Darling Enemy (9 page)

“Because I learned young that a man can get anything he wants if he keeps after it long enough,” he replied confidently.

“Not people,” she replied. “Not ever people. You can’t force people to love, Bruce.”

The grin widened. “Who’s talking about love?” he murmured, eyeing her body.

She stiffened. “I’m not ready for that kind of relationship with any man.”

“So you said,” he murmured, “but there’s fire under all that ice, I’d bet my right arm on it. I could make you change your mind. There’s never been a woman I couldn’t get,” he added with hateful confidence.

“Meet number one,” she hurled back, tired of arguing. “I don’t want you. Can’t you get that through your thick skull!”

“Who do you want, the cattle baron?” he growled. “It won’t work, Teddi. I’m not handing you over to him without a fight. I saw you first.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve told King things about you,” he said huskily. “None of it very flattering, but he believed it. I can make it even worse if you don’t play ball. You’re my girl, and I’m not giving you up.”

“Look, will you just leave me alone?” she burst out, feeling her control snap.

“I can’t,” he murmured. His eyes leered at her. “You’re a knockout, do you know? You drive me wild,” he concluded, and his desire found expression in his eyes as he moved forward. He caught her before she could react and dragged her into his arms, emotion clouding his eyes as he forced her to be still, despite her struggles.

“Turn me loose,” she ground out, trying to find enough space to kick his shin.

“Not on your life,” he grumbled, bruising her with his tight hold. “You threw me over at Easter. You tore my pride to shreds. Wouldn’t even let me get close, give me a chance to get to know you. Well, here I am and here you are, and this time you’re going to spend some time with me or I’ll ruin you with your rich friends. I didn’t have old Mr. Murray send me out here to do King’s books for nothing...”

“Think so?” she asked. She dipped suddenly and brought her foot down sharply on his instep.

He cried out, and she tore away from him, breathing hard, her hair and eyes wild.

It was at that moment that King came in the door. His sharp eyes went from Teddi’s disheveled appearance to his accountant’s pained expression. Immediately, he jumped to his own conclusions.

“I’ll remind you that you’re working on my time,” King told Bruce with barely controlled anger. “That doesn’t allow you the luxury of flirting with Teddi. Clear?”

Bruce shrugged, shooting a lightning glance at Teddi. “Whatever you say, Mr. Devereaux. My fault. I shouldn’t have let myself be tempted,” he added damningly as he turned and went back into the study.

“Leave him alone,” King told her coldly, his eyes contemptuous as they ran the length of her body. “I should have followed my instincts and let you go to New York in the first place. We’re a small community here, with old-fashioned moral values. If I catch you playing around with your boyfriend under my roof, you’ll both go out on your ears.”

And before she could voice the furious reply her mind was forming, he followed Bruce into the study and slammed the door in her face.

Minutes later, she was fuming in the cold, clear water of the river.

“King again?” Jenna asked as soon as Blakely left them to dress in the secluded shade of some nearby bushes.

“However did you guess?” Teddi asked with a weary sigh.

“Oh, I’m getting quite good at mind reading,” came the amused reply. “He’s giving you a rough time about Bruce, huh? The idiot. He’s just impossible lately. Ever since Bruce came, in fact.” She glanced at Teddi. “Doesn’t he act jealous, though?” she mused.

Teddi’s face was suffused with color. “King? Jealous of me?”

“Why don’t you tell him the truth?” Jenna asked as they climbed out of the water. She paused and turned to face her friend. “Teddi, what have you got to lose?”

“My self-respect, my pride, my—”

“You can do without those. But can you do without King?”

Teddi let her eyes drop to the ground, where the sun shining through the leaves was making shadow patterns. “I’ve done very well without him for almost six years,” she murmured.

“He feels something,” Jenna said quietly. “We both know that. But unless you make him see the truth, he’s very likely to wall his emotions up for good where you’re concerned.”

That was possible. And he had felt something, Teddi knew that better than her friend did, remembering the hunger of his hard mouth, the urgency of his body against hers that magic morning in the woods. King had dashed her pride to slivers once—could she take it if he did that again? On the other hand, no one achieved anything worthwhile without courage. There were no great rewards without great risks.

She took a deep breath. “Well, I can’t look any worse in his eyes than I already do, can I?” she asked with a whimsical smile.

“He was going out to check the stock this morning after he finished with Bruce,” Jenna murmured. “You might find him in the stables.”

“What a smelly place to chase a man,” Teddi grumbled.

“At least it’s private,” Jenna laughed. “Uh, Blakely and I discovered that early on. Now, get out there and fight. Just remember one thing—you catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.”

Teddi sighed. “There’s just one thing wrong with that philosophy.”

“What’s that?”

Teddi gave her a mischievous glance. “Who’s going to hold King while I smear honey on him?”

Jenna simply threw up her hands.

* * *

The walk to the stables was the longest Teddi ever remembered making. Several times she almost decided to turn and go back to the house. The “what-ifs” drove her wild. What if he didn’t believe her? What if she told him how much she loved him, and he laughed at her? What if she threw her arms around him, and he pushed her away? It was insane, this idea of Jenna’s. She felt a sense of foreboding. There was still time, she could turn back. But what if she did, and King turned away from her forever?

Resolutely she forced herself not to worry about her still-damp hair, about her bareness under the sundress. In her haste, she had thrown on the dress, leaving her wet bathing suit with Jenna.

She entered the dimly lit barn, blinking her eyes to adjust them to the darkness inside. Her gaze lit on a shadow that moved into view out of one of the neat hay-filled stalls.

It was King, denim-clad and powerful looking, and as unyielding as the walls.

“Looking for your lover?” he asked in a mocking tone.

“No, actually I was looking for you,” she said before her courage deserted her.

He lifted his head, looking down at her with his lips slightly pursed, studying her slender young body, which was only barely covered by the yellow-and-white gingham dress. It was a seductive little coverup, held over her breasts by a narrow band of elastic, elasticized at the waist, barely brushing her knees at the hem. Her feet were encased in strappy little white sandals. The picture she made was one of sunny innocence, joyful youth.

A glimmer of passion appeared in King’s hard face as he looked at her, and that tiny chink in his armor gave her enough nerve to approach him. He wasn’t indifferent to her, that was certain enough. And all her small doubts were instantly erased when she pressed her hands against his damp shirt front and moved close. His heart was beating too hard, his broad chest rising and falling much too rapidly for a calm man. The tautness of his body gave her answers to questions she wouldn’t have dared ask.

“Now will you listen to me?” she asked, looking up into darkening, stormy eyes. Her hands flattened against his shirt, faintly caressing. “Bruce is just getting even with me. Earlier this year, he wanted to date me and I wouldn’t go out with him. It hurt his pride, and now he’s out for revenge. I don’t want Bruce. I...I want you, King,” she breathed, going on tiptoe to brush her lips against his throat, his chin, the corner of his mouth. Bold with new confidence, feeling for the first time like a whole woman instead of a frightened girl, she reached up to lock her fingers in his thick hair and pressed her hungry lips against his hard, unyielding mouth.

“Oh, kiss me,” she breathed achingly, pressing closer to his hard, taut body with a hunger that flared like a match thrown into dry wood. “Kiss me!”

Steely fingers suddenly bit into her arms and tore loose her grip on him. He thrust her from him with a force that almost tripped her. She caught her balance, staring at him with wide, apprehensive eyes.

“Don’t you ever,” he said in a voice like a razor’s edge, “try that with me again! My God, everything he said about you was the truth, wasn’t it?” His accusing eyes swept over her. “This is the real you, isn’t it, darling? Eager, willing, wanton...and there I was, treating you like porcelain because I didn’t want to frighten you. Frighten you! How much do you get for a night, Teddi?” he asked with a half smile that sickened her. “Maybe we can work something out.”

Devastated, she wrapped her arms around her trembling body and turned to leave.

“No comeback?” he taunted. “What’s the matter, are you holding out for a ring? No chance, honey. You’ll have to ply your wiles on some other rich rancher. I just went off the market!”

She turned at the entrance to the barn and looked back at him. “First blood to you, Mr. Devereaux,” she said with cool pride. “You’re wrong about me. You always have been. You’ll believe anything you’re told, as long as it’s something bad, won’t you? Well, I’m no more a hooker than you are a gentleman, and someday you’ll find that out. Not that it will make any difference to me. Rich or not, I want no part of a man who’s morally blind.”

And she turned and walked away.

* * *

King didn’t come in for dinner that night, and Teddi pleaded a splitting headache and stayed in her room that night. The headache was real enough, she told herself—six foot three with blond hair and gray eyes and the farsightedness of a mole.

She’d just pulled on a long yellow cotton nightgown when there was a knock at her door.

She stared at it blankly. “Who’s there?”

There was no answer. Maybe...she brightened. Maybe it was King; maybe he’d had second thoughts and had finally decided to listen. She went to the door and pulled it open. Bruce, in his robe, stood outside grinning at her.

She tried to shut the door, but he wouldn’t let her. He forced her back into the room, leaving the door carefully open, like a man with a master plan who wouldn’t brook interference.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she cried, struggling with him as he forced her back against the bed.

“It’s called the coup de grace, darling,” he said in an undertone, abruptly pushing her back onto the bedcovers just before he threw himself down beside her and buried his face in her throat. “Guess who’s coming up the stairs?”

She pushed futilely at him, barely avoiding his hot mouth as it went across her cheek and tried to catch her lips.

She cringed when she heard the door suddenly open even farther. Turning her head, she saw King standing in the doorway, watching with condemning eyes.

Bruce sat up and ran a hand through his disheveled hair, grinning at King.

“Sorry about that,” he told his employer. “We got carried away and forgot to close the door.”

King glanced from the younger man, clad only in a robe, to Teddi dressed in the semisheer cotton nightgown. The contempt in his face was unbearable.

“I’ll expect you both to be packed and out of here by tomorrow morning,” King said in a quiet, very controlled tone.

Bruce gaped at him, as if he hadn’t expected anything so drastic. “But, King...Mr. Devereaux...what will I tell my firm?”

“That’s your affair,” King said coldly. “I’ll let you explain it after I’ve given them the bare facts and requested another accountant. I warned you about playing around under my roof. You might have listened.”

“But—!” Bruce cut short his protest when the door slammed shut.

He stared at it, bug-eyed. “He didn’t mean that, surely!”

“Of course he meant it,” Teddi said numbly. She got off the bed and tugged on her thick toweling robe. She felt her world ending with a sense of quiet inevitability.

“I didn’t think he’d react like that,” Bruce choked out. “I just wanted to make sure he didn’t snap you up before I had one more chance, that’s all.”

“Snap me up.” Teddi laughed bitterly, shoving her hands in the deep pockets of her robe. “He’s hated me for five years. He’s always believed I was some sort of nymphomaniac. You only confirmed his darkest suspicions. But it backfired, didn’t it?”

He sighed wearily. “I feel sick,” he mumbled. “I’ve got car payments, my rent’s due...and when the firm finds out I’ve been sent back, I may lose my job.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “but you did bring it on yourself. I told you how I felt. You just wouldn’t listen. Would you please go?”

He looked up, noticing for the first time the tears running down her pale cheeks, the horrible expression in her eyes. “You love him,” he said with dawning realization.

She hunched her drooped shoulders. “I had a tiny chance before you came. Now there’s no chance at all. I hope life is as empty for you as you’ve just made it for me,” she added with a flash of spirit.

He seemed to shrink before her eyes. “If it’s any consolation, I feel like a prize idiot. I meant to upset the cart, any way I could, because I wanted you to notice me. I couldn’t compete with King—who could? And the way he looked at you...well, I thought if I could get the competition out of the way, I might still have a chance.” He met her eyes, and there was a sadness in his. “I’ve never felt this way about a woman. You were like an obsession.” He sighed. “At any rate, I am sorry, for what good it does.”

“Not very much, I’m afraid,” she said honestly.

“As I thought. Well...good night. I’ll see you in the morning. Perhaps if I explained to King...?”

She smiled sadly. “He wouldn’t listen,” she replied. “When he makes up his mind, that’s it.”

“I really am sorry,” he added just before he left the room.

But she didn’t reply. What else was there to say?

* * *