Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger (33 page)

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Authors: Lori Copeland

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Westerns, #test

BOOK: Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger
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Page 50
away a stray tear with his thumb. ''Come on, Chandra," he said huskily. "It tears me up to see you cry, honey."
"I'm sorry . . . Garrett." The sound of her soft voice saying his name tugged at his heart. What would it sound like whispering softly in his ear while he was making love to her?
Chandra's eyes drank in the handsomeness of Garrett's features, her stomach fluttering. The way he had said her name just nowChandrashe had never heard it said in such a deep, melodious, rich tone. She fought the urge to reach out and stroke his strong, firm jaw.
The sound of a car horn in the drive brought them both back to the present.
"That's Mr. Rhodes," Chandra said peering out the curtain at the new Cadillac sitting in the drive. She let the curtain drop back in place and walked over to Garrett. "Let me at least get you one of Dad's clean shirts," she offered, stalling for a little more time. "It's going to look strange if you show up this morning wearing the same clothes you had on last night.
"Thank you," he smiled, "I'd appreciate that."
Chandra flew out of the room and was back momentarily with a clean white shirt and gray striped tie. "I think you and Dad are close to the same size," she said, quickly handing him the fresh apparel.
Garrett shrugged out of his own shirt and began to put on the borrowed clothes. Chandra's pulse jumped erratically as he bared his broad chest thickly covered with light brown hair, his powerful muscles flexing as he first buttoned the shirt, then unbuttoned his trousers and stuffed the tail of the borrowed shirt into them.
"I see you got the black yarn out of your belt," she offered lightly.
"Yeah, but it was a lot more fun when you tried," he teased.
"I'll bet you say that to all your women," she parried softly.
"No, not all of them. Only the pretty, hazel-eyed blondes." He grinned tenderly as he tied the striped tie in a perfect knot.
 
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Chandra blushed. ''Let me get your coat," she finished lamely. He was making her feel so . . . different, almost light-headed.
The sound of the horn reached their ears once again.
"I've got to go," Garrett said with resignation, his eyes never leaving hers. "Thanks . . . for everything."
"It's all right. I'm sorry I made such a fool of myself." Chandra didn't want him to leave. She wanted to hold on to this brief moment forever.
"Well, thanks again. Maybe we'll see each other sometime. Are you going to live here after your marriage?"
"No, I'll be going back to Missouri."
"Oh." Garrett drank in her loveliness one last time. "Well, thanks again . . . Mrs. Morganson," he whispered quietly. "I'll have the shirt laundered and delivered back here."
"That's fine. I hope your head heals okay," Chandra told him helplessly.
Garrett reached up to feel the small bump on his forehead. "It's nothing," he assured her. "I think your kiss made it well. . . ." Their eyes locked once again.
The third, insistent beep of the horn warned Garrett that Mr. Rhodes was losing his patience.
"I have to go, Chandra."
"Good-bye, Garrett."
Just before he turned to leave, he winked suggestively. "When your dad comes home, tell him thanks for the loan of the shirt."
Chandra's cheeks reddened at the realization that he knew all along they had been alone.
When he was gone Chandra sat down at the table and stared out the window on the cold, bleak morning. It was as if all the warmth had left the room. Why did she suddenly feel such a sense of loneliness? How could one man leave such emptiness behind him? Chandra shook her head to clear her thoughts. Was she losing her mind? Why was she thinking of Garrett Morganson when she had a hundred wedding invitations to address? She was going to marry a man by the name of Phillip Watson, and she'd better start remembering that! Last night and this morning
 
Page 52
had been an interesting interlude in her life, one she would never forget, but it was over. She had seen the last of Garrett Morganson, test pilot, the most gorgeous blue-eyed man in the world.
The remainder of the day dragged by as Chandra dutifully addressed all the wedding invitations. Her mind constantly wandered back to Garrett, and she wondered if he'd managed to secure the job that was so important to him. Late in the afternoon she went up to her bedroom and lay down across the bed, her mind desperately fighting the loneliness. She thought about calling Phillip at his office but quickly discarded the idea when she remembered he had tickets to a hockey game that afternoon. She closed her eyes wearily and had just dozed off to sleep when the phone by her bed rang.
''Hello, honey? This is Garrett!" His sunny voice sang over the line.
"Garrett?" Chandra sat up abruptly. She was sure she was dreaming!
"Were you asleep, sweetheart?"
"Yes . . . I was taking a nap." What was the matter with him? He sounded strained.
"Mrs. Rhodes wanted me to call and tell you that one of the engineers' wives is hosting a formal get-together tonight in our honor. As the newest member of their firm they naturally want to get to know my
wife
better!"
"Garrett," Chandra's voice was stern. "You know that's impossible!"
"Yes, it isit
is
formal. Now you'll have a chance to wear that dinner dress I like so much."
"Garrett, is someone with you?"
"That's right, sweetheart." Garrett's voice was tense.
"Garrett, we have to tell them the truth. I can't keep posing as your wife. This has got to stop somewhere." Chandra bit her lip in frustration.
"Excuse me for a minute, sweetheart, I want to change phones."
 
Page 53
Chandra could hear the rumble of voices in the background as Garrett changed phones. In a few minutes he was back on the line speaking in a low tense tone. ''Chandra, are you still there?"
"Yes, what's going on?"
"Trouble. This party is in my honor tonight. Rhodes hired me this afternoon."
"Congratulations!"
"Thanks, but it will all go down the drain if I show up without a wife." Garrett's voice held desperation.
Chandra simmered inside. She didn't want him to lose the job, but she couldn't keep this charade up forever. "So you want me to go with you."
"Just this one last time, Chandra. I promise I'll figure a way out of this mess, but I have to have time to think."
"Garrett, I really want to help you, but you surely can see my side of it. Phillip would have a
fit
if he found out."
"I know, but he's not going to find out."
"I can't take the chance that he will," Chandra snapped.
"Look, one more night, that's all I'm asking. Come on, Chandra, you came this far with me. Don't desert me now."
Chandra closed her eyes in miserable surrender. "All right, Garrett, I'll go, but I'm warning you right now, this is absolutely
the last time
. Is that clear?"
"Right! I'll be home in thirty minutes."
"Wait a minute. You're surely not planning on staying over here again tonight!"
"Just one more night. What's it going to hurt? Besides, Rhodes insists on picking us up again. I've already checked out of my hotel room."
This was getting more involved every moment. "I thought you said Mr. Rhodes would leave town as soon as you were hired."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. "I didn't say that. Darrell must have said that. I have no idea what Rhodes's schedule is. Look, I've got to go. I'll be home in a little while and we'll thrash this all out."
"I don't know, Garrett. . . ."
 
Page 54
''Chandra!" Garrett's voice was sterm and left no room for argument. "I haven't got time to fight with you. Myjob's at stake right now, and you're going to go to this party with me!"
There was a sharp click as the line went dead. Chandra lay on the bed with the phone still in her hand. What had she gotten herself into?
Well, I know one thing for certain,
she told herself as she replaced the receiver in its cradle.
Garrett Morganson better get it through his thick skull that tonight will absolutely and unequivocally be the last time I pose as his wife!
 
Page 55
Chapter Four
''You look simply lovely this evening, Mrs. Morganson," John Rhodes complimented Chandra as she and Garrett stepped into the back seat of the black Cadillac.
"Yes, she does, doesn't she," Garrett agreed promptly, a devilish twinkle in his eye as he surveyed the emerald-green gown she was wearing. Chandra had barely spoken two words to him since he had arrived by cab earlier, suitcase in hand. She could only hope that all her parents' neighbors had been struck with temporary blindness. She cringed when she thought of what her father would say about this whole ridiculous arrangement.
"You do, you know," he tauntingly whispered close to her ear. "You've got the disposition of a witch and the tongue of a shrew.
But
"he hastened to add"the body of an angel. That dress is designed to do strange things to a man. His arm went around her shoulders to draw her closer.
Pulling away from him discreetly Chandra edged over to the corner of the seat.
Disposition of a witch!
she fumed inwardly.
Why couldn't he have just said I looked nice and left it at that
. Glaring at Garrett pointedly, Chandra let him know she didn't appreciate the compliment.
"Thank you,
darling,
but I thought
red
was your favorite color," she returned snidely, thinking of the voluptuous woman in shimmering satin.
"Well!"he paused for emphasis"only on some women." He made the motion with his hands of a very busty woman, his
 
Page 56
cocky grin taking in her small rounded breasts. ''On you, green looks better."
Her hazel eyes let him know the intensity of her anger, and with a smirk of repentance on his face, he pulled her over in his arms, his mouth moving close to her ear. "All right, I really meant what I said a minute ago about you being a witch and a shrew, but"he hastened to add"your body isn't lacking in any area that I can tell. That dress lets a man know you're all woman beneath it."
Pulling away from him again, Chandra edged back to her corner of the seat. The man was incorrigible! She'd like to shove his backhanded compliments back into his gorgeous, well-shaped mouth.
"Well, I trust you're as excited about your husband's new position as we are," Mr. Rhodes said as he drove down the quiet, residential street.
"Yes, I'm very happyfor him," Chandra replied, still rather put out.
"We believe that Garrett has a great future with Rhodes Aircraft," Sara Rhodes pointed out nicely. "It has to be exciting to be newly married with your whole lives stretching out before you."
"It certainly is," Garrett said, trying to get Chandra's attention without alerting Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes. "Living with Chandra is always . . . exciting. She's already added more unexpected thrills to my life than a man could ask for." He gave her a look of agony.
"Oh, darling, you give me too much credit! Why, without you, my life was empty." She childishly made a gagging noise in her throat. She was becoming increasingly uneasy around him. He was a totally different breed of man from Phillip. She couldn't let his good looks and virile charm distract her. His type of man spelled nothing but trouble for a woman who wanted anything permanent.
They glared stonily at one another in the dim light, each determined to outstare the other.

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