Tough Enough

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  “Sure. Code of the West and all that.”

  “What are you talking about, Rafe?”

  Rafe flashed a quick grin at Margaret, who beetled her brows at him. “Never mind.”

  Julie relaxed and gestured at the art that surrounded them. “Tell me the truth, Rafe. Now that you’ve had a chance to see it, what do you really think of Sean’s work? Isn’t it wonderful?”

  Margaret didn’t trust the response she saw forming in Rafe’s eyes. She stepped in quickly to answer Julie’s query. “Rafe was just saying how impressed he was, weren’t you, Rafe?”

  Rafe started to comment on that, caught Margaret’s eye again and apparently changed his mind. “Uh, yeah. That’s just what I was saying.” He looked around as if seeking further inspiration. “Big crowd here tonight.”

  “Oh, there always is for a new showing of Sean’s work. He’s had a steady market for some time but lately he’s been getting a lot of attention in reviews and articles. His career is definitely taking off.”

  Rafe nodded. “Things blow hot and cold in the art world, don’t they? Not a reliable line of work. An artist can be in big demand one year and dead in the water the next.”

  Margaret saw Julie’s mouth tighten and she turned to pounce on Rafe. But the attack proved unnecessary. Sean Winters had come up in time to hear the remark. He smiled coolly at Rafe.

  “Nothing’s for sure in the art world or any other. That’s why I’ve paid a fair amount of attention to my investments since I made my first sale.”

  “Is that right?” Rafe swiped a glass of champagne from a passing tray and gave Sean a challenging look. “What do you put your money into, Winters, paint?”

  “I guess you could say that. I own that artists’ supply house Julie manages. We grossed a quarter of a million last year and this quarter’s sales are already overtaking last quarter’s. Or so I’m told. I just read the financial statements. I don’t actively manage things. Julie handles everything.”

  Rafe nearly choked on his champagne. Margaret obligingly pounded him on the back. He gave her a sharp look.

  “Sorry. Did I hit you too hard?” She smiled at him with brilliant innocence.

  Rafe turned back to Winters. “Julie works for you? You own that place she’s been managing for the past few months?”

  “Best manager I’ve got.”

  “How many have you got?”

  “Two. New store just opened in Phoenix last month. Julie’s going to be overseeing the management of both branches. I don’t like having to worry about the business side of things so I’ve turned it all over to your sister. She seems to have inherited her fair share of the family talent.”

  “I see,” said Rafe. He took another swallow of champagne and glared around the room. “We’ve been looking at the paintings. Maggie likes your stuff.”

  Sean grinned. “Thanks, Margaret.”

  “It’s stunning. I love it. If I could afford it, I’d buy Canyon in a red-hot second. Unfortunately it’s a little out of my range.”

  Sean winced in chagrin. “I know. Ridiculous, isn’t it? For a long time I couldn’t even afford to buy my own stuff. I leave the pricing of my work up to Cecil.”

  “Who’s Cecil?”

  “He owns this gallery and one in Scottsdale and let me tell you, Cecil is one ruthless son of a gun.” Sean grinned at Rafe. “Come to think of it, you’d probably like him, Cassidy. The two of you undoubtedly have a lot in common. Want to meet him?”

  “Why not? I’d like to hear a little more about the inside workings of this art business.” Rafe handed his empty glass to Margaret and strode off with Sean.

  Margaret and Julie watched the two men make their way across the room for a moment and then Julie looked anxiously at Margaret. “Rafe’s going to grill Sean. I just know it.”

  “I wouldn’t worry. I have a feeling Sean can take care of himself.”

  Julie looked briefly surprised and then she relaxed slightly. “You’re right. It’s just that I’ve been defending and protecting my dates from Rafe for so long, it’s become a habit. I get nervous whenever he gets near one. He tends to stampede them toward the nearest exit. And now that I’ve actually decided to marry Sean a part of me is terrified Rafe will scare him off.”

  “No chance of that,” Margaret said cheerfully. “Sean won’t scare easily.” She turned back to study Canyon. “Why didn’t you tell Rafe you were actually working for Sean?”

  “I wanted to make sure I could make a success of the job before I told either Rafe or my mother. This is the first position I’ve gotten on my own, you know. Rafe has always taken it upon himself to line up something for me. He had a job waiting the day I graduated college. Said it was my graduation present. Every time I quit one he used his business contacts to line up another one.”

  “That’s Rafe, all right. Tends to take over and run things if you let him.”

  Julie sighed. “The problem is he’s good at running business things. You can’t deny he’s got a natural talent for it. But when he gets involved in people things he’s dangerous.”

  Margaret laughed. “I know what you mean.”

  “How are you two doing up there at the ranch without Mom or Connor to referee?”

  “We’re slowly but surely reaching a negotiated peace.”

  Julie smiled. “I’m glad. Difficult as my brother is, I want him to be happy. And he definitely has not been happy this past year. Margaret, I want to thank you again for what you’ve done tonight. You didn’t have to go out of your way to help. It was very kind of you.”

  “No problem. Rafe is basically a good man. He just needs a little applied management theory now and then. When it comes right down to it, he did it for you, Julie. You are his sister, after all.”

  “No,” Julie said with a smile. “He didn’t do it for me. He did it for you.”

  RAFE SHUDDERED HEAVILY and muffled his shout of sensual satisfaction against the pillow under Maggie’s head. The echo of her own soft cries still hovered in the air along with the scent of their lovemaking. A moment earlier he had felt the tiny, delicate ripples of her release and he had been pulled beyond the limits of his self-control.

  She always had this effect on him, Rafe thought as he relaxed slowly. She had the power to unleash this raging torrent of physical and emotional response within him. When their lovemaking was over he was always left with an incredible sense of well-being. There was nothing else on earth quite like it.

  Rafe rolled off Maggie’s slick, nude body and settled on his back, one hand under his head. He left his other hand lying possessively on one of Maggie’s sweetly rounded thighs.

  For a long while they were silent together, just as they always were when they rode into the hills at dawn. In some ways making love with Maggie was a lot like taking her riding, Rafe told himself. He grinned suddenly into the moonlit shadows.

  “What’s so funny?” Maggie stretched luxuriously and turned onto her side. She put her hand on his chest.

  “Nothing. I was just thinking that being with you like this is a little like riding with you.”

  “I don’t want to hear any crude cracks about midnight rodeos.”

  “All right, ma’am. No crude cracks.” He smiled again. “Midnight rodeo? Where’d you get a phrase like that? You’ve been sneaking around listening to country-western music stations, haven’t you?”

  “I refuse to answer that.” She snuggled closer. “But for the record, I will tell you that you’re terrific in the saddle.”

  “I was born to ride,” Rafe said with patently false modesty. “And you’re the only little filly I ever want to get on top of.”

  “Uh-huh. Keep it that way. Tell me what you talked about with Sean Winters tonight at the gallery.”

  “It was men’s talk,” Rafe said loftily and was promptly punished by having his chest hair yanked quite severely. “Sheesh, okay, okay, lay off the torture. I’ll talk.”

  “Yes?”

  “We discussed business.”
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br />   “Business?”

  “Yeah. The business of the art world. It’s real dog-eat-dog, did you know that? Bad as the corporate world. We also talked about the fact that he fully intends to marry Julie. With or without my approval.”

  “And?”

  Rafe shifted slightly on the pillow. “And what?”

  “And did you try to buy him off?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “You did, didn’t you?” Maggie sat up abruptly, glaring down at him. “Rafe, I warned you not to try that.”

  He studied her breasts in the moonlight. She had beautiful breasts he told himself, trying to be objective about it. They fit perfectly into his palms. “Don’t worry, we got the issue settled.”

  “What issue?”

  “Winters’s paintings are for sale, but he isn’t,” Rafe explained succinctly.

  Maggie flopped back down onto the pillow. “I told you so.”

  “Yeah, you did, didn’t you? Has anyone ever told you that’s a nasty habit?” Rafe asked conversationally.

  “Saying ‘I told you so’?” She turned her head and gave him a sassy grin. “But I’m good at it.”

  He gave her an affectionate slap on her sleek hip and yawned. “You’re good at it, all right. I’ll have to admit it looks like the Cassidys are going to have an artist in their ranks.”

  “You’re beginning to like Sean, aren’t you?”

  “He’s okay.”

  “And you’re going to tell Julie you like him and approve of him, aren’t you?”

  “Probably,” Rafe admitted. He was feeling too complacent and sensually replete to argue about anything right now.

  Maggie giggled delightfully in the darkness. “I love you when you’re like this.”

  “Like what?”

  “So reasonable.”

  Rafe felt a cold chill go through him. The satisfaction he had been feeling a few seconds ago vanished. He thought of the file in his study and the moves he had instructed Hatcher to make that morning. He levered himself up onto one elbow and looked down at the woman beside him.

  She sensed the change in him instantly. “Rafe? What’s wrong?”

  “What about when I’m not reasonable by your standards, Maggie?” he asked. “Will you still love me?”

  She searched his face, her eyes soft and shadowed. “Yes.”

  Rafe inhaled deeply and told himself she meant it. “Say it straight out for me. I need to hear the words.”

  “I love you, Rafe.” She touched his shoulder, her fingers gliding down his arm in a gentle caress. “I never stopped loving you although I will admit I tried very hard.”

  Rafe fell back onto the pillow and pulled her down across his chest. He drove his fingers through her tangled hair and held her head clasped in his hands. “I love you, Maggie. I want you to always remember that.”

  “I will, Rafe.”

  He lay there looking up at her for a while and then the tension went out of him. His good mood restored itself. “Does this mean we’re finally engaged?”

  She smiled slowly. “Why, yes, I guess it does.”

  “You’re sure?” he pressed. “You’re willing to set a date?”

  Maggie nodded. “Yes. If you’re very sure you want to marry me.”

  “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.” He used the grip in her hair to pull her mouth closer to his own. When he kissed her, she parted her lips for him, letting him deep inside where he could stake his intimate claim. Rafe growled softly as he felt himself start to grow hard again.

  Maggie giggled.

  “What are you laughing at, lady?”

  “You sound like a big cat when you do that.”

  He rolled to the edge of the bed, taking her with him. Then he stood up with her in his arms. Maggie laughed up at him as she clung to his neck. “What are you doing? Where are we going?”

  “Swimming.”

  “But it’s two in the morning.”

  “We can sleep late.”

  “We’re both stark naked.”

  He grinned and eyed her body appreciatively. “That’s true.”

  “You’re impossible, you know that?”

  “But you love me anyway, right?”

  “Right.” Maggie looked down as he reached the pool. She glanced up again in alarm as she realized his intentions. “I don’t mind a late night swim, but don’t you dare drop me into that water, Rafe.”

  “It’s not cold.”

  She gave him a quelling look. “All the same, I do not like entering swimming pools by being dropped into them.”

  “Think of this as just another little example of simple frontier justice.”

  “Rafe, don’t you dare. What justice are you talking about, anyway?”

  “This is for trying to set me up at that gallery this evening.”

  Her eyes widened innocently. “But you agreed to go to the show with no strings attached. You said you liked Sean after you got to know him.”

  Rafe shook his head deliberately. “That’s not the point. The point is you tried to set me up. Tried to manipulate me into doing exactly what you wanted. If you’re going to play games like that, Maggie, love, you have to be prepared to pay the price.” He opened his arms and let her fall.

  She yelled very nicely as she went into the water. When she surfaced she promptly splashed him, laughing exuberantly as he tried to dodge.

  Rafe grinned back at her and then dove into the pool thinking that this was probably one of the best nights of his entire life.

  CHAPTER NINE

  RAFE WAIT ED UNTIL MARGARET’S back was turned in the large mall bookstore before he strolled casually over to the romance section. He stood there for a moment, lost in a sea of lushly illustrated paperbacks. Then he spotted a familiar-looking name. Fuchsia foil spelled out Margaret Lark. The title of the book was Ruthless.

  After another quick glance to make certain that Margaret was still busy browsing through mysteries, Rafe examined the cover of her latest book. It showed a man and a woman locked in a passionate embrace. The man had removed the charcoal-gray jacket of his suit and his tie hung rakishly around his neck. His formal white shirt was open to the waist and his hand was behind the lady’s back, deftly lowering the zipper of her elegant designer gown.

  The couple was obviously standing in the living room of a sophisticated penthouse. In the backdrop high-rise buildings rose into a dark sky and the sparkling lights of a big city glittered.

  Rafe opened Ruthless to the first page and started to read.

  “It’s no secret, Anne. The man’s a shark. Just ask anyone who worked for any of the companies Roarke Cody is supposed to have salvaged in the past five years. He may have saved the firms but he did it by firing most of the management and supervisory level people. We’re all going to be on the street in a week, you mark my words.”

  Anne Jamison picked up the stack of files on her desk and glanced at her worried assistant. “Calm down, Brad. Cody’s been hired to straighten out this company, not decimate the staff. He must be good to have acquired the reputation he’s got. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get going. I’ve got a meeting in his office in five minutes.”

  “Anne, you’re not listening. The guy’s ruthless. Don’t you understand?” Brad trailed after her to the door. “He’s probably called you into his office to fire you. And after he lets you go, I’m next. You’ll see.”

  Anne pretended to ignore her frantic assistant as she made her way down the hall, but the truth was, she was not nearly as confident as she looked. She was as aware of Cody’s reputation as Brad was—more so, in fact, because she’d done some checking.

  “Ruthless” was, indeed, the right word to describe the turnaround specialist who had been installed here at the corporate headquarters of Seaco Industries. Roarke Cody had left a trail of fired personnel in his wake wherever he had gone to work. He was nothing less than a professional hit man whose gun was for hire by any company that could afford
him.

  Three minutes later Anne was shown into the new gunslinger’s office. She held her breath as the tall, lean, dark-haired man standing at the window turned slowly to face her. One look and her heart sank. She had been putting up a brave, professional front but the fact was, she had known the full truth about this man the first day she’d met him. There was no mercy in those tawny-gold eyes—no compassion in that hard, grim face.

  “Good morning, Mr. Cody,” she said with the sort of gallant good cheer one adopted in front of a firing squad. “I understand you’re on the hunt and you’ll be having most of management for dinner.”

  “Not most of management.” Roarke’s deep voice was tinged with a hint of a Western drawl. “Just you, Miss Jamison. Seven o’clock tonight.” He smiled without any humor. “I thought we might discuss your immediate future.”

  Anne’s mouth fell open in shock. “Mr. Cody, I couldn’t possibly …”

  “Perhaps I should clarify that. It’s not just your future we will discuss,” he said smoothly. “But that of your staff, as well.”

  And suddenly Anne knew exactly how it felt to be singled out as prey.

  “For heaven’s sake, what are you doing?” Margaret hissed in Rafe’s ear.

  “Reading one of your books.” Rafe closed Ruthless and smiled blandly. “Something sort of familiar about this Roarke guy.”

  To his surprise, Margaret blushed a vivid pink. “You’re imagining things. Put that back and let’s go get that coffee you promised me.”

  “Hang on a second, I want to buy this.” Rafe reached for his wallet as he started toward the counter.

  Margaret hurried after him. “You’re going to buy Ruthless? But, Rafe, it’s not exactly your kind of book.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  She stifled a groan and retreated to wait near the door as Rafe paid for the book. A moment later, his package in one hand, Rafe ambled out into the air-conditioned mall. “Okay, let’s get the coffee.”

  Margaret marched determinedly toward a small café near a fountain and sat down. “Are you really going to read that?”

  “Uh-huh. Why don’t you have your coffee and go shop for a while? I’ll just sit here and read.”