“Your mom.”
“You answered?” she squeaked, mortified at the mere thought.
“No, Ashli, I’m not that careless. I heard the machine pick up.”
“Alright, good.” She took another sip in relief.
He lifted a dark, sexy eyebrow. It matched the look he had going on; bare sexy chest, tight sexy tuxedo pants, shoeless sexy feet. “Regrets already?” There was a teasing tone in his voice, but she could see the uncertainty in his eyes.
“Not regret. Embarrassment. This is my mother we’re talking about.”
“You might want to call her. She said something about coming by.”
“My mother’s in town?” she cried. She groped for the phone on her bedside table, forgetting to keep the sheet tucked in.
Getting exactly the response he had hoped for, Lange enjoyed the view. As she began dialing, he broke his gaze and turned toward the stairs. “I’ll bring you breakfast,” he offered.
“That’s not nec - Hello, Mom?” She deliberately turned away from the view of his fine-looking backside, afraid her mother would hear the distraction in her voice.
By the time Lange returned, she was off the phone. He was still on the top step when she accused, “You tricked me! You know good and well she said they weren’t coming until this evening!”
“It got you up and moving, didn’t it?” He carried a cookie sheet in lieu of a serving tray, but it was piled with food and two cups of coffee. As he sat the tray down at the foot of the bed, he noted she had slipped into a shirt. His white tuxedo shirt, if he was not mistaken.
“That definitely looks better on you than on me,” he murmured.
“I don’t know about that. You turned quite a few heads last night.” She surveyed the tray before her. “Hmm, let’s see. Toast, strawberry preserves, fresh oranges, chicken puffs, chocolate cake, and coffee.” She beamed up at him. “Perfect!”
Dazzled by the brilliance of her smile, Lange felt an odd catch in his chest. He handed her a full cup of coffee in exchange for her empty one, willing his hand to remain steady. “I raided your little yellow boxes,” he admitted.
“The toast was an original touch.”
“Didn’t want you to think I was totally inept in the kitchen.”
The easy bantering was a nice change of pace between them. What could have been an awkward morning was turned fun and playful with their light flirtation and original menu.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Lange said, pulling something from his back pocket. He tossed the Lifestyle section of the Sunday morning paper toward her. She saw her own face smiling back at her, beaming with pride and excitement. There was a big headline, accompanied by a nice story about her and the Tea Party. She squealed in delight, scanning the story as she nibbled on a slice of toast.
“What a sweet thing to say,” Ashli said as she finished the article. She read a few of her favorite lines aloud, clearly pleased with the paper’s portrayal of her business. “I think I may have this framed and hung at the Tea Party, what do you think?”
“I think that’s a very good idea.”
They finished their meal in companionable silence, before Ashli finally looked at the clock and groaned. “I guess I should get up and take a shower.”
He was oddly disappointed that she had plans for the day. Odd, because normally he was eager to leave the morning after. “What’s on your agenda for today?” He strived for casual.
Ashli thought for a moment, then gave him another of her brilliant smiles. “Absolutely nothing. For the first time in weeks, I don’t have a single thing planned for the day. Oh, expect for dinner with my parents, later this evening.” She hesitated before adding, “They wanted to know if you’d be joining us.”
“I might be free this evening.” He couldn’t help the satisfied little smile that hovered on his lips.
“Then you might be treated to dinner at Southern Pride around seven,” she replied smartly.
“I’m assuming I’d be over-dressed in a tux?”
“Maybe just a little bit.”
“Then I’ll have to ask for my shirt back.” His dark eyes glittered.
“I said no to the tux.”
“But I’ll have to go home and change.” He held out his hand, his gaze already roaming over her in anticipation of seeing her naked once again.
“Not so fast, mister. You did make me one promise last night that I intend to hold you to.”
He groaned, wondering what he might have promised in the throes of passion. With Ashli, there was no telling. He had lost all control last night.
“You promised me a walk in the gardens.”
Relieved to know that was all she expected of him, he relaxed. “I did, didn’t I? So, hand over the shirt so you can take your shower and we can go for our walk.”
“Nice try.” When Ashli stood, the shirt brushed the tops of her knees. She hurried to the bathroom, where she stripped just out of his line of vision and tossed the shirt out the door.
“I’ll be ready in thirty,” she called over her shoulder. “Twenty, if you promise another cup of coffee.”
Twenty-five minutes and a cup of coffee later, Ashli and Lange stepped out into the warmth of the summer sun. He was the one wearing the tuxedo shirt this time, sleeves rolled up and jacket nowhere in sight. To his delight, Ashli was dressed in denim capri pants, with a simple camisole top and a floral over-shirt.
It was a look he had never seen on her before, but one he fully appreciated. She looked fresh and fashionable and insanely sexy, even though there was nothing particularly revealing about her outfit. He had hoped making love to her would satisfy this ridiculous yearning he had for her, but even three times hadn’t been enough. It was taking tremendous self-control not to claim her again this morning.
“Our gardens are really spectacular,” Ashli said as they descended the staircase. “Mr. Parnell has a real green thumb.” She glanced down and saw the door was open to the elderly man’s apartment. “It looks like he’s coming out right now. He might can give us a guided tour. He’s very knowledgeable about the various types of flowers and plants.”
Lange didn’t want to share her with anyone this morning, especially her over-protective landlord. He would have said as much, but it wasn’t Mr. Parnell coming out of the apartment; it was a woman dressed in nurse’s scrubs. A woman he recognized.
Ashli saw the woman, too, and hurried down the step to greet her in surprise. “Veronica! What are you doing here? Is Mr. Parnell alright? You don’t usually come on Sunday morning. Is anything wrong?” In typical fashion, she continued to ask questions before the first one was even answered.
“Mr. Parnell called me this morning, terribly disoriented,” the nurse answered, nonplused by the bombard of questions. “I’m surprised he could even dial my number, although I think it may have been a lucky fluke. He kept talking about his wife, then thought I was his wife.”
Ashli sighed. “Poor thing. Is he alright now?”
“I’ve given him something to relax and calm down. He’s sleeping now.” As Lange reached the bottom step behind Ashli, the nurse shifted her gaze to him. Surprise clearly registered on her face. “Lange! What are you do –?” Her question trailed off as she noted his formal attire, obviously from the night before. Her back visibly stiffened as her eyes darted back and forth between him and Ashli.
“I’m sorry,” Ashli murmured, ashamed to have forgotten her manners. “Lange Sterling, Veronica Ables.” Then the other woman’s words sank in. “But wait. You two know each other?”
Neither directly answered. “Good to see you, Veronica,” Lange said to the nurse, but his tone didn’t match his words.
She looked pointedly down at his clothes before returning a cool gaze to his eyes. “Yes, you, too.” With a falsely sweet smile, she added, “My sister never mentioned you knew Ashli.”
“There’s no reason she would,” Lange said coolly. “I haven’t spoken to your sister in a while.” His relationship with Diane seemed l
ike ages ago, even if the calendar measured it in weeks.
“I see,” she said in a clipped tone. “Well, I have to go now.”
Confused about what had just transpired, Ashli was still concerned about her neighbor. “Should I check on Mr. Parnell later?”
“That would be nice. If you’re not too busy.” This, with a sharp look thrown toward Lange.
“Of-Of course not. I always have time for a friend.”
“I’m sure you do. Goodbye, Ashli. Lange.” With a smart toss of her head, the nurse flounced across the foyer and out the door.
After the door slammed shut, silence echoed. “What- What just happened here?” Ashli asked.
Lange caught the hand she waved through the air and tugged, dragging her toward the back door and the awaiting gardens.
“Lange, why was Veronica acting so strangely? And how do you know her, anyway? What was that about her sister?” He was still holding her hand, practically pulling her down the hallway. “Are you going to answer me or not?”
“Do I have a choice?” he muttered, knowing she would go on and on until he did. He opened one of the stained glass doors with its intricate pattern of daisies and waited for her to go first.
“Don’t think you’re going to distract me with a sudden display of manners,” she chided. “Although it is nice, thank you. Now, back to Veronica. How do you know her, and why was she so rude just now?”
“I don’t really know Veronica that well. I’ve met her a handful of times, through her sister. We.... dated,” he said, for lack of a better word.
Ashli was quiet for a long moment. So long, in fact, that Lange grew nervous. She didn’t say anything, just walked across the covered patio and into the sunshine. He trailed behind, blinded by the halo that glowed around her head. With the sunlight bouncing off her white blond tresses, she looked like an angel sent down from heaven.
Lange caught up with her and tried to take her arm. She shook it away, her blue eyes accusing. Her voice, normally soft and gentle, dripped with disdain. “You’re in a relationship? You’re involved with someone else, and you spent the night with me?”
“No! No, I’m not in a relationship.”
“Then what was all that about her sister? Why was she so rude to you, unless she caught you cheating on her sister?”
“She may think I was cheating, but I’m not. I broke it off with her sister.”
Ashli looked up at him and asked directly, “When?”
He couldn’t hold her gaze. He knew what she would think of him. “After I kissed you for the first time,” he told her honestly.
“So I’m the other woman now?” Ashli threw her hands up and stalked off, toward the gardens. Neither was appreciating the bounty of nature.
“You never even hinted,” Ashli said, knowing he was right behind her. “I would never have gotten involved with you if I had known you were already in a relationship.”
“It wasn’t really a relationship,” he defended himself lamely. She whirled around, incredulous, but he stuck to his story. “It was more of a ... arrangement. Neither of us wanted any strings, both of us needed an occasional date for social engagements. It was convenient.”
“You were sleeping together.” It wasn’t a question.
When he made no reply, she took off walking again. He let her go at first, but a few paces with his long legs brought him to her side.
“No wonder you kept pushing me away. You tried to tell me we couldn’t be involved, but I wouldn’t listen, would I? You tried to distance yourself from me, tried to keep things professional, but I kept pecking away, trying to break through your shell. I should have just let well enough alone, but no, I had to push.” In typical Ashli fashion, she was talking to herself, as much as to him.
He couldn’t stand to hear the derision in her voice. He couldn’t let her blame herself, when he was the one at fault. Catching her arm, he forced her to stop. He stepped in front of her and made her look at him. “She’s not the reason I didn’t want to get involved with you,” he said. He slipped his hand into her hair, cupping the back of her head and forcing her face up toward his. “I was never romantically involved with her. Not on an emotional level. Our relationship was purely physical.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel better about last night, you have a very strange method.”
“No, I’m trying to explain my involvement with her.”
“So you were friends with benefits. I get it. I just don’t happen to like being the other woman.”
“You were never the other woman, Ashli.” Lange’s words were low and husky, his eyes dark. “From the first moment I saw you, you were the only woman.”
Ashli felt her heart melt. It oozed all the way down to her toes, making her all warm and tingly inside. With great discipline, she forced herself to remember their argument.
“It’s true, Ashli,” he insisted, seeing the indecision in her eyes. “I saw her exactly once after I met you. I broke it off with her that very night.” Lange frowned, weighing his words before he spoke. His eyes were on his thumb, which trailed back and forth over the soft swell of her cheek. A raw admission raked from his too-tight chest. “I know it sounds cold, I know what you must think of me when I tell you this. But she was never a factor in my relationship with you, because she was never that important to me. I never let her in, Ashli. She knew I had lost a woman named Lauren, but I never told her the whole story. I never told her about my grandmother. I never took her to my apartment.” He slid his eyes to hers. They were naked with emotion, and had a moist sheen Ashli had never seen in them before. “I had sex with her many times,” he admitted. His voice dropped to a rough whisper. “But I never made love with her, like I did with you last night.”
This time when Ashli melted, it was in his arms. Still cupping the back of her head, Lange held her face at just the right angle, so he could bring his mouth down on hers with slow and deliberate finesse. He brushed his mouth back and forth across hers, sliding his lips across hers. After a deliciously long moment, he ran the tip of his tongue over the lower rim of her bottom lip, back across the plump middle, then slid it along the seam of her mouth. Lost to the mastery of his kiss, Ashli let him gently tug her lips apart, until the tip of his tongue was just inside, tracing the sweet cavern. When his tongue finally touched hers, she gasped as if he were French kissing her for the first time. He pulled her closer, his hand still buried in the glory of her hair, as he continued to kiss her long and slow and with great reverence.
When he raised his head, he held her for another long moment, allowing their heart rates to slow, and their breathing to even out. At last he spoke, but his voice was slightly unsteady. “Let’s see that garden now.”
Ashli took his hand with a smile, her lips pink and full and still tingling from his kiss. “They’re really very lovely,” she said, but she was thinking about their kiss. She hugged his arm, snuggling against him.
“Keep staring at me like that, and we’ll never make it past the first rosebush,” he threatened in a sinfully rich voice.
“Hmmm. Maybe we’ll get lost off one of the trails,” she suggested.
“I’m warning you. Look at me like that for ten seconds longer, and we won’t make it to the trail.”
Ashli let her gaze linger on his mouth for a good five seconds, then laughed delightedly at his growl of desire. “Come on,” she said, pulling him along. “I want you to see the goldfish pond.”
They wandered past a wild profusion of color and wound their way along the brick paved path until they reached the pond. With its irregular shape edged in limestone, the pond was cool and clear and bubbly. Small pumps kept the water moving, with little sprinkler fountains scattered throughout, and staggered depths to add the illusion of tiny waterfalls. More water flowed down a layered pile of limestone and granite and offered the pleasant gurgle of a running brook. Amid the sparkling water, flowers and fauna and fish abounded.
“Very nice,” Lange said with approval. “Ver
y nice.”
“I love the pond. Sometimes I come down here and read, or just sit and think.” She nodded to the two benches placed on opposite sides of the pond. She frowned suddenly. “Or at least, I used to.”
Since she was the one to bring up the subject, Lange expanded on it. “I wonder if this is where your goldfish came from.”
She looked duly surprised. “I don’t know, I never thought of that.”
“Doesn’t really matter. Come on, let’s see more of this garden wonderland.”
“Don’t jest. We’re only getting started. I have no idea what all these flowers are, but Mr. Parnell can name them all. He has a huge vegetable garden back here, too, and all sorts of trees and plants. We’ll go this way first.”
“I’ll follow you wherever you lead me.” His words were light, but he knew they carried a heavy truth.
After an hour of wandering through the gardens, lingering more than once for a stolen kiss, they made their way back up the other side of the garden. As predicted, Lange was quite impressed with the extensive system and the profuse growth.
“I can’t believe that old man takes care of all this by himself,” Lange said with new appreciation for her neighbor. “This is a huge plot.”
“I know. It’s really pretty amazing when you think about it, given him age. But he’s in good physical condition, and still strong as an ox. It’s just his mind that seems to be failing him.”
“Is this the carriage house?” Lange asked as they came in view of the old brick structure.
“Yep. Guess it used to hold all the carriages and wagons for the property. Now it’s Mr. Parnell’s storage shed.”
“Awfully big shed,” Lange said, eyeing the large building.
“And he’s got it all full, too,” Ashli laughed. “All sorts of work tables and potting tables and tools, lawn mowers and edgers and weed eaters, and that big machine where he mixes his fertilizer.”
“I’d like to see what kind of mower he uses,” Lange said, stepping up to try the door. Finding it locked, he stepped over to a window. “I bet he has a zero turning degree lawn mower. Wonder what brand,” he murmured, trying to see past the chest freezer for a glimpse of the machinery. “Hmmm, can’t really see from here. Good Lord, what is that smell?” he asked suddenly, getting a whiff of the foul odor.
He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not Page 19