World's Most Eligible Texan (13 page)

Her body throbbed with need, her breasts were taut and tingled and she wanted to sit back in his lap and kiss him, but this was best. And there was no mistaking that he wanted her. He was aroused, ready. His forehead was beaded with sweat and the hunger in his eyes made her knees jelly.

“I can't eat any breakfast,” she whispered. “I'll get ready for my doctor's appointment.”

“Pamela.”

At the door she turned as he stood. “I need to go to a meeting. I'll come back in time to take you to the doctor.”

She nodded and went upstairs, mulling over all the things they had said to each other.

In spite of his arguments, she was reluctant to accept the cleaning service. It seemed ridiculous when she wasn't working, and she couldn't shake the old feelings that she was doing what her mother had done and would bring down the same reaction from townspeople. It was just a matter of time before her pregnancy was known, and then the gossip would start. If people knew she was living in Aaron's Pine Valley home, gossip would start even sooner.

 

After showering and dressing, Pamela meandered through Aaron's elegant mansion, looking at family pictures, studying pictures of his brothers and his sister. They all had brown hair. A brother and his sister had green eyes, the other brother, the minister, had blue eyes.

Dr. Rebecca Black. Pamela had heard about his sister's work in remote areas of the world, now in the jungles of Belize. In this picture, Aaron's sister had short brown hair and looked practical and intelligent and, judging from childhood pictures, had been a tomboy.

Pamela studied the two brothers' pictures, Jeb Black managed the family fortune and lived in Houston. “He's our hard-headed businessman,” Aaron had said, describing his family.

The other brother, the minister, was shorter than the rest of the men in his family. He was Reverend Jacob Black whose reputation was international because of the money he raised and channeled into church missionary work around the world.

With his rugged features, his height and his slender build, Aaron resembled his dad.

The doorbell rang and Pamela went to a window. Before he'd left, Aaron had told her not to answer the door unless she knew for certain who it was, which had made her laugh.

“Who knows I'm staying here?” she questioned, amused by his instructions. She'd stood at the back door with him
while he pulled on a shearling coat and picked up a black Stetson.

“You might be surprised, darlin',” he drawled in his West Texas accent, touching her cheek. “I like your dimples, Mellie. If someone comes to the door, before you open it, just make sure you know who it is. Now set the alarm when I close the door.”

“Sure thing, cowboy,” she said with a wink, and he drew a deep breath, coming back in to haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless. When he released her, he looked down at her solemnly. “You're going to be mine, Mellie,” he whispered. Then he had jammed his hat down farther on his head, turned and left while she stood breathlessly watching him.

As the soft melodic chimes rang again, she came out of her reverie and experienced a swift stab of apprehension when the sight of her trashed apartment flashed in mind. Concerned, she hurried to an upstairs window and looked down at the drive. At first glance she recognized the robin's-egg-blue van with bright yellow letters, Handley's Floral Shop. With relief surging in her, she hurried downstairs to the door.

When she looked through a peephole, she recognized Rufus Handley's brown eyes and blond hair above an enormous bouquet of red roses.

“Oh, my!” She stared at the flowers in surprise and then jumped when Rufus punched the doorbell again. She turned off the alarm, unlocked and opened the door.

“Hi, Miss Miles,” he said with a wide smile. She had had his little girl in her second-grade class three years ago. “I have some flowers for you.”

“For me?” she asked, feeling embarrassed, amazed and chagrined all at once.

“Can I bring them inside?”

“Of course,” she said, stepping back and looking at the enormous bouquet of gorgeous red roses. “How's Trisha?”

“She's great. You can't believe how well she's reading. Ms. Stafford said she's two levels beyond her grade.”

“That's great!”

“Well, we owe a lot to you. You really helped her with her reading.”

“She's a very bright girl and a very sweet one.”

He grinned. “I'll tell Lucy and Trisha you said that. Enjoy your flowers. I'm sorry your apartment was broken into. We don't have much of that around here, so I hope they catch who did it soon. You've had some bad luck lately, with the plane going down and now having a break-in. I'm sorry.”

“Thanks,” she said, following him to the door and closing it behind him, knowing Royal was small enough that people still knew most everything that was happening in town. She reset the alarm and then walked back to the bouquet, laughing and shaking her head. The roses were beautiful. She pulled out the card.

To Pamela With Love. Aaron.

“Oh, no!” She let the card flutter from her hand and fall to the floor and her amusement and joy over the flowers vanished. By nightfall it would be all over Royal that she was staying at Aaron's house and he had sent her roses and signed the card “with love, Aaron.”

“Oh, no!” she whispered again, embarrassment flooding her. He might as well have put banner headlines in the newspaper.

“Why did you sign it that way?” she asked the empty house. Even though she was home alone, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Rufus Handley and everyone at his shop would know about the card and flowers, and before long the whole town would know. Why hadn't Aaron just signed his name and let it go at that?

Her embarrassment was tinged with anger. Aaron Black had a streak of bulldog stubbornness.

He was picking her up to take her to her doctor's appointment, but she didn't want to see him or go to the obstetrician with him and add to the rumors about them that would already be flying. The sight of Aaron Black escorting her into the obstetrician's office would be more noticeable than banners waving over the town. Heavens, what talk that would start!

She should have told him no when he offered to take her to the doctor's office, but when she was with him, her thoughts were always half jumbled.

Hurrying to the phone, she called the only cab that served Royal, knowing that would be just one more rumor because she had been picked up at Aaron's house on another occasion—near dawn that first morning.

She locked up and left, going to her doctor's appointment early and calming as they discussed her morning sickness.

When she stepped out of Dr. Burke's office, Aaron was lounging against the wall in the hallway. His hat was pushed back on his head. Sunglasses were hooked into a pocket of his shirt. He had shed his coat and held it in one hand. At the sight of her, he straightened. “I thought I was going to pick you up and bring you here for your appointment.”

“The flowers are beautiful.”

“And another gift is worrying you. I thought we settled that this morning.”

“Aaron, you signed the card ‘with love.' I'm staying at your house. Pretty soon it'll be all over town. And if you had escorted me here—to the obstetrician's—what talk that would stir!”

Dropping his coat, he turned her so she was against the wall and he braced both hands on either side of her, hemming her in. He glanced around them at the empty hallway. “Look, lady. You have the most exemplary reputation in town. I know you have old hurts and I'm sorry.”

“This isn't about that,” she whispered, surprised by the forcefulness of his words. “It's that everyone—” She faltered over the words. “Everyone will think—”

“Will think I'm in love. That's fine and dandy. I could shout it from the rooftops because I am and there's nothing to be ashamed of or to hide about it. I love you, Pamela,” he announced clearly.

“Aaron, don't!” she cried, hurting. “You don't know what you feel and you didn't say that to me until you thought we had to get married.”

Aaron glanced over his shoulder again. Following his gaze, she glanced down the empty hallway as a door closed at the end of the hall.

He took her arm. “Let's talk somewhere else,” he said tersely.

She walked with him out to his car. Wind buffeted her while he unlocked the car door, and she watched him look around. “You think I'm being followed again.”

“Yes, I do. While we were talking, someone was at the end of the hall. I would have gone after them, but that would have left you there alone and that's not good.”

She shivered and sat down in his car, watching him go around to the driver's side. He slid in and looked at her. “Marry me and we'll stop all worry about gossip.”

“No. We've been over this. And you said you wouldn't talk about marriage while I'm at your house.”

“We're not at my house now. I love you and I could happily spread it on billboards or in the newspaper or anywhere else.”

“Don't!”

“I'm not going to because it wouldn't make you happy,” he said solemnly. “But I am going to keep right on trying to get you to face the truth about yourself and about me.” He stroked her cheek lightly with his fingers. “Darlin', you're getting over old hurts and I know that takes time. I can be patient because it's important.”

She inhaled deeply, looking into the depths of his direct gaze and feeling that he meant every word now. Yet she was still certain he would change in time.

“What did the doctor say?” Aaron asked while his eyes conveyed a hungry intensity that made her think his mind was barely on his words.

“He said I should try to eat when I can. I've lost some weight,” she said, aware of Aaron, knowing someone outside had followed her again and she should be more concerned about the danger she might be in, but all she could think about
was Aaron and his declarations of love that had sounded absolute. If only she could believe him. If only, if only…

She realized he was staring at her intently. “I'm sorry. Did you say something?”

“I said a lot. What're you thinking about?”

“What you've said to me in the past few minutes.”

“Good! I want you to think about what I'm telling you because every word I've said is true. Sooner or later you're going to see that I mean what I say.”

“I still don't think you're giving this enough serious thought.”

“Did the doc give you anything for the morning sickness?”

“No. He said that will pass after the third month—”

“That's a long time.”

“It'll go in a hurry.”

“Can you eat lunch now?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I feel starved.”

“Is the Royal Diner okay?”

“Sure.”

She noticed he still watched the rearview mirror as he drove. Main Street had the ordinary amount of traffic, the usual number of people walking in front of buildings, going in and out of stores, but someone out there had ransacked her apartment and slashed her belongings. Someone out there had followed her to her doctor's appointment. Someone out there thought she had a rare red diamond worth heaven knows how much. The idea chilled her.

“Aaron, where can that diamond be? Are you sure it isn't still at the landing site and all of your friends overlooked it?”

He shook his head. “That site has been searched inch by inch, by not only Texas Cattleman's Club members, but investigators and lawmen. No, it's somewhere else, and we're not the only ones searching for it.”

“Why would anyone think I had it?”

“Why
not
you, darlin'?” he drawled. “You'd be the perfect cover, particularly if you didn't know you were carrying it.”

“If I'd had it in my belongings, I would know it now because I unpacked everything.”

“You're sure?”

“Very sure. And the clothing I took with me on the plane was in the apartment, so it's been slashed and pawed over.” She bit her lip. “Whoever is searching for the diamond has to know now that I don't have it.”

“Not necessarily. Someone followed you to the doctor's.”

“So someone is watching your house,” she said, and saw a muscle working in his jaw.

“We'll catch whoever it is.”

“I don't find that reassuring. Please be careful.”

He turned to give her a quick searching look and then looked at the street as he slowed for a stoplight. After parking in front of the diner, Aaron took her arm and they hurried inside.

Over hamburgers that tasted delicious to her and a thick creamy chocolate malt, she listened to Aaron talk about his life in Spain. Long after they finished, they still sat and talked until he glanced at his watch. “I have an appointment with our local attorney at four. I'll take you home unless you have somewhere else you want to go.”

“Your house is fine,” she said, reluctant to go to her apartment if she didn't have to.

“Good. Will it bother you to fly?”

“I don't think so, but I don't plan on any trips soon.”

“How about dinner tonight in Dallas with me?”

She closed her eyes. “Aaron, you're not getting what I'm telling you.”

“Yes, I am. I told you, I want to show you that you're important to me and I'm in love.” He slid out of the booth and stood waiting, holding her coat for her when she stood. He draped his arm over her shoulders and she knew that everyone in Royal would be linking them together now.

 

Monday morning he took her back to look at her apartment. Aaron unlocked the door and put his arm around her as they
entered. “I'm having an alarm installed this morning.”

She turned to stare at him, but before she could speak, he put his finger on her lips. “Shh. I'm doing what I want to do. You need an alarm, and I know you hadn't even thought about getting one, had you?”