Guardian Groom

by Shelley Cooper

  “David,” she said. “His name’s David.”

  “Whatever. He means that much to you?”

  It had nothing to do with David. Why couldn’t Steve see that? “This date is important to me,” she allowed.

  He looked tired all of a sudden, and she found herself wrestling with a ridiculous urge to smooth the grooves of worry from his forehead.

  “If we had a little more lead time to secure the restaurant, I’d have no problem with you keeping your date,” he said. “As it is, there’s barely enough time to brief the extra protection agents this expedition would entail I’m asking you to stay home tonight, Kate. Please.”

  She could have resisted a demand; she had no strength to fight a plea. Besides, assertion that she wouldn’t allow her fears to control her life aside, she didn’t want to do anything stupid. She always walked out of movies where, knowing that her life was in danger, the ditsy heroine went ahead and investigated a strange noise and was invariably confronted by the villain. She didn’t want to behave the same way.

  “All right,” she gave in. “I’ll call David and invite him here instead.”

  The scowl that crossed Steve’s face gave her an inordinate amount of pleasure.

  Liza Cook brought Steve’s things by at five o’clock, and the workmen departed just before six. At seven twenty-five, the house blessedly silent and the dinner she’d ordered from a local Chinese restaurant keeping warm in the oven, Kate descended the stairs.

  Because it hid her scraped knees from view, she’d selected an ankle-length black halter dress for her dinner with David. A skillful application of makeup covered the bruise on her cheek, and an ice pack had worked wonders to reduce the swelling in her lower lip. She felt fairly confident that, other than the slinky dress, she looked her normal, everyday self.

  Which was good, because she’d downplayed the day’s events to David. The truth of the matter was, she hadn’t told him anything about the attempt on her life, just that she’d received some threatening letters. Steve’s presence was explained away as temporary and a mere precaution. No mention was made of his being her ex-husband. The omissions weren’t deliberate lies; she just hadn’t been up to the questions she’d have to answer if David knew of both the threat to her life and that she and Steve shared a past.

  She didn’t owe David an explanation about everything that went on in her life, she rationalized as she reached the landing that marked a turn in the staircase. After all, this was only their third date.

  When she turned the bend in the stairs, she saw Steve awaiting her at the bottom. All thoughts of David fled as, eyes dark, glittering and mysterious, he studied her from the top of her head to the tips of the toes peeping out from black dress sandals.

  Never in her life had she been more aware of the length of throat and arm exposed to view. Now she knew how Scarlett O’Hara felt that first time Rhett Butler watched her climb the stairs at Twelve Oaks. What was it she’d whispered to her companion? Something about him knowing what she looked like in her underwear.

  The look in Steve’s eyes told her he was remembering that, and much more. The thought of the much more made Kate’s cheeks warm. Deliberately she let her unbound hair fall forward, in hopes that it would shield her face from him. And disguise the fact that she was studying him as intently as he studied her.

  Hair still wet from a recent shower, he looked devastating. He’d changed out of his gray suit into a casual pair of navy blue chinos and a striped cotton shirt. Just looking at him made her heart beat faster and her mouth go dry.

  And she’d thought she was in danger from her biggest fan.

  “You look beautiful,” he said when she drew even with him. His voice held an odd, husky quality.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, incapable of speaking any louder. David, she reminded herself. The dress is for David, not Steve. Why was it, though, that whenever David looked at her that way, she never felt as if the room temperature had shot up twenty degrees?

  Kate cleared her throat. “Are you sure you won’t join us for dinner? There’s plenty of food.”

  Steve shook his head. “Liza brought everything I need. I’ll just fix myself a sandwich and spend the evening in your office. I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on.”

  For some reason, along with the relief she felt, there was also a touch of guilt. Which was ridiculous. He was, after all, simply doing the job she’d hired him to do. Except it pulled at her heartstrings to think of him closeted away in her office, alone with the bank of television monitors and his sterile paperwork. She couldn’t help wondering when was the last time Steve had abandoned work to enjoy himself. He’d certainly never done so when they were married, and she’d lay odds he hadn’t done so since. She hadn’t forgotten the antacid bottle that, no doubt, had been delivered here by the delectable Liza, and what it symbolized.

  “Before your date arrives,” he said, extending one hand, “there are a couple of things I want to give you.”

  “What’s this?” Ignoring the warmth that shot through her veins at the touch of her fingers against his palm, Kate picked up an object that looked like a lipstick tube attached to a leather string.

  “An alarm. Just press the top, and it emits an earshattering whistle that will bring you instant attention. Wear it around your neck.”

  Kate felt her lips curve as she glanced down at the bare expanse of chest left exposed by the square neckline of her dress. “It doesn’t exactly go with my outfit.”

  “It’s for when we’re out in public. For now, tuck it under one side of your dinner plate. And tuck this under the other side.”

  She raised her eyebrows in question.

  “Pepper spray,” he supplied. “Aim for the eyes.”

  Her laugh was disbelieving. “You can’t possibly think David is my biggest fan.”

  “I don’t, but only because he has an alibi for this afternoon. While you were being pushed in front of that bus, he was elbow-deep in a root canal.”

  She narrowed her gaze at him. “How do you know that?”

  “I had him checked out.”

  “You had him checked out?” Closing her eyes, she slowly counted to ten. “Why?”

  “It’s my job, Kate.”

  When she opened her eyes, she said, “But I already told you that David isn’t the man we’re looking for.”

  “Under the circumstances, you’ll have to forgive me if I consider you less than objective about the man you’re involved with. You wouldn’t be the first woman taken in by a false smile and a smooth line.”

  She’d never been taken in by false smiles and smooth lines. Her downfall was a particular brooding workaholic who only had to look at her to make her lose all sense of perspective and common sense. Like now. But, of course, she couldn’t tell him that.

  “I believe in being prepared for all contingencies,” he went on, “which is why I’m the best at what I do. I want you to carry the whistle and the spray with you at all times. Especially when we’re away from the safety of this house.”

  She frowned. “But I thought you were supposed to protect me when we’re away from here.”

  “It’s just a precaution, Kate. In case, for whatever reason, we should get separated.”

  “Oh.”

  He didn’t move, just stood there staring at her with his deep, blue, fathomless eyes. Unbidden, memories chased themselves around in her mind, like a kitten after a ball of twine. Memories of how it used to be between them, how he’d made her blood sing just by looking at her the way he did now. And when he’d touched her...

  Kate bit her lip. To her left, in the living room, the grandfather clock ticked away seconds that seemed to pass in a haze. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Steve’s eyes darkened with desire. His glance fell hotly to her lips, and she felt them part in response as an answering desire shuddered through her.

  It had always been this way between them. One look was all it took for rational thought to fly out the window. Even the bad times hadn�
��t been able to change this most elemental of chemical reactions.

  He took a step toward her, and the scent of his skin filled her nostrils and swirled through her veins. A wave of heat struck her at the look of unmistakable intention in his eyes. He was going to kiss her. No matter how unwise, she couldn’t ignore the way her body suddenly craved the feel of his, how her lips yearned for his possession.

  “Kate,” he murmured unsteadily, the raw need in his voice causing a pulsing heat to center low in her abdomen. His head lowered and his arms reached out to encircle her. Breathlessly she awaited his touch.

  The doorbell rang. Kate jumped, and Steve jerked away. He crossed to the door and peered through the newly installed peephole.

  “Dilbert’s here.” His voice was expressionless. “That is, if he’s six-one, has blond hair, blue eyes and a weak chin. Sound familiar?”

  “His name’s David,” she said, expelling a shaky breath. “And he doesn’t have a weak chin.”

  When Steve turned, the desire was gone from his eyes. They were once again remote, unreadable. “If you say so.”

  He opened the door, and Kate sent a silent prayer heavenward that her biggest fan would be found as soon as possible. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take.

  Chapter 5

  “So I told him,” David said, “that if he didn’t start flossing on a regular basis, pretty soon I’d be fitting him for false teeth.”

  Only half listening, Kate nodded. Careful to keep her scraped palms hidden, she took a bite of General Tso’s chicken. What was wrong with her? she wondered, while David expounded on the merits of different brands of dental floss. Why was she having so much trouble concentrating on the conversation?

  The atmosphere was ripe for romance. She wore her best dress. Her companion was decked out handsomely in a black suit and crisp white shirt. They sat alone together in a room softly lit by candlelight. Six dozen red roses, their heady perfume mixing pleasantly with the aroma of Chinese food, graced a mahogany table that had been set with her best china. By all rights, she should be staring starry-eyed at both her companion and the food.

  Instead, the spicy food tasted like sawdust in her mouth. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get her mind off the earlier scene with Steve in the front hallway. So keenly did Kate feel his presence, she continually fought the urge to look over her shoulder to see if he was standing behind her. Absurd as the thought was, having dinner with another man while Steve was in her house almost made her feel as if she were cheating on him.

  They were divorced. She was a single woman, free to date any man she chose. And the man she’d chosen tonight was David. Okay, so maybe she didn’t find the discussion of dental floss as scintillating as he did. And maybe, until this moment, she hadn’t realized how much time he spent talking about himself and his work.

  Still she shouldn’t be wasting her time, and his, thinking about her former husband. She most certainly shouldn’t have let herself become so distracted by thoughts of Steve that she’d allowed David to pull out her chair when they sat down to eat. She, Sara Katherina Garibaldi, the woman who never stood on ceremony, had done so in spite of herself.

  “I guess a lot of people are pretty lax about the care of their teeth,” she said.

  “You would be amazed,” David agreed. “I constantly find myself scratching my head at the things people do.”

  Irreverently she wondered how he would react if she told him that, whenever it came time for her to buy a new toothbrush, she simply picked out a color she liked, ignoring brand and styling. Most likely, he’d be horrified.

  “Tell me about some of them,” she said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

  He needed no further prompting. “Just the other day...”

  Settling her gaze on his animated face, Kate forced a smile and tried to focus on the conversation. David was an easy, outgoing man. He exuberantly shared all his thoughts and feelings with her, and would happily debate any subject she pleased. He was everything she’d always wanted Steve to be. Why was it, then, that she still found him curiously lacking? Especially tonight, with Steve in residence.

  But that was the way it had been since her divorce, she realized with a pang. She was twenty-nine years old, and the only lover she’d ever had was her ex-husband. Prior to meeting Steve and falling hopelessly in love with him, she’d been fighting so hard to be independent of any man’s influence that she’d never allowed herself to be drawn into a sexual relationship. After their divorce was final, no other man had ever been able to erase the memory of Steve’s kisses, the memory of his caresses. Would she never be free of Steve Gallagher?

  She recalled the early days of their relationship, when their passion for each other had seemed all-consuming. Due to malfunctioning birth control, she’d found herself pregnant and married almost before she could draw breath.

  Steve had changed after they married. The man who’d claimed to prize her independent spirit had suddenly wanted to know her every move. It was then that she realized she didn’t really know him. Oh, she knew a little about the past that had shaped him. She knew that his mother was dead, and that his father was in prison for killing her. She knew that his father had repeatedly beaten both Steve and his mother, and that after his mother’s death he’d been raised by his maternal grandparents. When she’d tried to learn more, though, she’d found herself pressing against an invisible wall.

  Although, after a few weeks of persistent demands, she’d finally gotten him to relax his claustrophobic vigil over her, she’d never been able to get him to open up to her. She’d known he was under a lot of pressure at work, but he wouldn’t talk about that, either. And, no matter how hard she’d tried to provoke him, he wouldn’t argue with her. While she’d regularly aroused the ire of many of her readers, the one person she’d never been able to anger was her husband.

  It wasn’t the arguments that killed a marriage, she’d learned. It was the silences. Her marriage to Steve had been more silent than most. Not surprisingly, at the same time that Steve was growing quieter and more withdrawn, Kate’s column was becoming more and more daring. Any reaction had been preferable to none.

  The only time Steve had ever seemed to relax and focus solely on her was when they’d made love. Not surprisingly, it was also the only time she’d felt close to him.

  After Molly died, and he immersed himself in his work to the exclusion of all else, she’d come to the inescapable conclusion that he didn’t love her, had in fact only married her because she was pregnant. That was when she left him. It had been destroying her soul to stay.

  Now he was back in her life, however temporarily, and she’d just discovered that he still wanted her. Worse, she wanted him, too. Badly. What was she going to do?

  “Kate?” David said. “Kate?”

  “Hmm?” She blinked and looked across the table at her date.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You seem miles away, and you’ve barely touched your food. Is there more going on here than you’ve shared with me? Is this threat more serious than you originally indicated?”

  She didn’t want to get into this right now. She’d had enough attention focused her way for one day. “It just feels a little strange having someone else here with us.”

  A frown creased his forehead. “Speaking of this bodyguard of yours, will you be okay, alone with him, after I leave? If you’d like, I’ll stay and sleep on the sofa.”

  His gallant offer made her smile. “Thank you, David. That’s very thoughtful of you. But I’ll be just fine.”

  “You feel safe with him here with you?”

  Physically, yes. But emotionally? That was a far different question.

  “I’ll be just fine,” she repeated. “So, tell me, what’s your opinion on pacifiers?”

  He shook his head and gave a rueful laugh. “Don’t get me started on that one.”

  “Please,” she urged. “I’m really interested.”

/>   As David launched into a detailed answer, Kate knew one thing with absolute certainty. Had their situations been reversed, and had Steve been the one sitting across from her at this table, he never would have offered to sleep on the sofa. He would have been in her bed. At her insistence.

  With dismay, she noted that David’s chin really was weak.

  The sound of Kate’s husky laughter floated into the room, and the pencil Steve was using snapped in half. His jaw ached from gritting his teeth, and he wiggled it back and forth, trying to relax.

  He really should be in there having dinner with the two of them, but he hadn’t been able to stomach the idea. If he’d had to sit there and watch Kate flirt with another man, he wasn’t certain he’d be able to keep his dinner down. Or his hands from wrapping around Dimwit what’s-his-name’s throat.

  So much for his objectivity, an absolute necessity in his line of work. He had to get a grip.

  The curtains were all drawn; no one could see in. If necessary, he could be by her side in under five seconds. The images played back to him on the television monitors were of a quiet, deserted street. Outside, his men were at their appointed stations and had reported no unusual activity. She was safe enough, he rationalized. Lover Boy was certainly no threat. One look was all it had taken for Steve to see how besotted the man was. What he hadn’t been able to assess were Kate’s feelings.

  How long had they been dating? he wondered. Though he got the sense that the relationship was still new, still tentative, he wasn’t certain whether his conclusion was based on objective observation, or wishful thinking.

  She’d looked beautiful in that black dress. Kate’s wasn’t a conventional beauty. Her face was too round, her lips too full, her hips and shoulders just a touch too broad. Put together, however, her features had combined to form a package he hadn’t been able to resist. A package he still found hard to resist.

  He never had liked women who looked so fragile they might break. He preferred women who had substance. Kate was definitely substantial. He’d always thought of her as a cat: sleek, independent, purring like mad when petted, and impossible to own.