Circumstantial Evidence

by Annette Broadrick

  Ashley took her cue and tried to sound calm. "That's right."

  Suddenly shy, Mrs. Krueger hastened to the door. "Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes. If you'd like, I could feed the baby in the kitchen while you eat."

  Still unsure of herself in this area, Ashley looked to McCord for the proper answer.

  "That would be a big help, Mrs. Krueger. Thank you. His bottles and food are all in the case I left in the other room."

  Ashley handed Josh to Mrs. Krueger and watched as he left with yet another new person. He has no sense of discrimination, but it's just as well. What would I have done on this trip if he'd cried the entire time? It didn't bear thinking about.

  The door closed. For the first time since McCord and Ashley had met at the elevator hours ago, they were alone.

  Silence stretched between them like a rubber band waiting to be released. They watched each other warily, more than the width of the room dividing them.

  "I'm sorry." McCord's voice carried to Ashley in firm tones.

  She continued to watch him without expression. "Just what does that mean, Mr. McCord? Are you apologizing for your atrocious behavior or just making a general statement regarding your character?"

  She could tell he didn't care much for her comment, but that was all right. Ashley didn't care much for anything about him at the moment. She'd had a rough day and, thanks to him, relief was several hours away.

  He moved closer, then paused. He ran his hand through his hair, causing the waves to part into a cluster of curls on his forehead. They failed to soften the tight contours of his face. Now that she thought about it, he didn't appear to have gotten much rest lately either.

  "Look, Ms. Allison, you have every right to be angry." He ignored her nod of agreement. "I understand that. Believe it or not, I had no idea this plan of mine would go so far." He swung away from her, no longer able to look at the closed expression on her face. "I needed a wife to fill in just for a few minutes, or so I thought at the time. The deception wasn't going to harm anyone, and it might have helped others." He glanced over his shoulder. She hadn't moved from her position near the door. He spun around, covering the distance between them in long strides. "I'm trying to buy time for some people, Ms. Allison. By pretending to be married, you and I are assisting others who've gone to a great deal of effort and taken serious risks to obtain information. This weekend they're trying to get the information into the right hands." He wanted so much to get her to understand the importance of what was happening, but it was too complicated to explain in a few short sentences. His frustration mounted.

  "I'd been stalling Wilson, trying to come up with a story, when I saw you at the elevators this evening. I made an instant decision to use your presence to help me get out of a tight spot."

  She stared at him in amazement. "If you feel that getting us both abducted is getting out of a tight spot, I'm not sure I want to know what you consider a tight spot."

  McCord's hand raked through his already mussed hair. Then he rubbed the back of his neck and let out his breath in a heavy sigh. "You're right. I didn't handle this at all well. The hell of it is that I made the biggest sales pitch of my entire career in order to talk Jeanine into leaving Josh with me. She's never gone off and left him for more than a couple of hours before." Then, as though talking more to himself than to her, he continued. "Of course, if Josh hadn't been there, it wouldn't have occurred to me to try to impersonate anyone."

  She ignored his last comment to latch on to the name he'd mentioned. "Jeanine?"

  "Josh's mother."

  "Of course, Josh's mother. Silly of me to forget."

  "It made a lot more sense for him to stay here rather than to travel with her to Washington, D.C. Who could have guessed Tysinger would go to this extreme?"

  "You do realize I haven't a solitary clue as to what you're talking about. I feel like Alice attempting a conversation with the Mad Hatter."

  McCord stopped pacing and stared at her as though noticing her mood for the first time. "Most women I know would have had hysterics today." He tilted his head slightly as he studied her calm demeanor. "Why haven't you been screaming and hurling accusations?" The more he thought about it, the more impressed he was with her self-control.

  "It's rather trite to state the obvious. I'm not 'most women,' and my training helps me to disguise what I'm feeling." Her tone became more gentle. "Of course, if you prefer hysteria and screaming, it won't take much for me to oblige you."

  His quick grin disappeared as he hastened to reassure her. "No. No, thanks. I guess what I'm trying to do is to thank you for not continuing to protest to Tysinger. You lent credibility to my story, and I want you to know how very much I appreciate it."

  "Don't mention it," she replied in a disgusted tone. "I felt like an absolute fool standing there denying that I knew either one of you while I clutched your baby in my arms."

  This time McCord's smile stayed in place. His hand rested lightly along her jawline as he peered down into her face. "I'll admit to counting on that when I placed him in your arms. That, and the element of surprise. I planned to use you only to get out of the building and away from Wilson." His hand slid to the back of her neck, under the long hair, and gripped. "What I wasn't counting on were the reinforcements that were used to get us into that car." His hand began to massage the tight muscles in her neck. "That's when I realized I had miscalculated, and I got angry— at myself, at Tysinger, and at the situation I'd placed us in. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how we're going to get out of it, either."

  Ashley noticed the tired lines in his face. He wasn't the first person to make an impulsive decision that backfired, and there was certainly no point in her continuing to do battle with him. His long fingers were ridding her neck muscles of the stiffness caused by the long ride and the anxiety of wondering what was happening.

  McCord interpreted her silence as unforgiving. Why not? Why should she forgive him for being such an idiot? She probably had a family waiting at home, frantic with worry.

  "Your parents must be worried sick by now. Perhaps we can call them. I can tell Tysinger that we were supposed to be having dinner with them. Surely he'll understand that this trip wasn't in our plans."

  Her parents? How old did he think she was? "I don't live with my parents, Mr. McCord."

  "Rafe."

  "What?"

  Dark red began to seep into his face. "I'm sorry, I've never bothered to introduce myself. I'm Raphael McCord. My friends call me Rafe."

  Bewilderment flashed across her face. "Who is Raul?"

  "My brother."

  She backed away, leaning against the door. "Somehow that doesn't clarify much for me." She held up her palm. "But I don't think I'm capable of listening to many more of your 'explanations' tonight." A slight smile hovered around her mouth, and he could sense that her mood had lightened somewhat. He was surprised at his relief. For whatever obscure reason, he didn't want this woman to stay angry with him.

  He smiled. "Well, is there someone who will be upset when you're late getting home tonight?" He wondered why he cared.

  She wondered why he asked. "Just my roommate. But we don't always check in with each other." She mentally apologized to Tasha for that little lie. She just wished she could call her to explain and perhaps prevent the destruction of her home.

  He gave her a searching look, trying to understand the expression on her face. "Well, if you'd like, we can contact your roommate."

  Ashley didn't care for the emphasis on the word roommate. What did he want to know? Whether she was involved with someone? What about him? His wife hadn't been gone very long and he was pretending to be married to someone else. Her eyes took in the picture before her. A well-developed specimen of virile manhood, convinced, no doubt, that he could have any woman he wanted, turning on the charm for her. Her encounters with the opposite sex through the years had educated her about his type of male. Well, she didn't need any of them—this one, especially.

  She wal
ked past him, moving over to watch the fading colors reflected off the snow of Mount Hood. It was almost dark. "No, I don't think I'll call my roommate. She's Oriental and not accustomed to some of our Western ways." She glanced over her shoulder at him. "She's going to be upset, but there's not much I can do about it." And that's the truth, Ashley thought with a sigh.

  Once again the room was quiet, but something had happened in the past few minutes. Their awareness of each other caused a strong pull between them. Ashley refused to acknowledge the attraction. Not only was she not interested in developing a relationship with any man, she found this particular man despicable. Her disgust with amorous married males knew no bounds.

  Rafe watched her straight back and wondered what he'd said or done to cause the stiffening in her manner. For a few moments she had seemed to relax somewhat. Women! There was no understanding them, and at thirty-five, he no longer made the attempt. He shrugged his shoulders. They'd have dinner with Tysinger, listen to his political propositions, then ask to be excused. He didn't want to spend any more time around this prickly female than he had to.

  "Guess we'd better find Tysinger, then, and get this meal behind us." His sudden comment sliced through the silence between them, causing her to start. Her control wasn't as complete as she would have liked it to be.

  She turned and, with something of an effort, forced herself to give him a polite, meaningless smile. "You're right. The sooner we eat, the sooner we return to town."

  Chapter Three

  Ashley shifted, burying her face in the pillow. Her internal timepiece assured her that it was Saturday and she could enjoy a few moments extra in bed. She'd slept better than she had for weeks. Smiling with contentment, she stretched her full length, tightening each and every muscle just for the pleasure of relaxing afterwards. Maybe she'd run that morning. She'd missed doing that the last several mornings. At the moment, Ashley felt that all was right with her world.

  "Do you intend to stay in bed all day?" a polite male voice inquired in her ear.

  Ashley's eyes flew open. Silver blue eyes faced her from the adjoining pillow.

  In an abrupt movement, Ashley sat up, staring around the room with bewilderment. Where am I?

  She saw Josh on a pile of blankets nearby, waving his hands and watching his fingers.

  "Josh?"

  "Yep, ole Josh and I have been up for hours. You must really sleep soundly to have missed all our activities this morning." Rafe watched her as their respective positions sifted through her morning fog. In a conversational tone he added, "I've managed to bathe and feed him, so he seemed content to rest for a while." He watched the look of horror grow on her face and smiled. "I've been taking it easy, waiting for you to wake up."

  Ashley groaned. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her head on them. Events of the night before began to filter through her memory. "I'm supposed to be married."

  Rafe's hand moved up the length of her back, from hips to shoulders, as he massaged the muscles along her spine. The silkiness of her slip caused a tingling everywhere he touched.

  "Would you stop that!" She jerked away from him. "I distinctly remember explaining to you that I was not going to share a bed with you last night. What are you doing here?"

  Rafe folded his arms behind his head and smiled. "I got cold. At these heights the nights are always cold, and Josh seemed to have the spare blankets in this room. After the noise I made looking for blankets in the closet and all the drawers I began to realize that nothing would disturb you." His arm slipped from behind his head and gestured. "As you can see, I was right. I crawled in and you never noticed."

  Ashley shook her head in a flurry of waves as her soft hair settled back around her shoulders. She refused to look at him.

  In a judicious tone Rafe added, "Something tells me you aren't a morning person."

  Exasperated with his cheerfulness, Ashley grabbed her pillow and placed it on her knees, resting her head once again. "What was your first clue?" Her muffled voice drifted to him. She scarcely recalled going to bed the night before. The events of the day had succeeded in knocking her out as effectively as a narcotic.

  Still buried in her pillow, she tried to be fair. After all, it wasn't as though there wasn't enough room for two. The bed was large enough to use for a football scrimmage. On second thought, perhaps it would be better utilized for naval maneuvers. Her recent moves had caused a gentle, undulating movement across the expanse of satin comforter. Ashley would never have considered sleeping in a water bed. She tended to get seasick crossing the Willamette River on the Ross Island Bridge.

  "It doesn't slosh," she mumbled.

  "It's baffled."

  Unaware that she'd spoken her thought out loud, Ashley was puzzled by his remark. She raised her head and looked over at him; he was sprawled propped up against the headboard. "What did you say?"

  "The bed has baffles built in to lessen the wave action."

  "Oh."

  "Do I take it then that you had a restful night, all things considered?"

  She eyed his bland expression with suspicion. "All of what things considered?"

  "Oh, my getting up with Josh a couple of times and cuddling to keep you warm."

  "You did what?" That woke her up. "There's no way I could have slept through that," she stated in emphatic tones.

  "Whatever you say, dear. I don't want to start an argument before breakfast." Rafe appeared to have a problem holding his innocent expression.

  "If I'd known you were the kind of person who goes back on his word, I would have insisted that you sleep in the other room."

  His eyes danced in the morning sunlight, and it was hard for Ashley to ignore the mischief in them. "There are only two bedrooms on this floor and our host is using one of them." The reasonableness of his tone further incensed Ashley. "How could I explain that my wife expected me to sleep with the host? Are you trying to destroy my reputation?"

  "Isn't that exactly what you're trying to do to mine?" she snapped back. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she demanded.

  "I could be… very much." Rafe's voice held a velvety warmth and his hand once more slid up the length of her back.

  Ashley's body reacted to the caress as though independent of her. Her anger was directed as much at herself as it was at him. "Isn't one wife enough for you, or do you get some kind of pleasure out of collecting women for the weekend under false pretenses?" Everywhere his hand touched, tiny electrical impulses shot through her skin, causing it to tingle.

  Rafe spoke in a confidential tone. "I wonder if Tysinger's recovered from the verbal attack you launched when he insisted that we take advantage of his hospitality and spend the weekend."

  Ashley conceded, "Well, I suppose I could have been a little more tactful."

  At that Rafe began to laugh.

  "I'd barely accepted the idea of filling in as your wife through dinner when he suggested an overnight stay. That was just too much."

  "So you told him last night. I thought your threatening to have him arrested for kidnapping added a nice touch to the dinner conversation."

  "And don't think I won't, just as soon as I can get away from this place. And why weren't you protesting when he insisted we stay here?"

  "You were doing such an excellent job of it, I felt that anything I could have added would have been redundant. Besides, I have Tysinger's full sympathy and grudging respect for tolerating a wife with a temper like yours."

  "I am not your wife," Ashley stated through clenched teeth. "Please stop calling me that." Rafe's feathery caresses caused her blood to quicken as warmth began to flow through her body.

  Still grinning, Rafe added, "Confiding to Tysinger that you didn't have any idea who fathered Josh certainly has him speculating on your morals."

  "My morals! I don't go around claiming marriage ties to every stranger I meet."

  "Neither do I. You happen to be the first." Changing the subject, Rafe continued. "Don't you think it's time we got out of b
ed?" he queried. Had he no notion of what his hand was doing to her? Apparently not, and for that small blessing she gave thanks. She kept her flushed face resolutely turned away from him.

  "Yes, I would be delighted to get up, get dressed, and go home!" Ashley felt a sudden, soft movement of the bed and glanced around in time to see Rafe as he threw back the covers and stood up. She got a quick glimpse of a great expanse of dark flesh. Averting her head, she asked, "Would you mind getting out of here so I can get dressed?"

  "Isn't it a little late for modesty after sleeping with me all night?" Her pillow hit the bathroom door just as he closed it behind him. She could hear his laughter.

  Never had anyone dared to treat Ashley in this manner. She'd never have stood for it. But what choice did she have at the moment? Why wasn't Jeanine here where she was supposed to be? And why had she disappeared to Washington, D.C? The mystery was beginning to bother Ashley more the longer she thought about it. She was determined to get some answers to her questions that day. She deserved that much after this disruption in her life.

  Ashley came out of the shower much refreshed and ready to face the day. She picked up the wilted cream blouse she'd worn the day before just as the bedroom door swung open.

  "Can't you knock?" She clutched at the large bath towel wrapped around her and glared at Rafe as he sauntered into the room.

  "I suppose I could, but frankly, I didn't give it much thought. Mrs. Krueger felt sorry for you having to hobble around in your high heels and suggested that you try on some of her younger son's clothes." He handed her a bundle of clothing. "She said he left these the last time he was here."

  She shook out a pair of well-worn jeans and decided that they would do nicely. A pair of sneakers appeared to be about her size. With as much dignity as possible, given that only her towel stood between modesty and embarrassment, Ashley gathered up a pullover knit shirt and the jeans and sneakers and stalked back into the bathroom.

  The navy and white striped shirt clung to her curves. Ashley frowned into the mirror, then shrugged her shoulders. It couldn't be helped. The jeans were snug but the length was right. Once again she had cause to be thankful for long legs. Now she was ready to face the world and do battle, if necessary.