The Fairest of Them All (9 page)

“It’s hopeless,” she whispered more to herself than anybody.

“What?” Sara looked at her quizzically.

Carly shook her head, trying to clear it. “Nothing. Do me a favor and irritate Daniel a little bit. It’ll be fun for you, and it might distract him. He owes you for that snotty statement he made about you.”

Sara tilted her head thoughtfully. “Not that I would intentionally irritate your brother,” she said after a long pause. “But what do you think would irritate him?”

“Oh, that’s easy. Just tell him how much you admire his athletic ability, then mention how fortunate he is that he doesn’t have to rely on his intellect for his success.” Carly shared a knowing glance with Sara. “Daniel’s the oldest, so he thinks he knows everything. It’ll drive him crazy. Just make sure you smile when you say it.”

“You’re devious.”

“I’m an angel compared to my brothers,” she said, nodding at Russ as he waved her toward the stream. “I’ll see you later. It’s time for the tug-of-war.”

She skipped over to him. “Who’s on our team?”

“Butch Hollingsworth will lead. I’ll bring up the rear.”

Carly nodded. “I just wanted to know if I should prepare myself to get wet.”

Russ rested one hand on his hip. “You wouldn’t have to worry if you’d ditch the no-touch rule. I could keep you from going in.”

“I’ll risk the water,” Carly said warily. “I’ll eventually dry off.”

“Are you saying my touch would leave a permanent mark?”

Carly’s stomach took a dip. She tried to think of a witty response. When none came to mind, she walked ahead of him and took her position in the line of participants.

Russ came up behind her. She felt the warmth of his breath on her head. She shivered.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said in a low voice close to her ear.

For the moment Carly was tired of the little game they played. She turned around and faced him. “Maybe your touch would leave a permanent mark on me, but it wouldn’t affect you. I’m not interested in dealing with double standards anymore. My brothers have always had one set of rules for me and another for themselves.”

“I’m not your brother.”

“I know, but I guess I have enough self-respect not to want to be just another woman in your long line of conquests.”

“What makes you think you could ever be just another woman?”

His face was serious. The lines etched around his eyes didn’t crinkle in amusement. His jaw was set firmly. Her heart sped up. Foolish heart, she chided, to believe a man whose heart was better protected than the gold at Fort Knox. “This is crazy.”

Russ opened his mouth to refute at the same time Butch Hollingsworth yelled for everyone to hold on. Carly turned around and tightly grasped the rope. She glanced at the other team and noticed Moose Gordon was their leader. Carly looked at the stream and winced. “You didn’t tell me about Moose,” she said over her shoulder. “Who else have they got?”

“The high school quarterback and Bertha Collins.”

Great. Bertha was the local arm-wrestling champion. She beat most of the men. Carly took a deep breath and braced herself for an icy shock.

“You've still got time to break the no-touch rule. I’ll pull you back. I won’t let you go in.”

He tempted her. Russ’s arms won over an undignified plunge into the stream any day. Carly shook her head. “No thanks.”

“I’ll make you believe, Carly.”

Carly swallowed hard. His simple statement brought a rush of excitement and fear. There was a loud cry, and the rope jerked. She heard Russ’s growl of exertion and pulled with all her might.

She gained a foot of ground, then lost it within the blink of an eye. Butch cursed loudly. His wife fussed at him, and he cursed again. The team lost another foot. Carly felt increasingly impotent with each successive foot lost.

She kept her head down and dug in her heels. Still more ground was lost and she heard one splash followed by another. A howl of victory came from the other side. A few seconds later she watched the man in front of her tumble.

The rope jerked her off balance, and Carly plunged into the cold water. The shock against her heated skin took the breath from her lungs. Water seeped into her T-shirt and shorts. She sat up just as Russ made a slippery, forced landing with far more grace than she had. He only drenched his tennis shoes.

The spectators whistled and cheered loudly. Carly stumbled to her feet. She brushed back her hair and noticed that even it was wet. She looked up at Russ, coveting his relative dryness. “Show-off.”

Russ plastered an innocent grin on his face and raised his palms. “No touch.”

Carly drowned herself in work the following week. By Saturday, she was walking a ragged edge. The travel agents came, and she pulled out all the stops. The buffet was perfect. The waitstaff missed only a couple of notes and completely charmed the audi-ence. Her brothers were handsome and cordial. Sara kept things in order, disappearing behind the scenes when necessary.

The travel agents left with promises to send their customers her way. Carly smiled until her cheeks hurt and retreated behind the bar. Her feet were killing her. It was these blasted heels, she knew. “Never again,” she muttered to her poor, abused feet as she slipped off the shoes. Only Daniel, Sara, and the waitstaff remained. Russ’s concerned face flashed in her mind. Her heartbeat picked up, and she found herself wishing she’d asked him to come. She cupped her head in her hands and seriously questioned her sanity.

Carly couldn’t explain why she felt near to tears. Russ had been incredibly supportive, calling her everyday. He’d somehow managed to walk that fine line between concern and interference. He’d dropped in to see her twice and stuck to the no-touch rule. Strangely enough, his restraint left her with a sense of loss.

“Carly,” Daniel said in a low voice.

She raised her head. “Yes.”

“I’m not sure about Sara. She’s completely taken over the waitstaff.”

Her brother wore a look of bemused irritation. Carly smiled. “I asked her to take over. I’m beat. She's very efficient, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” he said grudgingly.

“And she has this lovely calming effect on people. Don’t you agree?”

He shifted and shoved a fist into his pocket. “Yeah.”

Restraining the urge to chortle with glee, Carly studied her disgruntled brother. She gave a light laugh.

Daniel looked at her suspiciously. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said in a mild tone. “Sara seems so reserved. I was surprised when she gave me these catalogs full of sexy lingerie. She must keep all that wildness under wraps.”

Daniel cleared his throat. “Lingerie?”

Carly nodded. “Everything. Lace, satin, silk. Red, black, sheer.” She laughed again. “Men must sense her naughty streak. A few of those travel agents asked for her number.”

“They did?” Daniel frowned.

Carly wasn’t bluffing. She’d wondered if Sara disappeared to the galley partly due to the extra male attention paid her. The sense of glee she felt dissolved. “Yeah, but Sara’s husband died in an accident a couple of years ago. She thinks she isn’t ready for another man. It will take someone very special to draw her out.”

Daniel looked thoughtful. “I wouldn’t have guessed.”

Carly’s weariness suddenly overwhelmed her. After stepping into her shoes, she stood and actually felt the room spin. “I think I need to get into bed. Would you close up?”

“Sure. You want me to give you a ride?”

Carly shook her head. “No. It isn’t far. Thanks for helping out tonight.” She stretched to kiss him on the cheek. “See you later.”

Trudging the short distance to her car, she planned a soothing bath and a glass of wine. Clouds shielded the stars and moon. She made a mental note to add another floodlight when she tripped over a large rock. The scent of impending rain hung in the air. She yawned and stretched, then bent to unlock her car.

She heard a scuffling sound on the gravel behind her and turned quickly. A blanket was thrown over her, and she was hoisted up in the air. For several paralyzing seconds a scream locked in her throat. She tried to take a deep breath and ended up sucking in the blanket.

She coughed and sputtered, and a garbled whimper finally came out of her mouth. Terror caused her heart to race as strong arms shoved her somewhere. Then she heard a door slam.

Immediately, instinctively, she began to struggle with the heavy blanket covering her. “Oh my God!” She was being kidnapped! The blanket seemed to go on forever. The more she struggled, the more tangled it became. Hysteria backed up in her throat when she heard another door open and close. The engine started, and the car moved forward.

Carly punched wildly, connecting with something hard. She heard a sharp oath and kept on hitting, even when the vehicle jerked to a stop. It was a man and he was saying something, but she was too frantic to listen. Her shoulders were grabbed.

“Carly!”

She paused. His voice sounded very familiar. “Settle down, it’s me, Russ. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

She nearly passed out with relief. “Oh, thank God,” she murmured weakly, still trying to catch her breath. Then she realized what he’d done, and a burst of anger hit her hard. “What do you think you’re doing? You scared me to death. Get this blanket off me before I suffocate, you, you clod.” When he didn’t respond, she shouted, “Now!” Unmoved, Russ said, “You’ve got to promise that you’ll sit there like a civilized human being and stop hitting me while I’m driving.”

“Civilized? After you kidnapped me? Promise?” Her voice went up an octave. “The only thing I’ll promise you, Russ Bradford, is certain death if you don’t get this off me.”

Russ sighed and snapped her seat belt together. “Guess you’ll wear the blanket a little longer, then.” He put the car into gear and drove forward.

Carly was incensed. She grew stuffy, and perspiration beaded her forehead. “Have you lost your mind? What are you doing?”

“I’m taking you home,” he said calmly. “I’m fixing you a glass of wine you can drink while you take a bath in my Jacuzzi. Then I’m tucking you into my bed.”

Carly’s heart slammed against her ribs. “I can’t sleep with you, Russ. What about the no-touch rule?”

“You won’t be sleeping with me. I’ll take a guest bed tonight.”

A trickle of disappointment seeped in. She brushed it away. “You touched me when you manhandled me into this truck,” she accused.

“I touched a blanket,” he corrected dryly. “If I was going to touch you, I sure as hell wouldn’t allow any blankets between us.”

“Russ, I’m burning up under this blanket. Please take it off so we can have a rational conversation.”

“Will you act civilized?”

Carly ground her teeth together. “Yes.”

He stopped the truck again, pulled the blanket from her, and tossed it behind the seat. He reached out to smooth her hair, then stopped midmotion. He gave a tight grin. “You okay?”

It was so good to see him again, to see the warmth in his eyes and hear his voice that she almost said yes. Her brain must have suffered from lack of oxygen when she was under that damned blanket, she thought, scowling. “No. I’m tired. My feet hurt. And I want to be in my own bed.”

Russ’s gaze fell over her from head to toe. He stared at her feet. “New shoes?”

Carly was glad the darkness hid her flushed face. Between the blanket and Russ’s gaze, she was probably beet-red. “Yes. I’ll never wear them again. I knew there was a reason I didn’t wear high heels.”

“I like them.”

She curled her toes. “I don’t.”

“If your feet hurt that bad, I could always massage them for you,” he offered graciously.

The image of his hands on her feet made her entire body tingle. She cleared her throat. “No. I want you to take me home.”

“Can’t do that.” He looked at her face briefly and accelerated the truck.

“Russ, I don’t like this. It’s chauvinistic and macho. You’re treating me like I’m some kind of concubine.”

Russ chuckled. “Nah. If you were my concubine, you wouldn’t have a job or your own apartment. You’d devote your entire life to pleasing me. As much as that idea intrigues me, I know you’re not that kind of woman. Part of the reason you please me is because you’re so independent.”

Carly leaned back in the seat. She had to think about that. “It’s chauvinistic. You’re trying to make all my decisions for me.”

“I am not. You can pick whatever wine you want. And I’ve got three different T-shirts you can choose from when you go to bed.”

“I don’t like this.”

He turned into his driveway. “You will by Monday.”

“Monday!” she said, aghast. She didn’t know which bothered her more, two nights with Russ or a day away from work. “You know what I’m trying to do this summer. I can’t take off an entire day.”

“You don’t have any cruises tomorrow. It’s supposed to rain. It will be a perfect day for you to get some rest.”

“It will be a perfect day to do bookkeeping.”

Russ stopped the car. “The Jacuzzi’s ready.”

Carly sighed, feeling more weary than she’d ever felt in her life. “Russ, you shouldn’t have done this.”

He shook his head. “I had to do this. You’re running yourself straight into the ground.” He stopped for a moment, rubbing his mouth. “This is what friends do for each other. You need rest and a break from the books and your telephone. You need to be at a place where you don’t feel like you need to cook and clean. You need somebody to take care of you.” He held up a hand at her rebuttal. “Just for a little while. And I’m your friend, so I’m gonna do it. Then you can go back into battle.”

Her arguments disintegrated. He made the prospect of staying at his home appealing, almost irresistible. She felt both vulnerable and safe. She watched him get out of the truck, circle it, then open her door. He stood there, waiting, one hand on the door, the other on a jean-clad hip, his eyes inscrutable.