by Diana Palmer
Her eyes shot to his. “Don’t you know? He was your best friend.”
“Not after he broke us up,” he replied tightly. “Or didn’t anyone ever tell you that I knocked two of his teeth out?”
“No,” she said. She huddled closer into her jacket, chilled by the look on Lang’s face. “It was a little late, though, wasn’t it?”
“Made me feel better,” he said laconically.
His broad chest rose and fell under the soft knit shirt he was wearing. There was a dark shadow under it. He was hairy under his shirt. Kirry had delighted in burying her hands and her mouth in that soft thicket.
The sadness she felt was reflected in the eyes she lifted to his broad face. “You never really knew anything about me,” she said suddenly, “except that you liked to kiss me.” She smiled gently. “Maybe that’s why you wouldn’t listen when I told you that Chad had framed me.”
He didn’t answer her. His eyes fell to her mouth and lingered there until she moved restlessly and her hand turned on the doorknob.
“The first time I kissed you, you gasped under my mouth,” he recalled quietly. “It surprised me that you didn’t know what a deep kiss felt like.”
She felt uncomfortable. Her green eyes glittered at him angrily. “There’s no need to rub it in.”
“If you hadn’t been a virgin, our lives would have been a lot different,” he continued. “I wanted you so badly that I couldn’t think straight, but you were the original old-fashioned girl. No sex before marriage.”
“I’m still the original old-fashioned woman,” she told him proudly. “My body is my business. I can do whatever I want to with it, and that includes being celibate if I feel like it.”
“Nights must get real cold in winter,” he chided.
Her eyebrows lifted. “I have an electric blanket, dear man, and no health worries. I sleep like a top. How about you?”
He didn’t sleep well. He hadn’t for years. His memories were of the violent variety and in the past few months, they’d become constant and nightmarish.
“I don’t,” he replied frankly.
“No wonder,” she returned. “All those women!”
“Kirry…”
He couldn’t deny it, of course he couldn’t. She fought down the jealousy and smiled. “Thanks for the lesson.”
He clamped down hard on his temper. “No problem,” he replied after a minute. “We’ll do it again in three days. Remember those stretches. Practice them.”
Her mind darted back to Erikson in the parking lot, and she felt threatened. Her eyes showed it.
“Don’t let him see that he’s scared you,” Lang said curtly. “Don’t you dare let him know. Keep your chin up. Look at him, show him you aren’t intimidated. Make sure you’re with people when you leave the building, here or at work.”
“Okay.”
He smiled softly. “You’re tough. Remember it.”
“I’ll try. Thanks, Lang.”
“I’ll be around. Let me know if you need me.”
She nodded.
He pushed away from the wall and looked down at her almost hungrily before he turned and walked slowly back toward the elevator.
Kirry wanted to call him back. She knew the sight of that retreating back, because she’d lived with it all these years. It still hurt to watch him go. Nothing had changed at all.
When he got to the elevator and pressed the button he turned and caught her staring at him. He looked back, aching to hold her. He had a feeling that he was going to get postgraduate courses in self-denial before this Erikson business was through.
Kirry lifted her hand in a halfhearted wave and went into her apartment, closing the door and locking it behind her. She had to stop wanting Lang to kiss her. It would be the same old mess again if she encouraged him. This time, she was going to be strong.
That attitude lasted all night long. It got her to work and into the building, despite the sight of that damned blue sedan sitting on the street in front of her apartment building and following her all the way to Lancaster, Inc. She looked straight at Erikson without a smile or a flinch as she went into the building, and it seemed to disconcert him. Lang had been right, she thought as she went into her office. It really was working! She felt better than she had since the ordeal had begun.
Kirry was promoting a public seminar for a local business firm that specialized in interior design. She’d arranged for a special appearance by a famed European designer at one of San Antonio’s biggest malls, and coordinated it with an amateur competition for local citizens who’d done their own decorating. The European designer was to judge the entries and Kirry had bought advertising on local television stations and newspapers, all of which had promised to send reporters to cover the event.
It was time-consuming and maddening to get all the details to fit together, though, and by the time Kirry had them finalized, she was a nervous wreck.
It didn’t help that when she went out to her car that infernal blue sedan was sitting there like a land shark, with Erikson in the front seat glaring at her.
Furious, she went back into the building and called the police. She explained the problem to a sympathetic officer on the desk.
“Is his car in the parking lot of your business, Miss Campbell?” he asked politely.
“Well, no. It’s on the street across from the parking lot.”
“A public street?”
She grimaced. “Yes.”
There was a pause. “I don’t like saying this, but I have to. There’s no law against a man sitting in his car, no matter what threats he might have made. If he hasn’t actually assaulted you, or said anything to you, there isn’t a single thing we can do.”
“But he’s stalking me,” she groaned.
“The law needs to be changed,” he told her. “And it will be. But right now, the law says that we can’t touch him. On the other hand, if he makes a single obscene remark to you, or touches you in anyway…”
“He’s been a military policeman and a security guard,” she said dully. “I expect he knows the law backward and forward.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m sorry, because I imagine you’re right. I wish we could do something.”
“So do I. Thanks for listening.”
She hung up and sat with her head down. She could call Lang, but she knew what he’d do. If Erikson could get Lang arrested, he’d have a clear field. She didn’t want that. And he hadn’t harmed her, yet. She had to keep her emotions under control. If she panicked and did something stupid, she’d be playing right into his hands.
But what could she do? She grabbed her purse and went back out to the parking lot. He was still there. She didn’t look at him this time. She got into her car, locked the doors, started it and pulled out onto the street.
A glance in her rearview mirror told her that he was following her.
Well, she had a surprise in store for him this time. She’d spotted a police car cruising downtown. She deliberately pulled up beside it and watched as Erikson fell back. So he wasn’t quite as confident as he made out. That was useful information.
When the police car turned, Kirry turned behind him. She followed him through the downtown area, with Erikson trailing behind. Then, without warning, she swung the wheel and turned down an alley, cut through and came in behind Erikson.
He was looking around for her, but he didn’t seem to see her. Good. She had him where she wanted him.
He turned onto a secondary street and Kirry turned the other way. She’d lost him, just temporarily. It was a relief to know that she could do even that.
She went back to her building, parked the car in her spot, and rushed up to her apartment, quickly securing the door. That’s one for me, Erikson, she thought.
A few minutes later, the telephone rang. She let the answering machine catch it, certain that it was an irate Erikson. But the voice on the other end was Lang’s.
“Are you there, Kirry?” he asked.
She picked up the recei
ver and turned off the machine. “Yes, I am. Hi, Lang,” she said.
“What the hell were you trying to do out there, incite him to violence?” he asked angrily. “You can’t play games with a madman, Kirry!”
“You saw me!” she exclaimed.
“Of course I saw you,” he muttered.
“But I didn’t see you!”
“That’s the first rule of shadowing someone—don’t be seen.”
She smiled. “I didn’t know you were looking out for me. Thanks, Lang!”
“I won’t always be there. I can’t always,” he said, “so please exercise some common sense and stop trying to outfox Erikson. He’s no fool. He’ll realize what you did, and it will make him angrier. Don’t you understand that his sort can’t bear being beaten by a woman? He takes it as a challenge to his manhood!”
“Well, poor him. What about me?” she stormed. “Do I have no rights at all? I hate having him follow me around and stare at me,” she added furiously. “I called the police, and they said there wasn’t a thing they could do. Not a thing! What if he kills me? Can they do something then?”
“You’re getting too uptight, Kirry,” he said. “Calm down. Use your mind. If he was going to hurt you, he’d have done it when I fired him. He’s only trying to wear you down and freak you out, to make you hurt yourself or make a fool of yourself.”
“That isn’t what you said…”
“I didn’t know,” he replied. “Not at first. I’m still not certain enough to risk your life by guessing which way he’ll jump. We’ll handle it. I won’t let him hurt you.”
The calm confidence in his voice soothed her badly stretched nerves. “I know that.”
“And when I’m through with you, you’ll be able to take care of yourself. We’ll have another lesson tomorrow night. Okay?”
She sighed. “Okay.”
“Get some sleep. I’ll be in touch.”
He hung up and she smiled, thinking that maybe it would work out all right. She was just jumpy, that was all.
The phone rang, and she laughed as she picked it up.
“Forgot something, did you?” she teased.
“Yeah,” a cold, too familiar voice replied. “I forgot to tell you that tricks like you played on me tonight won’t work again.”
“Leave me alone, Erikson!” she snapped. “You have no right…!”
“You got me fired, you snooty little tramp,” he said. “No woman does that to me. I’m through playing games.”
“Listen to me, you lunatic…!” she yelled back, but the line was already dead.
She put the receiver down with a slam, her face hot with temper. Damn him! What was she going to do?
4
Kirry had never felt so threatened in her life. She left her apartment the next morning and found Erikson right in the front of the building, sitting in that blue sedan.
With a fury she couldn’t contain, she picked up a rock from the landscaped cacti and flung it at the car with all her might. He ducked, shocked, but her pitching arm wasn’t what it should have been. The rock fell short. By golly, she promised herself, the next one wouldn’t. She picked up three big rocks and ran toward his car.
Before she could get started, he roared off, leaving her standing there, shaking. She fought for control of herself and slowly dropped the rocks, brushing off her hands. The man was crazy, she thought bitterly. Crazy! And she couldn’t do a thing to stop him!
She got into her car and locked it and went to work. She knew the blue sedan would be sitting there, on the street, and sure enough, it was. She was shaking as she got out and locked her own car and started toward the building. There were no rocks in the landscaping here, nothing that she could throw at him. He smiled at her from cold eyes as she walked up the sidewalk toward her office building.
“You can’t stop me from sitting here, and there aren’t any rocks, baby,” he called to her.
She stopped, her knees vibrating from fear and temper. She looked straight into his eyes. “If you don’t stop now, you’ll wish you had,” she said quietly.
“Oh, yeah? What you gonna do, big bad girl?” he challenged.
“Wait and see, Mr. Erikson,” she said, and smiled as if she had every confidence that he was going to wind up wearing prison blues.
She turned and walked into the building without looking back.
Mack’s eyes narrowed as she passed him. “I saw him sitting there when I came in,” he said. “I’ve phoned the new security chief and Mr. Lancaster. They’re working on something.”
“A bomb?” she asked pleasantly. “Because that’s what it may take. He won’t stop. The law can’t touch him, and he knows it.”
“Isn’t your mother married to some rich person overseas?” Mack asked.
She didn’t like talking about her mother. “She’s married to a wealthy English nobleman.”
“Well, couldn’t he hire you a hit man?” he asked.
She burst out laughing. “Oh, for God’s sake, will you stop watching those mob movies?” she mumbled, walking off into her own office.
“It’s worth a thought!” he called after her.
She closed the door.
It was a busy day. She didn’t go out for lunch, choosing instead to have one of the other women bring it to her. If Erikson wanted to sit out there and bake in his car all day, let him. She was going to try pretending that he was invisible. Perhaps Lang had been right—if Erikson meant to hurt her, he’d have done it by now. She just had to keep her nerve until he got tired of watching her and gave it up.
Lang was waiting for her when she got to her apartment. For once, Erikson hadn’t followed her home. But she knew that he was out there somewhere, watching, always watching.
“Get your gi and let’s go,” Lang said as they reached her apartment. “I’m taking you out to dinner before we go to the gym.”
“You don’t have to…”
“Just a hamburger, Kirry, not a five-course meal,” he said curtly. “There are some things we need to talk about.”
“Okay.” She got her things from the closet and turned on her answering machine.
He held her bag while she locked up the apartment. He seemed very preoccupied and not a little concerned. He hardly said a word all the way to a nearby hamburger joint, where they nibbled burgers and fries and drank coffee.
“You’re worried, aren’t you?” she asked.
He nodded. He sipped coffee, and his dark eyes narrowed over the cup as he studied her. “I had a friend of mine do some hard digging into Erikson’s past. He was arrested for killing a man while he was an MP. He was acquitted, but people were generally sure that he did it. It was a racially motivated incident.”
“Oh, boy,” she said heavily.
“It gets worse,” he added. “He’s covered his tracks pretty good, or he’d never have gotten a job as a security officer. He’s been in jail three different times on assault charges that were dropped because the witnesses refused to testify. The victims were women,” he added quietly. “Young women. Two of them claimed that he raped them, but they were too afraid of him to go to court.”
Kirry felt her face turning white. She wasn’t a fearful person as a rule, but this was an extraordinary circumstance. She put down the rest of her half-eaten hamburger and fought to keep what she’d already eaten down.
“Your mother lives in Europe,” he said. “I know you two don’t get along, but it would benefit you to go over there and visit her for a few weeks until I can get something done about Erikson.”
“Run away, you mean?” she asked. “You’re the second person today who’s mentioned my mother, but Mack asked if her husband couldn’t hire a hit man to deal with my problem.”
He pursed his lips and his eyes twinkled. “What a magnificent suggestion.”
“Stop that. You were a government agent.”
“So I was, dash the luck.” He leaned back in his chair and searched her face. “You won’t go to Europe?”
; She shook her head. “I’m not running. He’s not going to make a coward out of me, no matter what he’s done in the past.”
He smiled. “You always did have guts, Kirry,” he said, chuckling.
“Too many to suit you right now, huh?” she teased.
He caressed the paper cup that held a mouthful of warm coffee. “If you won’t run, how about a compromise?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Safety in numbers.”
“I won’t live at the YWCA,” she said, outguessing him.
“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
She hesitated. She was doing it again; reading his mind. “You want me to move in with you. You’re very sweet, Lang, but I couldn’t….”
“I don’t want to move in with you,” he said bluntly. “I’ve explained the situation to your apartment manager, and he’s giving me the apartment next door to you,” he said calmly.
“Oh.” She felt chastened. He made it very clear that living with her was not something he wanted to do. Maybe it wouldn’t have been a good idea, but it hurt a little to think that he wouldn’t even consider it.
“If you moved in with me, nobody would care,” she said, surprising herself. “People don’t sit in judgment over the moral values of their fellow man anymore.”
“Want to bet?”
She felt and looked irritated. “All right, then, move in next door. I don’t want you in my apartment, anyway. You’d seduce me,” she accused, and was amazed that she could joke about it.
“You wish,” he countered dryly. “I’m very particular about my body. You might have noticed that I keep it in rare good condition, and I’ll tell you flat that it’s in great demand by women. I don’t share it with everyone who asks.”
Her eyebrows lifted and her eyes twinkled. “You don’t?”
His broad shoulders lifted and fell. “It’s a dangerous practice these days, sleeping around,” he reminded her with a quiet smile.
She smiled back. “Yes, I know. That’s why I don’t do it.”
The smile was still there, but there was something somber in his dark eyes. “Ever come close?” he asked very softly.