Against All Odds (Arabesque) (25 page)

“I used to wish they’d split up, because I didn’t know which one of them to sympathize with, and they both needed it. Maybe they’ll salvage the rest of their lives. I hope so.”

The day’s events had undermined her sense of identity, and she lacked the strength to endure another of Adam’s interrogations. Tangling with him that morning had left her raw, and after that, the dam had burst. If she could have expected him to greet her with love and understanding, she’d have run to him. But he wouldn’t come prepared to meet her needs, only to wring from her what he required for his own peace of mind. No. She couldn’t see him.

* * *

Adam rose from his bed and stared out at the still dark morning. He had to see Melissa, to arrive at an understanding with her and to find out what she knew about the incidents at Leather and Hides. Although he’d seen her there and witnessed what appeared to be her collusion with people intent on destroying his property, he didn’t want to believe her capable of it. Yet what was he to think? Why hadn’t she defended herself? He dressed in woolen pants, a long-sleeved knitted T-shirt, crew-neck sweater, and leather jacket and drove into Frederick. He parked four blocks from Melissa’s house in order to thwart the local gossipmongers and strode briskly through the darkness to her front door. She probably wouldn’t appreciate a visit at seven o’clock in the morning, but if her night had been as rough as his, at least he wouldn’t awaken her.

She answered after several rings, and he wondered why she seemed relieved to see him.

“You could have been someone intent on mischief,” she explained in response to his question.

He didn’t wait for her invitation to enter, and once inside surprised himself by asking, “What about Magnus Cooper?” He hadn’t realized that her relationship with the man bothered him that much.

She tightened her robe, walked into the living room, and sat on the sofa. “Where is it written, Adam, that I have to explain my behavior to you?” He wished she wouldn’t squint—every time he saw her do it, she all but unraveled him. He pulled off his jacket and tossed it near her on the sofa.

“It is written in the tomes of common decency, Melissa. You’ve been in my arms, and I’ve been inside of you. That gives me some rights.”

She sucked her teeth and waved her hand as though to say, Don’t fool yourself.

Adam took a chair opposite her. “Let’s not bicker. The problem at the factory is getting out of hand, and if I don’t find out who is responsible, we may lose it. Who did you follow there? And who shot Timothy, Melissa? Tell me what you know. It if weren’t for you, I’d go to the FBI about this, but I’ll level with you. My list of suspects includes three members of your family. Tell me you’re not involved, and I’ll believe you.”

“If you need my verbal assurance, there’s no point in my giving it.”

He saw her lips quiver and her composure falter as she fought tears, and he told himself he wouldn’t let her tears influence him, but he couldn’t remain unmoved by the sight of water glistening in her eyes.

“What is it? Don’t. I don’t want to cause you pain.” He’d never seen her cry, never seen her lacking the calm assurance that defined her character. Alarmed, he stepped to her and put his arms around her. “What is it?” he whispered, bending to hear her broken words.

“My family’s falling apart. My father has left my mother, moved out of their house with all of his personal belongings, and Mama’s actually happy that he’s gone. She retaliated by filing for a divorce. Schyler stays as far away from our parents as he can get, because he can’t stand to see them live out their farce, making the best of their painful marriage. And Daddy attributes every misfortune he’s ever had to the Hayes and Roundtrees. No matter how remote the issue, if it didn’t go his way, he holds your family responsible. He’s a failed man, Adam. He wanted to play football but couldn’t make the varsity. He wanted my mother, but although she married him, in her heart she belonged only to Bill Henry Hayes. And he wanted a career as a politician, but he lost the most celebrated legal case this region’s ever witnessed, one that he should have won, but for his own inefficiency. After that, he could never win his party’s support.”

Adam eased her out of his arms. The time had come—he’d known it would. But he hadn’t expected that he would have to confess responsibility for something that weighed so heavily on her and to do it at a time when she needed his strength. And at a time when he questioned her role in the attempted ruination of his family. With his hands lightly on her shoulders, he urged her to sit.

“I have to tell you something, Melissa—something I’ve postponed mentioning because I didn’t know how to broach it to you.” He stopped talking and thought for a minute, aware that she didn’t press him to continue though she scrutinized his every gesture. “That isn’t quite accurate,” he amended. “The truth is, I knew I should have told you the first time I took you to my lodge, but I wasn’t ready to take the risk that you wouldn’t forgive me. I’m not ready for that now, either, but I don’t have a choice. When I was sixteen, I found a lawyer’s briefcase that contained court papers in the men’s room at a local restaurant, but I noticed that it belonged to Rafer Grant, and in an act of vengeance I left them there without telling Rafer about them. I hadn’t cared what the next finder did with them.” He paused, his voice softening as though in regret. “I later learned that the brief pertained to the defense of a prominent person, and that because he didn’t have the papers, Rafer’s summary to the jury had been sloppy and ineffectual. He lost the case.”

He shifted his stance, uncomfortable in the silence that hung between them. He got the impression that she wanted to recall something that eluded her, and he waited with as much patience as he could muster. At last she spoke.

“I’ve heard about that case Lord knows how many times. Daddy’s excuse was that he’d misplaced his brief.” Her cynical laugh jarred him. “And that’s probably the only thing that happened to him after he married Mama that he didn’t blame a member of your family for.” She folded her arms, running her hands up the wide sleeves of her robe. “You couldn’t have been more than fourteen or fifteen at the time. What could have upset you so badly that you’d do such a thing?”

“I can’t tell you without reflecting upon someone else. Remember that I didn’t hide it or take it—I just didn’t tell him I’d seen it. But I didn’t care if someone else took it. I hated the word Grant.”

Her eyes widened. “But you were a child. Why?”

“I had a reason, a personal one, but looking back, I admit that I didn’t behave honorably. It taught me a lesson, too: I never carry important papers in a briefcase unless I’ve stored a copy elsewhere.” The slow shake of her head, her pensive expression, were not the reaction he’d anticipated. She didn’t show anger.

“I don’t know what to say to this. Whatever made us think we could have a normal relationship as other men and women do? There’s too much bad blood between us.”

He wondered if she felt as ill fated, as resigned, as her seemingly careless shrug suggested. No matter, he had no intention of landing on his face because Rafer Grant hadn’t shown guts enough to fight adversity.

“A man doesn’t allow a single incident to bring him down, to circumscribe his whole life. Such a man will use any excuse, any crutch.”

Melissa opened her mouth to defend her father, but remembered that she had stopped doing that. She spoke mostly to herself. “Do you know what it means to spend your life trying to please someone, only to have the scales fall from your eyes, only to realize that such blind devotion is undeserved?”

“Rafer?”

She nodded.

“Blind devotion is never deserved.” He kicked at the carpet, looked down at her, shook his head, and walked toward the opposite end of the room.

“Adam, will you please stop pacing. It’s unsettling.” He did as she asked, but his close scrutiny told her that he wanted to gauge her mood, to figure out what had prompted her remark. She didn’t enlighten him. Why should she tell him what she felt when she watched his muscles ripple, or that the sight of his tight buttocks and long masculine legs cased erotically in his pants challenged her sense of propriety?

He returned to his seat, leaned forward, and said, “You’re your father’s only daughter. How could he not love you? How could
anybody
not...” He didn’t complete the sentence, and she refused to raise her hopes by doing it for him. He sat with his right sneaker resting on his left knee, and her gaze caught his long slim foot sockless and unshod and the circumstance in which she’d seen it. Her mouth watered. Her right hand went to her tingling breast, and she shifted her position on the sofa. Flustered, she locked her gaze on a group of snapshots that rested on her mantelpiece and swallowed the saliva that accumulated in her mouth.

“Melissa!” She resisted the pull of his voice and wouldn’t look at him.

“Look at me,” he purred with the soft growl of a great cat preparing to mount its mate. As if programmed to do so, her eyes found his beloved face, and she drew in her breath when her gaze locked into his seductive stare, his knowing look.

She glanced away. Good Lord! She nearly panicked at the realization that she still wore her robe and her bikini panties. Did he think she’d sat with him dressed in that way just to entice him? She stood, tightening the robe as she did so. She’d greeted him in that robe once before, she recalled, and he’d spent the night with her. Not this time. She started toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To get dressed.”

“Why?” The sizzling hot, steely expression in his eyes told her that her robe was more than she needed. She tugged it closer to her body.

“Come here and sit on my lap, honey.” With a hand in each of his pockets, he uncrossed his knee, spread his legs, and leaned back in the chair. “Come here, sweetheart.” Liquid legs propelled her to him.

“I don’t want this, Adam. We can’t solve anything between the sheets.” He reached up, gathered her in his arms, and lowered her to his left knee. Tremors of anticipation raced through her at his deep, masculine laugh.

“That’s the only place we ever solve anything. We want each other, so don’t bother to deny what you’re feeling.”

She shrugged to display an air of indifference. “I’ve decided to deny myself. Self-denial builds character.”

“And guarantees sleepless nights. Come on, honey. Open your mouth for me.”

Her stubbornness gave way to compliance when she felt him rise strong and rigid against her hip, and she eagerly sought his lips. She reeled under the impact of his loving kiss. As soon as she returned his fire, his kiss gentled, and he showered her with tenderness, feathering kisses over her lips and eyes. Cherishing her. She reveled in it. Oh, it felt so good to be in his arms.

She wanted to hold him forever, but his reason for being there flitted through her mind, and she couldn’t help withdrawing and knew that he sensed it. He held her away from him, studying her countenance.

“I need to make love with you, but I need more. I can’t give myself to you halfheartedly, and I don’t want you to do that, either. You’re important to me, Melissa. Do you know anything about the problems we’re having at the factory?” He curled her to him as one would hold a baby. “Can’t you understand that I have to solve that problem, and that as long as I don’t know where you stand in this, my loyalties are split and I’m unable to do my job effectively?”

She took a deep breath, mused over his words, and sought middle ground. “I can tell you that I don’t know who shot Timmy. The other thing I know is that Timmy’s daddy is the deputy chief of police, and Mama says he’s always taken care of Timmy’s numerous brushes with the law. I know that much, Adam.” She leaned back and looked him straight in the eye. “But I will not exonerate myself for you. Not now or ever.”

She welcomed his audible sigh of relief. At least she could give him that much without compromising her integrity.

He released her, stood, and walked to the far end of the room. “Will you lose any sleep knowing that I intend to seek the help of the FBI?”

She couldn’t hold back the smile that curved her lips. “Not one wink. Crafty rascal, aren’t you?” He ran his right hand over his hair, not taking his eyes off of her.

“So I’ve been told. You won’t yield on this, and neither will I, but you’ve given me something and for now I’m satisfied.”

She yawned. “Would you like some coffee?”

He slid his hands into his pockets and propped his foot on the rung of an antique chair. Then he laid his head to one side and cocked an eyebrow. “
Coffee?
You’re kidding. I want
you.
”

* * *

Adam lay on his back, his left arm securing her to his side. He’d made love to her twice, and the first time he’d been able to hold back as he had with every woman since, as a boy of fifteen, he’d gotten the strength to walk away from the one who taught him to crave her and then humiliated him for it. With her every move, Melissa had asked him for more than he gave her, but still he’d been able to withhold a vital part of himself. And with all her sweet giving, he’d been left unfulfilled, knowing he’d brought that on himself. She seemed to have sensed that his war with himself didn’t involve her, and she’d stroked and soothed him as he rested above her spent, but unsatisfied.

Minutes later, still sheathed within her warmth, he had reached full readiness again. He’d kissed her with all the tenderness he felt for her, and with his eyes had asked her permission to continue. Her sweet smile of acquiescence had sent his heart soaring, and he’d cherished her, because it was what he felt, and she’d suddenly gone wild beneath him. Her body demanded that he give her all of himself, and at her zenith she’d repeatedly whispered her love for him and stunned him by telling him she needed his love more than she needed air. He’d lost it then. A feeling he’d never known. And he’d given himself because he wanted to, needed to, and finally because he couldn’t help himself. His control had shattered, and he would never forget that feeling of scaling the heights, of having the earth move beneath him and the stars shooting all around him. She had pulled down his walls, blasted his safe, and left him vulnerable to her. If he discovered that she had a hand in the mess at Leather and Hides, it probably wouldn’t make a damned bit of difference.