Double Dealing (37 page)

She didn’t stir.

“Samantha,” he tried again, putting a hand on her hip.

“
Mmmmmf
.”

“Honey, wake up. We have to talk.” He lightly patted the
intriguing curve of her rear.

She ignored him. Very carefully Gabriel changed the light
pat into a small slap.

“Must you always resort to Neanderthal tactics?” she grumbled,
flopping over on her back and opening her eyes.

“It does have the merit of getting your attention.”

“Well, you’ve got it.” She yawned, one hand straying into
the tangle of hair on his chest, giving it a playful tug.

“Ouch! Now what was so important that you had to wake me up
in the middle of the night?”

The smile faded from his mouth to be replaced by a more
serious expression. “Samantha, we’re going to have to clean up a few loose ends
before we can forget Buchanan.”

“What loose ends? I sign the papers, and he hands over a
check for a hundred thousand dollars. That’s it.” She wrinkled her nose at his
sober look. “I know you’re not going to make much money on this deal, Gabriel, but
at least you’ll recover your investment, and if we split the other fifty
thousand, we’ll still make twenty-five apiece. I think I’ll use part of my half
to repaint the front porch,” she added thoughtfully.

“Which front porch? Yours or mine?” he asked cautiously.

“Mine, naturally. Yours doesn’t need it. Besides, you don’t
actually have a front porch. You have a deck.”

“Samantha,” he said, sighing, “are you planning on staying
on that island of yours?”

He felt her sudden stillness. “Were you going to suggest a
different arrangement?” she finally asked with seeming carelessness.

“You know damn well I’m going to ask you to move in with me.
No”—he moved his head once in a short negative— “not ask, tell you to move in
with me. I’m not going to commute to Seattle every couple of days from here.
Don’t look so damn stricken, Samantha.”

“I don’t know, Gabriel. Maybe it would be better if we did
commute, at least for a while. We’re so different in so many ways. I’m liable
to drive you crazy with the way I do things.”

“Don’t worry, take care of the cooking.” He chuckled.

“It’s not just that. I have a business to run, and I want to
run it in my own way. Can you honestly see yourself keeping your hands off it?
Or are you going to want to ‘guide’ me?”

His stomach tightened as he realized she was seriously concerned.
“For Christ’s sake, honey, what are you afraid of? That I’ll take over
completely?”

She hesitated and then said wryly, “The thought did cross my
mind. For my own good, of course.”

He stared at her. “I can’t believe this! You’re actually afraid
I’ll try to run your business for you?”

“Well, you’ve made it clear that you don’t think too much of
my business ability,” she muttered.

“I think you were in over your head taking on Buchanan, yes!
Most people would be! That doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot of respect for your
ability to run your information service and run it well. Samantha, I never
quarrel with success, and anyone who can get a business on its feet and running
at a profit in only a couple of years with very little capital investment has my
complete admiration. Don’t you think I, of all people, know what the odds are
against the beginning entrepreneur? I’ve made it my life’s work to finance
people like that, remember? I know competency when I see it.”

She looked at him in confusion. “But you didn’t want to
finance me on the Buchanan deal.”

“That’s different. As you’ve just discovered,” he added deliberately.
“People like Buchanan play rough, and you do have your soft points, sweetheart.”

“Soft point.” She sighed. “You.”

“Apparently.” He grinned lovingly. “Not that I’m complaining.
Which does bring us to the reason I woke you.”

“
Ummm
?” It was obvious she was
still mulling over what he had said about her business ability.

Gabriel gave her an impatient shake, trying to get her full
attention. “Honey, I made a bad error in judgment that morning when I made it
clear to Buchanan that you belonged to me.”

“It was rather disgustingly possessive!”

“It also happens to be true!” he retorted. “Unfortunately the
tactic backfired on me. I had meant to give Buchanan the idea that you had
protection, namely me. But he immediately discovered that I wasn’t your shield,
I was your weak point. You have to hand it to the bastard; he’s as sharp as
they come.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now as long as we hand over the
restaurant. Don’t worry, Gabriel, you and your family are safe,” she assured
him quickly.

He studied her, feeling a rush of affection and desire and
indulgent impatience. “What would you say,” he asked carefully, “if I were to
tell you that Buchanan can’t hurt me?”

She gave him a startled glance. “But he could if he started
spreading rumors and if he were to find out about Emil Fortune…”

Gabriel shook his head. “Samantha, there’s no way he could
smear me in the Arizona papers without smearing himself as well. Don’t you see?
If he implies I’m involved with organized crime, then he also implies he’s
dealing with organized crime. Didn’t you get suspicious when he volunteered to
give you twice what you paid for that damn restaurant? If he’d really been sure
of himself, he would have made you hand it over at a loss! He just wanted out
and figured the fastest way to do that was threaten me and then follow it up
with enough money to partially placate you.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God, Gabriel, I never thought of
it that way. You’re right. If he starts spreading rumors in the Arizona papers
about you, then people are bound to start wondering why he was dealing with you
in the first place. Very bad for the image, and heaven knows Buchanan has to
watch out for his image!”

That caught his attention. “Really? Any particular reason
other than keeping the corporation name clear?”

“He’s got his eye on a political career,” she told him absently,
still thinking over what he had just said. “Hell, Gabriel, I really let myself
get hustled by that con man, didn’t I? Again.” She bit her lip. “But what about
the threats against your family, though? You wouldn’t want to see their names
dragged through the mud again.”

“Honey, there’s nothing older than ten-year-old scandals.
Buchanan would never be able to find a newspaper interested enough to reprint the
story. Not unless there was some tie-in to a current scandal, and that would
mean the Arizona deal. And once he involves the Arizona deal… “

“He involves himself,” she concluded in dismay, rolling off
him to throw herself back against the pillows in disgust. She stared morosely
at the ceiling. “What a fool I was. What a complete idiot!” Her hand clenched at
her side. “And if you say ‘I told you so,’ I swear, I’ll…”

He stopped the words with a gentle hand across her mouth. “Samantha,
how can I call you an idiot or a fool when this whole mess wrung a confession
of love out of you? You could have gone on in this relationship for months
before committing yourself that far, couldn’t you? You’re so damned cautious
about relationships! And thanks to your mother, probably have a hell of a job
talking you into marriage!”

“Marriage!” she mumbled from under his palm. The tortoiseshell
eyes filled with astonishment as she pushed his hand away. “
Marriage!
Gabriel, how can you talk about
marriage? We’ve only known each other a couple of weeks, and I’m not really the
marrying sort, anyway. I’ve explained that—”

“You’ve explained that you don’t consider marriage one of
life’s necessities,” he agreed dryly. “And neither do I. Except in certain
circumstances.”

“Such as?” she demanded forebodingly.

“Such as when I’m taking on the task of trying to handle a
woman who’s part
amazon
, part businessperson, and
part soft, sexy female. I think marriage is the third link in the chain I need
to hold you.”

“And what, may I ask, are the other two?” she hissed.

“I figure I can hold the soft, sensuous female with sex. She
seems totally unable to resist me after I get her flat on her back,” he drawled
outrageously.

“Such arrogance!” Samantha breathed.

“
Ummm
. And I think I’ve got the
businesswoman under control with that midnight promise of loyalty I had her
agree to honor.”

“You don’t think a businesswoman might conveniently forget
an oath like that on occasion?” she dared.

“Not one descended from Victor Thorndyke or Vera Maitland.”

“You’ve never met either of them!” she protested.

“I’ve met their daughter. I know all I need to know about
both of them from watching her in action.”

“I see,” Samantha said far too pleasantly. “And the
amazon
? How are you going to hold her?”

“That’s where marriage comes in,” he explained equably. “Nothing
like marriage to tie down an
amazon
.”

“I’ve got news for you. Amazons don’t get married,” Samantha
informed him with relish. “They kidnap men and use them for certain limited
purposes.”

“But in this case, I’ve reversed that process, haven’t I?
And this kidnapped
amazon
is going to stay kidnapped.
She can, of course, use me for certain limited purposes. I’m a generous man.”

“Gabriel, you’re finally beginning to make some sense in
this conversation,” Samantha whispered admiringly as she put her arms around
his neck and drew him down to her. “Come here and let me use you for certain
limited purposes.”

She felt his body begin to awaken once more, pushing against
her with familiar demand. Under his hand her nipple stirred eagerly in its
burrow. There was something else she wanted to talk about, Samantha realized,
something which had begun teasing her thoughts earlier when they had discussed
Buchanan’s own vulnerability. Ah, well, it could be handled just as easily in
the morning. Right now there were more important things in life,

But long after Gabriel had drifted off to sleep beside her,
Samantha lay awake, turning the new idea over and over in her mind, trying to
examine it for obvious flaws. It wasn’t until she decided there weren’t any
that she finally snuggled into Gabriel and went to sleep.

The next morning as she let him serve her buckwheat cakes
and fruit topped with an incredible honey-yogurt mixture, Samantha carefully
explained what she intended to do. Gabriel turned from the stove to stare at
her in astonishment.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” he finally growled, half in
admiration, half in dismay. He brought the plate of buckwheat cakes to the
table.

“I’m not going to let him get away with it, Gabriel. He’s
threatened both of us. The man needs a lesson, and I’ve finally found a way to
see he gets it.”

“You’re talking about revenge, not business.”

“I’m big on revenge, remember? And I have a growing impression
that you’re not always so angel-pure in your motives, either.”

He shot her a thoughtful, hooded glance, and it occurred to
Samantha that the rosy-cheeked modern version of angels, the kind one saw on
Christmas cards, really bore very little resemblance to the original model. The
originals tended to carry flaming swords and wielded catastrophic power. They
were quite capable of avenging wrongs and generally did so with devastating
impact.

“Why are you smiling at me like that?” Gabriel demanded abruptly.

“I was thinking about avenging angels. You’re furious with
Buchanan for the way he used you to get to me, aren’t you?”

“Let’s just say I don’t approve of the way the man does
business.”

“Interested in my plan?” she taunted gently.

“I hate to admit it, because it’s as good as admitting that
you’ve managed to corrupt my normal approach to business, but, yes, I am.
Frankly, it might also be a way to take out a little insurance,” Gabriel said
slowly.

“Insurance!”

“You remember how fond I am of insurance?” He smiled at her
crookedly.

“Why do you need insurance against Buchanan?”

“Because he’s quite capable of casually crushing your new
business in a year or so as a way of teaching you a lesson.”

“Destroy Business Intelligence? But how? Why?”

“The how is easy enough, and even I probably wouldn’t be
able to protect you If he starts a campaign to ruin your reputation for
reliability and analysis, he might very well succeed. A few words in the ears
of the honchos of some of your most important clients. A few comments to the
business press. Rumors. Innuendoes about possible conflict of interest
situations in which you sell information gained on one company or another. Hell,
I don’t know what he’d do, but I do know he’s capable of it, and I think your
nasty little scheme has a good chance of tying his hands.” Gabriel nodded to himself
as he forked up a large bite of buckwheat cake. “A very good chance. Okay,
honey, let’s spread it all out on the table and take a good look.”

“We’re talking about very hardball, here, Gabriel,” she felt
obliged to warn. But the excitement was bubbling in her, and she thought she
sensed it behind the deceptive placidity of his gaze. They looked at each other
for a long moment.

“How do you know,” Gabriel said gently, “that I don’t
normally play the game this way?”

“Because you’re not the type!” she exclaimed in surprise.

“Maybe I’ve learned a few things hanging out with you?” He
grinned.

I’m not sure I understand you this morning, Gabriel. I
thought I’d have a heck of a job talking you into this. I’ve never seen you
quite this way before.”

“You’ve never seen me in a lot of ways, Samantha,” he told
her gently. Including at work. I think, because you handled me so easily when
you tried to induce me to finance you, that you somehow got an erroneous impression
of the way I normally do business. Normally,” he emphasized sardonically, “I
don’t let myself get pressured with such tactics as blackmail.”