Mystery Man

by Diana Palmer

  He sighed irritably. “No, I won’t.”

  “Give Quentin a chance,” she pleaded.

  “If you like him, I guess he’s okay. It just seems like he’s always trying to change you into somebody else.” He studied her through narrowed eyes. “Are you sure you don’t like Karie’s dad?”

  She cringed inside, remembering how receptive she’d been last night to his pretended advances, before she knew they were pretend. She’d tingled at the touch of his hand, and he probably knew it, too. She felt like an idiot for letting her emotions go like that, for letting them show, when he was only using her to keep Missy at bay. And why had he bothered, when he spent the rest of the night holding the awful woman’s hand?

  “Yes, I’m sure,” she lied glibly. “Now let me get to work.”

  “Will Quentin stay here?” he asked before he left her.

  “Why not?” she asked. “You can be our chaperon.”

  He sighed. “Mom and Dad won’t like it.”

  “I’m old enough, and Quentin probably wants to marry me,” she said. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  “You wouldn’t marry him!” he exclaimed.

  She shifted. “Why not? I’m going on twenty-five. I should get married. I want to get married. Quentin is steady and loyal and intelligent.”

  Also the wrong sort of man for Janine to get serious about, Kurt thought, but he held his tongue. This wasn’t a good idea to get his sister more upset than she already was. Besides, he was thinking, having Quentin here just might make Karie’s dad a little jealous. There were all sorts of possibilities that became more exciting by the minute. He smiled secretively and waved as he left her to her computer.

  “Janie’s boyfriend is coming to stay,” he told Karie later, making sure he spoke loudly enough that her father, who was sitting just down the beach, heard him.

  “Her boyfriend?” Karie asked, shocked. “You mean, she has a boyfriend?”

  “Oh, yes, she does,” he said irritably, plopping down beside her in the sand. “He teaches ancient history. He’s brainy and sophisticated and crazy about her.”

  Karie made a face. “I thought you said she wasn’t interested in getting married.”

  “She said this morning that she was,” he replied. “It would be just my luck to end up with him as my brother-in-law.”

  Karie giggled at the concept. “Is he old?”

  “Sure,” he said gloomily. “At least thirty-five.”

  “That’s old,” she agreed.

  Down the beach, a young-thinking man of thirty-eight glared in their general direction. Thirty-five wasn’t old. And what the hell was Janine thinking to saddle herself with an academic? He wanted to throw something. She had a degree, he reminded himself. Her parents were academics; even her boyfriend was.

  But Canton Rourke was a high-school dropout with a certificate that said he’d passed a course giving him the equivalent of a high-school diploma. He’d been far too busy making money to go to college. Now, it was too late. He couldn’t compete with an educated woman on her level.

  But he was attracted to her. That was the hell of it. He didn’t want to be. Freshly divorced, awash in a sea of financial troubles, he had no room in his life for a new woman. Especially a young and pretty and very intelligent woman like Janine. He’d been smitten before, but never this fast or this furiously. He didn’t know what he was going to do.

  Except that he was sure he didn’t want the college professor to walk away with his neighbor.

  Janine called Quentin later that day. “Why don’t you fly down here for a couple of days,” she suggested.

  “I can’t leave in the middle of the summer semester, with classes every day,” he replied. “I’ve got students who have makeup exams to take, too.”

  She sighed. “Quentin, you could leave early Friday and fly back Sunday.”

  “That’s a rather large expense for two days’ holiday,” he replied thoughtfully.

  She felt her temper oozing over its dam. “Well, you’re right about that,” she agreed hotly, “my company is hardly worth the price of an airline ticket.”

  “Wh…what?”

  “Never mind. Have a nice summer, Quentin.” She hung up.

  Kurt stuck his head around the door. “Is he coming?”

  She glared at him and threw a sofa pillow in his general direction.

  Kurt went out the patio door, whistling to himself.

  Janine sank into the depths of depression for the next hour. She and Quentin were good friends, and in the past few months, they’d gone out a lot together socially. But to give him credit, he’d never mentioned marriage or even a serious relationship. A few light, careless kisses didn’t add up to a proposal of marriage. She was living in pipe dreams again, and she had to stop.

  But this was the worst possible time to discover that she didn’t have a steady boyfriend, when she wanted to prove to Canton Rourke that he had no place at all in her life. As if she’d want a washed-up ex-millionaire, right?

  Wrong. She found him so attractive that her toes curled every time she thought about him. He was the stuff of which dreams were made, and not because he’d been fabulously wealthy, either. It was the man himself, not his empire, that appealed to Janine. She wondered if he’d believe that? He was probably so used to people trying to get close to his wallet that he never knew if they liked him for himself.

  But she didn’t want him to know that she did. If only Quentin hadn’t been so unreasonable! Why couldn’t he simply walk out on his classes, risk being fired and spend his savings to rush down here to Cancñaun and save Janine’s pride from the rejection of a man she coveted?

  She burst out laughing. Putting things back into perspective did have an effect, all right.

  The phone rang. She picked up the receiver.

  “Janie?” Quentin murmured. “I’ve reconsidered. I think I’d like to come down for the weekend. I can get Professor Mills to take my Friday classes. I need a break.”

  She grinned into the telephone. “That would be lovely, Quentin!”

  “But I’ll have to leave on Sunday,” he added firmly. “I’ve got to prepare for an exam.”

  “A few days will be nice. You’ll like it here.”

  “I’ll pack plenty of bottled water.”

  “You won’t need to,” she told him. “We have plenty. And at the restaurants, we’ve never had a problem.”

  “All right then. I’ll phone you from the airport when I get in. I’ll try to leave early in the morning, if there’s a flight. I’ll phone you.”

  “Bring your bathing trunks.”

  There was a pause. “Janine, I don’t swim.”

  She sighed. “I forgot.”

  “Where are your parents?”

  “Still out at the dig.”

  “You’d better book me in at a nearby hotel,” he said.

  “You could stay with Kurt and me…”

  “Not wise, Janine,” he murmured indulgently. “We aren’t that sort of people, and I have a position to consider. You really must think more conventionally, if we’re to have any sort of future together.”

  It was the first time he’d mentioned having a future with her. And suddenly, she didn’t want to think about it.

  “I understand that the Spaniards landed near Cancñaun, on Cozumel,” he said. “I’d love to take the time to search through the local library, if they’re open on Saturday. I read Spanish, you know.”

  She did know. He never missed an opportunity to remind her. Of course, he also spoke Latin, French, German and a little Russian. He was brilliant. That was what had attracted her to him at first. Now, she wondered what in the world had possessed her to ask him down here. He’d go off on an exploration of Spanish history in the New World and she wouldn’t see him until he was ready to fly out. On the other hand, that might not be so bad.

  “I’ll meet you at the airport.”

  “Good! See you Friday. And Janine, this time, try not to forget to take the car
keys out of the ignition before you lock the door, hmmm?”

  She broke the connection and stared out the window. What in heaven’s name had she done? Quentin’s favorite pastime was putting her down. In the time since she’d seen him, she’d forgotten. But now she remembered with painful clarity why she’d been happy to leave Bloomington, Indiana, behind just a few months ago and move to a small apartment in Chicago. How could she have forgotten?

  Later in the day, she noticed again the dark man who’d been watching Karie on the beach. He was downtown when she took the kids in a cab to visit one of the old cathedrals there, for research on the book she was writing.

  He didn’t come close or speak to them, but he watched their movements very carefully. He had a cellular phone, too, which he tried to conceal before Janine spotted it. She went toward a nearby policeman, intent on asking him to question the man. About that time, her intentions were telegraphed to the watchful dark man, and he immediately got into a car and left the area. It disturbed Janine, and she wondered whether or not she should tell Canton about it. She didn’t mention it to Karie or Kurt. After all, it could have been perfectly innocent. There was no sense in upsetting everyone without good reason.

  They arrived back at the beach house tired and sweaty. The heat was making everyone miserable. Here, at least, there was a constant wind coming off the ocean. She made lemonade for the three of them and they were sitting on the patio, drinking it, when Canton came strolling along the beach below them.

  He was wearing dark glasses and an angry expression. He came up onto the deck two steps at a time. When he reached the top, he whipped off the dark glasses and glared at his daughter.

  “When I got back from Tulsa, the house was empty and there was no note,” he said. “Your lack of consideration is wearing a little thin. Do I have to forbid you to leave the house to get some cooperation?”

  Karie groaned. “Dad, I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, jumping up out of her chair. “Kurt and Janie asked me to go to town with them on a re—”

  “Recreational trip,” Janine added at once, to forestall her young guest from using “research trip” and spilling the beans about her alter ego.

  “Recreational trip,” Karie parroted obediently. “I was so excited that I just forgot about the note. Don’t be mad.”

  “I’ve lost half a day worrying where you were,” he said shortly. “I’ve phoned everyone we know here, including the police.”

  “You can take away my allowance for three years. Six,” she added helpfully. “I’ll give up chocolate cake forever.”

  “You hate chocolate,” he murmured irritably.

  “Yes, but for you, I’ll stop eating it.”

  He chuckled reluctantly. “Go home. And next time you don’t leave me a note, you’re grounded for life.”

  “Yes, sir! See you, Janie and Kurt. Thanks for the trip!”

  “I have to wash my pet eel,” Kurt said at once with a grin at Janie, and got out of the line of fire.

  “Craven coward,” she muttered after him.

  “Strategic retreat,” Canton observed with narrowed eyes. He looked down at her. “You’re corrupting my daughter.”

  “I’m what?”

  “Corrupting her. She never used to be this irresponsible.” His eyes grew cold. “And if you’re going to have your boyfriend living here with you, without a chaperon, she isn’t coming near the place until he leaves!”

  She actually gaped at him. “Exactly what century are you living in?” she exclaimed.

  “That’s your boyfriend’s specialty, I believe, ancient history,” he continued. “I’ve seen too many permissive life-styles to have any respect for them. I won’t have my daughter exposed to yours!”

  “Permissive…exposed…” She was opening and closing her mouth like a fish. “You’re one to talk, with your hot and cold running women and your…your cover girl lovers!”

  “Escorts,” he said shortly. “I was never unfaithful to my wife. Which is a statement she damned sure couldn’t make! I’m not raising Karie to be like her.”

  She felt pale and wondered if she looked it. Her hands were curled painfully into the arms of her chair. She’d never been verbally attacked with such menace. “My boyfriend is a respected college professor with a sterling moral character,” she said finally. “And for your information, he insists on staying in a hotel, not here!”

  He stood there, towering over her, hands deep in his pockets, barely breathing as his blue eyes went over her light cotton dress down to the splayed edges of her skirt that revealed too much of her lovely, tanned long legs.

  She tossed the skirt back over them and sat up, furious. “But even if he did decide to stay here, it would be none of your business!” She got to her feet, glaring up at him. “You can keep Karie at home if you’re afraid of my corrupting influence. And you can stay away, too, damn you!”

  The speed with which his lean hands came out of his pockets to catch her bare arms was staggering. He whipped her against the length of him and stared down into shocked, wide green eyes.

  “Damn you, too,” he said under his breath, searching her face with an intensity that almost hurt. “You’re too young, too flighty, too emotional, too everything! I’m sorry I ever brought Karie down here!”

  “So am I!” she raged. “Let me go!” She kicked out at his leg with her bare foot.

  The action, far too violent to be controlled, caused her to lose her balance, and brought her into a position so intimate that she trembled helplessly at the contact.

  His hands were on her back now, preventing a fall, slowly moving, sensuous. “Careful,” he said, and his voice was so sensual that she lost all will to fight.

  Her fingers clenched into the front of his knit shirt. She couldn’t make herself look up. The feel of his body was overpowering enough, without the electric pull of those blue, blue eyes to make her even worse. She didn’t move at all. She wasn’t sure that she could. He smelled of spice and soap. She liked the clean scent of his body. In the opening of his shirt there was a thick mat of hair showing, and she wondered helplessly if it went all the way down to his slacks. She wondered how it would feel under her hands, her cheek, her mouth. Her thoughts shocked her.

  His big hands splayed on her back, moving her closer. His breath at her temple stirred her short hair warmly.

  His nose moved against her forehead, against her own nose, her cheek. His thin lips brushed her cheek and the corner of her mouth, pausing there as they had once before, teasing, taunting.

  She felt her breath shaking out of her body against his lips, but she couldn’t help it. His mouth was the only thing in the world. She stared at it with such hunger that nothing else existed.

  His hand came up. His thumb brushed lightly against her lower lip, and then slightly harder, tugging. As her lips parted, his head bent. She felt the whispery pressure with a sense of trembling anticipation, with hungry curiosity.

  “Close your eyes, for God’s sake,” he breathed as his mouth opened. “Not your mouth, though…”

  She imagined the kiss. She could already feel it. It would be as unexpected as the sudden surge of the wind around them. She felt her body stiffen with the shock of desire it kindled in her. She’d never had such an immediate reaction to any man. He would be experienced, of course. His very demeanor told her that he knew everything there was to know about kissing. She was lost from the very first touch. Her eyes closed, as he’d told them to, and her mouth opened helplessly. She heard someone moan as she anticipated the heat and passion of his embrace…

  “Do you know who I am?” he asked.

  Her eyes opened. He hadn’t moved. He hadn’t kissed her. His mouth was still poised, waiting. She’d…imagined the kiss. Her eyes shot up, struggling to cope with steamy emotions that had her knees shaking.

  His eyes held hers. “I’m not your college professor,” he murmured. “Are you missing him so much that even I can stand in for him?” he added with a mocking smile.

&n
bsp; She tore out of his arms with pure rage, her face red, her eyes and hair wild.

  “Yes!” she cried at him. “I’m missing him just that much! That’s why I invited him to come down to Cancñaun!”

  His hands went back into his pockets, and he didn’t even look ruffled. She was enraged.

  His eyebrow jerked as he looked at her with kindling amusement, and something much darker. “You’re still too young,” he remarked. “But whatever effect your boyfriend has had on you is minimal at best.”

  “He has a wonderful effect on me!”

  His eyelids dropped over twinkling eyes. “Like I just did?”

  “That was…it was…”

  He moved a little closer, his stance sensually threatening. “Sensuous,” he breathed, watching her mouth. “Explosive. Passionate. And I didn’t even kiss you.”

  Her hand came up in a flash, but he caught it in his and brought the damp palm to his mouth in a gesture that made her catch her breath. His eyes were intent, dangerous.

  “We come from different worlds,” he said quietly. “But something inside each of us knows the other. Don’t deny it,” he continued when she started to protest. “It’s no use. You knew me the minute we met, and I knew you.”

  “Oh, sure, when I was a soldier in the Czech army in some other life…!”

  The back of his fingers stopped the words, gently. “I’m not a great believer in reincarnation,” he continued. “But we know each other at some level. All the arguments in the world can’t disguise it.”

  “I don’t want you!” she sputtered.

  His fingers caught hers and held them almost comfortingly. “Well, I want you,” he said shortly. “But you’re perfectly safe with me. Even if you didn’t have a boyfriend, you’d be safe. I don’t want involvement.”

  “You said that already.”

  “I’m saying it again, just to make the point. We’re neighbors. That’s all.”

  “I know,” she snapped. She moved away, and his hand let go. “Stop touching me.”

  “I’m trying to,” he replied with an odd smile. “It’s like giving up smoking.”

  “I don’t like you to touch me,” she lied.