Sultry

by Mary Lynn Baxter

  Cooper’s face darkened. “I’m not happy with him, either.”

  Oh, brother, she’d set him off again. “He’s never going to run the office exactly like you did, Daddy.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about, though he sure as hell needs to be more hands-on there than he is.”

  “He’s still learning,” Lindsay said lamely.

  Cooper cut her a look. “That’s why he needs to stay in the office more.”

  Lindsay could have said Amen to that, given Tim’s addiction to the stock market, but she didn’t. Instead, she diverted the conversation so as not to send Cooper off on another tangent.

  “We need to have him and Eve to dinner soon, Daddy—a family gathering.”

  “Maybe,” Cooper said absently, then raised his eyebrows at Dolly, who once more entered the room. “Is dinner ready?”

  “Yes, sir, but that’s not why I’m here.” Dolly’s eyes sought out Lindsay. “There’s a call for you. It’s a woman—says she knows you from the shelter.” Dolly paused, her features withering into a frown. “I tried to put her off. That’s when she went plumb hysterical on me.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Cooper bellowed, his gaze menacing.

  Lindsay rose quickly. “I’ll take it in the library.”

  “Now, see here, Lindsay!” Cooper exclaimed. “I won’t have those people calling here. You know how I feel about that place.”

  Lindsay had every intention of holding her tongue, of not letting him goad her into a response of any kind. But his attitude, along with his words, rankled to such a degree that she said in a calm but cool tone, “This doesn’t concern you, Daddy.”

  “The hell it doesn’t. What concerns you, concerns me.” He faced Dolly. “Tell whoever it is that Lindsay’s not available.”

  “No, Dolly. I’ll take the call.”

  “Lindsay—”

  Lindsay walked out, leaving Cooper sputtering. By the time she reached the library and lifted the receiver, she was shaking all over.

  A few minutes later she said into the receiver, “Stop crying, Beverly, and listen to me. I’ll meet you at the police station. Have your friend take you there. Now.”

  With that, Lindsay hung up, then dashed out of the room, almost straight into Cooper, who was standing just outside the library.

  “Were you eavesdropping?” Lindsay demanded, fury waging another battle inside her and winning.

  He ignored her question and asked one of his own. “Surely to God, you’re not going to meet that woman?”

  “I have to, Daddy,” she said, swallowing her fury and opting for another, more conciliatory tactic. “Her husband’s—”

  “I don’t give a damn about her or her husband. I don’t want you involved.”

  Lindsay stood her ground, but her tone was soft. “I am involved, of my own free will. Now I have to go.” Before he could rebut, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Enjoy dinner. Don’t wait for me.”

  An expletive zinged through the air, and though she flinched inwardly, she dashed upstairs, grabbed her purse, then tore out of the house.

  She had parked her car around back but not in the garage. Once inside her vehicle, she shoved the key in the ignition and turned it.

  Nothing.

  She turned the key again and again. Still dead as a doornail. Splendid. Apparently she needed a new battery. Her sports Lexus was over three years old, and still had the original one. Of all times for the stupid thing to go on the blink—

  “Need some help?”

  Mitch.

  Lindsay’s heart did a tap dance inside her chest, even as her head swung around to him. She hadn’t seen him since their romp in his bed. And though she knew a meeting was inevitable, she hadn’t planned on seeing him now—not when she was off balance and fractured. She had wanted to be in total control of herself and her nerves.

  And she hadn’t gotten over the cold fact that he’d been with another woman so soon after her. That was a blow she hadn’t yet come to terms with.

  “It sounds like the battery,” he said in his low, easy drawl.

  Lindsay wet her dry lips, a gesture he seemed to pick up on before his eyes darted back up to meet hers. Even though it was near dusk, there was still enough light for her to see him clearly. He didn’t bother to hide the desire that smoldered in his eyes.

  “Want me to take a look?”

  “Actually, I’m in a hurry.” Lindsay had a death grip on the steering wheel while her mind raced. His presence robbed her of all rational thought. She didn’t need this. She didn’t need him. “I…have to be someplace. Now.”

  “I’ll take you.”

  Lindsay’s heart did another tap dance. “Look, I don’t think…” Her words faded into nothingness, along with her rejection of his offer.

  What choice did she have? She could take her daddy’s car, only she didn’t have the keys, which meant she’d have to go back inside and face him.

  Forget that.

  “Are you sure?” she asked, refusing to meet his eyes again.

  “Come on.” He jerked open the door. “My car’s around the side here.”

  Once she was settled in the front seat of his sports utility vehicle, he headed it toward the front gate. “Where to?”

  “The police station.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes.”

  She felt his gaze linger. “You’re not in trouble?”

  “Of course not,” she said, a trifle breathlessly.

  “So who is?”

  “It’s a long story,” she said, staring straight ahead.

  “Is there a short version?”

  Under any other circumstances, Lindsay might have smiled, but at the moment, no smiles were available. Just overtaxed nerves. She was conscious of everything about him, from his muscled body to the dark stubble on his jaw and chin, to the clean smell of him, as if he’d just gotten out of the shower—which was a good guess, since his hair was still damp.

  She had to quell the urge to reach out and touch it to see for herself.

  “Lindsay, what’s going on?”

  The husky note in his voice drew her back around. “It’s a woman from the shelter. Beverly’s her name. Her husband threatened her and her baby with a butcher knife.”

  “Sweet Jesus.”

  “A neighbor agreed to take her to the police station but can’t stay there with her.”

  “Do these women make a habit of calling you?”

  “No, but some of my pets there do have my number.”

  “Do you think that’s smart?”

  “Probably not, but then, I don’t always do what’s smart.”

  He blew out a breath as the air inside seemed to thicken in the silence that followed, as both of them homed in on the far-from-smart thing they had done.

  However, when Mitch spoke, his tone was even. “How does your old man feel about this?”

  A bitter laugh erupted. “He’s livid and doesn’t understand.” She paused and glanced at Mitch’s profile. “I’m guessing you don’t, either. Not that it matters.”

  His jaw tightened visibly, but he had no comeback.

  A short time later, Mitch steered the Explorer into the parking lot in front of the station.

  “I won’t be long,” she said, grabbing for the door handle.

  “Whoa. I’m coming with you.”

  “I—”

  “That’s nonnegotiable.”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  “I intend to,” he countered tersely.

  It didn’t take Lindsay long to spot Beverly hovering in one of the tiny cubicles, being questioned by an officer. When the woman saw Lindsay, she lurched to her feet. That was when Lindsay stopped, the color draining from her cheeks. A large bandage covered one entire side of the young woman’s cheek.

  “Oh, Lindsay!” the petite bleach-blonde cried when Lindsay made her way inside the room. “I’m so sorry. I know I promised you I
wouldn’t go back, but—”

  “Shh,” Lindsay said in a soothing tone. “Right now, we have to deal with what’s happened. Did he hurt the baby?”

  She stared at Lindsay through makeup-smeared eyes. “No. I managed to get her away before he could.”

  “You have to file a complaint this time, Beverly.” Lindsay spoke to her as if they were the only two in the room, though she knew both men were taking in every word.

  Beverly hung her head. “I know, but—”

  “There are no ‘buts’ any longer,” Lindsay said, this time in a no-nonsense tone.

  “Okay.”

  The officer shoved the paperwork across the desk, peered at Lindsay through stern eyes, then at Mitch, who was leaning against the doorjamb. “It’s all ready for her to sign.”

  “Do it, Beverly,” Lindsay encouraged. “Not for me, but for you and Shirley.”

  Beverly leaned over, grabbed a pen and scribbled her name.

  Lindsay watched with a soar of relief. “Now we’ll get you to a safe house.”

  The officer stood. “And we’ll pick him up.”

  “Thank you, Officer,” Lindsay said. Then, turning first to Mitch, who nodded, then to Beverly, she added, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  An hour later, when Lindsay and Mitch arrived back at the mansion and Mitch killed the engine, darkness was as thick around them as the humidity.

  Lindsay wondered whose heart was beating louder, his or hers. But then the harsh chirp of the crickets helped take her mind off them and the cloying confines of the car.

  “You’re something else, you know that?” Mitch said at last.

  For a moment she glowed in his praise. Yet she refused to acknowledge it. “Not really.”

  “Yeah, really. And you should take the credit.”

  Lindsay didn’t respond, beginning to feel the aftermath of the ordeal set in. When they had taken Beverly to the safe house, the woman had begun to sob uncontrollably, and the bandage on her face had come off in the deluge of tears.

  Lindsay had instantly recoiled from the slash on Beverly’s cheek. Mitch, on the other hand, had stood silent, though she swore she could feel the heat of his fury.

  Now she just felt sad, angry and helpless.

  “Look, I should go,” she finally said, not looking at Mitch. She felt herself starting to unravel inside, both from his presence and from what she’d just been through.

  “Lindsay, we have to talk.”

  Suddenly her teeth began to chatter, and she couldn’t seem to stop them.

  “Hey, don’t do that.”

  Before she could react to his huskily spoken words, he reached for her and pulled her against his hard chest.

  “Please,” she whispered, peering up at him.

  Big mistake.

  The moonlight allowed her to see his tormented features before they were blacked out by his head coming down and lips meeting hers. For a moment she clung to him, finding solace in his hot, open-mouth kisses, which made her weak with longing.

  It was when his hand found her burgeoning breast and closed around it that she came to her senses and jerked out of his arms. He stared at her with his chest heaving.

  “Who was she?” Lindsay asked in a dull tone.

  Mitch blinked. “She who?”

  “You know,” she snapped, trying to rein in her scattered emotions. “That woman who was at your place the other night.”

  She didn’t have any right to ask that. Yes, she did. After all, she had shared his bed. That alone gave her the right, didn’t it? No. She had wanted him, and she’d gotten him. That was that.

  “How did you know?”

  “I saw her.”

  Mitch bunched his jaw. “She’s not important, but if you must know, she’s my ex-wife.”

  “My, how nice that she still comes to visit,” Lindsay spat, before opening the door and jumping out.

  “Lindsay, come back here!”

  She kept on going.

  Seventeen

  His relationship with Cooper hadn’t changed.

  Yet Mitch went out of his way to avoid any direct contact with the man except when they met to do what Cooper called “estate planning.” What it amounted to was discussing what Mitch and the crew had done, what they were doing, and what they were going to do.

  Today was one of those planning session days. And Mitch was not in the mood. But at least he wouldn’t have to concern himself with bumping into Lindsay. She had left earlier. He had been on the porch when she’d driven away.

  Ah, Lindsay.

  It had been two weeks since he’d seen her. Two weeks. He knew exactly. They had been two of the longest weeks of his life, too. He didn’t want to think about her. Yet she was all he thought about.

  Even now, at three o’clock in the afternoon, when he was winding his way through the grounds, heading for his meeting, Lindsay was with him.

  Messing around with her that night in the car had renewed the ache, not only in his loins but inside him. He didn’t want to feel this way, as if his gut were tied in a permanent knot.

  Had he fallen in love?

  That thought stopped him in his tracks. No! He’d been bitten by that bug once, and that was enough. Besides, what had happened between him and Lindsay was based on lust. It had started with that, and that was the way it would end—if it hadn’t already.

  Mitch winced at the thought. Deep in his gut, he didn’t want their affair to be over. He hadn’t had his fill of her yet. But would he ever? He doubted it. Sweat popped out on his face.

  For him, Lindsay had become lethal, as lethal as cocaine. He had never used any drugs, but if getting high on a controlled substance was anything like being inside Lindsay’s moist, heated center, then no wonder people got hooked. He was in danger of overdosing.

  Mitch winced again, realizing that was exactly what he wanted to have happen. And that was why he was beating up on himself until he was black and blue inside.

  He had to make a decision, and soon. He couldn’t have his cake and eat it, too. But that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted to make love to her and keep his job.

  Meanwhile, he had to try to find a livable midpoint. He had to stop constantly thinking about her, wanting her. She was messing with his mind to such an extent that he walked around in heat.

  This afternoon was no exception.

  His thoughts had played havoc with his body. Ah, to hell with it, he told himself. To hell with her. She wasn’t worth getting himself in such a stew over, nor was she worth getting fired over. And if her old man ever found out, Mitch would definitely be out on his ass.

  Cooper wouldn’t find out.

  Having come to that conclusion, Mitch felt better, and even managed to put some spring in his step as he neared the back door of the house. And what a house it was, too. Nestled among thirty acres of prime land, it was country living at its finest, only it wasn’t in the country. The Newman place was just minutes from a major interstate.

  The entire parcel was mind-boggling. That had been his first reaction when he’d interviewed for the job. The Tara-style house was awesome in its grandeur, and reeked of both old and new money.

  Still, he wouldn’t want to live behind those walls. Having money and prestige carried a high price tag—one he wasn’t willing to pay. Nope. He liked being his own man, doing his own thing.

  Shoving his thoughts aside, Mitch knocked on the door.

  Dolly opened it, a wide grin on her face. “It’s about time you got yourself back here,” she said, her eyes flashing.

  Dolly liked him. She had from day one on the job. The feeling was mutual. “Ah, so you’ve been missing me, huh?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  Mitch chuckled. “Yeah, you did.”

  Her features puckered, but that glint remained in her eyes. “Are you here to see Mr. Cooper?”

  “Yep.”

  “I’ll have some hot tea cakes for you when you get through.”

  “A woman aft
er my own heart.” Mitch’s grin widened. “How ’bout us running off and getting married?”

  Dolly tipped her chin. “Not today. I’m too busy.”

  Mitch laughed as he turned and made his way toward the study. He knocked, then waited for the summons.

  Thirty minutes later, Mitch was still there, facing his boss across his desk, sipping on a cup of chicory coffee that Dolly had brought them.

  Cooper appeared the picture of health and in total control of himself and everything around him. Except me, Mitch thought. He didn’t owe the doctor anything but an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.

  “So are we together on everything that affects the grounds?” Cooper asked.

  “One hundred percent.”

  “I’ll try and get out to the greenhouse first thing in the morning.”

  Mitch nodded. “Good. If there are no changes, then we can get that wrapped up.” He drained his cup and sat it back on the silver tray. “If there’s nothing else…”

  “There is.”

  Mitch cocked an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

  “How are your carpentry skills?”

  Mitch frowned. “The greenhouse should speak for that. After all, I designed it, and I’ve hammered my fair share of the nails.”

  “That’s nothing compared to what I have in mind.”

  For some reason Mitch couldn’t pinpoint, he felt uneasy. So instead of commenting, he remained silent and waited for Cooper to tell him what was on his mind.

  “I would like to remodel a portion of the south side of the house, making it into an apartment. Think that can be done?”

  “Off the top of my head, I can’t say. I’d have to take a look.”

  “You do that, then we’ll talk some more.”

  Mitch got to his feet, wondering what that was all about.

  As if Cooper could read Mitch’s mind, he added, “In anticipation of my daughter’s marriage, I want the apartment to be ready.”

  Mitch managed not to flinch outwardly, but inside, that knot in his stomach coiled tighter.

  Lindsay getting married? Since the fuck when?

  “Is that about to happen?” Somehow he managed to ask the question, though he sounded hoarse, as if he’d suddenly developed a sore throat.