Читать книгу The Cutting Edge - Линда Ховард, Linda Howard, Линда Ховард - Страница 7

ALL DAY LONG, Tessa had looked forward to Sammy’s undemanding company as an antidote against the tension that curled in her stomach at just the thought of Brett Rutland, and Brett had occupied her thoughts so much that day that she wondered if she’d made a mess of everything she’d done.

“Aunt Silver, you never warned me about men like him,” she grumbled aloud, as if her aunt were in the room with her instead of almost an entire continent away. “I think I’ve met the man I could really love, but it’s not safe to love him. He’s a real heartbreaker. So what now?”

Take it as it comes.

That was exactly what Aunt Silver’s answer would be. She was a wonderfully romantic woman, but soundly based in common sense. Silver had probably faced the same dilemma when she met the man who would eventually be her husband. From what she’d heard from both her mother and Silver, Tessa had surmised that her uncle had been as wild as a mink, with charm to burn and an itch for Silver that Silver had been determined he wasn’t going to scratch. Their running battle had lasted for almost two years and kept three counties enthralled, wondering who would win. Silver had won, and their marriage had been as temptestuous and as loving as their courtship. It must run in the family for the women to fall in love with rakes and rascals, she thought.

“I won’t fall in love with him!” Tessa said fiercely as she took the stairs up to Sammy’s apartment, then admitted to herself that she was whistling in the dark.

When he answered the door, Sammy’s face was flushed with excitement and his hair was mussed. “Tessa, just wait until you see the new computer we’ve put together! It’s a real honey.”

Tessa was thoroughly familiar with computers, but only from a user’s standpoint. She knew absolutely nothing about microchips or interfacing, and wasn’t interested in learning, but she smiled at the enthusiasm on Sammy’s face. “Tell me about it,” she invited.

“See for yourself. Hillary’s here, too.”

Tessa had never met Hillary before, but Sammy had often talked about her. Hillary lived on the floor above him, and she was as wild about computers as he was. Tessa supposed it was a case of kindred spirits. The young woman she saw seated at the display terminal and practically attacking the keyboard only reinforced that original supposition, for Hillary was as blond as Sammy. Her slim figure was encased in jeans and a jersey, and her long blond hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail. Glasses perched on her small nose as she peered at the monitor.

“Hillary, this is Tessa Conway. I’ve told you about her; she works with me. Tessa, Hillary Basham.”

Hillary looked up, vague surprise in her brown eyes. “Oh, yes, I remember. How are you?”

“Fine, thank you,” Tessa said gently.

Sammy launched into a spirited explanation of his new computer, and Hillary was as carried away by it as he was. Tessa listened and nodded, trying to make sense of what they were telling her. They both seemed very excited, and because of that she asked questions, letting them enjoy the moment. Intuitively, she realized that Hillary was so much in love with Sammy that the girl was almost sick with it, but was too shy to let him know. Of course, with Sammy, a woman would have to put up a billboard and point it out to him to get him to notice it, and even then it might be a week before he realized he was the man involved. He was so deeply involved with his computer that everything else passed him by.

She didn’t get her chess lesson that night; Sammy was so high from whatever great strides he’d made in the computer industry that there was no question of settling him down. He and Hillary played with the computer as if it were human, and they devoted over an hour to the naming of it before they finally settled on Nelda. Tessa groaned when she heard the name, and Sammy looked hurt, since it had been his idea. Hillary jumped in immediately in favor of Sammy’s choice, and Nelda it was. Shaking her head, Tessa looked around at all of the equipment that Sammy had in his apartment. He must sink most of his salary into his hobby, she thought. In fact, she wondered how he even had money left to eat on.

Sammy wasn’t a complete social wasteland; he eventually realized that he was hungry, and evidently recalled the manners his mother had tried for years to drill into him. Blushing, he jumped to his feet and offered to fix sandwiches and cold drinks, and refused Hillary’s quick offer to help. He rushed out of the room and left a pool of silence behind him.

Tessa looked at Hillary’s downcast eyes and saw the way the girl had suddenly withdrawn. “Where do you work?” she asked, since it was evident that Hillary wasn’t going to begin the conversation.

“At a bank.” Hillary gave her a shy look, then quickly looked down again. “Sammy talks about you a lot. You’re…you’re as beautiful as he says.”

Tessa wondered if she’d gone too far in her friendship with Sammy, trying to make him more comfortable in female company. “That’s sweet of him, but I’m not beautiful at all,” she said honestly, and that brought up the bent blond head. “It’s just that he’s shy with women, and I talk to him and make him laugh. He talks about you a lot, too.”

“Yeah, but that’s different. I’m a buddy, someone to talk computers with.” For a brief moment, hostility was plain in her brown eyes.

“Then talk about something else when you’re with him.” The last thing she wanted was to get involved in some sort of triangle, especially when the man in question couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

“That’s easy for you, but not everyone’s a…a flirt like you!” As soon as she flared up, hot color rushed into Hillary’s rather pale face and made it rosy. She looked down again, as if appalled at her rudeness, and Tessa sighed.

“Hillary, I’m not a threat to you. Please believe me. Sammy’s just a friend to me, nothing else.”

“But what about the way he feels about you?”

“He’s definitely not in love with me; I promise!” Before she could say anything else to reassure the girl, Sammy came back into the room with a tray of drinks. He carefully set it down away from his equipment.

“I’ll be right back with the sandwiches.”

“I’ll help!” Scrambling to her feet, Hillary hurried after him.

Feeling definitely de trop, Tessa called after them, “Just one sandwich for me; I have to be leaving soon.”

When they came back into the room, Sammy frowned at her. “But we haven’t played chess yet.”

“It’s later than I thought, and tomorrow is a working day,” she reminded him.

He looked guilty. “I guess I got carried away over Nelda.”

“I enjoyed hearing about Nelda,” she reassured him.

“I know you’ve probably been bored, but really, I think we’re going to be able to market Nelda. Hillary and I have put a lot of time and money into her; she’s really something.”

Was he talking about the computer or Hillary? Probably the computer. Deciding to give him a nudge in the right direction, Tessa said blandly, “It must be marvelous to have someone like Hillary, someone who understands your work and wants the same things you do.”

Hillary flushed, but Sammy wasn’t paying any attention. “Yeah, she’s really great.”

As quickly as she could without appearing rude, Tessa downed her sandwich and drank her cold drink, then gathered up her purse and light coat. “I really have to be going now.”

Sammy walked her to the door. “I owe you a chess lesson,” he said, smiling. “How about tomorrow night?”

For some reason, Tessa thought she’d probably had her last chess lesson. It was better not to cause trouble. “I already have plans for tomorrow night, and I know you better than that, anyway! You’re still going to be playing with Nelda to see if she can do everything you think she can.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, shrugging his shoulders to work out the kinks. “You’re probably right. We still have a lot of work to do on her. Maybe next week?”

“Maybe,” she said, giving him a smile. He’d be so involved with his work that he’d never notice; she had been the one who had pursued their friendship, easing him out of part of his shyness.

Later that evening, when she was ready for bed, she sat with pillows behind her back and a pad of writing paper on her knees. Her weekly letter to Aunt Silver was its usual mixture of news and comment, and at the end of it she mentioned Brett Rutland. As she sealed the envelope she smiled to herself. She’d deliberately been casual in her mention of him, knowing that Aunt Silver’s antennae would begin quivering as soon as she read the name.

* * *

BILLIE HAD BROUGHT coffee and doughnuts for their midmorning break, and they had just begun their second doughnut when Tessa’s phone rang. She answered it absently.

“I just want to confirm tonight. Six-thirty.”

She hadn’t heard his voice on the phone before, but there was no mistaking his identity. She closed her eyes briefly at the pleasure that rippled through her at just the sound of his voice. “Yes. Six-thirty.”

“Do you like to dance?”

“Did granny wear garters?”

His low, rough laugh filled her ear. “Wear your dancing shoes.”

When she hung up the phone, Tessa was aware that her heart wasn’t beating in its regular rhythm, and she felt a little breathless. Even over the phone, his impact almost knocked her down. She thought of his thick, tawny brown hair and navy eyes, and it became even more difficult to breathe.

“Don’t you ever stay at home?” Billie said automatically. It was practically standard procedure for Tessa to have at least one offer to go out every day.

“Of course I do. You know Monday night is laundry night.”

They laughed together, but Tessa’s mind was already on the coming night. They would have dinner, go out dancing…and then what? Would he try to make love to her again? She was afraid that he would, and even more afraid that he wouldn’t.

Billie regarded her friend thoughtfully. “You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you get cloudy-eyed over a man. Is this one special to you?”

“I’m afraid he will be.” Well aware of the admission in those few words, Tessa wound her suddenly shaking fingers together.

“You don’t want to fall in love? Sometimes I think I’d give anything I own to find the right guy, the real McCoy.” Why should Tessa, of all people, be nervous about a man? Of all the people Billie knew, Tessa was the most comfortable with men, a woman who honestly enjoyed a man’s company. It didn’t make sense for her to be so wary.

Tessa didn’t volunteer Brett’s name, and Billie didn’t ask, for which Tessa was grateful. She didn’t know how Brett felt about their connection being known, but she knew she wouldn’t like the gossip that would flow as surely as the tides followed the moon if it became known that she was seeing Brett Rutland. His position automatically made their relationship difficult. She was totally uninterested in climbing the corporate ladder, but that wouldn’t keep people from saying that she was trying to get ahead on the strength of her performance in the bedroom rather than in the office.

Because of her uneasiness at both the way she was beginning to feel about him and the difficult situation she could find herself in at work, she was quiet that night. She could feel his cool gaze dissecting her, trying to probe her thoughts. Over coffee, he asked, “Has something upset you?” His voice was so even that it took her a moment to hear the steel in it.

She blew across the steaming surface of the coffee, then sipped it. “Not really. I’m a little at a loss. Would you rather not have people from the office know we’ve been out together?”

“I don’t give a damn who knows.”

“I know I’m being premature in worrying about it. After all, we’ve only been out twice, and that doesn’t mean—”

“Yes, it does mean,” he interrupted, reaching for her hand. He put his hand on the table, palm up, and looked at her slender fingers as they lay across his palm. The contrast in their hands was striking, in ways besides the obvious one of size. His hands were powerful, lean and hard, with long fingers and short clean nails, his fingertips rough, his skin bronzed. Her hands were slim and delicate, the bones so fragile that her fingers were almost translucent, her oval nails polished. Her hands bore no rings.

“Have you ever been married?” he asked abruptly, looking at her bare fingers.

“No.”

“Engaged?”

She sipped her coffee for a moment before replying. “Twice.”

His eyes narrowed. “What happened?”

“I found out that I didn’t love either of them enough.”

“You must have thought you did, at one time.”

She sighed and looked away from him. She didn’t particularly want to talk about her failed engagements, which to her were almost as bad as failed marriages, but she could sense his determination to get the details out of her.

“The first time, it was an infatuation that I took for love, that’s all. I was in college, and Will was a medical student. He wanted us to get married right away; he’d already planned for me to quit college and put him through school. I gave him his ring back.”

He was watching her very closely, reading every nuance of expression that crossed her face. “And the second time?” he asked, dismissing Will as unimportant because he sensed her reluctance to continue.

“Andrew,” she said slowly, somehow feeling compelled to answer him. “He did something that hurt me, and I didn’t love him enough to forgive him.”

After several moments of silence, Brett realized that she wasn’t going to enlarge on her explanation. His hand tightened on hers. “Tell me,” he insisted. The dim light above his head turned his tawny hair into dark gold and cast shadows on his face that made it seem harder, more dangerous.

Her hand moved restlessly in his. “I don’t believe in raking over old coals. I don’t think about it anymore. I picked up the pieces and moved on.”

“Tell me,” he whispered, his eyes as dark as midnight.

“He was unfaithful.” Simple words, old-fashioned words, but for her they were the epitaph for a romance. With her heart, Tessa gave fidelity, and she expected the same in return. Andrew had cheated her, promising her faith and giving her only deceit.

Brett’s eyes brushed over her throat and shoulders and breasts, his gaze as hot as a touch. “He was a fool. Why would any man want to sleep around when he could have you in his bed every night?”

Tessa looked up at him, and color rose in her cheeks at the way he was looking at her. Still holding her hand, he rose to his feet. “Dance with me,” he invited.

She went willingly into his arms, grateful for the hard strength that enfolded her, for the warmth of his body. The virile impact of his masculine appeal made her tremble, but being in his arms also made her feel safe, as if his strength held the rest of the world at bay. She put her arms around his shoulders, sighing a little in contentment.

“Did you enjoy your chess lesson?” he murmured, brushing her soft hair and temple with his lips.

She laughed against his throat. “We never got around to it. Sammy was so excited over his new computer that he couldn’t think about anything else.”

“What sort of new computer?”

“Nelda. He swears it’s going to revolutionize the personal computer industry, and maybe it will. For his sake, I hope so. He has to have a small fortune sunk into all of that equipment he has in his apartment. I don’t see how he can afford to eat.”

Above her head, Brett’s eyes narrowed as he filed that bit of information away in his memory. Automatically his arms tightened about her, pulling her closer so that her breasts flattened against his muscled chest. “Did you tell him there wouldn’t be any more chess lessons?”

“No, there was no need. He’s so involved with Nelda, he won’t even notice.”

“Why did you get involved with him in the first place? He isn’t your type.”

Tessa stiffened a little in his arms. “He’s a nice man; why isn’t that my type?” She seldom bothered herself enough to take offense at anything anyone said, but she couldn’t ignore Brett. She was vulnerable to him in ways she didn’t even want to think about. Just what did he think her “type” was?

“He’ll never be the life of the party,” Brett said coolly. “And for all his electronic genius, you could wind him around your little finger and he’d never realize it. If you had him as steady company, you’d be bored to tears within a week.”

She stared up at him, trying to read his thoughts in his hooded enigmatic eyes. She was more than a party-girl, and she wanted him to see that, to see the woman beneath the gay and frothy facade. Did he think she was just out for a good time, that she was only attracted to people who were as comfortable socially as she was? “I’m never bored with Sammy,” she said, her voice steady, concealing the faint hurt that was welling in her. “I like him very much, whether he’s my type or not.”

Slowly his arm tightened about her waist, pulling her so close to him that his hard body felt imprinted against her softer one. “He doesn’t matter, since you won’t be seeing him again. I want you; I’m going to have you. And I don’t share.”

Tessa caught a quick breath at the hard, determined note in his voice. She was accustomed to being pursued, but Brett was a man who not only chased, but caught his prey. Her frail butterfly wings would be useless against his power, yet she wouldn’t feel threatened at all if she knew she could entrust herself to him. Did he want her for herself, or did he only want to conquer her because of the challenge she represented, to catch the fragile and elusive butterfly simply so he could say she’d belonged to him for a while?