Cara could almost feel Dave relax. “What did you hear?”
“Sounded like a truck. Or it could have been a big, heavy car.”
“But would Señora Arvisu bring her Mercedes into this kind of thick jungle?”
“Forest, not jungle, and I think la señora would take her Mercedes anywhere for enough money.”
The money. Incredibly Cara had forgotten the money. “We didn’t get the briefcase!”
“Want to go back for it?”
The money for which Buck had betrayed her? The money for which she had been kidnapped and dragged through the jungle and scared out of her wits? The money for which she had almost been killed? “I never want to see it again!”
Dave seemed oddly pleased. “I hope the army finds it before la señora does. It’ll make things so much easier.”
Cara looked out over the green landscape and savored the all-too-brief moment of peace. Strong and slim, Dave’s arm around her felt so good, so natural, that it might have been there all her life; conversely, though, it was incredibly new and arousing, awakening in her feelings of which she had only dreamed, feelings barely touched by that magical, wonderful kiss.
How could she ever have thought she preferred Buck’s bulging muscles and bluff manner? Dave’s smooth slimness was so much more attractive. Imagine waking up with him every morning, watching him shave, even picking up his socks. Though she was sure he always picked up after himself, Cara still thought taking care of him and making him happy would be just splendid. She could envision no more desirable future.
And yet, she reminded herself, at one time she had been terrified of him. He had kidnapped her and then saved her life, both accused her and protected her; nothing more than strangers, they had shared into an incredible series of adventures that led to now, with her sitting beside him on a rock ledge somewhere in a forest in the mountains beyond Puerto Vallarta.
And she still didn’t know...
“Why?”
“Why what?”
He sounded half asleep, but Cara was becoming ruthless. “Why has all this happened? What is all this about?”
Dave pulled back and looked down at her, one eyebrow quizzically cocked upward. “You really don’t know?”
“No. I really don’t, and I want to. I think I have a right to.”
Was she truly innocent? Dave’s mind spun. He had never believed her to be the mastermind, but although he had become prepared to gloss over her guilt, he had never truly considered her absolute innocence.
“And you had no part in any of this?”
“Any of what?” Cara asked sharply. “I don’t know anything about anything!”
Dave blinked as the world shifted and resettled around him. “Where do you work, Cara Waters?”
“You know. I’m a section office manager at Brownley/Spaulding. You work there too.”
“And what does Brownley/Spaulding do?”
“Medical stuff. We manufacture pharmaceuticals.”
“Just manufacture?”
At last, Cara began to see light. “No, we also do research and develop new drugs.”
“Working on anything special these days?”
“I wouldn’t know...I’m just an office manager...hardly more than a glorified secretary. But...there has been a lot of extra security around the lab lately...”
“Know what Viagraä is?”
Cara colored painfully. It embarrassed her even more to be embarrassed about something casually discussed on the ten o’clock news. To his amusement, Dave found it charming.
“It’s a medicine for men…to help them…”
“Close enough. Well, Brownley/Spaulding has come up with a medicine that does the same thing, but better. It’s been under classified testing for some time now.”
Pulling away, Cara looked up at him sharply. “How do you know this?”
Dave ignored her. “The FDA has given its approval. There’s only the final red-tape paperwork to be completed before Brownley/Spaulding can start selling the stuff and making piles and piles of money.”
“How do you know this?” Cara shrugged free of his protecting arm and sat up. “I work there and I didn’t know a thing about it.”
“You weren’t supposed to. No one was, outside of those in R&D.”
“But Accounts Payable would know something was going on. They’d have to handle the finances. Murchison!”
“Right. He and Tarrant grew up together…apparently, they went through some pretty bad times together. They stayed friends after leaving the orphanage, even when Tarrant got the football scholarship and went on to the majors, but kept it quiet because of his football career…the glamorous single quarterback, you know.”
“No wonder he hated me so,” Cara said slowly. “Buck made such a good job of romancing me, I guess he wondered if he were going to leave him for me.”
Dave bit his lips in a moment of indecision before going on. Best to get it all out. “Hardly. He’s the one who chose you as the fall guy, not Tarrant. Murchison was the brains of that pair.”
Cara stared at him, her mouth unflatteringly agape.
“Tarrant had acquired some expensive habits during his glory days and his job as a sales rep just wasn’t cutting it, not even with Murchison’s salary added in.” Dave spoke slowly, hesitantly, tiptoeing around his words. He wasn’t sure just exactly how deep her acceptance of Tarrant’s treachery went; she’d have to accept every dirty minute of it someday, but he wanted to hurt her as little as possible.
“But he spent money like crazy. There was this trip, and we ate in nice places, and he bought me presents...” Cara stopped suddenly. As soon as she got home, she would have to get rid of all the baubles and geegaws he had given her. She could almost feel sorry for the stupid, innocent, star-struck innocent she had been. Even so, she knew she could never bear to look at the pretty things that had once made her feel so special and so cherished. They would be a constant reminder of something she longed to forget. “Lures. Lures to catch a stupid fish.”
Dave saw the shadows of emotion flit over her face and withdrew a little into himself. She still cared; intellectually she knew who and what Buck Tarrant had been, but emotionally she still clung to the myth. In a few months, she probably would have rewritten the facts to keep her romantic dream alive. The realization hurt him more than he thought it could.
Well, he growled inwardly, what did I expect? He romanced and bedazzled her, and made her feel loved for weeks. All I’ve brought her is fear and pain and danger...
And I can’t undo it.
With a sinking heart, Dave finally accepted that it could go no further. He had always known that however she felt about him, Dave Burkhart could never be part of this exquisite creature’s life any more than she could be part of his. Now he had to face facts.
“Investments,” he said more roughly than was necessary. “He had to make you believe in him.”
“And he did,” Cara answered with a little shiver. She leaned back against Dave, but somehow that wonderful curve of his neck wasn’t so comfortable any more.
“He romanced you, but it was Murchison who stole the formula.”
“But if Murchison stole the formula, why did they need me?”
“They needed a fall guy. How many people knew you and Tarrant were...dating?”
“No one,” Cara answered quickly. A firm believer that happiness shared is happiness doubled, Cara had resented his insistence on what he called discretion. “We met in the company cafeteria, but he really didn’t like for us to be seen together there.”
“Who knew you were in Mexico with him?”
“Murchison, obviously.” The name was still sour in Cara’s mouth. “I don’t know who else...The airplane!”
“What?”
“When we got on the airplane to come down here, the airline clerk said, “Thank you, Mr..... Something. I don’t remember what it was, but it wasn’t Tarrant. I didn’t think anything about it at the time. I just thought she had mispr
onounced or misread...” Cara’s voice faded away to a thready whisper. “I was really stupid, wasn’t I?”
The pain in her voice hurt him, but he couldn’t afford to give her the comfort she needed. It wouldn’t be good for either of them.
“You thought what he wanted you to think, what he made very sure you would think,” he temporized, unwilling to hurt her more. “He needed you happy and committed to him, but publicly, he needed you to be distant from him. Tarrant didn’t want himself or Murchison to be involved when you proved to be the thief. They made a good team.”
“But I could protest. Oh. I was supposed to be dead by then, wasn’t I?”
Dave nodded. “Apparently they had thought it out pretty finely. Murchison stole the formula and passed it to Tarrant. Tarrant set you up. You worked for the lab. You could have taken the formula. When your dead body was found with the formula on it, everyone would think that was the end of it.”
“But I don’t have the formula!” Cara cried in a voice edged with shrill panic. “I never saw it! I didn’t even know there was a formula until a few minutes ago.”
“I believe you, but you can believe me that you would have been pegged as the thief and I’ll bet you would be found with the formula on you. Wait...” Remembering the fragment of idea that had been tantalizing him, Dave grabbed Cara’s wrist and turned the heavy silver bracelet around. “When did you say Tarrant gave you this?”
“That morning...just before you...when you...” Cara could not say ‘kidnapped.’
“How does it open? You said something about it not coming off?”
“Buck said it was a lover’s bracelet. It has a key. He kept it. I don’t know where it is now.”
Dave picked up a fair-sized rock and held Cara’s wrist down on the stone. “I’ll try to damage it as little as possible...”
“I never want to see it again,” Cara said with feeling.
It only took two blows before the metal split and fell away. Cara yanked her hand back and frantically chafed her wrist as if she could rub away any contact with something Buck Tarrant had touched.
Dave picked up the shattered metal. The bracelet was basically two hollow tubes decorated and joined by hinge and clasp. Out of the ragged edge of one tube stuck a twist of paper. Dave drew it out very carefully and then even more gently unfolded it.
Cara gasped.
“It’s my notepaper! From my desk!”
Folded many times, worn and spotted, the paper was small, no bigger than three by three, and the top had a sticky strip. It was pink. Across the top was printed A Quick Note from Cara Waters. Everyone in the department had gotten a personalized supply for Christmas, pink for women, blue for men. It had almost become a departmental joke.
Her breath came in choky gasps. “How did it get there? Why would anyone put a blank piece of ...?”
Dave studied the paper carefully, holding it gently by the tiniest edge, twisting and turning it against the light. “Not written on, surely, but blank? I think not.”
Cara stared. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m no expert in these things, but I’ll bet my next month’s salary the dot on that ‘i’ is a microdot. See how out of proportion it is?”
“A microdot? Like in the old James Bond movies?”
“Um-hum. It’s pretty much outdated technology, but still workable. Just obvious enough...”
“Obvious! Is that the formula?”
“I’d bet on it.” Dave met her questioning gaze straight on.
“But what is it doing in my bracelet? How did it get in there?” The last question was almost a wail. Cara stared at the scrap of paper as if it were an unquestionable condemnation of guilt. “What’s this all about?”
“To prove you guilty. Not a bad plan, actually,” Dave said dispassionately as he refolded the paper exactly. “You are the suspected thief. Your body is found in Mexico. It is identified, probably by that ugly bracelet. I’ll bet that somewhere in your office or your things, there is a receipt from a jeweler who will be prepared to swear that you ordered it specifically made. Of course, he never met you in person, but he tells them how you insisted the bracelet have a hidden compartment; then, if they haven’t already, they find the formula. Apparently you didn’t have time to meet your contact, so everyone at Brownley/Spaulding relaxes, and that’s where they make their mistake.”
“Mistake?” Cara asked vaguely, unable to reason through sheer horror. How had so much been going on, so intricately plotted, and she not know anything of it?
“Mistake. They relax, and that gives the pirates time to get their version on the market, and you know whoever gets out first makes the big money.”
“So I was never anything but a decoy, something to hide behind and kill when they were through with me.” In spite of the late sun fingering through the leaves, Cara shivered. If it weren’t for this man, this man whom she had fought, reviled and hated, she would now be dead, a lifeless lump rotting somewhere, her spirit...
And all because she had thought she loved. An inarticulate cry, no less painful because it was muted almost to the point of a sigh, ripped from the depths of her very soul.
“Cara?”
“What a fool I was! How could I have been so stupid? He told me he loved me, so I thought I was really worthy of being loved...and it was all a lie! God, what a fool!” The rest of her words faded as she hid her face in her hands.
Dave lost his battle with his better instincts. It was obvious Dave Burkhart could have no place in her life after they got out of this, but he couldn’t let her stay there hunched in such misery. Extending his arms, he drew her close, cradling her head against his shoulder, trying not to think of how good she felt in his arms.
“Stop talking like that!” He said in a voice harsh with emotion. “Of course you’re worthy of being loved. You’re a wonderful, loving, giving woman. You deserve the best any man can give. You were cheated, and lied to, and used....all you did was believe what you were told. Some people are just bad, Cara, and they prey on good people like you.”
He had her chin cupped in his hands, lifting her face to his. Tears welled in her beautiful blue eyes, making them as luminous as a mountain lake. For the first time in his life, words failed him. Always he had been glib, able to talk his way out of any spot, able to turn any situation to his advantage; talking to beautiful young women had been a particular specialty. Now, for perhaps the first time in his life, even though he wanted desperately to say the right thing, he couldn’t say a word.
Maybe one kiss wouldn’t hurt...
No, but stopping after one would.
And he would have to stop. She had been lied to and hurt too much. He couldn’t add to that. He couldn’t. He shouldn’t.
Drawn by a force stronger than his conscience or his fears, Dave bent his head and gently touched his lips to hers, brushing the softness of them with the sweetness and innocence of a child’s embrace. He had really intended to leave it there, to give her nothing but a kindly reassurance, but that was impossible. He pressed harder, crushing her mouth to his with a wild feeling of elation. With a growl of passion, he surrendered, pulling her against him as if he would never let him go.
The change was dizzying for Cara. Dave Burkhart was like a beacon in the darkness. From the depths of fear, self-pity, and the horror of sudden death, he had given her comfort. She had listened to and wanted to believe his words, but then the words had stopped, and he had looked down at her with such tenderness that she felt her heart start to lurch erratically in her chest. For an eternity, she had waited and wanted and long for, then at last he had kissed her.
He had kissed her before, but this was as different as roses from rocks. This kiss spoke straight to her soul, leaving her body tingling with a depth of desire she had never known. The fact that he had switched without warning from words to actions bothered her not a bit. She had had words; Buck Tarrant had been full of empty words. Dave Burkhart could say more with a single kiss than Buck had
with all his words.
She kissed him back, enthusiastically, molding into his embrace as if they were of one flesh. It was as if his mind was linked with hers, communicating directly, sharing everything....
As if they were one, finally rejoined.
Dave Burkhart was the other half of her heart.
She must tell him, as soon as he stopped kissing her.
When he paused for breath, she murmured, “I have to tell you...”
“Later,” he answered, his lips etching an exquisite trail of feeling down the side of her neck.
“Later,” Cara agreed as her body sang in ecstasy. They would have the rest of their lives to talk.
What seemed like just a moment later, Dave pulled away, painfully focusing his attention on something besides the wonder of loving Cara Waters.
“What...?” she murmured, only coming to full attention when he clamped unintentionally strong fingers over the tender mouth he had been so enthusiastically kissing.
“Shush!” he commanded in a hoarse whisper. “Listen.”
Cara had always thought the jungle had been an unquestionably noisy place. The leaves rustled like a thousand taffeta skirts. There were animal mutterings and the cries of birds. Her attention captured by the sweet distraction of Dave Burkhart, Cara had ignored them. Now, truly listening, she could hear it, too.
“Engines?”
Dave nodded, his face grim.
“Is it the army?”
“Hope so,” Dave replied, but his voice lacked conviction. It sounded as if there were only two or three. No army ever did anything in twos and threes, which left only a very few possibilities, all unsavory.
“Come on,” he said hoarsely, grabbing her hand. “That’s getting too close.”
Cara stood up as he did, but she looked around the engulfing green sea apprehensively. “Where’ll we go? Which way is that coming from? Everything’s all distorted...”
“Sounds like it’s behind us. If we can get down this hill...”
“Here.” Cara dug in her pocket.
Dave stared at the cold metal object she put in his hand. “A gun? Where...? Is this...?”
The Other Half of Your Heart Page 17