Gentle Pirate (14 page)

"Simon," she began, making an effort to possess herself in patience, "what are you implying?" The gray eyes began to sparkle with warning. She had let him force the truth out of her tonight and that had been unpalatable enough. What more did he expect her to tolerate in the way of punishment?

"I warned you that our relationship would undergo a change if you pushed too hard." His face gave nothing away. "Monday I'll make the arrangements for our marriage. I had originally planned to give you more time, but…"

He might as well have said Monday he'd see about picking up the groceries for all the casualness of his words. Kirsten gaped at him, stunned.

"Marriage," she whispered, casting about in her mind for a more brilliant follow-through comment but finding nothing in the least suitable. "Marriage!"

"Don't look so shocked, little one," he smiled. "You've known all along that I want you. And if you squeeze just a bit more honesty out of yourself tonight, you'll admit you want me, too. I thought you learned that much on Wednesday night when you nestled so sweetly in my arms and begged me to touch you," he said ruthlessly. "Would you like me to repeat the lesson?"

"Simon! Please!" The man was no gentleman, Kirsten seethed.

"It's the truth, Kirsten," he insisted.

"Anyone can get carried away occasionally!" she protested desperately, sensing that escape doors were rapidly closing shut in her face.

"Ummm," he agreed readily. "When you're in my bed on a permanent basis you'll be able to get carried away as often as you like," he promised softly, warmth lacing the rich voice in a manner that severely weakened Kirsten's knees. Fortunately she was sitting down, she thought.

"But, Simon," she begged, "why?"

"Why should I marry you instead of simply moving you under my roof? I keep telling you, honey, life's too short to play games. I absolutely refuse to spend another evening such as this; chasing after you every time you take it into your head to get into trouble! I'm hoping that the bonds of matrimony, weak though they may be in this day and age, will give me a little more control over you. At least I'll be assured that you won't get involved with another man while you're wearing my ring!" He sounded so positive!

"How do you know that? What's to stop me from encouraging another Roger Townsend?" she demanded angrily, feeling much pressured now.

"Your own basic integrity, naturally," he responded, surprised. "You could never deceive me, Kirsten. I've told you that before. Once I have your promise to love, honor, and…"

"They took obey out of the wedding service," she hissed, interrupting.

"We'll have it put back in for this event," he assured her evenly. "As I was saying, once I have your promise, I shall be able to relax slightly. I hope!" he concluded with a small grin. "At least I'll have a woman I can trust!"

Flustered, Kirsten tried to come up with a list of reasons why she absolutely could not marry him, but her brain didn't appear to be working well this evening. Too much had happened and she was feeling too low in terms of energy to fight any last-ditch battles. Tomorrow would be soon enough, she told herself.

"Simon," she tried one last time, "I-I don't want you to marry me just because you
want
me in-in bed! I mean, that sort of thing probably wouldn't last long, anyhow, and there you'd be, stuck with a wife…" She was beginning to babble, Kirsten thought dismally.

"There are other reasons, honey," he said lightly. "Such as the fact that you have a natural head for business, which will be most useful to have in the family. But the rest of my reasons for marrying you can be discussed at a later date." He got to his feet and strode across the room, cupping his hand behind her neck and hauling Kirsten to her feet in an effortless gesture,

"Now it's time for you to go to bed. I promise we'll get back to this fascinating little discussion tomorrow!" He dropped a quick, hard kiss on her unresisting mouth and then he was gone.

Kirsten went through the routine of getting ready for bed as if she were moving in a dream. She wasn't even aware she had brushed her teeth until she found herself absently replacing the cap of the toothpaste tube. Then she had a bad moment wondering whether she was in the process of removing it or replacing it. A quick check showed the brush was damp so she assumed the latter. Then she made herself pay attention while she removed the contact lenses. It wasn't until she finally tumbled into bed, pulling the yellow sheets up to her chin, that she remembered Simon had never explained Liz Wilford's presence in his apartment that evening. Simon had a lot of explaining to do, she told herself.

It was the sound of knocking on her front door that roused her the next morning. At first she thought it must be Simon coming to tell her he'd changed his mind. She found that thought so painful that she determined to hide her true feelings behind a facade of indifference. He had spoken in anger last night, she reasoned. Of course he'd be upset when he realized what he had done. And it wasn't as if he loved her, she reminded herself gloomily, flinging on a robe and searching madly for a missing slipper. The knock sounded again and she gave up the hunt for the slipper and headed toward the door wearing only one.

"I knew you'd change your mind," she announced in self-righteous tones as she threw open the door.

"Did you now?" smiled the stranger standing on her step. "You must know me better than I do myself!"

"Oh. Lord!" Kirsten gasped, feeling a complete fool. "Who are you?"

"Phil Hagood." the slim, wiry man said cheerfully, taking in the picture she made in her early-morning attire. Kirsten blushed bright red at the thought of her uncombed hair, half-shod feet, and sloppily belted robe.

"Hagood?" She blinked sleepily, trying to think where she'd heard that name recently. Then she remembered. "Jim's friend?" she asked more sharply.

"Right first time. And you, I assume, are Kirsten Talbot?" Vivid blue eyes regarded her interestedly under sandy brows. Straight blond hair had been combed back from his forehead earlier during the morning but had fallen boyishly to one side now. He was about medium height and dressed in jeans and a western shirt opened rakishly at the collar. He might have just come to town from one of the nearby wheat farms.

"Mallory," she corrected automatically.

"Mallory? You aren't my old buddy Jim's wife?" he frowned, obviously perplexed.

"I was married to him," she admitted. "But it was for such a short time that I went back to using my old name after his death." She became aware of the fact that it was chilly outside and her visitor wasn't wearing a coat. It was also rather early to be paying a Saturday-morning call, not even seven-thirty.

"Won't you come in?" she invited, not certain exactly what her social obligations were to the best friend of a man she cared nothing about.

"I'd be delighted." He gave her his charming smile and stepped inside. If he'd been wearing a Stetson hat, he would have tipped it to her, Kirsten thought with a tiny smile. He even had the soft drawl to go with his overall appearance.

"I only got up a minute ago," she said, stating the obvious. "If you'll excuse me, I'll get dressed and join you in the living room." At his nod she zipped back to her bedroom and began tossing on some clothes. Her mind was beginning to function at last as she inserted the contacts and found herself wondering what Simon would say if he'd seen her greeting this stranger at the door a few minutes ago. Some things are better left to the imagination, she decided.

"Can I make you some coffee, Mr. Hagood?" she asked, walking quickly back to the living room and on into the kitchen. "I'm going to have a cup and you're welcome to join me."

"That sounds terrific, ma'am," he affirmed enthusiastically, rising from his perch on the couch and following her. He swung a leg over one of the little ice-cream-parlor table chairs and sat backward in it, watching her make the coffee.

"How did you manage to locate me, Mr. Hagood?" Kirsten asked casually, pouring water into the pot.

"Please call me Phil," he invited earnestly.

"All right, Phil."

"It took some lookin', I can tell you!" he said feelingly.

"First of all, it was some time before I learned Jim had been killed in the car wreck. That was a hell of a shock! I didn't learn about it until a month ago. Then, when I came to see his widow, I couldn't find a trace of her."

"You knew he had married?"

"Oh, yes. Jim wrote to me right after the wedding and told me he'd married the daughter of a lieutenant colonel." Kirsten winced, but Phil Hagood didn't appear to notice. "Jim said you and I would like each other and we'd all have to get together some day. You know how buddies make plans like that. But he also said something else in that letter, ma'am…" The sandy-haired young man paused and waited until he had Kirsten's full attention. "He said that if anything ever happened to him, he'd want me to look after his wife."

That did get her full attention. "Really? Jim never said anything to me about asking you to take care of me," she commented, reaching for the coffee cups.

"Well, you know how it is, ma'am," he began, but Kirsten was getting irritated at being constantly referred to as "ma'am."

"Call me Kirsten," she told him.

"Yes, ma'am. I mean, Kirsten. Anyhow, as I was saying, you know how it is. A man doesn't like to put into words everything he might be feeling. I expect Jim didn't want to make a big fuss about the fact that he'd lined up someone to look after his wife in the event something happened…"

"Oh, Jim had quite a way with words," Kirsten interrupted calmly. "He never suffered from a shortage of them while I knew him, at any rate." She waited while the automatic coffeemaker dripped its contents into the glass pitcher and then carried it over to the small table.

"Yes, well." Phil was somewhat embarrassed now. Perhaps he was beginning to suspect that all had not been well between Jim and herself. Jim, of course, would never have told him differently. In fact, Jim probably went to his death thinking there wasn't anything seriously wrong with the marriage! He probably deemed it the normal way of things to treat a woman like dirt and then beat her savagely when she told him she wanted out.

"But Jim did mention me to you. didn't he, Kirsten? I mean, you seemed to know my name…"

Kirsten took pity on him. After all, it wasn't his fault if he was merely another dumb Marine.

"Jim mentioned his friendship with you more than once," she told him gently, pouring coffee. "He seemed quite attached to you. The two of you were in Vietnam together, weren't you?"

"Yes, indeed! I was with Jim the day he caught it in that damn rice paddy." Phil shook his head disbelievingly. "All we ever saw were some kids on a water buffalo and the next thing we knew the whole place was fallin' apart!"

Kirsten nodded sympathetically. What could she say? War must be an incredibly traumatic experience. Perhaps it hadn't been all Jim's fault that he had been the way he was.

"When Jim and I got out we decided we'd keep in touch. We didn't always get to see a lot of each other, but we made sure each of us knew where the other was. In case we needed each other, you know." Phil paused to see if she understood the significance of a war friendship. "Occasionally we'd get together to try out a project or something---"

"A project?" Kirsten inquired curiously.

"You know, ma'am." He blushed with apparent embarrassment. "A money-making scheme or something. Never too successful, I can tell you! Then Jim got smart and went into the electronics business. Me, I decided to try my hand at ranching."

"It was nice of you to track me down to make certain I was okay," Kirsten said gently, wanting to steer the conversation in a slightly different direction. The less reminiscing about Jim Talbot, the better.

"My pleasure! 'Course, I didn't know Jim had got himself such a fine-looking woman," he added with a boyish grin. Bright blue eyes danced merrily as she turned her customary shade of blush-red. Compliments had never been so thick on the ground in her life that she had gotten used to handling them properly.

"I don't believe you ever finished telling me exactly how you managed to locate me," she commented, watching him over the rim of the coffee cup.

"Right. Well, as I said, it took a while, but I finally tracked down a friend of yours who knew that your dad lived in Sant'a Rosa, California. I wasn't sure of your last name, the one you're using now. and neither was this friend of yours. I did a lot of calling before I finally got the right Mallory even after I was able to make sure of the name. Your dad told me you lived here."

"You certainly went to a lot of trouble," Kirsten smiled.

"Well, not the kind of trouble I minded. It became kind of a game, you know? I felt like I had won the prize this morning when I knocked on your door and you answered it lookin' all nice and mussed from sleep!"

The smart-talking Marine was starting to show in this farm boy. "Phil," she began steadily, anxious to get him off the present track of conversation, "I think it's very kind of you to have taken so much time and effort to find me and make certain I'm okay. But as you can see, I'm doing all right. I have a nice job and I've started a new life for myself. So you have no reason to be concerned about me."

"I can see that. But you understand I had to make sure? For Jim's sake?"

"Yes, I understand. Now what will you do? Have you come quite a distance?"

"Nope. I live on the western side of the state, near Seattle. Got a nice place on the coast with a few horses and some cattle. You'll have to come over and see it sometime, huh?" The blue gaze was quite appealing.

"Maybe," she hedged carefully. "Are you going to be in town long?"

"I drove over for the weekend. I'll start back tomorrow, I guess. I've
never
been
to
Richland before. Don't suppose you'd like to show me around, would you? I hear there's a lot of those nuclear reactors being built here. I've never seen one close up."

"You haven't missed much," Kirsten commented dryly and then smiled. "If you want to see some, I'll show you how to find them on a map I've got. It's not hard. Just follow the main road out of town going north. You can't miss them! A few have visitors' centers which have displays and mockups that might interest you."