A Chance Encounter (9 page)

Taylor’s spirits rose at the lilt of her voice. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and right now he needed a lift: He still felt embarrassed that Katie had seen his house. Ahead he could see where the road ended at the base of the hill. There was a small lake, shaped like an oval and shaded by scrub oak. Braking the car to a halt at the crest of the hill, Taylor was stunned. The hills that surrounded the glen were carpeted with thousands of golden California poppies and wind poppies. The breeze moved through them like an invisible hand, causing golden and scarlet heads to bow briefly.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Katie breathed, taking in the panorama of unrelenting color.

Taylor could find no words; he was deluged with feeling. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he admitted finally, easing his Toyota Camry down the hill.

“You’re used to steel, glass and concrete, right?”

He grinned. “I’m a city boy, Katie. Does it show?”

“I think you have a country soul.”

“Uh-oh, is that a virus?”

Her laughter filled the car. “And what if it was, Taylor Grant? What’s wrong with being touched by beauty? Of flowers, a shimmering blue lake, the green of oak trees?”

Nothing, he thought, an ache filling him. Taylor stopped the car beneath a stand of oak and got out. He was seeing yet another facet of this compelling woman, he realized—Katie in the outdoors. The hills vibrated with the golds and reds. A pair of noisy blue jays added to the sound of bees humming and the sigh of a whispery breeze.

The sun had reached its zenith by the time they spread the black-and-white-checkered blanket beneath a towering oak. Taylor watched in amazement as Katie bloomed before his eyes; it was as if she were taking sustenance from the glen. But wasn’t he, too? He felt the tension drain from him as he lay on his side and sipped at a plastic cup of tart rosé wine.

“I think you like my glen,” Katie teased, coming to sit by him, her yellow skirt looking very feminine as it swirled about her slender legs.

“I do feel relaxed. But I think it’s the wine.”

Katie grinned. “Why can’t you accept that it’s the energy here?”

Taylor reached over, caressing her bare arm, aware of her softness and his need for her. “No, it’s you,” he told her seriously. And then he glanced around at the poppies. “The rest is only window dressing, princess.”

Sobering, Katie met his deep gray eyes. She saw that his mouth no longer drew in at the corners and that the perpetual V no longer hovered between his brows. Taylor was relaxed. Impulsively she picked a poppy and held it gently in her hands.

“Did you know that Victorian ladies used poppies to test the affections of their lovers?”

He smiled. “How?”

“A woman would place a petal in the palm of one hand and then clap her hands together. If there was a loud slap, it meant her man still loved her. If there was no sound, then she knew he loved someone else.”

“And at this time of year, I suppose every woman in California comes up here to find a poppy and test her man?”

Katie plucked the petals from her poppy and showered him with them; golden rain, falling softly. “I doubt it.” She shrugged, still as enthralled by the beauty that surrounded them as she’d been the moment they arrived. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “All flowers, plants and trees have stories—we have only to listen,” she whispered.

“And you know most of those stories, don’t you?” She’d make such a wonderful mother, Taylor thought for the second time in as many days. And for a shattering split second, he dreamed that she carried his child. The fantasy left him feeling naked and vulnerable. Yet as he studied Katie’s profile, the fantasy seemed to grow in strength, until he could scarcely bear the welter of feeling roused in him.

“Some, not all,” she corrected, getting to her feet. She held out her hand. “Come, let’s take a walk first before we eat.”

He took her small hand, allowing himself to be swayed by her eagerness, and accepted that today was a gift. Tomorrow reality would once again claim them, but he wouldn’t let it intrude now. No, he resolved to allow Katie’s joy to infect him, lift him above the quagmire of his daily life….

She pointed out other plants or flowers as they walked. Near the stream that wound through the hills on its way to the lake below were patches of blue lupine, their blue-violet flowers waving on slender stalks. There were also cream cups, which looked exactly like their name. And then Katie pointed out the scarlet columbine.

Taylor leaned down, plucking one of these exquisite scarlet flowers. “Here,” he said, and placed the flower behind her ear. “Now you look like Persephone.”

Katie’s eyes lit with amusement. “Persephone? The Greek goddess who was kidnapped by dark, brooding Pluto?”

He grinned and suddenly swept her into his arms. “Today, I’m Pluto. I’m going to kidnap you, and…” He didn’t finish the sentiment.

She threw her arms around his neck, laughing. “Just as long as you don’t take me underground, I’ll come willingly.”

“Come to my blanket,” he teased.

“Okay.”

“And I’ll share my food with you.”

“Okay.”

She was feather light in his arms, and he breathed deeply of her lilac scent. “Why aren’t you putting up a fight? Some Persephone you are!”

“Because I’m starved!”

Laughing, Taylor eased Katie to the ground and onto the blanket. Before he knew what was happening, she had placed a quick kiss on his mouth. The kiss of a butterfly. His lips tingled in the aftermath of this spontaneous show of affection. Seeming not to notice, Katie quickly divided the fare between them, then sat down next to him.

“I couldn’t find any meat in your refrigerator,” Taylor noted unhappily, looking down at the peanut butter sandwiches.

“I don’t eat meat.”

“You and my photographer,” he muttered.

She smiled, munching contentedly on the sandwich. “This has as much protein as meat.”

“Don’t you start on me, too.”

“Was I picking on you?”

“Yes, and you know it. I can see that gleam in your eye.”

Katie feigned surprise. “A Scorpio never misses a thing,” she teased.

He lay back, propping himself up with one arm as he polished off another sandwich, then began on a crisp red apple. “I’m a reporter. I’m trained not to miss much.”

“I think you’d be good at any work that requires detail. Did you always want to be a reporter, Taylor?”

Taylor shrugged. “As a kid, I wanted to be a cop. Is that a good Scorpio occupation?”

She smiled. “Very much so. So is becoming a detective.”

“When I went to college I got interested in journalism. I suppose it was because I saw what influence the press could have.” He frowned down at the half-eaten apple. “I graduated with honors and a whole lot of idealistic theories about how, as a reporter, I could make the world a better place to live.”

Katie heard the disillusionment in his voice. “What happened to make you alter that view, Taylor?”

“Getting a job as a crime reporter. I wanted to do exposés, and that’s what I did. I didn’t realize quite how badly it was getting to me—the sort of people I was dealing with, the destroyed lives. And then, last year, I got a new editor. I did one gut-wrenching series on the street people in New York. I spent months among them. It nearly tore me apart.” He set the apple aside, staring at the calm surface of the lake. “And after I’d busted my tail on that assignment and put myself through an emotional wringer, the editor wouldn’t run the piece.”

Katie frowned. “Why?”

“It wasn’t flashy enough. He wanted me to concentrate on the teenage hookers. Sex sells papers, he said. He wasn’t interested in the total story.”

Katie shook her head. “That isn’t good journalism!”

“That’s what I told him. We got into one hell of a fight.” Taylor snorted softly. “Actually, I should thank the jerk. It was the final straw in a life that was already going bad. Ultimately it was what made me quit my job and move to California.”

Katie reached out, her fingertips resting lightly on his arm. “You were very tired, weren’t you?”

His flesh tingled beneath her touch. Did Katie know how she affected him? Clearly she didn’t. One look into those caring eyes, and he knew she would never tease him.

“Tired? I was burned out. I destroyed my marriage. I blew my job. Yeah, when I left New York, there was no going back. Everything had changed for me there. What I had was gone—”

“You blame yourself for the failure of your marriage. Why?”

He gazed up at her. “How many relationships have you had, Katie?”

“Enough. You see me as a scatterbrained idealist—and I admit that I’ve made my share of mistakes in life. On the human level, I mean.”

“Sometimes I can’t believe you’ve been with a man,” he admitted quietly. “You seem so innocent…. You’re so different from most women.”

“Not so different, believe me,” she assured him. “Without going into my own sordid past, let me say that I know what it takes to make a relationship grow or die, Taylor. And I can’t understand why you take all the blame for what happened to your marriage. Marriage is never a one-way street.”

“It was for me.”

“Did you love Mary Ann?”

He nodded. “When I married her, I thought it would be forever. I made a commitment to her that I’d never made to another woman. And she was incredibly beautiful.”

Katie gauged the pain in his voice. “Beauty that was skin deep, or beauty from the heart?” she posed.

“You’re right. You’re not as naive as I thought.” But the halfhearted attempt at a smile died on his lips. “No, Mary Ann didn’t have beauty from the heart. In the beginning, I thought she did.”

“When did you marry her?”

“Right after I began to get some recognition. I’d won a number of prestigious journalism awards within a short amount of time. I was on the Manhattan party circuit—a newcomer, and a little uncomfortable with it, but there. Anyway, I was at one of the swankier affairs—it looked like a Who’s Who of New York City. Mary Ann was there. She hadn’t been in the city long—she was from a small Midwestern town and had signed with one of the smaller modeling agencies. I was talking to the owner of the biggest agency in town. Mary Ann came up and introduced herself. One thing led to another as we stood there talking, and Mary Ann got an appointment to see the agency head the following day. The rest is history. We got married after a whirlwind courtship, and her career shot up like a meteor.”

Katie bit her lip and nodded. Mary Ann had been a user, she guessed. She had ridden on the coattails of Taylor’s hard-earned success and had used his connections to launch her own career. “And as her career blossomed, you began to grow apart?” Katie queried.

“Yeah. She had a lot of overseas modeling assignments.‘ And when she was in New York, she liked to party. Of course, I was on the night beat and couldn’t always join her. There wasn’t much room for compromise.”

Katie’s heart ached for him. Even now, Taylor didn’t realize he’d been used. Or perhaps he knew and didn’t want to admit it. Maybe the realization was just too painful. Katie couldn’t blame him if that was the case.

She looked at him somberly. “All right. Let’s talk about—”

“No more about me. I’ve exposed enough for one day, Katie Riordan.”

He was teasing her again, and she responded. “As if I’m going to go tell all of Rio Conchos about you.”

“I know you keep plenty of secrets. And I wouldn’t have told out anything if I didn’t trust you.”

Katie chuckled. “Scorpio’s trust so rarely. But when they do, it’s completely.” She lifted her cup. “Here’s a toast to our mutual trust.”

Taylor raised his cup, feeling guilty. “I betrayed your trust the first day I met you, Katie. Why are you giving me a second chance? I know I wouldn’t be so generous.”

She laughed. “Sagittarian’s are different. We’re generally forgiving. Maybe because we know we’re fallible. So we don’t consider it the end of the world when other people make mistakes. Like Scorpio’s do.”

His smile warmed his eyes as he watched her. “Is there anything good about being a Scorpio?”

“Of course there is!”

“What?”

“They’re quiet, passionate, proud—and very loyal. Once a Scorpio loves you, it’s forever. I like Scorpio’s. My mother was one. Maud is, too.” Katie’s eyes twinkled. “And now you. I’m surrounded by a sea of scorpions.”

He cocked his head. “And the scorpion’s sting can be lethal. Aren’t you afraid we’ll do you in?”

With a delighted laugh, Katie got to her feet. She unbuttoned her skirt, allowing it to fall to her feet, and slipped off her sandals. “You Scorpio’s think you’re so big and bad. Come on, I’m ready for a swim. How about you?”

She was a sunbeam, Taylor decided, stripping down to the black swimming trunks he’d donned at his house. Well, sunbeams never stayed still for long. Katie had grabbed her brightly colored beach towel and was running toward the lake. Spreading the rainbow-hued towel over the lush grass, she tugged off her hair ribbon, releasing a cascade of black curls. She gave Taylor an impatient look and walked gingerly to the water’s edge, calling for him to hurry.

As he laid his olive-drab towel next to hers, Taylor shook his head. If he hadn’t know Katie was a healer, that she ran a crazy bookstore filled with odd tomes, he would think she was just your everyday beautiful woman at this moment. Her bathing suit clung lovingly to her body, and she played in the water like a seal pup. His grin widened as he waded in after her.

During the next half hour, Taylor learned to play. When Katie dived and grabbed him by his feet, pulling him under water, he was unprepared. He fought his way to the surface, spitting and gasping for air. Katie swam out a good distance. Then she stopped, treading water and laughing.

Taylor wiped the water from his eyes and stalked her. He certainly planned to even the score! Physical activity hadn’t been one of his avocations back in New York. He hadn’t swum in years. Consequently Katie was able to elude him quite effectively at first. Finally he caught her on the other side of the small lake. Hands spanning her waist, he lifted her from the water until her smiling eyes were level with his own.

“I ought to dunk you,” he gasped.