Kitabı oku: «The Last Man She'd Marry», sayfa 2
Why start all that again when he claimed to be here for a friend? He’d certainly left without too much coercion.
Recovering somewhat, Alyx carefully backed out of the parking space, but she kept an eye out for Jonas. When she spotted him a lane away climbing into a red vintage Mustang convertible, her caution turned to skepticism, which sent her eyebrows arching.
“The government must be paying well these days if that’s what was allowed from the rental counters,” she muttered.
Accelerating, she made it to the exit and turned right onto the main road. Parke’s house was another few miles west and a bit down from the plateau where the municipal airport was located. At the next traffic light, she eased the SUV left to the turning lane, and it was as she was waiting for the light that she spotted the Mustang two cars behind her.
What on earth did he think he was doing?
Agitated, the second the green arrow lit, Alyx hit the gas pedal. Okay, she told herself as emotions turned her insides into a cruller, calm down; there were another few turns on this road. He would go down one of those. Surely he wasn’t trying to find out where she was staying after she’d made it clear she had no interest in picking up where they’d left off?
But parallel to the airport turnoff, she pulled over to the side of the road—and Jonas pulled in right behind her. “Of course,” she seethed, “because we both know you aren’t headed there. You said yourself that you hate to fly!” And he sure wasn’t going to buy onto one of those tourist sightseeing trips in a First World War biplane that soared over the skyline day in and day out, circling the hot-air balloons and gorgeous rock formations.
Having had enough, Alyx thrust open the door. It cost her, but gritting her teeth against the pain in her shoulder, she stood tall and strode back to his purring sports car.
Behind his sunglasses, Jonas’s face remained impassive, and he didn’t indicate for a second that he intended to get out of the car. “What’s the problem now?” he asked.
“You tell me.”
Looking off into space, he released the steering wheel to give the palms-up, I-don’t-get-it gesture.
“Why are you following me?” she enunciated, hating him for making her spell it out.
“I’m not.”
“This is taking things too far, Jonas. Please go away. I don’t want to have to notify the police.”
Drawing his sunglasses down his nose, he stared at her, a steely glint flashing in his narrowed eyes. “Get over yourself, Alyx. I’m going to work.”
“What?” She followed his nod toward the airport. “This is a joke, right? The airport? You happen to have told me that you hate to fly.”
“I hate going commercial. I have a private pilot’s license, and—sorry to burst your conspiracy theory—I’m helping a friend with his tour service while his broken leg heals.”
“I see. Then I apologize for…I apologize.” Wishing she could start this day over, or better yet, evaporate into thin air, Alyx returned to Parke’s Toyota. Once again her stomach threatened to add to her humiliation and, glancing in the rearview mirror to assure herself that the way was clear, she hit the accelerator and tore away without a last glance at Jonas.
Had to get your drop of blood, didn’t you?
Jonas sat still until the black SUV vanished from sight. It bothered him that he hadn’t hesitated to embarrass Alyx, but it bothered him more how much he wanted to follow her, to find out if she was telling the truth about the cousin and where the house was. And he’d thought he’d conquered that weakness. When she’d shut him out earlier this year, he’d had his regrets. He could also admit his ego had been bruised, but shortly after arriving back in Washington, D.C., he’d convinced himself that he’d been lucky because then the grandfather of garbage trucks hit the fan, and his personal life got knocked into a different time zone.
Now, with all kinds of opportunity to rethink matters, it was ironic that she should show up. However, he couldn’t let that be a trip-switch to acting like a drooling college kid again. His professional clock was ticking and he needed a clear head to make some decisions before the alarm triggered.
As his gaze dropped to his watch, Jonas snapped out of his brooding. He was already minutes late for his first appointment of the day and suspected Zane’s phone was seconds away from ringing back at the house as panicking receptionist Miranda attempted to save herself from taking a waiting customer’s flack. However, as he continued through the airport entrance, Alyx’s face reappeared before him.
He shouldn’t have said she looked bad. It would take a mud bath to hide Alyx Carmel’s captivating features, and such an event would certainly accent her other outstanding assets, namely her luscious figure.
“Down, boy,” he muttered under his breath.
Under no circumstances could he afford to reawaken his libido; he’d mandated a starvation diet for it. The rule was simple: no paycheck, no playtime. Not that Alyx would consider going out with him again.
“‘What’s done is done.’”
Quoting her, his words sounded more like a puzzle than a vow. But as he pulled up to the Sedona Sites ticket office, he couldn’t ignore a tightening in his abdomen that had nothing to do with any concern about Zane’s beloved aircraft’s air-worthiness and had everything to do with another truth.
Alyx was too close for comfort even for someone with his discipline and willpower.
Chapter Two
As soon as Alyx entered Parke’s hillside house, her cousin’s greyhound, Grace, drew herself erect from the tile floor in the center of the entryway and stared at her with mournful eyes.
Alyx stopped for a moment to eye the sad creature, as gorgeous a living sculpture as those her owner produced from rock, metal and clay. “C’mon, Gracie, I was as fast as I could be. You have no idea what I went through this morning.”
Grace—a racing dog adopted to save her from euthanasia—looked away as though Alyx had insulted her intelligence.
“Okay, your majesty, I know your ancestors wouldn’t even let me touch them unless I had a title, and I’m sorry that my absence left you worried about being abandoned again—not that you’ll admit it to lowly me. But if you’ll give me a moment to pour myself a glass of chardonnay, I’ll soak your teeth-cleaning bone in a ladle of your mom’s chicken stew. How about that?”
Not waiting for an answer, Alyx eased off her sunglasses and visor and set them and her purse onto the hallway table on her way to the kitchen. Depositing her two bags from the grocery on a counter, she returned to the door of the garage to toe off her sneakers, massaging her shoulder along the way. She felt worse than when she’d entered the fitness center, but right now she had commitments to deal with.
As promised, she got out the pot of chicken stew that was for Grace’s dinner and dropped the chew bone in there for a minute while pouring herself the cold wine from a bottle in the refrigerator. After a sip, she sighed and offered the dog the bone.
“There you go. Now behave and don’t start wailing and otherwise telling me about your rough morning. Mine was worse and I need to make a couple of calls without sound effects.”
Wiping her wet hand on a damp paper towel, she took another soothing taste of the wine. Then Alyx flipped open her cell phone and located E. D. Martel’s number in the directory. Martel-Justiss now, she thought with a fatalistic sigh. Her client-turned-dear-friend had not only married Judge Dylan Justiss, but had recently given birth to a third child, Dylan’s first, and his namesake. Alyx felt like an amoeba compared to that woman and her courage.
At the sound of E.D.’s voice, she drawled, “How’s the mother of the judiciary’s next sage?”
“Hey—I’ve been wanting to call you, but have tried to respect your space. How’s it going?” Eva Danielle’s tone reverberated with genuine delight. “I expected you to live up to your warning that you’d be out of touch and resigned myself to weeks of worry.”
That was one of the many things that made her want to keep E.D. in her life. She might not be comfortable with Alyx’s decisions, but she did her best to honor them. “I appreciate that,” she told her. “And I’d intended to stay incommunicado, but you know life—make a plan and watch it get a slap shot into the stratosphere.”
“Interesting image. You aren’t dating a hockey player, are you?”
“Very funny,” Alyx replied. “You know I’m not in any shape even to think of such a thing.”
“You’re a stunner, Alyx. You were before and you still are. My heart aches for what happened to you, and for your suffering. Just know I want to help in any way I can.”
Well, then, Alyx thought, here was the perfect opening. She challenged, “Are you aware that Jonas is here?”
“What? Of course not! Good grief—how did that happen? You mean there there? Sedona?”
“Our paths crossed and I have no idea how that happened.” Alyx filled her in on their stressful and unexpected meeting. “I’m sorry to confess that at first I thought maybe you and your deceptively sweet husband had something to do with this,” she said at the conclusion of her recount.
E.D. didn’t waste a second making a few points. “Did you not threaten to leave without telling me a word for fear of that concern? Why then would I break my word to you?”
“Because you have a soft spot for him and he’s one of your husband’s most trusted friends.”
“All true to a point. However, there are boundaries and exceptions to things like that and you know it. Neither of us believes in unconditional love, and a confidence is a confidence.” E.D. uttered a groan. “I’m sorry you were caught off guard, Alyx, but unless you told someone else, this has to be one of those inexplicable mysteries.”
“Destiny? You know my opinion of that.”
“Yes, but your perspective is especially vulnerable to emotional influences right now,” E.D. said, her tone soothing. “You’re still recovering from trauma.”
It amazed Alyx that her litigator friend had ever won any case; she was a softy through and through. Smiling despite herself, she asked, “How’s Judge Junior?”
E.D. chuckled. “He’s like his daddy, too good to be true.”
“The next sound you hear may be me snoring.”
“Oh, Alyx. I do wish you’d put some body butter on that thick hide of yours and let yourself see what miracles are out there.”
“Try to resist suggesting that I adopt, let alone get pregnant.”
“I can’t deny I’ve thought about how good that would be for you.”
Alyx glanced over at Grace and rolled her eyes. “Lose my phone number. Now!”
E.D. chuckled. “Who else are you going to call to snoop for you?”
She knew that was a joke, but as usual her mind went into overdrive and she immediately thought of P.I.s’ phone numbers, only to reject the idea. Jonas would spot the guy in minutes. None of that would happen—crazy she wasn’t, even if she was tempted—but it reminded her of how, as a child, she’d been constantly rebuked for “living too much in her head,” as her teachers and mother had put it. For once she had to agree with them.
“How are the older kids?” she asked, again hoping to veer their conversation away from her.
“Well, as I hold my breath, Dani is pulling a four-point-zero average at college, Mac hasn’t suffered a bad asthma attack in a couple of months, and the baby screams with delight the moment either of them walk through the door. They can’t help but drop that entire humiliated-teen act pretending Dylan and I are too old for more children.”
“Be careful or one of the TV networks will be courting you to be the next big thing—unreality.”
“I only shared because you asked.”
The gentle rebuke was nothing less than Alyx deserved. “Sorry. I really am happy for you.” More like relieved that Dani had straightened out and ceased her declared war on her mother and Dylan. Alyx couldn’t imagine herself in such a relationship minefield again, loving as her friend’s seemed to have become. “You know my dilemma. My work only shows me the failures in relationships—manufactured or medical—so what you’re describing sounds like fiction on the cable channels or the Internet dating sites.”
“A few years ago, I would have high-fived you on that. You just keep getting well.”
“I want to.” Her wording surprised her. Until a few days ago, she couldn’t even swear to that. “Um…then you haven’t had contact with Jonas?”
“Absolutely not. In fact, come to think of it…he hadn’t answered Dylan’s last few calls or e-mails.”
“He’s pretty cryptic about why he’s here, too. He says it’s to help a friend who runs a sky-tour business. I had no idea that he was a pilot.”
“That makes two of us.”
Could that be? Alyx thought, frowning. “But I thought for sure—”
“Until my situation, I didn’t know anyone in Dylan’s circle.”
Alyx barely won over the impulse to take another sip of her wine. She’d believed the two men so close and had suspected this incident was common knowledge by now between husband and wife. On the other hand, she appreciated that she could count on E.D. to keep confidences, as Dylan obviously did.
“There you go thinking again,” E.D. said, breaking into her thoughts.
“I’m sorry. I’m nowhere close to my best form and this has…well, it’s thrown me.”
“Understandable. Now quit beating around the bush and talk to me.”
Alyx didn’t think she had a choice—she had to get feedback from someone—and gave E.D. a summary of her experiences so far. “Now tell me that I’m overreacting,” she said at the end.
“For good reason, considering what you’ve endured. No one, particularly Jonas, can fault you for feeling anything else but terror at that fool’s flagrant advances or for being gun-shy at seeing someone you believed should be on the other side of the continent.”
“Yes, but afterward I pushed Jonas away. That’s one person I should have trusted—forget the personal stuff.” Groaning as her mind churned with hindsight regret, she massaged her aching neck. “It’s just that he appeared out of nowhere. Why would he be in the grocery store if he was due at work?”
“Well, my guess is that he saw you on the road—or thought he did—followed you into the market, realized it was you, and was trying to figure out why and what he felt about that. Then the incident occurred and the decision was a moot point.”
“More stuff that happens in contrived sitcoms, not in real life.”
“Tell that to the woman in Belgium who was putting away leftovers for a gentleman friend and found the bodies of his supposedly estranged wife and her son in his cellar freezer.”
“What?” Grimacing, Alyx saw that Grace was tilting her head at the door. Alyx quickly crossed to it, tested the lock, and peered through the security hole. “Don’t add to my imagination, please. It’s in overdrive as it is.”
“Sorry. Tell me what else he said. He had to have asked questions. Dylan said he was pretty crushed when you sent him away, and I can’t imagine the shock this was for you to see him in a place where you expect to know only your cousin.”
Yes, a shock, but also a relief because he had rescued her, Alyx thought with growing guilt. “He wanted an explanation as to why I shut him out. I never gave him one. Did he tell Dylan that?”
“Dylan shared that he sounded frustrated, even hurt a few times, but aside from that, I don’t know. He may have committed Dylan to a promise of secrecy, too. You know I won’t challenge that without good cause. I feel Dylan would have shared with me if he could.”
That said a good deal about his character. Again. As for her own track record with men, Alyx didn’t think there was the equivalent of an honorable Dylan among them—unless Jonas could be the exception to the rule? That was probably wishful thinking on her part. Her father had been a dictator, just a grade above bully, and her relationships with men had given her a master’s degree in understanding that her primary attraction for most beaus courting her as she grew up were her money, pedigree and contacts. While Jonas hadn’t seemed a cookie-cutter replica, their time together had been too short to notice if there was any lasting there there.
“You’re being ultraquiet,” E.D. said.
“I’m remembering moments with Jonas.”
“Do you need me to call 911 for a tow to get your mind out of the gutter?” E.D. asked, a smile creeping into her voice.
“Those days are over.”
“Alyx, don’t talk like that. You’re way too young to let even this nightmare deny you the kind of relationship and love I believe is out there for you.”
Wanting the comfort of her privacy, Alyx turned professionally cool. “You’ll forget I called?”
E.D. made a soft sound of regret. “I really am glad you did. Please. Ring me again. I’m sorry I was of no help, but I am trying…and wanting you to heal.”
Hesitating, Alyx stared back at Grace, who’d abandoned the front door to stand before her. No doubt she found her tone discomforting, or wanted her mistress, or would like the front door open to just escape. “You were more help than you know,” she told E.D., managing to sound almost tender. “I’m sorry for being such a—anyway, give that luscious baby a kiss for me.”
“How sweet. I’ll give him two. Call me anytime.”
Once Alyx heard E.D. disconnect, she shut off her phone, immediately diving into introspection. Contrary to what she’d said, she hadn’t really learned anything she didn’t already know, and she’d been trained by the best to be skeptical of support or flattery.
You learned that she and Dylan thought Jonas had been sincerely disappointed in being rejected.
It was hopeless—and perfect. Confirmation that she was a hard-hearted, cold witch. Hurrah, she thought grimly. She hadn’t lost her edge one iota, bad news for the Realtor who wanted to sell her Austin house, but terrific for her Texas clients, who wanted blood from estranged spouses; they, at least, would be popping corks when they heard that reassuring news.
Seeing Grace shift on her plainly stiff legs, Alyx put a quick end to the self-deprecation. “Gracie, if I look half that bad when I wrangle myself off the machines at the health club, you have permission to bite me if I accidentally bump into you or stroke you too hard. Now what do you say we get your stiff-joint medicine? That’s about all I know for wrecks like us, until your mommy checks in to suggest something more.”
At the sound of Mommy Grace started whining.
“Oh, jeez.” Alyx leaned over to gently stroke the dog. “I’m sorry, Grace. I’m sorry. I know I’m no replacement by a long shot, but I’m trying—I’ll try to do better, okay?”
The greyhound stepped closer to rest against her and sighed.
It was too ridiculous to be believable, but Alyx closed her eyes. History had shown her that there were few perfect moments in life, yet this sure felt like one of them. Hoping she could mimic that heartfelt sound, Alyx sighed, too.
Chapter Three
Jonas repressed a surge of humiliation as he dialed Dylan Justiss’s private cell phone number, but he managed to hold on until he heard his old friend’s rebuke.
“About time.”
“Figured you’d deleted me from your address book by now,” Jonas replied with equal aplomb. His, however, was mostly bravado.
“You know better than that.”
“Yeah, sure. Listen, I’m sorry for the unanswered calls.”
“What ignored calls?”
That had Jonas’s mouth corners curling downward. He knew that Dylan was both letting him off the hook and making sure Jonas understood that he’d slipped badly with their friendship. At the time, he’d felt there was no recourse, and yet, as days slipped into weeks, and weeks into months, he knew he deserved whatever Dylan wanted to say.
“I’m sure there’s an appropriate quote about pride to mouth right now, but I can’t remember it, and you don’t deserve to suffer through it.”
“Stuff the eloquence, Hunter. You were never good at it.”
That won a choked laugh from Jonas. “That might finally be sinking in. Thanks for sticking in there.”
“Well, you know how we analytical types are, I needed to know the answer to the riddle. What happened and how are you?”
“You haven’t talked to E.D. this afternoon?” Jonas countered.
“Should I have?”
“I thought maybe…never mind.”
“Don’t start that. What’s up?”
Jonas drew a deep breath. He was sure Alyx had run straight home and had called E.D. to vent. Didn’t all women do that? His ex sure had. Claudia would call her mother and then everyone else in the family tree down to second cousins—another reason to avoid getting involved with southern belles. For their part, Alyx and E.D. had grown particularly close during E.D.’s divorce, and Alyx had said that while the svelte, blond DA had a disgusting weakness for Dylan, she was one of the few people she could trust with a secret. He’d still had his doubts.
“I ran into Alyx,” he muttered.
“Is that so? Alyx is out of town, maybe out of state from what I can discern from E.D.’s cryptic comments.”
“Sedona, Arizona, to be exact.”
“Has the divorce rate suddenly skyrocketed there?”
He had to know that she wasn’t yet able to resume her usual work schedule. “I don’t know what’s going on, all I know is that it’s just too suspicious to have both of us decide to take leave from our jobs in separate parts of the country and end up in the same place.”
“What’s your reason?”
“My original flight instructor busted his leg. These days he runs an air-tours business and asked if I could cover for him for a few weeks. He’s ex-FBI, too. Back in my mustang days, his was, more or less, the last push I needed to go with the Bureau.”
“Good grief, are you saying he crashed and you’re now in those hot-air contraptions?”
“Much better. I’m flying his First World War facsimile biplanes.”
Dylan uttered something indistinguishable. “You’re worse than certifiable. I hope you at least know that?”
“They’re the modern Waco rendition. It’s a little eccentric, I’ll admit, but not as bad as you think. No acrobatics involved, just smooth, wide turns and gentle landings. Everything to assist adventurous tourists in procuring the optimum photographs to bring them back for another visit.”
“The question is, can you bring yourself back to earth in one piece? I know a little about the terrain over there. It could get pretty wild trying to find a suitable landing spot on short notice.”
The topography was a challenge; nevertheless, the highways were excellent and certainly not as heavy with traffic as in metropolitan areas. This was an experience Jonas was glad not to have missed out on.
“And you can take that much time from the job?”
“I have plenty of time built up,” Jonas replied evasively. “Look, are you sure E.D. didn’t say something about Alyx?”
“Nothing beyond the concern about her, about both of you.” After a few seconds Dylan added, “You don’t sound like yourself.”
“I guess I’m still somewhat—I’m getting too old to play games.”
“She wasn’t playing games with you,” Dylan ground out. “Good God, what’s the correct way to behave after coming upon a butchering and almost dying yourself?”
Jonas had gone through all of this dialogue already, had witnessed her being wheeled out to the ambulance and had tried to be supportive and patient, giving Alyx all the time she needed to recover physically and get her balance psychologically. They’d been in the early days of a hot and heavy affair when they’d been thrown into that meat chopper of a bad situation. Regardless of all his attempts to be there for her, even when necessity had demanded he return to Washington, D.C., she’d been the one to sever ties, not him.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But better than what she did.”
“What’s really got you all bent out of shape now?” Dylan asked. “Get a bad MRI or CAT-scan report after an assignment?”
“Not quite like that. But I guess I’m still trying to find grace under pressure while I work out what’s increasingly an uncertain professional future.” No one liked to share bad news and this wasn’t the moment to elaborate on his. Who knew—right now it was looking like a relief that things weren’t going to turn out as he’d first hoped. “I’ll let you know the details when I get back to D.C.”
“I’ve still got several minutes before my next appointment.”
“I appreciate that, but…”
After another uncomfortable silence, Dylan said, “Whatever you want to do. Jonas, listen…I’m sorry that I came down a little hard on you—”
“You didn’t.”
“Well, from the little E.D. shared, Alyx deserves support and protection. That’s where I was coming from.”
“Fair enough.”
“Don’t hesitate to call. I mean it. And take care.”
“I will. And I’ll be in touch.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Jonas knew Dylan would keep his word and want an update soon. That did nothing to improve his mood for the rest of the evening. Jonas had survived a divorce, managed to keep a decent relationship with his now fifteen-year-old son, and had been holding his breath for an anticipated promotion. When Alyx Carmel had entered his world like a tsunami, he’d been blindsided. He’d never been attracted to female renditions of himself—professional and driven. In fact, he’d avoided dating anyone inside the Bureau or even within coagencies. Yet five minutes after he’d entered her office last year to support Dylan and E.D. during E.D.’s rough divorce, Alyx had him under a spell he had yet to break free of.
He couldn’t sleep without being pulled into some intoxicating dream about her. Last night’s had been a fuse-buster, a reminder of their first night together.
“Why did you agree to join me for dinner?” Jonas asked as they sat across a candlelit table from one another. “You know I’m only here for a brief stay.”
“You offered me a drink,” Alyx replied. “The invitation to dinner was mine.”
So it was—a thank-you for helping Dylan help E.D. It struck Jonas, as he’d eyed the steak and lobster plate a waiter suddenly placed before him, that he was tangled in his own web. He’d come after Alyx unabashedly only to find himself snared, and yet the time between ordering and drinking a half glass of shiraz had been one of the most provocative yet awkward times he’d spent with a date. He would ask her a question about herself and if she answered, it was with a single word, “yes” or “no,” then asked nothing in return. He’d never felt so inept. Every clever word, his gift for disarming and charming, was a total flop.
It was those smoky gray eyes; they reduced him to ash pudding one minute, then invited a lava-hot heat wave without so much as a blink in the next. He felt as though he was trying to gauge traffic in thick fog. No, it was her scent; he’d fought intoxication for the better part of two hours and had yet to identify it, although he held the office record for guessing what female staffers and agents were wearing. Leave it to this unique woman to refuse to share someone else’s creation.
“Okay, seriously,” he said at last. “Why did you invite me?”
“Perhaps for the same reason you invited me.”
He had to put down his glass. Could she possibly mean it? He’d been fantasizing about a couple of hours of no-strings-attached sex. Someone as cool, confident and professional as her couldn’t possibly—then, for a second, he saw the diamond-bright shimmer of amusement in her eyes before she lowered a romantic sweep of velvety lashes with the elegant shyness of a geisha.
At the risk of knocking over her glass, he reached across the table to gently lift her chin to search her eyes.
“Why the surprise?” she murmured with a slight arch of one eyebrow. “Wait—don’t tell me. You’re one of those males who beat a hasty retreat the second you sense conquest?”
For all of his admitted experimental youth, Jonas hoped he’d never been that much of a jerk. “It’s been a struggle, but I’ve almost managed to evolve a step above the penned farm animal.”
“Then eat up, Agent Hunter. We can’t have you losing your strength.”
Things grew decidedly more amiable after that and, in the end, the night was unforgettable. She drove him to her stunning brick home and immediately asked him if she should open another bottle of wine.
“Would you care for any?” he countered.
“Maybe later.”
“Exactly my thought.”
He took that response as a welcome and initiated a kiss; within seconds Alyx took it—and him—to a different realm. Almost immediately he sensed that he was in deeper waters than he’d expected or intended, but her touch, her taste made her too much of a temptation to resist. When she led him to her bedroom, there was no question about not following. She turned her back to him and murmured, “Unzip me?”
He first touched a kiss to the side of her neck. “I think you’re my fantasy come true,” he murmured.
“You’re off the clock, G-man. Stop thinking so much.”
Surrendering, he’d done just that, dropped back onto her bed and let her take him to a place he’d never been before.
