Hold Me (19 page)

Luc’s few minutes actually turned out to be closer to an hour. Katie returned to her own seat after a little while and fell into a light, exhausted doze, waking only when the car came to a stop and the engine died. Disoriented, she raised her head and blinked when she realized they were in a large parking lot attached to a series of sleek, modern buildings.

Spot put her big, shaggy head over the back of the seat and looked at them, eyebrows wriggling soulfully as she rolled her red, drooping eyes from one to the other. She was so pathetic Katie couldn’t help but laugh.

“Poor baby.” She rubbed the dog’s jowls and was rewarded with a blast of dog breath potent enough to make her cough and quickly turn away.

“Our secret weapon,” Luc chuckled. She was glad to see a gleam of humor back in his dark eyes.

“You can say that again.” Katie studied the buildings. “Where are we anyway?”

“A popular South Jersey convention center.”

She stared at him. “For Pete’s sake, why?”

“I have to meet a guy. He’s going to help us.”

“You are? He is? Who?”

“Someone I know,” Luc said evasively.

Katie watched him quietly. “Someone you trust?”

“For this, yes. He, uh, thinks he owes me.”

She nodded, accepting the explanation for now. “And you’re meeting him here?” She looked at the buildings again. One of them, she assumed it was the hotel, stood five or six stories tall, with another long, low structure spreading out at a right angle from the side. There must have been a convention or meeting in progress because the parking lot was packed. She could see men and women in business suits coming and going through large glass doors.

On a brighter note, it looked like the complex boasted at least one restaurant inside, in addition to the normal sprinkling of chains on the periphery. Maybe there was some food in her immediate future after all.

Her stomach rumbled loudly in anticipation at the thought.

“So, it’s safe to stop?” she asked.

“Safe enough.” Luc smiled. “Besides, you need to eat. Your stomach’s singing an entire opera now.”

“Well, sorry. I’m not a camel. You know, storing food in my humps or something.”

Luc’s eyes ran over her and she felt warmer. “Yeah. I like your humps the way they are.”

Katie blushed. “Jerk.”

The word “food” had caught Spot’s attention, and she nuzzled the back of Luc’s head with a fair amount of enthusiasm. The nudge would have broken Katie’s neck, but Luc just laughed and reached back to fondle the dog’s ears.

“Yes, yes. I said the ‘F’ word. Don’t worry, we’ll get you a side of beef to gnaw on.” He looked at Katie. “Let me take Spot for a quick walk before we go inside, okay? It’s been a long morning for her, too, and she probably needs to, uh, take care of business. You might as well stay here for a minute.”

Fond as she was of the Newfoundland, Katie had absolutely no desire to participate in Spot’s bathroom activities, so she nodded and relaxed back against the seat, watching Luc get out of the car and walk off with the big dog. Spot ran obediently beside him and, when she discreetly slipped behind some well-kept shrubbery to do her business. Luc looked back at Katie and grinned. That smile, the sparkle she could see in his eyes even from where she sat, hit her like and unexpected punch to the stomach.

Oh, God. She even found him attractive while he was waiting for his dog to poop. This was bad.

He winked at her and turned away, whistling with elaborate casualness, hands tucked in his front pockets. The breeze stirred his hair and whipped it around his head. His T-shirt stretched across his shoulders and his stance stretched the light material of his cargo pants across his butt. God, he had a nice ass. She wanted to take a bite out of it.

Katie groaned.

Bad.

Really bad.

Man and dog loped back to the car after the completion of an apparently successful mission, and Katie got out to join them.

“Whoever finds that isn’t going to be happy,” Luc chuckled.

Katie sighed. “You’re not even going to try to clean it up, are you?”

He arched his eyebrows at her. “With what? A napkin?”

“Okay. Valid point.”

“Let’s go in and get something to eat.”

“Who could resist after such an appetizing moment.” She gestured to the dog. “What about Spot?”

He grinned at her. “She’s coming with us.”

Katie stared at him. “They’re not going to let you take a dog into a restaurant. Especially not a dog approximately the size of a bus.”

“Don’t worry. It’s all been arranged.”

“Arranged? How? When?”

“When I made the reservations.”

“Reservations…” Katie shook her head to clear it. It didn’t work. “What are you talking about?”

Luc opened the car door and took out the mysterious paper bag he’d brought from the convenience store. He pulled out a dog leash that seemed much too small and laid it on the roof. “This is where the guy wanted to meet me,” he explained patiently. “The restaurant only accepts reservations, so I called and made one after I talked to him. Get it?”

“I guess.” Katie was still a little dazed. She felt even more so when, without any modesty or concern, he stripped off his shirt right there in the middle of the parking lot, all of his smooth brown skin glistening in the sunshine. Her fingers itched to touch, to stroke. Her mouth longed to taste the tanned flesh, the paler scars, the dusting of black hairs… Her whole body clenched.

Luc didn’t pay any attention to her. He just tossed the T-shirt onto the backseat of the car, then reached into the bag and pulled out a white polo shirt with “Welcome to New Jersey” embroidered across the pocket. The muscles in his arms and chest bunched and flexed as he pulled the new shirt over his head and tucked it into his jeans.

“There. Now for you.” That got her attention.

Her eyes snapped to meet his. She saw that he was smiling slightly, as if he’d known very well what he was doing to her. Jerk.

“Me?” she asked suspiciously. He wasn’t going to ask her to strip down in the parking lot, too, was he? Talk about frightening.

“Do you have sunglasses?”

“Sure.”

He nodded. “They should be okay as long as they’re dark. I got you a pair at the store, but you’ll probably be more comfortable if you wear your own glasses. Put them on, and let’s see how you look.”

Still not quite sure what he was up to, Katie got her purse out of the car and dug out the shades. She switched them with her regular glasses, and everything went dark and muted. It was almost comforting.

Luc looked her over critically. “Fine. Now wrap this around your hair.” He reached into the bag again, pulled out a bandana and held it out to her.

Katie looked at it, looked at him, and then pushed up the sunglasses so she could see the thing without the dark lenses. She was sorry she had.

“It’s purple,” she said.

“So?”

“It’s a really bright purple.”

“And I repeat. So?” He pushed the bandana closer to her.

She backed away. “How shall I put this delicately? Um, no.”

“Katie—”

“Nope. No way. Not in this life or any other. I am not putting that purple thing on my head.”

“You have to.”

“Obviously you weren’t listening when I said no.”

“Katie, I love your hair, but it does tend to stand out in a crowd. This should cover most of it.”

Her jaw dropped and she stared at him. He loved her hair? He loved her hair?

Loved. Her. Hair.

Does. Not. Compute.

She was so floored by the information she couldn’t even protest when Luc finally got tired of waiting for her to take the bandana and tied it around her head himself like a scarf, his long fingers grazing her neck as he stuffed as much of her hair under it as he could. When he was done, she felt like a housewife straight from the fifties and guessed that she looked just about as bad as she’d suspected she would. Hey, Luuuuuucyyyy!

“Perfect,” Luc said and snapped the ridiculously tiny purple leash onto Spot’s collar. “Here. Take this.”

“Why?” Katie’s fingers twitched. Even the fact that he loved her hair wouldn’t keep her from throttling him if he didn’t answer at least answer one question.

“You’re blind.”

She blinked behind the glasses. “Excuse me?”

“You’re visually impaired, and Spot is your Seeing Eye dog,” Luc explained patiently. “That was the only way they would let us bring her into the restaurant without causing a scene. And if anybody asks about us later, I want people to remember a blind woman in a purple bandana and her dog. Not the sexy redhead.”

Katie stared at him and absently took the leash. “Are you telling me that you did all of this just so Spot could come into the restaurant with us?”

“Well, I also wanted to change our appearance a little bit in case Frankie manages to find our trail, but yeah, I guess I did. It’s too hot for her to wait in the car. Besides, she saved our lives and she’s hungry. She’s coming in.”

The man was insane. Just insane. The hair comment had made her suspicious, and this clinched it. Her heart, already a puddle, melted a little bit more. He was doing this for his dog. Awwww.

“You’re nuts.”

He took her arm. “Thanks.”

Katie tried to act sightless as Luc, with his usual calm assurance, shepherded her and Spot to the
very
fancy convention center. Everything went okay until Spot spied a fountain near the main entrance and made a beeline for it, dragging Katie along behind her as if she were nothing more than a bothersome flea.

Ignoring the stares of passersby, the dog waded right into the fountain’s shallow pool and slurped water as if she was trying to drain the thing. Katie tugged desperately at the ridiculous leash and was completely disregarded by the dog until Luc stopped laughing long enough to help her.

Eventually Spot obeyed…something, either Luc’s commands or Katie’s muttered oaths, and climbed back out of the fountain, but with such a longing backwards glance that Katie tugged even harder on the leash in case the big monster decided to take another swim. But she was a little sorry she was standing that close when Spot shook herself and sent a shower of water all over her and anyone else unfortunate enough to be nearby. Which Luc wasn’t, Katie noticed. He’d taken shelter behind a shrub, obviously anticipating what the dog was going to do. Jerk.

Spot looked up at her and wagged her tail, dripping a little and jowls happily a-drool.

Katie sighed.

Still chuckling, Luc took her arm again, pulling her and the dog into the convention center.

Once they were inside the building, Katie found that her blind act wasn’t all that far from the truth. Her sunglasses were pretty dark and the place was dimly lit, so it really was difficult to see. Luc’s hand was warm and strong on her elbow as he led her around obstacles and people with apparent care and concern. An act, she reminded herself. It’s all an act. Don’t get all excited about it.

Sexy redhead? Please.

Even through the dark glasses, Katie could tell that the restaurant Luc was steering them toward was posh and expensive to the max. They probably didn’t even have prices on the menus.

And she was wearing a purple bandana on her head.

A very bright purple bandana.

Did he honestly think she wouldn’t stick out?

She shook her head, but carefully so as not to dislodge the hideous monstrosity covering her hair. Maybe sticking out was the point. If they were asked later, the people inside were definitely going to remember her, but they’d remember this…uh, disguise, not her as she normally looked. So that was a good idea, right?

All right, it was, she admitted to herself a little sulkily. But when she glanced over and saw Luc next to her, all handsome and confident in his very nice white polo shirt, it just didn’t seem very fair.

Luc brought them to a halt in front a lectern placed just inside the restaurant door and waited for the maître d’ to notice them. Spot immediately sat at Katie’s side, looked around with great interest, and dripped on the dense carpeting.

The maître d’ had been standing in the middle of the restaurant talking to one of the waitresses, but with the sixth sense of a good host he turned to them, smiling broadly in welcome. The smile faded immediately when he saw Spot sitting at Katie’s foot, tongue lolling.

The little man rushed forward, hands waving wildly. “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Get that…that…thing out of my restaurant!” he sputtered.

Luc looked around blankly until his gaze fell on Katie. “Her?” He jerked his thumb at her. “I realize she’s a little short, but it’s hardly fair to call her a thing.”

“Hey!”

“Not her.” If Katie had been able to see the maître d’ without her sunglasses, she was sure that his face would have been a very lovely shade of red. “That.” He pointed a shaking finger at Spot. “Get that…that…that bear out of here!”

“Ohhhh.” Luc smiled cheerfully. “We have a reservation. Smith. Party of three. The bear is one of the three.”

“But—”

“I called earlier today. Remember? My wife is blind, and this is her Seeing Eye dog.”

Wife? Katie resisted the urge to stare at him, but only barely. Wife?

The maître d’s eyes roamed over her. She knew he had taken in the full effect of her purple bandana when his mouth twisted into a painful grimace of superior disdain. He sniffed. “Humph. Well, I don’t believe it. I’ve never in my life seen a Seeing Eye dog like that.”

Katie gripped Luc’s arm tighter. “We tried for a Labrador, but they were all out,” she said. “I didn’t realize it mattered to the restaurant what breed of dog I owned,” she added with an icy politeness. Hey, two could play that game.

Katie could see people at nearby tables listening to the conversation.

The maître d appeared to notice it as well, because he glanced around and rubbed his hands together nervously. “Well, uh, no. It doesn’t. Of course it doesn’t. It’s just that the animal is shedding. And dripping all over the carpeting. The very expensive carpeting.”

“Excuse me.” Luc’s voice was not loud, but it was cold and it carried. “Are you telling me that my blind wife cannot bring her Seeing Eye dog into this restaurant?”