Against All Odds (Arabesque) (26 page)

He leaned over her, clasped her in his arms, and feathered kisses over her cheeks. He knew he had strength, that his toughness had made him a success. But he didn’t fool himself. The woman he held in his arms had a strength equal to his own. She had considered one of his “secrets” of little consequence. But he knew she wouldn’t treat the other one lightly, and that she had the guts to walk away no matter what she felt for him.

* * *

Adam showered in Melissa’s lavender-scented bathroom. He had thirty-five minutes in which to go home, change into business clothes, and get to his office in time for his first appointment. He hooked a towel at his waist, stepped out of the bathroom, and began to dress.

“Where did you park?” He glanced over at her lying on her belly, her chin supported by the heels of both hands, and told himself to think about blackened redfish, the Indonesian rain forests, or poison ivy—anything except the sleepy woman between those sheets. He had to be in his office in minutes.

“I parked four blocks away. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do anything to make you the main topic of discussion at Martha Brock’s ‘Monday evening tea to help the homeless.’” Happiness flooded his heart at the sound of her infectious and uninhibited laugh, the laughter of a well-loved, sated woman.

“Don’t forget Miss Mary’s Wednesday night prayer service,” she added, mimicking the old woman. “They’ll race right through it so they can get to the good part, the coffee and gossip part of the service.”

He sat on the edge of the bed, pulled on his socks and sneakers, and felt her hand stroke the back of his head.

“Do whatever you have to do about Leather and Hides, Adam. You would regardless of what I said, but I want you to know that I’d never want you to compromise your integrity—and no matter what you discover, do what you have to do. If I were in your big sneakers and faced what you do, I’d go for the truth and let the chips fall—”

He turned to face her. “Thank you... I think. It’s easier to say that than to live through it, Melissa. I don’t want to make a move against you or anyone dear to you, and I hope it won’t be necessary. But I can only be who I am and what I am. I’ll do what I know is right, no matter how much or who it hurts, and this ridiculous feud won’t weigh in my decisions. We may face some difficult days. If we mean anything to each other after I get this mess settled, call it a miracle.” He hugged her quickly, shoving his desire for her under control.

“Aren’t you going to work today?” Desire stirred in him as the backs of her fingers trailed down his cheek and stroked his neck.

“I don’t think so. A dear friend will be staying with me for a few days, and I’m going into Baltimore shortly to get her.”

He allowed a raised eyebrow, but inwardly he felt relief that she didn’t expect Magnus Cooper. “Anyone I know?”

“I don’t think you’ve met her, but she’d love to make your acquaintance.”

“What does that mean?” He stood, looked around for his jacket, and remembered that he’d left it downstairs. She rolled over, dropped her feet off the bed, and tucked the sheet around her.

“It means she’s normal.”

“Are you getting testy?” He had a feeling the look she gave him had been used repeatedly and to maximum effect.

“Not yet, but give me time. I just remembered that Magnus Cooper is coming here today. Business, he said. He thinks this town is ripe with investment opportunities.”

Adam’s hand remained suspended above the doorknob. “Remind him for me that when the great warriors of history lost a battle, they were usually on foreign soil. I’ll call you tonight.” He didn’t wait for her reaction.

* * *

Melissa dressed, put in a call to her secretary, and left for Baltimore. She’d had the car tuned up and cleaned inside and out. What she’d consider an ordinary mishap, Ilona would view as a major disaster. Her friend didn’t pamper herself to the point of being a bore, but she expected life to flow smoothly. She parked along a narrow street that ran perpendicular to the west side of the Pennsylvania Railroad station and walked the short block. A neatly attired older woman fell in step beside her.

“You look so nice, dear. You remind me of myself when I was your age.”

“Well, thank you,” Melissa answered, trying not to break her stride.

“I love to see our young people looking so prosperous,” the woman went on. “Where’re you headed?” Melissa told her that she was meeting a friend.

“I sure hope he’s nice, and I hope you appreciate him,” the woman droned. “Don’t do like I did. I was going to be an opera singer, come hell or high water. Well, it was high water, because it turned out I didn’t have the talent for it. The man I gave up in order to chase that windmill married my sister, and every holiday I have to watch him being happy with her and my three nieces and nephews. Now I’m fifty with a cracking voice, fading looks, and myself for company.”

Melissa slowed her steps to a halt. “I don’t know what to say. I...I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Don’t be,” her companion said. “I make a very good living with my tarot cards, and the older I get, the more people seem to trust me.” She shook her head, as if in sadness. “If I could just stop dreaming about him and waking up thinking he’s with me.” The woman drifted into introspection, and Melissa touched her shoulder, waved, and strode to the information booth. Her encounter with the stranger had lowered her spirits. She feared that she would love Adam Roundtree forever, just as her mother still loved Bill Henry hopelessly after three decades, a marriage to another man, and two children. But the next move wasn’t hers to make.

She bought a copy of
The Baltimore Sun
and found a seat in the waiting room. But the newsprint danced before her eyes until she saw only Adam’s face above hers. Adam in ecstasy, shattered, vulnerable, and bare. She had finally touched him. For the first time he’d given all of himself, had belonged to her completely. She wondered about the other times they’d made love. Best not to speculate, because she would never know unless he told her. But she’d keep the memory of it close to her heart. For those few moments, if never again, Adam Roundtree had been hers. Perspiration dampened her forehead as she recalled the fire-hot tension he built up in her, refusing her the quick and easy release she begged him for until at last he hurtled her into a star-spangled otherworld. And then he’d joined her.

* * *

“Melissa, darling, you must be thinking about this man. I’ve been standing here a full minute. Darling, it must be awful to sit in these wooden seats. How long have you been waiting?” A wide grin spread across Melissa’s face, and she quickly stood to hug her friend.

“I didn’t wait long.” She picked up Ilona’s bag and started for the car. “I thought we’d have lunch in the Inner Harbor before going to Frederick.”

“Whatever you say. I’m in your hands.” Ilona pointed to her new low-heeled shoes. “I bought these just for the trip. I wouldn’t be caught dead in these things on Fifth Avenue.”

“Well, at least you’ll have some respite from your sore feet while you’re here,” Melissa commented, unable to resist needling her friend.

After lunch Melissa gave Ilona a quick tour past the Johns Hopkins University and along Charles Street and walked with her through the famous Lexington Market.

“I haven’t seen so much meat since the last time I shopped with my dear mother in the Great Market in Budapest almost forty years ago,” Ilona exclaimed. “Don’t they have strawberries down here?” she asked, when they wandered through the produce section.

“Ilona, this is December. If you want strawberries, I’ll stop by a specialty shop.” Ilona told her not to bother.

“But darling, you should have strawberries to feed your man—one at a time,” she explained, pausing for effect. “But we could get some grapes. Grapes are good for that, too, except then you feed him the whole bunch. Just make sure he doesn’t choke—some men don’t know the purpose of that.” Melissa resisted asking her to explain it.

“Are you expecting company, Ilona?”

“No darling, but you must be. I’m going to be here four days, and no real vooman would let so much time go by without seeing her man. So when do I meet him? Tonight?” she asked, hope caressing her accented tones.

* * *

Melissa glanced at her rearview mirror when she backed up to park in front of her house and saw the gray Towne car ease to the curb right behind her. She counted to three under her breath, and turned to Ilona.

“We’re home.” She opened the trunk to retrieve Ilona’s bag and the few items she’d bought. She knew that the male hand on her arm didn’t belong to Adam, and suppressing annoyance, looked up into the hazel brown, expectant eyes of Magnus Cooper.

“You broke our appointment,” he reprimanded in a gentle voice.

“I’ve been waiting to meet you,” she heard Ilona say, mistaking Magnus for Adam. “But somehow, you’re not what I expected. You’re more my style than Melissa’s.” She looked him up and down. “I’ve had less pleasant surprises.” Melissa watched Ilona’s fun and felt some of her antagonism toward Magnus ebbing. His car parked in front of her door would be a feast for her nosey neighbors and fuel for Adam’s temper. He wouldn’t believe that a man of Magnus Cooper’s sophistication would visit a woman unless he knew she would welcome him.

“Ilona Harváth, this is Magnus Cooper. Mr. Cooper lives in Texas and is here on business. Magnus, Ilona is a dear friend visiting me from New York.” He nodded.

“Mmm. How do you do?” Ilona’s raised eyebrow and suggestive shrug told them what she thought of Cooper’s business in Frederick. Melissa asked him to excuse her and promised to see him at her office the next morning.

* * *

Inside, Ilona looked around, complimented Melissa on her home, and got down to business. “Melissa, darling, if this man you are so taken with doesn’t look as good as the one who just left here, I will kill you.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes skyward as though savoring the tenderest fresh truffle. “Darling, this Cooper is a real man. If I was ten years younger, I’d separate him from the pack in a minute.”

“You could do it now.” She took Ilona’s bag and walked upstairs with her to the guest room.

“Darling, don’t make jokes.” That expression always amused Melissa, as did the withering look that accompanied it. She raced to answer the phone in her room.

“Did your friend arrive?” She flopped down on the side of her bed, kicked off her shoes and swung her legs up on the coverlet.

“Yes. She’s here. You want to run by for a couple of minutes after you leave the office? I’d like you to meet her.” And she longed to see him, to reassure herself that what she’d experienced with him that morning had been real, that she hadn’t dreamed it. She couldn’t understand the long silence nor his seeming lack of enthusiasm when he replied.

“Why not? See you in a half hour.” She combed her hair, refreshed her makeup, and dabbed a little perfume behind her ears and at her temple. She arrived at the top of the stairs simultaneously with Ilona.

“Don’t tell me,” Ilona said, folding her arms about her chest in a gesture of satisfaction. “That was
him,
and he’s coming over. Let me get my heels. I wouldn’t be—”

“—caught dead around a man wearing those flats,” Melissa finished for her.

* * *

Melissa tried not to rush to the door when he rang, and she had to muster an air of casualness when she opened the door.

“Hi.” He didn’t speak but stood looking down at her, his gaze roaming over her upturned face. And after what seemed to her endless minutes, he opened his arms and folded her to him. Unable to wait longer, she leaned back and fastened her gaze on his mouth in a silent request, and he gave her what she wanted, crushing her to him and shivering against her when she opened her mouth beneath his in sweet union.

He eased her from him, and tugging her to his side, turned toward the living room.

“Where’s your friend?”

“Is somebody asking for me?” Ilona queried as she strolled down the stairs from her perch where she couldn’t help but witness their kiss. Melissa couldn’t suppress a hearty laugh. She should have known that Ilona couldn’t wait to see Adam. She introduced them, and Adam went to greet her before she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Ilona accepted the introduction with the comment, “Melissa, darling, this is God’s country. I’m living in the wrong state.”

Melissa needled her. “But we don’t have a ballet here, remember?”

“Who needs the ballet? From my experience since I’ve been here, I can’t see how you’d have time for it.” She shook Adam’s hand. “I’m happy to meet you, Adam. You mustn’t mind my continental manners.”

Adam’s grin seemed to please her. “I doubt the continent has much to do with your manners. I know a free spirit when I see one. Welcome to Frederick, Ilona.”

Melissa sensed his forced manners. She’d felt a distance between them during their phone conversation and when she’d opened the door for him. And she sensed it now.

“Would you join us for a drink? Ilona drinks only espresso coffee, but I’d like some wine. What about you?”

He glanced at his watch. “Thanks, but I’ve asked Jason Court to come down here, and I want to meet him at the airport this evening.” He bade Ilona goodbye, and they walked to the door.

“I sense a problem. What’s wrong?”

“Did you enjoy your visit with Magnus Cooper?” The question surprised her, and she suspected from his closed expression that he hadn’t planned to ask her that. She wondered how he’d known that Magnus came to her house, but she ignored his sarcasm and his audacity.

“We didn’t visit. I made an appointment to see him at my office tomorrow morning. Anything else?” He ran his right hand over the back of his hair and looked at her intently for a few seconds without saying anything. She knew when he made up his mind to tell her about it.

“Sometime between six o’clock and eight this morning, someone sprayed red, oil-based paint on a batch of leathers that Cal had planned to ship today. He’s threatened to resign if this sabotage continues. I’ll be busy with this for the next few days, but I’ll be in touch.” He kissed her quickly and left. Melissa forced a bright expression on her face and went back to get Ilona’s extended verdict.