Читать книгу The Calamity Janes: Gina and Emma: To Catch a Thief - Sherryl Woods, Sherryl Woods - Страница 12

4

Since the whole purpose of coming to Winding River had been to clear her head and decide what to do to save her restaurant, Gina awoke at what she considered to be the unholy hour of 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning determined to get on with that assignment. The only way she was able to drag herself out of bed was by reminding herself that it was nine in the morning in New York.

With Rafe turning up almost everywhere she went, the only way she was going to have any time to herself was to sneak out of her own house and take a drive into the nearby Snowy Range, where distractions were few and far between. And she had to do it before he turned up to accompany her or trail along behind like some sort of watchdog.

A glance outside told her it was the perfect day for going for a drive and then maybe even a hike. The sky was a crystal-clear blue with floating puffs of white clouds. The temperature had dropped overnight and promised to stay lower throughout the day. And there were no reunion events until the picnic at midday.

But before she could make her escape, she bumped straight into her parents, lingering over Sunday breakfast in the kitchen. They regarded her with surprise, no doubt because they so rarely saw her before noon.

“What on earth are you doing up so early, darling?” her mother asked. “You had a late night. It was after midnight when I heard you come in. How was the dance?”

Gina thought of the time she’d spent in Rafe’s arms. For a man who’d professed to have no skill on the dance floor at all, he’d been astonishingly adept at everything from the waltz to the twist. Apparently it was only the Texas two-step that eluded him, despite his pitiful claim that he’d had no time for dances as a younger man. When she’d called him on it, he’d simply shrugged and insisted he was only following her lead.

As if, she thought dryly. She doubted he’d ever let anyone get a head start on him, much less lead him anywhere. She sighed at that. It was something she needed to keep in mind.

“The dance was fine,” she said.

“Meet anyone interesting?” her mother asked, her expression just a little too innocent.

“What have you heard?” Gina asked, regarding her with resignation.

Her father frowned. “Yes, Jane, what have you heard? I’d like to know, too.”

“Oh, for goodness sakes, it’s nothing shocking,” her mother said with a hint of exasperation. “Rose Ellen just happened to mention that Gina was with an incredibly handsome man at the rodeo yesterday afternoon.”

George Petrillo seemed no more convinced by that innocuous explanation than Gina was.

“And?” he prodded.

“The man kissed me,” Gina blurted, hoping to save them all the embarrassment of a long, drawn-out debate. “It was nothing.”

Her mother grinned. “That’s not the way I heard it. Rose Ellen said it made her toes curl.”

“Jane Petrillo, I hope you weren’t discussing your daughter’s lack of discretion with half the town,” her father said, his expression dismayed. As the owner of the local insurance company, he tended to worry first about what his customers might think. Gina had done enough outrageous, risky things with the Calamity Janes in high school to turn his hair gray. He always swore he’d taken out extra accident and liability insurance on the family just because of her dangerous shenanigans.

“No, of course not,” Jane said, giving him a soothing pat on the hand. “Just Rose Ellen. She brought it up. I must say I found it fascinating.” She turned to Gina. “I had no idea you’d brought a fellow home for the reunion. Why haven’t we met him?”

“I didn’t bring him. He’s not here for the reunion. And you haven’t met him because I sincerely wish that I’d never met him,” Gina said, reaching for the car keys, even though the drive no longer held much appeal. “I’m going out.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, but I won’t be long.”

She walked out before they could pester her with more questions. As she paused on the back steps to take a deep, calming breath, she heard her mother ask, “What do you suppose is going on?”

“I have no idea,” her father said grumpily. “But I’m sure half the town will know about it before we do. That’s what comes from letting her go off and spend all that time in Europe. She’s come home with a lot of wild ideas.”

“Oh, she has not,” her mother said, then added wistfully, “I just hope there is something more to this. Wouldn’t it be nice to see her married? I can’t wait till we have a houseful of grandchildren to spoil.”

Gina’s groan was almost as heartfelt as her father’s. The speculation about her and Rafe O’Donnell was getting entirely out of hand and he’d only been in town a couple of days. Right now all he was doing was shadowing her—okay, and kissing her in public. Just wait till people around here found out what he was really after.

* * *

Rafe drove by the Petrillo house about 7:45 a.m. There was no sign of Gina, though from what he’d gathered, she was not exactly a morning person. Still, he found the fact that her mother’s car was missing this early on a Sunday vaguely worrisome. Had Gina taken off in it? Would her mother conspire to help her daughter skip town? Leave the country? Maybe that remark Gina had made the day before about fleeing to Canada had been no joke.

Because he hated the way his imagination was running wild, he concluded the best way to get to the truth would be to knock on the door and ask to see her. For all he knew, the entire family might be at church, though most had services that began later.

When a woman he assumed to be Mrs. Petrillo answered the door, he understood where Gina got her beauty. Her mother was probably in her late forties, maybe even her early fifties, but she looked a decade younger. There wasn’t a single strand of gray in her thick, dark hair. There was hardly a wrinkle on her heart-shaped face. But while her daughter’s eyes were dark, Mrs. Petrillo’s were a vibrant green, and they were studying him with undisguised curiosity.

“May I help you?” she asked, when Rafe remained speechless.

He gathered his composure. “Actually, I’m looking for your daughter, Mrs. Petrillo. Is she here?”

“Ah,” she said, her expression brightening. “You must be the mysterious man everyone is talking about.”

“I’m Rafe O’Donnell,” he said, taken aback by the friendly welcome. Obviously, the people talking were those who’d witnessed the kiss, and not Gina herself. He doubted she had painted him in a favorable light.

“My husband and I are just having a second cup of coffee, Mr. O’Donnell. Will you join us? Gina left a little while ago, but she shouldn’t be gone long.”

Never one to turn down caffeine or the chance to pump someone for information about Gina, he smiled. “I’d love a cup.”

In the cheerful, yellow kitchen with its warm oak cupboards and white trim, she introduced Rafe to her husband and invited him to make himself at home.

“Were your ears burning?” she asked. “We were talking about you not fifteen minutes ago.”

“Is that so?” he asked warily. “What did Gina have to say?”

“Not much, which is why I’m so glad you dropped by. You’re not local, are you? How do you know our daughter?”

Now there was a minefield, Rafe thought. “Actually, I’m from New York.”

“So, you and Gina met there?” George Petrillo asked, regarding Rafe with suspicion.

“Not exactly.”

The vague response clearly stirred more suspicion on her father’s part. “We don’t get a lot of New Yorkers around here. How did you happen to choose Winding River for a vacation?”

“Actually I’m working.”

George’s gaze narrowed. “You’re not some fool movie producer, are you? They come crawling around here all the time these days, paying outrageous amounts for property. If it keeps up, the next thing we know we won’t be able to afford to live in our own hometown.”

Rafe chuckled. “No. I haven’t even been to a movie in the last two years, and I am definitely not buying any property.”

“Then what do you do?” her father asked, just as Gina’s mother stepped in.

“George, you’re pestering the man. Let him drink his coffee in peace.”

“I’m just trying to get acquainted with a man who’s got half the town talking about the way he kissed my daughter,” George grumbled.

So they had heard, Rafe thought. That explained the interrogation. “I apologize for that,” he said with absolute sincerity. It had been one of the biggest mistakes of his life, though he could hardly deny enjoying it.

“There’s no need to apologize to us,” Jane assured him, shooting a warning look at her husband. “Is there, George?”

“Not unless Gina objected,” he said, scowling at Rafe. “Did she?”

Just then the back door opened and Gina stepped inside. “You!” she said when she saw him. “I thought that was your rental car out front. What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, of course.”

“And grilling my parents while you’re at it? What a lowdown, sneaky trick,” she accused. “Did you wait until you saw me leave before knocking on the door?”

“No, I did not. And actually, I’ve barely gotten a word in,” he said, regarding her with amusement.

“That’s true, dear,” her mother verified. “Your father has been doing most of the talking. I’m surprised your friend hasn’t told him to mind his own business.”

Gina directed a frown at Rafe, then her father, then Rafe again. “I’d like to see you outside, please.”

He grinned. “Sure thing. Mr. and Mrs. Petrillo, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for the coffee.”

“I do hope you’ll come back and visit with us,” Jane said. “Perhaps you could come for dinner before you go back to New York.”

“Sorry, Mom, he won’t be around that long,” Gina said. “Will you, Rafe?”

He gave her a penetrating look. “My schedule is actually pretty flexible. Last I heard I’ll be in town for at least two weeks.”

Her mother beamed. “Then I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out. You must be staying at the hotel. I’ll be in touch.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” he said, then followed Gina outside. Since she couldn’t seem to stop pacing up and down, he leaned against the porch railing and waited to see what she had to say.

Finally she stopped in front of him. “I do not want you here.”

“So I gathered.”

“My parents don’t know anything about my business. They don’t know anything about Bobby. Leave them alone.”

“I was not pumping them for information. In fact, I thought I was doing a darned fine job of evading all of your father’s questions about how we knew each other and what I do for a living.”

“You didn’t tell them you were a lawyer?”

“No.”

“You didn’t tell them you’d followed me out here?”

“No.”

“You never mentioned Bobby?”

“Nope.”

That seemed to silence her. Rafe couldn’t help himself. He reached out and cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I’m just after the truth, Gina. Nothing else. If you have nothing to hide, talk to me, tell me the truth.”

“You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you in the butt.”

“You have a very low opinion of my ability to judge character, don’t you?”

“Can you blame me? You’ve come after me as if I’m some hardened criminal, when I’m as much of a victim as any of the people you say that Bobby swindled. The man has all but destroyed my business. He has turned my life upside down. And because of him, an annoyingly persistent attorney won’t leave me alone.”

Rafe grimaced at the characterization. He’d always considered persistence to be a virtue, but he could see her point. Moreover, he was forced to admit that he was beginning to believe in at least the possibility of her innocence, but he was a long way from having any evidence for or against her. She might not see that as much of a shift in his opinion, but in truth it was a major concession. He usually trusted his initial gut reaction in any given situation, and he rarely let go of preconceived notions this easily.

“You could go a long way toward making your case, if you would just sit down and get this deposition over with,” he pointed out.

“Not without my attorney present.”

“Of course not, but isn’t your friend Emma an attorney?”

“Yes, but her practice is not in Wyoming, and besides, she’s here this weekend because she’s overworked and badly needs a break. I’m not going to get her involved in this,” she said flatly. “Hell, I’m here because I need a break, but I haven’t had five seconds to think with you trailing around after me. I started to take a drive, but I stopped for coffee instead. I glanced outside and spotted you heading in this direction. I had this horrible feeling this was exactly where you were going. Lo and behold, here you are, sneaking around behind my back to cross-examine my parents.”

“I was not cross-examining your parents,” he repeated patiently. “I stopped by looking for you. Your mother invited me in. Your father did most of the talking. That’s it.”

She gave him a plaintive look. “Couldn’t you go away?” she asked in what had become a familiar, wistful refrain. “Go home? I’ll be there in a couple of weeks and answer every single question you have.”

“Much as I would like to get out of the wilds of Wyoming and back to civilization, I can’t take a chance that you’ll disappear. You’re my best link to Rinaldi.”

“I haven’t heard from him. In fact, if he’s smart, I will never hear from him, because if I ever get five minutes alone with him, I will wring his scrawny neck.”

She said it with such heartfelt conviction that Rafe’s faith in her shot up another notch. That still didn’t mean he could go running back to New York the way she wanted. Unfortunately, he was here for the duration.

And gazing into her sad, vulnerable eyes was making that more and more difficult with every passing day.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said finally. “I’ll make you a deal.”

She regarded him with suspicion. “What sort of a deal?”

“What’s on the reunion agenda for the day?”

“A picnic in the park.”

“Is that the last event?”

“No, most of us will be here for the Fourth of July fireworks later in the week.”

He regarded her solemnly. “Do you swear that you will not skip town on me?”

She sighed. “I’m not going anywhere. How many times do I have to tell you that? You can turn your back on me. In fact, it might be nice if you just forgot all about me.”

Rafe grinned at her wistful tone. “I can’t do that, but I will back off. I have some paperwork to do.”

“Hallelujah!” she said, though her tone was less than enthusiastic.

“I’m not saying I won’t cruise by the park—”

“I should have known it was too good to be true,” she murmured.

“That could be just because I’m longing for a glimpse of you,” Rafe suggested.

“Oh, of course,” she said sarcastically. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

He was surprised by her skepticism. “You don’t think that could be true?”

“You are not hanging around here because you’re attracted to me. You’re here because you want to nail me with a crime.”

“Maybe that’s how it started,” Rafe said quietly, regretting the admission almost before the words were out of his mouth.

She gave him a startled look. “What are you saying?”

“I’ve already said it. Never mind. The point is I will try to give you a little space. Just don’t make me regret it. I have a lot of resources and I will use them to find you, so save yourself the trouble.”

He’d taken half a dozen steps, almost made it to safety, when she called out to him. He turned back.

“What?” he asked, noting the confusion in her eyes.

“Are you saying that kiss yesterday...” Her gaze locked on his. “Did it mean something?”

Rafe couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips. Her words were too close to an invitation, way too close to a dare, or maybe he’d just been searching a little too desperately for any excuse at all to do it again.

“I don’t know,” he said nonchalantly. He walked slowly back to her. “Only one way to find out.”

Alarm flared in her eyes just as he bent down and lightly touched his mouth to hers. He could have stopped with that. He should have. But her soft little moan, the way she swayed toward him, they were too much. The next thing he knew she was in his arms and he was devouring her mouth.

The morning had been unseasonably cool up until then, but now the temperature shot up until it felt hotter than it had under the blazing sun on his walk back into town the day before. His heart pounded and his body turned hard, even as hers went pliant, molding to his in a way that left him shaken and her trembling.

His breathing was ragged when he finally pulled away. “I guess we have our answer,” he murmured, his voice husky.

She stared back at him with dazed eyes. “Answer?”

“That kiss definitely meant something.”

“What did it mean?”

He took a step back before he replied. “Trouble,” he said quietly. “It was definitely trouble.”

* * *

Trouble? Gina echoed to herself after Rafe had wisely walked away. It wasn’t just trouble. It was a disaster. If he’d asked, she would have followed him straight to the nearest bed without giving it a second thought. She would have slept with a man who wanted to put her in jail.

Okay, maybe he was beginning to cut her a little slack, but he definitely didn’t trust her, not the way a man ought to trust a woman he was making love to. Of course, that kiss had been all about lust, not love. Gina supposed a man—or a woman—could have spectacular sex with somebody without worrying too much about such niceties as trust. Personally, she’d never tried it. She’d had one serious relationship in Italy, but since coming back to the United States, she’d barely had time to date, much less get involved with a man deeply enough to think about letting him into her bed. And her relationship with Carlo had taught her all about the dangers of dating a suspicious man. His lack of trust, his constant accusations that she was deceiving him had destroyed them.

Now, in just a few short days, Rafe had stirred her hormones to such a fever pitch that she was willing to toss aside everything she valued for a quick romp with yet another man who didn’t believe in her.

“I saw what Rose Ellen meant,” Gina’s mother said quietly, slipping up beside Gina and putting an arm around her waist.

“You saw?”

“Oh, yes. So did your father.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t go for his shotgun.”

“I think he might have, if you’d shown even the tiniest hint of displeasure.”

Gina regarded her mother with a wry look. “Well, that certainly didn’t happen, did it?”

Her mother chuckled. “No, which begs the question, what is your relationship with Rafe O’Donnell?”

“I wish I knew,” Gina said plaintively. “It’s...it’s confusing.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “Not yet, Mom, but I’ll tell you everything when I get it sorted out. I promise.”

“If you want your father to run him off, he will, you know.”

Gina grinned. “I know, and believe me, the thought holds a certain appeal.” She uttered a sigh of resignation. “But Rafe would just come back again.”

“Your father was a persistent man, too,” Jane said, looking nostalgic.

“Did you ever try to shake him?”

“For a while,” she said, then grinned. “But my heart was never in it. Is your heart really in getting rid of Rafe once and for all?”

“Apparently not,” Gina said. In fact, she was beginning to look forward to having him pop up when she least expected it. As for those devastating kisses, she was pretty sure she was becoming addicted.