Deborah Camp (41 page)

“Well, I’m glad you two recognize each other,” Jewel said with mock sarcasm, as she rose from behind her desk. “I’ve got business to see to. Y’all just stay here and moon over at each other.” She chuckled as she ambled from the parlor and closed the double doors behind her, sealing the man and woman off from the rest of the house.

The silence stretched between them until it became embarrassing. Rook was the first to break it. He turned to look at the closed doors and chuckled.

“I figured she wouldn’t be surprised to see me back so soon. I’m supposed to be on a train headed out of Eureka Springs at this moment.”

“Yes, she told me.”

The quaver in her voice pulled him up short, and he realized that her eyes were rimmed with red. She’d been crying.

“Hey, what’s been going on here? What’s made you cry?”

“What do you think!” She whirled around, presenting her straight back to him. Anger at Rook filled her, and she wished she were as strong as a man so that she could beat Rook within an inch of his miserable life. “I thought you were gone for good.” She drew a sharp breath, hearing her own words give her away, and furious that he was probably tickled pink because she was crying over him. “ ’Course, I shoulda known you’d turn up like a bad habit,” she felt obliged to add, lest he get the idea he was the best thing to come along since chewing gum.

“It’s good to see you again too,” he quipped.

“You look different,” she said, glancing again at his sartorial splendor. “Less like an outlaw and more like a …” She thought for a moment and shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. More like a—”

“Lawyer?” Rook supplied with a lift of his heavy brows.

“Well, no. Not exactly.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully, surveyed him carefully again and then caught the amused look in his eyes. “What? Are you telling me you are a lawyer?”

He moved further into the room, close enough to smell the faint perfume of violets that surrounded her. “Yes. That’s right. Are you disappointed or relieved?”

“I—I’m not sure.” She shook her head in consternation. “This’ll take some getting used to. I’ve imagined lots of things about you, but being a lawyer wasn’t one of ’em.”

He passed his hand across his lips to hide a fleeting smile. “What things have you imagined about me?”

Her anger began to boil. How dare he tease her so, asking such double-edged questions, after what he had put her through! She smiled nastily as she edged around him to stand beside Jewel’s desk.

“I imagined that you and Annabelle were having at it,” she replied tartly, pleased when his grin became a thunderous scowl. “And I imagined that you were right pleased to be rid of me.” She tipped up her chin and set her face in a serene mask. “But I didn’t come here to talk about such things. I came by to offer condolences to Jewel.”

“I couldn’t leave town without talking to you.”

“About what?” she asked, feeling safe now that she’d put Jewel’s desk between herself and him.

“About the last night we were together. We were on the brink of something I’d like to understand better.”

She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t follow you.”

Rook dropped his hat into a chair and spreading his fingertips on Jewel’s desk he leaned forward toward Cassie. “Were you or were you not about to seduce me and tell me you loved me?”

Her eyes widened to enormous saucers and her head snapped back in outrage. “Seduce
you?
Well, I never!”

“I know you’d never, but you were going to that evening, weren’t you?” He wiggled his eyebrows lasciviously, forcing a smile from her that lasted a brief second and then was gone. “ ’Fess up, Cassandra. You were on the verge of proposing to me.”

“I was not!” she exclaimed indignantly. “I was only going to let you kiss me once—maybe twice—and then cook supper.”

“Is that
all
you were going to do? I think you were cooking up some wedding plans.”

“I was not!” She glared at him, then turned away from the sight of his mischievous grin. “When are you leaving Eureka Springs?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On you.”

Cassie held her breath as she swung her gaze back to him, then sighed in relief when she realized he was serious. She didn’t know what to do or say, so she shrugged to indicate her indifference.

Rook glanced around as if he just then realized where suddenly aware of his he was. “I’ve been miffed ever since Romeo Rutledge took you to the Crescent. Won’t you make it up to me by allowing me to take you there for brunch?” He retrieved his hat and held his arm out to her. “Please?”

“I came here to console Jewel,” Cassie stated again.

“Yes, but she won’t mind if you console me instead. Well?” he inquired impatiently. “Shall we go, or do you want to fuss some more?”

Cassie’s skin grew warm as she tucked her hand inside his elbow. “I guess I can go off with you for awhile.”

“Jewel won’t mind,” Rook repeated as he guided her from the parlor and through the house to the back where the stables were and the horse was still hitched to the buggy. He helped Cassie up to the seat and slid in beside her. “I saw you in town. You’ve got a buckboard.”

“Yes. Jewel gave it and the horse to me, since I didn’t have any way to get into town. I had to ride in on the back of Sheriff Barnes’s horse one day, and I sure didn’t want to do that again.”

He chuckled, thinking of Cassie sharing a horse with the sheriff. “Were you worried about me?”

“No. Should I have been?”

Rook gave her a measured look. “Cassie, I know you were worried.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I was worried.”

“You were?” he asked hopefully, thinking he’d penetrated her armor.

“Sure. I was worried you’d come back with your friends and bust up some more of my furniture.”

“Oh, hell!” He maneuvered the horse and buggy to the back of the hotel and reined to a stop near the back entrance. He put on the brake and shifted to face Cassie. “I was never part of his gang. I got involved with Blackie and the others only when I tried to talk Blackie into giving himself up.”

“What did you try to talk Annabelle into?” Cassie asked, but she didn’t give him a chance to answer. She turned her back on him and hopped down from the buggy, leaving him to follow in her wake. He caught up with her inside the hotel near the registration desk.

“Cassie, don’t be a bitch,” he whispered in her ear, taking hold of her elbow and pushing her a little ahead of him into the dining room. He requested a table near one of the long, narrow windows and escorted Cassie to it.

“I’m not a bitch,” she said, leaning across the table and fairly hissing at him. “Annabelle’s the bitch, from what I could see of her. She acted like an animal, and you slept with her! Lord have mercy. If you’d mess with a woman like that I’m surprised any she-animal is safe around you.” Cassie picked up the menu and held it before her face, blocking Rook’s view of her. His lean fingers curled over the top of the menu and forced it down until her eyes met his.

“Let me explain,” he said, pulling the menu from her hands with a quick jerk and setting it to one side. “I admit that I tumbled with Annabelle, but it wasn’t anything I’m proud of. She was after me and I tried to use my many charms to get her to convince Blackie to surrender. Things got out of hand. I didn’t want an encore, but she did. I refused and that damaged her pride. She told Blackie that I was plotting against him.”

“And he shot you,” Cassie finished for him.

“That’s right. I was trying to sneak off during the night, but Blackie was wise to my plan. I was lucky to get away
from him alive, but I was luckier even still to faint at your feet.” He smiled, sensing her anger had abated. “You could say that my getting shot and ending up on your property was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

She examined him from behind her lashes but couldn’t bring herself to speak. Half of her loved him and half of her hated him.

He was forced to look away from her when the waiter asked for their order. “We’ll have the meat pie and coffee for two, please.” He handed over the menus and gave Cassie a quizzical glance when she eyed him curiously. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re so different. So citified!”

“We both seem to have changed, but don’t worry. I’m still Reuben Abraham Colton under these store-bought clothes.”

Cassie averted her gaze from him, recalling how he looked under those clothes and feeling that strange fascination again. The thought that they had seen each other naked brought bright color to her face and a sparkle to her eyes. She glanced hesitantly at Rook, but looked away quickly when she saw that her heightened color hadn’t gone unnoticed. Rook was grinning, making no attempt to hide his amusement or his interest in her.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she whispered fiercely.

“Like what?”

“Like we’re … like I’m … rather, like you—”

“Like I want to take you up to my room and make love to you?” he drawled, ignoring her obvious embarrassment.

“Yes.” She glared at him. “And hush up with that kind of talk! It ain’t—isn’t proper.”

He leaned back and spread his hands across the front of his vest as the waiter placed their meal before them. When they were alone again, Rook winked mischievously at Cassie.

“Every time you speak properly, you’ll think of me. That’s nice, isn’t it?”

She answered by screwing up her face as if she’d bitten into a lemon and Rook laughed aloud—so loud that the other diners fell silent and turned to stare at them.

“Hush up, you fool!” Cassie’s gaze darted furtively around the big dining room and she hunkered down over her plate, wishing she could grow smaller and smaller until she disappeared. “People are looking at us. You’re gonna get us throwed outta here!”

“Uh-uh-uh!” He wagged a finger at her. “Watch your grammar. I noticed that when you get riled you forget all the things I’ve taught you.”

“So don’t get me riled,” she shot back.

“Ah, but I love the way you look when you’re mad enough to bite a bullet in half.”

She tried to concentrate on the meal before her, but her thoughts seemed to be bound to his. He allowed her to enjoy the meal without interruption. The food was delicious, Cassie supposed, but she barely tasted it. She was still recovering from the shock of learning that the ornery outlaw she’d nursed back to health was an ornery lawyer instead. He wore his fancy clothes so naturally she suspected he dressed in suits and vests most of the time. An attorney, she mused. He probably wouldn’t approve of her plan concerning Boone Rutledge, so it seemed better not tell him about it. Her mind was made up, and she didn’t want anyone to try talking her out of it. Besides, it wasn’t any of Rook’s business. He’d rode—ridden—off without so much as a good-bye, and he’d ride off the same way again, most likely.

“Cassie?”

She looked up from her nearly empty plate to find that his mood had changed from lighthearted to deadly earnest.

“Where do you live?” she asked, before he could broach what was on his mind. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what he had been about to say.

“New Orleans. I used to live in Chicago. I’ve been bouncing around quite a bit lately.”

“A tumbleweed, are you?”

“Yes, but not by choice. I’d like to belong to someplace … to someone.”

The directness of his gaze was disconcerting. Cassie felt as if she were immobilized by it. She squirmed, trying to break free of the bond that held her to him.

“Let’s go up to my room,” he suggested casually, and Cassie stiffened as if she’d been poked with a hot iron.

“Beg your pardon?” she said politely, but her voice was sharp. “Do you think I’m a loose woman?”

“I’ll leave the door open the whole time,” he said, reaching into his pocket for some coins, which he dropped on the table. “All I want is some privacy so that we can talk.”

“We can talk here.”

Impatience pulled down the corners of his wide mouth. “Cassie, for heaven’s sake—”

“Okay,” she said, cutting through his irritation. She didn’t want another scene in the dining room. “If you’ll keep the door open I guess it’ll be proper.”

“Proper,” he said under his breath, making it sound like a cuss word. He helped her from her chair and escorted her with swift authority from the dining room and across the lobby, but Cassie held him back as they passed the free-standing fireplace.

“What now?” he asked, plainly impatient.

“Did you ever notice that poem carved up there?” Cassie pointed up to the brick and marble flue. “I saw it when I came here with Boone. I love it.”

Rook read the rhyme silently, frowning all the while as if it was the silliest thing he’d ever laid eyes on. “Did Boone like it?” he asked with a sneer.

“I didn’t ask his opinion.” She glanced in the direction of the staircase, wondering whether this was the right time to confess what was on the tip of her tongue. Should she tell Rook that she had thought of him when she first read those lines?

“ ‘But when the snow the earth doth cover, then you will be my ardent lover,’ ”
she recited, smiling slightly and glancing at Rook from the corners of her eyes. His answering smile was wickedly teasing.

“Do I have to wait that long?” he asked, taking her hand again and urging her toward the stairs. “That isn’t a pretty way of saying ‘When hell freezes over,’ is it?”

She laughed to cover her confusion. Her mind and heart were in turmoil, and she was unable to sort out her feelings
about Rook. The only thing she was sure of was the powerful attraction that existed between them.

He unlocked the door to his room and opened it wide, letting Cassie precede him. “It’s not much, but it’s all mine.”

She moved stiffly, obviously distinctly uncomfortable being in a man’s room. Cassie wondered what a lady did in such a situation. Should she sit in a chair, or was that too forward? She decided to stand near the window, and there she positioned herself, rigid as a statue.

In contrast, Rook was as cool and relaxed as could be. He took off his jacket, folded it and draped it over a chair, and sat down on the bed. His lean fingers tugged at his tie, pulled it from around his stiff collar, and flung it over the jacket.