Smoke in Mirrors (19 page)

The realization that she had come here on her own volition sent a rush of pleasure through him. The uneasy sensation that had been worrying at him all day faded beneath the onslaught of anticipation.

“Okay. All right. This is good, Wrench. This is a very positive sign.”

Wrench was already on his feet, heading toward his pile of personal possessions.

Thomas opened the front door. Leonora came up the steps looking tense, not like a woman who wished to engage in acts of wild sexual abandon. She clutched something in her hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I found this today.” Leonora dropped a gold bracelet
into his palm as she went past him into the hall. “It belonged to Meredith.”

Wrench appeared, a badly gnawed leather chew-toy in his mouth. He sat down on his haunches in front of Leonora and dropped the imitation bone at her feet.

She stooped, picked up the toy and patted Wrench on the head.

“Thank you, Wrench. It’s lovely.”

Wrench was satisfied with the response.

Leonora handed Thomas her jacket, went into the living room and stood at the window, arms folded tightly around herself.

He examined the bracelet. There was a small gold plaque inscribed with Meredith’s name.

“I gave it to her when she graduated from college with a terrific grade average.” Her mouth curved in a wry smile. “Of course, that was before I discovered that she had fiddled with the computer database in the college records office to adjust her final grades.”

He studied the gold links coiled in his palm. “Where did you find it?”

“Behind the card catalog in the library office. There’s a door there. It opens off a flight of servants’ stairs. Do you know, I never saw Meredith without that bracelet after I gave it to her. She even had it on the day I found her in bed with Kyle.”

Thomas looked up suddenly, his attention caught by the grimly resigned inflection of her voice. Leonora’s face was angled away from him. She appeared to be fascinated by the view of the cove.

The light of the flames on the hearth gave her khaki-green silk sweater a soft sheen. The garment had a rolled neckline and long sleeves. It fit snugly across her elegantly sculpted shoulders and skimmed over her small, high breasts. The trousers she wore were also green, a
hue that was several shades darker than the sweater. Her hair was caught up in its customary sleek knot.

He forced his attention back to the broken bracelet.

“I remember seeing it on her wrist,” he said, not stopping to think.

Leonora looked at him over her shoulder. The icy irritation that glittered in her eyes made him tighten his fingers around the bracelet.

“What do you want me to do,” he said, “pretend that I didn’t have an affair with her?”

“Of course not.” She turned back to the window. “What would be the point? I already know the truth. There are enough lies and half-truths floating around as it is.”

Anger sparked, catching him off-guard. He crossed the room in three strides and came to a halt directly behind her. Close enough to catch her scent. He did not touch her.

“That’s the real issue here, isn’t it?” he said. “You want me as much as I want you but you can’t handle the fact that I had a brief affair with Meredith.”

“Let’s stick to the problem at hand, okay?”

“Hell, no, it’s not okay. There’s something we need to get settled first. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the feeling that you see me as just another one of Meredith’s dumb-as-a-rock conquests.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is true and I don’t appreciate your low opinion of my intelligence, maturity or self-control.”

“I never said you weren’t intelligent or mature or self-controlled.”

“You didn’t have to say it. You’ve made it clear in a thousand other ways. For the record, I’m not some nineteen-year-old, hormone-driven kid who follows his balls wherever they lead him.”

“There’s no need to get angry about this.”

“Too late. I’m already angry. You know what? It really pisses me off that you assume I was powerless to resist Meredith. You think she was some kind of succubus? A siren who was totally irresistible to weak-minded men like me and your ex-fiancé?”

“I never said you were weak-minded.”

“I’m not your ex-fiancé, either.”

“I know that.” She took a jerky step away and swung around to confront him. “You’re not anything like Kyle. You’re very different.”

“Thanks for that much, at least.” He closed the space between them. “While we’re on the subject, I’d like to clarify a couple of other issues here. Meredith and I had a very short-lived relationship. You want to know who ended it?”

Leonora took another step back and came up against the window ledge. “I’m sure it was Meredith who ended it. She was always the one who ended things. There’s no need to go into the details.”

“Tough shit. We’re already into the details.” He planted one hand on the windowsill behind her head and leaned in close, wanting her to get the point. “I’m the one who called a halt to the relationship, if you can call it that. Want to know why?”

She blinked and then cleared her throat. “I’m sure you had your reasons.”

“Damn right I had my reasons. I ended things with Meredith because I got bored. That’s why.”

“Bored? With Meredith?”

“Yeah. Bored. That overgrown, sexy cheerleader routine wears thin fast. At least it did with me. I knew it was time to call it off when I realized I was a whole lot more interested in finishing the tile work in the bathroom than I was in enduring another dinner with Meredith. You got any idea how hard it is to talk to a woman who is always watching you to see if you’re responding to her?”

“Tile work, huh?” She pursed her lips. “I’ve never heard of any man getting
that
bored with Meredith.”

“Meet one.”

He took his hand off the window, straightened and turned away. He realized that he still held the gold bracelet. He tossed it lightly in her general direction and watched her snatch it out of the air with a quick, reflexive movement.

“I can’t figure out why I’m bothering to explain myself to you,” he said. “Probably a complete waste of time.”

She looked at the bracelet in her palm. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“I would.” He went to the counter, leaned back, crossed his arms and took a grip on his temper. “You’re right. We’ve got more important things to discuss.”

“Just one thing before we change the subject.”

“Yeah? What would that one thing be?”

“You should know that I never thought of you as just another one of Meredith’s casual conquests.”

“Like hell you didn’t.”

“No. It’s true. I knew from the first moment I met you that you weren’t her usual type.” She closed her hand around the bracelet. “I couldn’t figure out why she had gotten involved with you in the first place. Later, when I found out about the money, I assumed she made a play for you because she thought you might be useful. It was the only thing that made any sense.”

“If that’s your not-so-subtle way of telling me that I’m not as sexy or interesting as her standard seduction targets, you can stop right there. Leave me with a few shreds of masculine pride.”

Her quick laugh came out of nowhere, momentarily dazzling his senses. He was transfixed. Probably looked like some stupid deer caught in the headlights.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to put any dents in your
ego,” she responded. “Look, since we’re setting the record straight, it’s my turn to clarify a few issues. The reason I said you weren’t Meredith’s type is because she wasn’t in the habit of spending a lot of time on men who would probably turn out to be difficult.”

“You think I’m difficult?”

“In a word? Yes. What’s more, Meredith would have sensed that straight off.”

“You think?”

“The thing about Meredith was that she didn’t go after men because she liked a challenge. She didn’t even enjoy sex. She told me once that, at its best, she considered it a form of exercise. Sort of like jogging.”

He hesitated, thinking of how things had been with Meredith. Not great.

“I wondered about that,” he said finally. “Figured it was me.”

“It wasn’t you.”

“Did she prefer women?”

“No. She didn’t like
any
kind of sex. Remember me telling you about all the men who came and went in her mother’s life?”

“Yes.”

“One of them assaulted Meredith when she was ten.”

“Shit.”

“Yes. In some ways she never got past the trauma. Oh, sure, she knew she had a body that men found attractive and she took advantage of that fact. But she never learned to enjoy the experience.”

“Explains a few things.”

The room grew quiet except for the crackling of the fire.

“You really think I’m difficult?” he said eventually.

“Uh huh. Interesting, but definitely difficult.”

She sank down onto the curved and padded arm of the
sofa. One leg swung gently. She dropped the bracelet on the coffee table and watched him intently.

He shoved his fingers through his hair. “You know, I’m not the only one here who could be labeled difficult.”

To his surprise, she gave him a slow smile.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said. “I’d rather be difficult than easy.”

“There is nothing easy about you, Leonora Hutton.”

“And nothing easy about you, Thomas Walker. Where does that leave us?”

He walked to where she sat and lifted her gently to her feet. She made no move to resist.

“They say two negatives make a positive.” He put his hands on the curve of her shoulders. Testing. “Maybe two difficult people would find it easy to have an affair.”

She slid her arms around his neck. “I doubt that it would be easy but it’s bound to be interesting.”

“Oh, yeah.”

He covered her mouth with his own.

Her response was
immediate and electric in its intensity, just as it had been last night when he had kissed her in her kitchen. She gave a soft, husky little moan and tightened her arms around his neck. Energy exploded in the air around them.

The sense of urgency that swept through him made his blood pound. He had some vague goal of carrying her into the bedroom but it seemed too far away. He fell with her onto the sofa instead.

She ended up on top, her legs tangled with his, fingers splayed across his chest. He shoved one hand through her hair, pulling it free of the pins that had anchored the sleek knot. A curtain of dark silk tumbled over his fingers and brushed his jaw. He gripped her head with both hands and deepened the kiss until she opened her mouth for him.

There was a soft thud at the back of the house. Loud enough to break the spell. Leonora flinched.

“What was that?” she whispered urgently.

“Wrench,” he muttered, pulling her close again. “Dog door.”

Wrench had opted to discreetly disappear in the face of this display of uncontrollable human lust. Thomas did not blame him. If he hadn’t been personally involved in this wildfire, he would have stepped outside for a while, too.

But he was involved. Completely and totally.

When he slid his hands down the length of Leonora’s spine and up under the silk sweater, she shuddered against him. He felt the tremor go through her from head to toe. Her back was warm and elegantly contoured beneath his palms.

It took him a frustrating minute or two to unfasten the waistband of her trousers, lower the zipper and get his hand inside where he could feel her warm skin against his palm. When he finally succeeded, he stroked the firm, rounded curves of her buttocks and moved his fingers lower still. The crotch of her panties dampened at his touch.

He was afraid he might come then and there.

She stirred against him, lifting herself away in an effort to shift her position. He realized she was fumbling with his belt.

“No,” he got out. “Not yet.”

“I only want to touch you.”

“Touch me and I’m doomed.”

She raised her head and looked down at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“Cool.”

She went back to work on his belt buckle.

He closed his hand over hers and pulled it away from the vicinity of his groin. He guided it to his shoulder instead. Then he raised one knee and pressed it tightly
against her hip, pinning her there where he could savor the soft weight of her against his erection.

She shifted urgently when he caressed her buttocks again.

“Thomas.”

He pressed his fingers into the damp crotch of her panties.

“Thomas.”

She twisted against him. He moved to maintain contact, rolling toward her. The sudden shift in their positions sent them tumbling over the edge of the sofa. He cushioned the fall with one arm. They landed on the rug, barely missing the coffee table.

She made a husky sound, half laugh, half moan, and wrapped herself tightly around him, burying her face against his shoulder.

He managed to get the green sweater up over her head. Slinging the garment out of the way, he went to work on the lacy, cream-colored bra. Usually he was good with hardware. But it seemed forever before the fastening came undone, releasing her breasts into his hands.

They were the most beautiful breasts he had ever seen. Sweetly shaped, the tips taut and tight. He bent his head and drew one nipple gently between his lips, letting her feel the edge of his teeth.

She stiffened beneath him. He heard her sharp intake of breath. She reached down between their bodies, fishing for his zipper. He caught her fingers and dragged them out of the danger zone.

“I told you, do that and it will be all over for me,” he said. “I want to make this last.”

She looked up at him, stark urgency blazing in her eyes. “Maybe you can wait. I can’t.”

“Who said anything about you having to wait?”

She looked bemused. “What?”

“Nothing I like to tackle better than a little home improvement project.”

He stripped off her trousers, slid between her legs and moved slowly down her body until he found her hot little button with his mouth.

“Thomas.”
Her hands clenched in his hair.