Hot and Bothered (18 page)

Judith was touched, even by the seventh pot of black bean soup. When they were alone, she said, “This is lovely, truly lovely.”

Paul peered at the soup. “I just hope our digestive tracks are ready for the barrage.”

“You’re awful!”

She was laughing though. Her balance was nearly restored to normal. Yet, as the evening drew on, his balance teetered badly. When he saw her yawn, he finally said the inevitable.

“I’ll take the couch.”

“No. I couldn’t put you out,” she protested. “This time I’ll take the couch.”

The words “this time” were a reminder he didn’t need. Last time someone had been on the couch, they had made love.

“No,” he said. “I’ll take the couch.”

“No. I will.”

They began to wrangle over who got the makeshift bed. Finally Judith waved her hands. “Let’s not fight about this, okay?”

Paul smiled. “Okay. I’ll take the couch.”

She lay down on it. “I don’t think so.”

“Anybody ever tell you you’re developing a stubborn streak?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, you are.”

Determined to ensure she got the bed, he reached down and scooped her up, intending to deposit her on it. She shrieked and clutched his shoulders for balance. He grinned down at her.

And then something happened. Maybe it was the way she gazed at him with that incredulous expression in her eyes. Maybe it was the feel of her body against his chest. Maybe it was suppressed need overwhelming common sense. Later he would try to analyze it, but now he only acted on it.

He kissed her.

Her lips were soft, unique, fitting his as if made for them. He mated his tongue with hers, loving the way she met him fully after only a moment’s hesitation. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her hands digging into his shoulders.

His head was spinning when the kiss finally broke. He sucked air into his starved lungs.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she said. Her voice was a whisper.

“No, we shouldn’t.”

They kissed again and again. Paul carried her into the bedroom. He stripped away her clothes, stripped away his own. He worshiped her body, covering every inch of it with kisses. Her nipples were tight when he dragged his tongue across them before taking each into his mouth. Her inner flesh was sweet, soft, and he kissed and
nipped until she was writhing. She was like a wild woman, pushing him onto his back and straddling his hips. She took him inside her in a rush of passion. She rode him slowly, whispering his name like a litany. And then their need for each other built until it burst like a white-hot light through them, pulling them in. Paul cried out her name, cried out his love for her. She collapsed on him and he held her, vowing he would not let her go again.

Ever.

The morning light slowly penetrated his eyes. Paul smiled to himself as the night of love came rushing back to him. First he would get Judith out of her trouble, then they would work everything out, he thought. Somehow they would come to a compromise. They had to. He couldn’t imagine being without her.

He stretched his hand across the mattress, intending to snuggle her against him … but the other side of the bed was empty. Paul opened his eyes. Definitely empty.

He sat up, listening for any sound in the bathroom, in the kitchen. He heard nothing.

She was gone again.

Judith sat at Louise’s kitchen table, the merger prospectus spread before her. She stared at it blankly.

Her boss at the tourist bureau had been wonderful to take her in, especially after hearing the whole story. Judith hoped this hideout in San Diego was better than the cove. Safer for her sake, and Louise’s.

“Oh, God,” she murmured, laying her head down on the table.

What had she done? Making love to Paul had been like driving yet another nail into her heart … yet she had no more been able to stop herself from doing so than anyone had of stopping the moon from circling the earth. She knew if she’d stayed, she would have had to accept a lesser role in his life, something she instinctively felt was wrong. To stay would also put him in a
dangerous situation if the man in the Mercedes showed up again. And Judith felt in her bones that he would. She hadn’t left a note for Paul, not wanting to put him in any danger by knowing where she was. She had to cut off the relationship cleanly too.

Maybe Paul was right though. Maybe she
had
run in the beginning because she sensed something threatening. The threat came from a family member, she was sure of it. The thought was horrible and whenever she considered the “who,” her thoughts were downright frightening.

Although coming back was a greater risk than remaining at the cove, she felt she had hidden all her tracks. Pedro had put her in touch with a friend of a friend of a friend who took people through the desert to the east of San Diego. She wasn’t an illegal alien, so she figured it was all right for her to cross the border by less than usual means. She had even left her car at the cove, vowing never to buy a gold car again. The damn thing was a brighter beacon than the Statue of Liberty.

After they had crossed the border, the man had brought her straight to Louise’s little house in North Claremont. Pedro hadn’t even charged her for the service, evidently feeling he’d tarnished his honor after innocently revealing her presence at the cove. By the time her intruder found out she wasn’t at the cove any longer, and
by the time he got around to checking on Louise, the board meeting would have come and gone. Whoever wanted to stop her would have no reason after she voted. Everything would be moot then.

She hoped.

The doorbell rang. Judith glanced up sharply, her heart beating so hard in her chest, it hurt. She wondered if she should answer it. The bell rang again, then someone pounded on the door.

“Judith! Judith, are you there?”

Paul. She gasped in relief, then ran for the door and flung it open. Sure enough, Paul stood on Louise’s threshold. “Paul! What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

He strode in and pulled the door from her hand, swinging it shut. She realized he was angry. Very, very angry.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” he shouted. “How could you leave like that? You didn’t say a word. You didn’t wake me up. Or even leave me a note!”

She swallowed, trying to wet her dry throat. “I … I didn’t want to argue with you. You would make me stay. I knew that was unhealthy for everyone there, or for you to know where I was—”

“Running back here is unhealthy for you!” He took her by the arms, shaking her. “Dammit, you scared me to death, woman. You’re still scaring me. You’re not safe here—wherever here is.”

“This is a friend’s house. How did you find me anyway?”

“Pedro.” Paul’s grip eased, but he didn’t release her. “I have to say that if it was anyone else but me, I don’t think he would have told. Do you realize the trouble you would have been in if you were caught crossing outside a border gate?”

She frowned. “But
I
wouldn’t have been in trouble. I’m an American.”

“You could have been in worse trouble than an illegal crossing over. Immigration just ships them back. But they would have thought you were smuggling because you didn’t come through a checkpoint. You would have been in jail until the mess got straightened out.” He actually grinned. “Hell, that probably would have been good, because you would be safe right now instead of exposing yourself for a kidnapping.”

“Oh, Lord,” Judith moaned, appalled that she could have been in real trouble. “I had no idea. I didn’t mean to break any laws. Honest.”

“Good thing I’m not a cop any longer. And we won’t even talk about you going over with some stranger who could have done anything to you—”

“But he’s someone Pedro knows,” she protested.

“God help us all.” He sighed. “Judith, why did you leave me again?”

“Because I didn’t want you hurt. And I couldn’t see any future for us even after I’m out
of this mess. I’m in love with you, but you shut me out of your life.”

He pulled her to him, kissing her so desperately she couldn’t breathe. When he let her go, he said, “I love you, and I can’t shut you out.”

“You do.” She started to cry, not able to keep the tears suppressed any longer.

“I don’t. I won’t. Can we try?”

She realized what it was costing him to make that admission. This man had shut out the world for years, divorcing himself from everything he had cared about. Maybe she had been asking too much of him before. Maybe it was enough right now for him to take a baby step in opening himself again. Maybe the rest would come naturally once he started.

She reached up and stroked his cheek. “I want to try.”

“Total trust.”

“Total trust.”

He held her, and she wrapped her arms around him, grateful he was there.

“Now,” he said, setting her away. “Let’s get you out of here. Your friend’s house is nice, but this will be one of the first places they’ll look. They’re not keeping a watch on it yet. I checked before I exposed myself.”

She laughed at the double entendre.

“Don’t laugh. I’m not kidding around.”

“But all this sounds awful, like James Bond,” she said.

“Cops always assume the worst. At least good cops do. We’ll get you settled in a safe place until the board meeting. I have friends in the SDPD. I can check out a few other things.”

“I want to go see my parents,” she said.

Paul gaped at her. “Are you crazy? That’s the first place our man will look.”

“I need to see them,” she said stubbornly. “I need to find out what they might know about all this. I just need to talk to them, to know they’re okay. They’ve probably been worried about me.”

He was quiet for a moment. “You may not want to hear this again, but one of them could have hired our guy.”

She wanted to be outraged by the suggestion, but it was her most frightening thought. “I don’t think so. I pray not. But they’re my parents. They may be overbearing at times, but they were concerned for my welfare. I truly believe that. I was at fault because I took the easy way out and allowed them to have their way. I should have stood up for myself. Even if all hell broke loose, at least I would have been honest with them. I haven’t been. I need to see them, Paul. I need to know I’m not wrong. And if I am … I still love them. They’re my parents.”

“Get your things,” he said.

They met her folks in the bar of the Hotel Del Coronado, around the corner from her parents’ house on Coronado Beach. The glamorous Victorian hotel was an incongruous place for a
clandestine meeting, but Paul approved it for that very reason. Roger and Madeline Collier frequented the hotel facilities, so their presence wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

Her mother cried when she saw Judith. And her father. Judith felt awful at seeing their relief. She hadn’t trusted them when she’d been worried only about pressure. When worse things had surfaced, her focus had been elsewhere—with good cause.

She told them what happened, from her first leaving to the man who had tried to kidnap her. Paul sat at her side, silent, watchful. Her mother glanced at him from time to time. Her father’s gaze stayed on her.

“Why didn’t you come to us in the first place?” Roger asked when she was through. “I would have advised you how to vote. In fact, it would have been much better if you gave me your power of attorney—”

“That’s the point, Dad,” Judith said patiently. “I was left these shares by Aunt Edna. I don’t know why she did what she did, but I do know I have a responsibility here. I have to vote them myself, in the way my conscience tells me. I’m voting no to the merger.”

Both her parents stared at her. Finally her father said, “And that is a damn good reason for you to have given them up to me. Didn’t you read the prospectus?”

“Until my eyes watered,” Judith said. “Despite
the money the family would make, I think this other company would turn Collier from an exclusive quality chocolate to an assembly-line run-of-the-mill candy. We may be a small market with small growth prospects, but we’re a prestigious one.”

Her father shook his head and opened his mouth, but her mother butted in. “Be quiet, Roger. You’re arguing over money while someone is trying to harm our daughter. I love the business as much as you, but I love Judith more.” She turned to her daughter. “It’s your decision, right or wrong, but it’s yours to make, dear.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Judith smiled at her mother, grateful for the understanding, a first bridge to the new life she knew she had to make. She also knew her mother didn’t agree with her vote either.

“Maybe you’re exaggerating what happened in Mexico,” Roger said. “You always had an overactive imagination—”

“She didn’t exaggerate,” Paul said, stopping her father. “I was there. You ought to appreciate your daughter more, Mr. Collier. I hope my own daughter has Judith’s qualities when she grows up.”

Judith forced down the tears that threatened. She didn’t need Paul’s defense of her, but it was wonderful to hear it.

“Roger, stop being a total ass,” Madeline
said. “I believe Judith. I think I might even have seen this man.”

Judith gaped. “Mom!”

Paul immediately began an interrogation. “Where?”

“At the Collier offices, actually.” Madeline shrugged. “I don’t think I was supposed to see him. I was coming in to pick up your brother for lunch, and I noticed your cousin Michael standing by a black Mercedes out in the parking lot, talking with a man. Your telling us about the car struck a nerve. Anyway, they were having an intense conversation. The man was shoving his finger in Michael’s face and Michael was waving toward the building. Michael walked away as soon as he saw me.” Her mother paused. “I know Michael has been gambling big-time out in Las Vegas. He was cultivating Edna for the last year or so, taking her to dinner and shows. Family gossip has it that he’s in debt.”

Roger nodded. “It’s not gossip. About a month ago he tried to borrow against his projected profits from the merger. With the deal not yet decided, the banks turned him down.”

“Sounds like our man. Both our men.” Paul grinned. “Now that we know, we can prepare better. We shouldn’t stay much longer, Judith.”