Desert Devil (5 page)

His voice stopped her. "Miss Townsend, I'd like to talk to you a moment."

His voice was neither loud nor demanding, but there was something compelling about it. Reluctantly, Juli turned and looked at him again. The sun was gone now and his body no longer gleamed like that of a bronze god. But he was no less magnificent as a mortal man, a man vitally alive, humanly virile.

"About what?" she finally managed to ask warily.

"After our… uh… discussion earlier today, I talked with Dr. Johnson and went over the research department records. I thought perhaps David had accomplished something of which I was unaware. However, I'm afraid I could find nothing to substantiate your claim that he had recently made some sort of 'scientific breakthrough' or invented anything of particular value to the company."

"I doubt that you were looking for anything to substantiate
my
claim," Juli retorted scornfully. "I imagine you're doing everything you can to protect your own interests—no matter how unfair that might be to others."

Even in the gathering dusk she could see the tightening of his chiseled lips, but his voice was controlled when he spoke. "At the time of his death, in fact, David was involved primarily with the testing of some of our new products, not with actual research," he stated.

"David was brilliant and creative. He could do more than test products."

"Brilliant, true," Thorne Taylor agreed. Bluntly, he added, "But unreliable."

"Unreliable!" Juli gasped furiously. "So, you're not only going to cheat David's mother out of what she deserves, but you're going to indulge in character assassination, as well—against a man who can hardly defend himself!"

"Miss Townsend, I assure you—"

Juli refused to listen anymore. She turned and started down the slope, suddenly aware of how rapidly darkness was falling. With the setting of the sun, the desert air was surprisingly chill, too. She heard him call again, but she plunged ahead, dodging the needle-sharp thorns that clutched at her from all directions. But in her anger she had forgotten that she must also watch where she stepped, and a moment later a searing pain stabbed through her left foot.

Involuntarily she cried out and instinctively grabbed at her foot. The hot-needle pain bit into her hand and a dozen horrifying thoughts flashed through her mind— spider, scorpion, tarantula! Wildly, almost hysterically, she shook her hand, trying to free it from that stinging grip-Suddenly a strong hand caught her flailing wrist. "Stop it.
Stop it
!" he commanded harshly.

"Something bit me!"

"No. It's only a piece of cholla. Calm down."

Doubtfully, Juli peered at the sticky clump clinging tenaciously to her hand. It was true. It was just a bit of the thorny cactus caught on her hand. "Cholla?" she repeated uncertainly.

"The cactus for which the town is named. Not without good reason, I'm sure you'll agree," he added dryly, indicating the sticky sea of golden-hued thorns around them. "Painful, but not deadly."

Juli felt a little foolish making such a fuss over nothing more than a cactus, but that didn't lessen the searing pain in both her hand and foot. She blinked back tears and reached for the sticky clump with her other hand.

"Don't do that." His hand tightened on her wrist. "Cholla has a spine barbed like a fishhook. It sticks to anything it touches."

Juli had already experienced that unhappy fact. When she jerked the sticky clump away from her foot, it had only clung to her hand. Now both felt as if red-hot needles had been driven into her flesh.

He looked around. "Over here," he said.

She hobbled after him as he led her by the wrist. He guided her hand to a flat rock.

"This is going to hurt," he warned.

She gritted her teeth and nodded. He used a stick to press the cholla against the rock and then pulled her hand away. He was right. It felt like a dozen fishhooks ripping through her flesh.

"Sorry," he said gruffly. "That's the only way to do it."

She was glad the thickening darkness concealed the tears spilling out of her eyes. "Thank you," she said stiffly. "I'll be more careful in the future." She held the torn, burning hand with her free one to still its trembling. Somewhere she had lost the Polaroid pictures she had taken, but she didn't care. All she wanted now was to get back to the trailer. She took a step in that direction, only to feel the searing pain shoot up her leg again. One of the cholla spines must still be embedded in her foot.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded. "You can't make it through there alone."

In dismay Juli realized that the faint trail she had followed up to the ridge had been swallowed up in deepening shadows. Lights twinkled from the town off to the south, but the area below the ridge was completely dark. With a sense of panic, she realized she wasn't even sure where the trailer was located.

But if Thorne Taylor thought she was going to beg him for help, he was mistaken, she thought resolutely. If it took her all night to find her way through this maze of cactus, she'd still do it. She took another step, gritting her teeth against the pain.

"You're being foolish," Thorne Taylor's voice chided. "Just because you want to get away from me—"

"I don't want to get away from you!" Juli snapped. She broke off angrily. That hadn't come out right. Lamely, she added, "I mean, I do, but—"

She realized she was standing on one foot, keeping her weight off the other one. His sharp eyes saw it, too.

"Okay, that's enough," he said decisively. "I'm not going to have you adding some sort of personal-injury suit to the one you already have planned."

"Mr. Taylor, I assure you I have no intention of suing you because I stepped on a piece of cactus!" Juli said indignantly.

"Just to make sure—" He took a long stride toward her and before she had any idea what he intended, he reached down and swept her up in his arms. She was too astonished to protest for a moment. She felt the strength of his arms cradling her, felt the even more intimate warmth of his naked chest against her bare midriff. In the growing darkness her body was a pale contrast to his deeply tanned skin, his hand a dark print on her bare leg. He started through an opening in the boulders with her, and she finally came to her senses enough to voice an enraged objection.

"Mr. Taylor, put me down!
Now
!" she demanded.

He didn't reply, simply tightened his arms and pressed her even closer to him in order to squeeze through the narrow passageway between the jumbled rocks. Her cheek was against his shoulder, her breasts crushed against his chest. Her anger at this cavalier treatment was suddenly joined by a feeling of panic. Where was he taking her? What did he have in mind? She knew little about what kind of man he was, except that David had distrusted him. And that he seemed totally indifferent, or deaf, to her protests.

She twisted and struggled in his arms, kicking wildly until his powerful grip clamped her legs so tightly together she couldn't move. "Mr. Taylor, you have no right—I insist—put me down!" she gasped breathlessly. Taking a different tack, she added, "Your camera—"

"I'll come back for it later. No one is going to be up here to steal it." His voice sounded calm and under perfect control, in distinct contrast to her breathless gaspings. The only effect of her struggles on him was a thick strand of dark hair falling across his forehead. It brought back that faintly satanic look.

She peered around trying to memorize the route he was taking in case she had a chance to flee. They were going downhill now, through more boulders on the far side of the ridge. She marked a peculiarly twisted saguaro outlined against the sky. He seemed to know the area well, moving forward without hesitation. Her only view was back over his shoulder at the boulders and cactus silhouetted behind them.

Where could he be taking her? she wondered frantically. A parked car seemed the most likely answer. She did not find the thought reassuring.

Suddenly the trail, if it was a trail they were following, twisted, and she had a view in the opposite direction. To her surprise the lights beyond this side of the ridge were far more numerous than on the other side, and the regular pattern indicated a subdivision or housing development of some sort. And to her greater astonishment, directly below them were the faint outlines of a large, sprawling house and the glow of outdoor lights on a swimming pool that gleamed like a turquoise jewel. This, she knew instantly, was no subdivision tract house.

Thorne Taylor set her down on a cement patio built into a natural recess among the boulders. A drooping tree that looked faintly golden in the glow of the pool lights hung over one edge of the patio.

"Where are we?" Juli gasped. It was a little like walking into a desert mirage that had somehow turned into reality.

"My home." He shrugged, the arrogant eyes looking down at her. "You were, as a matter of fact, trespassing on my property."

Juli suddenly realized that even though he had set her down, she was still clutching his arm and leaning against him. She jerked away self-consciously, only to feel the pain of the embedded cholla thorns shoot through her foot again. In dismay, she realized that somewhere in her struggles she had also lost the sandal on that foot. She brushed an unruly tendril of hair out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry about the trespassing," she said with all the aloof dignity she could muster in her disheveled condition. "Now, if you would just tell me how to get back to the trailer—?"

"I'll drive you," he said briefly, "after we take a look at that foot. And a little antiseptic on your hand might be a good idea, too."

Juli thought about protesting, but there didn't seem much point in it. She could hardly make her way back through the cactuses barefoot, and by now the foot throbbed sickeningly. He opened a door into a dimly lit rear hallway. Juli hobbled past him without meeting his eyes. He helped her down the hallway with a firm hand on her elbow. Juli didn't want to accept his help, but it was either that or hop along in a most undignified manner.

They passed through a kitchen with a hooded, island stove and rich pecan cabinets. Copper-bottomed pans gleamed on one wall. They went down another hall, lushly carpeted. The hallway opened on what appeared to be a comfortably casual family room looking out on the lighted pool. The pool, like the patio in back, was built to blend in with the natural setting of the gigantic boulders, and a palm tree leaned gracefully over the jeweled water. Inside the room there was a large, rock fireplace, handsome, wood-beamed ceilings, and sofas and chairs in pleasant, earthy colors.

"Wait here. I'll get a first-aid kit," Thorne Taylor instructed.

Juli looked down at her feet and legs in embarrassment. They looked like those of a child caught playing in the dirt. The scratch on her thigh was beaded with dried blood. She had forgotten all about it. "Is there someplace I could wash up first?"

He helped her down the hall to the most luxurious bathroom she had ever seen outside of a beautiful-homes magazine. The floor was of Italian tile, and there was a double, cultured-marble sink, the entire wall above it being mirrored. The lighting was concealed, soft, and flattering. Lush ferns almost covered a frosted window, and live vines grew around the sunken tub. The room had a sensual, almost jungle, feeling.

"My mother dotes on bathrooms," he said with a shrug.

Juli looked around uneasily. She didn't like the idea of being alone with Thorne Taylor, but in her present condition the idea of encountering his mother was even less appealing. "Does she live here?" Juli inquired.

"When she isn't jetting off to some other part of the world. She's in Acapulco with some friends right now."

Juli felt relieved.

"There's soap and towels," Thorne Taylor indicated. His appraising glance traveled over her. "Go ahead and take a shower if you'd like."

Juli stiffened. "I don't think—"

"The door has a lock," he pointed out sardonically. "And I'm not in the habit of getting kicks by playing peeping Tom in the shower."

Juli felt her face flame as he backed out of the door and pulled it shut behind him. In the huge mirror she could see that her face looked as pink as it felt. She could also see that his appraisal was justified. She needed a shower. It wasn't only her feet and legs that were dust-covered. But still, taking a shower in the home of a man she barely knew…

Recklessly, she slipped out of the shorts and halter, though not before making sure the door was securely locked. She stepped under the stream of hot water, a little embarrassed at the muddy puddle that gathered around her feet in the elegant tub. She hurriedly rinsed off and rubbed herself dry with a luxuriantly thirsty towel. She disliked slipping back into the shorts and halter, though perhaps as much for their skimpiness as their smudged condition.

The warm water felt soothing, though the foot still throbbed. She could see the embedded stickers, but she had no luck trying to dig them out. Reluctantly, she realized she was going to have to accept Thorne Taylor's help. For a moment she wondered why he was helping her at all when he thought she was trying to pull some shady trick on his company. Then she remembered his wry comment about the possibility of her also filing a personal-injury claim against him because she had been injured on his property. He was only protecting himself. She found the thought oddly disappointing.

He was waiting outside the door with a first-aid kit. He had, she noted with a certain unexplainable relief, added a shirt that covered his bronzed chest. He warned again that this was going to be painful, and it was, but with deft hands and tweezers he finally managed to pull the barbed spines out. He applied antiseptic to the foot, dabbed more on her hand, and for good measure swabbed off the scratch on her thigh. In spite of the sting of the antiseptic, Juli was more sharply aware of the disturbing feel of his hands on her skin.

"Thank you," she finally managed to say when he finished up with Band-Aids. With an attempt at lightness, she added, "I promise not to sue you."

He snapped the first-aid kit shut. His eyes, so intent on her injuries a moment earlier, were now partly speculative, partly amused.