Jennifer Crusie Bundle (70 page)

She raised her eyebrows so high they disappeared under her bangs and batted her eyelashes. “So! You meeting someone?” She looked over her shoulder and flopped her bag down on the bar. It looked as if it was made from very old blue flowered carpet. Charlie had never seen anything quite like it so he poked his finger into it. It was fuzzy.

“Are you?” She smiled at him again, a sort of strained, too-many-teeth, trying-too-hard smile. “Meeting someone?” She sat on the stool beside him.

“No.” Charlie looked at her with interest. “What are you doing?”

“Picking you up?”

Charlie shook his head. “I don't think so. What are you really doing?”

The artificial smile morphed into a genuine scowl, and her perky voice dropped an octave. “I don't believe this. Can't you even pretend on the hope you'll get lucky?”

“I never pretend. I'm the natural, open type.” Charlie considered moving away from her and then rejected the idea. If he left her, he'd never find out what she was up to. And besides, when she'd scowled at him, her voice had gone husky. She had a great low voice. He smiled down at her, trying to make her talk again. “Why don't you just give me the drift, and then we can take it from there.”

She lowered her head a little and stared at him over the rims of her glasses. “Look, the drift will take too long, and besides, it makes me look pathetic. All I ask is that you pretend to be having a drink with me.” He must have looked skeptical because she added, “I swear that's it.”

Right. Charlie had been wandering through the world long enough to know that wouldn't be it, that there would be complications. There were always complications, which was why Charlie had spent his thirty-four years learning to be light on his feet and fast out the door.

On the other hand, she wasn't part of his current problem so there weren't likely to be long-term complications. He had a free evening before he had to go poking around in other people's business, so he might as well poke around in hers for a while. At the very least, he'd get to listen to her talk. He shrugged. “Hell, it's worth one drink just to find out what happens next.” He motioned to the bartender.

“I'm quite sure he won't come over here.” She looked back over her shoulder again.

The bartender came and Charlie said, “The lady would like…” He turned back to her.

“The lady would like to pay for her own amaretto and cream, Max.” She took a couple of bills out of her carpet bag and handed them to the bartender as she looked over her shoulder again.

“You got it, Allie,” the bartender said and moved away.

“Amaretto and cream?” Charlie frowned. “That's disgusting.”

“At least the cream part is good for me.” She turned back to him. “Well, it should be skim milk, but bars never have skim milk.”

“That's true.” Charlie drew back a little. “You know, you have the weirdest pickup line in North America.”

“Pickup line?” She swiveled on the stool and faced him. Her eyes sparked at him and her cheeks glowed rosy with outrage. Outrage looked very good on her. “This isn't a pickup line. The pickup line was before, the one that didn't work.” She swiveled again to keep lookout. “Oh, great.” She swiveled to face him again. “There he is. Okay, here's the deal. We're together. Try to look like you haven't just insulted me.”

“I didn't insult you. I made an observation.”

“Well, stop.” She looked back over her shoulder again. “Oh, no.” She closed her eyes. Charlie saw her lips moving and leaned closer to hear her, but she wasn't talking to him. “He's going to go by. I'm sure he's going to go by. I'm sure…”

A male-model type stopped on the other side of her. “Allie! There you are. I—”

She jerked as if she'd been shot. “Mark! What a surprise. To see you. Again. So soon.” She looked at Charlie and said, very softly, “Oh, hell.”

Then she stuck her chin out and turned to smile at Mark.

She was doing pretty good, Charlie thought. Good smile. Pretty lame answer, but the smile and the chin would probably make up for it. He looked at the guy. Tall, dark and handsome, if you liked really pretty men. Very expensive suit. Toothpaste grin. And the jerk was smiling that grin at her as if he knew she was in agony. Charlie shook his head at the situation and finished his drink. Good thing he wasn't involved in this one. It was a mess.

“Let me buy you a drink, Al. It's the least I can do.” Mark the jerk motioned for the bartender.

Max wandered back and put Allie's amaretto in front of her.

“No, no.” Allie's mouth went lipless with stress. “I have one. Thanks, Max.”

“Amaretto and cream.” Mark laughed. “Good old Allie.” He sat down beside her at the bar and patted her on the back.

“Grrrrr.” It was a very faint low growl, locked behind her teeth, almost indiscernible in the babble of the bar, but Charlie heard it because she'd turned to him as she made it. “I'm sorry about this,” Allie whispered to him.

Charlie leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Try not to look like a wounded basset hound.”

Allie flashed Mark a brilliant smile over her shoulder.

“I didn't realize the two of you were together.” Mark paused for an introduction.

Allie kept on smiling like a half-wit, so Charlie took pity on her and extended his hand past her nose. “Charlie Tenniel.”

Allie started, but Mark took his hand with enthusiasm, gripping it in a he-man clasp. Charlie let his hand go limp. Mark smirked.

What an idiot,
Charlie thought.

Mark was positively jovial. “Well, this is a coincidence. I'm Mark King. You've inherited my producer, you lucky dog. I've taught her everything there is to know about radio. You're in good hands.”

Allie made that low growling sound in her throat again, and Charlie blinked at them both and then let Mark babble on about his own many successes, ignoring him for heavier thoughts. So much for diverting himself with Allie. Allie worked at the station with Mark the jerk. They were probably both in trouble up to their necks.

Allie certainly looked as if she was in trouble. She turned bleak, questioning eyes on him. “Is this true?” she whispered. “You're my new DJ?” He nodded at her and she closed her eyes. “We were just discussing that,” she lied as she turned back to Mark.

Charlie picked up her glass of cream and handed it to her. “Here you go, boss. Glad to meet you, Mark. This the place everybody at the station hangs out?”

“Pretty much. Convenient. Right across the street, you know.” Mark smiled broadly while he sized Charlie up with obvious confidence. “Have you two known each other long?”

Allie put down her newly empty glass. “Oh, it seems like it.”

Charlie brought his mind back to the problem at hand. “Don't chug cream like that.” He took the empty glass from her. “This isn't skim milk, you know. This is the real thing, the hard stuff. Max, another amaretto and cream for the lady. In fact, just bring over the bottle and drive in the cow.”

“A comedian.” Allie nodded her head. “Five guys sitting at a bar, and I pick the comedian.”

“What?” Mark leaned closer to catch what she was saying.

“She thinks I'm funny.” Charlie put his arm around Allie and gave her an affectionate squeeze. She was a lot softer than he was prepared for, so he left his arm where it was for a while. “Funny is the basis for any good relationship.”

“Maybe that's what was wrong with us, huh, Allie?” Mark looked soulfully at her.

What a goof.

“You two were once…” Charlie wiggled his eyebrows at Allie. “You never told me that.”

“It never came up.” Allie glared at him from the curve of his arm.

“You're a lucky man, Tenniel.” Mark was still trying to recapture Allie's attention, but she missed his meaningful looks because she was busy glaring at Charlie.

Charlie beamed at them both, enjoying the situation. “That's what everybody keeps telling me. Actually, it's not luck, it's skill.”

Mark tried again. “So how did you two meet?”

“In a bar,” Charlie said. “She picked me up.”

“Allie did?” Mark looked astounded.

“She begged me to buy her a drink.”

“Allie did?”

Charlie nodded. “Happens to me all the time. Animal magnetism.”

“Oh, a joke.” Mark looked relieved. “How did you two really meet?”

“I picked him up.” Allie took a deep breath. “The truth is…”

Charlie pulled her tighter, momentarily shutting down her lungs. “The truth is, she sat down next to me, and I looked at her and thought, ‘This is a good-looking woman,' and we started to talk, and we've been together ever since.”

Allie jerked her head up and stared at him. Then she smiled, and Charlie smiled back by reflex, caught by the intelligence in her eyes and the warmth in her wide, soft mouth. She leaned toward him, and he bent to hear what she said.

She was almost nose to nose with him. “You are a good person. I forgive you for insulting me.” She patted his sleeve and then disengaged herself from his arm.

Charlie missed her warmth. “I didn't insult you.”

“How long have you two known each other?” Mark asked.

“Eternity,” Charlie said.

“But it seems like only a few short minutes.” Allie glared at him again and then she leaned back, her attention caught by something over Charlie's shoulder. She signaled someone away, and Charlie turned just in time to get the impression that someone was doing a fade from the doorway into the hall.

So, Allie had a secret. Life just got more interesting all the time. And of course that meant that he was going to have to stick with her until he discovered her secret. He'd been hired to find all the secrets at the station. It was his job. It was his duty. He looked at Allie, her hair shining like old brass in the warm light of the bar.

It was his pleasure.

“So, where's Lisa tonight?” Allie leaned on the bar in an attempt at languid unconcern. “What a shame she's not with you. We could all have dinner together.”

Careful, Allie,
Charlie thought.

“Lisa's at the station.” Mark frowned. “You're right. It is a shame. This would be a great chance to meet Charlie.”

“There'll be other chances.” Charlie finished his drink. “I'm not going anyplace. Except to the top of the ratings.”

Mark decided that was a joke, too. “Heh, heh, heh.”

Mark had a laugh like an asthmatic horse, and Charlie wondered if that was why Allie had left him. Listening to that laugh would certainly be reason enough for anybody to leave him. Which brought an ugly thought. He'd have to be very careful because if Mark was any indication of his radio competition, he
would
go to the top of the ratings. That would be bad. One of the basic tenets of undercover investigation was not becoming a household word.

“Well!” Allie slid off the stool. “We've got to be getting in to dinner. Wonderful seeing you again, Mark.”

Mark leaned forward to kiss her goodbye, and she tripped backward to get away from him.

Charlie caught her. “Falling for me all over again, huh?” He tightened his arm around her automatically. Allie was soft and round against his shoulder, and she smelled like flowers. He was in no hurry to let go. “Try to restrain yourself,” he told her. “We're in public.”

She looked into his eyes and swallowed hard. “It's your animal magnetism. I'm restrained now. You can let go.”

“I don't think so,” he said, and kissed her.

He'd only meant to kiss her quickly and let her go, mostly to annoy Mark and, all right, because she had a great mouth. But she clutched at him in surprise and fell into his arms so the kiss was a lot more than he'd planned, a lot more warmth and softness and weight, and her mouth was cool and sweet from the cream. He was a little dizzy by the time he remembered where he was and came up for air.

“What are you doing?” Allie sounded more breathless than annoyed when she pulled away from him.

“Making my move. Come back here.” Charlie reached for her, and she stepped back.

Mark looked disgruntled. “Well, really, Allie, you're in public.”

“That's lust.” Charlie smiled at him happily. “She can't keep her lips off me.” Allie took another step back, and Charlie stood up to follow her. “Well, it looks like we're moving on,” he told Mark. “Tell Lisa we said hi.”

When they were in the hallway, Allie shook her head. “Who are you really? Satan? I'm being punished, right?”

“I'm Charlie Tenniel.” He held out his hand. “I work with that stuffed shirt you used to date. I assume all you did was date. I'd hate to think that any woman I'd kissed in a bar actually went to bed with somebody like that.”