by Helen Conrad
She glanced at him to see his reaction. You couldn’t get much more blatant than that, could you? She waited for him to pick up on it, to suggest a ride in the moonlight, or perhaps a nightcap in his room. Her heart was beating very hard, pounding in her chest. Because she was going to take him up on his offer. Just as soon as he made it.
Did this mean, after all these years, that she was finally ready to take a chance again? Maybe. No other man had ever come close to tempting her this way before. Maybe… maybe this was the one.
But he didn’t say anything, didn’t even look down to meet her gaze. They dropped by Shelley’s room so that he could tell her they were leaving. He kissed his cousin on the cheek and grinned at her, and Kat felt a pang she couldn’t quite place.
“ ‘Bye, Kat,” Shelley called as they left. “I can’t thank you enough for all you did.”
“It was nothing,” Kat responded, and meant it. “Good night.”
She was already out the door when Shelley called her cousin back for one last reminder. “Tanner, Tanner... Don’t forget. You have to take care of that dreadful Nebraska woman who’s trying to snare Uncle John.”
He glanced at Kat quickly to see if she’d heard. “Don’t worry about it,” Tanner called back. “Just get some sleep.”
Kat stood where she was in the corridor, staring at him. He tried to put an arm around her shoulders and start her moving toward the elevator, but she twisted out of his grasp, still staring.
“What did she just say?” she asked breathlessly.
He sighed, shaking his head. “Don’t take it personally, Kat,” he advised, touching her cheek with one crooked finger. “She has no idea who you are.”
“Personally? How could I not take it personally? She’s talking about my mother. Isn’t she?” She didn’t wait for an answer. Wheeling, she started to charge back into the room.
“Whoa, there.” He caught her with one arm and pulled her back against his chest. “There is no way I’m going to let you go in there and upset her now. Face it. That just won’t happen.”
Kat’s stiff body sagged against him. Of course it wouldn’t happen. She knew that. She put a hand against his chest and immediately felt his heartbeat. It was very strong and very fast, like a freight train going at top speed.
Her own heart skipped a beat and she looked up quickly, hoping to catch some glimpse of what he was thinking. But he wasn’t about to let her know; instead, he pulled away, turning, and ushered her toward the elevator, not saying a word.
She regained her anger as they walked. He kept doing things that made her lose her train of thought. He was awfully good at it, too. Either that, or she was awfully susceptible to his brand of distraction. She had to watch him. By the time they got to the elevator, she’d remembered what had thrown her for a loop in the first place.
The door slid open at the touch of a button, and they stepped in.
“Admit it.” She turned to face him in the enclosed cubicle, ignoring the wide-eyed young nurse in the comer. “She was talking about my mother, wasn’t she?”
He grimaced and looked down at her. “Of course she was talking about your mother. How many Nebraska women do you think are after Uncle John at any given time?”
She couldn’t believe the nerve of these people. They were the ones under suspicion here, not her sweet little mother. She glared at him.
“How dare you? You’ve got your cousin thinking my mother is some sort of femme fatale, and you haven’t even met her yet.”
He sighed and looked deeply, earnestly, into her eyes.
“Kat, listen. You suspected my uncle of going after your mother’s lottery money, now didn’t you? All Shelley and I did was suspect your mother of... of.. “ How to put this delicately? He didn’t want to give her a clue as to the situation regarding the Carrington financial position.
The doors of the elevator opened and he led her off. “We suspected your mother of sweeping my uncle off his feet romantically,” he improvised quickly, “You see, he’s very susceptible to female charms. He’s been hurt before.”
That was stretching the point a little, but it wasn’t actually lying. Still, he wanted to change the subject, and very quickly, too.
“We didn’t know you when we were thinking this way. That’s all over now.” He led her through the lobby and out the huge double doors past the lawn, avoiding the emergency ramp.
Kat was frowning, still suspicious, but almost willing to be persuaded. What Tanner said did jibe with what the maids had told her about John Carrington’s romantic inclinations.
But wait a minute. John Carrington was a swindler. She had proof. She was beginning to think that Tanner didn’t know the truth about his own uncle.
She allowed him to lead her toward the parking lot. “My mother is not dreadful,” she muttered as they walked. “Just because she’s not very sophisticated...”
He couldn’t help it. He grinned. “Does the word ‘hayseed’ come to mind?” he murmured, looking innocent.
“No!” She met his gaze and suddenly she was laughing with him again, “Charmingly naive is the way to put it,” she scolded him. “Just wait until you meet her. You’ll see what I mean.” She sobered. “But, Tanner, I think there’s a little piece of reality you have to face.” She blinked up at him. “Can you handle it?”
He gave her a look and then threw his arms out. “Take your best shot,” he said cynically.
“Okay. Here goes.” She took a deep breath. “I still think your Uncle John is scheming after my mother’s money. I saw something in your uncle’s room this afternoon that confirmed it for me. As far as I’m concerned, it was pretty solid proof.”
He stopped and swung her around, his face hard and shadowed in the moonlight.
“My uncle is not after your mother’s money, Kat. I can guarantee it.”
She took a deep breath. “Tanner, I saw his game plan laid out for anyone to see. He had lists of potential victims. It was obvious what it was all about.”
Tanner frowned, at a loss. What could she possibly be talking about? “What lists did you see?”
“It was right by his bed in his address book. He had names of women, and right by the name would be pertinent pieces of information, like what kind of business she got her money from, whether or not she was a widow, what the names of her children were.”
“Oh, my God.” He sighed heavily. “I’ve seen his book. He jots down little facts about everyone in there. His memory isn’t what it used to be. He knows so many people, he does that to remind himself so that when he talks to them, particularly on the telephone where he doesn’t have the visual clues to attach to his recollections, he’ll get his facts straight.” He frowned at her. “That’s all it is, Kat.”
She shook her head. “No, I saw things like… like...”
“Like names and dates and places, just like anyone would keep.” He grimaced. “If that’s evidence of a life of crime, you might as well charge me with it, too, because I thought it was such a good idea, I started doing it at the office. I’ve got a book as thick as a house full of personal information on business contacts. It’s helped me enormously.”
Kat stared at him. She’d been so sure. But now that she came to think of it, the facts could be as Tanner was stating them. Couldn’t they? And wouldn’t that be better? Or was she just so attached to her doubts that she was more comfortable keeping them than facing the truth?
She swallowed hard. “I suppose I was jumping to conclusions,” she said doubtfully. “When you take away that book, I really don’t have any evidence left against the man.”
Tanner dropped a quick kiss on her open lips. “Exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you from the beginning,” he said, smiling down at her. “Now can we give these suspicions a rest? I think maybe we ought to let the two of them work this out for themselves. If their relationship is meant to be, they’ll take care of things.”
He put an arm around her shoulders and began to guide her through the parking l
ot again.
“Just think,” he said with a smile. “If they do get married, we’ll be related.” He flashed her a quick look. “We’ll be step-cousins or something like that.”
That thought gave her pause. She made a face. “I guess we’d see each other at family reunions,” she mused as they walked along. “Do you usually have picnics at the park, like we do?”
No. The Carringtons—at least those in his immediate family-- were more likely to meet at a summer chalet in southern France. But he could hardly tell her that. “Uh, we’re bigger on beach parties,” he supplied lamely.
“Really?’’ Her face lit with delight at the concept. “Do you have bonfires and a wienie roast?”
“Something like that,” he fudged, though it was more like grilled capons with endive garnish served on the yacht.
“Well...” She smiled at him. “I’ll be looking forward to the first reunion, then,” she said. “Let me know ahead of time and I’ll bring my world-famous German potato salad. Everybody always loves it at these things.”
He stopped and looked at her, tilting her chin up with one hand, touching her hair with the other. There was something so touchingly normal about her. Where had she been all his life?
“I’ll make sure you’re invited even if your mother doesn’t marry Uncle John,” he murmured, his gaze caressing her soft cheek, her long lashes, her feather-light brows.
There was no doubt about it. If only he could keep things this way, with her not having any idea what sort of life he usually led, he would keep her with him all the time. He couldn’t imagine anything more delightful.
But that was fantasy, and he was a man who lived in the real world. He was rich and that was bound to tarnish this relationship sooner or later. If he didn’t want to see that look on her face, he knew he had to draw back, get out of this. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it was better than the alternative. He glanced down at her again, wishing he didn’t feel that deep-down throb every time he looked at her.
Kat was gazing up at him, her heart thumping. It was back; the warmth, the sensual spark. He liked her. She could tell. Relief flooded her veins, flooded every pore, and she laughed with happiness.
“It’s a deal,” she said huskily, waiting for his kiss.
But it didn’t come. Instead his eyes clouded suddenly and he pulled away from her. She waited for him to say something else, to make some move, but he didn’t say a word. And the only time he touched her again was when he opened the car door on the passenger side and helped her get in.
Neither of them spoke as they drove along the silent, lonely streets. They were in Shelley’s little sports car and the wind slapped at their faces and ruffled their hair. The conditions weren’t conducive to much conversation. Still, Kat thought, he could say something. She glanced at him and wished she knew what he was thinking.
Tanner saw the glance and interpreted it correctly. He knew he was puzzling her. Damn it, he was puzzling himself. All day long he’d been working up a major attraction for this woman, and now he felt as though he couldn’t get rid of her fast enough. And he wasn’t even really sure why.
Pulling up in front of the hotel, he let the attendant park the car. As he led Kat up the steps, he began to formulate a quick formal speech that would let him drop her at the ferry. But she was too fast for him.
“Look,” she said brightly, pointing across the lobby with its forest of potted palms. “The coffee shop is still open. We never did have dinner, you know. I’m starved.”
He hesitated, then was ashamed of himself. He could give the woman a meal, for Pete’s sake. Another half hour in her presence wasn’t going to kill him.
“Sure,” he said gruffly. “Let’s go.”
Kat ordered a grilled-cheese sandwich; Tanner asked for a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. As they waited for the food to come, Kat bit her lip and tried to think of something to do or say to break the icy mask that had hardened Tanner’s handsome face.
“This certainly turned out to be some day,” she commented, trying a sunny smile. “When I got up this morning I never dreamed I’d be involved in so many adventures. Being there when Shelley had her baby—that was really special.”
He looked at her almost reluctantly, but once he’d met her smile, his face seemed to relax a little. “You have been a busy bee today,” he said. Then he smiled and suddenly his blue eyes were lit with something very near the amused light they had carried most of the afternoon.
“Besides the birth, there was all that conning of my uncle at lunch, then breaking into his hotel room, then shadowing Shelley....”
She laughed. This was much better. He was almost his old self again. “We do look at things differently, you and I. Have you noticed that?”
He nodded. “Trust my interpretation. I’m the one with the rational mind.”
“Oh, and I suppose I’m just an irrational female?”
“Looks that way to me. You’re the one who tears up at the sight of a baby being born and starts to swoon when you see a couple together who really seem to love one another.”
She smiled, taking it as a compliment. She remembered his show of emotion, but had the good sense not to bring it up.
“Seeing a happy marriage is a really neat thing. It sort of restores your faith in mankind, you know?”
“Marriage is the last thing that’s going to restore any of my faith.” His eyes took on a speculative look. “Why are you suddenly so enthusiastic about marriage, anyway? From what you said, yours didn’t turn out so well.”
“That’s true.” The food arrived and she waited until the waitress had set it down before she went on. “But I blame that on the people involved, not so much on marriage itself.”
“You mean you blame it on Jeffrey.” His mouth twisted cynically as he cupped his coffee cup between his two hands. “Women always blame everything on the man.”
She stared at him, stung by his statement and surprised by the depth of his bitterness. “Were you ever married?” she asked, ignoring his jab.
He shook his head, looking down into his murky coffee. “Not married. I did make the mistake of getting engaged once. And that was bad enough.”
She put down her fork and searched his face, wanting to know everything, wanting him to let her comfort him, knowing that wasn’t very likely. “What happened?”
He glanced up at her concerned expression and swore softly. There was no way in hell he was going to tell her all about it.
“Eat your food,” he said gruffly. “It’s getting cold.”
Dutifully, she picked up her sandwich. “What was her name?” she asked.
He frowned. “Eileen. It was years ago. I’m not going to talk about it.”
“But...”
“Eat!”
He took a huge bite of toast, just to emphasize the command, and she reluctantly chewed on a piece of grilled bread. She was dying to know all about it. He knew that. But he wasn’t about to tell her another thing.
That didn’t mean he would be able to stop thinking about it, now that it was out into his conscious mind again. There’d been a time when he could hardly think about anything else, but that was five years ago. Now the pain was more of a dull ache, a lingering regret rather than the breath-stopping agony it had been at the time.
He’d been so in love with her. She was so beautiful, with her long black hair, her white skin, her violet eyes that had seemed so innocent. Her family owned a huge winery in Napa Valley. She’d gone to the best of schools. They’d met skiing in Aspen and she fell for him on the first ski run they took together. She’d told him secrets and cried on his shoulder and told him she was a virgin when they’d first made love. He thought he’d finally found a woman who could love him for himself and forget about his money. After all, she came from a good background and had wealth of her own. And he adored everything about her.
They’d spent every moment together for the next three months. When he’d given her a ring, she’d been ecstatic. If only
he’d realized she was more thrilled with what the ring was worth than with the sentiment involved. They’d made plans to marry.
It wasn’t until Trent Howard came to see him that he began to realize he’d been living in a fool’s paradise. Trent claimed to be Eileen’s real boyfriend, tortured with distress over what she was doing, unable to stand it any longer. The winery, he explained, was about to go under. He’d said Eileen was just playing along with Tanner for money. According to Trent, she’d been willing to go as far as marriage to get the funds to keep her family business going.
“You could save this situation for everyone,” Trent had told him. “Just offer her a big loan, so she won’t have to marry you for the money. That way, three lives won’t be ruined.”
Of course, Tanner hadn’t believed him at first. He’d had his investigators check into it. And sure enough, the winery was in big trouble. A few discreet inquiries confirmed the rest. Eileen had been sneaking out to see Trent in the middle of the night.
So much for that. It had hurt like hell, like nothing had ever hurt him before. And not only that, it had been so damned embarrassing. He was the one who’d always been so careful, so wary, so cynical about women and what they wanted from him. How could he have let his guard down that way? He’d felt like the biggest fool alive to have fallen for her scheme. His only consolation was that Trent was a bigger fool. He’d still believed he could get out of that mess with a relationship worth having.
“Okay,” Kat said, pressing a napkin to her lips. “I’ve eaten. Now tell me about Eileen and why you don’t trust women.”
He groaned. “Who said I don’t trust women?”
“You did. Your nonverbal communication skills are very strong.” She watched his face, wondering if she was doing the right thing pushing him this way. But she had a feeling that she didn’t have any choice. He seemed to be fading out on her. And for some strange reason, she was determined not to let that take place.
“What happened with Eileen, Tanner?”
“The usual.” He shrugged, trying to pretend it hardly mattered. “She was in the game for ulterior motives. When I realized that, I dumped her.”