“You know,“ Diana said, examining the wet shirt, “I think it may be a sign that he’s beginning to accept you.“
Colby glowered at the dog who stared back with an astonishingly innocent expression. “No, Diana, it’s not a sign that he’s beginning to accept me. It’s a sign that he’s getting sneakier about showing how much he hates my guts. He knows he’s losing the battle so he’s going underground to engage in guerrilla warfare.“
“You’re getting paranoid.“
“I believe in never underestimating the enemy.“ He loped up the porch steps and opened the cabin door. “Going to invite me in for dinner?“
She laughed. “Has it occurred to you that you may be turning into as big a mooch as my dog?“
“Specter only loves you because you know how to open a can of dog food. I, on the other hand, not only like your cooking, limited though your repertoire may be, but I’m crazy about your body.“
“Where does my fascinating mind come into all this?“
“Honey, two out of three ain’t bad. I’m certainly not complaining.“
“You chauvinistic turkey.“ She punched him playfully in the ribs and had the satisfaction of seeing him double up in exaggerated pain. “You want dinner here tonight? You can cook it.“
“Getting tired of doing all the cooking, hmm? I was afraid it would come to this,“ Colby said with an air of resigned gloom. “I should never have let you seduce me this afternoon. I should have known that once you knew you had me well and truly hooked, you’d walk all over me, abuse me and generally take me for granted.“
Diana stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips across his cheek. “Who,“ she asked softly, “seduced who this afternoon?“
“Whom,“
he corrected with a grin. “The question is who seduced
whom.
Pay attention. Us writers know all about grammar and stuff like that.“
“I’m impressed, but that doesn’t answer my question.“ Diana swept past him and switched on the light. If nothing else, the sensual encounter this afternoon had certainly put Colby Savagar into a playful mood. She realized she’d never seen him in quite this mood until now.
“Sorry. I forgot. What was the question?“
“Now you’re avoiding it.“
“Avoiding what?“
“The question.“
“Speaking of questions) I’ve got one for you.“
She paused at the kitchen door, aware that he had lingered behind her in the hallway. She glanced back curiously.
Colby was eyeing the letter and envelope she’d left on the hall table beside the vase of flowers.
“What’s your question?“ Diana asked pointedly.
He looked up, much of the playfulness in his expression gone. “Who’s Aaron Crown?“ He gave the letter a flick that sent it skidding to the far end of the table.
“My boss,“ she said slowly. “Or, to be more accurate, my ex-boss.“
Colby followed her into the kitchen. “Why’s he writing to you?“
She shrugged, pretending to ignore the faint challenge in Colby’s voice. She pulled a head of lettuce out of the refrigerator. “Two reasons, I suppose. One, because we’ve worked together for quite a while and we’re friends, and two, because he wants me to come back to my old job at Carruthers and Yale as soon as possible.“
“Doing that accounting stuff you were doing before you took a leave of absence?“
“Yes.“ Colby had not displayed much interest in her job. He had only a vague idea of what she did for a living and did not realize just how much her career meant to her. Perhaps he simply didn’t care. “Let’s see you put together a salad. I’ll open some wine and pour us both a drink.“
“I thought it was the man’s job to open the wine and sit around watching while the woman washed vegetables.“
“I’m giving you credit for being somewhat liberated.“ She maneuvered the corkscrew into the bottle.
Colby hoisted the lettuce, his gaze speculative. “You said you took a leave of absence from that job of yours because you didn’t get the promotion you expected.“
“That’s right. I was going to resign outright, but Aaron convinced me to take some time off and think things over.
He said I’d been working too hard for too many years.“
“You never mentioned this Aaron Crown before.“
“Didn’t I?“
“No, Diana, you didn’t. Stop playing games with me. I read the first couple of paragraphs of that letter out there in the hall. Crown is practically begging you to come back to work for him. Are you sure he isn’t more than just your boss?“
Diana sat down in a kitchen chair and put her feet up on the chair across from her. She sipped her wine, patted Specter on the head and thought about Aaron Crown.
Good-looking in a corporate kind of way, well-dressed in a corporate kind of way, congenial in a corporate kind of way, Aaron Crown should have been able to go very far in the corporate empire of Carruthers and Yale. And he certainly had risen fast enough when he had Diana Prentice around to make him look good. It would be interesting to see how well he did on his own.
“No,“ she said quietly. “Aaron has never been anything more than just my boss.“
There was silence for a long moment as Colby tore lettuce. “I’m beginning to realize something,“ he said finally.
“What?“
“There’s a lot I don’t know about you.“
Diana smiled into her wineglass. “You mean now that you’ve had your wicked way with me, you’re finally getting curious about me?“
“First things first, I always say. I’m very good at establishing priorities and believe me, making love with you was number one on my list. Where do you keep the olive oil and vinegar?“
“Second cupboard on the right.“
When Colby opened the wrong door, Specter came to attention and produced a warning growl.
“What the hell’s the matter with him now?“ Colby demanded.
“You’ve just opened the cupboard where I keep his dog food. Maybe he doesn’t trust you around his food.“
“Maybe he shouldn’t trust me. We’re enemies.“ Colby smiled slightly and closed the cupboard door. “The only thing I care about is whether or not
you
trust me. Do you, Diana?“
She sipped her wine and studied him. “I still don’t know you very well.“
“You’re trying to sidestep the issue.“ He leaned back against the tiled counter and picked up the glass of wine she’
d poured for him.
Diana took a deep breath. “I must trust you on some level, or I wouldn’t have spent the afternoon doing what I did with you.“
Colby nodded in satisfaction. “Yeah, that’s the way I figured it, too.“ He turned back to the lettuce. “Did I ever tell you I make the world’s best Caesar salad?“
“No, I don’t believe you ever mentioned it.“
“Wait until you’ve tasted it.“
“Where did you learn to cook?“ Diana asked curiously.
“From books. I had a kid to raise, remember? I decided I owed Brandon something besides frozen dinners and pizza, although he would have been just as happy with that level of cooking. I learned a lot of things about raising kids from books. I also found out the books aren’t always right.“
“No, I don’t imagine they are. Did you want a child, Colby?“
“Not at the age of nineteen, I didn’t,“ he said with an ironic twist of his mouth. “But I didn’t have much choice in the matter. One fine day Brandon arrived and that settled it. There wasn’t time to worry about whether or not I wanted a kid. I had one. What about you?“
The intimate question surprised her. Colby didn’t ask such questions. Diana stared into her wine. She had wanted him to be curious about her, but not on this particular subject. She was not prepared to give him a full and complete answer, so she hedged with a portion of the truth. “I used to think about it sometimes. But somehow the right time and the right man never came together.“
“Never?“
“Well, there was a man once, back when I was just starting my career. I was about twenty-five. I thought perhaps he might be the one. Things were very good for a while. But it turned out that he’d been on the rebound when he came into my life. When his ex-lover showed up, he realized that she was the one he really wanted.“
“He walked out on you?“
“I’ve always been extremely grateful the ex-lover showed up before the wedding instead of after it,“ Diana said dryly. “At any rate, after that I quit thinking about a family and concentrated on building my career. Now I’m thirty-four and I’m content with what I have.“
“You don’t wonder what you missed?“
“Not really. Not often. I’ve built a full life based on a successful career, good friends and a variety of interests. I don’t think I would have made a really terrific mother, anyway,“ she added with an attempt at lightening the unexpectedly tense atmosphere. “I’ve never been overwhelmed by the cuteness of kids and the thought of trying to get a child through the teenage years would traumatize me,“
“It can be rough, all right. You get through it by doing what has to be done. But now that I’m a qualified expert, I’m more than happy to retire from the field. Raising kids is a job for starry-eyed people in their twenties who don’t know what they’re getting into.“
“That I can believe.“ She stood up. “After thirty, you’re old enough to be able to see what an undertaking it really is. At thirty-four, I’d be absolutely horrified at the prospect of getting pregnant.“
Colby glanced at her with sudden understanding. “It would throw your whole carefully structured life into chaos, wouldn’t it? It would change everything for you.“
“Yes, frankly, it would,“ she shot back, miffed by his tone. “You sound as if you think it might be a good thing for me to have everything changed in my life.“
Colby sliced a blood-red tomato into small chunks. “Yeah,“ he said. “Having a kid would definitely change everything for you.“
“Well, that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about, do I?“ she said very firmly.
“No,“ he agreed. “That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about. But maybe there are a few other, less drastic changes you could make in your life.“
“Such as?“
“Such as moving in with me for the rest of the summer. Being the generous man that I am, I’m even willing to take your stupid dog.“
He hadn’t liked her answer but he’d handled it with his customary cool. Probably because he was convinced it wouldn
’t take him long to change her mind.
Suit yourself,
he’d said.
No need to make a decision this minute. We’ll talk about it some other time.
Diana thought about Colby’s implicit assumption for a long time after he’d left that night. He was probably right.
She was already sleeping with him. Why not move in with him?
For the summer.
Deep inside, Diana knew that was the part that grated. Colby Savagar wasn’t looking any further ahead than the end of the summer. He was certainly honest enough about that.
Restlessly, Diana pushed back the covers and left the bed. Specter got to his feet as she put on a robe and found her slippers. He looked up at her questioning.
“Want a midnight snack?“ Diana asked.
Specter’s large, floppy ears snapped forward with eager attention, and he crowded close as Diana went down the hall.
“No need to ask you twice, is there? You and Colby both respond well to the stimulus of food.“
Specter probably didn’t care to be lumped together with his archrival but he kept quiet about it. He watched alertly as Diana dug out a dog biscuit and handed it to him. Specter took it from her fingers with great delicacy and then proceeded to swallow the snack in one chomp and a gulp.
“My, what big teeth you have,“ Diana said as she found a cracker for herself. “Colby’s right. Those teeth do make a person wonder what you did for a living before you got this cushy job as my pal.“
Specter grinned in what he probably felt was an engaging manner. Unfortunately the canine smile only succeeded in showing more teeth.
“Don’t do that,“ Diana instructed firmly. “You remind me of Colby.“
She sat down at the kitchen table to munch her cracker. The copy of
Shock Value
Colby had given her a few weeks earlier lay nearby. She was still trying to get the last paragraph of chapter ten out of her mind from yesterday’s reading.
She hesitated a minute and then, unable to help herself, flipped the book open to find out what had happened to the main character, a man named Donnelly.
All he could think in those last seconds was that it wasn’t right for a creature of such evil to appear in such innocent guise. A monster should look like a monster. A man should be able to tell the difference between good and evil at a glance.
But he had been too blind to see the truth and now the truth would kill him. Slowly, horribly, unmercifully, it would kill him.
Diana shuddered a little and quickly closed the book. She knew better than to read more of
Shock Value
at this time of night. She looked down at Specter.
“I think Donnelly’s going to make it,“ she told the dog. “But we’re all going to get our socks scared off in the process. Where do you suppose a writer of horror novels gets his ideas? I don’t think I would want to dream Colby’s dreams.“
She got up and started to turn out the hall light. Aaron Crown’s letter still lay on the small table near the door.
Diana remembered Colby’s reaction to it.
“The man spends one afternoon making love to me and he figures he’s got a right to read my mail. Specter.
Something tells me Colby’s the possessive type. He’s also arrogant, proud and capable of carrying a grudge against an entire town. I wonder why he came back to Fulbrook Corners this summer.“
Specter gave her a look that clearly said,
who cares?
Then he yawned and padded down the hall to the bedroom.
Colby looked up from the screen of the word processor and watched the morning sunlight fill the valley. In the distance Chained Lady Falls poured silver down the cliffs and Colby’s body tightened as he remembered the events of the previous afternoon.