by Raye Morgan
“You scared her.”
“She leaped at me out of the dark. I had to defend myself.”
“Oh. You are bleeding, aren’t you?”
She finally realized, did she? He was gratified to see a look of sympathy on her face. About time.
“Ming is sorry,” she said, her tone just a touch sarcastic. “Aren’t you, kitty? It would be a shame to have that handsome face all scratched up.”
Putting the cat down, she went to the kitchen cupboard and took down a bottle of disinfectant, reaching for cotton balls at the same time.
He stared after her, startled. For just a moment there, she sounded like her old self, as though the love bug had worn off.
But as she dabbed at his wound, she chatted cheerfully, intimately, giving him looks that left no doubt as to where her emotions lay. Maybe he’d imagined it. Or maybe she just loved her cat so much, mere romance couldn’t meet the standard set there.
“Come on,” she said when she was done. “I’ll pour you a cup of tea.” She sighed. “If I wasn’t on a diet, I’d add some cookies to the menu for good measure.”
He followed her back into the kitchen, enjoying the way she seemed to fling herself about in the room, casually competent, supremely at home. There didn’t seem to be any self-consciousness about her as she worked under his gaze.
“Maybe that’s your problem,” he said, just to say something. “Maybe you’re light-headed from lack of food.”
She turned back toward him, frowning. “I didn’t know I had a problem.”
“Oh, you’ve got a problem all right.” He grinned at her.
“And what is that problem?” she asked, hands on her hips.
He raised one eyebrow. “Me,” he said softly.
He held her gaze with his. Something quivered in her, vibrating like a tuning fork. He wanted to kiss her again. All he had to do was reach for her. She wanted him to.
But he held back. A slight furrow remained between her brows. She was wondering why.
So was he. Deliberately, he pulled his gaze away from hers.
“I really ought to get going,” he said abruptly.
She was shaking her head. “Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Your shirt is drying. You’ll have to wait.”
He supposed she had him there. He grimaced. Oh, well, he’d tried to do the right thing.
“And anyway, the tea is ready. Sit down and have some with me.”
He looked toward the teapot. He’d watched every move. She’d used nothing but commercial tea bags, sealed in their packets. He supposed he might risk having some.
“You can’t exist on tea alone,” he noted, still trying to dig into what she’d been putting into her system. “Especially when you won’t take vitamins.”
She turned back to the counter and began pouring out the tea into stoneware mugs.
“Oh, what do you know about it?” she said lightly. “I’ll bet your eating habits are horrible.”
He nodded slowly. He had to agree with her there.
“For instance,” she went on, turning to hand him a steaming mug, “what did you have for breakfast this morning?”
He stopped, his back against the counter. He didn’t have to think hard. This morning had been like every other morning. “Nothing.”
She put her hands on her hips, making her breasts press against the fabric of her lacy shell in a way that made him swallow hard.
“And what did you have for lunch?”
He thought for a moment. “A cold beer.”
“And?”
He shrugged, giving her a rueful grin. “That was it.”
“Ahh.”
“That was all that was in my refrigerator.” He was teasing her now. “Beer is liquid bread, after all. Very nutritious.”
“Dream on!”
“Wait. I did have something else.”
“What?”
“I found an old Twinkie left over from—”
“Ugh! You are in sad shape.” She picked up a packaged bar from a sack on the counter and handed it to him. “You’ve got to eat this right now.”
He turned it in his hand. “What is it?”
“A nutritional bar. From the new clinic line.”
He looked up sharply. “I thought you told me there were no products like this.”
She shrugged innocently. “I hadn’t heard about these. They’re brand-new. We haven’t even worked out the marketing for them yet.”
His fingers tightened around it. Interesting. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “But you’ve been testing them.”
“Sure. They’ve been testing them for the last few weeks.”
Very interesting. This could be it.
“Uh-huh. Sure, I’ll take one.” He dropped it into his pocket. “I’ll have it later.”
“Good.” She smiled at him. “Then you can let me know what you think.”
“What? You haven’t tried them?” Did that mean this theory was down the drain? He felt a definite letdown.
But she gave him a slight reprieve. “I haven’t tried that flavor. The only one I’ve had is the peanut butter and chocolate chip.”
“Oh.” He relaxed. “Okay. I’ll test it out and let you know.”
“Why won’t you try it right now?”
“Can’t be done.” He shook his head, looking wisely at her. “I never mix tea with nutritional bars.”
She gave him an exasperated look, but didn’t urge him any more. They took their tea to the living room and sat on the couch drinking and talking softly for the next half hour. Daniel sat in one corner and Abby curled up at the other end, her feet tucked under her. The sound of the dryer could be heard in the distance. Ming peered out from behind a chair, keeping an eye on Daniel, her golden eyes unblinking.
And Daniel talked about anything he could think of to keep from looking over at where Abby sat looking cute and inviting and definitely under the influence of something unnatural.
Watching Daniel slowly sip his tea, Abby had an overwhelming urge to start kissing his neck. It looked so good, the skin so smooth and golden against the rougher texture of the suit coat. She didn’t dare let herself look at his chest too often. Who knew what she might get the urge to do there? It took her breath away.
She closed her eyes for a moment, truly shocked at herself. She didn’t do things like this, didn’t think these sorts of thoughts. But the impulse was there, and she couldn’t deny it.
And what was wrong with him, anyway? A surge of annoyance swept through her. She’d set the scene. The lights were low. She had light jazz playing softly on the stereo. A cinnamon-scented candle was flickering on the coffee table, throwing intriguing sparkles of light around the room. She’d given him pearl-essence tea, which the health food store guy had assured her had properties important in the art of seduction. She’d laughed at the time, sure she would never need it for that. But now here she was.
And…nothing.
The man could have been sipping tea with his maiden aunt. He was spending a lot of time staring at the far wall and he was talking on and on about some pirate movie he’d seen. This was not what she would have imagined an evening with the two of them sitting on a couch could be.
She had to do something to pull him out of ignore mode. It was too bad she didn’t have more experience at seducing a man. In fact, she’d never tried it before.
But this was different from all the other times in the past that she had liked a man and never had the nerve to do anything about it. She didn’t want to let this one slip through her fingers. She was just going to have to follow her own instincts, such as they were. Slowly, she stretched out one leg until she could nudge him with her bare foot.
He looked up, startled.
“I think it’s time,” she said softly.
He blinked at her. “Time for what?”
She smiled at him. “For you to kiss me again.”
His gaze shifted uneasily. “I don’t dare try t
hat. Your cat is still on guard, you know.”
“She won’t hurt you.”
“I never knew a cat yet who would follow orders.”
She prodded him with her foot again. “I’ll protect you, then.”
He looked at her for a long moment. She was sure he was going to move toward her. But he did something odd instead. He winced, as though he was forcing himself to do something he didn’t want to do, and he looked away again.
“Forget it, Abby,” he said roughly. “You don’t want to go kissing a guy like me. There’s no future in it.”
Future! What was he talking about? The future could take care of itself.
“Guys like you are the only kind worth kissing,” she said lightly, hoping he didn’t detect her disappointment. It would have been nice if he’d looked a little more interested. Instead, she got the feeling he was looking toward the door, wishing it would open and give him an escape route.
Ordinarily that would have been the end of it for her. She never pushed into situations where she wasn’t wanted. But for some reason she couldn’t let it go tonight. She couldn’t really believe he didn’t feel any attraction. Not after the way he’d kissed her earlier that evening. Just thinking of it made her breath come a little faster. Nobody else’s kiss had ever had that effect on her.
“Abby, you deserve a man who will treat you right. A man who has a future for you. Someone who has your type of background and your type of friends and—”
“Maybe you’re right,” she broke in. If she let him go on, he would be putting her on a pedestal so high she was bound to break a leg falling off. “Maybe I do deserve some fabulous mythical paragon of excellence.”
Uncoiling from her comfortable place at the end of the couch, she began to move toward him.
“But I don’t want that, Daniel O’Callahan.” She touched his cheek and smiled into his eyes. “I want you.”
“You want me.” He echoed her words mindlessly, grabbing her hand and pulling it away.
“No, Abby. Listen, you’re crazy. You don’t really want me. You want some nice guy who will treat you nice and take you to the country club and play tennis and do what’s right. I’m not like that. I work the streets where things get ugly. I hang out with people you wouldn’t let in your front door. I’m used to having things a little rough, a little dirty.”
Something was quivering deep inside her. He was making her absolutely insane with wanting him.
“You seem okay to me.”
He swore softly, turning his shoulder as though to stop her from coming closer and his eyes looked very dark. “Abby, I’m barely housebroken. I don’t belong with a nice girl like you.”
She pulled her hand back and placed it on his bare chest, spreading the fingers against his smooth, hard flesh and gasping softly at the feel of him.
“Why don’t you shut up and kiss me?” she murmured breathlessly.
He hesitated. He was still going to try to get out of it. So she took matters into her own hands—literally—wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down until she was rewarded with a shuddering groan that seemed to come from deep inside him and his mouth took hers.
The room faded. Reality lost all importance. The only thing that seemed to matter was the sweet, hot taste of his tongue, the feel of his hands on her skin, the way her body was responding to his, as though she’d found a new world, a new state of being, and she never wanted to leave it again. He smelled so good, felt so smooth and hard, she was on a long slide to something new and she was ready to go.
But it all crumbled quickly, and he jerked away from her, rising and looking down at her, his green eyes a bit wild. He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head, breathing hard.
“Okay, that’s all,” he said. “I’m getting out of here. If the shirt’s still wet, I’ll wear it anyway.”
She looked up at him, feeling cold without his touch, not sure what he meant. “But—”
He shook his forefinger at her. “No more out of you. I know where all this passion is coming from.”
She blinked, trying to clear her head. She was still fuzzy from his kiss. Maybe she always would be.
“You do?” she said, wishing she knew what the heck he was talking about.
“I do.”
She frowned. “No, you don’t.”
He held up his hand. “Save it for the funny papers, lady. I’ve got your number and I’m already gone.”
She sat where she was, frowning in bewilderment as he made his way down the hall and came back, his shirt hugging that wonderful chest.
“Thanks for the tea,” he said, avoiding her gaze. “And for washing my shirt. I’ll see you later.”
“Alligator,” she whispered dreamily.
He glanced at her once, hesitated, then shook his head and made his way out the door. “Good night,” he called back. And then the door closed with a solid sound that seemed to seal a bad bargain.
She sat for a moment wishing she understood why he’d felt he had to leave. She was so disappointed. She’d finally found a man she could fall for and he was trying to avoid her. Closing her eyes, she called up the kiss again. That had been pretty spectacular. No doubt about it, that kiss was going to keep her warm for a long, long time.
Five
Daniel paced restlessly in front of the hospital entrance, looking up at the rain clouds gathering and waiting for his old partner. Jimmy had promised to drop by and pick up the samples he’d prepared to be tested at the lab. The answer to the mystery could be right there in the brown paper bag he held. He would know soon enough.
“Hey there, handsome.”
He turned at the sound of the woman’s voice, instinctively going into a subtly defensive posture. It was the redheaded nurse whose name, he’d heard from his grandmother, was Arline. He relaxed, but only a little.
“Morning,” he said gruffly.
“You waiting for me?” she said with an impudent smile. “Or am I out of luck again?”
He hesitated. He didn’t like this. If he thought she was just bantering, he could banter right back. But he was pretty sure she’d been love-bombed so she was basically a walking robot of flirtatiousness and not to be taken seriously. Just like Abby had been last night. How was he supposed to handle women like this? It was creepy.
“I do have something I wanted to ask you,” he said, avoiding her question. “Have you been doing anything with the new Healthy Living Clinic?” As if it weren’t obvious.
“Sure.” She bobbed her head. “Dr. Richie is a genius.”
“So I’ve heard. Listen, what kind of therapies are you into?”
She grinned, curling a strand of her long red hair around her finger. “I’m open to suggestion,” she said teasingly. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’m talking about things at the clinic,” he said, ignoring the implications in her flirtatiousness. “What are you taking? Anything besides the vitamins?”
A cloud came over her face and she lost the love look. “That is between me and Dr. Richie.”
Daniel sighed with exasperation. He was losing patience with this case. He’d heard this evasive answer before. What was with the guy? Did he coach these people to make these slippery answers? If so, that seemed even more damning.
“Look, I’m just wondering because, uh, I was thinking about losing some weight, getting in better shape.”
“Oh, sure.” She grinned again, humor dancing in her eyes. “What are you really doing?” She wrinkled her nose. “You’re already in great shape, from what I’ve heard. They say you were very macho with the open jacket and no-shirt look at the seminar the other night.”
He groaned silently. “Where did you hear about that?”
“It’s all over the hospital.” She sighed with a longing that made him wince. “I only wish I’d been there.”
“So you don’t go to the seminars anymore?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Actually, I think I’ve lost all the weight I need to ri
ght now.” She struck a pose that showed off her generous attributes to a fault. “What do you think?”
“I think too many woman are asking me to judge whether they’re fat or not,” he muttered, frowning. But he had to admit the truth. “You look pretty good to me.”
“Really?” She sparkled. “Thanks. And just for that, I’ll tell you what worked best for me.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
She leaned close and whispered it. “The atomizer. It changed my life.”
“The atomizer?” He stared at her, bewildered. “What atomizer?”
She shook her head teasingly. “That’s it. I’m not telling any more. You’ll have to date me to find out anything else.”
Before he could answer, Jimmy came striding toward the entrance and he didn’t have time to quiz her further.
“Hey, Danny boy,” Jimmy said in his usual friendly manner. Tall and dark, he was as handsome as they came, the sort of man who turned women’s heads.
Arline looked once, then twice, then turned her considerable charms his way and Jimmy’s eyes widened.
“Well, hello, gorgeous,” she said provocatively. “Where’ve you been all my life?”
If Daniel had any doubts about how quickly the love-struck of Portland General Hospital could transfer their affections from one love interest to another, he got the proof of it just watching Arline go after Jimmy. It made him laugh.
But then he thought about Abby, and that wasn’t so funny. There was no doubt in his mind that her sudden interest in him was artificially produced by something from the clinic. And once she quit taking whatever it was that she was taking, she would back away from him as fast as she could. And that thought put him in a very gloomy mood.
“Sorry, darlin’,” Daniel said once he’d seen enough. “Jimmy’s married.” Grabbing his friend’s arm and beginning to pull him away, he looked back and said, “Say bye-bye, Arline.”
“And go find yourself another victim,” he muttered for only Jimmy to hear.
“Hey, she’s pretty cute,” Jimmy said, looking a bit woebegone.
“And you’ll be pretty dead if Nadine finds out you’ve been flirting with her,” he said, mentioning Jimmy’s wife.