Desert Devil Page 16

  "You stay here," he commanded brusquely.

  Juli was too limp and weak to protest and only nodded numbly. By now Brian was out of the water, too, looking as bedraggled as she felt. There was a helpless look on his face as he stared at his car. Juli shivered. The water looked higher now than when they had crawled out of the car.

  Without a glance at Brian, Thorne pulled a cable out of the winch attached to the front of the pickup and started toward the car, ignoring the water rushing by and fending off branches and debris swirling around him. Juli watched with a frightened fascination as he reached beneath the dirty water to attach the hook to the car. Brian paced along the edge of the water.

  Thorne made his way back to the pickup, holding onto the cable as the increasing strength of the current tried to drag him away.

  Back at the pickup, Thorne activated the winch and slowly inched the car backward through the water. Then he moved the pickup, dragging the smaller car with it to higher ground in case the water rose still farther. He got out of the pickup, detached the cable from the car, and rewound it on the winch. It was all done so efficiently that Juli was left marveling in spite of her anger at his disdainful attitude. Brian mumbled his thanks, which Thorne ignored, except to say curtly that he would send a tow truck for the car.

  No mention was made of Juli in the conversation, and Brian offered no objections as Thorne prepared to drive off with her in the pickup. A road crew arrived and Thorne opened the window and talked to them a moment. They said they were late in barricading this road because several subdivision streets had flooded, endangering homes. When Juli glanced back as the pickup drove away, Brian was examining the car, evidently more worried about it than Juli.

  Thorne switched on the heater, sending a warm blast of air into the pickup cab. At a service station he stopped and telephoned for a tow truck. He seemed oblivious to his wet boots and pants, but Juli couldn't seem to stop shivering. When he returned he gave Juli a long, appraising look and finally spoke to her.

  "Where on earth were you and Eames going?"

  "To Phoenix."

  "For what reason?"

  "To… to celebrate my leaving!" she said defiantly. She might be soaked and shivering, but she refused to be humble.

  "That was a damned stupid thing Eames did, trying to cross the water like that!" he growled.

  "I believe you've already mentioned that once," Juli said, her voice aloof and distant. They drove along in a rather tense silence until Juli realized they were not on the road that led to the trailer.

  "Where are you taking me?" she demanded.

  "To my place."

  "What do you mean by that? They're both your places now," she retorted pointedly.

  He glanced over at her, forehead creased in a scowl that was half-angry, half-puzzled. She saw with an unexpected pang that a branch or the cable had grazed his jaw, leaving a raw, scraped area. She looked away. She didn't want to be touched by any concern for him.

  "And what do you mean?" he demanded.

  "You don't have to explain," Juli said. She had finally stopped shivering and she let the jacket slip away from her shoulders. Then, as Thorne glanced at her again and she realized the wet material clung to her breasts like a second skin, she hastily replaced the jacket.

  He clenched his jaw, as if annoyed by the temporary distraction, and then said angrily, "Dammit, there isn't anything to explain! I'm not responsible for Nicole's underhanded schemes!"

  "Nicole's schemes!" Juli repeated scathingly. "You deliberately used me to make Nicole jealous enough to marry you right away. Then you bought the trailer and property to get rid of me as fast as possible."

  "Where did you ever get such a crazy, mixed-up idea like that?" he asked, his voice incredulous. "You really think I bought the place?"

  "You don't need to raise your voice like that just because I figured out your little scheme," Juli said frostily. "It worked. I'm leaving in the morning."

  "I will use any tone of voice I want when you come up with some fool story like that," he said grimly. "Nicole bought the property. I didn't know anything about it until a couple of hours ago. I've been working around the clock at the plant trying to save the construction site. If I hadn't, it could have been wiped out."

  "Nicole bought the property?" Juli faltered.

  "Yes, Nicole bought the property," he repeated in exasperation. "You must have signed the papers agreeing to the sale. Didn't you read them?"

  No, Juli realized, she hadn't read them. She fumbled in the seat for her purse. The outside of the purse was wet from the spills she had taken, but the inside was relatively dry. She found the papers where she had stuffed them unread in the bottom of the purse. With a mixed sense of bewilderment and wonder, she realized he was right. Nicole Taylor was the purchaser. She replaced the papers in her purse, stubbornly refusing to let him know that she hadn't read the papers because her eyes had been too blinded with tears at the thought of what he had done.

  "So Nicole bought the property," Juli finally said. "I'm sure that worked in nicely with your plans."

  He exploded. "Juli, if you don't stop—"

  "Very well, then, tell me why Nicole bought the property," she challenged.

  "I'm sure I can't begin to explain the workings of Nicole's devious little mind," Thorne snapped. He hesitated, then said in a different voice, "Perhaps she did it because… because she thought I was falling in love with you."

  Juli's heart lurched, but somehow she managed to keep her voice cold and aloof. "A natural mistake, I'm sure," she agreed, "after the charade you played for her benefit at lunch the other day." She didn't intend to say more, but in remembered outrage the words spilled out. "Insinuating we spent the night together. And—"

  "The fact that we didn't wasn't for my lack of effort," he commented dryly.

  Juli ignored that. "Kissing me like that right in front of her, so she had to see! It was humiliating!"

  "Oh? Humiliating to whom? You seemed to be enjoying the kiss."

  "That was before I realized how you were deliberately using me to make Nicole jealous," Juli repeated.

  "Juli, I'm warning you—" he began angrily. Then he clamped his jaw shut. "We'll discuss this later. I think the water has muddled your head."

  He drove under the archway to the estate and parked in front of the house. He pulled Juli roughly across the pickup seat, tossing the jacket aside. She was embarrassed at the way the wet material clung to her breasts and wrapped itself around her thighs. She also realized that the filmy mint-green material when wet was practically transparent. If she thought he would ignore that, she was wrong. He eyed her appraisingly.

  "You ought to sue the dressmaker for indecently exposing you." He swept her up in his arms and started toward the house. "Or perhaps you'd rather make a million posing for some poster shots. That outfit beats a wet T-shirt any day."

  Juli refused to dignify the remarks with a retort of her own. She folded her arms across her breasts and held her body as distantly rigid as possible under the circumstances. She knew better than to try to fight against him, knew resistance to his greater strength and determination was useless. He carried her inside and down the hall and plopped her at the bathroom door.

  "You can clean up in there," he stated. "Hand your clothes out to me and I'll have Estelle take care of them. I'll bring you something else to wear."

  Juli hesitated, rebellious against the way he threw out commands, but reluctantly realizing she couldn't just stand there dripping puddles all over the floor.

  "I'll only be a few minutes, and then I want to go home—to the trailer, I mean," she amended, remembering it was Nicole's property now.

  She stepped inside and closed the door. She unzipped the wet dress and stepped out of it. Concealing herself carefully behind the door, she reached around it and handed the dress to Thorne.

  "I said I wanted your clothes," he growled. "All your clothes."

  "I have no intention of giving you—"

 
"All your clothes," he repeated.

  Angrily, she slammed the door shut again and a moment later handed out her lacy underthings, feeling her face flame and only glad he couldn't see that, as well as her most private items of clothing. Why, oh, why, had she chosen today to wear the almost wickedly lacy underthings? She eyed herself in the gleaming expanse of mirror, the pattern of tan and white skin covering her like some indecently reversed article of clothing. Hurriedly, she turned on the shower knobs and washed away the grimy remains of her bout with the river water. It seemed, she thought with exasperation, that she was always arriving here in something less than her most presentable condition. She was toweling herself dry when there was a knock on the door.

  "Open the door. I'll give you something to put on."

  "You could have sent Estelle," she snapped.

  "Yes, I could have," he agreed. "But I didn't."

  Keeping a towel draped around her, she opened the door and stuck her hand out. She pulled back a man's royal-blue dressing gown, several sizes too large, but silky feeling against her bare skin. She determinedly fought down an odd little rush of excitement at the realization that she was wearing such a personal item of Thorne's clothing.

  "Thank you," she said coolly. "Please let me know when my own clothes are ready." She sat down on the padded stool in front of the dressing table and prepared to wait.

  "I'd like to talk to you," he said.

  Juli didn't reply.

  "I said I'd like to talk to you," he repeated more loudly. When she still didn't reply, he added grimly, "Either you come out here and talk to me, or I'm coming in there and talk to you."

  In panic she heard something brush against the door, as if he might be testing his shoulder on it, and she had not doubt that if she delayed too long he just might break the door down.

  "I'm coming out," she said, trying not to sound shaky. She checked to make sure the oversized robe covered her thoroughly and tightened the rope belt around her waist. She opened the door and stared up at him defiantly. He had changed to dry clothes.

  "Well, what did you want to discuss?" she demanded. A dismaying thought occurred to her. "Where is Nicole?"

  "On her way to Scottsdale, I presume. We'll go to the den," he said decisively.

  He followed her down the hall. Juli was uncomfortably aware that the silky robe, though oversized, was not exactly unrevealing in the way it clung to her derriere. She was glad when they reached the den and she could sit down.

  "Where is your mother?" Juli asked uneasily.

  "Shopping. But don't worry. You don't need a chaperone. I'm not going to behave the way I did the other night."

  That was good, Juli thought, because she was feeling strangely light-headed, remembering with tingling warmth that other night in this very room.

  "Now, about the property," he began.

  "If Nicole bought the place and not you, why did you go out there this morning?" she demanded.

  "I was afraid you had already picked up and left while I was involved with problems at the plant."

  "Evidently, your little scheme to make Nicole jealous was even more effective than you planned," Juli commented. "She was jealous enough to spend a good chunk of money to get me out of the way."

  "That is at least twice now that you have accused me of deliberately making Nicole jealous," he said angrily.

  "Are you denying it?" she challenged.

  "Yes. I certainly am denying it!" he said hotly. "I wasn't trying to make her jealous. I simply wanted to make plain to Nicole once and for all that I am not in love with her and I am not going to marry her."

  Juli's heart thundered at the vehement words and she clutched the robe belt to control the trembling of her hands. "But everyone says… I mean, everyone knows you and she—"

  "She and I what?"

  "That you were in love with her before she married your brother. That you played around together even after they were married. That you were just waiting for a respectable interval of time to pass before marrying her now. That you had to marry her to keep control of the company!"

  "I don't have to do anything," he retorted. "And I certainly don't have to marry Nicole. Jason and I had already made the necessary legal arrangements so that if anything happened to one of us, the surviving brother inherited a small portion of the other's holdings— enough to retain control of the company. And even if that weren't true, I wouldn't marry some woman I didn't love just for the sake of the company!"

  Juli was beginning to feel something soft and eager opening within her with each word he spoke. The words almost sang around her. He wasn't in love with Nicole and he had no intention of marrying her for any reason. "But you were in love with her once?" she persisted, still hardly able to believe what she was hearing.

  He scowled. He went over to a cabinet and poured a drink. She shook her head when he raised the glass, offering her one. "Yes and no. Once, a long time ago, I thought I was in love with Nicole. But I quickly woke up when I recognized her scheming, devious ways."

  "You considered her throwing you over to marry Jason 'devious'?" Juli couldn't keep the doubt out of her mind or voice. "She couldn't help herself if she just fell in love with him."

  "Everyone thought that was the way it happened." There was a long, taut silence while he looked broodingly at the drink. "That was what I wanted everyone to think."

  "Why?"

  "For Jason's sake. So he wouldn't know she married him mostly for spite when I told her I wouldn't marry her."

  "Oh!" The soft exclamation slipped between Juli's lips as she realized what Thorne had done to protect his brother's feelings. Everything was so different from what she had thought, and now she was seeing in Thorne again one of the traits that had made her tumble headlong in love with him. So much in love that even when she doubted him and was in painful torment, her love had never vanished. It surged back now, stronger than ever. But still she had to ask, "And the rumors about Nicole and you seeing each other after she and Jason were married?"

  He shook his head and his mouth twisted in a bitter smile. "I don't know, unless people just enjoy passing around juicy gossip without regard to its accuracy."

  "Why didn't she and Jason live here instead of Scottsdale?"

  "Unfortunately, Jason heard the rumors, too, and I'm afraid he never fully believed it was over between us." Thorne's regretful voice hardened. "But it was."

  Juli paused, breath held, wishing she could let it go right there. But she couldn't. She had to ask. "It was over—until he died."

  Thorne looked up sharply, eyes narrowing. "I made the mistake of trying to be kind and helpful to Nicole after Jason's death. I did it for Jason, because he loved her. But she misunderstood my motives. That was why I finally had to pull that little scene in front of her the other morning. It was the only way to make her see the light. And I'm not sure even that convinced her. Some women manage to see only what they want to see."

  His words hung in the air as he scowled into the liquid amber of his drink, and the soft warmth that had flowered within Juli suddenly shriveled in a cold chill. Some women manage to see only what they want to see. She had done it again, she realized in despair. What a naive fool she was! Thorne wasn't in love with Nicole; that was obvious now. But she had just now naively interpreted that to mean he must have feelings for her, and that wasn't true at all! The reasons for his playing out that little scene in front of Nicole were different from what she had assumed, but that didn't change the fact that it was all just a charade played out for Nicole's benefit. He had cold-bloodedly played with Juli's heart for his own purposes. His display of affection had been merely an act to rid himself of the unwanted attentions of another woman.

  Juli stood up. "So now you're rid of Nicole. Congratulations. But she still owns the property, and I'm supposed to be out this weekend. So if I could trouble you to take me home now—?" Juli didn't look at Thorne, afraid he might see the bright glitter of tears in her eyes.

  "You'll stay at the trai
ler as long as you want," he said. There was a determined thrust to his jaw. "Don't worry about Nicole. I'll take care of her."

  What was that for? Juli thought bitterly. A reward for playing her part satisfactorily in the little scene for Nicole's benefit? "I want to leave as soon as possible. Please take me back to the trailer."

  "No. You're not going anywhere just yet."

  "We've been through this before, but this time you're not stopping me! If you're too busy to take me, I'll just call a cab and go."

  "Like that?" he questioned, his tilted eyebrows jeering at her attire.

  Juli paused on her way to the desk phone. She had no idea where her clothes were, and it was doubtful if they were dry yet, anyway. "Yes, like this, if I have to," she retorted defiantly.

  "Oh, no, you're not," he said grimly. "If you're walking out of here, it's not going to be wearing my bathrobe."

  With surprising swiftness, he reached out and jerked loose the rope cord around her waist. She clutched frantically at the silky material, wrapping it around her and holding it with both hands. With both his hands he grabbed the front of the robe, ready to use full force to rip it away from her.

  "You wouldn't!" she gasped furiously.

  "I would." His hands didn't loosen. "So if you'd care to greet your cabbie naked, just go ahead and make your call."

  She jerked away from him, knowing he was fully capable of carrying out his threat to leave her standing there helplessly naked.

  "Very well, but I… I'm leaving as soon as my clothes are dry."

  He released his hands warily and turned back to his drink. "You're being quite stubborn and unreasonable—"

  "I'm being unreasonable!" she gasped. "How about your ridiculous and totally unreasonable accusation that I deliberately schemed to get in bed with you?"