He’d been selfishly enjoying the uninhibited way Tess expressed herself sexually. He’d always enjoyed women, but they hadn’t been vulnerable in the way Tess was. They’d been sophisticated when it came to men like Cord, taking their pleasure while they could get it and expecting nothing more than a good time in return.
Tess wasn’t casual about her attachments, especially sexual ones. He zipped up the front of his suit with a jerk. He was doing her harm by making love to her so casually, and it was unfair to her, probably as unfair as anything he’d ever done to a woman in his life.
Maybe love was a trade-off of sorts. So what if Nolan needed her spirit and drive in his life? What was so bad about that? Since Cord was single, obsessed with his profession and laboring under no desire to get married, what the hell right did he have to tell other people how to handle their personal relationships?
When he’d dragged on his fins and donned his tanks, he promised himself he’d back off and leave Tess to make her own decisions. And while he was backing off, he’d damn well better get his libido under control, too, and leave her alone. That idea pinched a little. Or was it the wet suit? He shook his head and grabbed his face mask.
As he rolled backward over the side of the boat, he visualized Mary’s disgusted face before him. He doubted that assuring his cousin of his new resolve would save him the verbal thrashing she was planning for him. Maybe he could try strangling her before she could get out a condemning word. The idea was pleasant, and he mulled it over as he descended into the nebulous depths, hauling the camera equipment in its special basket. But what if he deserved her piercing accusations? After all, he recalled quite vividly who grabbed whom last night.
IT WAS NEARLY FIVE O’CLOCK when Tess finished up her myriad chores for the day. Having successfully side-stepped Nolan for most of that time, she hoped to have a few minutes of refuge with her new kite version of Champ, a plesiosaur. Her lips lifted in a rueful smile. She’d made her latest kite to Cord’s specifications and the man didn’t even believe in her monster! What an idiot she was! And weak? She’d been smoking like a smoldering sofa all day. She hated herself for her lapse, or rather, lapses. She couldn’t seem to give up smoking, and what was worse, she couldn’t seem to steer clear of Cord who appeared to be another extremely addictive habit.
As the silken plesiosaur soared and quivered high above the lake, Tess’s gaze dropped to scan the deck of the cabin cruiser. According to Quillan, Cord had been in and out of the water all day, having trouble with the camera equipment. He wasn’t in sight and she wondered if he was diving deep under the water. The idea made her shiver with fear. What dangers lurking there were anybody’s guess.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Nolan remarked quietly, cutting through her train of thought. Spinning to face him, she almost lost hold of her kite line. “Oh!” she gasped. “Hello, Nolan.”
“Can we talk?” he asked, his face hopeful.
“Of course.” She smiled wanly and looped the line around the top bolt of her kite anchor a couple of times. The kite could fly itself for a while. She looked up to give Nolan her complete attention. She owed him that. “I’m all yours.”
His eyes took on an optimistic gleam. “That sounds promising.” Pulling her hand into his, he asked, “I thought you’d have an answer for me since the books are finished. And I might add, the inn is prospering nicely.” He squeezed her fingers. “I told you it would be, didn’t I?”
She nodded, gratified by that news, anyway. “Yes, you did, Nolan. And thanks for your able assistance for these past two years.”
His stance became somehow wary, as if he were afraid of being knocked down. “That sounds a little like I’m being fired,” he murmured.
She licked her lips, averting her gaze for an instant as she said, “Not if you don’t want to be. It’s just that…”
She couldn’t voice the rejection. But she was rejecting him; she knew it now. There was no hope for the two of them ever getting together. Her intellect had been insisting for two years that Nolan would be a good husband, but her heart had quailed at the idea of spending the rest of her days and nights with this man in his secure, well-ordered home in nearby Burlington, Vermont. She sighed wearily.
After a long silence, Nolan let go of her hands. “I guess that’s answer enough.” He sounded dejected. Leaning down, he kissed her on the cheek, telling her through a long exhale, “I’d better be getting back to town. I’ve been neglecting my other clients.”
She met his eyes regretfully, but when she did, Nolan smiled down at her with an unexpected degree of understanding. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, Tess. I just hope it’s not as elusive as your mythical Champ.”
Before she had time to absorb his words, he’d turned to go. She watched him walk away, feeling very unhappy. She pondered his final words. Was it possible to have freedom and security, too? She doubted it. How could she be so crazy to think she could find love with no strings attached?
Still, as Nolan disappeared into the inn, she knew she’d made the right decision. A wave of relief rushed over her, proving once and for all that Nolan was not the right choice for her. It was better for him to be a little unhappy now than for them both to be miserable later.
She turned back and listlessly unwound her kite from its anchor. As she did so, she could see a dark figure appear at the stern of the boat and toss black fins on board before climbing up the ladder. He was tall and lean and glistened like gem-quality black coral. She dragged her eyes away, but her thoughts dwelt on what it might be like to dive down there, to swim deep beneath the surface of the lake with Cord by her side….
Lord! Under the surface of a cold, murky lake was the last place she could ever imagine wanting to be! Snatching irritably at the line, she began pulling in her kite. She needed to get away—anywhere—anywhere she couldn’t see Cord. She choked back a ragged sob as an unwanted, damnable realization flashed in her mind. She was in love with him.
She’d read somewhere that small passions died with absence, but grand passions only grew larger. She had to face the truth now. Her passion for Cord was of the very grandest kind, one she would never get over. And that being true, she was a fool, of the very grandest kind.
“WELL!” Mary crowed. “I’m glad to see that every so often you break down and wear pants!”
Cord turned to see his cousin just closing the door that led from the cockpit into the companionway. He pinned her with a dark look. “Mary, I’m not in the mood.”
Her biting laughter grated on his nerves. “Since when?”
He exhaled and turned away to finish buttoning his chambray shirt. “Can you make this quick? I’ve had a lot of bottom time today, and I’m—”
“Bottom time! Ha! Out of the mouths of rutting stags!”
He scowled darkly. “My mother—your mother’s sister—taught me never to hit a woman, Mary, but she didn’t mention anything about tossing them overboard.”
Unbothered by his threat, Mary flounced down on the small couch and propped her legs on the miniature coffee table. “Get over here.” She gestured pointedly toward the chair opposite her. “I’m mad and when I’m mad—”
“I know. When you’re mad, you do your Bill Maher routine.” He ambled over to the chair and sat down. Lifting a booted foot to the coffee table, he swept her feet to the floor. “You have five minutes, Billy. Then I’m going to clean up for dinner.”
She snorted at him and with a great flourish placed her feet on top of his boot. “Have you no scruples, seducing Tess under the very nose of her fiancé? Answer me that!”
Cord lifted his foot, toppling her again. He hunched forward, leaning on his knees to eye her through narrowed lashes. “I was not under the impression the lady was committed.”
“Don’t change the subject,” she said shortly. “Answer my question. How could you seduce her under his nose?”
Cord didn’t answer for a moment while he rested his chin on his fists. Finally his frown resolved itself int
o a thoughtful expression. “I hope she doesn’t say yes to Nolan.”
Mary’s brows shot up in surprise. “Why do you hope that? What does it matter to you who she commits to?”
He lowered his gaze from hers. A shrug was his only answer.
“Do you want her?” She chuckled without humor. “Wrong question. Do you love her?”
Cord’s eyes flew to meet Mary’s challenging gaze and his frown returned. “I just don’t think Nolan’s right for her.”
“Oh, I see….” Mary’s lips curled sarcastically. “Well, you have quite an ego if you think you can prove another man isn’t right for a woman by taking her to your bed.”
He leaned back tiredly in the chair. “I meant, Tess deserves better.”
“Better?” Mary repeated, incredulous. “What’s wrong with Nolan? Is he a woman beater or an escaped felon? How many people has he bludgeoned with his calculator? What exactly is wrong with him, Cord?”
“I don’t know, just…” Cord couldn’t put his feelings into words. He pushed himself up from the chair. Mary had made her point. He knew he’d been a jerk, and he didn’t care to be lambasted about it any longer. “Your five minutes are up.”
“Like fun they are.” She jumped up, too, drawing his eyes. Aiming an accusing finger at his nose, she charged, “So, ‘better’ to you is a few steamy romps between the covers and a promise to write?” She rolled her eyes, pretending to swoon. “My hero!”
Her sarcasm did its work. He flinched.
“Don’t you see how faulty your logic has become lately? What’s the matter with you? You used to be such a smart kid.”
“Look, Mary,” Cord began, taking her hand. “Leave it alone, will you? It won’t happen again.”
She snorted. “Till when? After the eleven o’clock news?” Pulling her hand away from his, she warned, “Look, Cord, you can go around breaking as many hearts as you want, anywhere else, but since I booked this inn, I’d feel responsible if you broke that sweet woman’s heart. I like her, even if you don’t.”
“Dammit to hell, Mary. I like her!”
“Well, pin a rose on you and call you Rosie!” She planted her fists on her hips. “I’ve seen how you like her and I’m not impressed.” She brushed past him and was at the door when, apparently having second thoughts, she turned around, adding less curtly, “I’ve had my say. I love you, Cord.” She sighed. “It’s just that I’m getting weary of hearing sob stories from your cast-off women. Sometimes—” she averted her gaze, fiddling absently with the door-knob “—sometimes I wish you were pot-bellied and had a big wart on your nose. I’d sleep easier.” The door banged shut at her back and she was gone.
Cord flashed a thwarted glance toward heaven. He shrugged his hands into his hip pockets, wishing Mary would stay out of his private affairs. To hell with whether she’d sleep easier or not. He wanted to sleep easier, too. He hadn’t had two hours rest in the past two days, what with brooding about Tess, being angry with her, with himself, with Nolan and then being given the totally unexpected gift of making wild love to her all last night.
His half smile was bleak. He probably looked as rotten as he felt, warts or no warts. He climbed the steps to the deck to gather up his diving equipment and stow it, but even as he busied himself, dark thoughts nagged him.
Mary had told him nothing he hadn’t told himself that morning. He’d already vowed that he was going to leave Tess alone. Let her live her own life, make her own choices. But something about the decision bothered him. He knew he was well out of it and that any decisions Tess made were none of his business. But somehow, that knowledge didn’t sit easily with him. His life seemed a little off center, and there was a restless twisting in his gut. He didn’t like it.
10
Tess had avoided Cord that evening, keeping to her office. The one glimpse she’d had of him as he was going into the dining room for dinner had given her the distinct impression that her maneuverings were unnecessary. He’d been involved in a conversation with Quillan and Jewel, who’d had a hand on the arm of each of her escorts. Cord had been chuckling at one of Jewel’s anecdotes as they’d passed Tess. He’d appeared oblivious to the fact that she was there at all.
That was fine. Just fine. She sat up abruptly in her bed, feeling anything but fine. Turning on her bedside lamp, she squinted at her alarm clock. It was one-thirty in the morning. She breathed a long sigh and reached for the pack of cigarettes she’d disgusted herself by buying on her way to bed. The pack was now half empty.
After lighting a cigarette, she blew a thin stream of smoke and settled back into her pillows. The dim circle of lamplight illuminated the ceiling, ornately decorated with a stucco oval, around which revolved semicircles of fans, and a faintly visible outer border of urns and swags.
She used to think hers was a most spectacular ceiling, but now she felt like a prisoner in a rococo jail. Lifting the cigarette to her lips, Tess realized her hand was trembling. Utterly unhappy, she felt a tear trail across her temple and slide into her ear.
After taking another drag, she propped herself up on one elbow and crushed the cigarette. She was being pathetic and maudlin. She smashed the cigarette to an unrecognizable pulp, deciding she’d allowed herself enough self-pity for one day. Life was what it was, and she had to make the best of her situation. That was simply that! She must get hold of herself, get back on track. Nolan was out of her life, and rightly so. Now she just had to get Cord Redigo out of her soul.
A loud pounding at her door scared the wits out of her. She had bounded from her bed and was standing barefoot, halfway to the door, before she realized she’d reacted at all. With her hand to her throat, she was about to cry out when she heard Kalvin’s excited shout, “Ms Mankiller, we’ve seen ’im! We’ve seen Champ! Come a-runnin’!”
She had the light on now, and was yanking on her pink satin robe. “I’m coming. That’s wonderful….”
Before she could get anything else out, she heard Kalvin repeating his excited message at Cord’s door. She gritted her teeth and shoved her feet into pink scuffs before scurrying out the door ahead of either her handyman or her nemesis. She didn’t want to take the time to change and possibly miss seeing Champ, but neither did she relish the idea of confronting Cord in her nightgown.
She had gone down only one flight of stairs before Cord and Kalvin caught up with her. Cord had thrown on a pair of jeans, loafers without socks, and was pulling on a plaid shirt as he reached her. “Evening,” he murmured as he and Kalvin passed her on, the landing. “Be careful in those slippers.”
She didn’t respond. It wouldn’t have done much good, anyway. He was long gone. So much for her crafty plan to avoid him. Obviously the little tumble in his bed last night was the sum and substance of everything he’d wanted from her.
“Thus ends the second and last chapter in my life containing Cord Redigo,” she mumbled under her breath as she fled out of the kitchen and toward the reception hall. She struggled for a minute with the patio door, which insisted on sticking. She cursed it for several seconds before she finally jiggled it open and dashed across the patio and through the garden to the cliff where several tousled, groggy cryptozoologists had gathered. She squinted to take in the scene in the scanty moonlight.
Mary was in a terry robe, hopping around with one foot bare and one sheathed in a fuzzy slipper, her hair a comedy of pincurls. Kalvin was pointing excitedly into the mist that hugged the lake’s surface. The Inch sisters were engaged in a giggling fit that bordered on hysteria.
Tess tugged her robe around her, realizing the night air was a bit cool for her attire. When she reached the cliff’s edge, she could see Cord focusing a binocular-type device over the lake.
“What’s that thing?” she asked aloud, and then clamped her mouth shut. She hadn’t intended to engage him in direct conversation.
“Night-vision scope,” he murmured as he lowered it and handed it back to Ella Inch. “Take a look,” he told her, a small smile curving his lips.
“Champ?” Tess asked, unable to help herself.
“You’ll see it in a minute. It’s coming toward shore.”
“Oh, my Lord. Is it?” she squeaked, peering into the semidarkness. There was a half moon, but the low mist kissing the surface of the lake obscured what miserly vision they had. “How can you be so calm, Cord? Anybody have a camera?” she cried.
“I do,” Kalvin chimed in. “I remembered this time.”
As Kalvin aimed his camera and the rest of the hushed group stared at the lake awaiting the wondrous first glimpse of Lake Champlain’s famous monster, Cord turned to go.
Tess glanced his way, startled to realize that he was leaving. Movement near the shore caught her eye as a stag with a magnificent rack of antlers scrambled from the water and loped along the rocks for about ten yards before clambering up the slope and disappearing into a stand of spruce.
“It was a deer,” cried Etta and Ella Inch in unison.
“Damn, damn, damn, damn!” Mary stomped around, throwing her hands up in the air. “Damn, damn, damn…” She turned back to the night surveillance team that consisted of Etta, Ella and Kalvin. Working at a limp smile of encouragement, she said, “Don’t be disheartened, you’re doing a fine job. Keep up the vigilant work.” Then with a little limp-hop she turned away, muttering several more damns as she bobbed back toward the inn.
Tess stood there for a minute until Kalvin, Etta and Ella had resumed their watch positions, pads and pencils in hand, night scopes at the ready.
After a moment, a shiver rushed up her spine, making her teeth chatter. She was chilled through. Turning back toward the darkened inn, she realized with some surprise that everyone else was gone.
She quickened her step, not wanting to catch cold. Glancing down to watch her step along the garden path, she noticed that her nipples were pressing against the lacy bodice of her robe. “Well,” she muttered as she shuffled hurriedly across the patio, “At least I won’t have to face Cord this way.”
“Did you say something to me?”
Legendary Lover Page 15