Desert Devil

by Rena McKay

  She realized she was standing on one foot, keeping her weight off the other one. His sharp eyes saw it, too.

  "Okay, that's enough," he said decisively. "I'm not going to have you adding some sort of personal-injury suit to the one you already have planned."

  "Mr. Taylor, I assure you I have no intention of suing you because I stepped on a piece of cactus!" Juli said indignantly.

  "Just to make sure—" He took a long stride toward her and before she had any idea what he intended, he reached down and swept her up in his arms. She was too astonished to protest for a moment. She felt the strength of his arms cradling her, felt the even more intimate warmth of his naked chest against her bare midriff. In the growing darkness her body was a pale contrast to his deeply tanned skin, his hand a dark print on her bare leg. He started through an opening in the boulders with her, and she finally came to her senses enough to voice an enraged objection.

  "Mr. Taylor, put me down! Now!" she demanded.

  He didn't reply, simply tightened his arms and pressed her even closer to him in order to squeeze through the narrow passageway between the jumbled rocks. Her cheek was against his shoulder, her breasts crushed against his chest. Her anger at this cavalier treatment was suddenly joined by a feeling of panic. Where was he taking her? What did he have in mind? She knew little about what kind of man he was, except that David had distrusted him. And that he seemed totally indifferent, or deaf, to her protests.

  She twisted and struggled in his arms, kicking wildly until his powerful grip clamped her legs so tightly together she couldn't move. "Mr. Taylor, you have no right—I insist—put me down!" she gasped breathlessly. Taking a different tack, she added, "Your camera—"

  "I'll come back for it later. No one is going to be up here to steal it." His voice sounded calm and under perfect control, in distinct contrast to her breathless gaspings. The only effect of her struggles on him was a thick strand of dark hair falling across his forehead. It brought back that faintly satanic look.

  She peered around trying to memorize the route he was taking in case she had a chance to flee. They were going downhill now, through more boulders on the far side of the ridge. She marked a peculiarly twisted saguaro outlined against the sky. He seemed to know the area well, moving forward without hesitation. Her only view was back over his shoulder at the boulders and cactus silhouetted behind them.

  Where could he be taking her? she wondered frantically. A parked car seemed the most likely answer. She did not find the thought reassuring.

  Suddenly the trail, if it was a trail they were following, twisted, and she had a view in the opposite direction. To her surprise the lights beyond this side of the ridge were far more numerous than on the other side, and the regular pattern indicated a subdivision or housing development of some sort. And to her greater astonishment, directly below them were the faint outlines of a large, sprawling house and the glow of outdoor lights on a swimming pool that gleamed like a turquoise jewel. This, she knew instantly, was no subdivision tract house.

  Thorne Taylor set her down on a cement patio built into a natural recess among the boulders. A drooping tree that looked faintly golden in the glow of the pool lights hung over one edge of the patio.

  "Where are we?" Juli gasped. It was a little like walking into a desert mirage that had somehow turned into reality.

  "My home." He shrugged, the arrogant eyes looking down at her. "You were, as a matter of fact, trespassing on my property."

  Juli suddenly realized that even though he had set her down, she was still clutching his arm and leaning against him. She jerked away self-consciously, only to feel the pain of the embedded cholla thorns shoot through her foot again. In dismay, she realized that somewhere in her struggles she had also lost the sandal on that foot. She brushed an unruly tendril of hair out of her eyes.

  "I'm sorry about the trespassing," she said with all the aloof dignity she could muster in her disheveled condition. "Now, if you would just tell me how to get back to the trailer—?"

  "I'll drive you," he said briefly, "after we take a look at that foot. And a little antiseptic on your hand might be a good idea, too."

  Juli thought about protesting, but there didn't seem much point in it. She could hardly make her way back through the cactuses barefoot, and by now the foot throbbed sickeningly. He opened a door into a dimly lit rear hallway. Juli hobbled past him without meeting his eyes. He helped her down the hallway with a firm hand on her elbow. Juli didn't want to accept his help, but it was either that or hop along in a most undignified manner.

  They passed through a kitchen with a hooded, island stove and rich pecan cabinets. Copper-bottomed pans gleamed on one wall. They went down another hall, lushly carpeted. The hallway opened on what appeared to be a comfortably casual family room looking out on the lighted pool. The pool, like the patio in back, was built to blend in with the natural setting of the gigantic boulders, and a palm tree leaned gracefully over the jeweled water. Inside the room there was a large, rock fireplace, handsome, wood-beamed ceilings, and sofas and chairs in pleasant, earthy colors.

  "Wait here. I'll get a first-aid kit," Thorne Taylor instructed.

  Juli looked down at her feet and legs in embarrassment. They looked like those of a child caught playing in the dirt. The scratch on her thigh was beaded with dried blood. She had forgotten all about it. "Is there someplace I could wash up first?"

  He helped her down the hall to the most luxurious bathroom she had ever seen outside of a beautiful-homes magazine. The floor was of Italian tile, and there was a double, cultured-marble sink, the entire wall above it being mirrored. The lighting was concealed, soft, and flattering. Lush ferns almost covered a frosted window, and live vines grew around the sunken tub. The room had a sensual, almost jungle, feeling.

  "My mother dotes on bathrooms," he said with a shrug.

  Juli looked around uneasily. She didn't like the idea of being alone with Thorne Taylor, but in her present condition the idea of encountering his mother was even less appealing. "Does she live here?" Juli inquired.

  "When she isn't jetting off to some other part of the world. She's in Acapulco with some friends right now."

  Juli felt relieved.

  "There's soap and towels," Thorne Taylor indicated. His appraising glance traveled over her. "Go ahead and take a shower if you'd like."

  Juli stiffened. "I don't think—"

  "The door has a lock," he pointed out sardonically. "And I'm not in the habit of getting kicks by playing peeping Tom in the shower."

  Juli felt her face flame as he backed out of the door and pulled it shut behind him. In the huge mirror she could see that her face looked as pink as it felt. She could also see that his appraisal was justified. She needed a shower. It wasn't only her feet and legs that were dust-covered. But still, taking a shower in the home of a man she barely knew…

  Recklessly, she slipped out of the shorts and halter, though not before making sure the door was securely locked. She stepped under the stream of hot water, a little embarrassed at the muddy puddle that gathered around her feet in the elegant tub. She hurriedly rinsed off and rubbed herself dry with a luxuriantly thirsty towel. She disliked slipping back into the shorts and halter, though perhaps as much for their skimpiness as their smudged condition.

  The warm water felt soothing, though the foot still throbbed. She could see the embedded stickers, but she had no luck trying to dig them out. Reluctantly, she realized she was going to have to accept Thorne Taylor's help. For a moment she wondered why he was helping her at all when he thought she was trying to pull some shady trick on his company. Then she remembered his wry comment about the possibility of her also filing a personal-injury claim against him because she had been injured on his property. He was only protecting himself. She found the thought oddly disappointing.

  He was waiting outside the door with a first-aid kit. He had, she noted with a certain unexplainable relief, added a shirt that covered his bronzed chest. He warned again tha
t this was going to be painful, and it was, but with deft hands and tweezers he finally managed to pull the barbed spines out. He applied antiseptic to the foot, dabbed more on her hand, and for good measure swabbed off the scratch on her thigh. In spite of the sting of the antiseptic, Juli was more sharply aware of the disturbing feel of his hands on her skin.

  "Thank you," she finally managed to say when he finished up with Band-Aids. With an attempt at lightness, she added, "I promise not to sue you."

  He snapped the first-aid kit shut. His eyes, so intent on her injuries a moment earlier, were now partly speculative, partly amused.

  "I mean, not about this, anyway," she added lamely, remembering the other matter.

  "I didn't think I was going to get off that easily," he said dryly. But with a hardening voice, he added, "But I meant what I said. A legal battle will not be pleasant."

  Juli suddenly felt both foolish and guilty discussing a legal battle while sitting here in the comfort of his home with the feel of his competent hands still warm on her skin. "I'd like to go home now, if it wouldn't be too much bother," she said in a small voice.

  For a moment Juli thought he was going to pick her up and carry her again, and her heart unexpectedly pounded erratically at the thought, but he merely aided her with his hand on her elbow. Outside he helped her into a low-slung silver Porsche.

  It turned out to be a rather long drive, since they had to circle all the way around the long ridge. The road had several dips in it where it crossed old washes, though there was no water to be seen now. Finally, he pulled into the rough driveway that led to the trailer and braked beside her little car. In the glare of the headlights, the trailer looked even more lonely and forlorn than it had earlier. Not a light was to be seen on the desert floor around them, and on the horizon the jumbled boulders had strange, menacing shapes. Juli hesitated, oddly reluctant to leave the car.

  "I see you know where David lived," she remarked finally. She had not given him directions to reach the trailer.

  "As a matter of fact, I didn't know until I was going through his file today and saw the address. Then I realized his must be the trailer I could see from my ridge."

  "Did you see me walking up the slope to the ridge?" Juli asked suddenly.

  In the glow of lights from the instrument panel he seemed to hesitate, then nodded.

  "You could have called out and told me I was trespassing," she pointed out.

  "I suppose so." He shrugged. "Frankly, I didn't think, dressed as you are, that you'd manage to get all the way to the ridge."

  His eyes moved over her again and Juli suddenly felt vulnerably exposed and acutely conscious of the way the halter top revealed the curve of her breasts.

  "You're a very determined young woman, aren't you?" he added unexpectedly, his voice contemplative.

  She knew he was not referring merely to her climb up the cactus-covered slope. "I… I like to see justice done. If my Aunt Kate has something coming to her, I intend to see that she gets it. But I am not out to 'con' your company out of something!" she added heatedly.

  "You don't know yet how long you'll be staying?"

  "No. Actually, I've thought a little of moving out here. The insurance company I work for has a regional office in Phoenix. I could get a transfer."

  "Oh?"

  He sounded politely disinterested, and Juli wondered angrily why she had blurted that out. It had been only a passing thought, anyway, not something she was seriously considering. And certainly not something about which he, president of Taylor Electronics, would care about, one way or the other.

  "Of course, that was before David's accident," she added hastily. "I have Aunt Kate to consider now." She pushed the door handle down to let herself out. "Thanks for… for everything."

  He was fingering the keys in the ignition, a faint scowl on his face. He glanced over at her. "Juli, I've been thinking. It's possible that David was working on something of his own here at the trailer. He was a loner and kept to himself. It might be worth your while to search though his things. I assure you, if you discover something David was doing on his own, Taylor Electronics will make no claim on it."

  Juli looked at him, lips parted in surprise. It was not a thought which had occurred to her, but, knowing David as she did, the idea seemed a distinct possibility. Not that she'd know what she was looking for among his things, of course, but it was considerate of Thorne Taylor to make the suggestion. She wondered if he realized he had called her Juli, not the usual, mockingly formal Miss Townsend.

  "Thank you," she said again. "I appreciate the suggestion."

  He waited until she was inside and had the lights on before turning the car around in the yard. She watched as the red taillights receded down the bumpy road. Had she misjudged him? Was he really concerned and trying to be helpful?

  Or was he, she wondered doubtfully, merely trying to divert her attention away from his company's underhanded doings?

  Chapter Three

  Later, after a supper of canned soup and stale crackers, Juli lay in bed aching with weariness and yet unable to sleep. Was she being unduly suspicious of Thorne Taylor, unfairly accusing him? Had David had an exaggerated idea of the value of something he had done for the company? Or had David, as Thorne suggested, been working on some project of his own here at the trailer? And if that were true, how had Thorne and Taylor Electronics cheated David in the past?

  Her feelings toward Thorne were confused, the anger and hostility she had felt earlier confronted by her disturbing awareness of his powerful masculinity, his smoldering virility. A shiver of sensual awareness went through her as she remembered the heat of his lean, bronzed body pressing against her bare skin when he had carried her. Later he had called her "Juli," speaking her name as if it came naturally. The shiver changed to a warm softness that spread through her body, a seeping tide of drugging, honeyed warmth.

  She dashed the tantalizingly pleasant feeling with the cold water of reality. Nothing had really changed. He had made no concessions, admitted nothing. Thorne Taylor was still her adversary, and she must not let her purpose here to be distracted by the treacherous response of her senses to that devastating combination of the savage and sophisticated in him.

  It was a restless night. She awakened once to a howling and yipping that some basic, primitive instinct within her recognized as coyotes wailing, even though she had never heard them before. Another time something scratched against the trailer. Heart pounding, she peered out, only partly relieved when she saw the whip-like tentacles of a desert plant brushing against the metal of the trailer. The moon had risen and it was an unreal landscape outside, all silver and shadows, the dark silhouettes of saguaro as menacing as an army of alien beings advancing through a sea of gleaming cholla. Not a light was visible from her window, only the vastness of the desert. She shivered, suddenly cold in her filmy nightgown.

  In the morning, of course, everything looked different. One of the first things she came across as she hung her clothes in the closet was a book on desert vegetation. She took it outside, wandering around in the pleasant warmth of the morning sunshine to compare the living specimens with photographs in the book. The tentacled plant which had scratched against the trailer was an ocotillo, not a true cactus in spite of its heavily thorned branches. She identified the tiny hedgehog cactus, growing in clumps, one with an astonishingly large magenta-colored bloom. There was the creosote bush, one of the hardiest and most common plants of the desert, with its tiny yellow blossoms. The book said the waxy-leaved jojoba bore a fruit that early settlers had ground up and used as a coffee substitute when the real thing was unavailable. The golden-hued tree overhanging Thorne's patio had evidently been a native palo verde, Arizona's state tree. She was surprised as she wandered around at the number of birds singing and swooping among the seemingly inhospitable desert plants.

  Reluctantly, she gave up her pleasant browse through the desert and drove into town to buy supplies and get on with her task here. The markets had
a marvelous array of lush fruits and vegetables, and she went overboard buying tiny, sweet tangerines, pink-fleshed grapefruit, shiny green peppers, and red-ripe tomatoes. She picked up cleaning supplies and found a store which sold bags for the vacuum cleaner. She visited the electric company to bring the bill up to date and make sure the electricity would not be turned off. When she inquired about a water bill, she was told the trailer must be supplied by a well on the property because city water service did not yet extend out that far.

  That was evidently true, she decided later as she peered into the shed out behind the trailer. She didn't see a pump, though she ruefully realized she might not know one if she saw it. There was an upright water tank, and since water seemed to be reaching the trailer faucets satisfactorily, she decided not to worry about it. More boxes of rocks half-filled the shed. Juli could not imagine why David had bothered gathering such a dull, unremarkable collection.

  Later, however, she had a sudden inspiration about what to do with all the rocks. She arranged them in a neat row to outline a walkway from the trailer steps to the parking area, then used the remainder to mark off a small yard in front of the trailer. She was pleased with the results. The area immediately looked neater and more cared for, and the small barrier seemed somehow to hold the vastness of the desert at bay.

  She worked diligently inside the trailer for several days, cleaning, scrubbing, sorting, throwing away. She kept an eye out for anything which might indicate David had been doing private research here at the trailer, but she found nothing. She half-hoped Thorne would contact her or come around, but she heard nothing from him. Every once in a while she found her gaze straying to that ridge of jumbled yellow boulders, wondering what he was doing on the other side, but there was never any sign of him, and she determinedly tried to busy her thoughts elsewhere. The wounds on both her hand and foot were healing nicely and gave her no problems. There was a surprisingly heavy downpour of rain one night, but otherwise the weather was balmy and she quickly acquired a honey tan.