Summer Mahogany (12 page)

As he was already familiar with much of the language contained in the proposal, since Gina had discussed it with him in some detail, Justin's perusal of the document was merely a formality. Pete read it with concentration, mentally testing every word and phrase.

With growing irritation, Gina watched Rhyder flip through the multi-page agreement, barely skimming the contents. He didn't even glance at the last page as he tossed it on Justin's desk.

"I find little in it that's agreeable," Rhyder stated flatly.

Counting to ten, Gina held her tongue. If he was attempting to bait her into losing her temper by placing an immediate obstacle in the discussions, she was determined he wouldn't succeed.

"I prefer to hear Pete's opinion," she responded with professional crispness.

There was a condescending, faintly derogatory nod of his jet-dark head. Seething inwardly, Gina ignored the gesture. With negligent ease, Rhyder sat in the chair he had just vacated, relaxing deeply against its winged back.

His hooded gaze made a slow and thorough inspection of her as she waited for Pete to complete his examination of the proposal. Gina pretended to be unaware of Rhyder's eyes on her, but his unwavering gaze was stirring her nerves tautly.

"Excellently drawn," Pete concluded when he had finished reading her proposal. He beamed her a smile that twisted ruefully after a second. "Unfortunately, the language is biased in favor of your client rather than mine. In the points where we are in agreement, I'd like to recommend some changing in the wording."

"Naturally," Gina conceded. Small revisions were to be expected as well as large. She removed a fourth copy from the folder. "Where, specifically?"

As Pete started to turn a page in his copy, Rhyder straightened with undisguised impatience. "Pete and I will look over the proposal, make some notes, and get back to you in the next few days, Justin."

He was already walking toward the door by the time Pete assimilated the information that Rhyder had brought the meeting to an abrupt end. Self-consciously Pete glanced at Gina. The grim set of her lips no longer concealed her anger. Mumbling a goodbye, he picked up his briefcase, the proposal folded in his hand, and followed Rhyder's retreating back.

Silence descended with the closing of the door. Gina stared at it, wondering how she could have been so foolish as not to resign. It had been what she wanted and what Rhyder had wanted. Why had she sailed into the teeth of danger?

A faint movement behind her reminded her of Justin's presence in the room, and the explanations he would want. At the moment, she didn't want to give them.

Briskly she turned to the desk and stuffed her copy of the proposal into the folder to slip it into her briefcase. Justin watched, waiting silently. With a slight toss of her head, Gina looked at him and smiled distantly.

"The meeting didn't end on an auspicious note, but Rhyder wants the property or he wouldn't have come all this way." Her businesslike manner deliberately didn't encourage any personal questions. "Give me a call whenever he contacts you."

She turned to leave, but was halted by his low, demanding voice. "Gina."

"Yes, Justin?" She glanced over her shoulder, false curiosity in the arch of an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you tell me you were married to him?" The strong line of his jaw was thrust forward at an aggressive angle.

"It seemed unnecessary."

"Unnecessary?" He was about to say more, but checked himself with an effort. "How much of what you did tell me was true?"

"All of it," Gina replied stiffly.

"Does that means you were married to him nine years ago? When you were sixteen?" Justin tipped his head to one side, skepticism and censor in his expression.

"Yes, which is in itself an explanation," she retorted.

"Yet you denied he was an old flame," he accused.

"He's a dead flame as far as I'm concerned." Their chemistries still mixed with explosive results, but it was due to hostility, not passion.

"Dammit, Gina!" His fist slammed against the desk top in anger. "You could have warned me who he was instead of letting me believe that he was someone you had a summer flirtation with years ago!"

"If I had known he was the president of Caufield Enterprises, I would have told you about him!" Gina flashed. "As it was, you didn't bother to tell me."

"I supposed you knew," Justin defended. "I certainly wasn't trying to keep it a secret from you. You certainly can't say the same."

"I don't appreciate your insinuations!" She unleashed the anger that had been smoldering beneath the surface, kindled by Rhyder. "Nor do I like being cross-examined as if I were on trial for some crime!"

"Can you blame me for feeling as if I've been betrayed?" he demanded.

Breathing in deeply, Gina fought to control her temper. "If you prefer to have another lawyer represent you, you're free to do so, Justin."

He didn't try to stop her as she walked out of his office. The legal firm Gina worked for had offices in a building several blocks from Justin's. The walk in the brisk autumn air cooled most of her anger by the time she entered the reception area.

A telephone message to call Justin was awaiting her arrival. In the small cubbyhole that was her office, Gina dialed his number, bracing herself for the clipped announcement that he was hiring another lawyer. His voice was clipped, but he told Gina that he still wanted her to represent him in the negotiations.

Professionally it was a victory, since she had been slowly building a reputation in real estate dealings. Yet she knew that emotionally it would have been better to have lost this one and not been forced to tolerate Rhyder's company.

TWO DAYS LATER, Gina received a counterproposal in the mail from Pete Arneson on Rhyder's behalf. She had just finished reading it when her extension rang. It was Justin calling to tell her that Rhyder had scheduled a meeting for the following afternoon.

Gina told him about the counterproposal she had received. "If Rhyder thought our proposal was unacceptable, his is ludicrous."

"I don't think there's much doubt that we're going to have a fight on our hands to get what we want," Justin replied in a tone that said he wasn't looking forward to it.

"So will Rhyder," she said with a decisive note of battle.

Her opinion of his counterproposal was repeated the next afternoon to Rhyder's face. Immediately Gina ignored him to discuss some of the minor differences with Pete, choosing ones that could quickly be resolved.

Rhyder stepped in and they became embroiled in a bitter dispute on a major issue. After nearly an hour of verbal sword-clashing, Gina tossed her pencil onto the table beside her long yellow note pad.

"These guarantees you're asking Justin to make are preposterous!" she declared in exasperation. "From the beginning, you've been aware of the boundary dispute to the south. You can't expect him to guarantee the outcome of that."

"I can and do." There was uncompromising hardness to the line of his jaw.

A long, slow fuse began to burn. "Can you guarantee that after these negotiations are over you and I will never see each other again?" Gina challenged, meeting the hard steel in his startling blue eyes. "Because if you can, I will advise Justin to agree to yours."

His carved mahogany features darkened. "I didn't think you could keep personalities out of these discussions, Miss Gaynes," he said in a savage undertone.

Gina stiffened, paling at his harsh taunt. The burning fuse nearly reached the dynamite of her temper before she was able to check it. With controlled movements, she began gathering her papers and replacing them in her briefcase, aware of the silence that had suddenly descended on the room.

The briefcase was shut before she looked at any of them. Then it was Pete who received the blast of her green eyes, as cold as the Atlantic in winter.

"I'm wasting my time here. It's pointless to sit here and argue when I have work to do in my office." Gina rose from her chair. "When your client is willing to be reasonable and compromise some of his impossible demands, we can resume these talks." Her gaze sliced to Justin, who was both amazed and uncertain. "I'll talk to you later."

To Rhyder she said nothing, sweeping out of the room without a glance at him. She paused in the outer office long enough to ask Justin's secretary to telephone her office and let them know she wouldn't be returning that afternoon. Then she walked.

Cold fury drove her for blocks. Finally she ended up, exhausted and footweary, only a block from her apartment. The problem was, her car was parked in the lot near her office building.

Reluctantly she started to retrace her steps. With a sigh she stopped and walked to her apartment. The car was locked and would be relatively safe until tomorrow. She could take a taxi to the office in the morning. Inside her apartment, her knees began to tremble. A tear slipped from her lashes, trickling down her cheek. It was the first time she could remember crying since her grandfather had died.

The telephone rang. Gina guessed it was Justin or one of her girl friends and let it ring unanswered. As she started to fill the bathtub, its demanding call started again, but she ignored it and added perfumed bath salts to the water.

The telephone continued to ring intermittently during her long soak in the bubble bath. The fragrant water soothed her tired muscles and strained nerves.

Wrapped in a short cotton robe, she walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of milk from the refrigerator. When she stepped into the living room, the telephone started ringing again. Gina stopped, frowning at the beige telephone and the persistence of her caller.

On the sixth ring she answered it, impatient with herself for giving in to its demands, yet knowing her caller appeared determined not to give her any peace until she did.

"This is Rhyder," the masculine voice unnecessarily identified itself.

Her first impulse was to slam the receiver on its cradle, but she checked herself and asked curtly, "What do you want?"

"If you're over your tantrum and have stopped sulking, I would like to arrange a meeting for this evening," he taunted dryly.

"I'm a lawyer, not a doctor. I'm not on call at all hours of the day and night," Gina snapped. "If it's a meeting you want, call Justin and arrange it for tomorrow."

"There is other property I can buy, not quite as ideally located as Justin's, but with the potential for development and minus the hassle I'm getting from you. You either agree to this meeting tonight or the deal is off," Rhyder promised with ominous calm.

"Don't threaten me, Rhyder!" she breathed angrily.

"But I am. And considering that you were the one to walk out on today's meeting after issuing your ultimatum, you'll have a difficult time convincing Justin that you're acting in his best interests by refusing to meet me tonight," he suggested complacently. "Justin stands to make a sizable profit from this sale. He isn't going to like losing it, nor thank you for causing it."

"And of course you'll make sure he knows that you were willing to make concessions on some of your demands if only I'd met you halfway." Sarcasm honed a sharp edge to her voice. "You'll tell him that even if it's a lie."

"But neither of you would ever be certain it was, would you?" countered Rhyder.

"What time?" Gina surrendered reluctantly.

"Seven-thirty."

She glanced at her wrist, but it was bare. "What time is it now?"

"A few minutes before six," he answered.

There was plenty of time to eat a cold meal, dress and travel downtown. "Seven-thirty at Justin's office," Gina said confirming the hour and location.

"Since it's after business hours, I thought we'd meet at the apartment I've rented." Rhyder paused. "Unless, of course, you object to meeting here?"

Part of her objected strongly. However, to admit that would also mean admitting she was allowing personalities to enter a business negotiation, the very thing Rhyder had accused her of today. She wasn't going to give him a second opportunity.

"Why should I?" Gina returned with false unconcern. "What's the address?"

She set her glass of milk on the telephone stand and reached for the pencil and message pad beside the phone, writing clown the address as Rhyder gave it to her. When he had hung up she tore the top paper from the pad and fingered it apprehensively.

An inner sense warned her that she was making a mistake, but it was too late for second thoughts. She had committed herself and now had to follow through.

Returning to the kitchen with her glass of milk, she made a quick salad of cold shrimps from the refrigerator, ate half of it before her appetite waned, and stacked the dirty dishes in the sink.

Nothing in her closet appealed to her as she tried to choose what to wear. Slacks seemed too casual without a jacket, and the evening was warm. Finally she decided on a slightly flared white skirt and a scarlet tunic with a matching overblouse patterned with scarlet and pink flowers.

She regretted her choice when the cab driver knocked at her apartment door and pursed his lips in a silent whistle of admiration at the sight of her, but there wasn't time to change. The briefcase was in her hand as Gina locked her apartment door and followed the driver to his cab. It was almost a shield against her femininity, a gossamer one, more to protect her from herself.