turned and disappeared down the hall to what
must have been her bedroom, because he heard the soft click of a door latching
shut a few seconds later. Undaunted, he set to work.

Arden didn't surface again until almost two hours had
passed. When she did so, she'd changed into a pair of faded navy leggings and
an oversize flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled back. Her hair was down and
tousled sexily. Shaun felt the tug of lust deep inside, pushed it aside and
pretended to concentrate on sanding the edge of a piece of wood he'd just
trimmed. She came out of the kitchen a few minutes later with a cup of yogurt
and a spoon in hand.

He wanted to comment on what he assumed was her
dinner, but he didn't. "Is the noise bothering you?" he asked
instead.

"No," she said. "I seem to be able to
tune everything else out when I'm working."

"Too bad not everyone can do the same."

She seemed confused by his statement, but made no
comment as she stirred the yogurt.

"Did you sort out that problem with your
landlord?"

Her brow furrowed. "What problem?"

"The noise complaint. Your downstairs
neighbor," he reminded her, watching closely for her reaction.

She popped a spoonful of yogurt in her mouth, then
swept her tongue along the fullness of her bottom lip to remove any lingering
traces. Shaun nearly groaned aloud, remembering how wonderful her mouth had
tasted, wishing it was his tongue stroking those luscious lips. If she was
trying to distract him from his topic of inquiry, she was doing a hell of a
job.

"Oh. Yeah. Everything's um, taken care of."

"That's good. I was a little worried that the
sawing and hammering might bother him."

"It might make more sense for you to make the
shelves at home."

He grinned. "It would."

Arden sighed. "Well, I've got some, um, research
to do. I'm going to head over to the … library for a while."

"Now?"

She frowned. "Yes, now. Why?"

"You shouldn't be going out on your own at this
time of night."

She glanced at her watch. "It's not even nine
o'clock."

"It's dark outside."

"It was almost dark when I came home," she
said.

Now it was Shaun's turn to frown. "You're going
to leave me here?"

"I didn't realize you were afraid to be left
alone."

"Very funny."

"Do you have any other objections?"

"What if I need to leave before you get
back?" He really didn't want her going out on her own. He wasn't sure why
the idea bothered him so much, why he felt so protective of her.

"I won't be too long," she said. "But
if you need to go before I get back, just leave."

"I'm not going to leave your apartment unlocked
and unattended."

"It's a secure building, Shaun."

"That didn't stop someone from shooting out your
windows."

"The police are convinced that was just a
childish prank."

"It was a real gun," he reminded her.
"I won't go out and leave your apartment unlocked."

Arden sighed and went into the kitchen.
"Here," she said, thrusting a key into his hand. "It's a
spare."