Desert Devil

by Rena McKay

  There was only one explanation. That earlier tenuous doubt, a suspicion so unthinkable she had refused even to acknowledge it, hit her like a blow now. He had accused her of scheming, but it was he who was the real mastermind of a calculated plan to get his own way. Juli had merely been a convenient pawn in that plan.

  Not that he found her unattractive, she thought grimly, and his desire to make love to her had hardly been pretended. But that was a side issue, a momentary passion. Marrying Nicole as quickly as possible, getting her and her half of the company under his control, was his real goal, and he had seen a chance to goad her into doing what he wanted. He obviously knew Nicole well enough to realize jealousy would act as a catalyst on her, and he had cold-bloodedly used Juli to provoke Nicole's jealousy that day.

  And how easily she had fallen in with his scheme, Juli thought in a flood of shame and humiliation. How willingly cooperative she had been, helping him put on a little charade for Nicole's benefit! Her face burned beneath the tears sliding across her cheeks. Thorne's game that day hadn't been to humiliate or embarrass Juli, unless that was just an added fringe benefit. Neither were his actions and words an implied apology, as she had so innocently hoped. The whole phony scene was deliberately calculated to make Nicole jealous, to show her if she didn't hurry and marry him that he might look elsewhere. It was all so plain now: the touches, the innuendos, the kiss by the gate—all cold-bloodedly calculated to arouse Nicole's jealousy. Juli herself had been aware of Nicole's jealousy that day, but she hadn't dreamed then that Thorne was deliberately baiting Nicole. Or was it just that she was too wrapped up in her own naive dreams to see the truth?

  By means fair or devious, whatever Thorne wanted, Thorne got, Juli thought bitterly, because it was obvious now that his scheme had worked. Nicole's jealousy had played into his hands, and no doubt they would soon marry. And that, of course, left Thorne with the minor but potentially messy problem of what to do about Juli now that her usefulness was over. Her love for him had been a momentary convenience, but now it was a bother to be disposed of as efficiently as possible. As usual, money seemed the most efficient means of solving the problem. He knew the sale of the property would mean her departure, and a demand for immediate possession would mean her immediate departure.

  For a few reckless moments, Juli rebelled. He couldn't force her to leave Cholla. She could find work and get an apartment here. Brian Eames would no doubt be a willing helper.

  Her defiance wilted within moments. What was the point in all that? She would only be hurting herself to stay around and watch the culmination of his skillful plan with his marriage to Nicole.

  No, there was only one thing she could do. Go quietly. And as quickly as possible.

  Water sheeted the windshield as Juli drove home, and her thoughts were as tumultuous and uncontrolled as the water tumbling through gullies on either side of the road. Somehow the desert seemed as unprepared for this onslaught as Juli had been unprepared for betrayal by Thorne. The rain came too fast and heavy for the ground to absorb it. The desert cactuses looked incongruous surrounded by frothing sheets of moving water.

  Closer to the trailer, however, the heavy rain seemed to be doing less damage. As the real estate salesman had once pointed out, she thought wryly, this was out of a flash-flood area.

  Resolutely ignoring the weather, Juli went inside and started packing. Her own few possessions wouldn't take long to gather up, but now she had to make the final decisions about what things of David's she could take back to Aunt Kate in her limited car space. She tried to keep her thoughts away from Thorne, but she could no more hold them back than she could control the rain outside. Like some inescapable treadmill, her mind went over and over that glorious day hiking in the Superstitions. Her body still quivered at the memory of his passion that night and the anger and accusations that followed. Then there was the incredible surprise of the next day, when everything seemed glorious again. And now the desolate despair of knowing nothing would ever be as glorious again.

  Because the despairing, almost unthinkable truth was that in spite of all that Thorne had done, she still loved him. Her body still thrilled to the memory of his touch, the taste of his mouth, the husky chuckle of his laughter. She loved him—and he only wanted to be rid of her.

  So lost was she in her unhappiness that she didn't even hear the car drive up outside. The first realization she had that anyone was near was the knock on the door. Thorne! she thought in wild jubilation. Hastily, she wiped her eyes with a tissue and raced for the door.

  Brian stepped inside. He held the umbrella he was carrying outside the door to close it. Juli struggled to conceal the disappointment she knew must be written all over her face.

  "Miserable weather," he muttered.

  "I thought you were the guy who was tired of sunshine," Juli managed to say lightly.

  He set the umbrella in a corner and took off his jacket. "I'm sure I'm not as unhappy about the rain as Thorne Taylor is." He sounded almost gleeful as he went on to tell her that the workers were just in the process of installing storm drains at the new construction site when the rains hit. The area was a mess, he said, water running everywhere. "Your friend Thorne is running everywhere, too, trying to be in three places at once," he added.

  But not too busy to rush into the real estate office to buy the property and get rid of her, she thought grimly. She poured coffee and set out some date and nut candies she had bought.

  "Juli, you're just going to have to get a phone," Brian grumbled. "I feel as if I'm barging in on you when I just want to talk for a minute. What are you doing?" he added suddenly, seeing the packed boxes by the sofa.

  Briefly Juli explained about the sale of the property. She didn't intend to give the name of the buyer, but Brian, ever curious, asked.

  Juli struggled to make her voice neutral and casual. "Thorne Taylor. His property adjoins this. He probably wants it to keep any development from coming too close to his house."

  "Oh, I see." Brian's eyes gleamed. "So that's why you've been more or less cultivating the bachelor boy. I was afraid for a while you might have some personal interest in him."

  Juli tried to make some flippant reply, but the words caught in her throat. She turned away quickly, busying herself with the coffee again.

  Brian looked suddenly stricken. "But that means you're leaving right away?"

  "That was part of the deal, that he get immediate possession."

  "I don't get it. What is his big rush?" Brian sounded half-angry, as if Thorne had deliberately interfered with his plans.

  Juli just shrugged. She wasn't about to describe the whole humiliating, degrading experience of how Thorne had deliberately used her to make Nicole jealous and now wanted to get rid of her.

  "I feel as if you're leaving before we've hardly had a chance to get to know each other," Brian protested.

  "Perhaps we can write to each other," Juli offered vaguely.

  "Right. And I'm not going to be stuck here in Cholla forever. I'll be coming back East."

  Juli just nodded, wishing he would go away so she could get on with her packing.

  "When are you leaving?" Brian asked.

  "I suppose I can get out by tomorrow. Yesterday would have suited Thorne Taylor even better," she added with a thin attempt at a smile.

  "You don't have to do that," Brian said with surprising sharpness. "You don't have to jump just because he says so. Wait until Sunday, at least, and we'll spend all day Saturday in Phoenix. We'll eat at a good restaurant and see what else the city has to offer. We deserve that much time together."

  "Oh, I don't think so," Juli demurred. "I mean, I really am supposed to be out as soon as possible."

  "What's Taylor going to do if you're here a day or two extra?" Brain demanded. "Come over and toss you out bodily?"

  She wouldn't put that past him, Juli thought grimly. But with the thought came a surge of rebellious defiance. Brian was right. What was Thorne going to do if she stayed a day or two long
er? It might do him good to stew for a day or two, to let him wonder if she was going to make trouble. And it would certainly serve to show him he couldn't make her jump like some puppet on a string, that she would leave when she was good and ready, and not before.

  "The weather could be bad," she warned. "The report is for more rain."

  "That may bother Thorne Taylor sloshing around at his construction site, but we'll be snug and dry in some nice, covered shopping mall." Brian laughed.

  Juli felt a stab of concern. Was the weather really damaging the new construction site? Was Thorne out in it, getting wet or cold or sick?

  Of course not, she scoffed at herself. Thorne's money might not be able to stop the rain, but he could certainly hire any help he needed. He and Nicole were probably warm and cozy on that fur rug in front of a crackling fire in his bedroom. The sharp clarity of that painful image in her mind lent a determination to Juli's words.

  "I won't leave until Sunday," she said resolutely. "We'll spend Saturday together in Phoenix."

  Chapter Ten

  By Saturday morning Juli had her car almost loaded and ready to go. All that remained in the trailer were a few personal items. The weather appeared to be improving, although a rain-streaked sky just off to the north indicated that area had experienced yet another drenching downpour. Juli felt depressed and wished she had never agreed to spend this day in Phoenix with Brian.

  Brian was supposed to pick her up at the trailer about nine o'clock, but by nine-thirty he still hadn't arrived. Could he have forgotten their date? she wondered. A minute later his car pulled into the driveway and she realized the reason for his delay. The right fender of the car was crumpled, the hood dented, and the door scratched. He slammed out of the car and stalked toward the trailer after a surly glance at his damaged car.

  She opened the trailer door. "What happened?" she exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

  "Some idiot pulled out of a parking space and smashed into me!" he snarled. "Outside of being ready to commit murder, I suppose I'm all right. I hope you're ready," he added, as if her not being ready would be the last straw. He didn't seem to notice that she was wearing a feminine, full-skirted mint-green dress and high heels because she knew he preferred dresses to pants.

  It was hardly an auspicious beginning for a day about which Juli was already unenthusiastic. "Perhaps we ought to call today off," Juli suggested. "You can't enjoy yourself after what happened to your car. And the radio said there's been some minor flooding in Phoenix because they had to release water from above one of the Salt River Project dams."

  "We're going. If there's one thing I am going to do, it's get out of Cholla for a day," Brian muttered grimly.

  Concealing a sigh, Juli picked up her purse and they got into the car. The crumpled fender had an irritating rattle that Juli suspected would drive her crazy before the day was over, but Brian just scowled and drove on. They were about halfway to town when a pickup traveling at high speed approached them.

  "Idiot driver!" Brian growled, though the pickup didn't come anywhere near them.

  Juli involuntarily clutched the door handle as the pickup whizzed by. Brian evidently hadn't noticed what Juli had—that the pickup was Thorne's four-wheel-drive vehicle, and Thorne was driving. He must be going out to the trailer. Why? To inspect his newly purchased property and make sure she was gone, no doubt. He was in for a surprise, then, she thought with a certain grim satisfaction, thinking of her car still parked squarely in the yard. She was uncertain whether or not he had recognized Brian's car or seen her in it. She was relieved she had gotten away from the trailer before he arrived and created some unpleasant scene.

  Brian surprised her by taking the old road that cut across the dry riverbed to join the newer highway farther north. It was a paved road, but rough and potholed, and he had always seemed too fussy about his car to drive on such a road. She was further surprised to see the riverbed was no longer dry, that a wide expanse of water now covered the roadway. A pickup was pulling out on the far side, evidently having just forded the water.

  Brian braked, scowled, then started forward toward the point where the paved road disappeared into the flowing water.

  "What are you going to do?" Juli gasped.

  "Drive across to the other side."

  "But is it safe?" Juli questioned doubtfully. "The water seems to be moving rather fast."

  "The pickup just crossed here."

  "But it was a much larger vehicle," Juli pointed out. "The water will come up much farther on this car. Perhaps we should go around by the bridge."

  "No, I am not going to drive all the way around by the bridge," Brian snapped. The front tires were touching the water now.

  Juli tried a different tack. "But the water looks terribly muddy. Won't it ruin the paint on your car?"

  It was the wrong thing to say.

  "The water can't be more than a few inches deep, and it can't damage the car a damned bit more than it already is," Brian said sourly, eyeing the dented hood.

  He acted, Juli thought in exasperation, almost as if the car were to blame for getting damaged and he was out to punish it still further. With him in this unpleasant mood, she thoroughly wished she had refused to come along. Stubbornly, he drove forward, and the water gurgled and sucked at the underside of the car.

  "It's deeper than it looks," he muttered. "Why the hell don't they build roads with bridges in this country like they do everywhere else?"

  "The riverbed is dry about ninety-nine percent of the time. Maybe they figure people will have enough sense to go around by the bridge when there's water in the riverbed," Juli retorted. Her annoyance at Brian's stubbornness was changing to alarm. The far side of the road still looked a long distance away, and the water wasn't getting any more shallow.

  "Look, what's that?" Juli cried, pointing to some branches caught in the roadway ahead of them, a few straggly leaves showing above the water to mark a tangle beneath.

  "Damn!" Brian muttered. He jerked the steering wheel to the right to avoid the branches, and then suddenly the car sagged and tilted to one side. In horror Juli saw water rising through the floorboards.

  "What happened?" she cried.

  Brian exploded with another oath. "The wheels on that side must have gone off the pavement!"

  Juli was sitting at an angle on the tilted seat. She lifted her feet to keep them out of the water seeping in. Brian gunned the engine and the car jolted forward, only to tilt even farther. Then the engine sputtered and died.

  "The engine must be wet," he muttered. He turned the key and pumped the accelerator, but the engine only coughed and sputtered uselessly.

  "Look!" Juli cried. A road-maintenance truck had pulled up on the far side of the river and the crew was placing barricades across the pavement. One man was shouting and waving his arms at them.

  Brian, on the high side of the car, opened his window and managed to lean out. When he looked back at Juli, his face had visibly paled. "He says there was a cloudburst north of here and another foot of water may come through here within the next half-hour. I guess we'd better wade to shore."

  He opened the door and, grimacing in distaste, stepped out. Juli scrambled across the bucket seats, then hesitated when she saw the muddy water swirling around Brian's legs.

  "Come on! I think it's already rising!"

  Gingerly, Juli stepped into the water and felt the current pushing against her legs, threatening to unbalance her as she wobbled in her high-heeled sandals. Swiftly, she kicked off her high heels. Together they worked their way around the car. Juli was dismayed to see how far they had driven. They were almost in the middle of the riverbed.

  "If I get out of this, I am leaving this miserable place and never coming back!" Brian muttered.

  Juli didn't bother to reply, thinking that if it weren't for his stubbornness and anger, they wouldn't even be in this predicament. She felt her way forward in her bare feet, her full skirt floating around her. Brian kept a hand on her elbow, but whe
n he muttered something about not being able to swim, Juli suspected he was clinging to her more for safety rather than to assist her.

  A mesquite branch floated by, jabbing Juli with sharp thorns. The water sucked and pulled greedily at her legs. Once she stepped into a pothole and almost fell. Finally, the pavement beneath their feet slanted upward and the water became more shallow. Juli was in water below her knees when it happened. She stepped on something sharp with a bare foot, jerked back, stumbled, and crashed into the swirling water. Somehow in the process she tripped Brian and he fell across her. Juli came up sputtering and wiping her eyes and trying to get out from under Brian's wet weight.

  "Well, are you two enjoying yourselves?"

  Juli scrambled to her feet at the sound of the caustic voice. Thorne, hands on lean hips, stood beside his big pickup at the edge of the water.

  "What do you mean, pulling a stupid stunt like this?" he demanded, his gaze flicking across both of them and then to the stranded car.

  "Good heavens, we're drowning and my car is washing away and he decides to cross-examine us!" Brian muttered.

  Juli didn't bother to answer either of the men. She was coldly furious with both—Brian for attempting what really was a stupid thing to do; Thorne for standing there looking at them both with such contemptuous superiority. With as much dignity as possible, considering her bedraggled clothing and disheveled condition, Juli held her head high and started toward the dry bank, only to stumble into another pothole and tumble headlong into the water again.

  She was out of danger now and the fall didn't really hurt, but tears of frustration and humiliation sprang to Juli's eyes. That Thorne should see her like this, hair straggly, dress limp and dirty, pantyhose in tatters around her feet, was almost more than she could bear. But she wouldn't let him see how humiliated she felt. She wouldn't! She floundered to her feet, surprised to find how the struggle to reach shore had weakened her. Then two strong arms lifted her from the water and carried her to the pickup. Thorne thrust her inside, took off his jacket, and wrapped it roughly around her.