In Serena's Web (8 page)

After a moment Josh sighed. “I wish I could make it easier for you, Rena—at least to the extent of removing all these … outside influences. It’ll be hard enough for you to deal with yourself and Ashford without having to be on guard all the time. But I can’t do anything about that.” He reflected for a moment, then nodded decisively. “Except stay here at the hotel and keep an eye out myself.”

“You planned to leave tomorrow,” she reminded him.

“That was the original idea,” he agreed. “Partly because you wanted me here only a few days for the jealousy ploy, and partly because I was going to do a little snooping to find out if Stuart’s
would-be employers had actually lost you or were just keeping quiet about having found you.”

“Did Daddy want you here at the hotel?”

“He said he’d feel better if I were. So I’ll stay. Especially since you’re going to tell Ashford the truth.” Josh glanced at his watch, and added firmly, “Tonight.”

She grimaced, and confessed ruefully, “I was hoping to use your absence for a little breathing room.”

“You said you were going to be honest with him.”

“Yes. But do I have to bare my soul
tonight
?”

Josh grinned at her. “You’ll feel better with it all behind you. You know what they say about confession being good for the soul.”

“He’s going to kill me,” she said darkly.

“You are,” Josh told her, “dressed to kill—not dressed to
be
killed. I think Ashford will know the difference.”

She sighed. “All right. I’ll tell him. If he’s speaking to me. Maybe he’s not speaking to me,” she added hopefully.

“Never put off till tomorrow. I’ll knock on his door as I pass and tell him you want to see him.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? The two of you haven’t even been introduced. Besides, Josh, he thinks you’re the villain—remember? He could—”

“He’s a rational man, Rena. I’ll just tell him you want to see him.”

“Why don’t I just go to his room—”

“Nothing’s going to happen.”

    Brian was in a very peculiar mood. After hearing about the men who might be on Serena’s trail, he was anxious, and after the scene in the garden he was more than slightly confused. Three weeks of Serena’s company had taken their toll on his nerves when they’d arrived in Denver; after the surprises here, he knew himself to be badly in need of time to stop and think things through.

Though generally a controlled and quiet man, Brian had a considerable temper, and the physical expertise to cause a respectable amount of havoc if he lost control; he was near the edge now, he
knew. He needed an outlet for the various kinds of frustrations building inside him.

He paced his room, jacket and tie cast aside, sleeves rolled up. Restless. He couldn’t get a handle on Serena’s sudden turnabout; her motivations eluded him.

So when he answered the firm knock at his door and found Joshua Long standing there, he felt an abrupt inclination to give in to at least one of his frustrations.

And his temper took over.

As if he were someone else, he felt his face assume a mildly quizzical expression, felt himself step back and gesture for the other man to enter the room. Long seemed surprised, but he came in. Brian wondered vaguely why there seemed to be a red veil between himself and his visitor.

Josh could have explained that. He turned, and had only a moment to note that red haze. And in that instant he recognized sheer, flaming temper in the other man’s eyes, and thought fleetingly and wistfully of his confident words to Serena. He barely had time to finish the thought.

“If we break the furniture,” Brian said calmly, “I’ll pay for it.” That was his only warning.

Joshua Long remained exactly as he’d fallen, except that he sat up. Working his jaw gingerly with one long-fingered hand, he stared up at Brian expressionlessly. “Contrary to popular opinion,” he said, mildly under the circumstances, “the boardroom isn’t the only place I tend to come out swinging. However …”

Brian, although he definitely felt better, was rather surprised at himself, since he couldn’t remember ever slugging another man who hadn’t provoked him physically. He met that steely blue stare—and every male instinct he could lay claim to told him that Long wanted badly to come
up
swinging this time. He
really
wanted to. But he sat there and rubbed his jaw, and somehow managed not to lose a single iota of dignity.

“Serena owes me for this,” Long said wryly.

“Get up,” Brian told him.

“I’d love to,” Josh responded cordially. “I could use a good fight. Unfortunately, I promised Rena I’d be the one to back down if you started a fight.” He frowned, but there was sudden laughter
in his eyes. “And you did start it. Barely gave me time to turn around, in fact. Not cricket at all.”

Absurdly, Brian didn’t know whether to laugh and apologize or to yank Long up by his lapels and get the fight going in earnest. Lacking a stronger incentive, he gave in to temper again, verbally. “Look, I said get up, you—”

Long raised a hasty hand. “I really think,” he said gravely, “you shouldn’t say anything else until you’ve talked to Rena. Otherwise you’ll want to apologize later for what you’re about to say, and that’ll put the both of us in a damned uncomfortable position.”

Temper fled as Brian felt a bone-deep chill. The other man’s words, he thought, could only mean …

Josh Long climbed to his feet, eyeing Brian warily. Absently straightening his tie he said, “And I think you’re on the wrong track again. Talk to Serena, will you? She’s in her room now, waiting to find out if you’re still speaking to her.”

In a kind of daze Brian followed him out into the hall. Josh gave him a last look, a faintly
musing, sympathetic look, seemed about to speak, then merely shook his head and strode toward the elevators.

Brian found himself in front of Serena’s door. He stared at it for a long moment, then squared his shoulders, braced himself, and knocked. She opened the door, quiet, subdued, and stepped back for him to enter.

“Did … did Josh tell you?”

“He said you wanted to talk.” Brian heard his strained, harsh tone of voice, and wished he could sound as if he didn’t care.

“Would you like a drink?” She was gazing at him, a little puzzled and wary.

Brian shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks and forced himself to meet her gaze without flinching. “No. Thanks. You have something to tell me?”

For some reason Serena felt that he wouldn’t want to sit down, either. She leaned a hip against the low dresser and crossed her arms over her breasts. “Um, as a matter of fact, I do. Several things.” She felt nervous and acutely uneasy; she’d been right to think he was going to hate her
after this. Obviously he could barely stand to be in the same room with her now. And he looked so … grim.

She felt miserable, and her whole body hurt.

“I’m listening,” he said flatly.

Serena winced. “Josh didn’t tell you anything?” she ventured to ask.

Brian seemed to grit his teeth. “Just that you wanted to talk to me.”

So talk!
He didn’t say it, but it vibrated in the air between them, impatient and harsh.

Almost inaudibly she murmured, “Daddy said you could be a hard man when you wanted to. I should have paid attention.”

“Serena—”

“All right.” She stared at him, bracing herself inwardly. “I told you … tonight in the garden I told you that I play tricks. I do, Brian. And … and I played a lousy trick on you.”

Brian managed a laugh that sounded like a snarl. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You used me to make Long jealous.”

Serena blinked. “No. The other way around.”

A new tension stole into Brian, and his earlier
confusion settled back onto his shoulders. “What?”

“I was using Josh, hoping to make you jealous,” she confessed in a small voice. “I was lying when I implied that I wanted to marry him.” Wary of his stunned expression, Serena rushed on. “You seemed so conscious that I was Stuart Jameson’s daughter, I didn’t think you really saw me except as some troublesome kid.
Kid!
” That rankled. “So I decided to prove to you I was a woman. It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she finished desperately, very conscious of the oft-repeated refrain of her childhood.

Brian felt strangely suspended; he couldn’t seem to grasp what she was telling him. “You knew Long before he came here to the hotel?”

Serena nodded.

“How long have you known him?”

Serena cleared her throat carefully. “I’ve known him all my life.” Judging by his expression, she realized further clarification was needed. “I told you my mother had a previous marriage. Well, Josh is the sole product of that marriage.”

“He’s your half brother?” Brian asked faintly.

Hoping to avoid being strangled—there was a definite possibility of that, she was afraid—she hastily clarified a bit more. “Josh’s father was a very wealthy man; he left most of his estate in trust for his son. Until Josh came of age, his uncle had control of the various businesses, and Josh spent a lot of time with his aunt and uncle in the East. He and Daddy are close, but they never had much in common, and they never publicized the relationship.”

“Which is why,” Brian murmured, “I never knew Long was Stuart’s stepson. And your half brother.”

“Uh-huh.”

Brian took a step toward her, but only so that he could sit down on the bed. He stared at her. In spite of the sexy dress, she looked like a little girl who’d been severely scolded; he wondered if Josh was responsible for that. And he wondered why he wasn’t absolutely furious with her. His principal emotion was sheer relief.

However, he wouldn’t have been human if he didn’t want to punish her just a bit for her tricks.

“So you pretended to be after him to make me
jealous,” he said. “And you asked me to teach you how to seduce a man. And you said that we could have an affair. Josh wouldn’t mind; Josh wouldn’t want a virgin in his bed. Was that a lie too?”

She didn’t have to ask what he meant. She knew. Avoiding his intent stare she murmured, “No, it wasn’t a lie. I’ve never had a lover.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t for lack of hopeful candidates,” he said politely.

Serena looked at him silently.

Telling himself sternly that her guileless gray eyes weren’t going to get to him
this
time, Brian went on, relentless. “All those wonderfully sweet and innocent comments of yours—planned. Cold-bloodedly. Like some general launching a campaign, you plotted to make me jealous. Is that the way it was, Serena?”

“Yes.”

“Were you planning to push it all the way to the altar, or was an affair your goal?”

Serena sighed very softly, but made no attempt to defend herself or justify her actions. “The altar,” she answered.

“You decided to marry me?”

“Yes.”

“And just when did you come to this momentous decision?” he asked politely.

“In London. At Heathrow.”

“Now for the biggie,” he said dryly. “Why?”

“I fell in love with you,” she answered simply.

H
ER WORDS CAUGHT
Brian completely by surprise. He had momentarily forgotten her quiet question in the garden. But even if he had remembered, he would not have expected her to admit to love. Not now. Not after the last few minutes and his relentlessly polite grilling. It just wasn’t—it didn’t seem
reasonable
somehow.

“You don’t expect me to believe you,” he ventured to say.

“No,” she said. “I’ve made that impossible, haven’t I? I realized that tonight in the garden.
More important, though, I realized that I’d built a wall between us higher than any you can claim.”

“Walls?” He gazed at her still face. “You think I have walls? That’s why you tried to trick me?”

Serena shrugged. “Does it matter now? It’s over, Brian.” After a moment she dropped her gaze to the jeweled watch on her wrist. “I’ll call Daddy,” she said, “and explain how I’ve put you in an impossible position. He knows me; he’ll know it was my fault. He won’t blame you a bit for going back to California. You don’t have to let your sense of responsibility keep you here.”

He waited until her gaze lifted again. “I told you. I’m in for the duration. I go back to California when you do, and not before.”

Her smile was a shaky, rueful one. “I thought you’d say that. Well, I’m stuck here for a while, Brian. Daddy’s orders; he needs more time. So I have to stay put to give him that time. But you don’t have to worry about staying close to me. Josh is going to do so, and he’s hired a private investigator to keep an eye on the hotel.”

Brian kept hearing the words
I fell in love with you
over and over in his mind, but tried not to
think about them. He rose to his feet slowly. “It’s more serious than you told me, isn’t it?”

“It wasn’t … I didn’t think it was serious when I told you. Daddy and Josh think it’s serious now.” She sighed, aware that her control was minimal at best. “Why don’t you—talk to Josh about it, if you want to know more.” She glanced at her watch again. “He’s probably downstairs in the bar.” With a sudden, soft laugh she added, “There’s a lovely blond pianist who plays there every night.”

“I’ll talk to him.” Remembering, abruptly, Brian added, “After I apologize to him.”

Serena blinked. “For what?”

“For slugging him,” he said with a growl, and stalked from the room.

    Josh Long was in the dimly lit bar, as Serena had suspected he might be. The blond pianist was playing for a half-dozen or so late-night guests.

Brian spotted Josh immediately, and went directly to where the other man was seated alone in a booth. “I want to apologize,” he said.

“Think nothing of it,” Josh responded instantly. “Join me? I’ll buy you a drink.” If there was a slight swelling in his jaw, only Brian’s guilty conscience could see it. Josh, at least, didn’t appear to be aware of it, or in pain.

Brian slid into the booth across from the dark younger man, but said, “I’ll buy. I owe you that, at least.” He thought privately that he owed considerably more.

Josh smiled, but said nothing. He studiously avoided looking up at the brunette cocktail waitress while he gave his order and listened to Brian’s, then he said dryly, “I’ve been caught in a few of Serena’s plots before now. Believe me, you reacted naturally.”