Читать книгу Carrera's Bride - Diana Palmer - Страница 9

Marcus could hardly believe this was the same shy, conservative woman he’d met only the night before. She looked exciting in that lacy white thing, with her long hair down. He’d had second thoughts about involving her in his life when it was in flux, but in the end, he hadn’t had a choice. It had been pure luck that Fred had chosen to bring her along to the meeting they didn’t get to have. She was Barney’s sister-in-law and that gave him a connection to a badly needed contact. He could pass a message along in a very innocent way, through a woman he could pretend to be interested in. The fly in the ointment was Barbara, Delia’s sister, who was not going to approve of her baby sister dating a gangster.

It was amazing, that of all the women he’d known—and there had been some beautiful ones—he honestly was interested in her. It wasn’t like him to be attracted to a small-town girl like Delia. She wasn’t his style at all. Then, too, there was the question of his past. She thought he was a security guard. She had no idea who, or what, he really was. It wasn’t fair to her to let her believe a lie. But he didn’t dare tell her the truth. She didn’t seem the sort of woman to be comfortable spending time with a gangster, even if he was reformed. And he needed her to spend time with him. For a few weeks, at least.

He reached out slowly and caught her cold, nervous fingers in his, linking them together. It was like touching a live wire. Her hand jerked in his, as if she, too, felt the electricity. Her breath caught audibly. She winced when she realized that he knew exactly what she was feeling.

“Don’t look like that,” he said in a deep, velvet tone, moving closer. “I feel it, too.”

“I haven’t slept,” she choked, lost in his eyes.

“Neither have I,” he replied curtly. He studied her perfect complexion, the faint flush on her cheeks a dead giveaway of her turmoil. “Where’s your sister?”

“On her way to Miami with Barney. Some sort of crisis. And Fred’s gone there, too,” she added breathlessly.

“To Miami?” He looked thoughtful.

“So Barney said. God knows why, Barney says he’s got no business interests there.”

“None that Barney knows about, maybe,” Marcus mused. He seemed distant for a moment. Then he blinked and smiled down at Delia. “I’ve got a big day planned for us. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” she said softly.

He didn’t ask any questions and she didn’t tell him about Barb’s warning about him. She was going to pretend that there were no complications. She was going to pretend she didn’t know who he was, too. This was one day she was simply going to enjoy. It might be the only one she had with him. She wasn’t going to waste it in worry.

They walked out the front door holding hands, but Mr. Smith and the limo were nowhere in sight. A cab was waiting at the entrance instead.

“I didn’t want to raise eyebrows, in case your sister had told you something about me,” he murmured.

“What would she have told me about you?” she wondered, pretending innocence.

His expression was priceless. He looked relieved. “What did you tell her?”

“That Fred assaulted me and the head of security at the hotel brought me home,” she said simply.

“Not my name?” he persisted.

She grimaced. “I didn’t think of it until it was too late…”

“Don’t think of it,” he said tersely. “I’ll explain later.”