“Okay,” he said, “here’s the deal. You go sit in my car while I move yours to the curb.”
“No. That’s all right. I’ll—I’ll—” She widened her smile and told the lie with aplomb. “I’ll phone and have it towed.”
“Good.” He reached into his pocket, took out a cell phone and handed it to her. “Make the call. I’ll move the car.”
Dawn stared at him blankly. There was no reason to tell him she couldn’t afford to have her car towed, not until she figured out her current finances or borrowed some money from Cassie. “Actually…” She cleared her throat, smiled brightly and returned the phone to him. “Actually it’ll be simpler if I get to my office and call from there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” She took a breath and went for broke. “But if you could help me move the car, maybe just up to that side street…”
He sighed. “Yeah. No problem.”
Dawn could tell he was just being polite but really, what choice did she have? She couldn’t leave the car where it was. Moving it away from the No Standing/No Parking/No Doing Anything signs that bristled like metal tree stumps along the boulevard would be a big help.
“Great.” She pulled off the garment he’d put around her shoulders—it was a navy sweatshirt, faded and frayed—smiled and held it toward him. Her lips hurt from all the smiling. What was there to smile about, when your car was dead and you were at least a two hours’ walk from the office that was certainly not going to be yours by the time you finally put in an appearance? None of that was the stranger’s problem. She was just lucky he’d agreed to help her when nobody else had.
“You sure you don’t need it?”
“I’m fine.” Another smile. God, her lips were going to stick to her teeth. “I’ll take the right side.”
“The right…” He smiled and shook his head. “You just hop into the car and steer. I’ll push.”
“By yourself? But—”
“Steer, or you’re on your own. No more saving you from passing out. When the weather’s hot, I have a one a day limit on rescuing swooning damsels.”
He really was being pleasant. This time, her smile was real. “Well,” she said, “I guess I don’t have a choice.”
She got behind the wheel. He got behind the car. Dawn flashed a quick look into the mirror. Sweat was beaded on the man’s forehead; muscles strained in his arms as he got into position. “Ready?” she called.
“Ready. Just steer for the corner.”
The car rolled to the end of the street. Dawn turned the wheel and the car curved to the right and snugged against the curb, safe for a little while, at least. She gave a sigh of relief, opened her door and almost walked into the stranger.
“Whoops,” he said with a little smile. He put his hand on her arm to steady her and she forced herself not to jerk away. She knew he wasn’t trying to hurt her. He wasn’t even angry anymore. He was flirting with her. Four years in the real world had taught her to recognize the signs. The easy smile. The appraising look. The little touches—touches that always set her skin crawling, the way it was doing now, even though she never let on. She was an expert at getting out of the game without any collateral damage. She smiled—another false lift of the lips—and stepped around him.
“Well,” she said briskly, “thank you for your help.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“And really, I’m sorry you had such a scare.”
“Uh-huh.” He grinned. “Me, too. Can I give you a lift?”
“A lift?”
“Yeah. To wherever it is you’re going.” He glanced up at the blue-white sky. “Unless you’d rather broil while you wait for a cab.”
“Oh,” she said, as if the possibility of going with him was completely foreign.
Did such a simple offer require such careful consideration? Gray watched the woman’s face, what he could see of it. Not much, thanks to the oversize black-lensed sunglasses, but what was visible—a pert nose, high cheekbones and a silky-looking mouth—was very nice.
So was the rest of her. Her hair was a soft-looking reddish-blond, swept into some kind of fancy knot at the nape of her neck, and he wondered how she’d look if she let it down. He tried not to be obvious as he scoped her out but it was impossible to keep from noticing the high, rounded thrust of her breasts under a cream-colored blouse and the long, slender legs showing beneath the hem of her skirt.
He felt a pleasant tingle in his groin. Maybe he’d stay the full five days in Vegas. Check into the Desert Song, find Dawn Carter, talk to her and get all of that out of the way, then relax a little. God knew he could use a break. There was nothing to rush back to. He hadn’t begun another case yet and his social life was at loose ends, now that the woman he’d been seeing for the past few months—a reporter with the Times—had been transferred to London.
“I’ll miss you,” he’d said to her, their last night together.
“Me, too,” she’d replied, and they’d both smiled and known that the truth was that nobody would really miss anybody, not after a few days.
So the timing was right. A little vacation in Vegas, an attractive woman…a woman who was taking forever to say yes, she’d appreciate a lift to wherever she was going.
Gray smiled. “Big decision,” he said lightly.
She blushed. “I don’t normally… I mean, you’ve been very kind, but—”
“But, for all you know, I’m a serial killer.”
“No. I mean, I wasn’t—”
She stammered, and her color deepened. He knew the courteous thing would be to bail her out of the hot water she had tumbled into but he liked watching her. He wasn’t enjoying her embarrassment, it was just that he couldn’t recall the last time he’d seen a woman blush. What would she do if he plucked those sunglasses from what looked like a very nice little nose so he could get a real look at her?
“I promise,” he said solemnly, “I’m not wanted for anything but littering in any of the forty-eight states.”
That won him a slight smile. “But there are fifty states.”
“You got me.” He grinned. “Truth is, I dropped a lei into the Pacific at Honolulu. And I dropped a candy bar wrapper in Juneau, hightailing it away from a polar bear.”
Her smile broadened. It was a good smile. “I don’t believe you.”
“Would a man lie about something like that?”
“I don’t know. Would he?”
“Okay. It wasn’t a real bear, it was a stuffed one outside a store, but the judge said stupidity was no excuse for littering and sentenced me to a hundred years anyway. I did my time quietly. Now can I give you a lift?”
Dawn laughed at the story. He smiled in return. He’d been nothing but kind. Really, what was there to fear?
“Well,” she said slowly, “you have to promise you won’t try to run away from any polar bears.”
“I’ll let them eat me first,” he said solemnly.
“In that case… Yes. Thank you. A lift would be great.”
“Good. I was afraid I’d be reduced to a puddle by the time you made up your mind.”
She blushed again. Damn, but that was a nice thing to see.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Hey, you don’t have to apologize. I understand. A woman can’t be too careful these days.” Gray made a sweeping gesture toward his car. “Your chariot awaits, m’lady.”
“I just need to get some things from my car…”
“Oh. Sure.” He reached past her and opened the door. “Need any help?”
“No. There’s not much.”
She leaned past him, her bottom poking enticingly into the air. He told himself a gentleman would look away but he wasn’t a gentleman, he was a lawyer. Everybody knew lawyers were sleazy bastards, which meant he could look his fill. After a minute, his damsel in distress backed out of her car with a creased jacket in one arm and a teddy bear…
A teddy bear?
“Ah-ha,” Gray
said.
She swung toward him. “Ah-ha, what?”
“Ah-ha, it looks as if I’m not the only one with a secret to hide.” Surprised, he watched the color drain from her face. “The bear,” he said quickly. “We seem to both have bears in the closet.”
For a couple of seconds, she looked blank. Then she nodded. “Oh.” Her cheeks began to pinken. “Oh, I see. Your bear story. And—and this bear…”
She gave him another small smile, though she tried to disguise it by sinking her teeth gently into her bottom lip. He thought how much he’d like to do the same thing.
“It’s—it’s for me.”
“What is?”
“The bear.”
“The bear is for you?” he said inanely. Frankly he didn’t care if the bear was a peace offering to the alien king of the planet Zabu. He just hoped she’d bite her lip again. Or maybe not.
“Yes. I, uh, I collect them.”
Her blouse was damp. How come he hadn’t noticed that? Damp, and clinging. A woman with a great smile and a lush mouth, and the faintest hint of pebbled nipples beneath that blouse…
Gray cleared his throat. “Okay,” he said briskly, “if that’s everything—”
“Just one second.” She transferred the bear to her other arm and reached into the car. Her bottom pointed at him again but not for long. When she backed out this time, she had a small shopping bag dangling from her fingers. “For the bear,” she said.
“Oh.” He cleared his throat again and searched for something to say that would make sense. “Don’t you think he’d enjoy the view from inside my car?”
That had been the right thing to say. It made her laugh, which made him laugh, too.
“I’m sure he’d love it, but—but I don’t want to walk into my office with him under my arm.”
“Too much ribbing to face?”
Too many questions, Dawn thought, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “Exactly.”
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. It brought him closer to her. “Is Teddy my competition?”
His voice was suddenly soft and low. It made her think of gravel laid over thick velvet. She looked up and her pulse leaped. Her rescuer was watching her through dark-lashed, pale blue eyes. His hair was coffee-brown and thick. With a little start of surprise, she realized that he was good-looking. Very good-looking.
The back of her neck tingled and she was trying to decide whether the sensation was pleasant or not when he reached out and touched his finger first to the bear’s button nose and then to hers. That was all he did, just brush her nose with the tip of his finger, but terror raced through her. She took a step back but there was nowhere to go. The car was behind her; he was in front of her. He was big and strong, he was crowding her, and suddenly the old panic was clawing for purchase in her throat.
“Don’t!”
She thought the word had come out a shout but the look on his face told her it hadn’t, that it had been a pathetic whimper, and for the second time since the stranger had come into her life, she had reason to despise herself.
“Hey.” He stepped back. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know you didn’t,” she said quickly. “I just—it’s the heat. And this thing with my car. My boss will be—”
“Sure.”
“—he’ll be wondering if I—”
“Absolutely. Come on. I’ll get you to work in no time.”
Stupid, she thought as she followed him to his car. She’d fought so hard to come this far—was the simple touch of a man’s hand really enough to send her scuttling back into her cave? Giving in to the fear was like giving in to Harman. It was letting him beat her into submission without lifting a hand, and she had long ago decided she’d choose death over that. Besides, she knew how to handle simple flirtation.
“Are you coming?”
She looked up, smiled, got into the car and waited until he’d gone around to the driver’s side and settled behind the steering wheel.
“Actually,” she said lightly, “you were right.” He looked at her questioningly and she felt foolish. Obviously he’d already forgotten that teasing line about the bear being his competition. “About my bear.” God, if only the floor would open and swallow her. “About—about him being…” She took a breath. If he didn’t remember what he’d said, she didn’t have to explain it. “I love teddy bears,” she said inanely. “I always have.”
That eased the tension. He laughed, turned the key and blessedly cool air washed over her.
“Well, that’s good to know. Still, I have to admit, I’ve never gotten the brush-off because of a stuffed bear.”
She almost said she doubted if he’d ever gotten the brush-off at all. It was hard to imagine a woman—a normal woman—not being flattered by his interest.
The nape of her neck tingled again. Once, years back, Harman had lunged at her and she’d tumbled backward and grabbed a frayed electric cord as she fell. The sensation that had shot through her body had been something similar to this. Not pleasant. Not unpleasant. Just—just incredibly startling.
The memory, not of the sensation but of Harman, made her shudder.
“You okay?”
Dawn blinked. He was staring at her. By now, he most likely regretted offering her a ride. He probably thought she was crazy.
“Are you cold? I can turn down the AC, if you are.”
“No. No, I’m fine.” She flashed a bright smile. “I was just thinking about how late I’m going to be.”
“I’ll talk to your boss, if you’d like. I can verify your story about your car dying.”
“Oh, he’ll believe me. It’s just that this is my first day on a brand-new job.” She hesitated. “I wonder… Could I use your cell phone?”
He handed her the phone, watched while she punched in a number. She was a puzzle. She’d jumped like a cat when he’d touched her, but other times there was an unsettling stillness to her, as if part of her was standing back and observing things.
He tried not to listen while she spoke to someone. Her boss, probably. She sounded worried; she said she was sorry a couple of times and that she’d be happy to work the night shift to make up for it. He glanced at her, taking in the blouse, the tailored skirt, the jacket lying across her lap, the long legs encased in silky-looking stockings. She was dressed for an office. What kind of night shift did a woman work in a suit? In stockings? Or was it panty hose? His imagination kicked in, took him on a brief but fascinating trip, and he looked away from her and stared straight out the windshield. She was edgy and he was thinking about stockings and pantyhose. It wasn’t a good combination.
“Thank you.”
Gray looked up. She held out the phone. He took it and put it back into his pocket.
“Everything okay?”
“Uh-uh.”
“You sure? My offer still stands. If you need me to talk to your boss—”
“Thanks, but it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah.” He reached for the radio, then changed his mind. He didn’t know why but he had the feeling almost anything, even a wrong choice in music, could spook her. “So, what kind of work do you do? No, don’t tell me, let me guess.” He looked at her. “You repair slot machines.”
“Me? No! I don’t…” She saw his mouth twitching and she laughed. “Try again.”
“First tell me where to go. Left? Right? Straight ahead?” He smiled. “Better still, point me toward some quiet little restaurant where we can have a glass of wine, a long lunch and get to know each other better.”
“Straight ahead,” she said, because it was turning out she didn’t know how to deal with this man’s flirting at all, because she knew she was blushing, because she wondered why she was behaving like such a fool. “Just continue toward the Strip.”
He sighed. “Struck out again.”
“Look. I’m really…” Really what? Not good at this stuff? “I’m really grateful for your help, but—”
“But you have a boyfriend named T
eddy and a boss named Scrooge and you have to get back to your office. I’m right about that, aren’t I? That you work in an office?”
“Yes,” she said.
He smiled. It was a nice smile and he was a nice-looking man with a nice sense of humor. Everything about him was nice. A winner, Cassie would say. Maybe Cassie would like to meet him. She could ask him his name, where he was staying, invite him to meet her at the Song for coffee and arrange for Cassie to be there…
“You’re an accountant.”
“Bad guess.” Dawn laughed. “I need to take off my shoes to balance my checkbook.”
“Yeah, well, so do I. That’s what pocket calculators are for.”
“In that case,” she said, with a little smile, “are you an accountant?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “It’s almost as bad, though. I’m a lawyer.”
“There’s nothing bad about being a lawyer.”
“No?”
“No.”
“That only means you haven’t heard the jokes.”
Dawn turned toward him, as far as the safety belt would permit. “What jokes?”
“Let’s see.” The light ahead turned red. Gray eased the car to a stop. “What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?”
She smiled. “I don’t know. What?”
“A good start.” Her laughter was so genuine that it made him laugh, too. Don’t stop while you’re ahead, he told himself, and fired off another. “Why do they use lawyers instead of rats in experimental labs?” He gave her just enough time to shake her head. “There are some things you just can’t get a rat to do.” She laughed even harder and he thought how nice it would be to take her to dinner tonight. “You never heard those jokes, huh?”
“They’re terrible,” she said, on a last chuckle. “Are you here on vacation?”
He said he was, that he’d decided he needed a change of scene for a few days. He asked her to recommend some places to see, not because he gave a damn about seeing places but because he liked the softness of her voice. He liked the way she smelled, too. He had the fan turned high and the air had taken on her scent, a delicate mix of flowery perfume and female musk. What would the lady say if she found out that he was sitting here saying all the right things while he inhaled the essence of her, and that doing it was turning him on? Maybe she’d admit that she was interested, too. He’d seen it in her smile, in her sudden awareness of him when he’d leaned over her.
Raising the Stakes Page 10
