A Bridge to Dreams (7 page)

Clearly startled, she stared over at him. “Brad, what do you think you're doing?”

“Going home with you.”

“You can't,” she protested.

“Why not?”

“Because—”

“Because your brother is going to show up with a thousand and one questions, right?”

“If I'm lucky,” she said with a sigh of resignation.

“And if you're not?”

“He'll also have the
rest
of the family in tow.”

“That's exactly why I'm coming along. We've done nothing wrong. The fact that he saw me kiss you goodnight is hardly grounds for hysteria.”

“You've obviously never encountered anyone like my brothers. They plopped me on a pedestal at birth and I can't seem to get down. They definitely don't want anyone up there with me.”

“Very Victorian,” he said, and laughed at her grimace. “I'm looking forward to meeting them.”

She turned and stared at him in apparent astonishment.

“I am,” he repeated emphatically.

She looked glum. “You don't have to do this, you know.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you?”

“Because you and I are going to continue seeing each other and your brothers and I might as well get that straight right now.”

A bright spark of hope lit her eyes. It was almost as bright as the desire he'd seen there earlier. The combination was too much for a mere mortal like him. Brad felt himself falling wildly, crazily in love. Karyn had presented him with one more dragon to slay and judging from the expression on her face, he'd done just fine.

K
aryn awoke with a crick in her neck and a pain in her back. It was just after 7:00 a.m. and once more someone was pounding on her door. Obviously any opportunity to sleep late during her vacation was doomed. Still groggy, she stumbled halfway across the room before she remembered that Brad was sprawled on her sofa, where he'd fallen asleep sometime shortly before dawn. Since the pounding didn't seem to be fazing him at all, she doubted that there was anything she could do to get him up and out a window before the person on the other side of that door barged in.

She swung open the door. “Keep it down, please. My head hurts,” she grumbled.

“More than your head is going to hurt by the time we finish talking,” Tim growled right back as he stalked into the living room.

He was halfway to the kitchen when he caught sight of Brad, who was just beginning to stir. Tim's expression went from shocked to outraged to thoughtful in a
matter of seconds as he watched Brad kick the quilt to the floor. Fortunately, he was fully clothed beneath it.

Tim locked his hand around her elbow and propelled her into the kitchen. “Okay, sis, who the hell is he and what is he doing here at this hour?”

“We were waiting for you,” Karyn said, plugging in the automatic coffeepot and dumping in an extra scoop of coffee. She had a feeling they were going to need the strongest brew she could make. “When I saw you last night, I figured you were upset about seeing Brad and me, well, you know.” She gazed at him beseechingly.

“Kissing? Right in the middle of the street? Were you out of your mind?”

She figured the question was rhetorical. “Anyway,” she went on, “Brad came back here with me so I wouldn't have to face the music alone. Not that there should have been any music to face, mind you.” She gazed at him pointedly. He scowled. “By the time it dawned on me that you were working the night shift, we were both too exhausted to move. Before you ask, he slept on the sofa. When he offered to sleep there, I didn't have the heart to tell him that was actually my bed. I guess he figured there had to be a bedroom somewhere. Most people do have them, you know.” She couldn't seem to stop rattling on.

Tim nodded. “Okay, so far. What I'm more concerned about is where
you
slept.”

Something inside Karyn snapped at the inquisition. In the past she'd simply shrugged them off. She'd certainly had nothing to hide. Now, however, it was definitely time to put a firm stop to these ridiculous intrusions into her personal life once and for all.

“Not that it's any of your business,” she began well enough. Her resolution wavered under Tim's penetrating gaze. “Okay, I slept on the floor, which is why every bone and muscle in my body is protesting this morning. If you're going to act brotherly, do it in a hurry and get out, so I can stand in a hot shower for an hour or two.”

“Alone?” Timmy inquired.

“Yes, dammit, alone. I hardly know Brad Willis, but I might add, if I were not going into that shower alone, that, too, would be none of your business.” She faced him with hands on hips. “What is wrong with you? I thought you were the one brother I could count on not to behave like an overly protective jerk.”

“Call me anything you like, sis. I can take it. Just tell me this, why haven't we met this guy?” Tim was still scowling in the direction of the living room, where Brad was finally sitting upright and looking as though he might be able to get his cramped body on its feet any minute now.

“Because I just met him a week ago,” she admitted reluctantly.

“A week ago? Are you out of your mind letting a total stranger into your apartment in the middle of the night?” Tim scrutinized Brad from head to toe. No suspect in a criminal investigation had ever been studied more closely. Karyn didn't have a doubt in the world that Tim now felt competent to identify him should he walk off with the family silver or, to be more precise in her case, the stainless steel.

“He looks familiar,” he said finally.

“He used to be a race car driver.”

“A race car driver!” His tone made the profession
seem comparable to ax murdering. “Where the hell would you meet a race car driver?”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence in my appeal.”

“That wasn't what I meant and you know it. Stop evading and answer me.”

“We met when I bought my car.”

“You bought a convertible, not some souped-up hot rod.”

“I don't think Brad drove souped-up hot rods in Grand Prix events.”

“Brad Willis?” Tim said with dawning understanding. “Of course. I've seen his picture in the paper. Sis, he's not your type.”

“What is her type?” Brad inquired curiously, pulling a stool up to the bar that separated the kitchen and living room and reaching for a cup of coffee. He looked perfectly at home.

Tim wasn't the least bit taken aback by being overheard. “Someone less…I don't know, less…”

“Experienced?”

“Yeah. That's exactly it.”

“Your sister is twenty-six years old. Most of the men she's likely to meet are going to be experienced.”

“I wasn't referring just to sex,” Timmy said bluntly.

Karyn put her head down on her arms and groaned.

“Neither was I,” Brad countered.

A very tense silence ensued. When Karyn could stand it no longer she got up, put bread into the toaster, then coated it with butter and slammed it down in front of the two men. They continued to study each other as if they were prospective sparring partners.

Brad dumped sugar and cream into his coffee, then
stirred it slowly. He ignored the toast and looked directly into Tim's suspicious eyes.

“I'm glad you've always taken such good care of your sister,” he told him, then added gently, “But it's time to let her go.”

This time Tim
did
look thrown by the blunt pronouncement. His gaze narrowed. “Exactly what are your intentions toward her?”

“Timmy!” Karyn protested, moaning inwardly. Embarrassing moments were piling up so rapidly this morning, she'd never live them down.

“Keep quiet, sis. I want to know how this man feels about you.”

“This man doesn't even know me!”

“He knows you well enough to sleep on your sofa.”

“On my sofa,” she reiterated. “Not in my bed.”

“Your sofa is your bed,” Timmy reminded her.

“It is?” Brad said, staring at her. “Where did you sleep?”

“On the floor and that's not the point. There is a difference, Timothy Michael Chambers, between having a man fall asleep on the sofa and inviting him into my bed!”

After another moment of tense silence, her brother nodded sheepishly. “You're right. I apologize.”

“Maybe you should go home and get some sleep,” Karyn suggested. She wanted him out of there before he began cross-examining Brad about his career prospects and bank balance.

“Are you sure?”

“I'm sure.”

Tim directed another measuring glance at Brad. He
seemed to visibly relax finally, though that didn't keep him from warning, “If you hurt her, Willis, the world won't be big enough for you to hide in.”

Brad gave him a faint smile. “I wouldn't have it any other way.”

Karyn's heart tumbled at the tenderness in his voice. It was almost impossible for her to draw her gaze away, but finally she was forced to walk Tim to the door, since he didn't seem inclined to get there on his own.

“You're not going to say anything to the others, are you?” she pleaded.

He glanced over her shoulder at Brad, who was watching the two of them with interest. “I don't think it would do any good. Just be careful, sis. You could be playing out of your league.”

“I thought so, too, at first.”

“Not anymore?”

She felt herself smiling. “No. I think I'm right where I belong.”

“I'm happy for you, then.”

“Thanks.”

She closed the door behind him and leaned back against it with a sigh of relief. Brad came over and pulled her into his arms. She nestled against him, awed by how right it felt for her to be there.

“That wasn't so awful, was it?” he whispered.

“It could have been worse,” she admitted. “Frank would have slugged first and asked questions later.”

“Then I'm glad Tim was the brother who showed up. Did you mean what you told him? Are you feeling comfortable with what's happening between us?”

“More and more every minute.”

She could feel his sigh. “I'm glad, sweetheart.” Brad tilted her chin up and touched his lips to hers in the lightest of caresses. But the passion that had been kept at bay all night flared into full flame, the heat swirling through them. Karyn lost herself in the enveloping warmth.

It was Brad who pulled away eventually. “We'd best slow down or those brothers of yours will really have grounds to take me apart.”

Karyn's knees felt so weak without Brad's arms around her that she sank down on the sofa. “I don't understand what you do to me.” She cast a look of appeal in his direction. “I've always been in control of myself, but when you touch me, it's like I just float off to some incredible place.”

“And you see that as bad?”

“I see that as terrifying.”

He sat down next to her. “I promise you that you have nothing to fear from me. I meant what I told your brother. I won't hurt you.”

The comment was reassuring, but hardly realistic. “You can't possibly guarantee that.”

“There you go again. You've obviously had too much legal training. Let me correct myself, then. I will do my very best never to hurt you.”

“I think I liked it better when you were making more adamant claims.”

“You can't have it both ways, sweetheart. Now, how about getting out of here? We're wasting our vacation.”

“Just let me take a quick shower and change.”

“I don't suppose,” he began, but his voice trailed off at one quelling look from her. He grinned. “I didn't think so.”

Still shaken by the intensity of the feelings that Brad
had aroused in her in such a short time, Karyn lingered in the shower far longer than she should have. She dressed slowly and emerged from the bathroom with her hair curling damply about her face.

“You had a call,” Brad told her. “Your office. Someone named Mary Lee wants you to call back right away.”

She didn't waste time worrying about what impression Brad's answering her phone might have made on her boss's secretary. She dutifully picked up the phone and dialed.

“Mary Lee, it's Karyn. Did Mr. Wetherington need me for something?”

“Hi, hon. Yeah, he wondered if you could work this afternoon. He knows it's your vacation and all, but since you're in town, he thought maybe you wouldn't mind. He said he'd make up the time later.”

Karyn looked at Brad. Clutching the receiver more tightly, she said, “I'm sorry. I can't make it. I have plans for this afternoon.”

It was the bravest thing she'd ever done. Conscientious Karyn Chambers did not turn down requests from her boss. She waited for Mary Lee to announce that she was to get to the office at once or else face immediate firing.

“Okay, no problem,” the secretary said instead. “See you next week, hon. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.”

The breath she'd been holding escaped on a sigh as she hung up.

“Saying no was really tough for you, wasn't it?” Brad said.

She nodded. “In my family taking risks did not extend to career matters. We've always needed the money too badly.”

“You don't anymore, Karyn. Don't ever let yourself feel that someone has that kind of power over you. There are other jobs.”

“Rationally, I know that. And I know I have a little savings now to fall back on. It's difficult, though, to break old habits. I keep seeing the worried expression on Mama's face when payday would come and the money wouldn't quite add up to cover the bills. If one of us got sick, it threw the budget into turmoil for months.”

“But the world didn't come to an end when you said no just now, did it?”

She shook her head.

“Most bosses respect people who have their priorities straight and who stand up for their own needs. Remember that. Your time is every bit as important as your boss's.”