After the Music (5 page)

She stared at him, calculating. "Suppose I show up at the ranch for Easter?"'

He took another draw from the cigarette. "Try it."

She pursed her lips. That check would go a long way toward Al's goal for the children's hospital wing. And it would needle the hell out of this overprotective oil magnate. She held out her hand.

He looked faintly disappointed, even as he reached for the check, yet he tossed it to her with careless accuracy. "Smart girl."

"You don't realize how smart. Yet," she added. She blew him a kiss and walked out. "Have a nice day," she called to the blonde secretary as she breezed out of the office.

An hour later, Sabina went onto the stage at the exclusive Bourbon Street nightclub feeling wildly reckless. Consequently, she gave the best performance of her short career. The band beat out the thick rhythm, and Sabina, in her satin and sequins, sang in her piercingly clear voice, every word discernible, her body throbbing with the drums. She could feel the music, actually feel it, and the overflowing audience seemed to feel it with her, clapping and keeping time with her, smiling appreciatively as she took them with her to the heady finale. She moved across the stage, bathed in colored lights, and held her audience spellbound as the last notes died. In the audience, Al watched her with a worried frown.

After the final set, she walked off the stage and sat down with him. Anger still glittering in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

"Read me pretty well, don't you, my friend?" she asked. She ordered a cup of coffee from the waiter and smiled at Al. "Your brother and I went two more rounds."

"Again? For God's sake! I should have known better," he growled, running a hand through his hair. "I never learn, never!"

She pulled the check out of her pocketbook and showed it to him. "This is how much he thinks you're worth to me. I'd be insulted if I were you. You're worth a hundred thousand, at least!"

Al's face went blood red and he started shaking. "I'll break his head," he hissed.

"I'll get you a hammer."

"You didn't turn around and throw it at him?" he asked, watching her fiddle with it.

She burst out laughing. "Of course I did." She grinned, neglecting to mention what had happened next. "Then he dared me to come to the ranch, and I told him hell itself wouldn't keep me away. How's that for friendship?"

He let out a breath. "My gosh! You got away with it?" He laughed. "Sabina, you're the greatest!" he said enthusiastically. "Are you coming with me, really?"

"Sure."

He seemed to grow an inch. "Fantastic." He eyed her. "Now, if I can just sell you on the rest of the plan. By the way, what are you going to do with that check?"

She unfolded the $20,000 check. "I'm giving this to you for your new project. In your awful brother's name, of course. She smiled at Al's expression as she endorsed it and handed it to him.

He took it, but his eyebrows arched. "But he'll think you took the bribe!"

"Let him," she said, leaning back.

He started to laugh. "He'll be out for blood. You haven't ever seen Thorn in action."

Want to bet? she thought amusedly. "I've lived dangerously all my life."

He reached across and caught her hand in his thin one. "Prodding Thorn isn't any way to get even. He could hurt you."

"Because he's rich?" she asked with a laugh.

"No. Because he's Thorn. Money doesn't make any difference whatsoever."

"I hate being made a fool of," she muttered. "I hate being humiliated. He's not getting away with that. I'd dearly love to pay him off."

His eyes wandered over her face. "Do you really want to get even with him and help me out at the same time?

"Of course!" she said without hesitation.

"Then let me buy you an engagement ring."

Sabina all but fainted. The look on her face spoke volumes, and Al couldn't help laughing.

"No, you've got it all wrong. I'm very fond of you. I'm sure you're fond of me. But I don't have marriage in mind!'

"A bogus engagement, then?

"Exactly." He chuckled softly. "I'm so damned tired of having Thorn scare away girlfriends because he doesn't think I can manage my own love life. I'd purely enjoy setting him down hard for once. He's only ten years my senior, but he acts as if he were my father."'

"How old did you say he was?" she asked curiously.

"Thirty-four."

"Are you really only twenty-four?" she asked, grinning. "I thought you were at least sixty."

"Shame on you. Attacking a man who's trying to assist you in a monumental vendetta!"

"What would I have to do?" she asked, pursing her lips. "Be seen everywhere with me. Especially," he added with a hot grin, "at the ranch. That would kill him."

"What about your mother? I'd hate to play such a trick on her."

"Oh, she'd be no problem. She spends most of her time in Europe, especially since our father died ten years ago. Odd thing, Thorn was effortlessly running Thorn Oil at my age. And here am I fighting tooth and nail to keep from being taken over."

"You're not like him," she said quietly. "And I mean it as a compliment."

He cocked his head and smiled slightly. "Do you? Most women find him fascinating and wildly sexy."

"I don't like domineering men," she said flatly. "I can run my own life without being told what to do. I rebelled at an early age."

"I wish I had. I was too busy learning the oil business at Thorn's knee to fight being overrun." He smiled sheepishly. "Now that I want to cut the strings, I'm finding that they're pretty tough. I don't come into the trust until I'm twenty-five. That gives brother Thorn another year of absolute domination."

"And then?"

"Then I'll have a sizable share of stock and enough money to start my own damned oil company, if I feel like it." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "Help me declare independence. Wear my ring for a few weeks and watch Thorn paw the ground."

"As long as he doesn't try to paw me," she said with a hearty laugh. "I'd rather take poison."

He studied her flushed face quietly. "He really got under your skin, didn't he?"

She shrugged. "It was bad enough at that party. But today was the biggest slap in the face I've had since I was a kid." She looked up. "I'll wear the ring for you. But make it something inexpensive, okay? And something you can return!"

"Will do!" He chuckled.

The ring he brought her the following day was an emerald, not too flashy but surrounded with diamonds in a platinum setting. She gasped.

"Remember that I'm not a poor man," he said before she could protest. "To me, this is an inexpensive ring."

She slid it onto her finger, shaking her head. "When I think of all the heating bills it would pay for my neighbors..."

"No," he said. "Absolutely not. You can't hock the ring.

She laughed delightedly, her eyes sparkling. "I wouldn't, you know. But I feel kind of guilty wearing it all the same."

"It suits you. Emeralds make your skin look creamy." He hesitated a moment. "Thorn called me."

She felt her face draw into a scowl as her mood darkened. "Did he?"

He leaned back in his chair with a drink in hand. "I told him I'd just bought you a ring."

"What did he say?"

"I don't know. I hung up in the middle of it." He chuckled. "He was fit to be tied!"

"When do we leave for the ranch?" she asked apprehensively.

"Day after tomorrow."

"So soon?" she murmured, her eyes and voice plaintive.

"I'll protect you, don't worry," he promised. "We'll only be there a few days. Besides, Thorn doesn't spend a lot of time at the ranch, even on holidays. Especially now."

"Because of me?" She felt unwanted and nervous as she studied the ring. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea, Al."

"You can't back out now," he said merrily. "I'll sue you for breach of contract."

Sabina burst out laughing. "Oh, you," she muttered. Her breasts rose and fell with a heavy sigh. "Al, I'm afraid of him," she admitted softly.

"Yes, I know." His eyes were calculating. It was the first time he'd ever seen her afraid of any man, and he wondered why. "Sabina, he won't hurt you. Not physically."

Her lower lip trembled. Hating that tiny betrayal and fearing that Al would notice, she got up from the table. "I'll be packed and ready to go," she promised. "Now I'd better get some sleep. Walk me home?"

"I'll drive you," he said. "Don't worry. It will be all right."

She hoped he was on target with that prediction. She truly was afraid of Hamilton Regan Thorndon the Third, and he hated her. This was an insane thing to do; she needed her head examined. Of course, maybe he wouldn't be at the ranch. She comforted herself with that hope. Then she realized something else.

"Jessica!" she burst out as he pulled up in front of her apartment house.

He stared curiously. "What?"

She swallowed. "Uh, I was just wondering what people will think."

"That's not what you said. Sabina, please. What's going on?"

The painfully hopeful expression on his face made her come out with it. Jess would kill her, but maybe it would be worth it. "She'll kill me for telling you. But..." she sighed, eyeing him. "Well, you see, Jess is in love with you."

He seemed struck dumb. At a loss for words, he stared at the dashboard as if he'd never seen it. His fingers toyed with the key in the ignition. "She is?"

Sabina didn't reply. She just sat and watched him. He took a deep breath and began to smile.

"Are you sure?" he asked, glancing at her. She nodded, smiling back

"Damn!" He took another deep breath. "Jess..." Then the sudden exaltation faded and his face fell. "What difference does it make now? Thorn won't let me have her. She doesn't have an oil refinery."

"I'm going to be the decoy, remember?" She grinned at him, flashing the emerald. "Go tell Jess you just got engaged to me. She's home alone tonight. I was going to have a late cup of coffee with her after the show. You can go instead of me."

He frowned and then smiled. "Well-"

"Go on, for Pete's sake! Thorn won't know unless you tell him!"

He shrugged. "Well-"

"Faint heart never won, etc., etc.," she quoted.

"You're right." He glanced at her. "You aren't afraid to go through with this?"

Sabina shook her head. Inside she was trembling, but no one would ever know it. Jess was her best friend. Al was as much to her. She could do this one thing for them. Besides, she thought angrily, it would do the oil baron good to be set on his heels for once. And she was just the girl to do it.

"Okay. Here goes nothing. See you tomorrow."

She got out of the car. "Don't blow it, Romeo," she teased.

He made a face at her and pulled back out into traffic, preoccupied and thoughtful. She thought about calling Jess to warn her. But then she reasoned that Jess was a divorcee with a sharp mind, and didn't. Jessica could take care of herself. Or, at least, that's what she thought until the next morning.

Just as she was having her first cup of coffee, there was a hard knock on her door.

She got up and opened it, shocked to find Jessica standing there, her eyes red-rimmed, her red hair disheveled.

"Jess!" she burst out. "What's wrong?"

"Everything," came the wailing reply. "Can I have some coffee, please?"

"Of course." Sabina pulled her robe closer and got a second cup from the cupboard. When she came back into the room, Jessica was sitting at the small table with her head in her hands. "What happened?"

"Doesn't it show?"

Sabina took a long, hard look at her best friend, shocked by her unruly appearance, the dark shadows under her eyes.

"Al and you...?" Sabina said.

"Bingo!" Jessica poured herself a cup of coffee and sipped it nervously. She looked up with a pained expression. "What did you say to Al last night?"

Sabina blinked. "Nothing." She lied.

"You must have said something, you must have," Jessica moaned. She put the coffee cup down. "He came to the apartment. He was passing, he said, and thought I might have a spare cup of coffee. You know how I feel, how I've felt for months. Well, he said you and he had just got engaged, and I. went crazy. I threw a lamp at him and swore." She smiled sheepishly. "Well, one thing led to another, and he kissed me. Then he told me the engagement was just to throw Thorn off the track. And he kissed me again." She drew in a short breath. "Oh, my, oh, my, I guess it blew my mind, because when he started toward the bedroom, I followed. It was the shortest night of my whole life. Now I can't go home because he's still there, and I'm afraid to go to the office. I'm afraid he'll think I'm cheap, and I'm so much more in love with him this morning than I ever imagined I could be!"

Sabina's face lit up as she laughed and hugged her friend. "He cares!" she said. "He does; he has to. You know Al, for God's sake! He'd never take you to bed on an impulse; he's too deep."

"But he'll think I'm easy!" Jessica wailed.

"Wanna bet?" Sabina went to the phone, throwing herself down into the armchair beside it. She dialed Jess's number. "No, you can't!" Jessica screamed, diving for the phone. Sabina struggled with her, grinning. "No, you don't. Be quiet!"

It rang and rang until Al answered it drowsily. "Hello?"

"Hi, Al," Sabina said.

"Hi." He moaned, then all of a sudden, there was an exclamation. "Jess!" he burst out. "Sabina, is Jess with you? Oh, God, what she must have thought....Is she there?"

"Yes," Sabina said, watching Jess hide her face in her hands. "She is. And feeling pretty low."

"Oh, God, the fat's in the fire now," Al groaned. "Thorn will send her to Siberia the second he knows...Let me talk to her, please!"

"He wants to talk to you," Sabina said, handing the phone to her nervous friend. "Go on. He sounds frantic."

Jessica took it. "Hello," she said unsteadily, brushing back her hair. "Yes. Oh, yes." She began to calm down. She smiled. "Yes." Jess sat down in the chair and Sabina left the room.

Sabina sipped her coffee in the tiny kitchen. Minutes later, Jessica came through the door, looking subdued and happy and sad, all at once.