The Vicarage Bench Anthology (22 page)

“I’ve thought things over and decided you’re right. I’ll come with you. I just talked to Joey and told him I was the batboy, and he suggests we get out of town as soon as we can. He figures since Arnie’s close to finding out where I live, he’ll come calling sooner or later. We need to be far away by then.”

“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses. I’d pretty well decided guarding your hallway would be my plan for tonight, and let me tell you, I didn’t look forward to it one little bit.”

“You’d do that for me?” Her voice turned husky. The widened grey eyes glistened. Her top teeth bit down on her trembly bottom lip. She swallowed and looked away.

His hand reached out to smooth her flyaway curls. “I’d do anything for you, sweet girl.”

Too emotional to reply, she leaned her forehead on his chest, a transfer of control more telling than she knew.

“First, we go to your place to grab Daisy and the gang, plus the rest of your zoo. You can pack a bag, and we’ll go back to my penthouse at the Parks…”

“You wouldn’t mind? About the animals, I mean?” Astonishment rang in her voice. She moved a step back to read his expression, disbelief entwined with hope etched on hers.

“What do you take me for? Of course we have to save them. If Arnie gets into your place, and I have no doubt he will, there’s no knowing what he’d do to the brood. We don’t have a choice, do we? Now there’s a good girl. Organize the stuff you need from here, and let’s move. I’ll have one of my staff cover us during the rescue mission. He can give us a heads-up if Arnie shows his face anywhere near your place.”

The childish kisses she plastered over his face shocked him into freezing, but only for a minute. Not being a total fool, he took advantage of her affectionate display and sealed his lips to hers in earnest. His moaning unraveled her indifference.

She stopped trying to pull away, and held still for him to do what he wanted to her, a first for her. Putting her trust in the actions of another person, especially a male person, had never happened previously.

All the time his lips moved gently, searching for a response, she watched him. His lashes curled on his cheeks, and the pained expression she saw from her rather close vantage point made her sigh. He obviously took that as a sign of enjoyment, as he gathered her more firmly in his arms, and notched up the pressure of his tongue against her closed lips. When he growled with annoyance, she couldn’t help herself. She smiled. It was all the entry he needed. His tongue rubbed against her open lips and stimulated, coaxing hers to meet with his in this playfulness. She had to follow, had to see where he’d lead—curiosity and fascination gripped her almost as tightly as he did.

Oh, God! It was fantastic. When he sucked at her lips, she fell in love with kissing, when he rubbed against her body she fell in love with his maleness, but when he put his hands on her, she fell in love with surrender.

Pliant and willing, she tantalized with her mouth, wanting more. Her eyes drifted shut as her blood congealed to the consistency of jelly. His waist fit her clutching arms perfectly, a hold fated to keep him locked close while her sleeping e-zones came to life.

He tore out of her embrace, breathing hard. “Damn it all to hell, we don’t have time for this right now. I don’t want that ape getting within ten feet of you. We have to leave now. But trust me, sweet baby, we’ll pick up where we left off as soon as I know you’re safe.”

It took a few moments for her heavy, languid eyelids to unplaster themselves from her cheeks. His shaking snapped her out of the groove, and she hurried to do his bidding.

With the Parks security called in to play bodyguards, they cautiously made their way to her apartment, where he collected the paraphernalia for the cats, birds and turtle, and she stuffed a bag for herself. Before the door closed she reached behind it and grabbed her best friend, the slugger, and hefted it under her arm.

Her human protector might have need of her old wooden standby. She wasn’t about to take any chances with that man’s health.

Not as long as those incredible lips were attached to his body.

She needed to keep him safe.

She wanted more of his special brand of magic.

Chapter Six

“What is wrong with you? Why are you being so hard to get along with?” Her temper ignited slowly, even when pushed, but if and when it caught, look out. She could feel the eruption coming.

“I don’t understand why we couldn’t stay at my penthouse. Why you’ve dragged us to this dumpy motel. I don’t like sleeping in bug-infested beds in rundown dumps or dealing with smirky-faced desk clerks. He stared at you as if you were a Dixie cup full of his favorite ice cream, for heaven’s sake.”

“Don’t yell at me.”

“I’m not yelling!” The banging on the inside wall along with the distinct word, “Shaddup!” proved him wrong.

“Sorry!” Sullen and childish, but cute as a choirboy, he made her grin. When he noticed, he had the grace to redden. “I had plans for us, and they sure as hell didn’t include this kind of surroundings. You don’t belong here. I don’t belong here. The guy at the desk thinks you’re a working girl and I’m your john. I don’t like it one bit.”

He went to place his jacket over the chair back, but he stopped abruptly. Instead he threw it on the floor, kicked off his shoes and they flew, one landing by the window and the other on the coffee table. He brushed his hands together, and looked back at her with a pleased smirk on his face.

She groaned, looked upwards, and shook her head slowly back and forth until she noticed his enquiring expression.

She tiptoed over to where he sat morosely on the side of the twin bed, his hands flat on the washed-out mauve satin spread that almost matched the shoddy purple shag rug. “I realize you don’t like it, but I feel safe here.” The small room appeared dismal, reflected in the floor-length, tarnished mirror on the opposite wall from where they sat. But they were safe—away from the Strip and in a place where Arnie would never think to look.

She rubbed her hand up and down his back. Leaning close, breast brushing his arm, she pacified him as best she could. Thoughts of getting those lips of his plastered to hers again bombarded her. She had no talents as a seductress, just the honest needs of a frustrated virgin, plus the reminiscences of the incredible tingling he’d initiated earlier.

To think she had taken special care with her outfit. An angora sweater of the softest rose hue fitted her like a second skin, and her swirling grey maxi skirt snugged her body, showing off the curves most men craved to get their hands on. What the heck was wrong with this man?

He sprang up, and she toppled over, sprawling against the mattress. She groaned, and the satin spread creased in her clutching hands.

His gritty voice sounded choked, and his caustic tone deflated her hopes. “You’d better get some sleep. I’ll stay up and watch to make sure no one sneaks up on us. I’ve decided that tomorrow we drop the pets off at Rhett’s house for his housekeeper to look after. Then we catch the first flight to where he and Carrie are visiting her grandparents. It’s as good a place to hide as any.”

“Where does her family live?”

“A small place in England, called Bury. You’ll love it. There’s an old vicarage there I must show you.”

She interrupted him. “Will your brother be able to help us stop Arnie?”

“He’ll try, but I don’t know as how anyone can stop the freak. Until he does something against the law, and he hasn’t so far, he’ll be free to tail us all he wants. That’s why it’s vitally important to get you out of this neighborhood. Someplace where we can keep you safe—where he’ll never find you. I want you to stay close to me.”

If you’d cooperate, I’d be pretty damn close right now. To clear her mind of those kinds of cravings, she asked, “Is there a safe place in Bury to hole up for a short time?”

“Trust me, I remember the perfect place. Now go to sleep. You’ll need your beauty rest.”

Seeing his pouty face harden into a scowl, she sensed inflexibility. He wouldn’t budge, and she couldn’t beg. The idiot was going to waste a perfectly good night wanting a special setting, whereas all she wanted was his body, and those skillful lips teaching hers.

And to keep him safe, a priority she accepted without question. She sighed deeply. Grabbing a blanket to wrap around herself, she lay on top of the quilt and closed her eyes. Her pets were all bedded down for the night, tolerating their new lodgings calmly. As long as she stayed in sight, they stayed unruffled.

Her breathing evened out after a few minutes, and she slept, her bat horizontal on the floor beside her.

How he had kept his hands off her, he’d never know. She was the most intriguing mix of “keep your distance” intermingled with “show me” he’d ever run across. He didn’t trust her signals, put them down to fear for her safety, plain and simple, but he could’ve sworn she’d wanted him tonight.

Her blatant need to keep him in sight at all times didn’t fool him into believing she’d developed a sudden crush on him. Rather, it told him she was terrified to be left alone, poor darling. As much as his hands ached to caress her curvy little body, his mind accepted he was all that stood between her and the sick jerk who wanted to kill her. He needed to keep his wits about him and his mitts off her.

The morning couldn’t come soon enough for him. Watching her sleep and not crawling into the bed next to her scored him an ace on his scale of tolerance. The pile of cigarette butts in the ashtray by the end table attested to his stress. Circling smoke wafted around his head as he guarded, while his mind was tortured by images of their bodies entwined.

Blonde strands of silky hair, some nestling around her face while others spread in disarray, shimmered with golden highlights from the feeble light of the small bedside lamp. It illuminated her tempting form. Both birds, free to roam, huddled puffed up on the adjacent pillow, as if protectors of a sleeping beauty. Perfume, the provocative scent he’d noticed before when she’d been near, drifted towards him. The distracting smell reminded him of roses, which brought to mind the unique bush in England where an abundance of multicolored roses spilled over a quaint old bench.

Her small ringless hand reached towards the edge of the bed as if in readiness, beckoning. She slept, no sounds, no movement, as still as a picture—uncanny. He knew he himself was a roamer in bed, a wiggle-puss, a cover hog, never still. A thought entered his mind, and brought a smile with it. Their mating should prove interesting.

Thinking about that possibility became physically uncomfortable, noticeably in his lower anatomy. He stood up and paced the room like a caged tiger, stopping every few minutes to move the grimy curtain aside so he could survey the parking lot. There were only two other cars parked there—not surprising—and they hadn’t moved all night.

The first warming golden rays announced the coming of the sun as it rose over the desert hills in the distance. Soon highway sounds of long-haul trucks and traffic all heading somewhere could be heard. Time to move.

She came awake with a start. Her gaze located him and softened.

She was so lovely.

He was in big trouble!

Keeping his hands to himself when she’d stirred in her sleep had him sweating. Now with her awake, and moving her adorable, sexy body in tandem with his roving eye—or was it the other way around?—could prove to be his undoing.

No time!

Concentrate!

Big ugly sucker with murder on his mind!

Right. Got it.

Showers, breakfast and packing, then feeding the critters—it all took very little time with Ashley spurring them on like a drill sergeant. They gathered up the mess and headed for Rhett’s new house, where the housekeeper’s unfriendly glare impaled Ashley as he approached her. He could never see what Carrie liked about the woman, but they’d become close friends. Far be it for him to complain. Thank heavens he didn’t have to live with her.

Nonetheless, it took all his skills to persuade her to look after five cats, a turtle and two birds. Especially when the animals obviously didn’t want to stay behind without Crystal. The distinct yowling of “help” from a perturbed Daisy followed them as they hurried to the car.

“My God, that cat yowled ‘help.’” Ash quickly reversed out of the driveway, wanting to put space between them and the house, in case the old harridan decided to shut the roadside gates.

“I told you. But you didn’t believe me, did you?”

“Who would believe the bloody cat could make such a racket? I hope the old battleaxe takes care of them. She didn’t look too pleased.”

“Oh, she’ll be just fine. She’s not a battleaxe; she’s a dear. She has a heart of gold.”

“She does? I’ve certainly never seen it.”

“‘Cause you’re a man. She doesn’t like men.”

“You could tell that from the short time we spent with her?”

“Sure! I recognized the symptoms from inside myself. I’ve never liked men much, either.”

Chapter Seven

“Arnie, what’re you up to, coming in to work this late? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all evening.” Joey hid his anxiety behind a false friendliness. Losing sight of this man had made him very nervous.

The big lug lumbered up in his unpressed suit, the chokingly tight collar of his wrinkled shirt enclosing a tie so creased he’d have done better to leave it off. There were greyish bandages over his swollen nose that didn’t begin to cover the swelling around his eyes.

“Hey, Joey. Remember I told you earlier that I’d found out who done this to me? Well, I know where the face-wrecking bitch lives. Thought I’d pay her a short visit.”

“And I thought I told you to drop it. She’s the star here, for Christ’s sake, the Ice Princess. She brings in hundreds of people every night to see her show. You tell me, dumb ass, what’s the boss gonna care more about—your face or her moneymaking performances? Grab a brain, Arnie! She’s off limits! Don’t make me tell you again.”

“I wasn’t gonna hurt her none, just scare her a little.”

The whining tone angered Joey as much as his loss of control over the big jerk.

“The side of that building musta loosened some of the few lonely brain cells roamin’ around in your skull. We made a deal, Arnie. You promised you’d leave her alone.”