Laura And The Lawman

“Who said I’m a gentleman?”

“My mistake.” Her voice was downright frosty.

“Is 8:00 a.m. okay with you, or do you need more beauty sleep?”

Now she was the one gritting her teeth. He’d obviously struck a nerve. Good. He didn’t know why he felt the need to get a rise out of her, he just did.

“Eight o’clock is fine.” She turned on her heel and hurried off in the direction Joseph had taken.

“See you then,” he called after her.

Watching her retreating figure, Antonio wanted to kick himself. What had happened to his detachment? Why had he made his distaste for her so obvious? Why had he goaded her the way he had?

He had spent hundreds of hours sitting and waiting, watching criminals until just the right moment to strike and take them down. He had dealt with the scum of the earth—street-corner drug dealers who would peddle their wares to anyone, even children—and he hadn’t let his true feelings show. On the contrary, he’d done everything in his power to convince them he was one of them.

But in a mere matter of seconds he had let Ruby O’Toole wriggle under his skin. Even worse, he’d let his aversion to her get in the way of the job he had to do.

No matter what his feelings for her, he had to heal the breach between them. He had to make something good come out of their enforced togetherness.

Because auctions were held every Saturday, employees at the Merrill Auction Gallery had Sunday and Monday off. That gave Antonio two days to come up with a plan. Starting first thing Tuesday morning, he would try to get to know Ruby, to gain her trust. She was an important link in the chain comprising Joseph Merrill’s business dealings, a link he couldn’t afford to overlook.

She had been right about one thing, he thought, as he gathered up his belongings: for at least three days next week they would be working very closely together. Four days, if you included travel time. Four days in Ruby O’Toole’s company was bound to test his patience, not to mention his resolve. It might very well drive him mad.

For his sanity’s sake, he hoped she left that intoxicating perfume at home.

Even though Ruby was not the type to carry her luggage to the curb, on Tuesday morning Laura made certain she was waiting there a full ten minutes before Michael Corsi’s expected arrival. The last thing she wanted was for him to come knocking on her apartment door. Though the sparsely furnished rooms suited Laura just fine, they lacked the frills and finishing touches that would undoubtedly grace any dwelling where Ruby resided.

As a precaution only, Laura thought it best not to raise any further questions in Michael’s mind. The man had already proven that he was no slouch when it came to his powers of observation.

Promptly at eight o’clock, a gold, late-model Chevrolet Silverado pulled to the curb. After countless spine-numbing rides in the ancient pickup her brother had owned when they were teenagers, she was pleasantly surprised to find that Michael Corsi’s vehicle looked quite comfortable. In fact, if she wasn’t mistaken, the engine practically purred. There wasn’t a hanging muffler or a worn-out spring in sight.

Laura met his gaze through the windshield. Just the sight of his handsome face made her heart flip-flop. She couldn’t even comfort her guilty conscience by arguing that he reminded her of her late husband. Michael Corsi was nothing like Jacob, in either looks or manner. Still, good guy or not, and whether she wanted to or not, something deep inside her couldn’t help responding whenever she saw him.

And she was going to be stuck in close quarters with him for the next four days. How would she ever cope?

She wasn’t deluded about the real reason Joseph had sent her and Michael away together. Yes, the Bickham estate needed valued, and valued soon. But it also gave Joseph the perfect opportunity to force her to spend time alone with Michael.

It wasn’t going to be as easy as Joseph expected. If the expression she’d glimpsed in Michael’s eyes on Saturday, and the way he’d deliberately goaded her, were anything to go by, active dislike was the predominant emotion Ruby stirred in him.

Laura was honest enough to admit that her behavior definitely had something to do with that reaction. She had gone a bit overboard in her flirtation with him. A bystander might even be compelled to say that she’d come on entirely too strong. It had been a self-defense mechanism, a way to protect herself—exactly what Michael himself had said she was doing. But from what did she need protection? He was certainly no danger to her.

Worse than the way she’d come on to Michael, however, was the manner in which she had done it. She’d hardly been discreet. It had been pure luck that few people had been around at the time, and that no one had seemed to notice, not even Joseph, although she couldn’t be sure about Matthew.

She had to find a way to make peace with Michael. The next few days would be excruciating if they were constantly at each other’s throats.

Besides, alienating him the way she had wouldn’t get her job done. It wouldn’t get her closer to any secrets he might have, such as his real involvement with Joseph. Like it or not, the job had to come first, and her personal feelings last.

To that end, she was determined to be civil to him, no matter how great the provocation. She wouldn’t let him get to her the way he had on Saturday. She wouldn’t make any more stupid mistakes. She would calmly, coolly and rationally do the work that both Joseph and the police department expected her to do.

A soft click announced the opening of the driver’s side door. Seconds later the man who had occupied far too many of her thoughts over the past three days was standing before her.

One foot still in the street, Michael balanced the other on the curb. Leaning forward slightly, he squinted at her in the bright sunlight while he slid his right hand into his pants pocket and draped his left arm negligently across a parking meter.

He really had no business standing that way, Laura decided, as she shielded her eyes from the sun and tried to ignore the way her pulse leaped. It was too provocative by far. The material of his faded blue jeans strained against his muscled thighs in a way that drew her eyes upward to an area they had no business being drawn to.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, once she’d torn her gaze away from the danger zone, she found herself entranced by the way his navy-blue T-shirt hugged an impressive chest, muscular biceps and trim waist. The force of Michael Corsi’s masculinity practically shimmered like a wave of heat on the air. If it had been a virus, no female over the age of consent would have been immune.

Laura had always reveled in her sexuality while Jacob was alive. Since his death she had submerged that part of her nature. Obviously, in Michael Corsi’s presence, it was trying to resurface. Whether she wanted it to or not.

She’d lost her husband and her child. Much as she had wished they would, her feelings and emotions hadn’t died along with them. She was a woman, and she possessed all the requisite feminine responses. While she might not be ready to resume that part of her life, she shouldn’t beat herself up over a normal, healthy, human reaction.

The way Michael Corsi made her feel was a nuisance, like a nosebleed or the hiccups. The good news was, she knew how to handle such nuisances. If she ignored the unwanted emotions he aroused in her, they’d simply go away.

“You’re on time,” he drawled, by way of greeting.

His eyes were hooded, hiding his expression from her. The neutral tone of his voice gave nothing away.

“You’re on time,” she replied. “Why shouldn’t I be?”

“No reason, except…”

The way he let his words trail off told her he hadn’t been about to pay her a compliment. Here they went again. So much for her effort at civility.

“Except what?” she couldn’t help asking.

He shrugged. “You’re that kind of woman.”

“The habitually late kind?”

“No,” he replied evenly. “The high-maintenance kind. In my experience, they’re rarely on time.”

She had no business being offended. After all, he’d pegged Ruby to a T. Which meant she was doing a bang-up job of being her alter ego. She should be pleased.

“I am a high-maintenance woman,” she said stiffly. “I’ll be the first to admit it. But I’m also a woman who takes her job seriously. Whether you believe it or not, Michael, I earn every penny Joseph pays me. I might keep a man waiting for a date, but I am always on time for work.”

He took his foot off the curb and straightened to his full height. “I apologize,” he said, then surprised her by smiling ruefully. “You might find this hard to believe, but I didn’t set out this morning to antagonize you. Matter of fact, I promised myself I would be on my best behavior.”

His smile and his honesty disarmed her. Laura couldn’t help laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“We are. We’re quite a pair, you and I. I promised myself the same thing.”

His answering chuckle was appreciative. “Looks like neither of us is very good at keeping promises.”

“Not this one, anyway,” she agreed. “I owe you an apology, too. I don’t know why I’m so prickly this morning.”

“Forget it,” he dismissed. “Want to give it another try?”

“Being civil to each other, you mean?”

He nodded. “We do have a long drive ahead of us. And, after that, several days of hard work. Things would go a lot smoother if we got along.”

Laura had never had difficulty staying in character before. But somehow, when she wasn’t paying attention, she’d lost Ruby. Again. She had to stop doing that. It was imperative. She couldn’t afford to arouse Michael’s suspicions. For all she knew, he was a plant Joseph had put in place to test her loyalty. She didn’t want to flunk that test.

In Michael Corsi’s presence, however, Laura Langley actually warred with Ruby O’Toole for equal time. That had to stop, too. As of yesterday.

“For Joseph’s sake,” she said, “if for nothing else, we really should try. But I have to be honest with you. I don’t hold out much hope.”

“Pessimist,” he teased, his brown eyes gleaming with humor and his lips curling invitingly.

Laura’s mouth went dry. Oh, hell. Michael Corsi in aggravating mode was attractive enough. In teasing mode, he was downright adorable.

Forget civility, she decided. An abrasive Michael was far preferable to her peace of mind. And much easier on her conscience.

“Tell me something,” she said, racking her brain for a way to put his back up again. It shouldn’t be too hard, since Ruby’s merely drawing breath seemed to irritate him no end. “You’re not one of those men who object to a woman driving, are you?”

Ruby O’Toole would gladly relinquish the driver’s seat to any male who offered, but Laura Langley would go stir crazy if she had to sit in the passenger seat the entire trip. She needed something to distract her from her awareness of this man. Negotiating the hills and curves of the drive ahead should do the trick easily enough.

“I believe in equal-opportunity driving,” he replied.

Michael didn’t know it, but he’d just given her the opening she was searching for.

“A man after my own heart,” she drawled sweetly. “Why, if Joseph hadn’t staked a claim first, I’d probably be putty in your hands.”

She felt a surge of triumph at the flare of impatience that flashed in his eyes.

“I should warn you,” he said. “If you take a spell behind the wheel, you could break a nail.”

Bingo. “I’ll risk it.”

“Won’t it hamper your incorrigible flirting with the men in other cars? I’d hate to have you cramp your style.”

“I’ll manage.”

“I’m sure you will.” The words were not a compliment.

Laura suppressed a sigh of relief. The status quo had been recaptured. She was safe, at least for now.

“Damn,” Michael muttered, shaking his head. “I did it again, didn’t I? That truce lasted all of three seconds.”

Which suited her just fine. She glanced pointedly at her watch. “Don’t you think we should be going?”

Michael eyed the three suitcases at her feet. To his credit, he really did try. No uncivil comments were forthcoming, although she noticed he did have to bite his lip.

He even kept silent when his gaze ran over her short black skirt, which was cut low at the waistline to expose her belly button, and its matching skintight sleeveless mock turtleneck top. But when he got to her shoes, which consisted solely of a strap across her instep, another strap that buckled around her ankles, and three inch heels, apparently he could keep silent no longer.

“Nice work clothes,” he said with a smirk that would have done Elvis proud.

“Thank you,” she replied, unable to resist a last longing look at his jeans and T-shirt. She would have killed to be able to wear jeans and a T-shirt. Ruby O’Toole, unfortunately, wouldn’t be caught dead in them. Under any circumstances.

More than the impractical clothing, what Laura really hated was having to spend an hour every morning putting herself together. It was such a pain having to keep her nails manicured and perfectly painted, her hair styled and her makeup just so. It was beyond her why women wasted all that time on their outward image.

Laura had always prided herself on being more interested in a person’s character than his or her appearance. She preferred substance over style. Unfortunately, had she played herself instead of Ruby, she never would have captured Joseph’s attention. Or Michael’s.

“You really like my outfit?” she asked. Flashing him Ruby’s patented smile, she smoothed her hands down her skirt. While the movement was made to look alluring, in reality it was a disguised attempt at pushing the tight fabric farther down her thighs. Even though she showed more skin in a bathing suit, the outfit still made her feel extremely self-conscious.

“It’s a Benton Thomas original,” she added, when he didn’t reply.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m not up on the current fashion designers. Aren’t you afraid of ruining your clothes? The last time I appraised an estate, it involved dank basements and dusty attics.”

She waved a hand in dismissal. “That’s what they have dry cleaners for.”

“There are some miracles even dry cleaners can’t perform.”

He might disparage the way she was dressed, but he couldn’t hide the gleam of appreciation in his eyes at the way the outfit flattered her figure. The gleam would have definitely pleased Ruby. Though she fought it, and despite her avowal of preferring substance over style, it pleased Laura, too.

“In that case,” she said airily, “there’s always Joseph. He’ll replace it if I ask. He takes good care of me.”

Michael’s lip curled. “And you’re a woman who needs a man to take care of her.”

So that’s what he objected to. She’d have to play that angle up every chance she got.

“Doesn’t every woman?”

“Say that to my sister, Kate, and she’ll likely scratch your eyes out.”

Bravo for Kate. Laura was squarely in her corner.

“I take it your sister’s a card-carrying feminist?”

“My sister is a woman who believes she can do anything as well as a man.”

Wide-eyed, Laura asked, “Isn’t that the same thing?”

He didn’t answer. Instead he nodded curtly toward her suitcases. “You want me to put those in the back?”

She gave him an obliging smile that she knew set his teeth on edge. “If you don’t mind.”

Muttering something she couldn’t catch beneath his breath, Michael tugged the suitcases to the back of the truck. She waited patiently by the closed passenger door while he placed them inside. It didn’t take him long to get the hint. With a long-suffering sigh, he came around to her side and yanked the door open.

“Thank you,” she said.

She realized her mistake the minute she faced the truck. In her zeal to play Ruby to a T, and to push Michael’s buttons, she’d forgotten that it was a long way up into the passenger seat. Her skirt was short. And tight. Laura felt Michael’s gaze burning along her legs as she climbed into the cab with as much decorum as possible.

Her temper was boiling and her cheeks hot by the time she’d settled herself comfortably.

“Enjoy the view?” The words were Laura’s, but they were said in Ruby’s teasing manner.

“A gentleman never looks,” he replied, deadpan.

“I thought we agreed on Saturday that you’re no gentleman.”

He allowed himself a smug smile. “We did, didn’t we?”

On that infuriating remark, he closed her door. A minute later he was behind the wheel.

“Buckle up.”

While she did just that, he picked up a sheaf of papers from the seat.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“A map.”

“A map?”

He nodded. “I got it off the Internet. It gives us door-to-door directions to our destination.”

“I can’t believe it,” she said.

He studied the page for a second, then, sounding distracted, replied, “What can’t you believe?”

“You’re a man. Men don’t read maps.”

“That’s a highly sexist remark.”

“It’s also the truth,” she stated.

“No, it’s not.”

“What is the truth, then?”

“When a man sets off for an unknown destination, he always consults a map. What he doesn’t do is ask for directions if he gets lost. Trust me, Ruby, if we lose our way, I promise to drive around for hours until we find it again.”

Laura gave her head a rueful shake. She’d wanted things back to the status quo, and back to the status quo they definitely were. Boy were they ever.

At least now the impulse to throw herself into his arms had passed. Unfortunately, it had been replaced by the urge to wrap her hands around his throat.

Chapter 3

Two hours into the drive, Antonio handed the wheel over to Ruby.

As had been the case during his spell as driver, they rode in silence, without even the radio to dispel the tension between them. At some point he would have to ask her about Joseph, but now was too soon. Way too soon. If he tried to pump her, she’d only grow even more closemouthed, if that was possible. Not to mention that his probing would inevitably raise her suspicions.

They were going to be alone together for the next several days. He had to use that time wisely. What he needed to do was engage her in small talk. Small, civil talk. If such a thing was possible between the two of them.

He needed to get her to relax. If she relaxed in his company, maybe then she would let her guard down low enough to reveal something of value. He would just bide his time and wait. He was good at biding his time and waiting for the proper moment.

Still, even to him, two-plus hours of silence was biding one’s time just a tad too long. There was a huge difference between waiting for the proper moment and wasting the time at hand. Especially when, on a job like this, even one wasted second could mean the difference between life and death.

“Well, what do you think?” he finally asked.

She glanced over at him. “About what?”

“My truck. How does it handle?”

She smiled. In that brief, unguarded, upward curl of her lips, he glimpsed the first honest emotion, other than her displeasure with him, that he’d seen on her face since their gazes had first met across the crowded auction floor. If only she would smile like that always, instead of bestowing that forced, brittle tilt of her lips that passed for coyness.

She made quite a picture in her short, tight skirt, and even tighter top. Her long legs seemed to stretch to eternity, and her equally long arms seemed made solely for wrapping themselves around a man’s neck. She was, quite easily, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Everything inside of him even remotely related to his Y chromosome responded to that beauty.

Then she spoiled it all by speaking.

“How does it handle? Like a man’s cheeks after a close shave.”

Antonio’s awareness of her was swept away on a wave of irritation. And women accused men of being single-minded. Didn’t she have at least one thought in her head that didn’t relate to sex?

While sex had been the ultimate goal of all of his relationships, the women he’d been involved with had, without exception, expressed an avid interest in something besides themselves. Those varied interests had made for some lively and interesting debates. He’d enjoyed their company, enjoyed spending time with them both in and out of the bedroom.

Ruby O’Toole really had no substance, he realized, wondering at his disappointment.

“It has great power on these hills,” she said, then paused. “You’re into power, aren’t you?”

He felt his brow furrow. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” she replied with a shrug.

He hated it when women said that, because he knew that their “nothing” definitely meant something. Forget about Ruby relaxing with him. He was beginning to think it would take a strong sedative to get him to relax with her. Either that, or he’d have to get blinding, stinking drunk. At this juncture in their relationship, he wasn’t averse to either idea.

“No, really,” he said. “I’m curious. What do you mean when you say I’m into power?”

She heaved an audible sigh. “Only that, like most men, you like to be in charge.”

“You mean I’m a control freak.”

“Don’t be offended. The need for power is a man’s number-one craving.”

“What about sex?”

She didn’t take her gaze off the road. “That’s number three.”

“Number three?”

“Oh, men like to believe that sex is number one, because they spend so much time thinking about it, but it’s really number three.”

Folding his arms across his middle, he shifted in his seat so he could stare directly at her. “And number two is?”

“Money.”

He drew a deep breath. “So what you’re saying is that everything a man does, everything I do, is a direct result of my craving for power?”

“Exactly.” Her voice warmed to her theme. “Men join gangs, they make weapons, they wage war. They buy fancy sports cars or big, monster trucks, preferably with stick shifts in them, to prove how macho they are. They do all this, because they need to feel powerful.”

“You’ll notice,” he said, nodding toward the dashboard, “this truck doesn’t have a stick shift.” What he didn’t bother telling her was that this particular model only came with automatic transmission.

“Doesn’t matter,” she replied blithely. “It doesn’t change the symbolism.”

“The symbolism being,” he said with exaggerated patience, “that this truck represents my need for power?”

“Of course.”

Antonio felt the beginnings of a headache. What crazy impulse had deluded him into thinking he could make small talk with her? He had no one to blame but himself. After all, she had been exceedingly “friendly” toward him at the beginning. That friendliness was what had gotten him so bent out of shape. And why? Simply because she wasn’t the type of person he’d hoped she’d be.

He was the one who had blown it by not bothering to disguise what he really thought of her. Obviously, if her continued prickliness around him, and the way she was goading him this very minute, were anything to go by, Ruby was the type who held grudges.

Even though he knew he was being deliberately taunted, he couldn’t let it go. “How does this truck symbolize my need for power?”

“Take its size, for instance.”

“What about it?”

She waved an arm. “Extended cab. A body that stands over six feet off the ground. Nobody traveling behind you, except a guy in an eighteen-wheeler, can see over you. Or around you. Face it, Michael, you’re making a statement with this vehicle.”

If he kept gritting his teeth this way, his dentist was going to make a fortune. “I am?”

“Yes. You’re saying you want to own the road, and everybody else better get out of your way. Driving this truck makes you feel powerful.”