by Linda Cajio
She didn’t say anything.
“Cass, you’re a very smart woman,” he added. “You know you’re not going to be foolishly stubborn over a little extra safety precaution. In fact, you’re going to agree to my playing bodyguard simply because it is an eminently sensible precaution to have another person around.”
“I hate it when you do that,” she said, glaring at him all over again.
He smiled in satisfaction.
“I know.”
“What the hell do you mean, I can’t even bring a toothbrush?” Dallas demanded as they left the store that evening. He had insisted on driving the Jeep, claiming she wasn’t up to it.
“Just what I said,” she replied airily. Having lost the argument over who would drive, she wasn’t about to lose this one. “You’re a bodyguard, not a boarder. When you need to brush your teeth, you go home and do it, just like all the other bodyguards do.”
“Cass, that’s not logical—”
“Yes, it is. It’s very logical to me.”
“Dammit, Cass!”
She listened with deaf ears to his arguments as they drove to her house. She had realized earlier that her thoughts about being punished for sleeping with him had been an irrational attempt to find some reason for her store’s being vandalized. It was amazing, she decided, what the shocked brain could come up with. But now that she was working to bring the store, and herself, back to normal, her sense of logic had returned. She couldn’t deny that she would feel better with Dallas present. If anyone were singling her out, having a man around might deter him. After last night, Dallas would naturally think he should be the one to protect her. After last night, she couldn’t tell him he wasn’t.
And that, she silently admitted, was her problem.
Her mind filled with a collage of the laughter and tenderness they had shared together. And the quiet talks in between. She knew about the little things now. He’d fallen out of a tree at age seven and broken both legs; kissed Barbara Summers behind the garden when he’d been eleven; failed his first driver’s test—the unpardonable of macho teenage sins. She knew all about his shortlived marriage; she hadn’t been able to stop the questions once they’d started. And he knew things about her that even she had forgotten. Like the time she’d given her second stepmother a heart attack by camping out in the drawing room during Easter vacation.
She wished she could say she had made love with him out of pity. She’d even be happy with good old lust as an excuse. Some other factor had caused the total collapse of her normally sound defenses. Something more …
Mentally shying away from the thought, she had a distinct feeling it would cause a granddaddy of an earthquake. She’d had quite enough of a shake-up today anyway. No more, she thought.
What she needed now was time and emotional distance. Dallas’s moving in his things wouldn’t give her that. She had given so much of herself the night before. So little was left. Still, she couldn’t deny she was grateful he would be at the house. Despite her refusal to be scared, she couldn’t help feeling a certain underlying queasiness at the thought of being alone. She wasn’t quite as independent as she’d always thought.
But what would she do when he wasn’t around to guard her?
“You’re not listening to me,” he said, gaining her attention.
“No, I’m not.” She turned to him. “Dallas, please. The truth is, I’m grateful you’ll be with me. But I wouldn’t feel … right folding your jockey shorts or seeing our deodorant cans side by side in the medicine chest.”
“I never asked you to fold my shorts,” he reminded her. “And I can keep my deodorant in the refrigerator.”
She smiled. “Somehow, I don’t think that will work. Everything’s happened too fast, and I have to have time to … adjust.”
He was silent at first, before finally saying, “All right. I’ll keep my room at the hotel for a bit longer.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. Deciding she would concede on one point, she added, “By the way, I just bought a new toothbrush. You’re welcome to it. But just the toothbrush!”
He smiled.
Cass leaned back against the passenger seat and closed her eyes. She hoped she never had to relive this day. She was exhausted in mind, body, and spirit. Tonight, at least, she had nothing to look forward to but sleep.
Somehow, the thought didn’t appeal.
And when she woke up in the morning, snuggled next to Dallas’s warm body, she finally admitted she was glad the idea hadn’t appealed to him either.
Eleven
His time had nearly run out.
Dallas stared at the storeroom calendar in near disbelief. The carpenters’ hammers seemed to pound through his brain, suddenly intensifying the headache he’d had all morning. He immediately yanked open the back door and stepped out into the sauna bath masquerading as a sunny day. The steel door clanged shut behind him. Better out here than in there, he thought while breathing a sigh of relief. Then he muttered a string of curses.
In a few days he had to be back in New York—with or without Cass.
With her, he firmly told himself. But as he remembered the amount of work done to the store over the past two days, and the amount still left to do, he cursed again. Cass wouldn’t leave, with the store in a state of confusion. Hell, his chances of getting her to the board meeting hadn’t exactly been terrific, even when WinterLand had been in perfect condition.
He wondered yet again if there was some other way to stop the boutiques from going through without Cass’s stock vote. Maybe he had overlooked something … maybe if he had …
He shook his head, knowing he was grasping at nonexistent straws. With Cass’s proxy, Ned had the board locked up. Dallas acknowledged that his original idea of Cass’s being the key to saving M & L was still the best one. The only one.
And he hated it.
He looked out over the back lot to the marshes beyond the tarmac. Damn the whole fiasco to hell and back, he cursed silently as an unaccustomed restlessness overtook him. He needed to talk to Cass again about M & L. A final talk. But he hadn’t had the heart to do it during the daytime, when she was coping with her store. At night he hadn’t wanted to do anything to spoil the passion—or the peace—between them.
Leaning back against the hot cinder-block wall, he closed his eyes and let the relentless heat beat against him. He ought to damn well retire, he thought. He was definitely losing his edge. But from the moment he’d walked into WinterLand he hadn’t once been objective about the job he had to do. That was bad. Very bad. Hell, he thought. He was so off, he’d reduced himself from corporate executive to bodyguard—and was enjoying it, too.
The job itself had been quiet so far. Still, the lack of disturbances only made him uneasy. He felt as if they were in the eye of a hurricane, a kind of temporary calm before the storm renewed itself.
The back door suddenly swung outward, and he opened his eyes to find Cass standing on the threshold. The mauve-and-white-print sundress she was wearing hugged her breasts and slender waist before flaring out over hips and thighs. He had to force his gaze to her face. It wasn’t the first time. The simple garment had been driving him to distraction all morning.
“Dallas, what are you doing out here?” she asked, frowning at him.
“I decided I needed a steam bath, and it beats driving to a club,” he said, glaring at her as he remembered how the carpenters had eyed her little nothing dress with equal male fascination.
Frustration rose up inside him, and he didn’t know whether to strangle her or kiss her. Opting for the second, he pulled her into his arms. The door clanged shut the instant his mouth found hers. Lord, he thought, her lips were so soft. His tongue dipped inside to find the unique taste of her.
She made an incoherent noise and pushed against his arms, breaking the kiss.
“Dallas, what’s the matter with you?” she asked, staring at him in puzzlement.
“Now, that should be obvious,” he said, while deciding to she
lve his worries momentarily. One thing at a time.
Her eyebrows rose in a perfect arch. “What is obvious is that your brains are fried. How long have you been out here?”
“Just enough to get hot,” he murmured, pressing himself against her.
“Dammit, Dallas!” she muttered, struggling to break his hold. He tightened his embrace and began stringing kisses along her throat. “We can’t do this now!”
“Why?” He nibbled at her shoulder.
“Because you’re supposed to be helping me rearrange the stockroom before the merchandise comes.”
Lifting his head, he said, “Party pooper.”
“Maniac,” she countered, finally pulling out of his embrace.
“Let’s really be maniacs and go crabbing,” he suggested, grinning at her.
“You are crazy,” she said, wiping away the perspiration already forming on her upper lip. “It’s too damn hot even for the crabs.”
“Then let’s spend the day on the beach. I’ve been here nearly two weeks and haven’t even been to the beach yet.” He leered at her. “In the daytime.”
She shook her head and giggled. “Tempting as that is, I have a store full of workmen. Now, why are you out here, acting like a nut?”
“Because I have to know what you’re going to do about your voting proxy,” he finally said. “The board meeting is almost here, Cass.”
The fire instantly went out of her eyes. “Dallas, I … please. I can’t.”
“Cass, just come to the meeting. You have every right to do that.” Silently he admitted he was riding too many hopes on her inherited instincts taking over once he got her there. Still, if they did …
“But you don’t want me just to attend. You want me to take back a long-established trust.”
“I’m asking you to fight for what rightfully belongs to you, sweetheart.”
“I am fighting for what rightfully belongs to me. WinterLand. I’ve made my life here.”
“I’m not asking you to give up your life. You have a right to two things, Cass. WinterLand and Marks & Lindley.” He hated himself for pushing her, but it didn’t stop him from continuing. “We had an agreement, Cass. I was to work in your store until it was time for the board meeting, then you would come to New York with me.”
She smiled sweetly. “You were supposed to outsell my other employees. You haven’t done that.”
“How can I, with the store closed?” he asked in growing frustration. “Before this happened, you know I was doing damn well. Maybe not as well as Jean, but certainly as well as Mary and Joe—”
She broke in. “But you didn’t fulfill the terms of the agreement.”
“The agreement is over,” he stated. “Besides, I was fulfilling my part of it, Cass, until WinterLand was broken into. Now it’s time to decide if you’re going to fulfill your end of the bargain.”
She just stared at him.
He tried another tactic to get an answer from her. “Your grandfather entrusted those shares to you. Only you. Not your father, or your stepsister, or any other relative. I think he knew that once Ned got his hands on the company there would be trouble. I think he knew you would be the only one who would fight him when the time came. The time is now.”
“No. The shares were only his way of giving me a nest egg. He knew I could sell them at any time and reinvest the proceeds.” He could easily read the unhappiness in her gaze. “Dallas, what can I go in there and say? That my dividends haven’t dropped and that’s got to be all wrong? I’ve never bothered about the company before—”
Dallas’s fragile hold on his temper finally snapped. “Dammit, Cass! Why the hell won’t you admit the truth? You know you care about the company. That’s why you always kept the shares. M & L itself is really your legacy. Maybe you were never ready to accept that, but you have to accept it now. In a week’s time M & L will be in deep trouble, and it will be too late. Too late for everything.”
She turned away from him, but not before he saw her stricken look. Cursing fervently, he realized she thought he was threatening their relationship. He reached for her just as she opened the back door. She instantly stilled all movement.
“Excuse me, Dallas,” she said quietly. “But I have to put a store back together again.”
His hand dropped away from her arm. “Cass, I didn’t mean—”
She gazed over her shoulder at him, sadness in her green eyes. “Yes, you did. It’s okay. Nothing more than I expected, really. Good-bye, Dallas.”
The door clanged shut behind her.
He swore foully at the brown-painted steel.
A second numbing shock awaited Cass the moment she entered the main part of the store. There, amid the fresh walls, stripped floors, and workmen taking a lunch break, stood Ned Marks.
Her feet and her heart stopped at the same instant. She stood stock-still and stared at him. Her stomach churned. Her hands were suddenly cold and clammy, and she could feel the blood draining from her face. She cursed herself, knowing none of this would have happened if she had simply sold off her shares long ago. She’d gladly give them away now. If her grandfather had really foreseen this mess, then he must have been a miserable old devil to leave the damn things to her. The very last thing she wanted to do, though, was see Ned. Hoping he hadn’t seen her yet, she forced her feet to move and began to back slowly toward the storeroom entry.
Ned instantly spotted her and waved his hand. “Cassandra!”
Muttering under her breath in frustration, Cass halted her escape and managed a smile as he gingerly made his way around table saws and piles of wood. She decided the horrible scene with Dallas had produced one bright spot. At least Ned wouldn’t see him. Dallas was probably long gone by now. Her whole body shook at the sudden realization of what she’d lost.
“What a terrible mess. What happened to your store?” Ned asked when he finally reached her.
“It needed some repairs,” she said, pulling herself together. She waved a hand in dismissal, in no mood to tell him about the vandalism. “I’m very surprised to see you here, Ned.”
“I have an opportunity to buy a condominium in Ocean City, so I thought I’d stop by on my way to see it,” he said.
His attempt at a smooth smile grated on her already frayed nerves. So did his words. She’d heard a similar variation from another M & L executive. Instantly every one of her senses was on the alert. She noted the custom-made gray pinstripe suit, which didn’t quite hide Ned’s growing bulk. His sandy hair had thinned considerably since she’d last seen him, and his face was puffy, making his eyes seem to bulge outward. Though the opposite of Dallas, he also looked like a man used to being obeyed. Somehow, though, Dallas had commanded respect. Oddly, Ned lacked that quality.
“How nice for you,” she finally said in a neutral tone.
His smile seemed even more forced, almost painful, in fact. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen you, Cassandra. I must say you’re looking very well.”
Hoping to ease the tension inside her, she smiled back and said, “That’s very nice of you to say.”
He looked around the store, his gaze finally focusing on the workmen at the other end. Cass noticed the men were uninterested in them.
Turning back and loudly clearing his throat, he said, “This remodeling must be costing you a pretty penny.”
“I’ll get by,” she said.
“Yes. Well. It must be draining your resources. Actually, that’s another reason I stopped by. I’ve been wanting to talk to you for some time about selling your shares.”
“Selling my shares?” she echoed, every nerve in her body suddenly taut.
“Yes.” He cleared his throat again, his gaze seeming to just avoid hers. She found it irritating. “I’m quite prepared to offer you full value for them. In cash.”
“Cash?” she repeated dumbly.
He nodded. “I know that your dividend checks haven’t been as healthy as you’ve been expecting them to be. I imagine that’s been disapp
ointing to you. The truth is, at this time the company can’t afford to really pay out.” He chortled. “I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but the shares themselves haven’t devaluated. The way it works is very involved. However, if you reinvested the monies received from the sale into blue-chip stock, your dividends would be much bigger than what you’re receiving now. I’m sure you would find that a welcome relief, especially when you need income for your little store, here. And you do deserve a better return for your investment than what M & L can offer. I will be quite frank with you, too. It would be an advantage for me to own the shares, so I can maximize their potential. Having only a proxy vote when you’re absent makes them a bit of an albatross for me.”
Here it was, she thought. The perfect opportunity to get rid of the shares. Hadn’t she been ready to give the damn things away ten minutes ago? And Ned really was the perfect person to have them. After all, he’d had their voting power for several years now. Certainly he deserved to buy them, if he wanted to. And he obviously did want to. With one word, all this mess with the shares would be over.
But Ned’s whole attitude irritated her. Her “little store,” she thought angrily, and “too involved to explain.” Dallas had said Ned thought she was an idiot, and now she had the proof of that. Something else about Ned’s visit niggled at her, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“No, thank you, Ned,” she said, not at all surprised by her answer. “I … they were a gift from my grandfather,” she finished lamely.
He frowned at her. “Really, Cassandra. You’re being very silly.”
Before she could get out a sharp retort, a familiar voice came from behind her.
“I doubt that.”
Cass closed her eyes, feeling as if she were suddenly caught in a grinder. Dammit, she thought. Why hadn’t she realized that Dallas might not leave? The mess in the store was nothing, compared to the one she had on her hands now. She opened her eyes to find Ned’s reaction not quite the one she’d been dreading.
Although his eyes were wide, he wasn’t staring in open-mouthed shock. Instead he was glaring at Dallas.
