“Thank you, again.”
“And…there was a bunch of women watching you, did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
She smiled blissfully. “I didn’t think so. You don’t have a roving eye.”
“Uh…thank you. I think.”
“I’m so sleepy now that it’s quiet. Maybe I’ll go to sleep after all.”
“No need,” he said, pulling into a parking space next to her apartment building. “We’re here.” He took her purse from her limp hand and removed the key and then he walked around to her side of the car. She didn’t say a word when he picked her up and carried her inside the building.
He put her on her feet in front of her door and unlocked it, then guided her into the apartment and on into her bedroom. “Now you can sleep,” he said softly.
She turned and looked at him. “You can stay if you’d like.”
“Uh, that’s very sweet of you, but I need to get home and you need to get some rest.”
She turned her back and asked, “Would you unzip me, please?”
He sincerely wished that her slightly inebriated state was a complete turnoff to him. Unfortunately, he found her loose-limbed demeanor adorable, but oh, was she going to hate herself in the morning.
He unzipped the dress and she dropped her arms so that the sleeves slid down her arms and the dress continued falling to the floor, leaving her in a wisp of a bra and panties, her hose and heels.
He closed his eyes and tried not to groan. She turned around and looked at him and his mouth went dry. “Well.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He took a step back from her.
She followed him.
“Aren’t you going to kiss me good-night?”
This was so not funny. He wasn’t used to showing restraint around a practically nude young woman. In his experience, by the time they reached this stage, both parties knew they would end up in bed together.
He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, at least it would have been quick if she hadn’t pulled his head closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her body trembled. Or maybe that was his. Either way, he had to get out of here and fast!
He unfastened her arms and said, “Good night, Carina,” hightailing it out the door as if a posse was after him.
All the way home and long into the night, Jude relived those moments in her bedroom. Worse than that, his body refused to forgive him for turning down her invitation to spend the night.
He should be used to living in a constant state of arousal by now, because from all indications, being aroused was going to be a permanent condition as long as he was working this case.
An annoying ringing in her ear woke Carina the next morning, and she hit her alarm to stop the jangling noise. Only it wouldn’t stop. She opened one eye and saw it was ten-fifteen and realized the noise came from the phone. She picked it up and pushed the Talk button. “H’lo.”
“Aha! Still in bed, are you?” Marisa said. “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“You sound terrible.”
“Good. Because I feel worse.”
“Are you coming down with the flu?”
“I have a hunch that what I’m battling is the granddaddy of all hangovers.”
“Hangovers! Are you saying you got drunk at the ballet last night?”
Carina groaned. “Please don’t shout and no, I didn’t get drunk at the ballet last night. I seem to have had a wee bit too much to drink at Crazy Eights last night.”
There was silence on the phone. Then Marisa said, “Go take some aspirin, try to eat something and then call me back because I want to know how an evening at the ballet ended up at some place with such an outlandish name.”
Carina nodded and hung up the phone. “Oh. ’Bye,” she mumbled to the receiver, only then realizing she’d hung up on her friend.
Whatever.
She gingerly got out of bed and went to take a shower. She saw herself in the mirror and realized that she’d slept in her underwear. What was that all about?
While she stood beneath the soothing spray of water, Carina recalled the night before. By the time she finished with her shower, she was smiling at her memories.
Jude had been a perfect gentleman. He’d also been a great deal of fun to be with. She loved the dances she’d learned as they moved with the crowd around the dance floor and she hoped they would go there again sometime. Maybe next time she’d just drink water, though.
By the time she dressed and went into the kitchen for some much-needed coffee, Carina decided that beer wouldn’t be on her preferred list of alcoholic drinks ever again.
Once she’d nibbled on a piece of toast and had three large cups of coffee, Carina called Marisa back.
“Well?” Marisa answered.
Caller ID was a wonderful thing.
“After the ballet—where Jude fell asleep, by the way—we went to a country-and-western place and danced until one in the morning. Muscles I didn’t know I had are complaining but I had a terrific time.”
“How’s your head?”
“Better.”
“This doesn’t sound at all like you, Carina. The ballet, yes. And he actually fell asleep? Oh, that’s funny. But a country-and-western bar?”
“With live music. I know. Since he was obviously bored with the ballet, I wanted to see what he liked to do, and you know something, Marisa, I can’t remember ever having so much fun. I loved it!”
“So you’re going to learn how to play country music, are you?”
“Uh…no. But I don’t mind dancing to it.”
“So. Did he stay once he took you home?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I’m okay with it. Although I think I’m ready to move the relationship up a notch or two. There’s no doubt in my mind he’d be a wonderful lover. Maybe he’s just waiting for me to give him some kind of signal. Wish I knew what it was.”
“Is he coming this afternoon?”
“Yes. Or at least he said he would last night.”
“Wear your bikini.”
Carina laughed. “Good idea.”
“I’ll see you later.”
Six
Carina was French-braiding her hair that same morning when the phone rang. She looked at her hair, looked at the phone, shrugged and released her hair, which immediately unwound itself.
“Hello.”
“Good morning. How are you feeling this morning?”
She cleared her throat. “Better, thank you. Did I make a complete fool of myself last night?”
“Not at all. You seemed to be enjoying yourself.”
“Oh, I was. From now on, though, I believe I’ll lay off the beer.”
Jude laughed. “Whatever you say. I called to see when I should pick you up?”
She looked at the clock. It was almost one o’clock. “Around two will be fine. People will begin to trickle into the party as the afternoon progresses. In the meantime, it will be mostly family. It will give you a chance to get to know my family a little better.”
He didn’t answer right away. “Yeah, that would be nice. I’d like to find out how your family survived you growing up. I’m surprised they’re not either white-haired or bald.”
“I’ll have you know I was a perfect little lady growing up.”
“Uh-huh. Don’t forget, I’ve seen your wild streak. You can’t hide it any longer.”
“Oh, by the way, why don’t we get season tickets for the ballet since you enjoy sleeping to the music?”
“Blackmail, is it? I don’t mention your wild side and you don’t mention ballet.”
“You got it.”
“Well, I’ll see you around two,” he said.
Jude hung up the phone and went downstairs.
“What’s on your agenda today?” Hal asked. “Other than continuing to see a sexy woman.”
“She may be sexy,” Jude replied, “but she’s
still a suspect, don’t forget.”
John spoke up. “We don’t forget that, but the way you bring it up in every conversation makes me wonder if you need to be reminded.”
“Nope. As a matter of fact, we’re going to her brother Al’s house for a cookout this afternoon. She thinks I should get better acquainted with the family.”
“Way to go, man,” John said. “You’re definitely getting in with the kin.”
Ruth looked at him thoughtfully. “It sounds as though she might be getting serious about you. Is that a possibility?”
Jude laughed. “I hardly think so. She’s made it clear that she’s seeing me in order to get back into a social life. I have to watch that I keep her booked up enough for her not to spend time with other people. I’m ready to end this case. Remember, I was on vacation when this assignment came up and I really am ready for one.”
Ruth smiled. “Well, keep up the good work and we’ll all be back home soon.”
Alfred Patterson lived in a gated community that looked to be new, if the signs of continued construction in the area were any indication. When Jude and Carina stopped at the gate, a security guard took down the license number of his car and gave them a visitor’s card to place on the dash.
Jude had made a point when he first came back to Texas of changing his Maryland plates. He’d given the ranch as his home address. Anyone deciding to check him out would see that he was just who he said he was.
As they drove past the gates, Jude asked, “How long has your brother lived here?”
“I think it’s been about a year now. The business has been doing so well that he wanted a larger place where he could do more entertaining, like today.”
He followed her directions and when he saw the house it was obvious that the business was doing quite well. They parked along the wide driveway and walked around to the back, where the sounds of squeals and splashing intermingled with laughter and conversations.
There were almost a dozen people there and Jude immediately recognized two of them from the photos he’d been shown: Ross Davies and Patrick Sullivan were standing by the outdoor grill talking to Al.
“I’ll introduce you to the people I know,” Carina said, “and let Al do the rest.”
He noticed that Ben’s wife was pregnant. She sat in the shade with Marisa. When Marisa saw them she jumped up and hurried toward them. “There you are. Just in time to get something to drink and find a cool spot in the shade.”
Jude saw that besides the large swimming pool, there was a tennis court, as well. The lawn was as smooth as a putting green with large trees and flowerbeds arranged artistically.
“You have a beautiful home,” he said to Marisa.
Marisa smiled. “Well, let’s say it’s considerably larger than what we had. I ended up hiring help for the house and the lawn.” She laughed. “I’m not complaining, you understand, but it took a little while to get used to it.” She looked over at Al and said, “C’mon. I’ll have Al introduce you to some of our neighbors.”
“Oh?”
“I believe their wives are related or something. You rarely see one without the other.” She stopped beside Al. “Jude Crenshaw is here, Alfredo.”
Carina’s brother turned and looked at him. “Glad you could make it,” he said, politely. He held out his hand and Jude shook it.
“And these are a couple of our friends,” Marisa went on to say.
Al took over the introductions. “Ross Davies, Patrick Sullivan, meet Mr. Crenshaw.”
Ross was short and a little overweight. Patrick looked like he was barely out of college. He was tall and trim.
“Gentlemen,” Jude said, and shook hands briefly.
“Crenshaw,” Ross said. “That name sounds familiar.”
“There’s a lot of us in the state.”
“Ah. Maybe that’s where I heard the name. What do you do, Jude?”
Jude laughed. “As little as possible. How about you?”
“I’m between jobs at the moment, thinking about taking early retirement.”
Jude nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Old Pat here,” Ross continued, “he’s a gung-ho government-worker type. Pushes papers, fills out forms, all that good stuff.”
“Doesn’t sound like much fun to me,” Jude replied with a smile.
Sullivan said, “Maybe not, but it pays the bills.”
The two men and Al laughed as though he’d said something funny.
Marisa spoke up. “Are your wives coming?”
Ross said, “Mary Ann said she hoped to make it, but wasn’t sure. Our oldest is running a fever and she doesn’t want to leave him with the nanny unless his fever goes down.”
Pat said, “My wife will be here a little later. She had errands to run and wasn’t certain when she’d be back.”
“Help yourself to something cold to drink, Jude,” Al said. “If you feel like playing a game of tennis, Patrick, here, is your man. He played on his varsity team when he was at college. Plus we have the pool when you’re ready to cool off.”
“They didn’t teach much tennis where I come from,” Jude said with a drawl. “All us kids were too busy working on the family ranch.”
He noted the brief eye contact between the agents. They’d pegged him as a lightweight.
Carina, who had been quietly standing beside Jude, said, “We’ll see you later,” to Al and the two men. “I’m ready to find a comfortable, shady spot and become a sloth.”
Later that afternoon, several of them went swimming and Jude saw Carina in a swimsuit that left little to the imagination. Carina’s underwear the night before had at least three times the material.
“Are you going to swim in that?” he said, raising his brows. If any part of it shrunk at all, she would be nude.
She looked up at him and smiled. “More like dog paddle. But don’t mind me. Do all the swimming you want.”
Jude swam several laps before he got his unruly body calmed down. How much was a man supposed to take, anyway? The more he was around her, the more he wanted to make love to her. Lust had a power all its own. The trick was to ignore it, which he was doing.
Yeah, right.
When most of the guests had left and while Carina was inside putting away the remains of the party with her sisters-in-law, Al sat down beside him at one of the tables on the stone terrace.
He leaned forward and said quietly, “I’d like to talk to you about Carina for a moment.”
“She’s really something, isn’t she? You must be very proud of her.”
“You’ve been giving her the rush, I understand.”
“That’s right.” Jude met Al’s gaze without flinching. “You have a problem with that?”
“I don’t want to see her hurt. She’s gone through a lot of bad stuff and she’s vulnerable at the moment.”
“Do you think I’m going to hurt her?”
“You have quite a reputation with the ladies, Crenshaw.”
Jude laughed. “As do you, my friend,” he replied, lifting his glass of beer to him.
Al looked startled. “Not since I married Marisa,” he finally said.
Oh, no. You’re much more discreet now. “You see? A man can change when he decides to settle down, don’t you agree?” Since Al hadn’t changed much, Jude looked forward to hearing him explain his double standard.
“Are you saying you’re ready to settle down?”
“It’s way too early in our relationship to tell, but you get my point. If people in general have a good enough reason, they’ll change.” He paused for a moment and then said softly, “Are you asking if my intentions are honorable?”
Al flushed and glanced over his shoulder at the house. “Of course not! Carina doesn’t like me meddling in her affairs.”
“Do you do that often?” Jude asked with a half smile.
“Did she tell you she was once engaged?”
“She mentioned it.”
“She was much too good for him, but she couldn
’t see it. I mean, he had no ambition, not much money and so I gave him a job doing mostly gofer work. I knew they were friends and all but when she told me they were planning to get married, I couldn’t believe it!”
“Carina mentioned he was killed in an auto accident.”
Al made a face. “Yeah.”
“I’ve been curious, but didn’t want to ask her about the details. Was she with him at the time?”
“No, thank God. He’d been down in south Texas at a warehouse we have there and was returning home. It was quite late, almost two o’clock in the morning, the police said. They said he was speeding, lost control of the car and rolled it, killing him.”
“Losing him must have been really tough for her. I guess that’s why when I first met her she told me she didn’t go out much.”
“Well, you seem to have made up for that lack during the past week!”
Jude laughed. “That’s true.” He leaned back in his chair and asked, “What, exactly, do you do in a business like yours? I mean, what do you import and export?”
Jude waited to see if Al would allow the change of subject. Al looked as though he wanted to say something more about Jude’s relationship with Carina. When he looked at the house again he saw the three women coming toward him. As though they’d been discussing the business the entire time, Al said, “We buy and sell all kinds of things—antique furniture from Europe, specialty items from the Middle East and Asia. Ben does most of the buying while I do the day-to-day work here. Dad is a fine man, a wonderful husband and a caring father, but he was a deplorable businessman. By the time he had the stroke—in fact, I believe worrying about the business brought on the stroke—he was close to being forced into bankruptcy. Since Ben and I took over, we’ve rebuilt the business, modernized it, made new contacts overseas, started buying some lower-end and more marketable items. We’ve managed to turn things around.”
“I’m impressed.”
Carina walked up behind Jude and put her hands on his shoulders, kneading them. “You’re impressed about what?” she asked.
He glanced around and she smiled at him. “All you industrious types, working hard every day. It makes me weary just to hear what it takes to run a business.”
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