by Donna Vitek
"When are you going to tell me your secret recipe for that sauce?" Katherine asked. "Remember? You promised you'd give it to me when I grew up."
"I meant when you got married," Mallie answered without turning around. "So you'll have to wait awhile longer, I reckon. You're still too young to be trusted with my secret yet."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, everybody acts like I'm a two-year-old," Katherine protested irritably, still upset by her confrontation with Jason and certainly in no mood to be told by anyone else that she was too young for anything. Tucking her bare feet up beside her on her chair, she sighed impatiently. "But what if I don't ever get married? Will I still be too young for your secret recipe at age thirty? Thirty-five? Forty? I never realized before that a girl had to get married to be considered an adult."
Mallie chuckled. "Honey, you'll get married. I ain't got no doubts about that. Pretty as you are, some man soon's gonna scoop you up and never let go of you."
Katherine sniffed. "I'm not so sure I want to be 'scooped up.' I'm beginning to think all men are nothing more than sources of aggravation."
Turning from the stove, Mallie eyed her speculatively. "You sure got a bee in your bonnet today, ain't you?" she asked softly at last, wiping her work-roughened hands on the voluminous white apron she wore. She walked to the table and with a sigh, lowered her plump self down onto the chair across from Katherine. "I figured something was the matter when you got here. Your cheeks was just a mite too red."
"I nearly suffocated walking over here in that plastic raincoat. It's so muggy outside," Katherine said evasively. "That's why my cheeks were red. Nothing's the matter."
"You think I can't tell when something's bothering you?" Mallie asked, shaking her head chidingly. "Well, I can. I've known you since you was just a little thing and there's always been a certain look you get in your eyes when something's the matter. And that look was there when you got here awhile ago. So you might as well tell me what's bothering you. I'm betting it has something to do with that gambler you're living with. Has he been trying to force himself on you?"
Katherine had to smile, though rather bleakly, as she shook her head. "No, he hasn't been trying to force himself on me. Actually, I think he'd be quite happy to see me move out of his house, today, if possible."
"Well, you oughta move out," Mallie said very seriously. "It just ain't right for a young girl like you to be living in the same house with a man, especially since you got some real strong feelings for him." She raised a silencing hand when Katherine started to speak. "Ain't no use in trying to tell me you don't feel something for him, Kit. I ain't lived all these years for nothing. I can tell when somebody's in love."
"You're too perceptive," Katherine complained halfheartedly, but she squeezed the housekeeper's arm and smiled wanly. "But there's no use talking about this. Nitwit that I am, I've let myself fall in love with Jason, but he'll probably never take any relationship seriously and that's that."
"Then you oughta come home, Kit," Mallie persisted ominously. "Girls in love ain't always smart. Stay with this Jason Roarke and you just might get yourself too mixed-up with him. So stop being so stubborn and move on back here again."
Katherine shook her head with renewed obstinance. "I can't back down now. When my father starts acting sensibly, I'll come back and not before. My father…" Her words were interrupted abruptly by the loud bang of the front door being slammed. She and Mallie exchanged puzzled glances, then the housekeeper rose heavily to her feet. "Wonder what your daddy's doing back here so soon? He just left about an hour ago." Walking to the stove, she surveyed the potful of simmering sauce. "I got to stir this awhile. You go see what he forgot."
"Is Wendi here?" Katherine asked, wrinkling her nose distastefully. "I don't want to see her."
"She ain't got here yet. Probably sleeping late, as usual," Mallie said sharply. "Now, go on and see what Mr. Brice needs."
It was a command rather than a request, so Katherine went, although reluctantly. She had no desire to talk to her father right now or at any time, actually, until Wendi had left this house. Pausing by the door to his study, she took a deep fortifying breath, then ambled into the room, frowning slightly when she found Brice at the portable bar, pouring himself a drink.
"Mallie wants to know if you forgot something," Katherine said softly, drawing his attention. Then she tilted her head to one side inquiringly as she noticed the glint in his green eyes and the white line of strain outlining his lips. As he slouched down in an oversized brown leather chair, taking a generous swallow of his drink, she approached him. "Don't you feel well? Your skin looks a little peculiar, almost ashen."
"I'm okay," he answered curtly. Then he jerked up his head and glared at her. "Have you finally come to your senses and decided to move back in here where you belong?"
"No. And I don't plan to," she replied, glaring right back at him. "I told you I won't come back until…"
"I know what you told me," he interrupted harshly, swishing the amber-colored liquid in his glass. "And I told you I wouldn't be blackmailed. I'll live my life the way I please. No twenty-one-year-old slip of a girl is going to tell me what to do."
"Fine. And since I'm over eighteen, you can't tell me what to do, either," Katherine reminded him pithily. "So, I plan to stay with Jason."
"Don't be such a little fool, Kit," Brice said furiously, sitting up straight in his chair. "You don't want to mess up your life just to get back at me."
"Me! Mess up my life?" Katherine exclaimed softly. "What about you? Why do you want to get involved with a girl like Wendi when you could have a wonderful woman like Jess Whitney?"
"Could I?" Brice countered mockingly. "I think you overestimate Jess's feelings for me. You must, since I went into the office this morning and discovered she's left town."
"She's left?" Katherine exclaimed, sinking down onto the leather sofa that matched the chair. "When?"
"Last night, apparently." Brice raked his fingers through his hair, then loosened his tie with a weary disbelieving shake of his head. "It doesn't make sense that she didn't even discuss this with me. She just went. She did leave me a little note, saying she thought it was time for her to move on. Now, what kind of sense does that make?"
"It makes perfect sense to me," Katherine said, examining her fingernails intently. "Though I have to admit I'm surprised she actually left, even if she did tell me she was thinking about it."
"She told you! But she didn't talk to me about it?" Brice growled angrily. "She might have at least given me some notice, after working for me for ten years."
Katherine could hardly believe she had heard him correctly. "Is that all Jess was to you? An employee?"
Brice waved his hand in an impatient gesture. "Of course not. I thought she and I were friends but…"
"Friends? Don't you realize she's in love with you? That she's been in love with you since that affair the two of you had ten years ago?"
It was Brice's turn to look surprised and very uncomfortable. "I didn't realize you knew about that."
"I realized Jess was in love with you and mentioned that to Mallie. She told me the rest."
"She had no right to do that," Brice muttered, one hand balling into a fist on the arm of the chair. "What Jess and I had together ended long ago."
"For you maybe. But not for her. She still loves you."
Brice grimaced disbelievingly. "She sure has a funny way of showing it—walking out on me this way."
"What do you care?" Katherine countered hotly, exasperated by his apparent selfishness. "Why should she stay here and watch you dallying with an endless parade of girls? I don't think Jess is a masochist and your affair with Wendi was the last straw. So she just left, but it certainly shouldn't matter to you. You don't love her."
"You're so quick to think the worst of me, Kit," he ground out resentfully, his eyes flashing green fire. "How can you be so sure I don't love Jess? Maybe I…" His words trailed off to silence as he glanced past Katherine toward the st
udy door. Suddenly his face became an unreadable mask, showing no emotion whatsoever.
Curious, Katherine turned, her temper rising as she watched Wendi stroll into the room, peeling off her raincoat and tossing it carelessly onto a chair.
"Kit, it's wonderful to see you!" she declared, actually unwise enough to give the younger girl's shoulders a brief squeeze. Then she went to Brice and leaned down to kiss his mouth before she curled up on the arm of his chair, laying a possessive hand against his neck. She flashed Katherine a too-radiant smile.
"Brice and I were hoping you'd come soon," Wendi continued blithely, fluffing her dark hair with one lazily limp hand. She smiled down at the man as possessively as she was touching him, then looked at Katherine again, her eyes glinting slyly. "I know that you moved out because you felt your father and I might want to be alone here sometimes, but really, that was silly, wasn't it Brice? We want you here, Kit. Honest. I don't see why the three of us can't be one big happy family."
Katherine saw why they couldn't and she had had enough of this ridiculous conversation. At the best of times, Wendi was nearly impossible to tolerate, but now that she was trying to cast herself in the role of loving stepmother, Katherine couldn't bear to be around her another minute. "I have to go now," she mumbled, standing to thrust her hands into the pockets of her cut-off jeans. "I'll see you later. Unfortunately," she added beneath her breath as she started toward the door.
"I'll drive you," Brice called after. "It's raining too hard for you to walk all that way."
Katherine hesitated, then reluctantly turned as her father loosened Wendi's grip on him and stood also. "You don't need to drive me. I don't mind walking in the rain. Besides, I wore a raincoat and hat over here."
"But no shoes. I'm not letting you walk all the way back barefoot. And I don't mind driving you."
As he approached Katherine, she shook her head. "But…"
"I'm driving you and that's final," he declared authoritatively. "Now go get your coat."
"But Brice, darling," Wendi whined, her expression of displeasure adding years to her pixie-like face. "What about me? I thought you were home for the day. Now what am I going to do all by myself?"
"Go shopping. Again," he answered brusquely, taking out his wallet to hand her a generous number of bills. "I'm sure you can keep yourself occupied in the boutiques all day. And if you want to join me for dinner, you'd better come to the casino. I probably won't have time to come back here unless I get lucky today and find a secretary to replace Jess."
"Replace Jess! You mean she's quit?" Wendi crowed, then managed to control her elation to some extent. Though there was an unmistakable glint of triumph in her eyes, she arranged her face in suitably sober lines. "Oh, dear, and she was such a dependable secretary, wasn't she? I do hope you can find someone as efficient as she was to take her place."
Thoroughly disgusted by Wendi's hypocrisy, Katherine marched out of the study. After bidding Mallie good-bye, she donned her raincoat, then went outside to wait for her father in his Porsche. A few minutes later, he finally appeared, started the car, and drove out onto the narrow highway without saying a word. And Katherine said nothing to him. There was nothing she could say. It was impossible to talk intelligently with a man who'd choose a nincompoop like Wendi over a woman like Jess. The little respect Katherine had ever felt for her father abruptly shriveled and died. As she stared blindly out her window as they stopped before Jason's house, she blinked away the tears that were gathering in her eyes.
"Thanks for the ride," she murmured. But as she touched the door handle, Brice caught her left arm.
His expression was grim. "I don't want you staying here any longer, Kit," he muttered. "So stop being so stubborn and come home. You can't object that much to Wendi."
"Can't I?" Katherine countered mockingly, pulling her arm free. "Well, I do object to her. I can't stop you from making her my stepmother but…"
"Stepmother! I'm not about to make her your stepmother!"
"I don't think she knows that," Katherine said curtly. "Maybe you'd better tell her you don't plan to marry her so she'll stop putting on that loving stepmother act for me. Better yet, stop seeing her! Then I'll come back. And if you really want to make me happy, go after Jess, bring her back here, and try to see that she's worth a million Wendi Millers."
"Don't you think I know that?" Brice nearly groaned. "But I think Jess is better off without me. In fact, she should have left a long time ago. I've never been the right man for her."
Katherine frowned. "What does that mean?"
Brice's smile was unpleasant and self derisive. "I mean I'm not husband material. Just ask your mother; she'll tell you. I've never been good at honoring personal commitments so Jess is better off without me."
Katherine stared at him, realizing for the first time that he really didn't like himself much. "You could change," she suggested softly. "You could honor your commitments if you really tried."
Smiling ruefully, Brice shook his head. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks, Kit. And Jess will be better off not trying."
Detecting the genuine regret and pain in his eyes, Katherine felt a surge of pity. "You love her, don't you? And you're afraid to let yourself? You know what, Daddy?" she whispered. "I think I feel sorry for you."
Brice looked startled for an instant, then resigned. "It's interesting," he muttered wearily. "You haven't called me Daddy since you were a little girl and now that you've finally said it again, you're telling me you feel sorry for me. There's something sad in that. Isn't there?"
"Yes. Very sad," she answered thickly. To avoid bursting into tears in front of him, she jumped out of the Porsche and dashed into Jason's house. Once inside, she leaned back against the door, massaging her temples, trying to sort out her jumbled thoughts. Just now, in her father's eyes, she had detected honest vulnerability. If Brice Delacorte could be vulnerable, she realized Jason could be vulnerable, too, but that possibility only made her love him more, which was the last thing she wanted to do.
A sharp clap of thunder awakened Katherine with such harsh abruptness that she sat up straight in bed. A jagged streak of lightning flashed across the black sky outside her window. Her heart, which had seemed to stop for an instant, began to thud violently with such irregular rhythm that she pressed her fist between her breasts as she tried to catch her breath. She hated storms. At least, she hated them when she had to endure them alone and she was alone tonight. Jason was undoubtedly still at his poker game, so except for the cowardly Georgia, Katherine had the house to herself. As a gusting wind whistled through the boughs of the tall trees, she rubbed her arms briskly, flinching as another jagged streak of lightning ripped the sky, illuminating her room eerily for an instant. Between bright flashes, the pitch blackness in the room unnerved her. She reached out toward the bedside table, but when she switched on the lamp, nothing happened.
"Oh, no," she whispered miserably, drawing her knees up close against her chest. Now that she knew the electricity was out, she was uneasy about being alone. Though she had never been absolutely terrified of the darkness, she didn't exactly relish it either, especially now, marooned in this isolated house, separated from the neighbors on each side by stands of trees. The storm continued its fierce assault. Rain lashed the windows; the lightning flashes split the sky too often and the thunder was too loud. Finally, after five minutes of sitting on the bed, Katherine knew she'd never get back to sleep again without some light to still her unreasonable fears. If only she had some candles, she thought wistfully, then suddenly remembered the kerosene lamp kept in the pantry downstairs for just such emergencies as this.
Lowering her bare feet to the cool hardwood floor, she got out of bed warily, tiptoeing to her door, though she had no idea why she wanted to be so quiet. Easing open the door, she peered into the dark hallway. Though she wasn't eager to make her way downstairs to the kitchen, she lacked any other alternative if she wanted a light. She moved across the hall cautiously, groping for the rail
ing overlooking the great room. Knowing the newel post at the railing's end would indicate the exact location of the stairs, she walked on less timidly, much to her subsequent regret. As her hand bumped the newel post, her bare right foot came down on something soft and warm and yielding. Katherine uttered a little cry and in the split second she realized she was about to trod on Georgia, she tried to miss the dog by twisting her body to one side. In the process, she landed down hard on the side of her right foot, wrenching her ankle. She fell, barely saving herself from a tumble down the steps by catching hold of the newel post. She landed with a thump on her thigh and elbow at the very edge of the stairway. Pain pierced through her ankle, radiating up to her calf and down to her toes. Katherine bit down hard on her lower lip as Georgia tried to lick her cheeks, whimpering confusedly.
"Silly animal. The head of the stairs is no place to sleep," Katherine chided halfheartedly, stroking the dog in an effort to calm her. "Stop wiggling or you'll push me down the steps."
Miraculously, Georgia obeyed but only because a noise in the hallway behind them captured her attention. With one massive paw still on Katherine's thigh, the dog jerked her golden head around toward Jason's bedroom then stood perfectly still. Katherine's breath caught on a startled gasp as a beam of light was suddenly directed right at her face, blinding her.
"Kit, are you okay?" Jason's deep voice came out of the darkness.
Relief rushed through Katherine, leaving her weak and trembling. "Thank heaven, it's you," she uttered squeakily as Jason directed the light away from her face. When he came and knelt down beside her, she took a deep shuddering breath. "For a second, I thought you might be an intruder. I—I didn't think you'd come home tonight."
"The game ended sooner than I expected," he said, gripping her waist to help her sit up. After exiling the wriggling dog to the corner with a no-nonsense command, he turned his attention back to Katherine again. "What happened, Kit?"
She explained the accident, then laughed selfconsciously. "Sometimes I think Georgia is out to get me. First she attacked me on the beach and now this."