Two Alone (27 page)

"Who was she?"
f
orget it.

"Did you meet her before you wen
t
to Vietnam?"

"Drop it, Rusty."

"Did she marry someone else while you were a prisoner?"

"I said to forget it."

"Did you love her?"

"
L
ook, she was good in the sack, but not as hot as you, okay? Is that what you're i
t
ching to know—how the two of you compare? Well, let's see. She wasn't a redhead, so she lacked your fiery spiri
t
. She had a great body, but it didn't come close to yours."

"Stop it!"

"Her breasts were fuller, but no more responsive. Nipples? Larger and darker. Thighs? Hers were just as smooth, but not nearly as strong as yours." He stared at the spot where hers came together. "Yours can squeeze
t
he life out of a man."

She covered her mouth
t
o trap a sob of anguish and outrage. Her breath was coming as hard and fast as his. They glared at each other with an animosity as fierce as the passion they'd shared while making love.

It was into that seething atmosphere chat Bill Carlson made his inopportune entrance. "Rusty?"

She jumped at her father's voice. "Father!" His name came out as a gusty exhalation. "Come. ..good morning. This..." She discovered that her mouth was dry and
t
h
e
hand she raised to gesture toward Cooper was trembling. "This is Cooper Landry.

"Ah, Mr. Landry." Carlson extended his hand. Cooper shook it. He did so firmly, bur with a noticeable lack of en
t
husiasm and a great deal of dislike, "I've had several people trying to track you down." Cooper offered no explanations as to his whereabouts overnight, so Carlson blustered on. "I wanted to thank you for saving my daughter's life."

"No thanks is necessary."

"Of course it is. She means
t
he world
t
o me. The way she tells ir, you meant the difference between her life and death. In fact she's the one who urged me to locate you last night."

Cooper glanced down at Rusty, then back at Carlson, who was reaching into the breast pocket of his suit coat. He withdrew a white envelope. "Rusty wanted to say thank-you in a special way."

He handed the envelope to Cooper. Cooper opened it and glanced inside. He stared at the contents for a long moment before lifting his eyes to Rusty. They were frigid with contempt. One corner of his mustache curled into a nasty smile. Then, in one vicious motion, he ripped the envelope and the cashier's check inside in half. He tossed the two halves into the valley of her thighs.

"Thanks all the same, Miss Carlson, but on our las
t
nigh
t
together I was paid in full for my services."

Twelve

T
urning back
t
o his daughter af
ter watching Cooper storm from t
he room, Carlson said, "What an unpleasant individual."

"Father, how could you have offered him money?"
Rusty
cried in dismay.

"I thought you wanted and expected me to."

"Whatever gave you that impression? C
o
oper.. .Mr. Landry... He is a proud man. Do you think he saved my life for profi
t
?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. He's an un
li
keable charac
t
er from what I've heard of him."

"You asked around?"

"Certainly. As soon as he was identified as the man with you when you were rescued. Being marooned with him couldn't have been easy for you,"

"We had our differences," Rusty replied with a rueful smile.

"But he could have deserted mc and saved himself at any time."

"He wasn'
t
about to. Not when there migh
t
be a reward for saving you."

"He didn't know that."

"He's clever. He deduced that I'd spare no expense to rescue you if you were s
t
ill alive. Maybe he was offended by the amount." He picked up the ripped check and studied it. "I thought it was a generous reward, but maybe he's greedier than I suspected."

Rusty
closed her eyes and let her head fall back onto the pillows in defeat. "Father, he doesn't want your money. He's all too glad to be rid of me."

"The feeling is mutual." Carlson sat down on the edge of her bed. "However, it's unfortunate that we can't capitalize on your mishap."

Her eyes came open again. "'Capitalize'? What in the world are you talking about?"

"Don't jump to conclusions until you've heard me out."

She'd already jumped to several conclusions, none of which were to her liking. "You're not referring to a movie are you?" When her friend had mentioned the idea, she'd been appalled.

Carlson parted her hand. "Nothing so crass, my dear. We've got more style than that."

"Then, what?"

"One of your problems has always been your Jack of vision, Rusty." Affectionately, he cuffed her on
t
he chin. "Your brother would have immediately seen the enterprising possibilities this si
t
uation has opened up to us."

As usual,
t
he comparison to her brother left her feeling inferior. "Like what?"

P
atien
tl
y Carlson explained. "You've made a name for yourself in real estate. And not by riding my coa
tt
ails, either.
I
might have placed a few opportunities in your path, but you took advantage of them."

"Thank you, but what is this leading to. Father?"

"In your own right, you're something of a celebrity in
t
his town." She shook her head scoffingly, "I mean it. Your name is well-known in important circles. And in recent days your name and picture have appeared in newspapers and on television. You've been made into a sort of folk heroine. That kind of free publicity is as good as money in the bank. I propose chat we use this disaster
t
o our advantage."

On the verge of panic, Rusty w
et
her lips. "You mean promote the fact that I survived an airplane crash to generate business?"

"What could it hurt?"

"You must be joking!" He wasn't. There was nothing in either his expression or demeanor
t
o indicate that he was only fooling. She bowed her head, shaking it. "No, Fa
th
er. Absolu
t
ely not. The idea doesn't appeal to me at all."

"Don't say no right away," he said patronizingly. "I'll get our advertising agency to work up a few ideas, I promise no
t
to move on any of them until you've been consulted and I have your approval,"

He was suddenly a s
t
ranger to her. The voice, the face, the polished manner—all were familiar. But she didn't really know the heart and soul of the
man behind the veneer. She did
n't know him at all.

"I'll never approve. That plane crash killed five people.
Five
men,
Father. I met their families—their grieving widows and children and parents. I talked to them. I offered them my he
artfelt condolences. To
turn their mi
sfortune to my own advantage—
"
she shuddered with repugnance "—no, Father. That's something I can't do."

B
ill
Carlson pulled on his lower lip, as he always did when he was deep in thought. "Very well. For the time being, we'll table
t
hat idea. But another has occurred to me."

He pressed both her hands between his. Rusty got the distinct impression that she was being restrained as a precautionary measure, as if what he was about to suggest would precipitate a fit.

"As I've told you, I had Mr. Landry thoroughly checked
out
yesterday. He owns a large ranch in a beautiful area
of
the Sierras."

"So he's said."

"No one has developed the land around it."

"That's the beauty of it. The reg
ion has remained virtually untouched.
I
fail to see what that has to do with us."

"Rusty, what's the matter with you?" he asked teasingly. "Have you become a conservationist after
t
wo weeks in the woods? You're not going to circulate petitions accusing builders of raping the land every time a new tract of homes goes up, are you?"

"Of course not, Father." His teasing bordered on criticism. There was a trace of reproach behind his smile. Rusty didn't want to disappoint him, but she hastened to eliminate any ideas he was nursing regarding Cooper and enterprise. "I hope you aren't considering any commercial development in Mr. Landry's part of the state.
I
can promise you, he wouldn't welcome it. In fa
ct
he'd fight you."

"Ar
e
you sure? How does the idea of a partnership strike you?"

She stared at him incredulously. "A partnership be
t
ween Cooper and me?"

Carlson nodded. "He's a war veteran. That's very promotable. You survived a plane crash
Together
and endured unbelievable hardships in the Canadian wilds before you were rescued. That, too, has high drama and marketability. The buying public will eat it up."

Everyone, even her own father, seemed to regard the plane-crash and the life-threatening experiences following it as a grand adventure, a melodrama s
t
arring Cooper and herself in the principal roles—
The African Queen
set in a different rime and locale.

Carlson was too caught up in his plans
t
o notice Rusty's negative-reaction to them. "
I
could make a few calls and by dark today put together a group of investors who would love
t
o build condos in that area. There's a ski lift at this Rogers Gap, but it's ill-managed. We'd modernize and improve that and build around it.

"We'd bring Landry into it, of course. That would smooth the way with the other locals. He's not a mixer, but my investigators repor
t
ed back that he wields a lot of influence. His name means something up there. Once
t
he condos are under construction, you could start selling them. We'd all stand to make millions."

Her objections to his proposal were too many to enumerate,
so
she didn't even try. She had
t
o shoot down the idea before it even took off. "Father, in case you didn't get the message a minute ago, Mr. Landry isn't interested in making money." She picked up the two halves of the check and shook them in front
of
his face as a reminder. "Making
money of
a real-estate venture will be anathema to him. He loves that country up there. He wan
t
s it left alone, kept the way it is, unspoiled by land developers. He loves the way nature developed it."

"He might play lip service to that Walden Pond philosophy," her rather remarked skeptically. "But every man has his price. Rusty." "Not Cooper Landry."

Carlson stroked his daughter's cheek. "Your
naiveté
is endearing."

The twinkle in his eyes was familiar and alarming. It indicated
th
at he was on the scent of a Big Deal. In a community of capitalist sharks, her father was among
t
hose with the most deadly jaws. She grasped his hand and
squeezed
it hard. "Promise me,
promise,
that you won't do this. You don't know him."

"And you do?" The glint in his eyes dimmed and the lids narrowed. Gradually she released his hands. He backed away from her suspiciously, as though he'd just learned that what was confining her to the hospital bed might be contagious.

"I haven't posed any questions that might have been embarrassing for you to answer, Rusty. I wanted to spare us both that. However, I'm not blind. Landry is almost a caricature of the macho male. He's the kind of belligeren
t
loner that women swoon over and fancy themselves able to tame."

He cupped her chin and tilted it up so he could read her eyes. "Surely you're too intelligent to fall for a pair of broad shoulders and a broody disposition. I hope that you didn't form any sort of emotional attachment to this man. That would be most unfortunate."