"Nobody said you did." Lex continued to watch the guy in the black sedan. "We're trying to throw this guy off the trail, if he's even on the trail in the first place. So if it looks as if you're going off on a trip with Dante, we'll have more time to see what happens with the sedan when you leave."
Dante nodded. "Good plan. Come on, Cora. We can do this."
"Well, of course I can do it. I just didn't want anybody to think I actually operate that way. I prefer mature men."
"Hey!" Dante bristled. "Are you implying I'm not mature?"
"Of course not." Cora patted his arm. "You're mature for your age. You need a little more seasoning, is all. Gillian, let me have your suitcase and we'll be off." She walked over and took the handle of Gillian's small rolling bag. "So you two will follow later?"
"Yeah," Lex said. "But we might give it some time, so we confuse the issue if the guy's still there."
"Don't forget that Gillian looks a lot different," Cora said.
"Oh!" Gillian had been so involved in thinking of the potential mobster who might be waiting to gun her down if she stepped out the door that she'd forgotten about her Marilyn disguise. "I guess you're right. If I take off my glasses, I might not be recognized."
"And you won't be carrying a suitcase, as if you were trying to escape somewhere." Lex nodded. "This might work."
"All righty, then." Dante trundled Cora's big suitcase back toward the kitchen, where a door opened into the garage. "Call us in a little while to let us know what's happening."
"Right," Lex said. "And when you go out there, make a show of it. Let Cora back the car out and then you put the suitcase in while it's sitting in the driveway. Act chummy."
Cora paused at the door and turned. "Which is exactly what you and Gillian should do, too, Alexander. Excellent ploy."
Lex hesitated. "You're probably right." Gillian's heart rate climbed the charts.
AS CORA BACKED HER MERCEDES OUT OF THE garage, Lex positioned himself about five feet from the window so he could see out without being seen. He also worked hard to ignore Gillian's presence in the suddenly small living room. His plan had seemed like the only logical one, but it had left him alone with a woman with the power to distract him from his job. Just his luck she was the job.
"What's the sedan doing?" she murmured.
The sound of her voice skittered along his nerve endings, setting off a longing he had no business having. "Nothing so far." He took note of a slight scuff mark on the front bumper. That would help him identify it if it showed up again anywhere else.
Changing the focus of his attention, he watched as Dante loaded the suitcase in the back of Cora's car. Cora got out and openly flirted with him. Then she pinched his butt.
Lex laughed.
"What?" Gillian moved up beside him. "Cora goosed him."
"That would be Cora. Give her a role and she's ail over it. The woman has chops, even after all these years."
Lex felt the need to make conversation to diffuse the effect of Gillian's perfume on his libido. Logically it couldn't be her perfume, of course. She had to have borrowed some from Cora.
But borrowed or not, the scent of it made him think of where she might have dabbed it on her naked body. He'd had reason to think of her naked body ever since his shopping trip to buy underwear. That silky stuff with the lace trim would be covering and supporting places he shouldn't think about, but he couldn't seem to help himself.
Maybe discussing Cora would give him some relief. "How did you and Cora hook up in the first place?"
"A TV special about two years ago. She came out of retirement because it was a charity thing for Alzheimer's research."
Lex vaguely remembered it. "Wasn't it a Christmas special?"
"Exactly. She was the heroine's wacky grandmother who was starting to slip mentally. I love her earlier work, so I specifically asked to do her makeup. She seemed pleased by that, and... we got along."
Lex felt a stab of guilt. "I'll bet she was lonely. Dante and I should have stopped by more often. She always said we were like the grandkids she'd never had, but... life gets in the way."
"She didn't seem particularly lonely or pathetic."
Lex appreciated the protective urge that prompted that comment. "No, I'm sure she didn't. That would never describe Cora. Well, there she goes with Dante, her boy toy."
"And the guy in the sedan?"
"Not moving, damn it." Lex blew out a breath. "I was hoping he'd follow them."
"He's waiting for me, though, isn't he?"
The slight tremble in her voice socked him in the gut. He wanted to put his arms around her and promise she'd be safe, but that would be instant insanity and might not be a promise he could keep. So instead he glanced at her with a smile. "Maybe he's waiting for you and maybe he's waiting for some other reason. Don't let it spook you. We'll work this out."
She responded with a smile of her own. "I'm sure we will."
He would have to armor himself against that smile of hers. "We might as well sit down and relax." He walked over to an easy chair, to eliminate the possibility of them both choosing the sofa. "I'd like to give the guy time to get bored before we walk out the door."
"Boredom would be good." She took the sofa. "I doubt if a person's aim is half as good if he's bored."
He sat up straighter as he realized her fear was far more specific than he'd imagined. "Okay, hold it right there. You're not about to get shot."
"I know you'll try to keep that from happening, but—"
"Correction. I will keep that from happening." Somehow. He'd never figured on putting his life on the line when he agreed to be partners with Dante in this PI business, but here he was, in charge of keeping this gorgeous creature alive and well. The challenge of it was exhilarating. And he realized in that moment that if he lived through this assignment, he could never go back to insurance fraud.
Gillian leaned forward, her brown eyes earnest behind her wire-framed glasses. "I don't know what your fee is, but it can't be enough to justify taking a bullet for me."
"It's not always about the money." He loved saying that. The statement made him feel brave and true, a Superman type who stood for justice and the protection of innocent women and children. Insurance just didn't have that kind of payoff.
"But you don't even know me."
"You're important to Cora, and Cora's important to me. That's enough."
She clasped and unclasped her hands in her lap. "I don't want Neil to get away with this."
This was news, and it scared him. It was all fine and dandy for him to make like a hero, but if she tried any heroics, she could get herself killed. "Look, once you're safely out of the country, then you can—"
"What if that's too late? What if he's completely disappeared by then?" She looked frightened, but determined, too. "Instead of heading off on this cruise to try and save my neck, I should go to the police and tell my story."
"And then what?"
"There's always the witness protection program." She didn't say it with much conviction. "I suppose."
She took a breath and pumped more enthusiasm into her voice. "They could create a whole new identity for me and move me to the Texas Panhandle where I could work as a checker in a neighborhood grocery store."
"I don't think you start out as a checker. There's training and staff."
"You're right. Plus that's too high-profile. I could be recognized. I'd probably have to get a job on an assembly line screwing widgets into thingamabobs. If it's high tech and I have to wear some sterile suit and a mask, so much the better."
"Sounds sort of grim."
"But not as grim as death. And maybe I could put Neil behind bars."
"Listen, Gillian..." He hesitated. He was also a fan of justice and nailing the bad guy, but he'd be happier if the system worked better. "It's your decision, but Phil Adamo has quite the network."
"Maybe people exaggerate about that."
"It's possible, but I wouldn't want to take that chance.
I don't have a lot of faith that the witness protection program would do the trick in this case." As ill-prepared as he felt for this job, he still didn't want to turn her welfare over to some faceless government agency that would relocate her to suburbia and give her a job screwing widgets into thingamabobs. She'd always live with the threat of somebody blowing her cover.
"I'm not too keen on that plan, myself. Too much room for error." She looked down at her tightly clasped hands. "I wish I could be braver, though."
"There's brave and then there's foolhardy. I think going to the police right now, when Neil's contacts know you were at the scene, would be suicide."
She glanced up, her expression bleak. "Yeah, me, too."
'Tell you what. Once you're on the ship and we're confident you're safe, you can use the ship-to-shore radio to call the police. How's that?"
"Better than anything I was coming up with." She stood. "Let's get out of here."
Lex pushed himself out of the chair and moved closer to the window. "Our guy's still parked in the same spot. We should probably wait a while longer."
"I say he's going to stay right there until we make a move. I can't speak for you, but I'm going nuts sitting around, waiting to see what will happen."
He thought of counseling her in the art of patience. They really might outlast the joker in the black sedan. But the longer he stood there looking at her in her slinky outfit, the more he began to realize that they needed to leave. It was either that or kiss her.
"All right," he said. "We'll go. I'll stay on your left as we walk down the sidewalk. We'll put our arms around each other. Think of me as your shield and keep me between you and the black sedan. We'll be fine."
"Unless he starts to move. Or another one comes from the right, catching us in the cross fire, and we end up like Bonnie and Clyde, our bullet-riddled bodies lying across your white Toyota."
"Good God, woman." The image appalled him. It also made him sweat.
She laughed. "Sorry. It's a bad habit of mine, imagining the worst-case scenario. It eases the tension."
"For you, maybe."
"From now on, I'll try to keep those thoughts to myself." "I'd be grateful. So are you ready?" She hoisted the silver leather tote that had been lying on the sofa. "Ready." "Glasses."
"Oh, right." She took them off and tucked them inside the tote.
Once she did that, the resemblance to the legendary Marilyn was uncanny. Lex did his best not to stare. She even had the trademark mole on her upper lip, which drew his attention to her full mouth with its coating of shiny red lipstick. He'd never been a big fan of lipstick. In general it smeared and tasted funny. So his sudden urge to dive in for some smearing and a taste test was uncharacteristic and unsettling.
"Going without my glasses is probably better," she said. "I'll never know what hit me."
That snapped him back to reality fast "Hey! I thought you were going to keep those morbid thoughts to yourself."
"Was that morbid? I thought it was sort of cheerful. If you're going to be gunned down, it's better to be taken by surprise than to see it coming."
"Not in my opinion. I always like to see what's coming." And in the case of Gillian, he could see very clearly what was ahead. No doubt about it, he was in for a very bumpy ride.
Six
DESPITE ALL HER ATTEMPTS TO BEEF UP HER COURAGE, Gillian was shaking as she stepped through Cora's front door. She had more than one reason to shake. The first was the man in the black sedan parked two houses away. The second was the man who wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side as they left the small entryway and started down Cora's flagstone walk.
They were pretending, she reminded herself. But Lex's warm embrace didn't feel fake. It did feel incredibly right, as if she'd been waiting all her life for this particular man to tuck her against his side and head off to whatever paradise they could create together.
Lex reacted to the contact with a muffled little hum that could have meant anything from delight to indigestion. Or maybe he was signaling that the black sedan was on the move.
"Is that car going anywhere?" she asked quietly.
Lex leaned down and nuzzled her ear. "No."
She nearly swooned. The warmth of his arm was lovely, but nothing compared to the velvet brush of his lips against that tender spot behind her earlobe. She wondered if she could get him to do that again. "Are you absolutely sure?"
He dipped his head and repeated the caress, this time adding a flick of his tongue. "Not moving. Wish I could see the license plate. Wrong angle."
'Too bad." Her knees wobbled. If Lex could get that kind of response from her so easily, what would happen if they ever ended up in bed? She wouldn't allow that to happen, of course, but it was mind-boggling to think about the potential fireworks.
"Almost there," he murmured. "And the car's stationary."
Whereas she was in high gear. A simple walk down the sidewalk and her panties were damp. "Maybe he's not who we think."
"Maybe. But I'm not taking any— Hold it. He started the engine."
A thrill of fear shot through her.
"It's okay. We're here." Lex reached for the door handle. "Locked. Shit."
At the same moment Gillian heard the car approaching, Lex shoved her up against the car, bracketed her face with his hands and leaned into her, covering her with his body. "Hold still."
A flush that was part terror, part sexual excitement, spread through her. "I couldn't move if I wanted to."
"Good. Now act as if you like what I'm doing." He kissed her hard on the mouth, somehow managing to avoid poking his glasses into her face.
She'd never considered herself much of an actress, but that didn't matter in this case. She didn't have to act as if she liked what he was doing. She'd rather have Lex smash her up against his car and kiss her like this than win the lottery. And she played the lottery every single week.
Kissing Lex resembled riding the Tilt-A-Whirl with your eyes closed. She would have screamed with delight, except that her mouth was too busy to be bothered. She couldn't bring herself to care about the black sedan, either, and the fear of being riddled with bullets lost its power. Fate wouldn't riddle a person with bullets at such a moment as this.
The kiss went on for a satisfyingly long time, long enough for Gillian to become lost in the heat and the sweet moisture of it. He was good with his tongue, which was an important quality in Gillian's estimation. She also noticed how beautifully Lex's body lined up with hers.
To be more precise, one particular part of his body was in a state of transformation that gladdened her heart. It gladdened all of her, come to think of it She wiggled with joy.
The wiggle might have been too much, because Lex groaned and pulled away. She would take back the wiggle if she could, but it had slipped out before she could stop it lifting heavy eyelids, she watched him drag in air as he looked around.
His glasses were so fogged that he had to take them off. Finally he glanced down at her. "He's gone."
Even without her glasses she could see that his blue eyes were glazed from the powerhouse kiss. She was supposed to say something, but she couldn't think what would be appropriate under the circumstances. He'd kissed her better than she'd ever been kissed, and yet that shouldn't be the primary focus of the conversation.
Or should it? Nothing else seemed important to her, but she thought Lex might want her to acknowledge that his impromptu kiss had apparently helped them get rid of the bad guy in the black sedan. "Nice work," she said at last, hoping that covered everything.
"Thanks." The glazed look began to fade. He cleared his throat and replaced the glasses, a la Clark Kent. "Sorry about the manhandling."
"Womanhandling."
"Uh, yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at her with poorly disguised longing. "I didn't know what else to do."
"I thought it was brilliant."
"I'm surprised about your lipstick."
She blinked. "What about it
?"
"Didn't smear or anything. When I first saw how it looked, all shiny and wet..." His eyes glazed over again.
She could see them moving right back into the kiss. She was ready. "You were surprised it looked shiny and wet?"
"No." He hovered closer. "That it stayed that way."
"It's supposed to look wet, no matter what." She slid her hands up his chest. The plaid shirt was nerdy, but the pecs underneath were prime stuff.
"But I kissed you a lot." He cradled her hips in both hands.
"That lipstick stands up to heavy kissing and still looks wet." She wanted to prove it to him. "I'm a professional." "Kisser?"
She smiled. "Makeup artist. I'm only an average kisser."
"Couldn't prove it by me." His warm breath tickled her mouth.
Sliding her arms around his neck, she waited, heart pounding, for the Tilt-A-Whirl to start spinning again. Nothing happened. The tickle of his warm breath disappeared, too. Slowly she opened her eyes.
Behind the lenses of his glasses, his eyes were dark with concern. "This is not good," he said.
"You don't like kissing me?"
"I like it way too much."
Her ego recovered its balance. "That's not so bad. We have to pretend to be involved. What if you hated kissing me? You wouldn't be convincing."
"That won't be a problem."
"I believe people should be happy in their work."
Lex sighed and backed away from her. "I think you're missing the point. In order to protect you, I have to maintain an aggressive stance."
"That kiss was pretty aggressive. I can still feel the imprint of the doorframe on my back. Your tongue was on the aggressive side, too, which I enjoyed, by the way. There's nothing worse than a man who's tentative with his tongue."
Lex groaned. "Still not the point. That was just my sex drive kicking in."
Yeah, baby. "So? What's wrong with that?"
"Ultimately, sex fosters cooperation, not aggression. If you want to make war, you can't make love."
"Oh." What a disappointing thought. "And I suppose this is war, huh?"
"It is."
"But how are we supposed to pretend to be involved and keep our natural sex drive under control?"
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