Craig grinned. “A joke about being a love slave?”
Rand cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, you had to be there to get it.”
“Haley, would you come upstairs and help me gather Carrie’s things?”
Haley shrugged. “Sure.” Elizabeth’s request had been so overly polite, she knew Rand’s sister wanted to quiz her.
“So?” Elizabeth said, as soon as they were in Rand’s bedroom.
“So what?”
“Don’t make me hurt you.” Elizabeth waved her fist.
“What exactly are you asking, Mrs. Busybody?”
“Well, did you and Rand—you know?”
“Did you and Craig—you know?” Haley shot back at her, and Elizabeth giggled.
“We certainly did. Several times in fact.” She grinned at Haley. “And it’s all thanks to you, my friend. If you hadn’t thought to call Craig when the brakes burned up…” She stopped and her mouth fell open. “Hey, did you ruin Rand’s brakes just so I’d call Craig?”
Haley turned away, pretending to scan the room. “I think Carrie may have left her shoes in here.”
“You did!” Elizabeth began laughing. Then she grabbed her sides and tottered to the bed where she laid face down, chortling like a maniac. Helplessly, Haley followed suit, falling on the bed next to her.
“Rand better not find out you burned up the brakes on his dream car on purpose,” Elizabeth gasped, propping herself up against the headboard. “He’ll kill you.”
“I’ve already confessed,” Haley admitted between giggles.
Elizabeth wiped her eyes on her sleeve and then began giggling again. “Now I understand the love slave thing.”
Dramatically, she placed her hand over her heart. “I will never forget the supreme sacrifice you made so that Craig and I could be together. You will be my friend forever. And you could still end up as my sister-in-law,” she added slyly.
Haley shook her head. “Don’t even go there. Rand let me know, in no uncertain terms, that marriage is not in the cards for him.”
“Well, what about you? Do you think you could fall in love with him? Would you like to get married?”
Haley was not about to confide to Rand’s sister that she already was in love with him. She knew Elizabeth wouldn’t reveal her confidences, but if she didn’t come right out and say it, she could pretend that marriage and babies and a future with Rand didn’t matter. She was just about to change the topic when the doorbell rang downstairs. Both women sat up and looked at each other.
“Who can that be?” Elizabeth asked. “It’s barely daylight.”
Haley went to the window overlooking the driveway. Phyllis Riddick’s baby blue Cadillac was parked in front of the house.
“Uh-oh. It’s a friend of mine. I hope everything’s all right,” Haley exclaimed as she hurried out the bedroom door; Elizabeth close on her heels.
Haley prayed that Phyllis didn’t need a sitter for Delphine again. Rand had resigned himself to having the dog in the house the first time, but she didn’t want to push her luck. Especially now when things were going so well between them.
Craig was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
“Come on, honey.” He motioned to Elizabeth. “Carrie and I have a surprise for you.”
“We’re going to look for a new house so we can have a baby,” Carrie said excitedly.
Elizabeth paused on the bottom step and stared at Craig. “What is she talking about?”
Craig grinned, looking sheepish. “All I said was we were going to look for a new house. She added the baby part.”
He extended his hand, and Elizabeth clasped it, her eyes luminous.
“Well, let’s go and see about doing both.”
Haley watched them leave, amazed at the change in her friend. She sighed. Love was so unpredictable. She wondered if Rand was really happy for his sister or just putting up a good front. Where was he, anyway? And what was Phyllis doing here?
Rand stared in horrified fascination at the small, unstoppered green bottle Phyllis Riddick was waving gently under his nose. With her hair covered by a navy ball cap and dressed in a red and white striped gauze affair, she looked like an escapee from a paramedic convention.
“Breathe deeply,” Phyllis advised. “This is a foolproof formula for stimulating the libido. Just the scent is energizing.”
“My libido doesn’t need energizing.” He tried to back away from her.
She tugged on his sleeve and continued waving the bottle in small circles in front of his face. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Andrew. Now stand still, and let my potion work its magic.”
Where was Haley?
Rand wondered. She needed to explain to Phyllis that his libido was in fine working order.
“Phyllis, I don’t need it,” he tried again.
“Hush,” she ordered more sternly. “You need to drink this now, and you can’t be thinking negative thoughts.”
Phyllis thrust the bottle at him, nudging it into his hand. He stared at it suspiciously. “What’s in it?”
If it wasn’t too awful, he’d drink the damn stuff just to get rid of her.
“The usual ingredients. All natural, nothing toxic,” she answered blithely. “It’ll probably help your leg heal faster too.”
Rand shrugged and tilted the bottle to his lips, swallowing the few ounces of green liquid, which tasted like an herbal tea with almonds and honey.
“What are you doing?” Haley’s voice caught him mid swallow, and he choked.
Phyllis swooped toward Haley, enveloping her in colorful floating gauze. “My sweet girl, your problems are over. I prepared my special elixir for Andrew, and he drank it.” She beamed at both of them.
“Elixir?” Haley looked blankly at Rand.
Phyllis nodded beatifically. “For his impotence.”
“Impotence!” Haley looked as horrified as Rand felt. Somehow, it made him feel better.
“Phyllis, what was in that elixir?” Haley demanded.
Rand was anxious to hear the answer. Although he felt pretty sure that the stuff was harmless, it wouldn’t hurt to have it confirmed.
“It’s a secret formula, but I promise you it works. My third husband, Mr. Riddick, bless his heart, was so unhappy because of his problem. After my elixir cured him, he was so grateful. He…” she paused, a huge grin spreading across her face. “Well, never mind. But trust me, he was as virile as a man half his age until the day he died.” She sighed and stared off into space.
For just a moment, Rand envied the deceased Mr. Riddick. Then he glared at Haley. The whole ridiculous situation was her fault. “Tell her I do not have an impotence problem.”
She stiffened, and he realized his voice was more clipped than he intended. He had spent enough time with Haley to realize it was not the best approach to take with her.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Rand,” she said in a tone so sweet, he could hardly miss the point.
Irritated, he prepared to tell her exactly what he meant. “You know very well that...”
“Children,” Phyllis interrupted. “Your auras are a lovely pinky fuchsia. You are in sync in every way.” She smiled coyly. “I wouldn’t waste the moment if I were you.” She nodded significantly at Rand’s midsection.
The truth was, he did feel a stirring in his groin. The power of suggestion was an effective aphrodisiac, calling up images of Haley naked on his bed. Phyllis was right. They shouldn’t be wasting their pinky fuchsia auras.
Studiously avoiding Haley, he focused on Phyllis. What the hell, he thought, she’ll probably never leave unless he acknowledged the potion, or whatever she called the stuff. He placed his arm around the older woman’s shoulders and whispered in her ear. “Thanks a million for coming over with the elixir, Phyllis. I think it’s beginning to work, if you know what I mean.”
Phyllis smiled smugly and whispered back, “I know exactly what you mean, dear boy. My husband used to get that same look as soon as he drank the elixir.”
Rand smiled as an unusual sense of well being rippled up his spine. He was feeling increasingly mellow. He wondered if Phyllis had stumbled onto the ingredients in Viagra. He glanced at Haley.
She was watching them suspiciously. With her face scrubbed free of make-up and her hair bobbing in corkscrew curls all over her head, she once again reminded him of the childlike creature he had first thought her.
But she was braless. Her breasts stood in pert relief against the soft cotton of her knit shirt. The need to press his lips to those breasts became overwhelmingly urgent. He grinned at her over Phyllis’ head and winked, pleased when she cast him a startled look and then grinned back.
“I’ll just hobble with Phyllis to her car, and I’ll be right back,” he said.
Bemused, Haley watched as Phyllis slipped her arm around Rand’s waist, and they made their way toward the front door, chatting like old friends. She shook her head. The man was so exasperating. One minute he acted like she was some kind of alien creature, and the next he flashed her smile so inviting she fell headfirst into it.
She giggled, remembering the expression on his face when he drank Phyllis’ potion. Rand may have problems, but they weren’t with his libido. She wondered why he had humored Phyllis? She was glad he hadn’t frozen the older woman with one of those CEO-from-hell looks. She shook her head. He was a mass of contradictions.
A delicious warmth infused her as images of their lovemaking paraded through her head. The brush of his unshaved chin against her breasts—the faint smell of his aftershave—the corded muscles of his forearms. No, he certainly wasn’t troubled with any kind of sexual problems. His problems were people related. He put up emotional barriers, flashing road signs that warned of the dangers of moving ahead. She sighed, wondering if she had enough stamina to wait for him to open up to her, to trust her.
The front door opened. Rand stood silhouetted in the light, a strange expression on his face.
She walked toward him. “What’s wrong?” Suddenly Delphine poked her head around his legs and barked excitedly when she spotted Haley. Rand moved his cast and the dog edged past him to bound down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of Haley, grinning an idiotic doggy grin of pure pleasure while her tail thumped madly.
“What’s Delphine doing here?” She glanced up at him as she bent to pat the dog.
Rand muttered something as he moved toward her.
“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”
He cleared his throat and frowned, looking harried and embarrassed. “I said that Phyllis has a hair appointment and asked if we’d keep the dog for a few hours.”
She stared at him. “And you agreed?” Rand muttered again, and Haley tried to stifle a smile. “I’m sorry,” she said sweetly, “I didn’t quite catch that either.”
“I said she’s here, isn’t she? So that means I agreed.” He looked directly at her and glowered. “What’s that smirk supposed to mean?”
She laughed at him. “Face it, McNeil. You’re a pushover. Everyone else thinks you’re Mr. Big shot, but I know a pushover when I see one. Apparently Phyllis does also.”
He raised his hands, balancing precariously on his good leg. “So sue me. It’s only for a few hours. Delphine can stay in the back yard. What can happen in that short time?” He grinned at her. “In the mean time, I think we should go upstairs and test the effectiveness of Phyllis’ elixir.”
Their lovemaking was leisurely, playful. Rand cursed the awkward cast, which prevented him from showing her just how inventive a lover he could be.
“Shh,” she whispered. “This is perfect. Perfect.” She arched her back as the rhythm escalated to a shattering climax for both of them.
Sated, they lay quietly next to each other, holding hands. Rand couldn’t remember a more peaceful moment in his life. When she tried to pull her hand from his, his fingers tightened around hers, unwilling to let go. He knew it was more than just desire that made him feel this way. His mind balked at the word love, conjuring up all the reasons why he vowed never to fall in love again.
Finally removing her hand and then stretching like a cat, Haley looked at him, a question in her eyes. “You okay?”
He shrugged and smiled. “Isn’t that my line? After all you were practically a virgin yesterday. Are you okay?”
“Couldn’t be better.” She grinned contentedly, her hazel eyes warm and slightly glazed from their lovemaking. She looked incredibly appealing. Beautiful even. He wanted to tell her. Words hovered on the tip of his tongue, and he swallowed. What almost came out were not comments on her looks, but commitment words. He felt a moment of panic.
Don
’
t say it. Don
’
t think it, he warned himself. Remember Angela.
Suddenly an image of Angela’s face, beautiful and sexually aroused swam before his eyes. He shuddered at the memory. Angela had betrayed him, and the pain had been excruciating. He would never allow himself to go through anything like that again. A small voice of reason argued that Haley was nothing like Angela. He could trust Haley. He’d just needed to wait a little longer to tell her how he felt.
With a false heartiness, he said, “I think we need to check on Delphine.” He immediately regretted it when Haley bounced out of bed, slipped on her clothes and said breezily, “I’ll go see how she’s doing if you want to take a shower. Then I’d better get busy on that final report for your lawyers.”
A few minutes later, he heard her through the open bedroom window. “Bad dog, Delphine! Bad dog!” Her voice rose and the dog began to moan in an eerie fashion.
Oh, hell!
He knew he was a sucker for keeping that dog. Struggling into his clothes, he grabbed his cane and hobbled down the stairs and into the back yard.
Horrified, Rand first focused on the large patch of lawn that was now a gaping hole and then moved to his expensive wicker patio chair floating in the pool.
“What the hell happened?” he croaked in disbelief.
Haley had her hand firmly around Delphine’s collar as she eyed him nervously. “I’m not exactly sure.” She gestured helplessly at the gaping hole. “It appears as if she was looking for something.”
“And the patio chair? Was she trying to clean it?”
Delphine struggled against the restraint, and Haley finally let go of her collar. The dog made a beeline to the pool and before either of them could catch her, she nudged another chair into the water, then raced back to the hole and began digging frantically.