Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger (52 page)

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Authors: Lori Copeland

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Westerns, #test

BOOK: Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger
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Page 170
''That still wouldn't prevent her from being there," Chandra reminded curtly, a little put out with his deception.
"Honey, if I had a harem standing here, staring me in the face, the only thing I could do for them at the moment is whistle 'Dixie.' "
"I really am sorry about the coffee, Garrett, but it was pretty rotten of you to imply Jill was a" Her voice broke off painfully.
"Would it really matter to you?" he cut her off in a tired, defeated voice.
"Yes, it would." Chandra couldn't lie to him. "I'm sorry, I know it's unreasonable, but I feel very jealous of her."
"Not fair, honey. I've offered you the position of being the only lady in my bed and you refusedseveral times," he reminded curtly.
"I know," she said, twisting the phone cord around her finger.
"All you have to do is say the word," Garrett offered again. "I'll be in my car in two minutes to come and get you."
"No, I love you and I want to say those words . . . but I can't," she whispered miserably.
"What did you say?"
"I said I want to, but I can't."
"No, you said something along with that," he pressed huskily.
"You mean the part about 'I love you."
"Yeah, that part. Say that again."
"I love you, I love you, I love you," she whispered tenderly into the phone, her eyes filling with tears.
"Sweetheart, I wish I could believe that. The only problem is, you love another man too. If you were only lying here beside me right now, I'd make you forget there ever was a man named Phillip," he whispered, his voice sexy and low.
Chandra was too overcome with emotion to speak for a moment. She closed her eyes, the tears dropping hotly down the front of her gown. She couldn't tell him she didn't love Phillip. He would expect her to come to him, and she was afraid that this time she wouldn't refuse.
 
Page 171
''Are you crying again?" he asked in tender irritation. "I'm warning youif you are, I'll start cussing."
She smiled through a veil of tears at his implied threat. Her tears drove him up a wall and his cussing upset her greatly. "You're a bully," she sobbed lovingly into the receiver.
"I knowa mean, cussin'bully." Garrett's voice clouded with desire. "Come to me tonight, Chandra. Let me hold you in my arms and show you how good it can be for us," he pleaded fervently.
"I thought you couldn't . . . be with a woman tonight," she sniffed, thrilled at the intensity of the words he had just spoken to her.
"Just having you here in my arms tonight would be enough for me, Chandra," he said earnestly. "Although I desire you more than any woman I've ever known, sometimes just having the right person with him is the most important thing to a man."
"If I'm really the right person, Garrett, why are we so far apart right now?" she asked tearfully, laying her head against the cold banister.
"Number one, there's a matter of phillip; number two, there's a matter of your stubbornness. If you loved me, you'd break that engagement right now, call a cab, and come over here." His tone grew tense, the soft, sexy teasing gone now from his voice.
"And if you loved me, you'd ask me to be your wife, the mother of your children, the only woman you'd ever need," she told him crossly.
"I've asked you most of those things already," he snapped. "Why can't you be satisfied with that? You want me and Phillip both? Well, sorry, baby. I don't operate that way."
"That's not true, Garrett! I don't want any more than any other woman wantsa home, a husband, security."
"Dammit, Chandra . . . I'm not going to argue with you over this one more time. I'm going to lay it on the line once and for all. You give that damn ring back, cancel the wedding, then get yourself back over here where you belong! Then we'll talk about a marriage between us. If you don't," he warned grimly, "I'm
 
Page 172
going to put this house up for sale, find a small apartment, and try to regain some semblance of a sane orderly peaceful lifeone I was used to living before I met you!''
"That's fine with mego ahead! I will not buckle under your threats. I will not break the engagement and hang on to the bare thread of hope that you
might
ask me to marry youand I will
not
come to your damn house!" Her voice was rising sharply now.
"Chandra Loring," Garrett's voice bellowed over the wire, "if I could get my hands on you right now, I'd give you that spanking that's twenty-five years overdue! And you better not let me hear another cuss word come out of that mouth of yours againyou understand?!"
She taunted him childishly with a string of curses, her temper boiling. "How do you like
that,
Mr. Morganson? That's what I've had to live with ever since I met you! And another thing," she was standing up, yelling into the receiver at him, "you're not going to have the opportunity to lay one hand on me because I'm going back to Kansas City first thing Christmas aft" She caught herself, realizing what she had just said.
"Well, go aheadfinish your temper tantrum. You're going back to Kansas Citywhen?" Garrett simmered, his voice more alert than before.
"Never mind," she said hatefully.
"No, you said you were leaving Christmas afternoon, didn't you? Why?"
"Garrett . . . it was just a slip of the tongue," she hedged, angry she had let that piece of information slip.
"You're lying and that means only one thing. You're not getting married on the thirty-first, are you?" he demanded tensely.
"Either way it's not your problem anymore," she murmured, sickened at the way they always fought with each other. She had always been such a passive person until she'd met Garrett.
"Tell me the truth, Chandra," he ordered tightly. "Is Phillip out of your life for good?"
 
Page 173
''Yes," she finally conceded. "I'm not going to marry him." It would be simple for Garrett to find out the truthshe might as well admit it to him. "But I'm
not
going to move in with you either," she warned heatedly lest he misunderstand the reason for the broken engagement. "I'm going back to my job and
my
sane, orderly life."
"Is that a fact?" he said airily, his whole mood changing now. "Well, don't be surprised if things don't work out your way." There was a pause then he added, "Phillip dumped you after he found out about us, huh?"
"He certainly
did not,
" she bristled hotly. "I . . . we . . . it was a mutual agreement!" She wasn't about to reveal what actually happened.
"Then
you
broke the engagement,
not
Phillip," Garrett pressed intensely. "You're not in love with him any longer?"
"That's right! I broke it. I knew a long time ago I never was in love with hi" She caught herself again. "I mean . . . not really in love with him."
"Well, well, well," Garrett breathed solemnly, "you don't know how happy I am to hear that." There was a small pause. "Get some sleep, you dippy broad. I'll talk to you later."
The abrupt click of his receiver sounded loudly in her ear. Chandra glared at her phone irritably, then slammed it back on the cradle heatedly. "Dippy broad!" she fumed on the way back to her bed.
He was undoubtedly the most nerve-wracking man she had ever encountered. Christmas Day couldn't get here fast enough for her. The sooner she got back to Kansas City, the better. Her nerves couldn't take much more of this.
 
Page 174
Chapter Ten
Chandra's thoughts might have been brave, but in the cold light of morning she wasn't so sure she could live up to them. After seeing Phillip off she sat back down at the kitchen table with her second cup of coffee and a blackness descended over her. If it wasn't for the fact that she would disappoint her parents greatly by not being here for Christmas, she would pack her clothes and leave this very morning. Christmas had lost all its appeal for her right now. She just wanted to get it over and behind her as quickly as possible.
The final days crept slowly by as Chandra began the tedious task of canceling her wadding and trying to keep her mind off Garrett. He had called twice but she had refused to speak with him. With each passing hour the pain grew stronger. Each time a Christmas carol came over the radio she would get up and switch it off immediately. Tears were never far from the surface these days, and she tried to avoid anything remotely close to emotion. She had enough sadness to last her the rest of her life.
At last Christmas Eve arrived, and she had only one more day to endure before going back to her other life.
''I hate to see you so unhappy, dear." Margo was making a batch of peanut brittle late that afternoon as Chandra sat absently watching her mother measure the sugar, corn syrup, and water into the heavy pan. "You shouldn't be so stubborn. He's called twice, Chandra," she reminded gently.
Chandra watched as Margo sat the pan on the stove and turned on the burner, stirring the mixture as it heated. "I don't
 
Page 175
want to talk to him, Mom. We have nothing to say to each other,'' she answered calmly.
"You'll excuse me if I disagree with that," Margo said skeptically. "It seems to me you haven't said enough to each other. Isn't there any way to settle this between the two of you?"
"Only one way, Mom, and I don't think you would be crazy about the idea," Chandra said wryly.
"I don't know, Chandra. I'm aware of what Garrett's terms are. I also know you've been raised to frown on the kind of relationship he's asking for, but I haven't lived forty-seven years without coming to the realization that love doesn't always follow the rules society has laid down for it so perfectly," she reasoned quietly.
"You're surely not suggesting that I
accept
his offer, are you Mom?" Chandra believed in miracles, but not in this situation, and certainly not from her old-fashioned, straitlaced mother!
"Of course not," Margo reproved mildly, watching the bubbling mixture in the pan before her intently. "I'm just saying love is a strange and wonderful occurrence. When two people find itreally find itthen they should fight to keep it. You have to hang on tight and fight for what is important in your life, Chandra."
"Even if it means taking the chance that in the end I would end up with nothing but bitterness and regrets?" Chandra asked softly.
"Sometimes a person has to take chances, darling. Trust between two people is very important. If you can't trust the one you love to not hurt you, who can you trust?" Margo laid the spoon down and walked over to take her daughter's hands in hers. "I can tell you the wisest thing to do, Chandra. I just can't tell you the right thing. All your father and I want is for you to be happy. We all strive to live a good, decent life, be God-fearing people, and do the best we can in life; but sadly, when it all comes down to it, we're only too human . . . weak in some areas, stronger in others. We all make mistakeswe're not perfect. If what you feel for Garrett is real, then go to him before you leave tomorrow
 
Page 176
and try to work it out. There will have to be compromises from both of you. There will be for the rest of your lives, but it's worth it if you love each other.''
"Mom, you said if you couldn't trust the one you love, who can you trust? What if Garrett isn't worthy of that trust? I love him, but I don't know if he really loves me," Chandra said drearily.
"He's worthy, darling. If he wasn't, you wouldn't love him," she replied in motherly wisdom. "I know
my
daughter."
Chandra squeezed her mother's hands in affection, love filling her clear, hazel eyes. "How did you get so wise?" she teased mildly. "Or is it that I just have an exceptional mother who's always been able to make my problems seem smaller?"
"I'm neither wise, nor exceptional, I'm just experienced," Margo said, patting her hand. "Think about what I said, Chandra. Think long and hard, and it wouldn't hurt to ask for some help from above. Speaking of which," she added, "if you're going to make the early candlelight service at church, you'd better get busy. Dad and I have decided to go to the midnight one."
"Thanks, Mom . . . for everything," she smiled, reaching over to hug her mother tightly.
As she climbed the stairs to dress for church, Chandra mused that, although her problems were neither bigger nor smaller than before, it just seemed her burden was a little lighter to carry now.
The inside of the old church smelled of pine and holly. The strains of the pipe organ filled the air with Christmas carols as Chandra took a candle from the table in the foyer and lit it from a burning taper. With reverence she entered the chapel and took a seat, her eyes going to the altar covered in red poinsettias. The choir was singing Christmas hymns as the congregation filled the pews, only the flickering from each of their candles lighting the way.
Chandra sat peacefully, her mind going over what her mother had said to her earlier. Was it possible she was guilty of what she had so often accused Garrett oftoo little trust? Should she take the chance on love, simply praying that it would turn out well

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