Lady Be Bad (20 page)

"And you think that's all I want you for?"
Her voice increased in volume. "Sex?"

"What else can I give you?"

"Dammit, Noah, I didn't have to wait six
years for sex!" She shot back ruthlessly. "I don't understand this
sudden slide of yours into despair." Marlayna counted to ten and
strove to be calm. "Noah, we're finally together; we've got
everything to look forward…"

"Forward?" His head snapped up. "Not with
me, Mimi. With me you'd be going backward. I'd only cripple your
life."

"Oh, so that's it! Noah Drake the noble
cripple!" Marlayna pounced on his word. "Is that the way you see
yourself. As a gimp? A failure? Half a man?" She kept hammering
away, hoping that Noah's own anger would erupt and this
confrontation would cleanse away all doubts.

He felt a rush of blood to his face; nausea
curled his stomach. "It's the truth."

She looked at him and slowly shook her head.
"I don't believe you," Marlayna shouted. "You were the one who said
he couldn't stand to see pity. Yet pity seems to be exactly what
you want from me."

Her hand caught his chin. "Well, I'm not
going to give it to you. Why should I? You seem to be manufacturing
an abundance of it for yourself. Wallowing and moaning, poor Noah
Drake."

Roughly, she pushed his face away. "I'm not
going to be strong for you either. You've got enough strength
buried inside of you for ten men or you couldn't have come this
far." Marlayna took a deep breath. "No. . .somehow, someplace,
somewhere you've lost your strength and your courage. Noah, only
you can find it."

"I. . ." His hand rubbed the perspiration
from the back of his neck. "I...need time. Time to think about
everything. Time to think about us." He lifted bleak eyes.

"Do you? Fine." She brushed off her hands,
stood up and towered over his hunch-shouldered form. "You take all
the time you want. When you make up your mind, you let me know. And
if you're lucky, I won't have changed mine!" With that, Marlayna
sprinted down the dock to the boat.

"Hey!" Noah scrambled to secure his cane
when he saw her untie the mooring rope and jump inside behind the
wheel. "Mimi! What the hell!" He heard the engine turn over. "Wait!
What are you doing? Mimi!" In his struggle to stand, he lost his
footing, knocked the picnic basket into the water and fell heavily
onto the dock. "Mimi! Help me."

Marlayna closed her eyes to the scene. It
took all her willpower not to run to Noah's side. But what she had
told him was the truth. She couldn't be his strength or his legs.
He had both. Now all he needed was the chance to realize that fact.
She shifted the boat into high gear, jouncing along the rough caps
as she followed the coastline back to the castle.

Sprawled on his back and struggling to
control his violent breathing, Noah waited for her to return. He
concentrated his attention on sound, listening for the pontoon
boat's engine to slow down and reverse itself. But that didn't
happen.

"She just needs to work out her anger," he
told himself calmly. "I remember that one fight we had. Mimi was so
mad that she climbed in the car and laid rubber all over the
driveway. Ten minutes later, she was back, clutching a speeding
ticket, crying and feeling foolish."

Ten minutes came and went. So did another
fifteen. Noah was the only one feeling foolish. He finally managed
to pull himself to his feet when the rain started. At first the
warm droplets just dimpled the water. A few seconds later, he was
assaulted by large stinging droplets that soaked him.

Gwen Kingman interrupted the hushed
conversation between two of the upstairs maids. "Libby, when you've
finished picking up the guests' laundry, you'd better start turning
on some lights." Her gaze swept the hallway. "These corridors have
all the ambiance of a tomb."

"Yes, miss." The young woman shifted
uncomfortably.

"Is there something wrong, Libby?"

"Well, I..." Libby looked to the other maid
for guidance, received a vigorous nod and stammered anew. "I...I
really don't know what to do, miss. I don't want to lose my job."
Her voice lowered to a whisper. "I don't want to cause any trouble,
either."

Gwen patted her hand. "Maybe I can help. Is
there a problem with a guest?"

"Just his laundry, miss."

"Whose laundry?"

Libby cleared her throat. "Mr. Drake's." She
pulled two items from the canvas duffle bag. "Should I return these
to his room or ask him who they belong to?"

Gwen stared long and hard at the two items.
Two very feminine items. One was a pair of black silk bikini
panties edged with red lace. The other was the bottom of a bathing
suit — yellow and blue triangles — that she had seen before. "I
know who they belong to, Libby." She snatched the clothing off the
cart. "I'll see that they are returned to their rightful owner."
Her posture regal, she strode swiftly down the corridor to the
elevator that would take her to her father's study.

"Daddy!" Gwen flung open the oak door,
startling Perkins, who was on the library ladder, into dropping
three books. "This is the final insult!"

Arthur spoke quickly into the telephone and
hung up the receiver. "What the hell is your problem, little girl?
Where are your manners?"

"Why should I be the only one with manners?"
She threw the clothing on his desk. "It's obvious your Miss O'Brian
has no manners or morals either."

He picked up the panties. "Because of her
lingerie?"

She gave an unladylike snort. "Her lingerie
was found in Noah's room!" Gwen's foot beat a furious tattoo
against the Oriental carpet. "I'm no fool, Daddy. I know what's
been going on. I won't close my eyes to their tawdry affair any
longer. I want that woman out of this house and off this island.
And I want it done now!"

"What about Noah? It takes two to have an
affair," Arthur pointed out.

Gwen cleared her throat. "I'm trying to be
very adult about this, Daddy. Noah may just be temporarily blinded
by that woman." She turned her head when an oddly strangled sound
was emitted by Perkins. Her eyes scolded him. "Daddy, I think if we
remove temptation from this house, perhaps Noah will be more his
old self."

Arthur massaged his jaw. "He has been acting
out of sorts lately. Not like himself. Perkins, where is Miss
O'Brian?"

"She and Mr. Drake are out on the boat,
sir."

"I want to know the minute her foot hits the
drawbridge, do you understand?"

"Very good, sir." Perkins climbed down the
ladder and dutifully left the room.

About four miles up the coast, Marlayna
crossed an invisible boundary line. The bow of the boat was
wreathed in sunlight while the stern of the boat was still being
splashed by rain. She increased speed when the sky rumbled
continuous warnings.

Green channel markers guided her on the port
side and once the rose granite castle loomed in sight, Marlayna
slowed the engine and trolled close to the shore until she saw the
summerhouse on the main dock. She cut the engine a bit too late and
the bow of the boat slammed into the dock. "Oops…sorry about
that."

Marlayna mumbled to herself all the way up
the stone steps. Should she go back and get Noah? After all, he was
eight miles from the castle and it was raining and his legs — she
stopped. His legs were fine, his brain was the only thing that was
crippled. Maybe a long walk in the pouring rain would wash out
those macho cobwebs that had been collecting for six years.

The instant the front door opened, Perkins
stopped pacing. "Ah, miss, I...I have some bad news."

"That makes two of us." She folded her arms
across her chest. "The picnic basket was deep-sixed into the river,
I smashed the boat against the dock and Noah…" Marlayna exhaled
sharply, "Noah is walking home."

"Walking? Really, miss, don't you think
--"

"At this point, Perkins, I've stopped
thinking and started acting. He's perfectly healthy and his knees
won't rust." She laid a hand on his arm. "He needs to think about
his future and mine." Marlayna coaxed her lips into a smile. "Now,
what's your bad news?"

"Arthur and Miss Gwen are waiting for you in
the library. It seems your lingerie was found in a most
compromising location."

"Is that a fact?" She straightened her black
sleeveless cotton shirt and brushed down her white shorts. "Well,
Perkins, let's go beard the king in his den."

The house manager groaned and rolled his
eyes as they walked back into the castle. "Miss O'Brian has
returned, sir," he announced rather unnecessarily when they entered
the mahogany-paneled library.

"Stay a moment, Perkins," came Arthur's
presumptuous order. "Miss O'Brian will be needing your assistance
in packing." He looked at the gold watch on his wrist. "Captain
Warren will be arriving in ten minutes to take you back to the
marina. A cab will take you to the airport."

Marlayna smiled first at Gwen then at her
father. "Arthur, I see you don't go in for long, melodramatic
good-byes."

His brow raised in acknowledgment of her
flip tone. "I see, however, that you do go in for nocturnal
recreation." Arthur held up the black panties between his thumbs
and forefingers and stretched out the waistband. "I overlooked that
night at the pool, but this…"

"Night at the pool!" Gwen echoed. "What
night at the pool?" She demanded. When her father didn't answer,
she began to snivel. "Daddy, you knew? You . . . you knew they were
carrying on?"

"Don't cry, Gwen." Marlayna's voice was low
and comforting. "Noah and I were carrying on long before either of
us ever knew the name Kingman existed."

Arthur pushed himself out of his red leather
executive chair. His shoulders were pushed back, posture rigid as
that of a four-star general being reviewed by the president. "Well,
the name Kingman does exist, my dear. And it's a name that demands
respect. It's a name of power and position."

His palms were pressed flat against the
glass top of his massive carved desk. "A name that you will no
longer have any dealings with. You do understand. There will be no
contract."

"No, problem." She nodded. "Perkins…"
Marlayna turned her back on the Kingman's "shall we get to the
packing?" Without a backward glance, she stalked out of the
room.

"What about Mr. Drake, miss?" Perkins
repeated for the fifth time while Marlayna bustled back and forth
from the bathroom to the closet to the suitcases that were lying
open on the bed. "I really should go and find him."

"Just leave him alone. He has to win this
battle for himself. Maybe a trek across the island will prove to
him just how strong and capable he really is."

"And when he finds you're gone?"

"Noah will have to deal with that, too. He
knows where he can find me if he wants to." She jammed her shoes
into the side pockets and flipped the lids over to zip them closed.
"But he's got to do the wanting and the finding."

Marlayna's fingers pressed against his
cheek. "Perkins, you've been wonderful." Suddenly her arms wrapped
around the startled manager's neck. "I'm going to miss you." She
sniffed and wiped her eyes. "You take care of yourself and . . .
Noah."

"I always have, miss." He patted her
shoulder. "You take care, too."

At three o'clock Captain Warren deposited
her at Blind Bay Marina. The twenty-minute crossing was calmer than
she had expected. There was no wind and the constant drizzle seemed
to have flattened out the river. Marlayna's thoughts were
preoccupied not with the weather or with her chattering seatmate on
the shuttle plane from Ogdensburg to Albany, but with Noah. She was
wondering if all that had happened would put an end to their future
together.

Noah ran out of swear words after the first
hour. His clothes were dripping, hair plastered to his head. He was
hot and covered with bugs, and everything that could hurt — hurt
like hell. His cane was more a hindrance than a help. The rubber
tip kept sinking into the mud, so he used the trees for
support.

The sun shone through the gray cover of
clouds. It kept sinking further and further westward. He had no
idea how far he had walked, but he knew that he had a much longer
road to travel. A road that had nothing to do with dirt and pine
needles.

"Three days and nothing! Not even a phone
call."

Sylvia Davies rolled her eyes and sighed,
watching Marlayna lift the receiver for the millionth time to check
the dial tone. "No wonder he can't get through, you keep
interrupting the connection." She went back to filing her nails.
"Relax, the man probably hasn't finished drying out yet. For
heaven's sake, stop, pacing! You're wearing a hole in the carpet,
and you know how traumatic that would be for Pearl."

Marlayna flopped on the sofa and buried her
face in her hands. "I made a terrible mistake, Sylvie. I shouldn't
have run out on Noah. I shouldn't have left him at the other end of
the island. I shouldn't have let Arthur bundle me off. I should
have…"

"My dear, life is filled with shoulds and
shouldn'ts," Sylvia interrupted. She put her hand on the back of
Marlayna's head and stroked the disarrayed curls into calm order.
"The one thing you really shouldn't do is to keep going over
it."

A wry smile peeked through fingers. "No
crying over spilt milk? I made my bed and now I get to sleep in it.
All alone."

"I don't think you could have found a bed
big enough to accommodate you, Noah and his self-pity."

"I wish...I just wish.." she wiped her hands
over her face, "that I had had enough sense to keep my mouth shut.
Talk about stupid! But oh, no...I thought…I was so damn smart. Noah
needed reassurance. He needed love and support, and maybe he did
need the pity. I should have told him what he wanted to hear, and
then, once we were together and he was more confident I could have
gotten some professional counseling on how to handle his emotional
needs."