Guardian Angel

“Incredible,” Trace murmured. What had happened, he wondered, to the French twist, conservative suit and pursed lips of the disapproving woman who’d been in his office? At least, he thought, the legs were the same: long, shapely, silky, the kind of legs that led men to dream wild fantasies. Her hair was a mass of tempestuous waves, and her brown eyes sparkled with fire. And her lips… His mouth went dry at the sight of her rosy lips.

He looked back at her eyes and held her gaze for several seconds until she looked away. Shy, he concluded, until she spared him another glance. With surprise, he noted the banked hostility in her eyes.

She turned and bent, placing the brownies in the oven. It took enormous control, but he unglued his gaze from her tempting rear end. Feeling the heat for the first time that evening, he tugged at his collar and studied the daisy-print wallpaper.

“Mr. Barringer, do you have some questions about the plans we’ve made for Lung Awareness Month?” Talia asked as she turned on the coffeemaker.

“Trace,” he corrected her. “I have a few. But they can be answered during the meeting. I’m actually more curious about you.”

Her polite smile didn’t reach her eyes. He found himself longing for the alluring smile she’d given him just moments before.

“As I told you before, Mr. Barringer, I appreciate your interest in LAM, but the Planning Committee is already formed. I’ll be happy to keep you informed. However, your presence isn’t really…” Her voice drifted off, and she bit her lip.

She’d done that in his office, and he wondered if she knew how sensual the gesture was. He sensed something familiar about her, but couldn’t put a label on it. Shoving a hand in his pocket, he stepped closer. She took a step back. “You’re saying my presence isn’t necessary,” he said in a low, challenging voice.

She raised her chin. “I have to believe the CEO of Barringer Corporation has better ways to spend his time than as a member of a Planning Committee for LAM. Wouldn’t it be more convenient if you just had your secretary send me your ideas?”

“Perhaps,” he conceded. “But convenience isn’t always the primary consideration. I would think you’d be happy to extend your influence directly to the textile mill.”

A hint of vulnerability filtered into her gaze. She looked away.

“Tell me, Talia,” he asked gently. “How did you get involved with this project?”

“My mother died of pneumonia several years ago.” She paused. “She also had emphysema. The doctor said she was weak, that she worked too hard.”

Trace nodded. So that was it. “She worked at the mill.”

“Yes.”

“And you blame the mill.”

“No.”

She said it too quickly, and her self-deprecating smile showed she knew he’d seen through her denial. “In the beginning I blamed the mill,” she confessed. “I was very angry. My mother had to work so hard after my father died. But she was the kind of person who would have worked hard no matter where she was employed. Her supervisor was always very understanding about her illness.” Talia sighed. “Sometimes I thought if she hadn’t had Kevin and me, she would have been much better off.”

Trace recognized guilt when he saw it and felt some of her sadness. “You don’t really believe she would have been happier without you?”

Talia shook her head, her hair tumbling around her shoulders in a silky curtain. “No. Angelina McKenzie loved her babies more than anything. But I was just nineteen years old. All of a sudden I was responsible for raising my fifteen-year-old brother.” She closed her eyes against the remembered pain. “Her death was horrible. But the year after was…” She stopped, unable to find the words to describe it.

Trace stepped forward, wanting to comfort her in some way. To touch her hand or shoulder. To offer words that would soothe her wounds. It was an unusual feeling for him. Since he’d become CEO for Barringer Corporation, he’d had little time for tenderness. For that matter, in the last few years his emotional life had become a barren wasteland.

Her sad brown eyes proved his undoing. He couldn’t find the words, so he took her small hand in his and lifted it to his lips.

Her eyes widened at the gesture. She pulled back, but he held firm. He kissed her hand and found himself wanting to extend the gentle caress to her lips. For one long moment they stared into each other’s eyes, then he tugged at her hand, wanting her closer.

Chapter Two

Someone knocked on the front door.

Talia jerked back, looking as if she’d touched a snake. “That must be the committee members. I’ll let them in.”

Trace watched her bolt from the kitchen, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. A man could incur some heavy losses under that kind of woman’s influence, he decided. Loss of perspective. Loss of sleep. Loss of sanity.

His body was still tense with the excitement of merely being close to her, kissing her hand and touching her silky legs. He remembered how her eyes had grown soft and vulnerable. Odd, he mused. It was almost as if she’d forgotten who he was.

Then she’d turned to ice.

Talia swung open the door and greeted the committee members as if they were the cavalry coming to her rescue. Accompanied by the two middle-aged men and one woman, she walked back into the kitchen and made the introductions. Lou Adkins, Opal Taylor, and Darryl Harris, one of the vice presidents at the local bank.

Since the three arrivals wore expressions varying from surprise to distrust, Talia supposed Trace would have his hands full winning them over. It would be interesting to watch. And she was relieved to have his attention directed away from herself.

“I’m going to check on the brownies,” she said. “You can go into the den.”

After the others left, she set the brownies on the counter to cool, poured the coffee and set the cups on a tray. Untenable though it may be, she knew she was drawn to Trace. But, as easily as she accepted her curiosity about him, she knew she wouldn’t do a thing about it.

She picked up the tray. Her shaking hands caused the cups to clatter noisily, and she uttered a mild curse. How was she supposed to be calm and collected with Trace Barringer in her house?

She didn’t want his attention, she reminded herself as she walked into the living room. She wanted his donation.

The meeting progressed as the group mapped out more plans for Lung Awareness Month. Though she tried to concentrate on each word, Talia found her gaze repeatedly drawn to Trace. Although he sat relaxed and quiet, she’d bet he could recite every detail of the discussion.

Watching his deliberate examination of her living room, she wondered what conclusions he was making. What did he think of the oak end tables her father had made before he died? The homey green sofa and slightly lumpy chairs? Did he recognize Kevin from the picture on the wall? Could he possibly know the porcelain bunny collection on the second shelf of the bookcase was one of her weaknesses? And why did she feel he’d gained too much knowledge of her just from his perusal of the room?

His gaze slid from the bunnies to her eyes, and she wondered, inanely, if he could read her mind. Then he was studying the little mole above the right corner of her mouth. She had to purse her lips to resist the urge to run her tongue over the mark.

Flustered by his quiet, invasive attention, she forced her eyes away from him.

When Trace finally spoke, he offered his opinions and suggestions with utter politeness. “Since you have a dual goal of raising both awareness and funds, it sounds as if you’ve got a good start. I’d like some posters for the mill, Lou, if you could manage that.” Lou nodded, and Trace continued without missing a beat. “The mill could sponsor an event. Perhaps a bowling tournament or a night at the roller-skating rink. And I think you could increase your donations significantly if you generated some interest from the country club.”

They all stared at him. That last suggestion had the impact of a small bomb, because none was a member of the country club.

The silence was unnerving. Knowing she would have squirmed under such intense scrutiny, Talia gave him points for sitting in her lumpy chair with a confident, expectant expression on his face.

Opal Taylor cleared her throat. Darryl Harris pushed his glasses back on his nose. Lou Adkins studied his fingernails. The only sound in the room was the ticking of her mother’s anniversary clock.

Talia sighed. Since she would receive no help from her fellow committee members, she’d better go ahead and respond. “I think your suggestions are very helpful. Getting the mill involved would increase awareness among the part of the population who need the information.”

She paused and chose her next words carefully.

“As far as the country club is concerned, you already have connections with the members there. It seems logical that you would be the one to represent our committee.” There, she thought. That hadn’t been so bad.

Trace hooked an ankle over the opposite knee and smiled. “I’ll be glad to represent the committee.” He pulled an appointment book from his suit coat, which he’d hung over the side of the chair. “However, since I’ve only just become involved in this project, I’d like another committee member to come along with me. Talia, are you available Saturday night? We could meet a few of the club’s charter members for dinner.”

“Not in a million years,” she said under her breath.

He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Talia couldn’t bear that penetrating gaze one more minute. She felt as if he’d been studying her the entire evening. If that wasn’t galling enough, she’d had a hard time tearing her own attention away from him!

She stood and collected the coffee cups and dessert plates. “Actually, I was wondering if one of the other members would be interested in helping you out. I’m pretty busy. What do you think, Opal?” She sent her late mother’s best friend her most persuasive look. “You’d probably enjoy an evening out.”

Opal gave a self-conscious little giggle. “I don’t have anything appropriate to wear for a night out at the country club, Talia dear. Besides,” she continued coyly, “Mr. Barringer is such a young, attractive man. He needs a young, attractive escort.”

Talia barely stifled her groan. Trace had won Opal over, but Talia hadn’t lost yet. “Well, what about you, Darryl? Perhaps you could bring your wife with you.”

Darryl again nervously arranged his glasses on his thin nose. “Nancy and I have a standing date for dinner at her mother’s house on Saturday nights.” His voice held a note of apology. ‘“They’re both pretty insistent about it.”

“Oh, but for just one night—” Talia broke off when she saw Darryl’s strained expression. She was beginning to feel desperate.

With her brightest smile, she turned to her last, most futile hope, and tried to ignore the amused light in Trace’s eyes. “Lou, I’ll bet you haven’t—”

“I’ve got poker Saturday night,” he said bluntly.

If she didn’t get out of that room, Talia knew she was going to scream. She picked up the tray of cups and saucers and carried it into the kitchen. Once there, she resisted the urge to test the dish manufacturer’s warranty against breakage by flinging a few pieces against the wall.

Instead, she took a deep breath and counted to ten.

Squaring her shoulders, she marched back into the living room where the group waited expectantly. Just as she opened her mouth to refuse, Trace said, “Talia, we can set this up for another time if Saturday night is inconvenient.”

He sounded so reasonable. “Of course,” he continued in a bland tone, “it would be a shame to give up all those potential donations.”

With that, he nailed her coffin shut. If Talia turned down this opportunity, she’d be doing a disservice to the agency that had appointed her, the people who were depending on her and, in a way, to her mother’s memory. She forced the words from her mouth. “What time shall I meet you?”

Wearing an indiscernible expression, Trace stood and pulled on his suit coat. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll pick you up.”

“No, thank you.”

He stopped in the midst of straightening his tie and studied her. “I insist.”

“No.” She abandoned any attempt at tact. He wanted to bulldoze her. She could see it in his eyes. But he was too clever to push her any further tonight.

“Six o’clock in the lounge,” he said, and walked to the front door.

Within three minutes they were all gone. Sensing her mood, the other committee members patted her shoulder on their way out. Opal touched Talia’s cheek and murmured, “You go on and have a good time.” Too weary to take Opal to task, Talia merely thanked the older woman for coming.

When her home was quiet and empty again, she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. Even though Trace was gone, the air still hummed with tension. She could smell his woodsy aftershave, see his wicked smile.

Moaning at her predicament, she thought of her brother. He would die if he knew she was going out with Trace Barringer, even for charity’s sake. She could imagine the betrayal he would feel.

They both bore a grudge against the Barringers, and her Sicilian blood ran hot when she remembered what they’d done to her only brother. She unapologetically, unequivocally detested them.

If one good thing had come out of the evening, it was that she would never again have to restrain herself from pulling off Trace’s glasses to determine his eye color. She’d waited fourteen years to find out, and he had stood close enough for her to see that they were a penetrating green.

After a restless night, Talia was woken by the insistent ringing of her phone. She rolled over and blindly reached toward the noise coming from her nightstand.

“Hello,” she murmured in a sleep-husky voice.

“Talia, this is Trace Barringer. Did I wake you?”

“Oh, no,” she said automatically, and wondered if everyone lied about being asleep when the phone rang.

“Right,” he said. His low chuckle brought her nerve endings pleasantly to life. “I wouldn’t have called this early, but I think I left my wallet at your house.”

Talia’s eyes flew open.

“Would you mind,” he went on, “if I pick it up on my way into the office? I can be at your front door in about twenty minutes.”

Her mind was still stuck on the wallet as she absently repeated, “Twenty minutes.”

“Right. I’ll see you then.”

Click.

“Wait!”

She sat up abruptly, then pounded her fist against the mattress in frustration. Like a punch-drunk fighter, she shook her head to clear it. She was never at her finest in the morning. “Trace Barringer is going to be here in twenty—” she glanced at the clock “—in nineteen minutes for his wallet.”

In her panicked mind, she saw an eerie similarity between this incident and the one that had happened years ago between Philip Barringer and her brother. When Philip had invited Kevin to the Barringer estate for a night of pool and pizza, Kevin had practically leaped at the opportunity.

After all, Philip had made it plain that he didn’t want Kevin dating his sister, Valerie. With the invitation, Kevin had assumed Philip had changed his mind, that he now found Kevin acceptable.

It had all been a dirty trick.

Kevin had left the Barringers’ home with a false sense of hope and some family jewelry planted in his car by Philip. He hadn’t even made it all the way home before the sheriff stopped him.

Talia wondered if the practice of framing people ran in the Barringer family. Should she expect the police to show up with Trace?

She glanced at the clock again. Fifteen minutes. There was a reasonable explanation for this, she told herself, but part of her wondered if this was Trace’s idea of a sick joke.

Fourteen minutes.

With her heart thundering in her chest, she tossed the covers aside and raced to the shower.

Her hair was wet, but she was clean, alert and wearing decent clothing when she answered his knock. She thrust the eel-skin wallet at Trace as if it were a grenade.

“Here it is. It was hidden under the cushions. I practically tore the chair apart, but nothing seemed to have slipped out. You might—” She broke off her verbal sprint when she noticed the strange way he was studying her.

Dressed in a chalk-striped suit, he stood with one hand resting on his hip. It was a very masculine, very powerful stance. A tingle of awareness ran through her. Having Trace Barringer’s undivided attention was pretty heady stuff.

She cleared her throat. “You might want to make sure everything is there.” She looked at his wallet and waited expectantly.

He shrugged and put the wallet away. “I’m not really worried about it. I just realized I’d left it here last night and I never know when I’ll get called out of town. Between your schedule and mine…” His voice trailed off, and he gave her a grin that had nothing to do with schedules.

She tried to ignore the quick flutter of her heart. “I’d really feel better if you looked through it now.” When he wrinkled his brow, she explained, “Since you misplaced it at my house, it would set my mind at ease if you made sure everything’s in the right place.”

He paused, then took the wallet back out and riffled through the credit cards and money. “It looks okay to me. But I would have been very upset to find this missing.” He flipped to a photograph and showed it to her.

Feeling foolish for overreacting, she let out a long breath of relief. The man had simply left his wallet by accident and she’d had a full-scale anxiety attack over it. She smiled weakly and looked at the photograph. A pint-sized version of Trace looked back at her. “Your son?”

He nodded. “You see the family resemblance?”

She studied the towheaded charmer with the heartbreaker smile. “How could I miss? He’s adorable. He’s got your smile.”

“Thank you. I’ll assume that means you think I’m adorable.” Trace chuckled at the disconcerted expression on her face. She’d appeared so panicked when she first opened the door, and he was glad she seemed more relaxed. Her hair was starting to dry into tousled waves that reminded him of rich silk.

He’d love to put his hands through it.

Her clothing was perfectly respectable, yet he couldn’t help but wonder if she wore a bra beneath the aqua T-shirt.

“You assume quite a bit, Mr. Barringer.”

He tore his gaze from her shirt up to her beautiful eyes. “Talia,” he said in mock offense. “I’m beginning to think you have something against me. And I know that can’t be true, because you don’t know me yet.”

He said the last phrase like a promise, Talia thought, as though she was going to get to know him if he had anything to do with it. Biting her tongue didn’t keep her retort back this time.

“You’re smarter than I thought, Mr. Barringer.”

He laughed, and she hated him for having a sense of humor. Most men in his position would be pompous. He was entirely too charming for her good. Furthermore, he made her want things she couldn’t have. She backed away and turned the doorknob behind her. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to finish getting ready for work.”

She’d just about made it through the door when he clasped her hand and lifted it to within an inch of his lips. Talia’s heart lodged in her throat.

“Saturday night, Talia. And my name is Trace.” His gaze held hers as he deliberately turned her hand over and pressed his warm mouth against the racing pulse in her wrist. The effect was like liquid flame racing through her bloodstream.

When he loosened his grip, she snatched her hand back, resisting the urge to rub away the effect of his light caress. “Saturday night,” she whispered, and miraculously managed to back her way through the door without falling.

She watched him walk away with that same confident stride he’d had fourteen years ago. He walked like a man who knew how to get what he wanted.

“Just a minute please, Freddie,” Talia said as she pulled a food order from her fax machine. After noting the number and types of subs ordered, she mentally calculated how long it would take to fill the order.

“Is that Aida you’re playing today, Talia?” Freddie asked.

She turned and smiled at the shy young man. She had a soft spot for Freddie, probably because he was the same age as her brother. “Yes, it is. You’ve been listening to Verdi more.”

Her smile faltered when she saw a man walk up behind Freddie. Trace. Her heartbeat quickened.

“What can I get for you today?” she asked, focusing on Freddie again. She tried not to think about the attractive blond man who’d never set foot in her deli before that day. A difficult task, considering the way he was studying her.

“I’ll take a meatball sub and a cola,” Freddie said. “How’s your fax machine working out? Sometimes I think we use it more than the telephone or mail.”

“It’s been great. Kevin nagged me to get it, you know, and I love it. This way I don’t have to answer the phone as much. Especially for large orders.” Large orders from the Barringer complex. What was Trace doing there? She had deliveries taken over to the main offices every day at lunch.

Freddie grinned. “I know all about those large orders. The secretaries usually ask me to tally up an order and send it to you. I guess they figure since I’m a messenger for the Barringer complex, it’s easy enough for me to take orders for lunch when I deliver memos and the mail.”

Growing weary of the Barringer name, Talia just smiled and rang up Freddie’s sub and soda.

“If you ever need any help with that fax machine,” Freddie said as he took his order from her, “you let me know. I do a lot of—” He was so intent on watching Talia that he backed right into Trace.

“Oh! Excuse me.” Freddie’s pudgy cheeks flooded with color. “Mr. Barringer,” he gasped.

Talia thought she heard a faint “Oh my God” too. Her heart went out to Freddie as he struggled with both his words and his wide plaid tie.

She gazed beseechingly at Trace.

He put a steadying hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “That’s no problem, Freddie. I probably shouldn’t have been standing so close.” He shared a “we men have to stick together” grin with Freddie and lowered his voice. “Besides, she’s pretty distracting.”

If possible, Freddie’s face turned brighter red. He mumbled something unintelligible, then ran out the door.

Talia expelled a disgusted sigh. “Well, I’ll know not to look to you for help in the future.”

“I was just trying to put him at ease. It’s obvious he’s got a crush on you.”

“He does not!”

“Are you kidding? The poor guy couldn’t tear his eyes from your shirt the whole time he was in here. And I don’t think he’s that enamored with the logo on it.”

“Right. And Dolly Parton’s my twin sister.” Well acquainted with the assets and deficits of her lean body, Talia had faced the fact long ago that Playboy wouldn’t be beating down her door with offers. Still, Trace’s remarks left her feeling unsettled. And the fact that his gaze remained on her logo didn’t exactly help matters.

She turned away and picked up the order from the fax machine. “Was there something else, Mr. Barringer? I don’t have time to chat right now.” That wasn’t exactly true. The lunch crowd had cleared out a few minutes before.

The impersonal way she said his last name annoyed Trace. He wanted to hear his first name from her lips. He wanted to watch her tempting mouth form the word. Talia had something against him and he had no earthly idea what it was.

He considered using the straightforward approach of asking her flat-out, but she was acting too cool. He found he liked her better a little off balance.

A kiss would do the trick. She’d either go off like a firecracker or melt in his arms. Or, he thought with a touch of irony, she’d pick up one of those sharp knives from the counter and use it on him.

An outrageous idea formed in his mind, and he grinned wickedly. Slipping behind the counter while she turned her back to him, he moved close enough to her to feel the warmth from her body.