Embers (41 page)

Right now he looked like a hungry tomcat on the prowl.

"
How on earth did you get in here?
"
Meg demanded.

"
How d
'
you think?
"
he said, looking around for Allie.
"
I charmed my way in.
"
He turned back to Meg and flashed her a quick, devilish grin. No question about it, he looked like a hoodlum. But with his black hair, green eyes, and cleft chin, he was the best-looking hoodlum in town.

"
Bobby, for crying out loud. What
'
s so urgent that you have to see my sister right here, this minute?
"

"
I just got back from my cousin
'
s,
"
he said in a dangerous voice.
"
Lisa tells me Allie
'
s about to do a very dumb thing: get married to a
Chicago
cop.
"

"
Lisa is jumping the gun,
"
Meg said sharply.
"
There
'
s not going to be any marriage. Now,
please.
Go home and
—
"

"
Hey.
"
Bobby lifted his chin, addressing the laconic greeting to someone behind Meg.

Meg turned around and winced. Allie was standing there with a look of outrage on her face. Why the outrage, Meg wasn
'
t quite sure; there were too many possibilities.

"
The earrings look nice on you, Al,
"
Bobby said. His jaw was set, the muscles working.

Instantly Allie snatched the earrings off and held them out to him.
"
I don
'
t want them. Here. Take them.
"

"
Don
'
t be a jerk, Al. Put
'
em back on.
"

She dropped them in a cloisonné tray that sat on a windowsill.
"
I don
'
t want you here, Bobby. I thought we agreed.
"

"
I want to know about the cop.
"

"
He
'
s none of your business.
"

"
Every man you meet is my business. That
'
s how it
'
s always been.
"

"
Not this time. Bobby, grow
up
.
We
'
re not kids anymore. Look around you. Does this look like our tree house? Can
'
t you tell the difference? I
'
m a
woman
now.
"

"
And I
'
m still all the man you need,
"
he said in a voice that was
little
more than a primal growl.

Allie looked him straight in the eye.
"
No. You
'
re not,
"
she said calmly.
"
Don
'
t ever make that claim.
"

Alarmed that things were careening out of control, Meg stepped between the childhood friends. She
'
d never considered Bobby Beaufort dangerous before. But Allie had never been in love before.
"
This is crazy, you two. Come
on
.
"

"
Stop fussing, Meg,
"
Allie said without taking her eyes from Bobby
'
s.
"
I can take care of myself.
"

With B-movie timing, Tom Wyler chose that moment to saunter onto the set. Meg saw him approaching and shook her head at him warningly, which of course set Bobby Beaufort off.

"
This is the one?
"
he demanded as Tom strode up. Meg stepped in and slipped her arm around Tom
'
s.
"
This is
my
date,
"
she said with a majestic lift of her eyebrows.

"
Oh. Sorry,
"
Bobby mumbled.

Allie said,
"
Don
'
t be dumb, Meg,
"
and unhooked her sister
'
s arm from Tom
'
s.
"
Yes, Bobby. This
is
the one.
"

Tom looked from Bobby to Allie to Meg.
"
Am I missing part of this conversation?
"

"
Just the boring part,
"
Allie said with a toss of her head.
"
In any case, Bobby and I are done talking.
"
She turned to go.

Bobby grabbed Allie
'
s forearm.
"
We
'
re nowhere near done.
"

Instantly Tom wrapped his hand around Bobby
'
s wrist. Meg was sure Tom was going to say,
"
You heard the lady, pardner. Vamoose.
"
She waited, mesmerized, to see who would throw the first punch.

But the kitchen manager appeared just then, arms akimbo, and said briskly,
"
If you
'
re going to stand around and socialize, Allegra, please just hand in your bowtie
right
now."

Allie laughed out loud, then shook her arm free of Bobby
'
s grip and walked away with a look of icy fury on her face.

Bobby gave Tom a bitter, mocking look and stalked off toward the main entrance.

That left Tom and Meg.
"
Well, that worked out pretty well,
"
Tom remarked in his dry way.

Meg felt obliged to explain.
"
Bobby
'
s loved my sister from day one. He
'
s not the only one in town, of course; but he
'
s hung in there the longest. He truly believes they were born for each other.
"

"
Then he
'
s deluded,
"
Tom said. He made no effort to hide his dislike for the man.

"
Deluded or not, he won
'
t go away. She
'
s treated him
— well, not like dirt; Allie doesn
'
t treat anyone like dirt, but
— with a certain amount of arrogance, you know? Because Allie has always wanted to get out of
Maine
, and Bobby is a
Maine
boy through and through. He went west for a while, but that was just to show Allie that he could be ambitious, too. All he did was get in trouble. And thrown in jail.
"

"
Surprise, surprise,
"
said Tom wryly.

Meg shrugged.
"
He wasn
'
t true to himself.
Maine
is in his blood. This is where he should be. I
'
ve heard he
'
s working as a mechanic again, that he wants his own business. I hope it works out for him.
"

"
Is there anybody you don
'
t wish well?
"

Meg smiled apologetically.
"
Bobby used to live downstreet. I knew him when his feet couldn
'
t reach the ground from our rope swing. It
'
s hard to think of someone like that growing up to be psychotic. But his father split when he was still a kid, and his mother wasn
'
t much of a role model either. She drank. She ran around. I guess Bobby couldn
'
t have turned out any other way.
"

"
That
'
s not necessarily true,
"
Tom said coolly.

Meg looked at Tom and realized at once what a stupid thing she
'
d said. His cheeks were flushed; his lips were set in a thin line of self-control. Tom Wyler had been shunted through a series of foster homes and had turned out pretty damn well, as far as Meg could see. Commanding officer of a homicide division in one of the biggest cities in the world, with a future that was bright with promise . .

"
Every rule has an exception,
"
Meg said, embarrassed.
"
I
'
m sorry.
"

"
You have traditional notions. It
'
s what makes you Meg Hazard.
"

She tried to get the subject away from him, away from her. She asked humbly,
"
Do you really think he
'
s a threat?
"

"
Hard to say. What I saw just now wasn
'
t exactly reassuring. How did Allie get here? Alone, or with someone?
"

"
Alone,
"
Meg said.
"
On her bike. I think she expected to ride home with us.
"

"
All right. Then that
'
s our plan,
"
he said with stoic resignation.

Meg hesitated.
"
Except that I
...
I don
'
t want to stay any longer,
"
she confessed.

"
Fine. We
'
ll drag Allie out of here right now.
"

"
That wouldn
'
t be right,
"
Meg said quickly.
"
She gave her word.
You
stay and wait for her. I
'
ll catch a ride.
"

Tom looked at her, amazed, and then his patience exploded.
"
Are you
nuts?
What is it with you? Why do you keep throwing me in her company? Can
'
t you see that I
'
m not interested?
"

"
I
wasn
'
t
throwing you together,
"
Meg said, backpedaling.
"
It
'
s just that there
'
s nothing more for me to do here. Gordon Camplin
'
s already left, and I
'
ve managed to set up a gardening interview with his ex-wife,
"
she said, bringing Tom up to speed on her latest scheme to learn something about the man.

"
There
'
s nothing left for me to do here,
"
she repeated miserably, numb from her effort to avoid intimacy with Tom.

He shook his head, obviously exasperated by Meg
'
s evasions.
"
You
may have met your goals for the evening, lady, but I haven
'
t.
"
He took her by the wrist and started leading her toward the tent.
"
We
'
re going dancing.
"

She hung back.
"
I
can
'
t,
Tom. Really.
"

"
You can. You will,
"
he said grimly.
"
If I can stand around on my bad leg for you all night, you
damn
well can waltz around on two good ones for me.
"

He marched her into the tent, transformed into a fairyland
of ferns and white flowers, and walked her onto the floor to the strains of
"
I
'
ve Got You Under My Skin.
"