Right Of Possession

by Jayne Castle

  She wiped the smile from her face before entering the kitchen and firmly stamped out the tiny flicker of feminine pleasure she experienced at the evidence of his presence around her. It would never do to let him stay, she reminded herself. For her own peace of mind Josh had to go.

  He whistled as she swung around the corner and entered the kitchen. He had been reading the morning paper at the small table, a cup of coffee at his elbow. He was wearing a pair of casual, close-fitting slacks and a long-sleeved yellow shirt unbuttoned at the collar. There was an early-morning rakishness about him and an intimate, knowing gleam in the honey-colored eyes that brought a tide of warmth into Reva's cheeks.

  "Dressed for work, lady, you are formidable indeed," he murmured appreciatively, sweeping the sight she made

  in the chic, tailored wool suit with its short jacket and slim skirt. Her heels were of a moderate, business-day height which unobtrusively accented well-shaped calves, and her hair was wrapped into a graceful but decidedly severe knot. The elegant glasses were perched firmly on her nose. "I like that scarf," he added, nodding at the bright scrap of silk at her throat.

  Reva suddenly thought of his taste in neckties and was forced to smile. "I'm not surprised," she told him pertly, "I couldn't help but notice your tie the other night." She poured herself a cup of coffee.

  "A real beauty, isn't it? I picked that up in Mexico City last year. Is that all you're going to have for breakfast?" he went on, brow darkening as he watched her drink her coffee standing at the counter.

  "It's all I usually have when I'm working." She shrugged, not looking at him.

  "Except when you have an excuse to splurge," he reminded her with gentle mockery. "Aren't you going to take advantage of my last morning here to have a proper meal?"

  She glanced at him warily, thinking this morning represented one of the few times in her life when she wasn't interested in good food. A sign of the seriousness of the situation, she decided miserably.

  "I'm not very hungry," she said quietly, and finished the coffee in silence.

  "Perhaps by this evening you'll have regained your appetite," he consoled.

  Reva lifted one eyebrow in a cool, repressive manner. "Meaning?"

  He set down the paper and leaned back in the wicker and chrome chair, a considering look in the lion gaze.

  "Meaning that I'm going to treat you to dinner, naturally."

  'Are you?" she replied softly, a little dangerously. "But you'll be packed and gone by tonight, won't you, Josh?" She could feel the slight trembling in her fingertips and reached out to grasp the edge of the counter to still them. She prayed he hadn't noticed. Was he going to refuse to move out, after all?

  "As you said last night, you can't keep me from hanging around your door, sweetheart," he drawled, seemingly unimpressed by her quelling look. "There's a price for my moving out without a fuss. Surely you expected that? You didn't really think I'd just slink off into the sunset, did you?"

  "Why shouldn't I think exactly that?" she retorted, feeling baited by the taunting note buried in the gravelly voice. But privately she told herself she'd known it wasn't going to be easy. She ignored the other tiny voice which told her she hadn't wanted it to be easy.

  "Because you're an intelligent woman who wouldn't make such a fundamental error as underestimating me."

  "And the price is dinner?" Carefully she kept her voice even, not knowing whether to be relieved or dismayed by this turn of events. Josh had been right about one thing last night. Matters had been simpler back in the jungle. She hadn't begun questioning her feelings until she was safely home!

  "Is that so high? Remember you'll be able to feel safe because you'll know I'm not going to be sleeping here tonight," he reminded her easily, and then cocked an inquiring brow. "Or are you afraid I shall put so much temptation in your path that you'll change your mind and beg me to stay?"

  "You seem to have gained a rather false impression of

  my self-control," she retorted tartly, rinsing her cup at the sink. He was deliberately challenging her and she knew it. But she didn't seem to be able to resist rising to the bait! "Don't be misled by what happened last night." She couldn't look at him as she referred to the events of the previous evening.

  "Then if you're sure you have nothing to fear," he went on smoothly, "I'll pick you up at six thirty. Will that give you time to get home and changed for dinner?"

  "Damn it, Josh, I haven't agreed to go out with you!" she began wrathfully, knowing full well she was going to lose this one. She turned the impact of a blue-green glare on him, her mouth tight at the corners, and waited for his arguments and demands. But all he said was,

  "Please?"

  Reva blinked, taken aback. She knew she was being manipulated again. Knew it and couldn't avoid it.

  "You look," she told him blandly, "like Xavier when he's asking for a piece of the fish I'm preparing for my own dinner. Sort of wistful and hopeful. But you don't fool me for one minute. Either of you!"

  "You know that if you don't grant the favor we're liable to sneak up and help ourselves anyway?" he grinned.

  Reva drew a resigned breath. "All right, Josh, I'll go out with you. Provided you don't give me any trouble about moving out today!"

  "You have my word on it," he promised at once.

  "Umm," Reva muttered distrustfully, and then glanced at the clock. "I've got to be on my way. I have an early-morning staff meeting to conduct." She picked up her purse and raincoat on the way to the door and then paused, her hand on the knob. "Josh?"

  "Yes, Reva?" he responded mildly, ambling across the

  kitchen to lounge in the doorway, the coffee cup in his hand.

  "Where will you go? Do you need a list of hotels or something?"

  "A little late to be worrying about where I'll sleep tonight, isn't it?"

  Reva turned without a word, her lips set in a firm line, and walked out the door. Let the alley cat find his own lodging!

  What on earth, Reva asked herself several hours later as she took a small break at her desk, would she ever do without work? Nothing was as wonderfully useful for taking one's mind off personal problems, she decided with a rueful little grin. Carrying a cup of coffee over to the window, Reva studied the Portland skyline displayed beneath it. From here she could look across the Willamette River with its ten bridges pouring tralfic back and forth. Her own tall apartment building was one of the many new structures clustered around the downtown core. Still small, as cities went, Portland had proven an ideal environment for Reva. A city she could call home. She found herself idly wondering if Josh ever thought of Houston as "home." A knock on her open door brought her attention back to business.

  "Hello, Rick, what can I do for you?" she smiled at the front-line supervisor, one of four who reported to her, as she walked back to her desk. "Have a seat," she added, indicating a chair across from the desk.

  "Thanks," he smiled back, accepting the offer. "I'm sorry to say I've got more bad news on the matter of trying to get that computer back up and running. The downtime is starting to add up and users are getting restless, to put it mildly."

  "I thought you contacted the service people from the company two days ago," Reva frowned thoughtfully.

  "I did and they promised they'd have someone out yesterday but no one showed," Rick Jameson groaned. "I'm afraid it's going to take a bit more clout than what I've got."

  Reva nodded. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. Nothing makes people more irritable than a computer that's down." She punched the intercom on her desk and spoke quickly to her secretary, asking her to get the service department of the company from whom her firm rented the computer on the phone. Rick look quite relieved to be able to leave the matter in Reva's hands. He stood up to go, lifting a hand in thankful salute as he walked back out the door.

  Within a matter of minutes Reva had the head of the service department on the line. A brief, firm chat got her nowhere and she hung up immediately. She wasted no more time but had her secretary
put through a call to the business representative who had handled the original rental agreement.

  "I'm afraid you heard me right, Mr. Hazelton," she was saying very kindly a bit later, "if you can't arrange to have your service department meet the terms of the agreement, I shall have the whole system yanked out lock, stock, and barrel by the end of the month. Your competition is already chafing at the bit to show us what they can do."

  "Now, there's no need to be hasty," the business rep said at once, apparently realizing from the tone of her voice that Reva held some degree of real power. "I'll take care of everything."

  "By this afternoon?"

  "Definitely!"

  By the time Reva was prepared to leave work the com-

  puter was once again on line, and when she checked on her way out, she found Rick Jameson humming happily in front of his console, working on a program.

  "Everything all right, Rick?" she asked, pausing in the doorway.

  "Perfect," he told her enthusiastically, glancing up. "Tape drive's functioning again and the printer is acting normally at last."

  "Good," she nodded comfortably. "I'll see you in the morning."

  It wasn't until she left the building that Reva allowed herself to really dwell on the coming evening. And when at last she did, the first thing she wondered about was what she would wear. Shaking her head at her own irrational behavior, she climbed into her BMW and headed for home.

  The knock on her door came promptly at six thirty, as promised, and Reva found the palms of her hands damp with a strange nervousness as she went to open it. Josh had been as good as his word, she'd noted earlier. Every outward sign of his short stay had been removed, leaving no traces. She refused to speculate on the curious sense of depression which had overcome her as she'd walked into the apartment after work and found it looking as if he'd never been there. But now he stood at her door and she felt her spirits unaccountably lift. She must be crazy, Reva thought gloomily, glancing down at Xavier, who had bestirred himself to go with her to the door.

  "It's a friend of yours," she told the cat dryly. "I'm sure you'll be glad to see him again!"

  With a determined nonchalance Reva flung open her door and summoned a composed smile of greeting.

  "Hello, Josh," she said politely, her eyes passing quickly over the well-cut but conservative suit he was wearing

  to center briefly on the spectacular, iridescent blue-green tie. "Come in, I'm almost ready."

  "Thanks," he smiled cheerfully, scanning her deep royal-purple evening suit, and then he hesitated. "Wait a second," he told her. "I wore this tie to match your eyes but I think I've got something perfect for that suit!"

  "Josh, wait a minute!" Reva managed, astonished. "Where are you going? You don't want to be bothered going all the way back to your hotel just to change a tie!"

  "Won't take a second," he assured her cheerfully, fishing a key out of his pocket and fitting it into the lock of her neighbors' door. Without glancing back he disappeared inside, leaving an open-mouthed Reva staring after him.

  "Hi, Reva," Sandy beamed, sticking her head around the door. "Saw Josh rushing back to his bedroom so I figured you'd be standing out here. You look fabulous!"

  "His bedroom," Reva repeated blankly.

  "Sure! We're glad to have him until you're ready to take him in permanently," her friend grinned, unabashed. "I can't tell you how much Tom enjoyed having a man to

  talk to today____Oh, there you are, Josh," Sandy's auburn

  head turned to glance back down her hall. "Have a good time, you two. Don't worry, Josh, we won't wait up for you!" she chuckled, and shut the door behind him.

  "Something wrong, sweetheart?" Josh asked politely, bending down briefly to scratch Xavier behind the ears and then moving into the room. The lion gaze laughed warmly down at her and Reva swallowed all her brilliant retorts.

  "I've never," she said equally politely, "seen a purple necktie."

  "Goes great with that suit, doesn't it?" he commented happily, glancing down at the bright item of apparel. "Are

  you about ready? I'm starving. I thought we'd walk down to a place on the river that Tom and Sandy recommended. It's only a couple of blocks."

  Reva said nothing as they descended in the elevator, but when Josh took her arm and guided her out through the lobby and onto the sidewalk, she finally found her tongue.

  "Okay, Josh," she began in somewhat the same tone she'd used in dealing with the computer firm earlier in the day. "Let's have it." She pulled her coat collar up as a shield against the crisp night air. Fortunately it wasn't raining. "How did you manage to lodge yourself with Tom and Sandy?"

  "Simple, really," he shrugged dismissingly. "I took Tom and Xavier for a walk today. . . ."

  "A walk! You took Xavier?" she demanded in bewilderment.

  "Sure. He sat in Tom's lap in the wheelchair until we reached the park and then he pretended to chase a few pigeons while Tom and I talked."

  "About what?" Reva pressed ruthlessly.

  "This and that."

  "Josh!"

  "Well, the truth is we sort of confided a bit in each other. Women aren't the only ones who do that, you know," he added aggressively. "I told Tom you were kicking me out. . . ."

  "Oh, my God!" Reva groaned.

  "And he told me about his problems."

  "Being in the wheelchair?" Reva asked, a pang of sympathy for her neighbor going through her, in spite of more pressing problems.

  "He's terrified he won't get out of it in another month, Reva," Josh told her quietly.

  "But I thought it was all settled!"

  "The odds are in his favor, but there's an outside chance something will go wrong."

  "Does Sandy know?" she whispered.

  "No, he hasn't told her, and he won't let the doctor tell her. He's been living with the fear for the whole time he's been in the chair. He's a man, Reva, he can face whatever he has to face, but it's the not knowing that's getting to him."

  Reva said nothing for a moment, thinking of her neighbor's uncertain moods during the past two months. No wonder he'd been a little difficult for Sandy to deal with!

  "Anyhow," Josh continued on a lighter note, "I think it did him good to talk to me about it."

  "It probably did," Reva admitted softly, thinking that it had been very kind of her tormentor to spend the time with Tom. Her mouth curved slightly into an unconscious little smile at the mental image of Josh pushing Tom with Xavier in the other man's lap. She could just see the big cat sitting up straight and proud as if he owned the world. She felt herself soften once again toward the large man at her side. "And during the course of this rash of confidences, Tom invited you to stay with them?" she noted dryly.

  "He's lonely during the day what with Sandy gone. Doesn't even have a cat or dog to keep him company. I think he liked the idea of having me around to talk to occasionally. And, naturally, he was very sympathetic to my plight," Josh tacked on in a melodramatic tone.

  "I'll bet. Did you make me sound like a cold, hardhearted witch?" Reva's voice held an edge now.

  "No," he grinned unrepentantly, "merely a slightly confused one."

  "One of these days, Josh Corbett, I swear I'm going to lose my temper with you completely!"

  "Is that a promise? I always enjoy it when you find yourself at the mercy of your emotions," he smiled. But there was a hint of warning in that smile and Reva contented herself with a glowering expression.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  She should have been at least a little nervous about walking back to her apartment so late at night, Reva decided several hours later as Josh guided her back home, but somehow one didn't get nervous about things like that when he was around. His large, competent presence beside her made her feel as though she were being walked home by a tame lion.

  "What's so funny?" Josh demanded, glancing down at her as she giggled suddenly.

  "I was thinking of how you remind me of a lion. A sort of enlarged version of Xavier," she told him ag
reeably, wondering distantly if perhaps she'd had a bit too much to drink. The wine on their table had seemed never ending, she remembered. Was Josh resorting to the old trick of trying to get his date tipsy? That thought brought forth another chuckle and the man at her side smiled.

  "I think we'd better stop for a little fresh air," he told her pleasantly.

  "What do you mean stop for it? We're surrounded by it!" Reva gestured gracefully at the moonlit night overhead. "Sorry, Josh," she told him firmly, "you'll have to think of a better line than that!"

  "How about stopping to view the fountains at the civic auditorium by moonlight? A fantastic view, I'm sure," he

  tried smoothly, leading her across a street toward the building in question. Across from the front of the auditorium a glorious fountain in the shape of several cascading waterfalls consumed a large portion of a city block.

  "Well, that's somewhat more original, I suppose. You could always say we're stopping to absorb some of the negative ions. Aren't negative ions said to be produced in great abundance around waterfalls?" She tipped her face up to him in the streetlight, blue-green eyes full of humor. The evening had gone well, she thought warmly. Josh had seemed quite civilized, even sophisticated if you discounted the tie. He had a natural authority which immediately gained the services of maitre d's, waiters, and wine stewards in a way that Bruce Tanner would have envied.

  "Let's find out if the ions are helpful in clearing away fumes from the head," he murmured. They stood at the top of the steps leading down to the fountain's pool and absorbed the spectacle for a moment in silence. The roar of water blanked out the sound of evening traffic and it seemed to Reva she was temporarily in another place and time. When Josh turned her slowly, pulling her against his warmth and solid strength, she went willingly, once again suspending common sense.

  "Reva, my little gift from the jungle," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her and using his hand to press her head down onto his shoulder. "How long will it be before you're back in my bed?" When she would have stirred at his words, he held her more tightly, using the fingers at the nape of her neck to gently stroke until she quieted.