Desert Devil (19 page)

Shortly after twelve o'clock, Thorne arrived. He came through the patio gate, well dressed in a slate-blue suit and a pale blue shirt. With the practiced ease of a man assessing a situation quickly, his gaze flicked across the faces of the three women waiting for him. At least two of those women were tense and nervous. Thorne, however, appeared not at all uncomfortable with the situation. He kissed his mother warmly, nodded pleasantly first to Nicole, then to Juli. He pulled up a chair and sat between Juli and Nicole.

Juli watched him warily out of the corner of her eye while he small-talked with his mother about her flight up from Acapulco, waiting for him to explain about Juli's presence. Surely he must be as eager as she was to make plain to his mother and Nicole that he and Juli had not spent the night together, no matter how the situation might appear on the surface.

Thorne, however, seemed in no hurry to make explanations. He chatted affably about the company's picnic and barbecue, mentioned that the new construction plans were right on schedule, and made chatty comments about the hike into the Superstitions.

After a while Juli angrily suspected that he was deliberately postponing the explanation, enjoying seeing her squirm with embarrassment. Finally, meaning to bring this uncomfortable little game to an end, she determinedly broached the subject herself. "I was telling your mother and Nicole earlier that I stayed here last night because—"

"I hope I didn't disturb you when I got up this morning," he interrupted, his voice unexpectedly intimate as he turned to look at her with wide, innocent eyes. "I'm afraid I was rather noisy getting my clothes out of the closet."

Juli looked at him aghast as realization of the meaning of his words dawned on her. He had used that adjoining door this morning, had seen her sleeping in his bed.
Sleeping naked
… She swallowed convulsively.

"I didn't wake you when I got up because I thought you needed the rest after—" He paused, smiling suggestively, and only Nicole's startled gasp interrupted the pregnant silence. "After our long hike yesterday," he finally finished.

Smoothly, he immediately turned back to his mother and went on talking about some mutual friends, giving Juli no time to vent the outrage she felt. He had told no untruths, yet he had left the completely false impression that he and Juli had spent the night together in the same bed. And that suggestive pause had implied her exhaustion was from something far more intimate than a hike together!

And he had done it all
deliberately
. Why? To amuse himself and humiliate her? If so, he had certainly succeeded. She felt as if a permanent blazing blush had settled on her face.

What, she wondered in an agony of embarrassment, was Mrs. Taylor thinking now? The expression on Mrs. Taylor's calm face was perfectly neutral, relaxed, and pleasant as she chatted with Thorne. Only the occasional quick, speculative dart of her eyes between Juli and Nicole betrayed any hint that her mind was on anything other than the inconsequential conversation. By now she must surely think that Juli had lied to her about last night, or at least not told the complete truth.

Juli was tempted to bring the conversation to a screeching halt by bluntly demanding that Thorne make plain that he and Juli had
not
spent the night together. What stopped her was a certain apprehension that Thorne would somehow twist her demand to suit his own purposes and somehow cleverly manage to humiliate her further. Better to maintain an embarrassed silence and keep reminding herself that after today she would probably never see any of these people again. Silently, she cursed Thorne for inflicting this humiliation on her, cursed herself with even greater vehemence for allowing herself to be drawn into this ridiculous situation.

The only satisfaction Juli had was a realization that sooner or later Thorne was going to pay dearly for whatever enjoyment he was getting out of this little game, because he was obviously making Nicole furious. She sat there with her hands clenched so tightly that her perfectly manicured nails bit into her soft palms.

Thorne seemed oblivious to Nicole's anger, smiling and chatting easily. Estelle served lunch on a round redwood table in a shady area of the patio. Thorne gallantly seated his mother, his hand dropping lightly to touch Juli's shoulder as he passed her to take his own seat. Nicole watched with a venomous stare that included both Thorne and Juli in her fury.

Juli determinedly tried to concentrate on the food, a delicious salad with huge pink prawns ringing a bowl of spicy sauce in the center of the dish. With the salad were warm, soft tortillas, buttered and rolled into slim tubes for easy eating, and icy lemonade. Concentration was not easy, however, with Thorne sitting right next to her. He carried the conversation during the meal, but he made no effort to correct his earlier insinuations that Juli and he had slept together. In fact, he made several more minor remarks that only served to emphasize the misconception. Once he remarked that he hoped she had found the king-sized bed large enough to be comfortable last night, and another time he commented teasingly on her reaction to champagne. Several times he actually touched her, not intimately, but with the familiar ease of lovers, and Juli was as baffled by her own reactions to the touches as she was by Thorne's strange behavior. She was furious with the way he was embarrassing and humiliating her, deliberately making her look like some cheap young thing with whom he had amused himself for a night. And yet in spite of that, each grazing touch sent a warm, alive tingle through her body that she desperately tried to ignore. A certain gleam in Thorne's eyes told her he was not unaware of his effect on her in spite of her effort to appear nonchalant.

If it were not that she felt so uncomfortable herself, Juli thought ruefully, she might have found a certain perverse pleasure in Nicole's angry squirmings. Nicole picked at her food, turned and twitched in her chair as if the cushion were made of cactus. She stabbed murderous glances at both Juli and Thorne, and what little she had to say she delivered in a voice dripping with acid.

Juli was completely baffled. Didn't Thorne realize Nicole was ready to scratch his eyes out? Was he willing to risk Nicole's anger simply to humiliate and embarrass Juli?

Then, with another totally unexpected remark from Thorne, Juli's perspective suddenly changed and she caught her breath in surprise.

Addressing his mother, Thorne said casually, "Juli and I were talking about driving down to Tucson someday soon. I thought she might like to see the San Xavier del Bac mission." He turned to Juli. "Are you still interested?"

Juli's lips parted. Yesterday they had discussed in the most casual of terms the possibility of driving down to Tucson and the mission sometime. After last night's fiasco, Juli had assumed their tenuous relationship was over, no matter what her secret feelings for him might be. Was this rather oblique invitation his way of saying he was sorry about last night, that he wanted to see her again? Was he oblivious to Nicole's anger because he really didn't care how she felt? Was his letting his mother and Nicole believe he and Juli had spent the night together not an attempt to humiliate and embarrass Juli, but a defiant announcement of his feelings for her? He was watching her now, waiting for her reaction, his eyes more wary than taunting.

"I… I'd really like to see the mission," Juli faltered. Then, recklessly, she rushed on. "This time I'll try not to do something so foolish as turn the pump off by accident." In a flurry of words, she explained how she had fumbled with the electrical switches when the power went off, accidentally leaving the pump switch turned off. She directed most of the explanation to Mrs. Taylor, but it was Thorne to whom she was really explaining, and she was certain he knew it.

Thorne listened without comment, his expression so inscrutable Juli couldn't tell whether or not he believed her. Nicole looked bored and impatient, Mrs. Taylor interested but noncommittal. An awkward silence ensued when Juli was finished.

Mrs. Taylor broke it by pleasantly changing the subject. "I saw the lovely photographs you took of Juli. I've never understood why you've always avoided photographing people when you do it so nicely."

"I thought you made it a
rule
not to photograph people," Nicole interjected sourly.

Thorne barely glanced at Nicole. Instead, with a meaningful look at Juli, he said, "There is an old saying that rules are made to be broken. I'm sure that is especially true with a subject as photogenic as Juli."

He smiled at her, a smile that unexpectedly rocketed her to dizzying heights. He
was
trying to make up and apologize for all that had happened last night, and he was doing it where it mattered most, where Nicole could not fail to see. All Juli's anger and suspicions melted in a blaze of feeling that she was suddenly afraid exposed her love for all the world to see. She felt glad and tremulous and frightened and hopeful all rolled together. Whatever had gone wrong between them last night was nothing that couldn't be straightened out. Thorne's apology was hardly a humble pleading for forgiveness, but coming from him she knew it meant more than the most abject of apologies from many other men.

Finally, Thorne glanced at his watch and stood up. "Having lunch with three beautiful ladies has been most enjoyable, but it's time I was getting back to work. Juli, would you walk with me to the gate? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Juli set her glass on the table and wiped damp hands on a napkin. She felt as if she had been on an emotional roller coaster ride during the last twenty-four hours, swooping up or down as Thorne's whim directed. And now the ride was about to come to some kind of a conclusion.

They walked to the gate, Juli's heart thundering and her back feeling the stab of Nicole's venomous glances. It gave her an odd feeling to realize jealousy was behind Nicole's anger. Nicole, beautiful, pampered, and half-owner of the company, was jealous of
her
. That thought was forgotten as they reached the gate and she wondered frantically what Thorne was going to say. Did he want to talk to her about last night or the trip to Tucson? Perhaps admit he was wrong in his accusations? But she couldn't let him take all the blame for what had almost happened between them last night. She had wanted it, too. Thorne opened the gate, neither of them having yet spoken a word.

"What did you want to discuss?" Juli faltered.

Without answering, he took her hand and pulled her partway through the open gate. With a deft gesture he slid his other arm around her waist and molded her body against his.

A small gasp escaped Juli's startled lips. He hadn't pulled the gate shut. Mrs. Taylor's back was to them, but they were in Nicole's full view and Juli knew Thorne must be aware of that fact.

"Thorne—please, people are watching!" She made a small effort to pull back.

He grinned, a devil-may-care flash of white teeth, and only held her more tightly. "Let them watch."

"Thorne, really, maybe we should talk—"

"We've talked too much already. I can say everything there is to say like this."