“Meaning what—that now you think I’ve harmed her? For heaven’s sake! She’s gone on a trip!” Crossing her arms over her breasts, she rubbed her arms. “You might want to consult a professional about that paranoia.”
Shoving down the flash of guilt he felt seeing her hands pat the flesh he’d just manhandled as if searching for bruises, he honed in on the pertinent information. “A trip where? With who?”
“North,” she replied coolly. “With a friend.” Eyes narrowed, she thrust her jaw up at him. But she couldn’t quite hold his gaze.
It told him louder than words could have that the “friend” was someone he wouldn’t approve of. “Aw, crap. She’s off with another fortune hunter, isn’t she?”
“Insinuating that I’m one too, I take it?”
“If the high heel fits, honey chile.” Although, taking in that tousled blonde hair and those kiss-me-daddy lips, he’d grant that gulling a naive young woman might be a departure for her. Little Miss Lily’s wiles were probably more often practiced on the dick-bearing segment of the moneyed set.
“My gawd.” She blew out a disgusted breath and shot him a look that should have dropped him in his tracks. “You are some piece of work.”
“And don’t you forget it. Now let’s you and I sit down and get nice and comfy. Then you can tell me exactly where up north Glynnis has gone—and just who the hell her travel buddy is.”
“Can I now,” she said flatly. “And is there anything else I can do for you while I’m at it?”
“I wouldn’t say no to one of those omelets.”
“Oh, you bet—I’ll get right on that. Meanwhile, I tell you what.” She cocked a hip at him, gave one pretty, rounded cheek a resounding smack, and tendered him a sweet smile. “Kiss this.”
He gave the anatomy in question a comprehensive perusal, then slowly raised his gaze. “Wouldn’t say no to that, either.”
A soft shriek of frustration escaped her, and pivoting on her toe, she stalked from the room—or at least that was the impression conveyed by the unyielding set of her golden-skinned shoulders as she left the kitchen. Genuine stalking had to be a tough act to pull off in heels that tall.
He watched the rhythmic twitch of her hips as she walked away. How can someone as sweet as Glynnis have such a pig of a brother? Her words from last night whispered in his mind, and he scowled. What was it about her, anyway, that loosened every restriction that ordinarily guarded his tongue? Two lousy minutes in her company seemed to be all it took to destroy years of having manners drummed into his head.
This wasn’t how he’d been raised to talk to women. Grandmother must be spinning in her grave—she’d had very concrete ideas of how gentlemen dealt with ladies, and she would’ve skinned him alive to hear the disrespect he’d tendered Lily.
But, damn, the woman had annoying ways of getting to him! Like dabbing on just enough of that scent she wore to make him want to get closer to sniff out more. Or doing whatever it was she did to make herself look as if she’d just tumbled out of bed after a bout of really hot sex. Not to mention the way she walked, with those hip swinging, tippy-toed little steps. Hell, she even ate seductively. The look on her face when she’d been forking that omelet into her mouth had practically knocked him on his butt. He’d seen women in the midst of an orgasm who hadn’t looked half as ecstatic.
He shook his head, trying to get the image out of his mind. He didn’t get it. What the hell was it about her that drew him so? It wasn’t as if Lily were the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. Or even the sexiest, when it came right down to it. But just let her be in the same room and, without any effort on her part it seemed, she kept his attention trained squarely on her.
And you think that’s by accident, genius?
Zach swore. Well, duh. Keep a guy’s attention focused on disheveled blonde hair and a well-rounded little fuck-me body, and it sure as hell won’t be his mind doing the thinking. Lily Morrisette might be about the girliest female he’d ever clapped eyes on, but she had a habit of meeting both gazes and situations head-on, a way of refusing to ever back down, that was almost masculine in its determination. She knew precisely what she was doing.
He didn’t think he was jumping to any hasty conclusions by questioning her motives. Glynnis certainly had a record of trusting the wrong people. She’d run afoul of some real losers in her life, and more than one young buck had thought to score himself a free ride by attaching himself to her. But they hadn’t all been out to take her, so it wasn’t as if he automatically suspected every person she came into contact with. She’d managed to make some regular friends; he’d give her that. Every one of his sister’s girlfriends he’d met up until now, though, had been her own age—young women in their early twenties who’d tended either to start giggling or to flirt blatantly whenever he tried to have anything resembling an intelligent conversation with them.
They were nothing like Lily. They lacked that aura she had of knowing the score, for one thing. It took years and experience to gain that kind of worldliness. He might not be the greatest judge of age, but he’d put money on Lily being quite a bit older than his sister—somewhere closer to his own thirty-six than to Glynnis’s not-quite twenty-five.
And all things considered, he had to wonder: What would someone as self-assured as Lily want with an ingenuous girl who was nine or ten years younger if it wasn’t her money?
The origins of their association definitely bore closer examination.
Lily paced her room, seriously irritated. And to think she used to dream of having a big brother! If Mr. I-Am-the-Commandant-of-All-I-Survey was any example, she could count herself fortunate she’d been an only child.
She made a conscious effort to unclench her teeth. But, really! She’d excused his rudeness last night because he’d obviously been tired and not thinking clearly, but how dare he continue to heedlessly assume she had no integrity? Yes, she was a busty, blue-eyed blonde who loved makeup and jewelry; so rarely in her life had any man bothered to look deeper than that. But there was a big difference between being considered a dumb blonde and Zach’s careless assassination of her character.
She plopped down on the edge of the bed and concentrated on regaining her equilibrium, trying to look at the situation without all the emotion that had her blood churning. It took her a while, but her pulse finally began to settle down.
Then the pounding on her door commenced. Lily jerked and to her disgust made a sound like a startled screech owl. Popping off the bed, she faced the closed door with her hands fisted on her hips, all her high-minded promises forgotten as her heart once again pounded double time. “Go away!”
“Open up, Lily. I want to talk to you.”
“Oh, well, then,” she muttered. “Let me just trot right over and let you in. Your wishes make all the difference in the world.”
“I heard that.” He had the effrontery to sound amused. But his good humor apparently didn’t last. He thumped the portal. “Open the damn door.”
She crossed the room in several angry strides, ripped the door open, and stared up in annoyance at his tanned face. “Are you incapable of completing one lousy sentence without cursing?”
He blinked, then to her surprise gave her a sheepish look. “Sorry,” he rumbled in that deep voice. “I’ve been a soldier so long I sometimes forget that conversations are more refined in the civilian world. I’ll try to do better.” Then he seemed to recall he was conversing with the enemy. He stepped into the room, forcing her to take a step back before she caught herself and stood her ground. “But that’s not why I’m here,” he said. “Tell me how you met my sister.”
He was back to being his imperious, give-me-the-facts-and-give-’em-to-me-now self, and Lily’s knee-jerk reaction was to invite him to kiss her rosy red cheeks. Recalling she’d already done that, however, sent blood hot enough to blister rushing through her veins—particularly when she thought of his response. A better idea would be to get a handle on this anger once and for all. So she took a
deep breath, eased it out, and told him the truth. “We met at a yoga class.”
“Where?”
“At Headlands, over on Harbor Drive in Dana Point.”
“And who joined the class first?” He snapped out his questions for all the world as if he were a drill instructor and she his raw recruit. “You, or Glynnis?”
“Glynnis,” she said through her teeth.
He looked down at her as if she’d just confirmed his lowest suspicion. “Uh-huh.”
“What do you mean, uh-huh?” As if it took a wizard to see where this was going. Her back went ramrod straight. “I lived about a mile away at the time, between San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point. Glynnis is the one who travelled out of her way to attend that particular class. Does your paranoia know no bounds?”
“Well, let me see,” he said, looking down at her. “A thirtysomething woman with no visible means of support just happens to join the same yoga class as my very wealthy twenty-four-year-old sister—and the next thing we know, she’s moved right in with her.” He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah, sounds paranoid to me, all right. The two of you having so much in common, and all.”
“I’ve told you I’m paying rent! Your ‘very wealthy sister’ is flat broke half the time, and this has been a way for both of us to benefit until I find a new place! Besides, you’ve known me one day! What makes you just assume I don’t support myself?”
“You’re right, that remains to be seen. But today’s a workday, lollipop, and as far as I can see, you’ve gotten yourself all dolled up to lounge around the house.” His cool, gray gaze did a fast slide over her before coming back to meet her own. “But, hey, if you’re subsidizing Glynnis’s trust fund, there’s an easy enough way to prove it, isn’t there? Show me a canceled check.”
Oh, swell. Lily’s heart sank. “The bank doesn’t return my canceled checks. I can request photocopies, but it might take a day or two.”
“I just bet it will.”
Itching for the first time in her life to strike a person, she closed the distance separating them. “I’ve had enough of your attitude. I want you to leave my room.”
He looked down at her and didn’t move until she poked him in the chest. Then he took a slow, indolent step backward and didn’t take another until she poked him again. He stepped over the threshold out into the hall.
Lily stared up at him. “You want to know what Glynnis and I have in common, soldier boy?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“We both marvel at what absolute cretins some men can be,” she said and recited the complaints of every woman she’d ever known who’d been on the dating circuit for a while. “It seems they either want to change you, take you for a ride, or run your life. You oughtta be able to identify with that.” With a sharp little click, she closed the door in his face.
There was silence from the other side for a moment. Then Zach said, “I want to know where my sister is.”
“And I want an end to world hunger. Looks like we’re both going to be disappointed.”
“No, ma’am. Maybe you’ve got your work cut out to meet your goal, but I don’t intend to fail in mine. You will tell me. Count on it.”
Not blooming likely, she thought, staring at the closed portal. There was no way on earth she intended to be the one to break the news to Control Freak Taylor that the sister he apparently thought was too clueless to be left to her own devices was on her way to Washington state to meet her new fiancé’s family.
3
“WHY DON’T YOU JUST TELL THE BIG JERK WHAT YOU do for a living and be done with it?”
Lily looked at her friend Mimi across the restaurant table and smiled ruefully. “That would be the reasonable thing to do, I’m sure. But he makes me so darn mad that reason just flies right out the window whenever I’m anywhere near him.”
“Which is exactly why you should let me guide you back to the smart side of the street.” Mimi moved aside her leopard-skin handbag to make room for her elbows on the ecru linen tablecloth and leaned forward earnestly. “Show him one of your pay stubs, Lil, and enjoy yourself when he’s forced to eat his words. Seeing all those zeros is bound to make him feel like an idiot.”
“If I had my way, they’d make him choke,” Lily muttered. Then taken aback by her own savagery, she said, “Okay, maybe not literally.” She shook her head in confusion. “Good Grief. Until I met Zach Taylor, I always considered myself to be a live-and-let-live sort of person. But he just makes me so…so darn…”
“Passionate?”
“Furious!” Amid the clink of silverware, the muted conversations, and the classical music purling out of hidden speakers, she sat ramrod straight on her tapestry upholstered chair. “And you know what? I don’t owe him any explanations. He’s the one who jumped to the idiotic conclusion I’m some sort of larcenous bimbo. Why should I knock myself out providing him proof that I’m not?”
“Because it’d make life easier?” Then Mimi shook her head. “Okay. I recognize that mulish look. For someone usually so mellow, you sure can dig your heels in once you’ve got your back up.”
“I know, it’s stupid and no doubt adolescent as well; but that’s the way I feel. Maybe after a nice relaxing luncheon with you, my outlook will be more mature.”
“Then just let me ask you this and I’ll drop it: don’t you think there’s an elegant sort of irony at work here? I mean, if there’s one thing you’re particularly good at, it’s money management.”
“It’s what comes from having grown up poor,” Lily agreed. “I was probably only eight when I swore I’d find a way to make myself financially secure when I grew up.”
“And you’ve achieved that,” Mimi said gently. “You’ve met every one of your short-term goals and you’re well on your way to realizing most of your long-term ones as well.”
Lily’s spine unbent a little. It was true. The career she’d forged for herself netted her very good money, and the investments she’d made over the years had paid off even more handsomely. So to hades with Zachariah Taylor and his unfounded accusations! Let him stew in his own suspicions. As long as she knew that contrary to his nasty little digs she’d actually been teaching his sister a little financial responsibility, what did it matter what he believed? Her mouth curved up on one side. “So what you’re saying is I oughtta lighten up?”
“Listen, sweetie, I know that’s easy for me to say when it’s not my integrity under attack, but maybe just a little. Or at least try not to take his crap so much to heart. What are you going to do about the sister?”
“Glynnis?”
“Yes. Taylor sounds like a first-class bastard, but to play devil’s advocate for a minute, you said yourself he probably has experience on his side when it comes to dealing with his sister’s character judgment skills. Her track record in that department sounds less than impressive.”
“It is, and I did.” Despite her newfound resolve, however, Lily realized she still wasn’t in the mood to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Is this going somewhere, Mimi?”
“Not in a straightforward manner, apparently.” Her friend laughed. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, maybe his wanting to know her whereabouts is more than a control issue. What if he’s just genuinely concerned for her welfare? How do you balance that against his hounding you for information?”
“By keeping out of it. Glynnis can be too wide-eyed for her own good sometimes—heck, we got to talking in the first place because she was torn up from discovering the very charming young man currently sweeping her off her feet had his eye firmly on her bank account. But the fact is, she’s of age. If she’d wanted her brother to know her plans, she would have left him a note or called by now, so it’s sure as sugar not up to me to fill in the blanks. Plus, I really like David, and I genuinely think he’ll be good for her.” She took a sip of wine. “If the commando king learns David dared whisk her away, though…. Well, I shudder to think what he’ll do. Frothing at the mouth would just be the beginning.” She looke
d across the table at her friend. “Boy, I’m starting to think maybe I should’ve just bought the darn apartment when it went condo. At least then I wouldn’t be smack in the middle of this opera.”
“No, you’d be thirty grand short of your goal, instead. And for what? Not your dream digs, that’s for sure. Your place was a nice enough, but they wanted way too much for a piece of real estate that’s not even seven hundred square feet. Hell, I usually equate an asking price like that with something that provides at least a partial view, even if it’s one you have to hang out a window to see.”
It cheered Lily to hear her decision validated. “You’re right. Bless you for reminding me I wasn’t particularly attached to it—not enough, at least, to dig into my savings for the down payment and closing costs.”
Brilliant sunshine poured through the window. And glancing out at the palm trees rustling their green fronds in the gentle breeze, she let her long-held dream of finally settling in one place to open her own restaurant give her a moment’s peace before turning back to the problem at hand. “One thing’s for sure,” she told her friend. “I’m gonna have to step up my search for somewhere else to live. I was hoping to hold off until I got back from my next gig aboard the Argosy, but the writing’s on the wall. Much as I detest letting him get away with driving me off, there’s just no living with the guy.”
“Now that’s not necessarily so.” A long skein of artfully streaked butterscotch-colored hair slipped over Mimi’s shoulder and she scooped it back behind her. “I’m telling you, sweetie, tell the man the truth. He’ll probably be so mortified by how badly he misjudged you that he’ll offer you room and board for free.” She flashed a cheeky grin. “Then your restaurant kitty will be that much closer to a grand opening.”
Lily’s laugh was short and skeptical. “I doubt Zach Taylor’s spent an embarrassed moment in his life. Besides, I think we’re way beyond the kiss-and-make-up stage.” A fleeting image of that mouth of his with its thin white scar reminded her libido it still possessed a few red corpuscles capable of generating heat, and she shifted in her seat. “No,” she said with extra firmness to make up for it. “My dream will simply have to wait a month or two.”
Getting Lucky Page 3