by Helen Conrad
She gave him as much as she could manage of a reproving look. “Things are going just fine, thank you,” she said icily.
Colonel Carrington finally looked up, and when he did, he gasped, then gave a delighted guffaw. “Tanner, my boy. When did you arrive?”
The blue-eyed man smiled, and for once there was no hint of his cynical nature in the expression. “About two hours ago. How have you been, Uncle John?”
It took a moment for the words to sink in. Kat felt her stomach do a flip-flop.
“Uncle John?” she echoed faintly, blanching as she stared at first one, then the other. “Uncle John?”
“Yes, my dear. Please allow me to introduce my great-nephew, Tanner Carrington. He’s my nephew’s boy, but he’s always been just like a son to me. He called me the other day and I invited him to come on down for a visit if he had some time free.” He smiled warmly. “I want him to meet your mother, of course. Tanner, this is Kat Clay, Mildred’s daughter.”
“Daughter?” He paused, surprised. So this wasn’t the temptress in the flesh. That was a welcome relief.
“Yes, of course. Just wait until you meet Mildred, my boy. She’s a peach.”
“Yes,” Tanner said faintly. “I am looking forward to that. I’ve heard so much about her.”
His blue eyes narrowed, looking down at Kat. She wasn’t the widow, but she was definitely a part of the game. It was going to be his pleasure finding out just how she fit into the play.
“May I?” He gestured toward the seat.
She was still having trouble assimilating this relationship and it took her a couple of seconds to realize what he wanted. “Oh. Of course.” Scooting back in, she made as much room for him as she could.
“Thank you.”
He came in next to her in one smooth move. The booth was only meant for two and seating was tight. Surely he didn’t mean to press his thigh against hers. But there it was.
She sat very still, her eyes wide, much too much aware of the physical nature of the man beside her. Her cheeks were warm again, and she only half listened as the two of them chatted about family matters.
Well, that just about tied things as far as she was concerned. Now she would never get anywhere with Colonel Carrington. She tried to think back over things she’d said to Tanner, things that might incriminate her if they were repeated, but she’d been in such a tizzy over this whole affair, the words were a blur to her now.
She could however, remember some of the things he’d said, such as “seduction” and “happy hunting.” Good grief. The maniac thought she was making a play for his uncle, that much was clear. The irony of the situation failed to amuse her at the moment.
But who cared, anyway? This match was over for now. The score was advantage Carrington as far as she was concerned. All she wanted to do was get back to her mother and see if she could talk to her about common sense and not trusting strangers. And maybe make a quick phone call to Ted while she was at it.
“So, Miss Clay, your mother has won a lottery.”
“Yes.” She looked up and found both sets of eyes on her. Here they were, at the crux of the matter. She hardened her gaze at the same time she hardened her resolve. There was no way these two were getting their hands on her mother’s lottery money.
“Yes,” she said more firmly, then added off the top of her head, “Isn’t that wonderful? But she’s already decided to give every cent to charity.”
Tanner laughed out loud. He couldn’t help it.
She was fast on her feet, he had to give her that. She was also too cute for her own good. And he had to admit he was glad to find out that she wasn’t the one his uncle had fallen for. He was certainly interested in meeting her mother, the winner of the probably completely fictitious lottery money. If she was anything like her daughter, this was going to provide a few days’ worth of entertainment, if nothing else.
“Just as altruistic as her daughter, I see,” he murmured softly, eyes gleaming.
Kat stared into his gaze for a moment, unable to think of a thing to say. It was obvious he didn’t believe a word she uttered. Why did this man seem determined to think the worst of her?
“Oh, my,” Colonel Carrington was saying, shaking his head. “Mildred hadn’t told me that. I’m afraid I should have to counsel against any such move. I’m sure she would regret it.”
Kat swallowed hard. That was just what any fortune hunter would say. Was he or wasn’t he? Did he or didn’t he? How on earth was she going to know for sure?
“And what is this my uncle tells me? Were you really married to Jeffrey Collingham?” Suddenly Tanner’s voice was penetrating her thoughts again. “I never met Jeffrey, but I went to school with his cousin Randolph. We were roommates at Harrington.”
The eyes she was gazing into now were cool and assessing. It was very clear his cynicism was still running rampant.
“I hadn’t heard Jeffrey had died. I’m sorry. I’ll have to convey my condolences to Randolph, as well. We correspond.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Often.”
The statement hung in the air, and then Tanner’s face changed. “Say,” he said, “I do believe I heard Randolph was down here for the month. Maybe we could get the two of you together. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
The old phrase, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” was pounding in Kat’s brain like a migraine. How was she going to get out of this one?
But wait a minute. She had been married to Jeffrey. At least that part was true. She straightened her backbone and lifted her chin. This was no time to shrivel up and whine for mercy.
Besides, she had never heard of this Cousin Randolph, and she had no doubt Tanner was making the whole thing up just to see her squirm. She wasn’t about to give him that satisfaction.
She took a deep breath and smiled into those merciless blue eyes.
“Died? Why, whatever gave you that idea? As far as I know, Jeffrey is alive and well and on a barefoot cruise of the Bahamas right about now.”
The colonel looked puzzled. “But you said you’d lost him....”
Her chiming laugh probably didn’t fool anyone, but it helped raise her spirits. “I did lose him. You see, we were divorced—oh, I guess it was about seven years ago.” She tossed her blond curls over her shoulder. “It took me quite some time to get over it.”
The blue eyes were laughing appreciatively but she didn’t have the time to take a bow, and she didn’t care what he thought anyway. She wasn’t about to sit here and wait while the two of them compared notes and gave her the third degree.
“I really will have to be going,” she said breezily. “It’s been nice meeting you, Tanner.”
He slid out first so she could get by and the colonel stood at the same time, thanking her effusively for the lovely lunch. She accepted his gratitude with a smile, then hurried away, allowing herself just one backward glance, which she immediately regretted.
There was something about the look in Tanner Carrington’s eyes that told her they were in for another conversation—soon.
CHAPTER THREE:
Hero on a Jet Ski
Turning into the lobby of the hotel restaurant, Kat went directly to the bank of telephones. Sliding into one of the low seats, she dialed the number and waited…waited ...waited...until she had a stroke of luck and Ted came on the line.
A voice from home. Ted was such a good friend. She felt a wave of affection for the man.
“I grilled him up one side and down the other,” she told him brightly. “He was charming, he was gallant, he was amusing.” She hesitated, then rushed on. “And I have to tell you, Ted, there were times at lunch when I really got the feeling he might be for real. I mean, he seems so enchanted by my mother, it’s really cute....”
Ted sighed heavily. “Send a woman to do a man’s job,” he commented dryly. “And this is what you get. Charm becomes a lethal weapon.”
Kat made a face at the receiver. “Ted, it’s not like that. I�
�m as careful as anyone and I’m not about to be bowled over, but he really is nice and—“
“Okay, okay, enough pussyfooting around. Give me his full name, and I’ll get down to the investigative work you should have let me do in the first place.’’
Kat hesitated. She hadn’t wanted to do this. It seemed underhanded, an invasion of the man’s privacy. But she was getting nowhere on her own, wasn’t she?
“All right,” she said, sighing. “The name he seems to go by is Colonel John Carrington.”
“You said that before. There is a prominent Carrington family out there on the West Coast. Old money. Lots of local political influence.” He sighed. “But you said you don’t think it’s the same Carringtons, right? You said he was a Brit?”
“That’s what I thought at first. He has kind of an accent, but I think it’s more Ivy League than... than...”
Suddenly her gaze, which had been staring blankly out of the telephone booth, met the piercing blue eyes of Tanner Carrington, and her voice faltered.
“Kat? Are you there?” Ted was shouting on the line. “Are you on a cell phone? I think we’re losing our connection. Don’t worry. I know what to do. I’ll have our researchers go back through the files twenty years. We’ll go to microfiche. We’ll find whatever we have on this guy and we’ll nail him.”
“Ted,” she said softly, her hand cupping the mouthpiece so that Tanner wouldn’t be able to read her lips—a talent she, for some reason, had no doubt he possessed. “There’s someone new in the picture. The colonel has this nephew, Tanner Carrington, who has arrived.”
Ted hesitated for a moment. “Are the two of them in cahoots?’’
Kat sighed. “‘In cahoots’? Ted, are you watching those old John Wayne movies on your lunch hour again?”
“Everyone should have a hobby.” He sighed. “I’ll get on this right away, Katherine. Call me later today. I’ll fill you in on whatever I’ve got on the good colonel.”
Ted rang off, but Kat sat very still, the receiver glued to her ear. Once she admitted her call was over and emerged from the booth, she knew she was fair game.
She needed a moment to catch her breath, and she watched Tanner Carrington covertly, trying to plan an escape. He was lounging against the wall, a big brown paper bag in his hand—obviously waiting for her. How was she going to avoid him?
Someone from the desk approached Tanner, seemingly with some problem, and Kat took the opportunity to slam down the phone and leave the booth while his attention was diverted. She hurried toward the side entrance, congratulating herself on her speed and foresight as she slipped out. Looking back, she could see no one in the hallway behind her. She’d made it.
Relief wiped out the feeling of foreboding that had been building and she made her way quickly down the winding path toward the dock where the little ferry stopped to take residents out to the cottage-covered islands that filled the lagoon.
Her mother was waiting in one of those red-tiled cottages. She wanted to get to her before the colonel did. It was time she laid out her doubts and made her mother listen to reason.
Mildred Clay had been like a woman on a merry-go-round since she’d won the lottery. She was riding a very lovely horse, up and down, around and around, throwing her head back, enjoying every moment. She didn’t want to get off, she didn’t want to think about what was going to happen if the music stopped. She just wanted to go on and on, for as long as she could make it last.
“I’m in heaven,” she’d told her daughter the night before. “Don’t talk to me about being careful. I was careful all my life, and what did it get me? I want to be wild. I want to live.”
Kat had held her tongue at the time, but she knew she was going to have to make her mother face reality at some point. The colonel might be the man of Mildred Clay’s dreams—or he might be a con man. As long as her mother at least acknowledged the possibility and promised to be on the lookout, Kat would be satisfied.
There might yet be time for one good, long, woman-to-woman talk before the colonel romanced her mother into such a dreamworld that she wouldn’t be able to recognize reality if it came up and sat in her lap. Kat felt compelled to hurry. She had to get to her mother before the colonel did.
The ferry dock was just ahead. She rounded the last stand of palms and ran smack into a large, hard body that turned out to be Tanner Carrington, who stopped her from falling with one strong, sure arm around her shoulders.
“Whoa, what’s your hurry?”
His voice was smooth with confidence. She looked up at him resentfully. Why did he always seem to be laughing at her?
“You can let go of me now,” she pointed out, trying to ignore how strong his arm felt, how close his breath was to her face. “I can stand on my own two feet.”
He released her but didn’t move away. “Are you sure?” he asked. “You seem hell-bent on losing your balance, one way or another.”
She didn’t bother to try to analyze what he meant by that. Glancing at the alternative pathways from the main hotel, she frowned. “How did you get down here so fast?” she asked, resenting it.
His grin was almost diabolical. “The thought of catching you put wings on my feet,” he confessed. “And here you thought you’d been so crafty.”
She stared at the man. If he really understood that she wanted to avoid him, why was he making such a pest of himself?
Again as though he’d read her mind, he laughed and said, “Don’t panic. All I wanted to do was give you this.”
He presented her with the brown paper bag. “You forgot to gather your potted geraniums when you left in such a rush. The waiter bundled them up for you and I volunteered to make sure you got them.”
She took the bag reluctantly, biting her lip. She had no idea what he thought of her, but she was pretty sure she didn’t really want to know. How odd he must think her, to set up decorative flowers just to have lunch with his uncle.
She managed a tight smile. “Thank you.” She turned toward the ferry, where an unusually large crowd was forming.
“Don’t bother,” Tanner said very near her ear. “The ferry’s broken down. They expect it’ll be an hour or so before they can get it running again.”
“Oh, no.” She bit her lip, thinking of her mother all alone at the cottage. She was anxious to get to her and iron things out, “Are there boats or anything like that I could hire?”
He shrugged. “I doubt it. I’m sure they’re all hired out by now. What’s the rush?”
She glanced up at him, then took a small step to the side. The man stood too close, and his physical presence was too unsettling. She didn’t like to feel that she was being pulled into his sphere of influence.
“I want to check on my mother. She woke up with a bad headache this morning. I… I want to make sure she’s all right.”
“Don’t worry. Uncle John will take care of that.”
“What?” She looked up at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged his wide shoulders. “Uncle John is looking in on her.”
Kat’s heart sank. That was all she needed. “But how can he, if the ferry isn’t running?”
He nodded out toward the middle of the bay. Kat whirled and watched as a man on a Jet Ski went sailing by, engine buzzing like an angry bee. Wide, dark goggles covered his eyes. A wet suit covered his tall body, fitting like a glove. He looked wild and masculine, a seagoing motorcycle bandit. The spray from his wake sailed behind him like a silver wing as he turned and headed toward the island. Without thinking, Kat grabbed Tanner’s forearm with both hands, letting the brown paper bag crash to the ground.
“What is that?” she demanded, staring after the retreating figure.
“That’s Uncle John on a Jet Ski, going out to see your mother,” Tanner said happily. “He’ll take good care of her. Never fear.”
Hope left Kat like air from a spent balloon. Instinctively, she knew her mother would be swept away by the romanticism of the man riding out to protect h
er like that, looking so vital, so—she cringed with the realization—so sexy.
Her mother was a goner. There was no way Kat was going to get through to Mildred counseling restraint when she had this to contend with. The only thing that would save the day would be absolute proof that the man was a crook.
And what if he wasn’t?
“You don’t need to look so sad,” Tanner said softly. “I’m sure you’ll get another chance at him later.”
She looked up into his eyes and was surprised to see they’d turned as icy as a glacial storm, though she couldn’t imagine why that should be. Suddenly she realized she was still clutching his arm and she let go, her gaze still caught by his.
Why was he looking so stern? She was the one in trouble. She turned away, looking toward the crowd around the ferry. Once they got it running, it would still be ages before she would be able to get on. It only carried twenty people at best. She sighed and wished she had the nerve to swim for the island.
Walking slowly, she went toward the boardwalk. Tanner came along, though she’d half expected him to leave. She stopped and leaned against the beach wall, and he leaned beside her.
Together they gazed out at the turquoise water, the palm-covered islands. The sun was warm on her shoulders and the cries of sea gulls contrasted with the soothing sound of lapping water, but the presence Tanner exuded made the other sensations of the day fade in comparison.
Kat wasn’t sure why he was still with her and she wished he would go away. She had enough problems to contend with without him providing this potent sense of masculine awareness so close beside her.
The air was soft as a silk scarf, warm as a June morning at home, and the voices that floated their way were carved in languages from around the world,
“Quite a change from Nebraska, I imagine,” he said at last.
She glanced at him, then away, feeling defensive. “Nebraska isn’t quite the backwater you probably think it is,” she said.
“Probably not. Stereotypes like that don’t often stand up these days, do they?” The ice had melted from his eyes, but they were wary, watchful. “I hear you work for a newspaper?”
