Deadly Sanctuary (28 page)

It wasn’t until my feet began to ache that I realized with a shock that it was four in the morning. “Summon the carriage,” I said, yawning. “I can’t drink another drop and I can’t take another step.”

“Your every wish is my command,” Eric said, draping an arm around me.

On the ride back to the airport, he drew me close to him. I’d been rather surprised that he hadn’t kissed me all evening. The next ten minutes made up for it. The heat generated by our passionate embrace, combined with the substantial amounts of champagne I’d consumed, made my head spin. I pulled away from him, breathing hard. Self-consciously, I wondered if the driver was watching us in the rear-view mirror.

“Let me catch my breath,” I whispered, adjusting my skirt which had climbed more than half way up my thigh.

“I hate for this night to end.” His lips closed over mine again. With one hand firmly around my shoulder, he used the other to caress my neck and back. At a snail’s pace, he trailed it down to my waist, back up to cup one breast, and then he dropped it lower to massage my thighs. The pleasurable warmth of desire that tingled my skin, made me realize how long it had been since I’d been with a man. As enjoyable as it was, I decided that was as far as I intended to go in the back of a limousine.

“I think I need an ice cube,” I panted as the car pulled up and stopped next to the hangar.

“What for?” he asked with surprise.

“To sit on.”

He looked delighted and squeezed me harder. “Don’t try to fight it, it’s bigger than both of us.”

“Please. That sounds like a line from a 1940’s movie.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “I think it is.”

The flight home was a delicious blur. I was thankful he was sober, because we’d have been in Canada had I been piloting the plane. I fell asleep, and when I awoke, the first blush of dawn tinted the eastern sky. I felt more lucid, but terribly exhausted.

It still seemed impossible that we had been out all night. Eric asked me to drop him at the tennis ranch, and before I left, he gave me another torrid kiss.

When he released his hold, he said with emotion, “Kendall, I don’t want to have to wait until I come to Castle Valley to see you.”

I drew back. “What are you saying?”

“I want you to think seriously about what I said earlier. The managing editor of the Phoenix paper owes me a favor. I say the word, you’ve got a job. You don’t belong here. I mean it. You belong in the city with me.”

“Eric, I’m so tired right now, I can’t think.”

He looked crushed, so I said hurriedly, “I promise I’ll consider it. But there are several reasons I can’t go just yet. I’m working on…well, a rather sensitive assignment for Tugg and I just can’t leave until I’ve solved…er…finished it.”

“How long will it take?”

I thought about the deadline I’d given myself. “I can probably let you know in about two weeks.”

“Two weeks! My schedule is so tight, I probably won’t even be back here until then. Let me go with you right now,” he offered recklessly. “I’ll help you pack and you can come to Phoenix now.”

“And live where?”

“With me, of course.”

“Eric, this is moving much too fast. Are you serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life,” he replied fiercely, pulling me into his arms again.

I pushed away and met his eyes. “I…I can’t give you an answer right now. I have to have time to think this over. There’s notice on the house, my job. Lots of reasons.”

“Now that’s something that bothers me,” he said, frowning. “I hate the thought of you living out there alone. I don’t think it’s safe.”

“I’m fine. Hardly anyone ever comes out there. I think people are afraid they’ll run into an escaped lunatic.”

“That’s nothing to joke about,” he said, a sharp note entering his voice. “All the more reason for you to be away from there as soon as possible.”

“I really appreciate your concern, Eric. I’m flattered that you think I’m wasting my life here and you’re probably right. But, can’t you be patient a few weeks?”

“I guess I’ll have to be.”

I thanked him again for the wonderful night and drove toward home. Ahead of me the sky beyond Castle Rock glowed in radiant peach.

As I eased into the carport, the events of last night had already taken on a magical quality. Eric’s suggestion would require serious thought, but right now all I could think of was a hot shower and crawling between cool sheets.

Shoes in hand, I hurried my steps along the walkway, while pulling the sharp-toothed, decorative combs from my hair. I blew out a sigh of relief. Now to get these pantyhose off.

My loose hair tumbling around my face, I stood at the door struggling to find the house key buried somewhere at the bottom of my purse, and listened to the sleepy buzz of bees in the dark tangle of honeysuckle vines that climbed the latticework along the patio.

I sensed a presence behind me at about the same time I heard a soft footstep. I stiffened as the memory of the darkroom attack zigzaged through my mind. A strangled scream lodged in my throat as I whirled around in time to see a figure step from the shadows.

“Where the hell have you been all night?” the shadow growled, moving closer.

The shock of surprise, added to my state of terror, left me speechless for a few seconds. “Tally! What’s the big idea sneaking up on me like that? You scared me to death.”

“I said, where have you been?” he repeated louder, a note of angry persistence ringing in his voice.

“Don’t shout at me. What are you doing skulking around outside my door, anyway?”

“I wasn’t skulking and you haven’t answered me,” he shot back.

The sudden rush of adrenaline subsided and I drew in a sharp breath of air to counter the waves of blackness.

He jumped forward, grabbing my upper arms to steady me. Irrationally, I felt a rush of delight at the pressure of his hands. And it made my heart twist with a kind of insane joy to see the look of distress in his dark eyes. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said in a gentler tone. “But, I didn’t know what to think when you didn’t show up last night. I was close to calling Roy when you drove in just now.”

What a fool I was making myself miserable for nothing. He’d listen to my explanation and everything would be fine. “How long have you been waiting for me?”

“Since around five.” He released my arms, but didn’t move away.

“I’m sorry you were upset, Tally.” I peered around him. “Where’s your truck?”

“Jake and the boys are over across the road repairing a fence. I couldn’t sleep wondering what happened, so I had them drop me off here. And then, when I didn’t see your car…”

“Across the road,” I repeated blankly. “What do you mean they’re across the road? You mean Lost Canyon? That’s your property over there?”

He gave me an odd look. “Yes. I thought you knew that. What about it?”

“Well…I thought…I don’t know what I thought. I figured your property ended over there at the highway,” I finished lamely, pointing west.

“No. My father bought all but fifty acres from the Delgados years ago. The Starfire land runs east to the hospital, and we border state land to the north.”

I stared at him open-mouthed. My mind was trying to tell me something important, but the thought would not materialize. “Tally, I’m really sorry about standing you up last night.”

He let out a long sigh. “So, what did happen, Kendall? Did you have car trouble again? Where were you?” It was hard to miss the tinge of accusation edging his words. I felt a tremor of doubt.

“I was in Las Vegas.”

His mood of concern evaporated. I watched with alarm, the expression of disbelief taking its place. “What were you doing in Las Vegas?”

“I was with Eric, and before you jump…”

“What?” He grabbed my arms again and I cringed at his expression of fury. This time his fingers bit painfully into my flesh as he backed me up against the side of the house. His face, livid with emotion, was only inches from mine. I couldn’t help but remember what Eric had said about his physical abuse of Stephanie, and it made me shudder with fear. “I spent the whole goddamned night worrying about you,” he snarled, “and now you’re telling me you spent the night with Eric Heisler?”

“I didn’t spend the night with him,” I shouted back. “Well, I did but…I mean…I was with him, but we didn’t…Will you please let me explain?”

“Oh, spare me the details,” he said in disgust, releasing his iron hold as if it sickened him to touch me. “This is turning out just the way I knew it would. From the very first day I saw you standing on Yarnell Hill…What an ass I was letting myself in for this. You’re just like…” His voice caught and my stomach knotted as his words sank in.

“Go ahead and say it,” I dared him, my own anger re-ignited. “You think I’m just like Stephanie. That’s what’s been in the back of your mind all along. Everything I say, every move I make, you compare me with her.”

“She was a whore,” he said icily. “Your actions speak for themselves. Don’t try to turn this around. I’m not the one who was out all night.” He turned his back on me and stomped away. I willed my legs into action, bolted past him, and planted myself on the walkway in front of him.

“Oh, no you don’t. I’m not going to stand here and let myself be branded a whore by you. If you’ll just quit being so pig-headed and listen to me, you’ll see that nothing happened.”

We stared daggers at each other for a minute and then he relaxed his stance. “This better be good.”

His manner infuriated me so much I could have shot him. “First of all, it really isn’t any of your business what happened last night, but since you’ve elected yourself judge and jury, you might as well hear the facts. I didn’t have a clue that Eric was flying to Las Vegas until we were in the air. When we landed, I called immediately and left a message for you.”

He looked slightly disconcerted. “I never got a message from you.”

“I’m not surprised. Lucinda took it.” I watched his jaw tighten and untighten. Gruffly, he said, “Why would she keep that to herself?”

“Oh, come on, Tally. Wake up. It’s to her advantage for you to think I’m lying.”

He looked down at his boots and twirled his hat in a circle. “All right. Let’s say I accept that you called. That doesn’t explain why you were gone all night.”

“I did not sleep with him, Tally. We had a marvelous dinner, he took me to a fantastic show, and then we gambled till all hours. I simply lost track of the time. We came back. I dropped him at Whispering Winds and I came here. Period. End.
Fini.”

“Kendall,” he said quietly. “I don’t think I can go through this again.”

“Through what?”

“The misery I put myself through with Stephanie.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m not going to try and change myself again to oblige the fickle whims of some woman. I am who I am—a cattle rancher. Not some…some slick attorney, like Heisler. If that’s the type of man you want, I don’t know what else I can say.”

“Who’s asking you to change? You make me sound so…so shallow. I’m not comparing resumes or bank accounts. And I never said I preferred his lifestyle over yours.” Even as I said the words, I was thinking of Eric’s enticing offer. “Tally, I can only judge people on how they act.”

He narrowed his eyes. “The guy is a first class weasel.”

“As opposed to a second-class weasel?” The stony look on his face told me my feeble attempt at humor had failed.

“Frankly, I’d sooner trust a hungry coyote with my cattle than I’d trust him.”

I threw up my hands. “Okay, Tally. This is getting us nowhere. I have a monster headache and I don’t feel like going any further with this right now. You know, if you’d just back up and look at this objectively, I think you’d see that you’ve misjudged him.”

He threw me an incredulous look. “After everything I’ve told you about him, I don’t know how you can get within ten feet of this guy.”

“You want to know why I went out with him? I’ll tell you why. Because he’s fun, Tally—he’s
fun
.” I could hear my own voice rising. “He’s not morbid. He doesn’t keep constantly rehashing his past. He had a bad marriage too, but he’s gone on with his life, and so should you.”

“You think I’m morbid?” The plaintive note in his voice made my anger melt, and I had a sudden, overwhelming desire to hold him, to tell him that I cared very much for him. But I didn’t. Instead, I said, “In a word, yes. Every memory I have of Eric is filled with fun and laughter. Every time I think of you and me together, it involves some sort of heated conflict, or me trying to deal with whatever dark mood you happen to be in.”

At that, his face hardened. “Well. I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said stiffly, shoving his hat on. “I guess there’s nothing more to say.” He looked out across the desert. A plume of dust announced that his ride was approaching.

As I watched him stride away, I felt an acute sense of loss, remembering he would be away on business for two weeks. Did I want this to end on such a sour note? “Tally,” I called. “Have a good trip.”

At first he didn’t respond, then halfway down the walk he suddenly wheeled around and marched back to me. The firm set of his jaw and the determined gleam in his eyes made me involuntarily step back.

“Wh…what is it?” I stammered.

“I want you to promise me you’ll be careful while I’m gone,” he demanded.

“Please, Tally. I’m really not in the mood for another lecture about Eric.”

“I’m not talking about him.”

I stared in surprise.

“Promise me,” he said sharply.

“Okay, okay, I promise, but what…”

“And, the next time you think of me,” he interrupted, “think of this.” He reached out and yanked me into his arms, bending me so far backward, all I could see was blue sky behind his face.