"You'll have to ride in my car," she reminded him in hopes he would change his mind.
"No problem. Surely a trip to town and back won't be so bad." He smiled pleasantly, although there was little fondness in his blue eyes as he turned and stared at the small car.
Several minutes later Toni was zooming down the highway, her passenger sitting beside her like a huge block of granite. The only movement from him cameas he kept a watchful eye on the speedometer.
"Do you always drive this fast?" Christian asked the fourth time they passed another vehicle.
"Usually. Why? Am I making you nervous?"
"Hell yes," he answered bluntly. "I feel like I'm hurtling down the road in a cookie jar."
"Shame on you." Toni couldn't help but laugh. "I’ll have you know I've never even gotten a parking ticket
And we're only going ten miles over the speed limit"
"Miracles do happen," he remarked dryly.
Toni ignored the tiny jab, interested only in gett the t rip over with as quickly and uneventfully as possible.
Whatever secret desire she'd had to see Christian at a disadvantage in the supermarket, fizzled out after the f irst five minutes. Not only did he compare prices, but he read the contents of each product he bought as though he expected to be quizzed on the subject at the checkout counter.
To add insult to injury, he calmly removed several items Toni had chosen, replacing them with what he considered better buys.
"But I don't want such a large jar of peanut butter," she protested. "I'll be ninety years old before I finish it
" I'll help you," he calmly replied. "Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches happen to be one of my favorites."
"Oh?" she asked innocently. "I don't recall inviting you to share my peanut butter."
"You haven't actually said the words," Christian said as he read the label on one can, then exchanged it another and placed it in his shopping cart.
"But I know' the signs, Antonia," he said with a perfectly straight face. "I can tell when a woman is lusting after my body."
"Why, you egotistical ass!" she stormed at him, momentarily forgetting where they were. This fact was quickly brought home to her by an outraged woman,
who glared at Toni, gave a muttered "Well, I never!" then grabbed her cart and marched down the aisle Toni watched in embarrassed silence and then
looked helplessly at Christian, who was nearly choking with suppressed laughter. Harsh accusations sprang readily to her lips, only to disappear as her own sense of humor took over.
Finally, when he could speak again, Christian looped a casual arm about her shoulders and gave her a brief, hard hug. "I never knew grocery shopping could be so entertaining, Antonia. But I don't know why I'm surprised. Since meeting you, I've been party to a number of remarkable events."
Toni gave him a cheeky grin, her heart racing like a runaway train. "I did warn you . . ."
"Ahhh," he said with a nod, "so you did. But think of all I'd be missing if I had given up so early. Any minute now I expect you to fall into my waiting arms."
And from the way my heart is racing, you have no idea how close to the truth you are, she thought ruefully. It would probably be the easiest thing she'd ever done, to give in to the powerful attraction she felt for Christian. But once the attraction waned, what then?
"You're shameless, do you know that?" she said, attempting a stern reproach.
"Of course," he agreed as they began to move down the long aisle. "Did you think I'd gotten where I am today by being Mr. Nice Guy?"
"Your professional life is one thing. Do you make it a practice to employ the same tactics in your private life?"
"Are you referring to my relationship with women?"
She shrugged. "I suppose so."
"Then I'm sure you will be flattered to know that you're the first female who has refused to fall in with my way of thinking regarding how best to spend a few quiet, delightful hours. I'm usually far more successful.'"
"Bragging doesn't become you," she said as she gave him a disapproving look.
"Nor is it a habit I indulge in, honey. But like it or not, there are a lot of women who are looking for a good time just as much as a man," Christian stated without the slightest hesitation.
"Aren't you at all bothered by the fact that somewhere in your busy past you might have left behind a woman who cared deeply for you?" she asked curi- ously.
"Not at all. They knew the rules before the game started. No commitments, and we were each free to go at any time."
Perhaps his parents' marriage had been especially unsuccessful, she decided, and told him so.
"Quite the contrary, actually. My parents are still very much in love. They've been together over forty years and have raised five children." "I see," Toni mumbled, a frown touching her brow. How was it possible for someone with such a back- ground as his to be so cynical regarding women? It was a thought that stayed with Toni as they fin- ished their shopping, then took care of the other er-rands on Mrs. D's list and returned to Cartlaigne. When Toni stopped the car in the drive at the cot-tage, Christian asked her to have dinner with him that evening.
"I'm sorry, but I have plans," she said with all hon-esty. and found that she really was sorry. Toni had to admit that being with Christian, stormy though it usu- ally was, made her feel more alive than she ever had before.
"Is Cousin Susie still trying to unload you on some poor unsuspecting clod?" he asked, scowling.
"Looks that way." She smiled brightly, deciding use a bit of his own philosophy against him. "But don't worry about some poor unsuspecting clod being trundled off to the altar before he realizes what's hap-pening, Christian. With the exception of one slight deviation, I find that, like you, I like to play the field It makes the game far more interesting. Don't you agree?"
"Not if you're going to play with wimps like Ray-mond." His eyes darkened and his lips became a straight, disapproving line.
"Oh, but tonight I'm seeing Mark. He's an architect and is supposed to be rolling in money," Toni said innocently. "There's no telling what kind of expensive trinkets I might get from him if I play my cards right."
This was too much for Christian. He thrust open the door and climbed out of the small car like an en-raged bear. He then turned and snatched his groceries from the backseat, giving Toni the full benefit of his frigid gaze. "There's a name for women who perform favors for expensive trinkets, Miss Grant. You'd do well to think about that before giving so freely of yourself."
Without another word, he turned on his heel stalked around the front of the car, and charged through the barrier,
Toni opened her door and stepped lightly to the ground, a mischievous grin on her face. So Christian didn't think of love and sex quite as casually as she had assumed. How interesting. Or was it, her practical side suggested, just that he was peeved because he thought he wouldn't be the recipient of her favors?
But whatever the reason for his anger, Toni was amused. She'd found a weak spot in the seemingly etrable hide of her neighbor. And knowing the effect the wretch had on her, she needed all the ammu-nition she could gather to keep him at bay. The remainder of the day passed quickly as Toni helped Mrs. D about the house and then read to Sara. aunt's condition didn't seem to be improving, and saddened Toni.
At one point she even considered canceling her date, but the housekeeper wouldn't hear of it
"There isn't a thing you can do for your aunt, honey. And if she were able, she would be the first to tell you so. You've stayed in this house too much as it
is."
" All right," Toni said with a sigh, "I'll go. But I've left a number where I can be reached if you need me. Susie and Brent will be there also."
"Stop thinking about telephone numbers and being needad, child," Mrs. D said sternly. "You're young and pretty. Go out and enjoy life. Although, if I were
you, I wouldn't go a step farther than next door," "You and Susie." Toni rolled her eyes upward. "The tw o o f you must be Christian's greatest fans."
" I know," the housekeeper said, slowly shaking her head, "you have your reasons, or so you think. But I say there's a great deal more to that man than the
repuation you're so afraid of."
" I'll keep that in mind," Toni said as she headed to her room to get dressed. She'd learned that once Mrs.D got started singing Christian's praises, it was almost impossible to stop her.
Mark Arnold turned out to be one of the nicest men Toni had ever met. He talked about his career, but not incessantly as Raymond had done.
"I suppose you could say that being an architect is similar to being a writer or a painter. We each have a need for self-expression, but we've all chosen different ways to achieve it," he explained.
He and Toni were perched on a window seat away from the general noise of the party.
As they talked on, Mark seemed very interested in how long Toni planned to stay in Natchez. She ex-plained that she'd resigned her position with the tele-vision station in Virginia and wasn't certain of her future plans. Without being specific, she talked about her parents' death and her need to get away. She made no mention, though, of the fact that a broken engage- ment had been the real reason for her trip south.
The party ended and Mark saw her home, and Toni gauged the evening a success. The only blemish had been the odd moments when, without the slightest warning, Christian Barr's angry face had crowded her thoughts.
Once they reached Cartlaigne, they remained in the car for a few minutes, each seeming to enjoy having found someone so easy to talk to.
"I must admit this is one blind date I'm glad I ac-cepted," Mark said with a grin. "When Susie called me, I was skeptical."
"Don't apologize." Toni laughed. "I've been caught in that same trap a number of times myself. It seems that everybody has a friend or a relative coming to
town who needs a date."
"Will you have dinner with me one evening next week? I can't be more specific right now because I'm expecting to have to go out of town."
"I'd like to," Toni answered, smiling. "Give me a
call later and we'll—"
Whatever else she was about to say was broken off by the blinding light that caught them full face.
"What on earth is that?" Mark asked, raising one hand protectively over his eyes.
"My aunt's caretaker," Toni said through clenched teeth, he urge to kill uppermost in her mind. "He has a cute little the habit of roaming the grounds at all hours." She bid Mark a rather hurried good night, then got out the car. "Don't worry about seeing me to the door," she said hastily. "This character is so weird,he'd probably ask you to leave."
" Are you certain it's safe for you?"
" Oh, yes," Toni assured him in a loud voice. "Mr. Barr harbors a vengeance against the entire world because he's getting old. I've been told that in his
younger days he was something of a ladies' man. My
aunt keeps him around because of a close friendship with his family."
" Well if you're sure," Mark said cautiously.
Toni waited until the taillights of Mark's car were out of sight and then raced like a small tornado towards Christian. "Turn off that damned floodlight," she lashed out angrily as she approached her tormentor. Immediately the light was doused.
" Just what in hell do you think you're doing?" She glared up at him.
"Why, it's simple, Antonia," Christian said cahnly.
"Since there's no man living in your aunt's house, I think it's my duty to make certain you get in safely in the evenings."
"You can take your duty, Christian Barr, and go straight to hell. I neither need nor want your protection!" she nearly screamed at him.
"Surely you wouldn't begrudge an old man who's burned himself out with the ladies a chance to perform one last decent act, would you?" And though Christian's tone seemed frivolous enough, Toni caught the steely edge of anger underneath.
How dare he get angry, she silently raged. He wasn't the one being subjected to a flaming idiot, stalking the grounds at night and scaring her guests half to death. To her way of thinking, she was the injured party, and the right to express anger was her personsal privilege.
"Even if your intentions were honorable, which I know they aren't, I'd like to point out that I'm over twenty-one and quite capable of conducting my social life without you standing in the background, peering over my shoulder."
"That's debatable," Christian replied stiffly, and Toni knew, even though she couldn't see him clearly that his jaw was set and his eyes stormy.
"You're still recovering emotionally from an experience that's left you vulnerable. What you need now is a man mature and strong enough to make you realize what a fantastic woman you really are. You certainly don't need this continuous round of 'available' bachelors groping at you in parked cars."
"Oh? How interesting," Toni answered, her expression grim. "Am I to conclude from your pompous remarks that you consider yourself the ideal man to step in and make me feel like a woman and restore my flaging sense of self-worth?"
"Of course I am." Confidence oozed from his voice.
"And you'd know it too if you'd get off this ridiculous merry-go-round your cousin's put you on, long enongh to see what's going on."
"You really are serious, aren't you?" she asked uncomfortably. Toni's instincts warned her that she was standing on very shaky ground. She knew she could
handle an angry Christian, even an unscrupulous one, but certainly not a calm, quiet one, saying things she knew to be true.
"I've never been more serious in my entire life, Antonia," he said quietly.
Before she could guess his next move, she felt his hand slip over hers. "Come inside and have something warm to drink."
Warning bells of every conceivable size and shape clanged inside Toni's head. But what harm could one innocennt drink bring? she asked herself, then refused