Storm Warning (17 page)

To distance herself, she’
d g
otten up and showered,
focusing
solely
on the seminar that day
and the speech she had to give
and toying with the gold
necklace he’d given her
the night before—just because, he’
d said as he’d presented it. He had seen it, and thought of her. She sighed at the romance.

Rising with her cup of coffee in hand,
she
walked to the window and peered out.
Only a couple of days ago she had been able to look out her old bedroom window and watch her field dance in the breeze. As she had as a child, she
’d
made pictures out of the waving wheat. Now, she saw concrete and brick.

She enjoyed Tulsa. It’s fast pace kept her busy. She enjoyed being there with Gabe. The team had gone to dinner the night before, then to a movie. Tory had been shocked that Gabe Wills could fit in so easily
with
the norm. He seemed so sophisticated and extraordinary that it
was almost surreal seeing him with a jumbo bucket of popcorn on his lap—extra butter.
Her heart had done a slow roll in her chest remembering the way he’d slid her hand in his
and held it
throughout the entire movie. He’d stroked his thumb over her knuckles, she recalled, and he didn’t even seem to know he’d been doing it.

She would never know anyone as sweet as him, she thought sadly.

Since her thoughts were taking a morose turn, Tory dressed and brushed her hair out.
She pocketed the key to the suite and left the room before she was reduced to a melancholy, lovesick puddle of depression.

The conference room was closed, so she detoured around it and took the stairs down to the main floor. She liked the waterfall stationed in the lobby and she thought about grabbing some breakfast in the hotel’s café.

The crew would be up soon. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting the lobby in shades of purple and amber. The water running off the rocks calmed her. She took a seat at one of the small tables beside it and watched the light bounce off the steady trickle.

Propping her chin in her hand, she leaned over and
smiled at
the tiny goldfish swim in the makeshift pond. She was thankful for the peace and quiet. Since the beginning of the chase—despite the extra downtime she was forced to take—things had been moving along quickly. She hadn’t minded staying put for an extra week. She had been exhausted and the cuts hurt more than she’d let on,
and
being able to spend time with Gabe, being able to get to know him better, was worth it.

She couldn’t regret having met him and she couldn’t regret falling stupidly in love with him. Tears stung her eyes as she wondered what her parents would have thought of him. Her mother would have loved him. Her father would have been prote
ctive, but Victor Fairchild had
also
been
smart enough to see what a good man Gabe was. He would have come around, and
he and Gabe
would have been best friends.

The lobby filled slowly as the light changed from amber to yellow. A man in a burgundy suit—a hotel employee, no doubt—fed the goldfish soon after the shops and café opened. Tory watched them attack the gold and red flake
s
.

A movement caught her attention and she glanced across the table. Vance Johnson sat in the chair across from her with a placid smile on his face. She would have believed the smile, but his eyes spoke of hate. He wore glasses in place of his electric-blue contacts, making the color of his eyes pale and eerie.

“Hello, Vance.”

“Tory. What a surprise.”

She snorted. “You knew I’d be here.” And in truth, she’d expected him to be here as well. He’d
let
his hair
grow
since she’d last seen him, bruised and bloodied on a
barroom
floor. Funny, she mused, how her feelings for him had changed so dramatically since then. She’d walked into the bar infatuated with him, then had been afraid of him. Now, she was only sorry for him.

His handsome features were strained. “I thought you might be.”

She couldn’t think of anything polite to say to that, so she folded her hands on the table in front of her and waited.

“I saw you on the news after the chase in Lincoln.”
The low, gravelly voice she’d once thought of as sexy now grated on her nerves. “Took you out of commission for a while.”

“I took a week off. We didn’t miss much.” She hoped Gabe didn’t decide to come down almost as much as she wished he would. She could handle Vance, she told herself sternly. It wasn’t Gabe’s battle. “We ended up planning the car wash during that time.”

“I’m sure you enjoyed that.” His gaze slid down from her face to her breasts. She crossed her arms and glared at him. “I know I would have.”

“It was fun and for a good cause,” she bit out, gritting her teeth when he smiled.

“I thought you’d be interested in knowing I’ve taken a break from my modeling career.”

“Did you,” she asked icily
, “think I’d be interested?”

“Maybe more so when you found out I’ve rejoined my brother’s team.” His eyes gleamed behind the lenses, his smile turning sharp. “I heard about your run in with my brother. You should let your boyfriend know I won’t be as easy to take down.”

So that’s what this is about
, she thought. “I assure you, Gabe has no interest in you or Charlie. He was standing up for me. You should know
by now
that both Gabe and my brother are
both
very protective of me and the team. And
none
of us will be easy to take down.”

He scoffed. “You think I’m afraid of a pretty-boy who takes pictures for a living?”

“About as afraid of he is of a washed-out model—who can’t hold on to a contract,” she added. She wanted to laugh when the fury swept over his face, but she schooled her features to remain aloof.
She’d obviously hit the nail on the head.
“Why don’t you do yourself a favor and leave me and my team alone? Stay out of our way and we’ll stay out of yours. We’re done, Vance—on every level.”

“You think you’re so much better than me.”

“Wrong.” She stood to emphasize
that she was
end
ing
their conversation. Weary of him and of everything he’d put her through, she shrugged and pushed her chair in. “I know I’m better than you. I know I’ve always been better than you. Only you can change that.
”

She walked away without giving him a chance to retort. She felt the heat of his glare burning her back, but she didn’t look back.

Gabe left shortly after she returned to the suite. He’d offered to take pictures of the conference for their website and needed another memory disk to hold the photos. Tory let him go because she needed a little time to herself as well. It was only an hour later when he returned. She heard the door to the suite slam followed by the muted sound of him stalking to the bedroom.

“When were you going to tell
me Vance was here?” he asked from the doorway.

Tory turned around slowly to face him. This was, she knew, the calm before the storm. His stance was casual, his arms hung loosely at his sides. Anyone who didn’t know him would walk by and see him and assume he was just having a friendly conversation. But his eyes spoke volumes and spit fire.

“I wasn’t
,” she answered honestly. She jerked her shoulder and turned back around and continued
reading through her notes.

“I got
that much. What I want to know
is
why
.”

“He’s here for his team, I’m here for mine.”

“Bullshit.”

She
winced
at the pure fury in the word
. Deciding she would g
et nothing productive done, she closed her document and
logged off her computer. Obviously Gabe wanted a fight. And she was
just in the mood
to oblige him.

“What’s the problem?” She r
ose from her perch on the
chair, walked to the mirror to
touch up her make-up.

“The problem is you obviously knew the sonofabitch was here since he told me he’s spoken with you. He obviously pissed you off because your brother seems to be under the impression you’re in a sour mood. Yet, you didn’t find it necessary to come and tell me he’d bothered you.”
His stance wasn’t causal any longer. His muscles were taut and his arms were crossed. A muscle worked in his jaw while he waited for her to speak.

“Vance bothers me by breathing the same air as I do,” Tory said calmly
, meeting his gaze in the mirror
. “We spoke. He told me g
ood luck
,
but he was—of course—
being sarcastic. It pissed me off that he’s back on team
Viking
,
but I realized it didn’t really matter. Nothing changes because he’s here. I’m stil
l giving my speech in—”she checked her watch—
“half an hour. We’re still heading out t
omorrow for the next storm.”

She took a deep breath and held it. “And my brother seems to think I’m in a sour mood if I’m not bouncing on rainbows.”

“That isn’t the point, Tory. You should have told me he was here.”

“Why?” she asked, exasperated.

With a growl of fury, Gabe flung his fist out and sent a lamp crashing off the table.
She stared at the pieces and thought;
Well… He
does have
a temper.

“Because I have a right to know!
He’s hurt you before and he could do it again.”

“I don’t need protection. I can take care of myself, Gabe.” Because her knees felt like water, Tory sat down on the corner of the bed. “And I don’t need you and your temper tantrums right now. If you want to act like a caveman, do it somewhere else.”

“You want to see a caveman?” His voice was low and all but vibrated with steel.

“No. Isn’t that what I just said?”

He stalked over to her and she found herself bracing. She didn’t trust the absolute fury in his eyes, or the way his fish clenched and unclenched at his sides. When he stopped in front of her, his jaw locked as
he pulled air in and out slowly, his nostrils flaring with the effort.

“After the next chase, I’m gone.”

The pain sliced her in half, but she
stayed
rigid. This was going to happen anyway, she told herself. She should be glad he wasn’t sticking around for another three months. Better to end it now.

With eyes so dry, they hurt, she lifted her chin. “So you got all you came to get?”

He
nodded. “I’ll have my agent deposit the c
heck next week.”

“Fine,” she said politely enough. “Be sure to take out whatever the cost
of
the disk was.”

He growled before turning and stalking out of the room.

             
Chapter Eleven

Tory closed her laptop
with
a sigh
and rubbed her tired eyes
. In twenty-four hours, their website had been hit four thousand times.
She’d also spent the past hour and a half answering emails
from fans and news stations around the area
.
She considered the
conference a complete success—even if she left like curling into a ball and crying.

Tory glanced at the clock and was a little surprised to see it was already seven o’clock. Gabe hadn’t said so much as a word to her since their fight yesterday and Tory could still feel the chill. He’d been there to take photos of the conference for their website and had simply left
the disk of
pictures for her beside
her laptop.

She knew she’
d probably wounded his giant male ego
when she hadn’t begged him to stay
,
but she couldn’t regret it. It was better that he know now that she wasn’t the type to run and hide behind a man when there was a problem
and she wasn’t the type of woman to cling
. Besides, as she had predicted, Vance hadn’t turned out to be a problem at all. They hadn’t even seen him after his and Tory’s encounter the previous day.

Tory turned
the
weather radio on and listened to a couple of updates on the storm they would be chasing in a couple hours. She wondered if Gabe would be back
to the suite
by then. Storms at night were somethi
ng to see and she would hate for
him
to
miss it because he was angry with her.
She went into the main room of the suite, but Gabe wasn’t there.