Kevin didn’t want a date to keep his ex-girlfriend at bay as she’d surmised. He was juggling three women, and he expected to show up with a fourth!
“Having a good time?” his voice asked close to her ear.
Alli gave a guilty start. Although her instincts urged her to brazen it out by claiming she was hungry, she decided not to lie.
Closing the freezer, she pivoted to face Kevin. He stood inches away, a mocking twist to his mouth.
“You haven’t told me the whole truth about tomorrow night,” she challenged.
Was that guilt fleeting across his face? “Certainly not. I haven’t told you anything about tomorrow night.”
Alli decided to force the issue into the open. “Which of them is going to be there, or is it all three?”
“All three what?”
“Your fan club,” she said. “The ladies who bring lunch. The adoring trio of Heloise, Barbara and Betsy. Do they know about one another? Is this some kind of competition? Where does your date for the party fit in, lover boy?”
Instead of reddening with well-deserved shame, the man got a gleam in his eye. “They’re acquainted with one another.”
“What’s the plan?” Alli pressed. “Are you trying to make them jealous or what?”
“I doubt they’ll be jealous,” he said smoothly. Of all the untrustworthy men Alli had ever met, this one had the most nerve! “You’d be surprised how well we rub along.”
“Do you date them on alternate nights? What are they, your personal harem?” She didn’t really suspect him of promiscuity. However, there was the evidence, right in his refrigerator. “You may think this is funny, but I doubt that they do.”
“I don’t consider the situation funny,” Kevin responded levelly. “You want the truth? Those women are hounding me to death.”
“And you never gave them any reason to think they had some claim on you, right?” she countered.
“We used to be close,” he conceded. “But, you know, people change.”
“So you’re not currently dating any of them?”
“Not a one.”
“And they drop off casseroles purely out of habit?”
“Can I help it if hope springs eternal?” he asked.
Alli was tempted to bop him with a utensil. “I know we made a deal, but I don’t want to get involved in whatever game you’re playing.”
“Tell me something.” Stretching out one arm, he leaned against the fridge and enclosed her in a private space. “Which is crueler, to let them keep showering me with food in hopes of winning my heart, or to show up with a tasty dish like you and put a stop to it?”
Being referred to as a “tasty dish” pushed Alli over the edge. She raised one knee to the exact location of his masculine portions. “You want to hear what I think of Don Juans? I think they deserve what they get.”
The next thing she knew, he’d tossed her over one shoulder, fireman style. “Never threaten an ex-cop,” Kevin advised, and hauled her through the house into the master suite.
Alli waited until he’d almost reached the bed before she kicked out, made contact with the bed frame and shoved in the opposite direction. Releasing a string of swearwords, Kevin staggered backward.
As he stumbled, Alli felt herself begin to slide. It occurred to her that she should have given more thought to the fact that, if he fell, she was going down with him.
Or maybe underneath him.
At the last moment, Kevin managed to avoid dropping her entirely. Instead, he ricocheted across the room and flopped her onto the mattress before toppling across her.
He did more than knock the air out of her lungs. He landed in such a position that, had they not both been wearing slacks, they’d have become lovers by default.
Alli could trace every thoroughly male detail of his anatomy. The process was heightened by the fact that he’d become inexplicably but impressively aroused.
If Kevin Vickers expected to add her to his harem, he was the least perceptive man in history. And she intended to leave him in no doubt of that.
KEVIN WISHED he did have a string of adoring mistresses. They might have taken the edge off his desire, in which case he wouldn’t be responding to Alli Gardner like an overgrown adolescent.
He’d only been joking when he tossed her over his shoulder. He hadn’t intended to do anything except set her on her feet once they got in here.
Still, he understood Alli well enough not to let on what he was thinking. He pitied the man who ever became vulnerable to her, even by so much as an apology.
“Is this what you had in mind when you decided to drag me down on top of you?” he asked.
She sputtered. “I was trying to discourage you, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I judge people’s intentions by their actions, and here we are,” he replied. “So if you’re curious about what those other ladies find so irresistible…”
“Kevin,” Alli said.
“Hmm?”
“I can’t breathe.”
“Sorry.” He rolled off. “Normally, I approach a lady with more finesse.”
She sat up, hair tangling around her face and her emerald top revealing a tantalizing strip of lean waistline. The sight of her made Kevin’s groin tighten harder, entirely against his will.
He wasn’t normally attracted to shoot-from-the-hip women. His type was more like Lisette, who, when it came to intimacies, had waited for him to make the first move, and the second and the third. He’d found her tantalizing at first, until he began to wonder if she ever experienced true passion.
Alli’s boldness tantalized him with possibilities. He’d be willing to bet she could match him every step of the way.
What he needed, he thought firmly, was a woman somewhere between Lisette and Alli. But definitely not this tigress, all fangs and claws. He might survive the battle, but she’d leave scars.
“Since we’re not going to make use of this bed, I suggest we remove ourselves.” Kevin suited actions to words. “So are you reneging on your promise to be my date?”
“I can’t afford to. I still need a roof over my head,” she conceded. “Just promise you aren’t going to use me to break off a relationship with some woman.”
“I promise,” he said.
Although she didn’t look convinced, she let it go. Briefly, Kevin considered telling her the truth, but his instincts weighed against it.
The most effective way to handle his mother and sisters was to keep them off balance, and he had the strong sense that this would work with Alli, too.
A scary thought occurred to him. He’d let a woman move into his house who was way too much like his own family.
It was only for the weekend, though. On Monday, Alli Gardner could go storm somebody else’s castle.
ALLI SLEPT SOUNDLY inside her makeshift tent. The sense of camping out comforted her because as long as she kept on the move nothing could tie her down and no one could leave her behind.
Fragments of dreams survived when she awoke. They involved a dark-eyed man, a mattress and a wonderful sense of longing.
If I ever start bringing him casseroles, I hope somebody shoots me, she thought as she stretched in the filtered morning light.
The smell of coffee drew her out of her shelter. After finger combing her shaggy hair—the bangs, which were growing out, fell to an awkward length—Alli smoothed her crumpled nightgown and decamped to the kitchen.
At the table sat Kevin, bandbox perfect in a sport jacket, slacks and a wrinkle-free shirt. He must have already removed his breakfast plate, because the only thing in front of him was a mug.
The clock read 8:33 a.m. Who got this dressed up on a Saturday?
“I’ll be gone most of the day,” he informed her without wasting so much as a “good morning.” “There’s a spare key in the silverware drawer and I’ve written down the security code. Please activate the alarm if you go out. Don’t forget there may be people gunning for you.”
Alli poured coffe
e from the pot and sank blearily into a chair. “You trust me with your security code?”
“I change it every Wednesday,” he said. “You won’t be able to access the house after that.”
“Why Wednesday?”
“I installed the system on a Wednesday. That makes it easy to keep track of when to switch.”
Easy? To Alli, it sounded like a pain in the neck. She never changed a password on the computer or her ATM unless the system required it, and then half the time she forgot what it was and had to go through a ton of trouble to have it reset. She felt certain Kevin never encountered that problem.
He seemed all business this morning, unlike the playful scamp who’d thrown her over his shoulder last night. She missed that scruffier, almost human version of him, although she was pleased that he’d left an appealing hint of dark fuzz around his jaw and cheeks. “I take it your work doesn’t concern our doctor friends?”
“I do have other cases.” He carried his cup to the sink. “Help yourself to the casseroles for lunch. I’ll catch something while I’m out.”
“I’ll bet your girlfriends would be hurt if they knew another woman was eating their stuff,” she said.
“Food is food. If it isn’t eaten, it has to be thrown out.” After rinsing the mug, he put it in the dishwasher.
Alli supposed she ought to be repulsed by Kevin’s compulsive neatness, but instead, she was thinking how perfectly even and white his teeth looked, without even a hint of coffee brown. He probably used an electric brush on a timer.
One of last night’s dreams rushed back, inspired by that tempting mouth or perhaps by the small dent in his left cheek. The dream involved tangled, bare limbs, soft hair ruffling beneath her hands, and his lips parting as her tongue explored his mouth.
“Are you okay?” Kevin asked.
“Sleepy,” she answered. “Did you set up the laptop?”
“It’s in my office. Hooked up to high-speed access and the printer.”
“Thank you.”
“See you around five-thirty,” he said. “The party starts at six.” With a nod, he went out.
It annoyed Alli that she immediately missed him. Usually, she liked being alone.
Determined to put him out of her mind, she read the paper. She didn’t see any stories with Payne’s byline, which meant he must not have found anyone’s notes to steal.
The editors probably wanted him to stay on the LeMott story. Alli had only scratched the surface of the mayor’s corrupt activities in her initial foray, detailing how he had arranged for his company to bypass city procedures to obtain speedy zoning variances and conditional-use permits.
Friday’s piece under Payne’s byline, also based on her unpublished notes, had hinted at more explosive topics to come. She’d been trying to uncover information about the mayor’s old loan-sharking operation but so far had found only unproven allegations.
Ideally, she’d have delayed the entire article until she’d completed her investigation. However, she’d been afraid Payne might steal her work again. Unfortunately, she’d been right.
The readers would expect him to follow through. Where was he going to find evidence that, if it even existed, had undoubtedly been camouflaged?
Well, that wasn’t her problem. It belonged to Payne and, when he botched the job as no doubt he would, to the Outlook.
Alli found little comfort in that prospect as she spent the next few hours searching job sites online. Nobody advertised newspaper positions; they had too many résumés on file. The ads sought technical writers and advertising/public relations copywriters.
Leaning back in Kevin’s chair, she allowed a flash of self-pity. She loathed the prospect of issuing press releases as she’d done years ago. It was so boring. Hadn’t she earned the right to follow her dream?
Giving up the job search, she reread Madge’s article, making notes about its main subject, adoption counselor Binnie Reed. A forty-two-year-old social worker, she’d previously served at an adoption agency in Los Angeles.
Her photograph showed a businesslike woman who exuded professional concern. In her quotes, she said the kind of reassuring things that adoptive parents might want to hear.
When Alli researched Ms. Reed on the Web, she found a few references to speaking engagements and organizational memberships. Nothing pointed to a motive or an aptitude for extorting money from desperate parents.
As she reexamined the newspaper shot of Binnie, Alli’s thoughts drifted. She wondered what Heloise, Betsy and Barbara looked like. Did Kevin go for some particular physical type, or did he prefer variety? She doubted it; based on the fact that they’d all bought kitchen labels printed with their names, his three girlfriends must be as regimented as he was.
She imagined them showing up for breakfast fully dressed, perhaps polishing the bathroom mirrors before they departed after a night of less-than-wild lovemaking. Oh, come on, she thought, Kevin had to possess some fiery instincts beneath that stuffy exterior. How could he be satisfied with lovers who wrapped and labeled packages of beef stew as romantic keepsakes?
Alli hoped they weren’t all going to attend the party, but at least one of them was sure to be there, or why would Kevin have invited her? How annoying that she had nothing to wear but a pants outfit. If she’d been cast in the role of the sexy other woman, then for goodness’ sake, she ought to look like one.
To fetch an appropriate outfit, she’d have to sneak back into her apartment. Competing for a man she didn’t like seemed a stupid reason to put herself in danger.
Undecided, Alli went into the kitchen for lunch. Although she suspected these too-perfect ladies must be bland cooks, she took out the three casseroles and spooned a selection of each onto a plate, covering it with a paper towel before microwaving so Mr. Clean wouldn’t have a fit.
The results tasted dismayingly good. The tuna-noodle casserole had been made with real cream instead of canned soup. The beans had been cooked fresh and doctored with slivered almonds and real butter. As for the au gratin potatoes, she could tell that the cook had grated the cheese fresh.
What did Kevin do, select his female companions based on their cooking skills? Alli wouldn’t put it past him. She also wondered if the three women knew how much they had in common, aside from lusting after the same guy.
And they have practically nothing in common with me.
She didn’t care what Kevin thought of her, but she hated to come across as a frump in front of the cook-off champions. She’d already gone by her apartment once without getting caught. What was the big deal about slipping inside one more time?
Having remembered to take the spare key and activate the alarm, Alli pointed her car across town. A June haze kept the temperature cool, and through her open windows floated the moist scent of brine and the mewing of seagulls.
Too bad the sun hadn’t come out, or she might be tempted to grab her bikini and head for the beach. If she got enough of a tan, she could wear her swimsuit to the party and forget the dress. Alli smiled, imagining what an entrance she’d make in nothing but two strips of cloth. Watching Kevin’s reaction would almost be worth the awkwardness.
At her apartment complex, she parked one building over and scurried along a walkway. She saw nothing suspicious, only children frolicking, a young woman emerging from the laundry room and a couple lost in conversation as they strolled side by side.
There was no sign of the gray van. By now, the guys must have figured out she wasn’t hanging around.
Alli skimmed up the back stairs and down the hall. As she turned the key in the lock she found the bolt already retracted, which meant the door hadn’t been secured.
She ought to slam it and sprint for cover. But she’d been so rattled yesterday that she might have left it this way.
Determined not to scare too easily, Alli opened the door in time to spot a sudden flurry of movement behind her desk. Someone really had invaded her premises.
And she’d walked right in on him.
; Chapter Five
Alli made a split-second decision based entirely on the fact that she was boiling mad. She burst halfway across the room before it occurred to her that the intruder might have a gun, and by then, sheer momentum propelled her.
At the last minute, she registered the familiar thin frame and full head of blond hair. It gave her tremendous pleasure to body-slam Payne Jacobson against her desk and punch him in the eye.
He staggered backward, gasping and waving one hand in front of him to ward off further blows. Alli cried out—for benefit of any future legal depositions he might make—“Payne? Is that you? Oh my gosh! I thought you were a burglar!”
Whimpering, he banged into the wall and stuck there, too stunned to move. Yet she thought she noticed a furtive movement with his left hand.
“What are you doing?” she demanded. “Actually, you are a burglar.”
“It’s not what you think!” Payne protested as she picked up the phone. “I tried to call you a couple of times to, uh, see how you were doing. When nobody answered, I got worried.”
“Aw, Payne, I didn’t know you cared.” Since this wasn’t a 911-level emergency, Alli groped for a phone book to look up the regular police number. “You could have left a message.”
“Your machine didn’t answer.” He pointed to the device. The on light had gone dark.
Alli was almost certain she’d left it switched on. “That’s because you’ve been listening to my messages, haven’t you?” She punched the play button, but either there weren’t any messages or he’d erased them. “What did you find out, you little sneak?”
“Honest, I just stopped by to make sure you were all right.” Payne was gaining confidence. He must have worked out his excuse before he came, because he didn’t usually think this fast. “The assistant manager let me in.”
“And left you alone?” As she spoke, Alli recalled that the last time she’d paid rent she’d dealt with a new employee in the office. The young woman, who’d been yakking on the phone, had acted annoyed about having to write a receipt.
“She had to run out for a minute. I needed to search your desk to see if you’d indicated where you’d gone.” Despite a wince of pain, Payne managed a glib smile.
The Baby Scheme Page 6
