Desert Devil

by Rena McKay

  "It's kind of ridiculous, isn't it?" Brian said scornfully. "All the company executives coming out here and trying to prove how common and ordinary they are one day a year. That's my boss, Dr. Johnson, over there with the big apron. And look at Nicole Taylor! She looks like some oversexed adolescent."

  "Thorne doesn't seem to mind," Juli observed wryly.

  "I think company management and owners should maintain a little dignity," Brian said.

  Juli halfway agreed with his remarks as far as Nicole and her strategically placed heart-shaped appliqués were concerned, but she couldn't resist a teasing. "When you're a company owner, I'm sure you'll never be accused of being undignified."

  The remark earned her a slightly sheepish grin from Brian. "I guess I do sound like kind of a stuffed shirt, don't I?" They both laughed and he reached for her hand. "C'mon, let's get something to drink."

  They turned toward the refreshment stand, and it was just at that moment that Juli glanced up and met Thorne's eyes. She was separated from him by the barbecue pit and several tables, and yet even at that distance his shock at seeing her was obvious. He evidently got another jolt when he realized she was with Brian, and his chiseled lips compressed into a single hard line.

  Juli's eyes dropped first, breaking the electric jolt that had momentarily arced between them. "Maybe I shouldn't have come here," she said uneasily. Somehow she wouldn't put it past Thorne to stride over and arbitrarily demand that she leave. "If the barbecue is supposed to be just for employees—"

  "The announcement invited employees, families, and guests," Brian said unconcernedly. He had missed the brief byplay between Juli and Thorne. "Here, what would you like to drink? Coke? Lemonade? Beer?"

  Juli chose a lemonade and they made their way to a small, unoccupied table and bench off by themselves. She surreptitiously glanced Thorne's way again, but she needn't have been so careful. His back was to her. Perhaps deliberately, she thought. Then she scoffed at that thought. She was attaching too much importance to herself. He no doubt had been surprised to see her here, but she was just another mouth to feed.

  Still, she had to talk to him sometime, she thought uneasily, though at the moment it looked as if Nicole had a death grip on his arm again. She thought about simply stepping up and politely saying she must speak to him alone for a moment, but she knew she hadn't the nerve for that. She would just have to watch and wait for a chance to catch him alone.

  A small pavilion had been set up near the band, and now some square-dancers were performing. Juli and Brian strolled over to watch, carrying their drinks with them. The dancers seemed to be having a good time, the women's full skirts swirling and the men giving an occasional whoop and holler. Later Juli and Brian leaned on the corral fence and watched the children and even a few adults playing more games on horseback, racing at breakneck speed around poles or barrels. A haze of dust hung over the corral, but no one seemed to mind.

  Brian introduced her to people here and there, and they finally sat down with two couples he seemed to know fairly well. The men immediately started talking shop, and then a small boy raced up to tell his mother that he'd just won a baseball mitt in some children's contest. He accidentally knocked over what was left of Juli's lemonade.

  "Oh, that's all right," Juli said to the boy's apologetic mother. "All that was left was melting ice cubes." Her hands felt sticky, however, and she excused herself to find a faucet to rinse them off.

  She was surprised to find comfortable rest rooms built on the far side of the cottonwoods. Thorne didn't skimp on details. She washed her hands and then ran a comb through her hair. Her tan had deepened over the last week and her hair had lightened with flattering sun streaks. She might not be suitably dressed for this occasion, but she had been aware of more than a few complimentary glances. Not from Thorne, however, she thought wryly.

  She picked up her purse and went outside again. The trail back to the tables led through the cottonwood grove. She caught her breath as a tall figure stepped out to intercept her.

  "What are you doing here with Eames?" he demanded without preliminaries.

  "He invited me," Juli stated defiantly. How had Thorne happened to be standing alongside the trail just at the moment she passed by? she wondered warily. Unlikely as it seemed, it almost appeared he had deliberately arranged to catch her alone. In any case, Juli thought as she took a deep, steadying breath, it gave her the opportunity to return his "gift."

  Thorne's eyes narrowed, as if he considered her reply too flippant. "And just how do you happen to know him?" he pursued. He had moved up closer to her now and the faint aroma of smoke from the barbecue clung to him. Somehow it only emphasized his rugged masculinity.

  Juli retreated a step, determined not to be affected by the man-woman awareness that always seemed to vibrate between them, even in moments of anger. "I… I don't think that is any of your concern." Without taking her eyes off him, she fumbled in her purse and fished out the one-hundred-dollar bill. She thrust it at him. "And you can have this back! You have a rather exaggerated idea of the cost of my blouse."

  "I presumed there was some mental stress and strain which should be compensated for, as well as the purchase of a new blouse." His voice was contemptuous when he added, "However, I doubt if that was the case. I don't think that you were exactly suffering."

  Juli gasped both at the contempt in his voice and the insolence of his words. How dare he be contemptuous of her after what he had done! How dare he imply that she had enjoyed his savage attack! And then to think he could send her money to compensate for what he had done!

  "You tore my blouse off and you have the nerve to—" Words failed Juli in her fury.

  "I didn't, as you say, tear your blouse off," he replied with infuriating reasonableness. "I merely ripped the neckline by accident."

  "Accident?" echoed Juli.

  "By accident," he repeated. He smiled grimly. "If I had intended to tear your blouse off, I would have done a considerably more thorough job of it than that. And I might not have stopped with your blouse," he added with an insinuating glance at the shadowy hollow between her breasts revealed by the deep neckline of the coral dress.

  Juli felt her face flame to match the color of the dress, but she managed to retort, "Don't you think Mrs. Taylor might have heard my screams if you had tried that?"

  He tilted an eyebrow, his eyes unexpectedly gleaming with wicked amusement. "Would you have screamed? You weren't exactly screaming a moment earlier when—"

  "I think you… you are despicable!" Juli gasped. She looked at the hundred-dollar bill in her hand, wondering frantically what to do with it. He had folded his arms against his chest, refusing to take the bill from her outstretched hand. "And I don't want your money!" she cried.

  She stepped forward, meaning to stuff the money between his folded arms and muscled chest, but he moved and the green bill fluttered to the ground. He ignored it. A woman and several children came down the trail just then. He touched Juli's arm lightly to make room for the woman to pass. When she resisted, his grip tightened warningly. Rather than make an embarrassing scene, Juli let herself be guided off to one side while he, the benevolent employer, smiled at the kids. The hundred-dollar bill remained where it had settled on the sandy ground.

  "You ran into Nikki at the house that day, didn't you?" he mused. "Did you think she was my wife?" His lips twitched as if he found that thought amusing.

  "She gave me that impression, yes," Juli agreed with a lift of her head and a futile attempt to control the flush that stormed to her cheeks again. It did not escape her attention that he used a familiar, almost endearing form of Nicole's name. "From what I hear, she soon will be."

  "You shouldn't believe every rumor you hear about what may happen," he remarked lazily. He leaned back against a cottonwood, his long, lean-hipped body relaxed, yet ready. The fine, bronzed hairs on his forearms glinted against the green company T-shirt. Did he mean, she wondered warily, that nothing definite was yet decided between
himself and Nicole?

  "The rumors aren't only about what may happen, but also what has already happened in the past," Juli finally said tartly.

  "Such as?" he challenged.

  She bit her lip. She had forgotten his disconcerting habit of coming bluntly to the point, of refusing to let oblique remarks pass by unchallenged. She had no intention of discussing his past, or present, affair with Nicole, however.

  "If you'll excuse me, I believe Brian is waiting for me," Juli said, snapping her purse shut decisively. "You'll find your money on the ground over there."

  "It isn't my money," he pointed out, not even glancing toward the bill on the ground. "I sent it to you. Along with the flowers. I trust you enjoyed the long-stemmed roses?"

  "Yes, of course, they were beautiful," Juli said, flustered. "Thank you. But I won't take the money. Now, if you'll excuse me, Brian—"

  "Let Brian wait," he said insolently. "Patience is one of the virtues of a good researcher."

  Juli gasped. "I have consideration for others, even if you do not!"

  "Meaning?" He raised a taunting eyebrow.

  "Why didn't you open the gates when you first saw I intended leaving, instead of waiting until I almost ran into them?"

  "As far as I was concerned, our… uh… discussion was not yet over. I thought you would come to a sensible stop when you saw the gates were still closed." With a wry twist of his lips, he added, "I didn't realize you were stubborn and hard-headed enough to ram them head on."

  Juli caught her breath. He evidently did not realize that in her agitated condition she had actually forgotten the gates were closed, that she had been watching for him and hadn't realized the gates still barricaded her way until she was almost upon them. He really thought she was headstrong enough to ram right into them!

  "Of course, it was a bluff," he said, eyeing her reflectively with those gray-green eyes that reflected the desert coloring around them.

  "And yet you couldn't take the chance," Juli taunted, "so you'll never know for sure." She was not about to tell him of the pure terror that had en-gulfed her when she saw those iron gates barring her way, that thoughts either of ramming or bluffing had never entered her head!

  He stepped closer to her, panther-quick in his movements, his folded arms instantly ready at his sides. "If I were you," he suggested softly, "I would not try to bluff me very often."

  Juli tried to retreat, but something sticky against her back blocked her way. "Wh-what more did you think there was to add to our conversation?" she asked. The words came out shaky, instead of cool and defiant, as she had intended. There was something both menacing and tantalizing in the depths of those gray-green eyes.

  "Perhaps it wasn't verbal conversation I had in mind," he murmured. He lifted a tanned hand and touched her lightly, lingeringly, under the chin.

  The touch sent the clashing sensations of a cold shiver down her spine and a hot flood through her body. She wanted to slap his hand away, and yet she couldn't seem to move. His fingers trailed down her throat, stroked the nape of her neck, lightly caressed the lobe of her ear.

  "What did you have in mind—seducing me into forgetting what you had done to my aunt?" Juli asked scornfully, willing herself not to acknowledge or reveal the wild response surging through her. She held her body rigid, damp hands clenching her purse.

  "You consider a kiss in broad daylight seduction? Oh, come now, Juli," he chided, "I don't think you're that innocent."

  "I have no intention of discussing my… my innocence with you," Juli said. His touch was wildly distracting. She wasn't sure the words even came out coherently. Like some wild animal caught in a trap, she jerked away to escape the trap of his eyes and touch.

  The mesmerizing spell snapped, but he didn't let her go. He grabbed her roughly by the arm.

  "I intended to come over, flowers in hand, and apologize," he said grimly. "I figured you really were damned upset and I couldn't blame you. But when I went to the florist's shop, there you were standing on the street corner, all dressed up, smiling and talking to some guy as if you hadn't a care in the world. I suppose it was Eames you were with, wasn't it?"

  "I wasn't with him—"

  "Oh, no? I waited by your car for a while, and when you didn't come back I went looking for you. I presume you noticed me when I saw you in that bar. Or maybe you didn't, you were so busy drinking and laughing and letting him get an eyeful of you in that dress."

  "It wasn't that way at all!" Juli gasped.

  "And here I'd been worried about what I'd done and how upset you were," he said contemptuously. "That was when I realized you'd probably rather have the money than any apology from me. Money seems to be what you consider most important."

  Juli stared at him, horrified and sickened at the way he made it all sound so cheap and tawdry. His biting fingers suddenly released her and she staggered slightly.

  "But let me give you one little piece of advice. Stay away from Brian Eames," he warned.

  "Why? And what gives you the right to give me advice about Brian or… or anything else?" she demanded.

  "Because—" He hesitated almost imperceptibly, eyes narrowing. "Because he's ambitious and self-centered, and you'll wind up getting hurt."

  "I don't see anything wrong with ambition," Juli said defiantly. That tiny moment of hesitation puzzled her, and so did his rather petty criticism of Brian. Then she realized what it must mean. "And that isn't the real reason you don't want me around Brian!"

  "No?"

  "You don't want me around Brian because you're afraid I might find out something you don't want me to know! Something about David. Something that will prove—"

  His lean jaw tightened. "Don't be ridiculous."

  He broke off as a slim figure in a well-filled-out green T-shirt came toward them. "Thorne, there you are. Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you." Nicole didn't see Juli until Thorne moved to one side. She stopped short, then stepped up to take a firmly possessive grip on Thorne's arm. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

  Thorne introduced the two women smoothly, without a trace of embarrassment or awkwardness. "Or perhaps you've already met?" he added pleasantly.

  At that moment Nicole's dark eyes suddenly widened with recognition. Juli felt a certain grim satisfaction that today she did not look like some waif desperately in need of a job.

  "Yes, of course," Nicole agreed coolly. "You came by the house looking for Thorne a few days ago." She glanced up at him, a hint of a frown wrinkling her flawless skin. "I see you found him."

  "Yes," Juli agreed. "And we've taken care of our business. So if you'll excuse me?"

  "Yes, certainly. It was nice meeting you," Nicole said in the impersonal tone of a person making a polite remark to someone she never expects to see again. She turned back to Thorne, dismissing Juli. "It's time to start serving the food. And there's our announcement to make, too, of course."

  Announcement. Juli stumbled away. So, in spite of Thorne's mocking comment about not believing rumors, they were going to announce their engagement today. Her throat suddenly felt dry. Somehow she felt as if he had made a fool of her. Again. But she wouldn't let it show. She wouldn't! She held her back rigid, her hands clenched on her purse. And somehow she managed to walk contemptuously across that hundred-dollar bill without so much as a downward glance.

  Chapter Six

  Juli and Brian stood in the long line of people that stretched from the serving table into the driveway. Up ahead the company executives were lined up on the opposite side of the table. It was company tradition, Brian said in his usual half-amused, half-disparaging tone, that on this day the executives served the other employees first and ate last themselves. Brian's boss, Dr. Johnson, flourished a large ladle as he prepared to dish up chili. Brian pointed out other V.I.P.'s dishing up salads and serving drinks. The two places at the head of the line, near the huge slabs of barbecued beef, were conspicuously empty.

  Then Juli spied them, Thorne helping Nicole up
the steps of the pavilion near the band, then leaping lithely to the raised floor himself. Nicole slipped her hand through Thorne's arm as someone brought them a microphone. Juli's appetite suddenly vanished, and she tried to steel herself to show no reaction to the announcement that was coming.

  Thorne started out by welcoming everyone, telling them how glad he and Nicole were that they had all come. His only regret was that someone important was missing this year, his brother Jason. Then, more briskly, he added, "Now we have an important announcement to make, one I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear."

  All but one, Juli thought bleakly. She refused to examine why it should matter so much to her that Thorne and Nicole were getting married. Outside of that volatile physical electricity that arced between them, there was certainly nothing between herself and this man talking with such assured self-confidence over the microphone. She only knew that somehow it did matter, that her hands felt damp and her throat dry.

  "In less than a week, we'll be breaking ground to start building on the next stage of the company's planned expansion program!"

  Thorne sounded pleased and almost excited and the crowd applauded, but Juli just stared in astonishment until Brian prodded her to move with the line. Thorne and Nicole weren't announcing their engagement; they were just announcing the start of a new company building program!

  Juli's appetite surged back and she loaded her plate with potato and macaroni salads, tiny cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, carrot sticks, and tortilla chips, plus a chunk of crispy Indian fry bread, and a big bowl of chili topped with shredded cheese. Brian looked a little astonished and made some laughing comment about wondering how she kept her gorgeous figure if she always ate like that. Juli just laughed back, feeling oddly light-hearted and giddy. The giddy feeling turned to shakiness when she came to Nicole and Thorne, handing out generous slices of beef expertly carved by Thorne.

  Nicole's smooth brow creased ever so slightly in a frown when she saw Juli, but she said nothing. Thorne made some impersonal remark about hoping she enjoyed her meal, much the same as he was saying to everyone. Juli was uncertain whether she was relieved or disappointed, but in any case she thoroughly enjoyed the excellent food. Afterward, they went back for cherry pie and ice cream, plus a piece of genuine cactus candy. It tasted a little like her grandmother's old-fashioned watermelon preserves.