James, Stephanie (21 page)

in fierce lines as he challenged her.

“I’m a changed woman and there’s nothing you can do about it! I’ll live my life exactly the way I want to

live it, and if I happen to feel like running around with nice young men like Ron Adams, I will, by God!”

With an obvious effort of will Dev brought his voice back under control. “Tabby, Tabby, I didn’t come

here to yell at you.”

“No? You’re doing a pretty good job of it.”

He groaned in exasperation. “Honey, my instincts all tell me there’s no way you could have changed

fundamentally in the few days that have passed since you left the cruise. That’s the real reason I let you

and your young friend off so lightly this morning. I know damn well that whatever happened here last

night, you weren’t really very likely to have gotten yourself involved in a genuine one-night stand!”

“Why not? I did with you!”

“I’m different,” he told her evenly.

She blinked owlishly, not trusting his expression of utter conviction. “What makes you so sure of that?”

“Instinct.”

“Oh, shut up!” She reached for her coffee cup, glowering down at the dark brew.

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“It’s true. Tabby, I survived for years on my instincts. Let me show you that they can be trusted. Let me

show you that you really do belong to me.”

Tabitha eyed him uneasily. “You might trust your instincts, Dev, but I don’t trust you.”

A flicker of pain flashed briefly in his eyes, but his voice was steady as he said quietly, “Okay, so you

don’t trust me. Are you going to admit you’re afraid of me?”

“I’m not afraid of you,” she informed him aloofly.

He gazed at her consideringly. “What if I told you I came here to return the favor you did me on board

ship?”

“You mean repay me for getting you out of that alley?”

He smiled slightly, a small, wicked twist of his mouth that stirred the delicate hair at the nape of her neck.

“I meant the favor you did when you seduced me. One good turn deserves another, Tabby. It strikes me

that you’ve never really been properly seduced. Your ex-husband obviously didn’t know how, and lately

you’ve been making all the moves yourself. It’s time you learned one of the fundamental pleasures of life,

honey, and who better to learn it from than the man who’s going to marry you?”

Nine

«^»

It wasn’t the wicked smile or the blunt masculine aggression. It wasn’t the fact that Dev had actually

spoken of marriage. It wasn’t even because she had been feeling uncomfortably hung over and was

therefore in a weakened condition.

None of those had anything to do with the decision she had made, Tabitha thought resentfully as she

whipped a feather duster over a shelf of books at The Manticore. No, she had accepted the date with

Dev because of the flash of grim desperation she had seen in his silver eyes. It was that strange urgency

coupled with a mental image of him nearly bleeding to death on some lonely road two years previously

that had done her in, Tabitha knew.

Damn! What was the matter with her? Why hadn’t she simply kicked him out of the house? Morosely

she dusted a shelf of science fiction books and then abandoned the task altogether in favor of sitting on

her stool behind the counter. The shop was empty at the moment; there was no distraction to stop her

from dwelling on her own stupidity. The conversation at the breakfast table that morning kept replaying

through her mind.

“Marry you! Not a chance!” she’d choked.

“You’re afraid of me.”

“I am not afraid of you,” she’d gritted, meaning every word.

“Then prove it by having dinner with me, tonight.”

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“Dev, this is ridiculous. First you were talking about marriage and now you’re discussing dinner!”

“One step at a time. Tabby, at least come out to dinner with me,” he’d ordered softly. It was then that

she’d seen the flash of urgent need in his eyes and her resolve had faltered. In the end she’d grumblingly

agreed to have dinner with him, and now she could only sit, chin in hand, and berate herself.

Because she was in love with him.

She’d known that the moment she’d opened the door this morning and found him on the step. No,

Tabitha corrected herself dismally, she’d known it last night when she’d looked down at the dragon in the

carpet and realized through the haze of alcohol that she had no business telling Ron Adams about the

medieval version of the birds and the bees. The only man she wanted to seduce was Dev Colter.

Travel agent! Likely story. But what the devil was he doing here in Port Townsend if he wasn’t telling

her the essential truth? If he’d only been using her on board the ship would he have bothered tracking her

down now? And what was the meaning of that desperate determination she had sensed in him?

What if Dev Colter were now telling her the truth? He was the man she had rescued from that alley on

St. Regis, after all, even if she hadn’t known the real reason for his being there. One thing hadn’t altered:

when she had come across him in that brick alley he had needed her badly and she had taken care of

him. She would have done the same even had she known he’d left his assailant behind stuffed in a trash

bin. There was no way she could have turned from him in that moment.

Now here he was in Port Townsend telling her that he needed her again. He wasn’t bruised and bleeding

this time, but she had seen pain in his eyes and she wasn’t at all sure she would be able to turn from him

this go round, either. He was an annoying, demanding, somewhat deceptive sort of beast, but he was
her

beast, her very own dragon.

Tabitha sighed and reflected on that thought for a moment. Something about having rescued a man and

then seducing him gave a woman a very possessive sort of feeling toward him. And the feeling must be

somewhat mutual because she’d seen the aggressive fury in those silver eyes this morning when Dev had

found Ron Adams amid the shambles of her birthday party.

She shuddered as the shop door opened. It occurred to Tabitha that she was very glad Dev’s “instincts”

had told him nothing serious had happened between herself and Ron. She didn’t like to think of what he

might have done if he’d felt the younger man had poached on his territory.

“Good morning, Tab,” Sandra Adams called as she came through the door. “Just wanted to stop by and

tell you what a fantastic party that was last night! Had a great time. Jim is absolutely the most interesting

fisherman I’ve ever encountered. The strong, silent type, you know. At one with the sea and the storms,”

she continued melodramatically, “a part of the primeval forces of nature, etcetera, etcetera. Love those

primeval forces. And what the heck did you do to my little brother, by the way?”

Tabitha grimaced as her friend lounged against the counter and regarded her with amused eyes. “He fell

asleep on my couch.”

“And awakened to the roar of a dragon, according to him.” Sandra grinned. “Naturally I hastened over

to hear more about the beast.” The shop door chimed just as she spoke and automatically Sandra

glanced over her shoulder to see who was entering. “Don’t tell me. The dragon, right?”

Dev arched a dark brow as he walked in, carrying two Styrofoam cups of coffee carefully cradled in

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one large hand. He used the ebony cane to shove the door shut behind him. “My reputation seems to

have preceded me,” he mocked dryly.

“No wonder my little brother was overwhelmed. You must have a good fifteen years on the lad.”

“Don’t remind me,” Dev growled feelingly. “You’re the kid’s sister?”

“Sandra, this is Devlin Colter.” Tabitha hastily made introductions, aware of a strange feeling of wariness

as she saw the speculative gleam in Sandra’s eyes. The hint of jealousy vanished almost at once,

however, because Dev totally ignored the other woman’s incipient interest. Just as on the ship, he

seemed oblivious to the curiosity or the speculation in the eyes of any woman but Tabitha. Tabitha knew

a measure of happy satisfaction which she instantly tried to squelch. “Dev and I met on the cruise,” she

explained weakly.

“It must have been some cruise,” Sandra observed cheerfully to Dev. “Tab came back a changed

woman.”

“Not really,” Dev murmured, handing a cup of coffee to Tabitha. He smiled gently as she avoided his

gaze by hurriedly snapping open the plastic lid. “She just learned a little more about herself, that’s all.”

“Sandy’s quite right,” Tabitha announced defiantly as she swallowed a large sip of steaming coffee. “I’m

changed.”

Dev just smiled again and peeled off his own lid.

“Well, if the two of you will excuse me, I’ve got some grocery shopping to do,” Sandra declared

brightly, heading for the door. “I see that little dress shop next to you has closed, Tab. Going to lease the

space and expand The Manticore?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Tabitha said honestly, her mind not really on the subject. “I’m thinking about it.

Goodbye, Sandy. Thanks for coming to the party last night.”

“My pleasure, believe me!” Sandra shut the door behind her with a chuckle.

“Resigned yourself to having dinner with me tonight?” Dev asked mildly as he glanced curiously around

the shop.

“Dev, I want you to understand that this is only a dinner date, nothing more,” she told him severely. “Is

that very clear?”

“Meaning I’m not supposed to seduce you?”

“Meaning we can have a pleasant evening if you behave yourself! I won’t be pushed, Dev. I have a lot

of serious thinking to do about us, and I don’t want you trying to maneuver me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed humbly. “Let’s just say we’re getting together for the sake of old times. How’s

that?”

Tabitha glared at him suspiciously, declining to answer that one.

She was still eyeing Dev suspiciously that night as she sat across from him in the charming harbor-front

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restaurant he had chosen. But she felt reasonably able to hold her own that evening. Dev had been the

model of gentlemanly behavior since the moment he had arrived at her door in a subdued, dark, linen

jacket and trousers. She herself was wearing a white knit dress trimmed in black.

His refined manners had reestablished her own sense of equilibrium but she knew him much better now

than she had on the ship, and Tabitha’s innate caution was still in effect as they ordered lobster soufflés

and celery, radish and olive salads.

“Stop worrying,” Dev drawled softly. “I’ll warn you when the seduction is about to start. Just as you

warned me.”

Her brows drew together in a fierce line. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, first there was that charming kiss on deck in the moonlight,” he mused. “I got my hopes up, but

nothing came of it that night. The morning you met me at your cabin door wearing that loose, little cotton

thing without any bra on underneath, I told myself that there was still a chance.”

“You were laughing at me,” she accused tightly. “All the time. God, I feel like such a fool.”

“Tabby, I wasn’t laughing at you,” he said evenly. “I wanted you to make love to me so badly, and I

was so afraid you’d lose your nerve.”

“Too bad I didn’t.”

“Don’t say that. The night you seduced me was the most memorable evening of my life,” he said

wistfully. “I wouldn’t trade that memory for anything on earth.”

She regarded him skeptically, desperately wanting to believe their night together had meant that much to

him. “I’m sure you’ve enjoyed many similar evenings.”

“I’ve never spent another evening like that one,” he said simply.

“Hah!”

“It’s true,” he said. “I’ve never had another woman really make love to me. And you were making love

that night, weren’t you? Not just having a fling with me?”

“You’ve been married!” she protested. “Or was that a lie, too?”

A flare of anger at the accusation lit his eyes and then was firmly repressed. “I was married,” he

confirmed. “But she was in love with the image of my job, not with me. That’s why she left me, Tabby,

after I nearly lost my leg. She wanted a James Bond, and I was only willing to give her a mundane

businessman.”

Tabitha bit her lip as a pang of sympathy welled up inside. She knew what it was to be married for all

the wrong reasons. “Is that the truth?”

“Tabby, I’ve always told you the truth except about the reason I was in that alley on St. Regis. Frankly,

I wasn’t free to tell you those facts. Not until you found them out the hard way by having a gun held to

your head. I felt so damn guilty about getting you into that mess, honey. It was all my fault. Afterward I

couldn’t think of anything else but finding you and straightening everything out between us. But you were

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gone when I got back to the ship.”

“I couldn’t stand the thought of facing you after that. I was so angry. And I felt like an idiot for having

mistaken a tough, hard-bitten secret agent type for a mild-mannered, gentlemanly travel agent who