“Did you get to do that this year? Where did you go?”
“Denver, then Salt Lake City. We’d done all of the coastal cities and decided to start on the interior of the country. Last year we did Chicago. I’m not sure how many more times we’ll do that since next year we’ll be sweating the driving issue—or rather I will. He’s more than ready.”
“What about your parents?”
“My father passed the first year after I graduated from the Academy. My mother remarried and lives in Connecticut.”
“Happily I hope?”
“Seems to be.”
“Last I heard, my father was between women.”
Alyx spoke so casually, Jonas almost suspected her of attempting some dark humor. “Give me a minute to decide if that’s disturbing or not.”
“More likely it means women wise up faster these days. Once they realize what a catch he’s not, they flee.” Adding the grated cheese to the line of rolled tortillas, Alyx carried the glass pan to the oven and checked the temperature. “Did you ever tell me about any siblings?”
Jonas smiled. “You never asked.”
“And you never offered information unless I did.” She returned to the island and touched her glass to his. “So I’m asking.”
“An older sister who lives near our mother and stepfather. That gives them two other grandkids—a boy and girl—so Blake isn’t under too much pressure to visit.” Rising, Jonas circled the island and took Alyx’s glass from her hand and placed it on the granite counter. “Are we done with the small talk?” he asked, slipping his arms around her waist.
“Was that small talk? I thought you said we should share.”
“So I did. Thank you for playing nice. Want to share this?” he murmured, lowering his head.
As he kissed her, he drew her fully against his body. It pleased him that she yielded and seemed so relaxed with him. She also tasted better than any food she might be preparing.
“Watch that arm,” she said as he tightened his hold. “I picked up more gauze while at the market, but that doesn’t mean I want to use it.”
“Nag, nag,” he whispered, only to gently nibble on her earlobe. “How much time before dinner is ready?”
“Not long enough for what you have in mind.”
There was no point in denying he was aroused again. He couldn’t be around her without that happening, and he wanted her to know how desirable she was to him. Groaning softly, he backed her to the counter and pressed himself into the juncture of her thighs.
“Are you going to let me spend the night?”
Alyx sighed. “Jonas, is that wise? You really need to be careful with that arm.”
“What if I promised to let you be on top the next two times?”
“Oh, you’re that fast a healer?”
“Okay, you convinced me—the next two days. See how flexible I can be?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” she murmured, sliding her hand between them.
The sweet torment had him closing his eyes, yet pressing himself against her palm. “Then again, you could hop up on this counter.”
“Can’t. There’s just time enough to make a salad.”
Swearing softly, Jonas said with some discomfort, “I hope you’re not going to make dessert?”
“It’s already ready.”
“I didn’t see anything.”
“You’re looking at her,” Alyx replied, smiling.
Chapter Ten
How could this be happening to me? It had barely been twenty-four hours.
Ironically the satellite radio station on the TV started playing an old classic that was almost word-for-word her thoughts. She turned up the volume and began singing along and was halfway through the first stanza when the phone rang. She was closer to the phone than the remote and grabbed for it.
“Preston residence,” she began.
“Alyx…what are you listening to?”
Parke’s impatient query over the phone had Alyx hurrying to the TV to turn off the radio station included in her cousin’s service package. “Nothing. I was reading your instructions for watering your indoor plants. I got sidetracked while switching through satellite radio stations. How are you?”
“I think I’m coming home.”
The news sent Alyx doing a 360 in the kitchen. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to collapse in shock. She had to settle for leaning against the closest cabinet. “Now?”
“I wish. I’ll e-mail you my flight information as soon as I make my final decision.”
Alyx smoothed her hand over her hair, trying to follow her cousin’s thinking. “Okay, fine. Are you going to tell me what’s happened that’s made you want to cut your trip so short? You aren’t enjoying Italy? You said Corrado and Ilsa were great.”
“I adore Italy and they’re lovely. I couldn’t ask for a more gracious host and hostess.”
“Then what’s wrong? You’re not learning as much as you hoped to?”
“It’s nothing like that. I could spend the rest of my life here and not absorb all there is to see and digest.” After an anguished sigh, Parke blurted out, “Remember when I was stood up for lunch?”
“The almost-sixty art dealer. Who can forget, since you almost bit my head off for suggesting he was affair material.”
“Yes, well, I owe you an apology because he’s showed up since then and admitted the reason for his poor behavior. He wants me.”
“To borrow from the younger generation, duh,” Alyx drawled. However, since her cousin sounded truly miserable, Alyx continued more sympathetically, “At least he has good taste.”
“Thank you, but I’m not in the mood to be amused.”
“Ah, Parke. I know you’re not attracted to him, but you have to be at least a little flattered. He’s a successful and intelligent man, and as you said very connected.”
“He’s married—and has at least one lover on the side.”
“Good grief! When would he have time to sell your work, let alone woo you? Tell him to take a hike.” Alyx didn’t grasp the problem. Why ruin an experience of a lifetime for some aging Casanova who wanted to put a few more notches in his belt before his equipment wore out?
“I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not? It’s nothing less than he deserves.”
“I mean, I can’t because the attraction is mutual.”
“Oh.” Oh! Well, that did put a different spin on things. Alyx had been “in lust” with a married man once or twice herself. She’d never acted upon the impulses, but she could sympathize with women who did stumble upon those complex feelings. But she couldn’t imagine being attracted to a man who was married and had a mistress; she was a little too proud for that much sharing. “My, my, my,” she murmured to her cousin. “He must have some personality…or something.”
“Please, Alyx,” Parke groaned. “It’s not like I asked for this.”
“No, sweetie, you didn’t. I suppose I should ask what running away will do? You want him to represent you there, don’t you—or is that off the table now? If it isn’t, then you’d have to speak with him from time to time.”
“That’s true, but at least there would be plenty of distance between us.”
Alyx didn’t know when she’d heard her cousin sound this concerned about her willpower. “It would also help to remind yourself that if he’s willing to cheat on his lover, you’re probably not the only other temptation he’s salivating over.”
“He swears there’s only Eva and she would be his wife if divorce wasn’t so difficult here.”
Good grief, Alyx thought, shaking her head. “Do you hear yourself? It’s easy enough for him to dismiss the first wife, claim he would want to be married to the second woman, and yet you’re supposed to throw yourself into his arms? He’s a cad—and I would be afraid to let him touch me for fear of what diseases I could be contracting.”
“That’s why I knew I needed to call you,” Parke said dryly. “You always manage to shear away any romance from a
situation with that sharp legal mind of yours and stick to the cold, hard facts.”
Alyx winced, but knew better than to protest. Her unemotional approach to most things—with the exception of people she loved, like Parke and E.D. and the irrepressible G-man—was why she could bill three figures an hour and could be picky about the clients she wanted to work for. This was an instance when her cousin needed to hear the hard truth to get her away from a situation she would later regret. But the end of Parke’s situation would definitely put an end to Alyx’s complicated one.
Jonas had stayed the night, and Sunday, as well. It had been an unspoken experiment between them, as though neither wanted to jinx the delicate magic evolving by jeopardizing it with analysis. They’d shared a leisurely breakfast, walked and played with Grace, and had made love with a greater passion and tenderness than ever before. They’d been…like a couple falling in love.
“You want me to stay here, don’t you?”
Jerked back from that revelation, Alyx pressed her hand to her aching diaphragm. “Good grief, Parke, of course not.”
“Things are going well between you and Mystery Man, is that it?”
She wasn’t about to respond to that, especially since Parke was so tortured herself. “This is your home. Make your arrangements and let me know when to pick you up. It’s time I got back to reality anyway.”
“Just because I’m coming home is no reason for you to run off.”
“I’m not running.” That didn’t sound honest even to Alyx’s ears. “I’m feeling good, great actually,” she added more brightly. “I’ve lost just about all the weight I’d gained, the shoulder feels the best it has since I was wounded, and while there’s no immediate urgency work-wise, it wouldn’t hurt to get back and ease my way into my normal routine.” Though how she was going to tell Jonas, she had no idea.
“You could stay the rest of the time I’d planned being away and we could visit while your guy is—did you tell me if he’s on vacation, too, or working, or what?”
“His name is Jonas.” She had to tell Parke at least that much.
“That’s a nice strong name. What does he do?”
“He’s helping a friend with his business. The friend broke his leg. It’s complicated.”
“Isn’t everything anymore?”
“Yes.” Maybe that was another reason to go home. She was feeling protective and possessive of her time with Jonas. She couldn’t do that. Things were bound to change drastically whether he stayed with the Bureau or not.
“Alyx…I’m getting the sense that we should be talking about you more than me.”
Heaven forbid. “Please just do what you feel you need to do and let me know your flight schedule. I’ll let Shar know that you’ll be resuming your regular hours at the spa sooner than anticipated also.”
“Well, give me tonight to think about it.”
“What’s there to think about? You’re an American, Parke, and you’re considering entering a harem—hello!”
Her cousin burst into laughter. “Thank you. There went the rest of my romantic fantasies.”
Alyx frowned at her scuffed sneakers. Is that what she’d done? “There’s nothing wrong with romance. It’s who you share it with that matters.”
“Right again. I suspect he would drain me dry. I could never fly to Europe enough to suit him. He’s already made it clear that he doesn’t like to fly so it would all be on me to reconnect and with my work selling as well as it is, that would cut into my creativity. That doesn’t feel like a good idea, let alone a fair proposition.”
“For a couple who haven’t had sex yet, you two have been doing a serious amount of talking.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Just out of curiosity, would he be paying for your tickets to come see him?”
Parke’s muted utterance sounded like a GI facing yet another hypodermic needle upon arrival at boot camp. “I honestly don’t know.”
Alyx disliked the guy more and more with every insight her cousin shared. Glancing at the stove clock and knowing the international minutes were costing her cousin plenty, she sought to give her a reprieve from these painful admissions. “You’d better sleep on this, Parke, and call me tomorrow.”
“You’re disappointed in me, aren’t you?”
“Heavens, no.” Alyx sighed. “Maybe I’m a bit confused that you can feel what you do knowing how he’s so clearly manipulating you. This is not the independent and sure-minded Parke Preston whose work receives raves for its boldness and daring as much as for its beauty.”
“It must be this gorgeous country casting a spell on me.”
“It’s equally magnificent here, Parke, in its own way. A man doesn’t change that.”
“Jeez, you’re worse than an MRI machine. So maybe I’m realizing I don’t want to solo it the rest of my life without someone to love. I’m not even talking marriage, necessarily, but it’s not a bad thing to admit you’re lonely.”
“No, but you don’t have to give up most of who you are for that, either. What’s next, your self-respect?”
“I was beginning to think maybe I had too much of that,” Parke said. “Pride, I mean.”
“Let’s make a pact, okay?” Swallowing at the sudden lump in her throat, Alyx continued, “I’ll tell you when you get too incorrigible for anyone to love, and you come home so I can get back to Austin and slay rotten spouses like your would-be lover via the courts.”
With a reluctant chuckle, Parke said, “Okay, I’ll call you.”
Jonas had to try dialing three times to get through to Alyx. “You okay?” he asked when he finally heard her voice.
“Did you try to call? Sorry, I was on the phone with Parke.”
“The only acceptable excuse. How are things in Italy?”
“She’s coming home.”
Jonas had been driving to the airport and pulled over to the side of the road. It didn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out that the physics of their relationship was about to undergo an extreme 180-degree turn. Of all the lousy timing. “When?” he asked, hoping he sounded calmer than he felt. He felt…his heart had slammed so hard against his sternum that he could almost believe he’d suffered a fracture.
“She says she’ll call me tomorrow to tell me her flight schedule.”
“Is something wrong?” He hated asking, partly out of dread of what he would hear and partly because he was talking way too much; he needed her to provide information. But when she remained silent, he had no choice but to prod. “Alyx? Did something happen over there? I hear it’s a fantastic country, but in this day and age, travel just about anywhere can be dangerous for Americans.”
“In more ways than one,” she replied wryly.
Raising his eyebrows, Jonas said, “That sounds provocative.”
“This is about a man, Jonas. Many southern women remain under the conviction that they’re incomplete without a man, and while Parke may be more feminist than most of them, she’s still got the gene, buried as she tries to keep it.”
He didn’t know if he was supposed to laugh or wire magnolias in sympathy. From the photos he’d spotted in the house, he’d concluded that, like Alyx, Parke was a stunner, so there was no escaping the obvious question, “What’s the problem with the man? And before you answer that, it wouldn’t hurt to remember what kind of phone I’m on.”
“Then let’s just say that she received an offer that she can’t accept.”
Rubbing his face for what that could suggest, Jonas hoped he was wrong in his first guess. He didn’t want to consider what HQ would do if they found out that he was involved with someone whose family had connections to organized crime figures.
“Are you there?”
“I’m trying not to stick my foot all the way down my throat. Alyx, you’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Well, now you have me wondering what you think I’m saying.”
“‘Make her an offer she can’t accept’? What besides the obvious am I
supposed to surmise from that?”
“Oh. No-no! At least she hasn’t mentioned the need to ‘go to the mattresses.’ Although, considering the way he’s setting up the rules for her, maybe it’s a possibility.”
“And I’m beginning to think this conversation needs to wait until this afternoon unless you can come up to the airport.” Even as he suggested that, Jonas knew she’d decline. She wasn’t about to expose herself to Miranda, and he couldn’t blame her.
“I’d better stay here in case Parke calls again. She sounds as distraught as I’ve ever heard her. Jonas, the man in question is almost twice her age…and he already has one lover besides his wife.”
“Is that the problem? She’s concerned about a little competition?”
“What kind of perspective is that?”
“When you find out what vitamins he’s taking, let me know.”
“That’s not funny. Let’s see how many wisecracks you make when I return to Austin without saying goodbye.”
Her indignant tone had Jonas glancing at the clock and then his BlackBerry for the day’s appointment schedule thus far. If nothing else showed up, he could be in her driveway in two hours…unless he could beg mechanical problems and cancel the other two reservations he had this afternoon. No, of course he couldn’t. So that left backpedaling and apology as his options.
“Alyx. Take a deep breath and give me a chance to explain.”
“Oh, no need,” she replied with a mirthless laugh. “You were perfectly clear in what you meant. You tell me that you want me to be more open with you and share my feelings and concerns, then the moment I am—”
“Stop.” Jonas knew he was risking everything, but if they couldn’t mend this trivial breach, then he had to accept they just didn’t speak the same language. “I want you to feel free to share, yes. But how crazy is this?” As soon as the words were out, he regretted them and added what was his core concern, “You can’t be leaving yet.”
“It’s inevitable. She’s looking at what’s available flight-wise and how big the penalty they’ll charge her for the switch.”
The Last Man She'd Marry Page 11