by Jeanne Allan
“What kind of mutual arrangement?” she asked warily.
“Elizabeth? Elizabeth Randall?”
Worth turned as a smooth, baritone voice spoke behind him. With a single glance, he took in the white, pseudo-pirate, silk shirt and snug black trousers. The middle-aged man, a stranger to Worth, had actor written all over him.
Brushing past Worth, the man dipped his head toward Elizabeth and took her unresisting hand. “I thought it was you, my dear, but then I saw the dress and doubted my eyes, but it is you, isn’t it? There’s no need to ask how you’re doing, when it’s obvious you’re blooming. You look radiant, my dear, positively radiant.”
Worth wanted to plant his fist right smack in the middle of the man’s smarmy face.
CHAPTER FOUR
RETRIEVING her hand with some difficulty, Elizabeth managed a polite smile. “Professor Burns. What a surprise to see you here.”
He gave her an arch look. “The surprise is seeing you here, my dear. You’ve been quite reclusive since Lawrence’s death.”
She hated the way his eyes kept straying to her chest. “My father is marrying Mrs. Steele’s mother, Mary Lassiter. This party is for them.”
“Oh yes. I seem to remember Lawrence saying something about your father being a cowboy.” He faintly sneered the last word.
Elizabeth reminded herself she’d known the professor for over two years without kicking him in the shin. Now wasn’t the time to start. “Are you a friend of Mary Lassiter’s?”
“I’m visiting friends in Aspen, and my host and hostess asked the Steeles if they might bring me along. Hardly a concession on the Steeles’ part, based on some of the people I’ve met thus far. The Steeles appear to be extremely democratic in their guest list. I understand Steele is wealthy, so perhaps the guests reflect Mrs. Steele’s having married well.”
Elizabeth couldn’t help stealing a quick look at Worth. His eyes narrowed slightly at the slur toward his sister, but the pleasant expression on his face never wavered. Somehow she didn’t feel much reassured. “Professor Burns—”
“Augustine,” he interjected smoothly. “My dear, I must insist you use my first name. We’ve been friends for a long time.” He gave her a look which seemed to suggest if they hadn’t been very good friends before, it was time they became so.
Ignoring her churning stomach, Elizabeth smiled vaguely and continued, “I’d like to introduce Mrs. Steele’s brother, Worth Lassiter. Worth, this is Augustine Burns. From the university where Lawrence taught.”
Worth reached out and grabbed Professor Burns’ hand and pumped it vigorously. “Howdie. Right nice to meet cha, Gus.”
Elizabeth almost swallowed her tonsils at Worth’s broad twang. The men continued to shake hands, each obviously indulging in a macho endeavor to out-muscle the other. The professor’s neck bulged.
Worth finally released him. “Goldarn, I’m tickled pink to meet a teaching buddy of Larry’s. So, whaddya teach, Gus?”
If Professor Burns—Gus—stiffened much more, his spine would shatter. Elizabeth swallowed the nervous bubble of laughter rising in her throat and stared at a crystal chandelier at the end of the room.
“I’m a professor of history,” he intoned in an arctic voice.
“Way ta go, Gus. I’ll bet them pupils of yours are right happy when they got you up in front of the blackboard.” Worth slapped him on the back.
Augustine rocked forward on his toes. Elizabeth almost felt sorry for him.
“How do you make your living, Mr. Lassiter?”
“If ya seen what’s on the bottom of my boots, you wuddn’t haf to ask.” Worth made an alarming hee-hawing noise through his nose.
Elizabeth assumed he was supposed to be laughing. Almost reluctantly she decided to put an end to his outrageous behavior. “Nice to see you, Augustine,” she said politely, if un-truthfully. “I hope you enjoy your stay in Aspen.”
“Now that I know you’re here, my dear,” he gave her a heavy-lidded look which came off more ludicrous than sensual, “and have cast off your widow’s weeds, shall we say? I—”
“Let’s don’t say,” Worth said evenly.
Augustine stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”
“Elizabeth came to Aspen for her father’s wedding. She isn’t your dear, and she doesn’t have time to fend off unwanted advances from a pretentious, aging psuedo-intellectual with pubescent manners and uncontrolled hormones,” Worth said in a level voice. “Elizabeth, I believe we were on our way to the buffet table. If you’ll excuse us, Gus, I seem to have worked up quite an appetite.”
Waiting until they had moved beyond range of Professor Burns’ hearing, Elizabeth gave Worth a dry look. “Shouldn’t you be hungrier than a hog with something or other?”
Amusement lit his eyes. “I believe you have me confused with Thomas. Such riffraff, those Steeles.”
“Thomas isn’t riffraff,” she objected. “He’s democratic.”
Worth lifted a quizzical brow. “If you tell me he was your husband’s best friend, I’ll go back and apologize.”
Elizabeth thought about how to answer. “I believe Professor Burns is respected in his field,” she said carefully. “Lawrence admired his scholarship.”
“You didn’t?”
“Lawrence was brilliant, and I always thought Professor Burns—Gus,” she choked back a giggle, “made Lawrence his protégé because he knew Lawrence would go places.”
“And Burns wanted to share the limelight.”
“Yes.” She added guiltily, “I have no proof of that.”
“You mean a man can be an obnoxious jerk and still be good at his work?”
“It’s possible.”
“I assume when your husband was living, Burns kept his eyes to himself.”
“Of course,” she lied, and hoped the flush on her face didn’t betray her. Lawrence had brushed off Elizabeth’s complaints, saying it meant nothing, that Burns looked at all women that way. One of their very few arguments had ensued when Elizabeth said she wished one of the female professors or students would hit Burns with sexual harassment charges.
“I can go back and slug him if you want, but Cheyenne would probably throw a fit if he dripped blood on one of her rugs.”
“You don’t need to hit him. I’m sure you sufficiently humiliated him.”
“Do I owe you an apology?”
“No.”
“Then why the unhappy look on your face? Never mind,” he said hastily. “That was thoughtless of me. Seeing someone from the university must be painful. I’m sorry. He rubbed me the wrong way, but my behavior was selfish and inexcusable. You and Professor Burns could have talked over old times, shared some memories of your late husband. I should have left you with him.”
“That would have been inexcusable,” Elizabeth said firmly. “The man is a highly educated, pompous jerk. I know you were annoyed on Cheyenne’s account, and I thoroughly appreciated your sticking pins in him.” An unladylike snicker slipped out. “Gus. That must have hurt him the most.” Rising on her toes, she gave Worth a quick kiss on his cheek. “Thank you. I’m sure it says something awful about my character, but I enjoyed that.”
“You’re welcome.” His hand rested warmly on her hip. “I have to admit he shows good taste in his ogling.”
Blue eyes were supposed to be cold. Not warm and sexy with teasing lights. Elizabeth suddenly had trouble breathing. “He’ll ogle anything with two X-chromosomes.”
“There are chromosomes and there are chromosomes.” Moving his hand to her waist, Worth guided her to the table of food.
Elizabeth stared at a mountain of shrimp with unseeing eyes. Worth’s last statement made perfect sense to her. Put X and Y chromosomes together and you had Augustine Burns.
Or Worth Lassiter.
A rugged, good-looking, arrogant, heart-stopping cowboy who’d make a sexy lover and a good father. And no doubt a difficult husband.
Elizabeth had had one husband. She didn’t want another.
/> Lawrence had manipulated her, lied to her and betrayed her. Maybe that had something to do with the Y-chromosome. She had no desire to explore the subject.
She did, however, want to know what Worth was up to.
Piling food on her plate, he refused to discuss what he’d meant when he’d suggested they come to an arrangement.
Whatever he’d meant, Elizabeth felt sure his proposed arrangement was designed to benefit Worth Lassiter and not Elizabeth Randall.
“Quit stalling,” Elizabeth said impatiently the next day, “and tell me about this so-called arrangement, which I know I’m not going to like.” Worth probably thought waiting to hear what he had in mind would soften her opposition. He was wrong. “There’s no danger of being overheard here. It’s just you and me and Jamie in the backseat, and he’s not going to tell anyone anything.”
Worth looked in the rearview mirror of the extended cab pickup. “Mum’s the word, right, Jimbo?”
“Jamie,” Elizabeth said automatically.
Jamie kicked his feet and chattered back to Worth. Worth had taught her son to use the mirror to see the driver, and Jamie chortled every time Worth caught his eye. Jamie had adjusted to the ebb and flow of Lassiter family life and was loving every part of it.
Especially Worth.
Elizabeth chose to believe Jamie’s adoration of Worth meant nothing more than a little boy needing a man in his life. A teenaged boy lived next door to her in Nebraska. He seemed nice. Perhaps she could hire him to spend time with Jamie after they returned home. Any adult male would suffice.
There was nothing special about Worth Lassiter.
She turned to look at him. His large hat shadowed his forehead, but the sun silhouetted his unyielding jaw, his strong, rugged face. Occasionally, she caught glimpses of him in his sisters’ faces and them in his. Funny how the same parts could look so feminine on them and so masculine on him. Like his mouth. All four of them had the same generous mouth. A mouth made for laughing.
And kissing.
Elizabeth wished she could forget the feel of his mouth. Firm, yet tender. But not for her.
“Why the sigh?”
“No sigh.” Hopefully he wouldn’t notice the heat she felt on her face. “I didn’t sigh. If I did, it was because I was wondering if you were ever going to satisfy my curiosity.”
The air in the car immediately vibrated with hidden meaning, and Elizabeth knew without a doubt Worth had chosen to interpret her words in a sexually provocative way.
“I assume you mean about us coming to an arrangement?”
“Of course I mean that,” she snapped. “Do you think about anything but sex?”
He looked at her from beneath elevated eyebrows before saying seriously, “I think it has something to do with ions or electrons or something like that.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Take lightning. Electricity flashing from one place to another. It’s probably your red hair. The question is, is red hair a generator or a conductor?”
“I think,” she said tightly, “you’re dodging the issue.”
“You’re the one who brought up sex. I was looking for an explanation for all this zinging going on between us.”
“I did not bring up sex.” She refused to discuss nonexistent zinging. She didn’t zing. “All I said was I wanted you to satisfy…” The mirthful quirk at the corner of his mouth stopped her. “Never mind. Just tell me what you were talking about last night.”
“Okay.” He slid a gloved finger along the rim of the steering wheel.
The movement shrieked of sexual overtones. Her skin tingled as if he was running his finger over her. The way it had tingled when he’d said Professor Burns showed good taste in ogling. Not because of what he’d said, but because of the male appreciation in his eyes at the time. Elizabeth clamped her teeth. She would not allow tingling.
“Why won’t you tell Russ you’re afraid of horses?” Worth asked.
All tingling immediately ceased. “Your big arrangement is more blackmail? None of your business. And I’m not afraid of horses.”
He wore sunglasses, but the skin around his eyes wrinkled as if he were squinting in concentrated thought. “Okay,” he said eventually. “I’ll go first. Then you can tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Russ said your stepfather is in the military so you’ve lived all over the world.” At her nod, he continued. “And that fancy hotel chain you work for has moved you several times.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time, as if marshaling his thoughts. Elizabeth couldn’t even begin to guess where this conversation was headed.
“Cheyenne and Allie attended colleges back east,” he said. “Greeley could have, but she chose to go to Colorado State. I went to Grand Junction, a couple hours west of here, so I could come home weekends, sometimes even overnight, depending on my class schedule. Grandpa Yancy was gone then, and boys were starting to notice Cheyenne. Mom told all of us about the birds and the bees, but I needed to be here so the guys coming around would know they couldn’t pull anything. I know what teenaged boys are like, and Mom is too easygoing and trusting. My sisters, especially Cheyenne, threw a fit about my ‘big brother act’, as they called it, but someone had to protect them.”
Elizabeth visualized Worth pacing the porch, waiting for his sisters to return home safely. She had no trouble imagining him as protective. And inflexible. “I’ll bet you were a real pain.”
He grinned. “At least three people thought so.”
“I’m sure they still do.” That was a lie. His sisters complained, but it was clear they exaggerated their complaints and obviously adored him. Which they were demonstrating by their loving, if misguided, efforts to find him a wife.
Elizabeth had sided with them, not because she thought Worth’s single state was any of their business, but because she didn’t like being used.
“We’ve had our moments, but they survived.” Satisfaction filled his voice, making him sound like a proud papa.
“You may not survive if you don’t explain what you meant last night about a mutual arrangement.”
“Have you ever been to China?” he asked in a total change of subject. “Seen the Great Wall?”
“No.” Elizabeth inwardly sighed. She had a feeling Worth was never going to tell her his stupid plan. He must have had second thoughts. “My stepfather was never stationed in the Far East.”
“Have you ever thought about walking on it? Imagined what it would be like building it?” Obviously the question was rhetorical because he continued, “I’ve never been to Asia. Never been to Europe. Never walked on a California beach. I want to hike the Appalachian Trail. Stand in the middle of Times Square in New York City. See the Great Barrier Reef. Alaskan glaciers. There’s always been this sort of hole in my life. A sense of something missing. A restlessness. So much I’ve never done, so many places I’ve never been. Sights I’ve never seen.”
He glanced fleetingly at her, then looked straight ahead. “Now Mom and my sisters have someone to take care of them. As for the ranch, after fifteen years of managing that big spread down in Texas, Russ can handle any ranch business while I’m gone. There’s no reason I can’t take off now and again. Have adventures. Take chances. Live life.”
A picture began to take shape for Elizabeth. One of unselfish devotion to his family. “You want to do things you couldn’t do before, because you were helping raise your sisters.”
“I don’t regret for one second what I did for Mom and my sisters,” he said quickly, “but now they’re married. I’m not hobbled by family responsibilities.”
The last piece of the picture snapped into place. “And the last thing you want is to get married.”
“The very last. Someday, sure, but not now. Now I’m looking forward to doing the things I’ve never been able to do.”
“Which is why you were hiding behind an fake relationship with me last night.”
He flashed her a
n enigmatic glance. “Whatever.”
“Tell your sisters the truth. That you don’t want to get married because you want to do other things first.”
His mouth thinned in disgust. “I thought you were smarter than that. They’d think I resented them, think I made sacrifices for them. I didn’t, but no matter how I explain it, it sounds as if I think I did. You don’t understand what I mean and neither would they. I won’t have them feeling guilty. I’m not a martyr and I didn’t make sacrifices. I did what I had to do, and I don’t regret any of it. If I had to, I’d do it again. But I don’t have to, and I don’t intend to tie myself down with a wife. Not now. Now I intend to expand my horizons. So there it is.” He looked expectantly at her. “Okay, it’s your turn to divulge your deep, dark secret.”
Elizabeth almost panicked. He couldn’t know. Russ didn’t know. No one knew. “I don’t have a secret,” she said quickly. “Whoever told you I did, lied. I’m not telling you anything. You made all that stuff up so I’d tell you, but I’m not going to tell you.” She took a deep breath to calm herself. “There’s nothing to tell.”
Worth spliced the last strand of broken wire and threw the fence stretcher into the back of the pickup. Repairing fence wasn’t his favorite chore and he usually left it to his men, but today he didn’t mind the work. It occupied his hands and left his mind free to puzzle over Elizabeth’s strange reaction to his question. He’d wanted to know why she didn’t tell Russ about her fear of horses. The way she’d practically bounced off the inside of the pickup made him wonder what she thought he’d been asking.
Her reaction forcibly reminded him of when his sister Allie was ten and she stole a wretched little male dog after seeing his abusive owner beat him bloody. She’d hidden the half-dead animal in the barn, caring for him on the sly. Guilt over the theft had preyed on her until the day Worth asked her something about cleaning out a stall and she’d gone ballistic, yelling about people who ignored evil when they had big barns. Until then, Worth had had no idea about their illicit guest.