by Unknown
For the first time, she could sit and watch him drive. She enjoyed herself, trying to avoid staring constantly at him. “There’s a pay phone a block from my shop, out on the corner in front of a gas station.”
He merely nodded, seeming preoccupied, and she wondered if he wanted her to stop chattering. “Are you going to let your family know where you are?”
He glanced at her and then back at the road. “I hadn’t thought about it. I’m so accustomed to them not knowing where I am, that I didn’t think about telling them. But if we’re leaking it anyway, there’s no reason for them not to know. I’ll call my dad and tell him what’s up.”
“If someone wants to call you, how can they if you’re only talking on pay phones?”
“It won’t matter with my family because we won’t be discussing anything that would cause any damage if the phone’s tapped. My Washington contact will know to avoid a call and I’ll check in often with him.”
She nodded. “So how well do you know your way around Stallion Pass?” she asked as they entered the town and passed a sign that read Welcome To Stallion Pass, Texas. “Do I need to give you a tour?”
“No. I checked that out before I went to Mike’s house.” He glanced at her. “There’s no one even trying to date you right now?” he asked.
“Nope. Getting ready to ask me out?” she teased.
He shot her a stormy look before he yanked his attention back to his driving.
She laughed. “Forget it, Colin! I couldn’t resist. You’re wound up so tight and sometimes I can’t keep from teasing you. Remember, I grew up with Boone.”
“You know, Isabella, what happens to people who play with fire?” Colin asked in a quiet voice that should have been a warning to her.
“My simple question wasn’t playing with fire. You’re surely not that touchy!”
“All right. I’ll call your bluff.” His smoke colored glance nailed her and her heart hammered.
Chapter 6
“L et’s go to dinner tonight. We were going to eat together at your house anyway. So will you go out with me?”
The question hung in the air and her first reaction was regret that she hadn’t kept her mouth shut and not taunted him. Then her confident nature asserted itself along with the nagging wish that he would come out of his funk.
“Yes, I’ll go to dinner with you tonight.”
She got another quick glance with a sardonic arch of his eyebrow. “You’re not afraid of the person after me?”
“You’ll be there to protect me,” she replied.
“I suspect that you don’t know what fear is, any more than your brother Boone does.”
Without directions, Colin drove unerringly through town to her studio. She liked this town and enjoyed looking around. Boone had told her that Stallion Pass was the product of both old and new money and it showed in the fancy shops, elegant restaurants and numerous office buildings. A green, tree-shaded town square with a large three-tiered fountain gushing sparkling water was the center of the business district and her shop was on the west side of the square.
“You know the way,” she said as they approached her place.
“I didn’t know it belonged to you. I never connected it to a kid called Izzie when I saw the name of the studio while I was checking out the town.”
She looked at her red-brick studio positioned in a line of shops. A green-and-white-striped awning stood above the plate-glass windows that displayed some of her photographs. An iron scroll-work sign gave the name. Portraits By Isabella.
“Just park in back,” she instructed. He drove into an alley that had been decorated by the shop owners with striped awnings above doors and windows with potted plants by each door.
“Mighty fancy alley,” Colin remarked.
“A lot of these shops on both streets that back up to this alley are artists, plus a florist and a bookstore, so they got together and agreed to keep the alley attractive.”
“These were established before you moved back. How’d you get a shop in here?”
“Boone heard about it before it went on the market to be leased and that’s when he talked me into moving here. He leased it before he had my agreement because he knew he could turn around and sublease it if I didn’t come.”
“The determined Devlins,” Colin remarked. “Once your brother sinks his teeth into something, he doesn’t let up, and I guess it runs in the family.”
“Are you suggesting I’ve sunk my teeth into you?” she asked, unable to resist the opening even though she knew she was flirting with him when she had promised herself she would do no such thing.
He had opened the car door and been about to step out, but he sat back inside the car and shut the door, turning to her, and her pulse jumped.
He slid one arm along the back of the seat and placed his other hand on her door, hemming her in, and her pulse revved even more. She was looking into his eyes and he was only inches away. His gaze was hot, intense and filled with desire.
“Isabella, you can sink your teeth into any part of me anytime you want to,” he drawled in a husky voice.
“You know I was teasing you,” she said, barely able to get the words out, locked into his gaze that held her totally.
“Aha! You started this. Getting cold feet?”
She raised her chin and narrowed her eyes while her pulse jumped higher. “No, I’m not,” she replied, leaning forward to lightly catch his lower lip between her teeth.
Her heart thudded and her pulse roared and for an instant she wondered if he was going to remain immobile and unresponsive and embarrass her to death. Then his arms wrapped around her waist and his mouth covered hers, his tongue moving over hers as he kissed her hard.
Winding her arms around his neck, she kissed him, wanting to stir him out of that cold indifference, momentarily throwing caution to the wind.
She succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. He yanked her closer, leaning over her, kissing her until all thought evaporated. She was on fire, her insides melting while she clung to him and kissed him in return. One arm held her tightly as his other hand roamed down her front over her breast, sliding down across her thigh.
His kiss devoured her; the impact even stronger than the first time he had kissed her. She shook with need that flared to life. An ache started low inside her, building with each stroke of his tongue.
Her fingers played in his thick hair and she ran one hand across his broad shoulder. She longed to twist beneath him and thrust her hips against him, but the gearshift lay between them.
She kissed him in exultation. The man in her arms now was very much alive, filled with passion, driving her to a need she hadn’t felt for a long time. Her body ached and perspiration dampened her skin where she felt the heat from his body.
They should not goad each other, yet how could she resist? And no way could she regret his fabulous kisses that tore her apart at the same time they made her want him desperately.
“You’re very much alive, Colin,” she whispered, brushing kisses to his ear to bite his earlobe gently and then lightly nip his neck. He leaned down, kissing her breast, his breath hot even through her blouse. And even through her clothing, the kiss made her almost faint.
She caught his head, yanking it up, and they looked at each other a moment. The clash of wills was tangible. His smoldering gaze held anger and desire, but her pulse leaped because his expression was passion-filled and he was very much turning into a warm, breathing human who wanted to kiss and to love instead of the cold, walking zombie she had first clashed with.
“You minx!” he said, holding her tightly before leaning down again to kiss her.
“Colin,” she whispered, twisting away from him. “Stop. We’re in a very public place—my alley where a lot of people come and go and it’s definitely broad daylight and everyone around here knows me.”
“You should have thought of that before you taunted me, Isabella,” he said, bending his head to kiss her again, another fiery kiss that blew
her thought processes into oblivion.
How long they kissed, she didn’t know. But dimly, after due time, she knew she had to stop him. She pushed against a chest that felt like a slab of granite. Only this was Colin, flesh-and-blood male, warm, sculpted muscles, sexy.
He continued to devour her and she struggled to get her wits together and to have enough backbone to break away from his spectacular mouth.
This time she really pushed and he raised his head again. His gaze bore through her as he wrapped his hand in her pigtail and tilted her face up to his. “You goad and taunt, Isabella. Beware. You’re doing this at your own risk.”
“I can take care of myself.” She flung the words at him, twisting quickly so her head was out of his grasp. She pushed against his chest. “And I think I proved my point,” she said smugly. “Now you move away.”
For the first time since his return, he looked as if amusement danced in his gray eyes, but she couldn’t be sure. One dark eyebrow arched in that manner he had. “You’re still saving strays and you think you’ll put another notch in your belt with me.”
“And you don’t want to be saved, do you? You want to stay numb and dead, right? Well, I think you’re coming back into it whether you want to or not,” she told him triumphantly.
“And you’re going to do your damnedest to get me there, aren’t you?” he said, leaning closer and looking her directly in the eye.
“Maybe there are moments, but I know you’re not my project and I don’t have to save a soul here.”
“I don’t think I’m the only one with my heart locked away. The reasons are as different as day and night, but your heart is just as off limits as mine.”
“That’s not—” she started, but he cut her short.
“Isabella!” he drawled, his gaze piercing her.
She raised her chin. “Get out of the car.”
This time she was certain she glimpsed a hint of a smile before he turned away. Since he had not smiled yet, she almost reached for his arm to yank him back to see if he was smiling, but she knew better. She needed to learn to leave him alone because he rose to every challenge and responded to each provoked taunt.
Was she really that big a sucker for strays and lost souls?
Climbing out of the car, she didn’t want to answer her own question. He stood waiting at her back door. She noticed he hadn’t come around to open her door for her, but she wouldn’t have waited for him to do so anyway.
She unlocked the door and switched off the alarm while he stood close enough behind her that she could feel the warmth of his body.
“This alarm is better than the one at the ranch, but not good enough.”
“I think it’s just like all the others in the shops on the block.”
“It can be changed.” He moved through the supply room and into a hallway. He paused at the door of her office and stepped back to let her enter first. He followed, walking around the room with the ease and curiosity of a cat. “Nice office,” he said, pausing to look at the pictures on the wall. He gazed at one she had taken of guanacos in Patagonia. He looked back at her. “These are spectacular pictures!”
“You sound surprised.”
“I’m surprised. These are excellent. You’ve buried yourself in Stallion Pass. You should be working in New York or L.A.”
“I left California to come here and this is just fine, thank you.”
“You’re excellent at this,” Colin said, moving around the room to look at photographs. He strolled to stand in front of another wall of framed awards. “These are national and international awards, Isabella. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you. It would be nicer if you didn’t sound so tremendously surprised as if you hadn’t thought I could possibly be any good.”
“Don’t get touchy. I just figured you would do those sweet sentimental shots that make people warm and fuzzy. These are fantastic.”
She felt warm and fuzzy with his praise because she knew he meant it.
“Make yourself at home,” she told him. “I need to get the studio ready.”
She left him on his own, but she was aware whenever he was in the room with her or when she could see him. In the large reception area at the front of her shop, he moved around, looking at pictures on display. “These are really great. Every one of them.”
“I’m glad you think so. I’ll tell Nick when he arrives because some of those are his photos. He’s my other photographer. If I can’t do pictures, he can. He’s very good and I don’t think he will work here long at all. Except he grew up on a ranch in this area and he likes Stallion Pass.”
“Nick…?”
“Nick Warner. He’ll be here soon and you’ll meet him.”
Colin continued to prowl the entire shop, including climbing into the unfinished attic that could only be reached by a small opening in one of the closets.
When he came down, she was in the hall. “What did you find up there besides wires, cobwebs and insulation?”
“Fire walls for one thing. Which is reassuring. No one can get into an attic at the end of the block and come all the way down here through attics.”
His remarks reminded her again of the danger and she knew she had to warn her employees or give them some time off. “Come meet Nick and Sandy. I’m going to have to explain you to them, but I’ll do that later today. I’ve already told Nick a little on the phone this morning.”
Colin followed her to a room where a lean, muscular man was setting up lights.
“Nick, meet Colin Garrick. Colin, this is the photographer whose work you admired, Nick Warner.”
“Your pictures are good,” Colin said, shaking hands with Nick. “I’m sure you hear that a lot.”
“Thanks. It’s still nice to hear again. I’m getting ready for our first appointment.”
“Go ahead. Don’t let me interfere.”
“We’ll leave you, Nick. Come meet Sandy,” Isabella said, turning to leave the room.
“Colin,” Nick said and Colin turned back as Nick crossed the room to stand close.
“Isabella said there might be some danger. Someone is after you. I just wanted you to know that I have a pistol. I know how to use it and I keep it with me.”
“That’s unusual in a peaceful place like this.”
“I grew up on a ranch and we have rattlesnakes. Then I served a brief stint in the military—Eighty-second Airborne.”
“I feel better about leaving Isabella here. That’s comforting news. Although she’s capable of taking care of herself.”
“That she is,” Nick said with a grin that had Colin wondering how Nick knew she could protect herself. He could well imagine what would happen if someone surprised her at work when the studio was empty.
“Thanks for telling me. I don’t want to put any of you in danger, but I think that’s already happened even though I’m the one someone is after. Isabella really has no part in it except to be in the wrong place at the wrong time if something happens.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open.”
Colin nodded and went down the hall to join Isabella. Behind the reception desk was a smiling blond with big blue eyes.
“Sandy, this is Colin Garrick. Colin, this is my receptionist and secretary, Sandy Holcomb.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said and received another big smile.
“Thanks. Isabella said you’re staying in Stallion Pass for a while.”
“Yes, I am. It’s a nice place.” Colin chatted with her a few minutes and realized Isabella had left them. He told Sandy goodbye and wandered back to Isabella’s office where he found her seated behind her desk. He paused in the doorway.
“I’m going to drive to San Antonio to Mike’s office now. Want to eat lunch with us? We could drive back here and meet you”
“No, thanks. I have a busy schedule.”
“I’m holding you to the dinner date tonight.”
“I wouldn’t think of breaking it,” she told him coolly and once again was certain she saw a fla
re of amusement in his gray eyes.
“Just in case, promise you’ll give me a call if any strangers show up. I’ll feel better.”
“Fine. But this is a photography studio and strangers do come in on a regular basis.”
“Women and children are excluded.”
She nodded. “I know what to look for.”
“No, you don’t. And neither do I, so just be careful. Is Nick here most of the time?”
“Yes, unless he’s out with a customer. We take pictures in people’s homes, in parks, wherever.”
“Nick is reassuring, but take care,” Colin said and left through the back door.
Isabella moved to the front to watch for him because the pay phone was on the opposite corner.
In minutes Colin strolled past, along with others out shopping and running morning errands. He stood out and she saw more than one female turn to stare at him after he had passed.
In his dark clothing with his rugged handsomeness and his height, there was no way he could blend into a crowd in Stallion Pass. Besides, the locals all knew each other.
She looked at the door of her shop. She hadn’t unlocked and opened for business yet and even with Nick and Sandy here, she felt very much alone for the first time in this business. An uneasy feeling bothered her and she knew that Colin had brought danger to Texas.
Trouble was coming and it was just a matter of time. She thought about Boone. She didn’t want her brother in danger. When he had gotten out of the service, she had been enormously relieved—to an extent that surprised herself because she always thought she had accepted his risky lifestyle. Now they were once again plunged into danger and she had voluntarily put herself in harm’s way.
Colin stood at the corner and used the pay phone to make the call that would bring the killer to Texas.
In minutes he was through on the private line to his superior, General Adam Kowalski. “Sir, Blackthorn here,” Colin said, using a code name.
