Scarlet Lady (12 page)

Montana could be reasonably sure. What he didn’t tell Katie was that Carson had made several stops between Emily and the
Scarlet Lady
. It hadn’t taken him long to lose a good portion of the money he was carrying. But according to witnesses, he still had money at the last table where he’d gambled. Where he’d gone from there, nobody knew. If anything bad had happened to Carson, Montana was certain he hadn’t done it to himself.

Laying her head back against the seat Katie closed her eyes. “Of course he hasn’t. He’s my brother, I’d know if he was …”

She couldn’t say “dead,” but Montana knew what she meant and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and taking her hand. When she grasped his tightly in return, he felt a protective twinge.

“He’s not dead, Katie. He’s just missing. I’ll bet he’ll be home by the time we get back.”

At that moment his car phone rang. Releasing Katie’s hand, he lifted the receiver. “Yes?”

“Royal here, boss. A man just came by and left a note for you. It might be from that Carithers kid.”

“We’re on our way. Don’t leave the dock until we get there.” He hung up the phone and turned to Katie, who was holding her breath. “No, it isn’t your brother. But someone brought a note Royal thinks might be from him. I’m going straight to the
Lady
. Okay?”

She nodded.

He pulled over to the side of the road and left the motor running while he went back to inform Cat of their change of destination. “You go on home. I’ll see that Katie gets there.”

“Okay,” she agreed, “but you take care of her. She’s got a blind spot you could drive a truck through when it comes to the people she cares about. I wouldn’t want to see her hurt.”

“If Carson hasn’t already accomplished that, nobody ever could,” was Montana’s reply.

“That’s where you’re wrong, gambling man. She hasn’t figured it out yet, but you could hurt her more than her brother ever has.”

“That just might work both ways,” he said softly.

Cat let out a sigh of exasperation. “Men. How come Katie always draws the needy ones?”

Needy?
Him? Cat was blowing smoke. If there was one thing Montana wasn’t, it was needy. He’d learned to do without family and commitment completely. There’d been darn few women who’d done more than pass through his life, and his only friends were his employees. The last thing he needed was a woman who filled her heart and life with needy people.

The last thing he needed was Katie Carithers.

Why then was he climbing back into his car and taking her hand? He was reassuring her, that’s why. It had nothing to do with the fact that it reassured him as well.

He didn’t need reassuring. He needed a steak, a drink, and a woman.

Any woman would do.

From the look in Montana’s eyes when she climbed out of the car, she realized the skimpy black cutaway and red satin shorts that passed as a waitress uniform were more revealing than Cat’s cocktail dress.

“If you ever decide to give up bookkeeping and take up bartending, you’d make a fortune in tips,” Montana drawled.

He took her arm and supported her as they walked up the ramp onto the boat. As soon as they were inside, she felt a lurch as the doors closed and the boat moved away from the dock.

“No,” she protested, turning back. “We can’t leave until we’ve read the note. Suppose we have to go somewhere?”

“We’ll just go back,” he said, gathering her closer as they made their way through the din of noise from the slot machines and the people playing roulette. They took the elevator to the third level, quiet by comparison as the more serious players concentrated on their cards.

Royal met them halfway across the floor. He handed the envelope to Montana, though his eyes were drawn to Katie and her costume.

“Don’t ask,” Montana instructed, pushing past Royal, ignoring his smirk as he led Katie down a narrow corridor that led to an entrance to his private quarters.

Inside, he flicked on the light switch, bringing the lamps beside the bed to life, then led Katie to the red couch and dropped down beside her.

“What if it isn’t from Carson?” she asked through clenched teeth.

He ripped open the envelope and pulled out the folded slip of paper and the bills it surrounded. “It is. He says he’s sorry, but this is all that’s left. He’s going away for a while and I should tell you that he’s very sorry for the trouble he’s caused.”

Every nerve ending in her body seemed to collapse. She felt numb, as if she’d been submerged in a cold mountain stream, immobilizing her so that she could barely speak. “How much is left?”

Montana counted out the bills. “Eight thousand dollars exactly.”

“Oh no! He lost ten thousand dollars of the money I won. How could he do that?”

The money you cheated to win, Montana wanted to say. “For him, I’m afraid it wasn’t hard. Whoever taught him to play cards ought to be shot.”

She wasn’t going to cry. Instead she felt as if she were splintering before him, ready to snap as her teeth chattered lightly.

“It was me,” she said. “Can you believe it? I taught him one Christmas when I was in college. We had a cabin in Colorado where we’d planned to ski, but there were avalanche warnings, so we played cards. Carson
wasn’t very good at it. He always lost, unless I let him win. I never dreamed he’d do this. It’s all my fault.”

“Don’t freak out on me,” he said, taking her hands in his and rubbing them briskly. “It isn’t the end of the world. After all,” he quipped, “he doesn’t need to be good. With your special talents, you can win that back and more in one night.”

“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “It isn’t the gambling. He’s never gone away before. If there was trouble, we’d face it together. Like family.”

Montana didn’t want to argue with her loyalty. He found it honorable, though foolish. Nobody had ever stuck by him like this. If they had, they’d have helped him find Laura. Quickly he shut off that kind of regret. It was destructive. Carson had one thing right; the only person a man could depend on was himself.

If Carson had faced the trouble at the company in the first place, Katie might have managed to steer him in a direction that would have kept it from going under. She wasn’t blind about anything except her brother. From what he’d learned, and he’d made it a point to find out, Katie Carithers was a bright, hardworking woman who’d done wonders at the hospital. Why were the Carithers men too blind to see what she could have brought to the table?

One lone tear trickled down her face. She wiped it away.

“Don’t worry, Katie,” he heard himself saying. “I’ll find him.” He put his arms around her and pulled her close. “I promise.”

Commitment. The thing he’d just said he’d managed
to do without. He’d jumped into it with both feet. Giving Mac his word that he’d straighten out this situation was a matter of honor. Promising Katie was something else. He just wasn’t quite sure what.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and leaned against him. She didn’t move, allowing him to hold her, to comfort her. Finally, she asked, “But where would he go? He has no money. Apparently he has no car.”

“Think about it for a moment, Katie. He didn’t gamble away all the money. He stopped. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?”

She became still for a moment. “Yes. I guess it does.”

“And he’s never done that before, has he?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Then, for tonight, I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“I suppose you’re right. It’s just that I’ve done that for so long. I guess I’m tired. Will you take me home?”

“Darling, Katie. I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“We’re on the river, remember? In an emergency I would turn the boat around, but not otherwise.”

His fingertips gently massaged the tension-tightened muscles in the back of her neck while his other hand clasped her to him.

“But—”

“Just relax, Katie. My guess is that you haven’t slept any better than I have since we met.”

“You’ve had trouble?”

“Yes. I’ve had trouble. It isn’t every day that a
woman comes on board and”—
cheats me out of my boat and my money
—“and jumps over the side,” he finished.

She smiled. “I suppose not. I’ll bet you have to throw most of them off. I don’t know why you’re helping me. Not after … after what happened.”

Because I gave my word to Mac, he could have answered. But that wasn’t the full truth. He hadn’t even called Mac to give him a report. “I’m not sure I can explain,” he finally said. “For now, let’s just say I’m offering you a place to rest for a while.”

“I can’t. I have to keep looking for Carson.”

“For once, let someone look after you,” he whispered, stroking the curve of her cheek and her neck as if she were a small child who needed reassurance. “Just pretend I’m a member of your family and stop worrying. I’ve left word all along the river. If Carson turns up, anywhere, I’ll be notified.”

Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Katie knew she ought to push him away, but she couldn’t force herself to move. She’d never felt so protected, so safe, and it scared her.

Little by little she melted against him, relaxing until he was supporting her completely.

“Why? Why are you really doing this?” she asked again.

Sliding his hands beneath her legs, he lifted her into his lap. She tensed for a moment—

“It’s all right,” he whispered, taking her hand in his and holding it loosely.

—then relaxed again as the smooth rhythm of his heartbeat against her ear reassured her.

“I don’t understand,” she murmured.

“Don’t try. I think, just for tonight, you need a friend, someone who isn’t asking for anything in return. Let me take care of you, Katie. I won’t harm you, I promise. Trust me.”

She didn’t know how to answer, so she didn’t. She was just too emotionally exhausted. For once, she’d let someone else take charge. She just sat, encircled in his arms, feeling his strength and allowing a strange sense of calm to settle over her.

“I’m going to put you in bed now, Katie, just to let you rest. Nothing more.”

She heard his words, but didn’t feel threatened. Warmth spread through her body, relaxing her even more. His movement only added to her feelings of safety, safety that was abruptly threatened when he laid her down and started to move away.

“No,” she cried, her voice sounding husky and strange in her ears. “Don’t.” She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him back. “Don’t leave me.”

Montana groaned. All kinds of alarms were going off in his head, alarms and misgivings and pangs of responsibility that he didn’t want to feel for this woman who had crashed into his life and left it reeling in the wake of his obligation to Mac. She was a cheater who would go to any length to protect what was hers. She was even willing to forgive the brother whose wrongdoing would be the final act of destruction against one of the oldest families in Louisiana. He didn’t understand that kind of family loyalty. But he couldn’t dismiss a grudging respect for the woman he was holding.

Respect and something more.

Desire. Not just sexual desire, but a deep, desperate longing to have someone feel that kind of loyalty to him.

She made a small soft sound and pressed herself closer.

“You don’t know what you’re asking, Katherine Carithers,” he said, smelling the sweet jasmine scent of her hair, feeling the subtle movements of her body against his.

“I just want to be close to someone,” she said, a kind of muted desperation evident in her voice. “Just for a while. Please hold me, Montana. Tonight I want … I want to forget about everything.”

“All right,” he finally said. “Let go of me, just for a moment while I take off your shoes.”

She allowed her arms to slide limply to the bed. Montana stood. He pulled off her shoes and eyed the waitress costume skeptically. The long-sleeved cutaway was twisted around her.

“Let’s take off this jacket,” he said, and waited for her to object.

She didn’t. Instead she let him lift her and slide the coat off her shoulders, leaving her with only the glittery tube top and the satin shorts. When she unzipped the shorts and lifted her bottom, a shocked Montana peeled the slinky garment away, revealing a pair of lace panties that didn’t begin to conceal the dark silky hair beneath.

He groaned.

Until now she’d kept her eyes closed. They opened and Montana caught his breath. Her eyes were smoky,
glazed almost with what he recognized as need. Sexual? He didn’t know. But they beseeched, speaking without words. And he couldn’t refuse.

Moments later he flicked off the lights, removed his frock coat, his tie and boots, then lay down beside her. She moved toward him, nestling her head on his shoulder, pressing her lithe frame against him. They lay for a long time without moving or speaking. He listened to the sound of her breathing, felt the familiar movement of the boat in the water, and reveled in the knowledge that in spite of what had happened, she trusted him.

He didn’t know how much time passed. She was asleep, or so he thought, when she nestled her fingertips at his nape and said softly, “Montana, do you find me desirable as a woman?”

His pulse went into double overtime. “Yes, Katherine, I find you very desirable.”

“Men don’t, usually.”

“The men you know must be blind, deaf, and dumb.”

“No, they just see the woman I am. Your lady in red was a figment of Cat’s imagination.”

“You can’t change a person into someone who isn’t there to begin with,” he said, trying desperately to keep his body from announcing how much he desired her.

Katie stirred restlessly, her fingertips moving back and forth across his chest, ranging lower and lower.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You’re lying here, in my bed with almost nothing on. That makes you vulnerable. You’re playing with fire, my lady in red.”

She gave a nervous little laugh. “You know this bed is what sent me overboard the night we gambled.”

He started. “This bed? Funny, when I was trying to figure out why you bolted, I never considered that.”

“It was there behind you, all red and obvious. Then I saw all those condoms in your drawer and I—I panicked. Do you make love to a lot of women here?”