Terrance had spoiled her, she thought ruefully, toying with her dessert. With his unassuming manner and inherent kindness, he’d spoiled her, had made her feel that all men had dignity and manners.
William Harris was living proof that she was wrong.
She pushed back her plate and looked pointedly at the man sitting across from her. Several times he’d tried to put his hand on her knee. When he did it the last time, she’d made up her mind. Time to bring this disaster of an evening to an end.
“William, I think we’d better go.”
Harris looked at her, as if trying to decide whether she was being coy or maybe eager. Was she trying to tell him that she wanted him to take her home so that they could get to the meat of the evening?
“What’s your hurry? The night’s still young. I thought we’d go dancing after this.”
The thought of being on a crowded dance floor, giving him an excuse to grind against her was beyond repugnant to her. She would rather lie down covered in honey on an occupied ant colony.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea.” Alix ran her hand across her brow. “I’ve got a headache, William. A migraine.”
Harris studied her face for a moment. “All right, we can go.” He looked around the busy restaurant. “Where the hell is the damn waiter?” Irritation resounded in his voice as he raised his hand in the air and snapped his fingers expectantly.
This had to be penance for something, Alix thought. What had she been thinking, saying yes to Harris? This was definitely not the way back to the world of the living. More like burrowing into the world of the damned.
She was embarrassed for him. People were looking. “The food server doesn’t materialize when you do that.”
He looked at her, a pout on his lips. “At these prices, they damn well better.”
To the table’s left, Alix saw the server coming their way, a frown momentarily gracing the man’s face as he looked at Harris. It disappeared as he approached their table. “Yes?”
“We’d like the check,” Harris informed him.
“Separate checks,” Alix was quick to clarify. In no way did she want Harris to think that she was beholden to him for anything.
Harris looked horrified. “Absolutely not. This is a date, not an outing.”
Alix smiled patiently at him. In her profession she had more than a nodding acquaintance with spoiled children. “I like paying my own way.”
Like a man navigating uncharted waters, Harris carefully changed direction. He seemed determined to do whatever it took to get her into his bed.
“An independent woman? All right, I can respect that.” Turning his head, his smile faded. He looked at the server beside the table the way he would have regarded a lower life form. “Well, you heard her. Bring us separate checks.”
Alix stopped herself before she could sigh with relief. The evening, she thought, was mercifully going to come to an end.
Or maybe not.
Hunting up her key even before Harris’s Ferrari had turned down her block, she tried not to exit the car in a hurry the moment the vehicle came to a stop in her driveway.
Harris was right behind her. She could hear him chuckling to himself. That could only be a bad thing, she decided.
Shoving the key into the lock, she opened the door, then turned. “Well, good night.”
He placed his body in the way, partially blocking her retreat. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
Only if I can draw and quarter you. She forced a nondescript smile to her lips. She had her excuse ready. “I’ve got a baby-sitter inside—” It wasn’t true. Norma, the eternal grandmother, had elected to take Julie for the night. But there was no way she was about to let Harris know that.
“Sitters can be sent away.”
She didn’t like the way he treated people, as if they were there solely for his own purposes. “This is Norma, my father’s housekeeper. She practically raised me—”
The information had no impact on Harris. The sitter was an obstacle, nothing more. “She’s on payroll, send her away.”
Alix squared her shoulders. Definitely penance, she thought, regarding Harris. “I don’t think so, William.”
The expression on his face became nasty. “Look, you can’t jerk me around like this.”
That tore it. She braced herself for a possible scene. “There was no jerking involved, William.” Her voice was stony. “We went out, we had dinner, we paid for dinner and now dinner is over.”
He loomed over her, his very body language a threat. “But not the evening.”
She looked up at him, not about to be intimidated. “It is for us. I have a headache, remember?”
Giving it one more try, Harris summoned his best seductive manner and leaned in closer to her. “I know how to make it go away.”
She never budged. “So do I. Leave.” When he made no movement, she added. “Now.”
The little tease, he thought. What she needed was to be taught a lesson, and he would have been glad to be the one to do it. But right now, he couldn’t risk possible repercussions. Juarez, the man with all the connections, the man who held his life in his hands, had warned him to keep a low profile or suffer the consequences.
Still, he didn’t like being played like this. “Or you’ll do what?”
Her eyes were steely. She’d played poker ever since she could reach the table. She knew how to bluff effectively. “You don’t want to push me, William. You really don’t.”
Terrance was back where he’d been originally, parked across from her house. Three times, listening to the exchange, he’d begun to leave the car. Three times he’d sunk back down, tense, waiting.
Grudging admiration wove in and out of his mind.
Alix was more than holding her own. To go racing out to defend her, especially since she didn’t seem to need it, would definitely tip his hand. She would know that he was out here, hovering protectively. He wasn’t sure just what kind of message that would send to her. Or to Harris.
Still, he looked forward to getting into some kind of physical confrontation with the man. Terrance promised himself it would happen.
Primitive, but there you had it, he thought. At bottom there was a little Neanderthal in the best of them.
And then it was over. A very angry-looking Harris turned away from Alix’s door and stormed off to his Ferrari. Alix closed her door firmly behind him.
“Best laid plans of mice and men, pal,” Terrance murmured under his breath, grinning. He removed his earpiece. There was no need for it now.
Waiting for a decent interval to pass, Terrance started up his car and drove to his apartment. Whistling.
“Where the hell have you been?” Riley wanted to know, emerging out of the shadows the moment he walked up to the front door. “I’ve been trying to call you for the better part of an hour. Did you fall into a black hole?”
His car keys still in his hand, Terrance was mildly surprised to find his partner waiting for him. “Cell phones still leave a lot to be desired. I was out doing surveillance on Harris, why?”
Had something gone down? Terrance asked himself. If it had, it had gone down without Harris, which didn’t quite make sense, unless they’d been given a bogus tip to begin with. Somehow his gut told him that it didn’t seem likely.
About to answer, Riley came to a stop midword. He stared at Terrance.
“Surveillance? Why? The man had a date tonight. With Dr. DuCane.” The light dawned even as he uttered the last sentence. A grin spread out over his round face. “Doing a little stalking these days, are we?”
Terrance didn’t share in his partner’s merriment. “The man is slime. I wanted to be sure Alix was all right.”
Riley could appreciate what Terrance was going through. Alix DuCane was a fine looking woman. In Terrance’s place, he probably would have done the same thing, though in actuality, it seemed pointless. “Lady looks like she can handle herself.”
Stubbornly Terrance pushed on. “H
e outweighs her by almost a hundred pounds. I thought I’d tip the odds in her favor in case something happened.”
“And did it?”
Terrance looked at him seriously. “He tried to push his way into her house.”
“And you sprang to the rescue, pure of heart, sound of mind, and proceeded to pummel our best connection to the American side of the Colombian cartel.” Riley sighed, dragging his hand through his jet-black hair. “Did she at least fall into your arms?”
“She didn’t have to.” Turning his back on Riley, Terrance jammed his key into the lock and opened his door. “No pummeling took place. You’re right, she can handle herself.” He crossed the threshold, leading the way in. “She gave him his walking papers.”
Riley didn’t bother trying not to laugh. “Leaving you with your tail between your legs?”
Terrance threw his keys down on the side table and shrugged out of his jacket. “She didn’t get to see my tail—or any other part of me.”
Riley was trying to piece the story together. “She didn’t know you were there?”
Terrance shook his head. “No.” His tone called for a change of subject. “Now what’s this big thing you have to tell me?”
Riley became all business. “We caught a break. One of our men found out that a big shipment of drugs is set to come into the country.”
Now they were getting somewhere. Terrance needed to get his mind back on his work and away from a path it couldn’t take, anyway. “When?”
The informant had been unable to pinpoint an exact time. “Soon.”
Terrance blew out an annoyed breath. “There’s no such date on the calendar.”
Riley shrugged. He wandered over to the kitchen and its small refrigerator, opening it. Looked like Terrance didn’t shop any better than he did. There was beer and a leftover sandwich from a fast-food restaurant.
“It’s better than we had before.” Taking out a can, Riley closed the refrigerator. “Hey, don’t get testy with me because you couldn’t play Sir Lancelot. Maybe Harris’ll double back and try again.”
He hadn’t thought of that. Muttering an oath, Terrance grabbed his jacket and his keys. He was out the door before Riley could blink.
“Hey,” he called after Terrance, “I was only kidding.”
But Terrance was already driving away.
Harris was nowhere to be seen.
Wherever the man was, he had shed his coat and thus the transmitter. There’d been no sound the entire trip back. Terrance had the monitor on high. The uneasiness grew, taking over the interior of the car until he’d entered Alix’s street and seen for himself that Harris’s car was not in the area.
In all likelihood the man had probably gone to Gallagher’s, or someplace similar, and availed himself of more willing companionship than Alix had proven to be. But Terrance knew better than to rule anything out. Just because he wasn’t there didn’t mean he wasn’t coming back. A wounded ego was a fearsome thing with some men.
Terrance resigned himself to settling in for the time being. Glancing at his watch, he gave Harris an hour. He doubted the man would return after midnight.
Crossing his arms before him, he tried to make himself comfortable. He never got the chance to try. Within ten minutes of his arrival, he had company.
“What are you doing out here?”
He’d watched her approach, the long deep-blue robe Alix had on opening and closing about her legs with each step she took toward him. How did the woman manage to get better looking every time he saw her? It didn’t seem possible. Or fair.
He gave her his widest, most innocent smile and hoped for the best. “I could tell you that I ran out of gas.”
Right in front of her house? Not hardly. She fisted her hands on her hips. “And I could say you were lying. Are you spying on me?”
It amused him that this one time, the truth of the situation would actually work for him, even though he knew she’d probably think he was lying. “No, I’m not. I’m spying on Harris.”
He’d developed a knack for twisting words, she thought. “Is that your way of saying that you’ve appointed yourself my guardian angel?”
For the moment he rather liked that description. “Something like that.”
It had to be a male thing. She didn’t appreciate being the bone that two dogs fought over, just on principle. “Well, don’t bother, I can take care of myself.”
He nodded. The woman was nothing short of magnificent when she was angry. Damn but he’d missed her. “I know, I saw.”
Harris had been gone for a good forty-five minutes. She’d just chanced to notice Terrance’s car when she went to close her living room drapes. “Just how long have you been out here?”
He shrugged his shoulder. “Long enough.”
Obviously, that meant he was here for Harris’s less than stellar exit. “Then you saw him go home.”
He knew what she was saying—why hadn’t he gone home himself. “I know his type. I thought he might come back and try to convince you to reconsider.”
She read between the lines. Alix felt her anger slipping away even though she knew she was safer with it. “Flattering though that is, I don’t think the man feels I’m the only date in town.”
“No, but you obviously weren’t dazzled by his charms. That’s got to hurt. Especially for a man like Harris who needs constant reassurance.”
And he was worried about her. She didn’t want to be touched, but she was. “Picked that up, did you?” She crossed her arms before her, regarding him. “You’re more intuitive than I thought.”
He grinned up at her. “I was always intuitive.”
“Not really.” It was chilly and she was getting goose bumps that she preferred to attribute to the weather and not the man. Alix glanced over her shoulder toward her house. “Do you want to come in and finish this conversation inside? I don’t usually conduct business out in the middle of the street in my robe.”
He should be going. He knew that. Instead he got out of the car. “Good habit not to get into.”
She pressed her lips together, holding in a smile as she turned to lead the way into the house. She supposed it was rather sweet of him, to be worried about her like this.
Did it mean that he still cared, or was he just being territorial?
No, that had never been his way. He’d never been one to beat his chest.
But it was best not to overanalyze anything, Alix told herself. That way, there wouldn’t be any expectations, any disappointments along the way. Whatever happened, happened.
Once inside she led the way into her kitchen. “Can I offer you something? Coffee? Herbal tea? Bottled water?”
What he wanted her to offer was something he wouldn’t have been able to accept, anyway. “Water’ll be fine. Out of the tap,” he told her as she started for the refrigerator.
She filled a glass, then handed it to him as she sat down at the kitchen table opposite him. “What did you think he was going to do, force himself on me?”
“Well, not at the restaurant.”
Her eyes widened. “You followed us to the restaurant?” She didn’t bother waiting for him to answer. “You know, in some states, they’d call that stalking.”
“Like I said—” he set the glass on the table “—it wasn’t you I was following. It was Harris.”
She raised her brow, amused. Yeah, right. “In some states, they’d call that something else.” She stopped being independent and allowed herself just to be female. “Although I suppose I could see your concern. Harris is an odd duck, I can say that for him. One minute he’s throwing his weight around, making nurses’ lives miserable with his demands, the next I see him off in a corner, palling around with one of the security guards.”
About to pick up his glass, he set it down again. He tried not to look more than mildly interested. “Security guard? When?”
“The other day.” She stopped, remembering. “Day before yesterday I think. I was going to the cafeteria and I saw Harr
is talking to this man—definitely not his type.”
He looked at her, trying to follow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The guard looked like one of those types who dragged their knuckles on the ground when they walked. Definitely not in the league William Harris likes to think he’s in. The other man could break someone like Harris in two if he wanted to. I can’t think of anything they’d have in common.”
But Terrance could.
Chapter 10
He had to get this information Alix had just inadvertently given him to Riley, and the sooner the better.
That meant getting up and going home.
But instead of taking his leave, Terrance heard himself saying, “Mind if I use your bathroom?”
Alix tightened the sash at her waist before answering. “Go right ahead.” She directed him to the powder room rather than the full bathroom upstairs. “There’s one just to the left of the front door. You passed it on your way here.”
He nodded. “I remember. Thanks.”
It was hardly more than a large closet, done in light blue and ivory. Once inside the small room, Terrance closed the door and checked his cell phone. He had a signal. Sometimes, he thought, the planets did align themselves correctly.
He lost no time in contacting Riley.
It took five rings to reach him. Terrance almost hung up when he heard: “Riley.”
Terrance wasted no time with a greeting. “Harris has been in contact with one of the security guards at the hospital. He’d need the inside help to smuggle the drugs into Blair.”
“McCall?” Riley asked needlessly. “Oh, so now your cell phone’s working again.” He didn’t give Terrance a chance to answer. “Which security guard?”
“I don’t have a name, but from the description, it’s the big, burly one.”
Riley paused. “That could fit about five of them.”
Terrance wondered if there was anything he’d forgotten to add. “He was on duty day before yesterday, midday shift.”
Undercover M.D. Page 10