Dante grinned at her. "I don't know about that. You put on a convincing show for the guy in the black sedan this morning. Anybody who still knows exactly how to pinch a guy's butt can't be counted out."
"Why, thank you." Cora looked pleased with that assessment. "And if necessary, I'll talk to BJ. You're a sweet boy, Dante, but my tastes run more toward short professors of astronomy."
"Then it's settled," Lex said.
"Not quite." Gillian gazed at him. "Unless I missed something, you didn't ask me if I wanted you to move in here."
He met her gaze. "It's the only logical thing to do. Dante could serve the same function, but that causes more complications, and the other passengers, like BJ, for example, probably wouldn't accept that as easily."
"Gillian, darling." Cora walked over to her and put an arm around her waist. "I know this isn't quite what you envisioned. I wish it could be different, but we have someone on board with breaking-and-entering skills I hadn't imagined before this. I'll sleep much better knowing Lex is here to protect you."
Gillian didn't think she was going to sleep at all. Between sharing the room with Lex and having a killer stalking her, she might have to stay awake until they docked in Mexico. But this arrangement did make the most sense, and she didn't want Cora to worry. The woman had already put considerable effort into keeping her friend safe, and Gillian appreciated that more than she could say.
"Okay." She glanced at Lex. "We'll try it and see how it goes."
"Good." He didn't smile or show any emotion whatsoever. From his blank expression, anyone would think he'd just arranged to have his car taken in for repairs.
Maybe car repair would have brought more animation to his face, Gillian thought. He seemed to like his car a lot. She wouldn't have wanted him to gloat at his success in setting up this cohabitation, but she wouldn't have minded a little show of feeling. He'd certainly enjoyed their make-out session up on deck, and now he was proposing to spend entire nights with her. Surely that presented some possibilities to him.
If it did, he gave no indication as he left to pack up his belongings. Once he was gone, Gillian ducked into the bathroom and put her panties back on. Then she tucked Lex's handkerchief in a laundry bag provided by the cruise staff. Later on, she'd decide whether to send it to be cleaned. Right now she had more pressing concerns, like the issue of spending an entire night with the owner of the handkerchief.
As Gillian helped Cora get her things together, she discovered she wouldn't gain as much closet space as she'd expected. It turned out that Cora had brought the huge suitcase loaded mostly with outfits for Gillian.
"I knew you wouldn't bring them if I left it up to you." Cora stepped over the little sill into the bathroom and started packing her toiletries. "And I wanted you to have a dynamite wardrobe with plenty of choices for these few days, considering . . . well, under the circumstances."
Gillian leaned in the door of the bathroom and wondered how in the world she'd feel comfortable sharing this tiny space, including a small shower, with Lex. "The circumstances being that I'll have to leave with only the clothes on my back," Gillian said.
"I didn't want to put that fine a point on it."
"It's okay. You can put a fine point on it. I need to face reality. For one thing, I don't have my passport. That could cause me problems." It occurred to her that the person who took it was sending a subtle message that she wouldn't be needing that passport anymore. What an awful thought.
"Don't you have a copy of it somewhere?" Cora asked.
"In my apartment, but how does that help?"
"Once you get settled, you can send me your address. I'll mail you your passport copy, plus anything else you need."
Cora's calm belief that Gillian would make it to safety and establish a mailing address was comforting, but Gillian couldn't ignore the dangers of that. "What if the Mob traces me through you?"
"I'll research the best way to keep that from happening. We can work through my lawyer, for one thing. Don't worry. I'll be very careful."
Gillian was cheered by the thought of contact with Cora. Jumping off into the middle of nowhere was frightening, but knowing there would be contact from home now and then helped a lot.
"It'll be fine," Cora said.
Gillian took a deep breath. "It will. I was getting really scared a little while ago, but the whole panty thing wiped out that hysterical reaction."
Cora kept packing her makeup case, but a little smile dimpled her cheek. "I thought something exciting was going on between you two during the lecture, but I couldn't see very well, and besides, I didn't want to spy on you."
"It was exciting," Gillian said. "And sexy. But I wouldn't say it was romantic."
Cora zipped her flowered case and turned to Gillian. "Did you happen to notice that Lex wasn't going to mention how he got those panties? He was waiting for you to say something. If you'd stayed quiet, I think he would have let Dante and me think he stole them out of your underwear drawer."
"I wouldn't have let you think that. It wouldn't have been fair to him."
"I know you wouldn't, but I'm only pointing out that until you told us, he was going to protect your honor. Revealing the circumstances was totally up to you."
Gillian hadn't thought of that. It was noble, in a way, now that she replayed the interaction. Dante had asked Lex, point-blank, and he hadn't answered.
"I think that's sort of romantic," Cora said.
"Sort of. I guess." Gillian wasn't going to suddenly agree that Lex was a romantic guy, because she had a hunch that he wasn't that way often, certainly not often enough for a person like her.
But once again, she was debating something pointless. The person who excited Lex looked like Marilyn Monroe. Gillian McCormick might not excite him at all.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Check the peephole," Cora said. "You have to remember to do that from now on."
"Right." She peered out and there was Lex, his image distorted by the fish-eye lens of the peephole. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder, but he was carrying his jacket, which was still folded the way it had been when they'd left the top deck.
Maybe using his jacket to save her dress had been sort of romantic, too. But she didn't want to go looking for romantic gestures and fool herself into thinking he was somebody he was not. It didn't matter anyway. In two days she'd never see him again.
CORA WASN'T HAPPY THAT SOMEONE HAD BROKEN into Gillian's room and stolen her passport, but she was overjoyed that Lex had decided to move in and protect Gillian from whatever lurked out there. Still smiling over that, she allowed Dante to help her pull her suitcase inside.
"You look like the Cheshire cat," he said. "Are you playing matchmaker with those two?"
"That would be foolish, wouldn't it? Lex has to go back to L.A. and work with you, and Gillian has to take off for South America,"
Dante maneuvered the suitcase into the room. "I'm glad to hear you say that. I'd hate to think you were trying to get my partner to go to South America with Gillian."
"Did he say anything about that?" Cora's heart beat faster at the thought that her plan might have already taken root. To hide her excitement, she unzipped her suitcase and started hanging up her clothes.
"You know Lex." Dante plopped on his bed and lay back, his hands behind his head. "Plays his cards close to his vest. But he wouldn't want to leave me in the lurch. I trust him not to do that."
Cora loved Dante like a grandson, and she didn't want him to suffer. "Let's say Lex made the decision to go with Gillian—"
"Aha!" Dante bounced upright. "You are plotting for that to happen!"
"Dante, calm yourself. Lex isn't the only PI in the world. I'm sure you could find someone else who would make a good partner."
"Omigod. You do see him leaving. And no, I couldn't find someone else who would make a good partner. Lex is the steady one, the person who remembers to pay the rent, the person who convinces clients that we're legit. We all know I'm
a loose cannon."
Cora paused, a purple dress over her arm. "That's your choice. You don't have to be a loose cannon."
"Cora, I've been loose ever since I knew the meaning of the word. It's what I am, what defines me. It's my essence."
"Oh, cut the psychobabble. Have you been seeing that shrink again?"
"Yeah, but only because she's hot. She likes my loose-cannonness."
Cora sighed and hung her purple dress in the closet. She'd never raised children of her own, but dealing with Lex, Dante, and Gillian gave her a good idea of the frustrations involved. "Dante, is BJ somebody who could be important to you?"
He looked away. "Uh, maybe."
"She doesn't strike me as the kind of girl who goes running after loose cannons."
"Look, we're veering off the subject here. BJ is a whole different thing. And if I expect to get her, I need to be a respectable PI. And to be a respectable PI, I need to be in business with Lex Manchester. End of story."
Cora decided nothing was going to be settled tonight. "We could be talking about something that could never happen."
"Yes, but I have the distinct impression that you're promoting this thing that might never happen. You're tickled pink that they're tucked into that room together, aren't you?"
"Yes, because it will help ensure that Gillian stays safe."
"That's not all that will take place in there, and you know it." Dante's dark eyes bored into hers.
"Don't be so certain. She's a Cancer and he's an Aries. That could ruin everything."
"You don't buy in to that any more than you buy in to whatever my shrink tells me." Dante flopped back on his pillow, his tone resigned. "Those two have chemistry, and once they're locked in the same room together, the inevitable will happen. I'm just praying it won't go to my buddy's head and make him decide to jump ship with her."
"You have no control over that."
Dante sat up again and snapped his fingers. "Maybe I do! I could use the walkie-talkie to call their room every ten minutes. That would interrupt the flow."
"You do that and I'll smother you with my pillow."
"It was only a thought."
"Sometimes the way your brain works frightens me, Dante. Do you want the bathroom first, or shall I take it?" "You can have it first."
"Fine. I'll be out in a few minutes." She paused in the doorway. "Do I need to use my ear plugs tonight?" "Meaning?" "Do you snore?"
He looked offended. "No! Do you?"
"Probably." She laughed. "But don't worry about it. It's quite possible that by tomorrow night I'll be sharing Benjamin's room."
"Really?" Dante looked happier than he had since the discovery that Gillian's passport had been stolen. "You might not be spending the nights here?"
"Maybe not."
"Excellent." Dante gazed up at the ceiling, a broad smile on his face.
"I can guess where you're going with this thought."
"Yeah, you probably can. You were quite a swinger in your day, weren't you, Cora?"
"I had my moments. And speaking from that vast well of experience, may I offer one suggestion?"
"If it has to do with technique, I don't want to hear it. You're practically like my grandmother. That would be too weird."
"This isn't about technique. It's about babies. Use condoms."
"Oh, geez. I know that, for crying out loud. Geez."
"Protest all you want, but you keep saying you're a loose cannon. I want an assurance that your cannon will be wearing a rubber."
gillian felt the tension growing as lex moved around the room putting away his staff. He didn't have much stuff, not like Cora, but he was so much bigger. Every time he moved, she was aware of how much space he took up, just by breathing.
Eventually he turned to her. "I need to check something before we go any further. I should have done it before."
"What's that?"
"I need to see if they planted any bugs. I can go over the bathroom last, if you want to go on in there and start getting ready for bed."
Bed. Oh, God. This was going to be quite a night.
"Okay." She made a dash for it. She'd stripped to her underwear before realizing the nightgown she'd intended to put on was still in the drawer. She could either get dressed again and go back out, which would look dorky, or she could ask him to bring it to the door. Neither option was worth a damn.
She brushed and flossed her teeth while she thought about it. Then she took off all her makeup. Why hadn't she remembered to grab the nightgown? And for that matter, why hadn't she left a bathrobe hanging on the back of the door? She knew the answer to that one. She didn't have a bathrobe.
Finally she opened the door a crack. "Lex, could you please go in the bottom drawer and get my nightgown? I forgot to bring it in here." God, she felt like such an idiot.
"Sure thing." A drawer opened. "Which one? There's a black one and a white one in here."
She tried to remember exactly what they looked like. The black one was knee length, lace on top and satin for the skirt. The white one was shorter and had little spaghetti straps. "The black one," she said.
"Coming up." His footsteps approached the door.
She stuck her hand out through the opening and he placed the nightgown in it. Of course she dropped it. "Sorry."
"No problem. I didn't find any bugs, by the way." His bones cracked as he crouched down to pick it up again.
Something about that vulnerable little sound of bones popping got through her defenses. "Lex, I'm sorry if I've been a bitch."
He put the nightgown in her hand again. "I'm sorry if I've been a bastard."
"You haven't." Pulling the nightgown successfully through the opening this time, she closed the door and leaned against it, breathing hard. Had they made up? And if they had, what would happen now?
She left her underwear on and pulled the nightgown over her head. Of course it was one of Cora's, and Cora had never owned anything remotely sexless. Gillian had hoped the knee-length skirt would make this one seem modest. On a woman with a smaller chest, it might have been, but the bodice was constructed of black stretch lace that managed to schmoosh Gillian's breasts together so she had even more cleavage than usual.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, she pulled the lace this way and that, trying to make herself look less provocative. The red bra peeked through the lace, which made her think of a streetwalker with hang-ups. But if she took off the bra, the red would be replaced by bare skin.
With a soft curse she pulled the bodice down and took off the bra. Then she tugged the lace back up over her breasts. Now she looked like a porn queen. A black lace rose covered each nipple, but they were no better than pasties. She'd had no worries about either nightgown when she'd been rooming with Cora.
Should she have chosen the white one? She tried to picture herself asking Lex to bring her the other nightgown. No, that would make everything worse, and the white one wasn't going to turn out any better.
She gazed at herself in the mirror. Before she went out there, she had to make a decision whether she intended to have sex or not. One look at her and Lex would be ready. She couldn't blame him. The nightgown was an open invitation.
But they couldn't have sex. There were no condoms in the room. She should have thought of that earlier. Lex wouldn't have any. He'd come on this cruise to preserve and protect, not do the wild thing with his client. Okay, no condoms. She would go out there, and no matter how he reacted, she'd remind him of the facts of life.
Bracing herself, she picked up her clothes and opened the bathroom door. Stepping over the sill, she walked across the entryway to the closet opposite the bathroom. From the corner of her eye she could see him sitting on the edge of the far bed, watching her. She would hang up her dress and pretend that her heart wasn't trying to hammer its way out of her chest.
"All done?" he asked quietly.
"It's all yours." Then she heard what she'd said. Eyes wide, she turned. "I didn't mean that the way it soun
ded."
"Are you sure?" He stood and walked toward her. His gaze traveled over her nightgown, and his nostrils flared.
"Absolutely sure. Even if we wanted to have sex, we—"
"If? Any straight man in the universe would look at you in that black number and want to have sex." His eyes glowed with a definite heterosexual light. "Gillian, are you playing games with me?"
"No. No games. Cora loaned me two nightgowns, and both are ..."
"Suggestive?"
"Uh-huh." She had trouble breathing, and damned if she didn't want to have sex, too. And he hadn't said anything particularly romantic, either. She was too easy.
"So it's not your fault that you look like a wet dream?"
"No. And besides, we don't have condoms." She spoke quickly, in order to get the information out before they lunged at each other. "So we can't have sex."
"Then I take it you weren't the one who put these under my pillow?" He stretched out his hand. There, lying in his palm, were two foil packets.
She looked up at him and tried to catch her breath. "No."
"Then it must have been the condom fairy." He smiled at her. "But don't worry. We won't have sex unless you want to." Closing his hand over the packets, he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.
Sixteen
IN THE BATHROOM, LEX LEANED AGAINST THE SINK and gulped for air. How he'd restrained himself when confronted with Gillian in that nightgown, he'd never know. If they gave a medal for controlling your sexual urges, then he should be presented with a big fat one. With the way she was rapidly killing him, it might have to be awarded posthumously.
Going through the ritual of brushing his teeth steadied him some. So Cora had been the one who'd left the condoms. That clinched something that Lex had suspected all along—Cora wanted Lex to get involved with Gillian. Hiring him as a bodyguard had been the first step in roping him into her life for good.
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