"Cupid approaches," he muttered, a subtle tremor in the hands that gently put her away from him. "She'd die if she knew what she just interrupted." Mari stared at him, a lit le frightened by her lack of resistance, by the blatant hunger that she'd felt.
"Pas ion shouldn't be frightening to you," he said gently as the thuds grew closer. "It's as natural as breathing." 80
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She shifted, watching him lift his bag without moving his eyes from her. "It's very new," she whispered.
"Then it's new for both of us," he said just before Lil ian opened the door. "Because I've never felt this with another woman. And if that shocks you, it should. It damned wel shocks me. I thought I'd done it al ."
"Welcome home, boss." Lil ian beamed, holding the door back. "You look good. Doesn't he, Mari?" Flushed face on the girl, and the bos looked a lit le flustered. Good. Good. Things were progres ing. Absence worked after al .
"I feel pret y good, too," he returned, putting an affectionate arm around Lil ian. "Been behaving?"
"Yes, sir. Pil s and al ." Lil ian glared at her niece. "It's pret y hard not to take pil s when you're threatened with being rolled in a towel." He laughed warmly, glancing over at Mari. "Good girl."
"I should get medals for this," Mari returned, her eyes searching his, searching his face, quiet and curious and puzzled. He hugged Lil ian. "No doubt. What's for dinner?
I'm starved."
"Final y," Lil ian said with a grin. "Things are back to normal. You should see al the food I've saved up."
"Don't just stand there, both of you, go fetch it," he said, looking starved. "I'l die if I don't eat soon!" Lil ian responded to his order, producing an abundance of hearty food. While Ward dug in, Mari watched him with pure admiration. She'd never seen a human being put it away with such pleasure. He didn't seem to gain an ounce, for al his appetite. But then he was on the run most of his life, which probably explained his trim but masculine build.
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He finished the last of the dres ing and sat back with a heavy sigh to sip his second cup of coffee while Lil ian, despite offers of help and threats, pushed a trolley of dirty dishes out to the kitchen and dishwasher.
"She won't slow down," Mari said. "I've tried, but she won't let me take over. I cal ed the doctor, but he said as long as she was taking her medicine and didn't overdo standing on that cast, she'd be okay. I do at least get her to sit down, and I help when she lets me."
"Good thing her room's on the ground floor," he remarked.
"Yes."
He studied her over the rim of his coffee cup, his eyes narrow and quiet and full of green flames. There was no amusement in them now, no mockery. Just frank, blatant desire. She looked back because it was beyond her powers of resistance not to. He held her in thral , his darkening eyes full of promised pleasure, exquisite physical delight. Her body recognized that look, even if her brain didn't, and began to respond in frightening ways.
"I should bring in the des ert," she said as she rose, panicked.
"I don't want des ert," he said deeply.
She thought she knew what he did want, and she almost said so, but she dropped back down into her chair and put more sugar in her already over sweet coffee.
"Keep that up, and you can take rust off with it." He nodded toward her efforts with the sugar bowl. She flushed. "I like it sweet."
"Do you?" He reached over and stil ed her hand, his fingers lightly cares ing it. While he held her eyes, he took the spoon away from her and linked his fingers 82
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slowly with hers in a light, cares ing pres ure that made her want to scream with frustrated hunger.
She couldn't help it. Her fingers contracted, too, Convulsively, and she looked at him with aching desire.
His face went hard. "Suppose we go over those phone mes ages?" he asked.
"Al right."
They both knew it was only an excuse, a reason to be alone together in the den to make love. Because that was surely what was going to happen. Being apart and then experiencing this explosive togethernes had taken its toll on them. He stood up and drew her along with him, and she could feel the throbbing silence that grew as they walked down the hal .
"Don't you want des ert?" Lil ian cal ed after them but not very heartily. She was grinning too much.
"Not right now," Ward replied. He looked down at Mari as he opened the door to the den, and there were blazing fires in his steady, pos es ive eyes. Mari felt her lips part as she looked up at him. She started past him, feeling the warmth of his big body, the strength and power of it, and smel ing his spicy cologne. She could hardly wait to be alone with him.
Just as he started to follow her into the room, into the secret silence of it, the heady atmosphere was shat ered by a loud knock at the front door. He cursed under his breath, whirling with such unexpected violence that Mari felt sorry for whoever was out there. He opened the door and glared out. "Wel ?" he demanded.
"Wel , you invited me, didn't you?" came an equal y curt reply in a voice as deep and authoritative as Ward's. "You cal ed me from the airport and said come over and we'd work out that second lease. So here I am. Or did you forget?" "No."
"Do you want to serve my coffee on the damned porch?"
Ward tried not to grin, but he couldn't help it. Honest to God, Ty Wade was just like him.
"Oh, hel , come in," he muttered, holding the door open.
A tal , whipcord-lean man entered the house, Stetson in hand. He was as homely as leftover bacon, and he had eyes so piercing and coldly gray that Mari almost backed away. And then he saw her and smiled, and his face changed.
"Marianne, this is my neighbor, Tyson Wade," Ward told her curtly.
Ty nodded without speaking, glancing past Mari to where Lil ian was standing in her cast. "What did you do, kick him?" he asked Lil ian, nodding toward Ward. Lil ian laughed. "Not quite. How are Erin and the twins?"
"Just beautiful, thanks," Ty said with a quiet smile. "Give them my best," Lil ian said. "Coffee?" "Just make it, I'l come and get the tray," Ward said firmly. Lil ian grumbled off toward the kitchen while Mari searched for words.
"I think I'l turn in," she said to Ward. "If you stil want me to help with the office work, I need to get some sleep so that I can start early." Ward looked harder than usual. Mari couldn't know that seeing Ty and the change marriage had made in him had knocked every amorous thought right out of his head. Ty spel ed commitment, and Ward wanted none of it. So why in hel , he was asking himself, had he been coming on to a virgin?
"Sure," he told Mari. "You do that. If you don't mind, try to get your aunt into bed, too, could you? She's going to make a basket case of me if she doesn't start resting. Tel her that, too. Play on her conscience, girl."
Mari forced a smile. "I'l try. Nice to meet you, Mr. Wade," she told Ty and went after Lil ian.
"Imagine, Tyson Wade in this very house," Lil ian said with a sigh as she fixed a tray. "It's been a shock, seeing those two actual y talk. They've been feuding as long as I've worked here. Then Mr. Wade got married and just look at him."
"He seems very much a family man," Mari commented.
"You should have seen him before." Lil ian grinned. "He made the boss look like a pussycat." "That bad?"
"That bad. Bad enough, in fact, to make the boss get rid of a half-wolf, half-shepherd dog he loved to death. It brought down some of Ty's cat le, and he came over here to
'discuss it' with the boss." She turned, grinning at her niece. "The very next day that dog was adopted into a good home. And the boss had to see his dentist. Tyson Wade was a mean man before Mis Erin came along. Ah, the wonder of true love." She gave Mari a sizing-up look and grinned even more when the younger woman blushed. "Wel , let's get to the dishes, if you're determined to get in my way."
Mari was and she did, quickly shooing Lil ian out. Then she disappeared herself before Ward came for the coffee tray. She'd had enough for one night
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Breakfast was an ordeal, Ward was cold al of a sudden, not the amorous, very interested man of the day before. Mari felt cold and empty and wondered what she'd done to make him look at her with those indifferent eyes. She was beginning to be glad that her vacation was almost over. He followed her into the office and started opening mail. It had piled up in his absence, and he frowned over the amount waiting for him.
"Can you take dictation?" he asked Mari without looking up.
"Yes."
"Okay. Get a pad and pen out of the desk drawer and let's get started."
He began to dictate. The first let er was in response to a man who owed Ward money. The man had writ en Ward to explain that he'd had a bad month and would catch up on his payments as soon as he could. Instead of an understanding reply, Ward dictated a scorching demand for full payment that ended in a threatened lawsuit. Mari started to speak, but the look he gave her was an ultimatum. She forced back the words and kept her silence. Each let er was terse, precise and without the least bit of compas ion. She began to get a picture of him that was disappointing and disil usioning. If there was any warmth in him, she couldn't find it in busines . Perhaps that was why he was so wealthy. He put his own succes above the problems of his creditors. So he had money. And apparently not much conscience. But Mari had one, and the side of him that she was seeing disturbed her greatly.
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Final y Ward was finished dictating the let ers, but just as she started to type them, the phone rang. Ward answered it, his face growing darker with every instant. It was a competitor on the phone, accusing him of using underhanded methods to get the best of a busines deal. He responded with language that should have caused the telephone company to remove his phone and burn it. Mari was the color of a boiled lobster when he finished and hung up.
"Something bothering you, honey?" he chided.
"You're ruthles ," she said quietly.
"Hel , yes, I am," he returned without embarras ment. "I grew up the butt of every cruel tongue in town. I was that Jes up boy, the one whose mother was the easiest woman around and ran off with Mrs. Hurdy's husband. I was that poor kid down the road that never had a decent family except for his bat le-ax of a grandmother." His green eyes glowed, and she wondered if he'd ever said these things to anyone else. "Succes is a great equalizer, didn't you know? The same people who used to look down their noses at me now take off their hats and nod these days. I'm on everybody's guest list. I get recognized by local civic groups. I'm always being mentioned in the newspapers. Oh, I'm a big man these days, sprout." His face hardened. "But I wasn't always. Not until I had money. And how I get it doesn't bother me. Why should I be a good old boy in busines ?
Nobody else is."
"Isn't Mr. Wade?" she fished.
"Mr. Wade," he informed her, "is now a family man, and he's mis ing his guts. His wife removed them, along with his manhood and his pride." She stood. "What a terrible thing to say," she burst out. "How can you be so coldhearted? Don't you realize what you're doing to yourself? You're shriveling up into an old Scrooge, and you don't seem to realize it."
"I give to charity," he said arrogantly.
"For appearances and to get ahead," she replied hotly. "Not because you care. You don't, do you? You don't real y care about one living soul." His chin lifted and his eyes sparkled dangerously. "I care about my grandmother and my sister. And maybe Lil ian."
"And nobody else," she said, hurt a bit by his admis ion that he didn't feel a thing for her.
"That's right," he said coldly. "Nobody else."
She stood there with her hands clenched at her sides, hurting in ways that she'd never expected she could. "You're a real prince, aren't you?" she asked.
"I'm a rich one, too," he returned, smiling slowly. "But if you had any ideas about taking advantage of that fact, you can forget them. I like my money's worth. And I'm not suited to wedding cake and rice."
When what he had said final y broke through the fog and she realized what he was accusing her of, she had to bite her tongue to keep from crying. So that was what he thought
—that she was nothing but a gold digger, out to set herself up for life on his fortune.
"I know," she said with an icy look. "And that's good because most women who are looking for a husband want one who doesn't have to be plugged into a wal socket to warm up!"
"Get out of my office," he said shortly. "Since you're here to visit your aunt, go do it and keep the hel out of my way! When I want a sermon, I'l get it in church!" 88
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"Any minister who got you into church would be canonized!" she told him bluntly and ran out of the room. She didn't tel Lil ian what had happened. Shortly thereafter Ward stormed out, slamming the door behind him. He didn't come back until wel after bedtime. Mari hadn't gone back into the den, and by the time she crawled into bed, she was already planning how to tel Aunt Lil ian that she'd have to return to Georgia. It wouldn't be easy to leave. But now that she'd had a glimpse of the real man, the character under the veneer, she was sure that she was doing the right thing. Ward Jes up might be a rich man with a fat wal et. But he was ice-cold. If she had any sanity left, she'd get away from him before her addiction got so bad that she'd find excuses to stay just to look at him.
That remark about not caring for anyone except family had hurt terribly. She did understand why he was the way he was, but it didn't help her broken heart. She'd been learning to love him. And now she found that he had nothing at al to give. Not even warmth. It was the worst blow of al . Yes, she'd have to go home now. Aunt Lil ian was coping beautifully, taking her medicine and even resting properly. At least Ward would take care of the older woman. He cared about her. He'd never care about Mari, and it was high time she faced facts.
Chapter Seven
Mari had a miserable day. She kept out of Ward's way, and she didn't go back into the den. Let him get a temporary secretary, she thought furiously, if he couldn't manage his dirty work alone. She wasn't going to do it for him.
"Talk about unarmed conflict," Lil ian muttered as Mari went out the back door in a lightweight jacket and jeans.
"He started it," Mari said irritably. "Or didn't you know how he did busines ?"
Lil ian's expres ion said that she did. "He's a hard man to understand sometimes," she said, her voice gentle, coaxing. "But you can't imagine the life he's had, Mari. People aren't cold without reason. Very often it's just a disguise."
"His is flawles ."
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"So is yours," Lil ian said with a warm smile. "Almost. But don't give up on him yet. He might surprise you."
"He won't have time. Have you forgotten that I have to go home in two more days?"
The older woman looked worried. "Yes, I know. I had hoped you might stay a lit le longer."
"You're feeling bet er," she returned. "And he doesn't want me here. Not anymore. I'm not even sure I'd stay if I was asked." She opened the door. "I'm going to look at the horses."
She walked out without another word, crestfal en and miserable. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her jacket and walked aimles ly along the fence until she came in sight of the barn.
There he was, sit ing astride a huge chestnut-colored horse, his working clothes making him look even bigger than usual, his Stetson cocked over one eye. Watching her. She stopped in her tracks, glaring at him. He urged the horse into a slow trot and reined in beside her, resting his crossed hands on the pommel. The leather creaked as he shifted in the saddle and pushed back his hat.
"Are we stil speaking?" he asked, his tone half amused.
"Can someone run me to the bus station in the morning?" she asked, ignoring the question. "My vacation is up the day after tomorrow. I have to get back to Atlanta." He stared at her for a long moment before he spoke. "How are you going to explain that decision to Lil ian?" he asked, carefully choosing his w
ords. "You're
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supposed to think I'm dying, aren't you? You're supposed to be helping me write my memoirs."
"I don't think my stomach is strong enough," she replied.
His green eyes glit ered at her. "Stop that. I'm trying to make friends with you."
"I tried to make friends with a gerbil once," she commented. "I stuck my hand down into its cage to let it have a nice sniff, and it tried to eat my lit le finger."
"You're making this difficult," he grumbled, tilting his hat back over his eyes.
"No, you are," she corrected. "I'm doing my best to relieve you of my gold-digging, sermonizing presence." He sighed heavily, searching her eyes. "I've never had to justify myself to anyone," he told her. "I've never wanted to." He studied the pommel as if he hadn't seen one before, examining it as he spoke. "I don't want you to go, Mari."
Her heart ran away. "Why not?"
He shrugged and smiled faintly. "Maybe I've gotten used to you." He looked up. "Besides, your aunt wil never get over it if you leave right now. Al her plans for us wil be ruined."
"That's a foregone conclusion as far as I'm concerned," she said, her voice curt. She clenched her hands in her pockets. "I wouldn't have you on a stick, roasted." He had to work to keep from grinning. "Wouldn't you?"
"I'm going home," she repeated.
He tilted his hat back again. "You don't have a job."
"I do so. I work at a garage!"
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"Not anymore." He did grin this time. "I cal ed them last week and told them that you had to quit to take care of your sick aunt and her 'dying' employer."
"You what!"
"It seemed like the thing to do at the time," he said conversational y. "They said they were real sorry, and it sure was lucky they'd just had a girl apply for a job that morning. I'l bet they hired her that very day."
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