Mad enough to marry (15 page)

It was a toss-up, really, as to which impulse was more dangerous. Either way he was at the mercy of the beast...or at the mercy of the most surprising, sexy, staggeringly beautiful woman he'd ever known.

Chapter Ten

Logan tripped over the hammer he'd left on the floor and saved himself from falling by shoving his hand against the downstairs kitchen doorjamb—jamming a thick spUnter into the heel of his thumb at the same time.

**Damn this entire day to hell,'* he muttered, staring down at his wounded palm. The shard of wood had worked itself deep.

He hated spUnters. He hated digging them out. He hated that this day had gone sour from the early-moming moment when he'd left Elena's bed.

His mother came around the comer, apparently just in from her afternoon shift at the thrift shop that supported the nearby children's hospital. **Was that you I heard cursing?"

*'Guilty." Logan scowled at his hand again. Then he looked back at his mother, trying to sound polite. "How was your day?"

**0h, fine," she said with a vague smile.

Laura Chase was continuing with her usual Saturday schedule, just as the other women in Logan* s life were continuing with theirs. Gabby had been in and out but was now in, working on a school project, she'd said. Elena had left the house in the morning, sneaking out in an effort to avoid him, Logan was sure. He'd called her office to no avail and Gabby had no idea when to expect her.

Logan had no idea what to expect from her, but that she'd ducked out without talking to him was a very bad sign that had made for a very bad day.

*'Do you have plans for dinner?" his mother asked. "Or would you like me to cook for you?"

Logan stifled a groan. There had been help in the Chase kitchen for his mother's forty-plus years of marriage and so her culinary talents hadn't developed past the green Jell-0 salads and tuna-and-potato chip casseroles that must have been standard home-ec class fare when she was a young woman. "Maybe we can call for carry-out," he suggested, then hesitated. "If you're still here, that is."

Her silver-blond eyebrows rose. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He cleared his throat. "I thought maybe you would be going back home today."

She shook her head. "Not yet."

Logan sighed, a headache starting to pulse at his

temples in time with the splinter in his hand. *'Mom, what the heck are you doing here?"

She looked down at her hands, twisting her wedding set around and around. **rm trying to get your father's attention."

**I think you have that. He's phoned you every night, but you refuse to take his calls."

'*I need to shake him up a Uttle more. Like you did."

**Like/did?"

She nodded. **When you left the family company you really threw your father for a loop."

Logan grimaced again, regretting having started the conversation. '*Mom, I'm sor—"

**Don't be sorry. I'm proud of you for taking charge of your life. You shouldn't wait as long as I have to get what you want."

Logan grimaced again. '*I didn't realize you've been so unhappy."

**Oh, don't get me wrong. I've been quite content letting Jonathon have his way for many of the years we've been married. He's a fascinating, challenging man, Logan, and I've enjoyed quietly supporting him as he's built the business. But once Griffin came back to Strawberry Bay, and especially now that he's married, I expected your father to give more of the responsibility to him. I want Jonathon to start making some plans to ease up, if not retire altogether. But he won't listen to me."

'*Mom, he's never listened to anyone."

Her laugh sounded a Uttle bit sad. **You're right.

But I think it's because none of us have demanded he hear us. We've let him have his own way for too, too long."

But his father was more stubborn than any person he'd ever met—save one. **I hope you know what you're doing."

She half smiled. '*Me, too." Then she turned to make her way upstairs.

Logan started poking at his sliver, now welcoming the distraction. At least this was an issue—^unlike his parents' marriage, unlike his murky relationship with Elena—^with a clear-cut solution.

About three hours later, the two solution-hazy problems arrived at the Victorian together. Logan was in the parlor, scraping the last of the wallpaper layers when the front door opened and Elena arrived, Jon-athon Chase in her wake.

Her footsteps faltered when she caught sight of Logan. '*Oh. Hi." Her gaze bounced off his face to settle somewhere in the vicinity of his left shoulder.

"Hi." He crossed his arms over his chest, his temper only needing her obvious discomfort to start burning. *'Seven voice-mail messages I left you. Didn't you get one of them?"

"Uh...well, I've had a very busy day."

Damn this awkwardness! If she hadn't escaped this morning without talking to him, if she had returned just one of his phone calls, he could have prevented this. But no, she'd done her best to avoid him and avoid giving them a chance to establish some sort of new order after their intimacy.

**We need to talk," he said through his teeth.

Elena swallowed, then nodded toward his father. '*But Mr. Chase, I mean, your, um, your father's here."

Jonathon adjusted the knot of his silver-and-black tie. **rm here to see Laura."

**0h!" Elena said brightly. '*Why don't I take you up to her?"

Before Logan could protest, she was linking her arm with his father's and towing him up the stairs with her, chattering all the way. Shaking his head, Logan lounged against the wall and watched the little sneak ride off.

But no, no way, was she going into the sunset without him. Not until he made sure she didn't think they'd had a one-night stand, which was just what a woman as stubbornly wary as Elena would think. Tamping down his frustration, he slowly headed after them.

The scene in the upstairs hallway did nothing to improve his mood. Elena had disappeared—^presumably she'd already scurried into her apartment. Logan's headache returned to pound at his temples.

Knowing her, she'd probably refuse to let him in.

Just as his mother was refusing his father. Because Jonathon Chase was having ill luck with his woman too. As Logan watched, his father continued banging on Logan's apartment door with his palm.

**Laura, for God's sake, open up!"

Logan couldn't hear the precise words of his mother's muffled response, but judging from his fa-

ther's expression, it wasn't what Jonathon had wanted to hear. Unsure exactly what to do, Logan halted, standing between the two apartments. The older man turned his glare from the door to his son.

*'Your mother is acting foolishly," he said.

"Uh, well..."

**We have a dinner at the club tonight," Jonathon said, his expression thunderous. *'A business dinner."

"Maybe Mom's tired of business dinners," Logan ventured. *'You might want to—"

**I don't have time for this," Jonathon said over him. **Unlock the door for me, Logan."

Logan automatically shoved his hand in his pocket, but when his fingers encountered metal, he hesitated. '*Sorry, Dad." He shrugged. *'I left my set of keys inside."

Jonathon's frown deepened. He banged on die door again. "Laura. Laura, we have the Redwells—George and Tanya—at 7:00!"

When there was no response, he muttered to himself and looked down at his watch. Then his head slowly came up and the gleam in his eye was speculative. ''You could come with me, Logan."

He rolled his eyes. "Dad, forget the Redwells. Mom has moved out. Do you grasp that?"

His father waved a hand. "We'll work through it. But George Redwell has always had a soft spot for you. With your help I can nail him down on that new contract."

Logan inhaled a long breath. "I don't work for Chase Electronics anymore. Dad, remember?"

His father made another dismissive gesture with his hand. *'Haven't you played tinker toys long enough? Come on, son. What you're doing here isn't important. Let's go out to dinner, talk real business, and—"

**Logan?" Suddenly, Elena's door was flung open and she poked her head out. *'Could you come in here, please?"

Surprised, he merely stared at her for a moment. He'd thought nothing short of another earthquake in Strawberry Bay would shake her out of that apartment for a face-to-face with him.

* 'Logan?'' Her face was flushed but her gaze rested squarely on his face.

"About dinner—" his father started.

*'Sorry, Dad—" Logan grinned as Jonathon started to sputter "—but Beauty calls." He was inside Elena's apartment before the old man could manage another word.

Logan shut the door behind him, then strode directly to Elena and took her face between his hands. He laid a smacking kiss on her lips. "Thank you for that."

She broke away from him. "Thank Gabby," she said, avoiding his eyes again. "She heard a commotion in the hall."

Gabby was doing homework at the card table and smiled when Logan walked over and bent down to kiss her loudly on top of the head. "Thank you. Gabby."

She caught his hand for a moment. "She's fiill of baloney," she whispered to him. "We both heard the

commotion, and she couldn't get to the door fast enough. By the way, though, what you've done with this place is important."

He stilled, looking back at her. This time he noticed Gabby wasn't doing school work after all, but was instead sketching in a spiral-bound pad. Her subject was Elena again, caught staring off into space, her usual energy and take-me-or-leave-me attitude absent. It was Elena quiet, her mouth soft, her eyes almost... yearning.

He glanced at the stiff shoulders and straight spine of the real-life Elena, standing with her back toward him as she rummaged through her tote bag. Then he again studied the drawing that revealed a so-much-more vulnerable woman.

It was Elena through Gabby's—an artist's—eye, an eye that saw beneath the layers. It was the same kind of vision that he had for this house and others like it. His eyes pierced the shell built up over the years to see the true beauty beneath.

''Yeah," he said, smiling at Gabby. *'I know. It's important."

As was this moment with Elena. He strolled over to her, then took her shoulders to spin her toward him. '*I didn't get the chance for a proper hello."

When she instantly backed up, he let her go, stung by another rejection. Hell, what was the point, he thought, frustrated again as he studied her beautiful, but suspicious face. Maybe there was no good reason to pursue this. She was too wary, too much work.

He glanced away, his eye catching on Gabby's

sketch. Suddenly a dozen memories of the night before swamped him: The velvety skin of the concave curve of Elena's belly, the sound of her breathy moans, the feel of her shuddering against his hands.

He'd buried those memories with the irritation and frustration he'd felt when she'd left without seeing him that morning. He'd been letting her tough shell get in the way of remembering how good it had been with her last night. But Gabby's sketch reminded him that Elena was more, much more, than the thorny protection she wore.

Calmer now, Logan smiled at her. So what that she'd been busy reconstructing all her barriers? Last night he'd uncovered her sweetness and fire and, by God, he could do it again.

Elena wanted to order Logan out of her apartment. But since he owned it, and since the only rent she was paying was the temporary custody of one ridiculous painting, she settled for screaming instead.

She did that in the bathroom, muffling the sound by holding a thick bath towel against her face. Then she wet a washcloth with cold water and bathed the back of her neck and her wrists.

Cooly she thought to herself as she left the bathroom. Be cool. Logan couldn't know he'd shattered her defenses the night before. He couldn't know how close he was to breaking into her heart. Given that kind of advantage, he might actually do the deed, and this time she wouldn't survive it.

She exited the bathroom to find him in the kitchen.

surrounded by the makings of a green salad. He was wearing a paint-stained pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a pair of heavy workboots. Looking up, he smiled at her, and she had to lock her knees to keep upright. The appeal of the combination of his country-club looks and construction-worker attire was even more difficult to ignore now.

Now that he'd made—^had sex with her.

Elena took a deep breath and ignored the fact that he appeared to be settUng in for the evening. She saw the carry-out menu from Gabby's favorite Italian place lying beside the phone. *'You can't get into your own apartment yet?"

**Well, my dad's definitely gone from the house, but I'm still locked out," he said cheerfully. *'Problem is, I think Mom left after Dad did. I've knocked and knocked, I tried calling my phone. No answer."

Elena closed her eyes. "You don't keep a spare key anywhere?"

'*0h, sure."

Her heart leaped. She could get rid of him now! ''Wheren-?"

"It's the one my mother's using."

A strangled sound erupted from her throat.

He looked over. "What was that?"

It was a half-strangled scream. "Nothing," she Ued. "Not a thing."

"Good. Gabby and I ordered pizza."

Elena sighed. He was settUng in for the evening. The atmosphere in the apartment had been strained

enough since the blow-up with Gabby the week before without adding Logan to the mix.

* *As a matter of fact," Logan continued, * 'she went to pick it up. Which gives you and me a chance to talk."

Cool Elena's mental voice cautioned again. '*Sure." She forced herself to meet his gaze.

It was warm and golden and reminded her of how she'd felt last night as he caressed and kissed her. She'd tried so hard to act composed and sophisticated then, too, but her attempts at mastering the situation by teasing him had been completely overwhelmed by his teasing—^teasing touches and teasing tastes. She hadn't stood a chance against him or the sexuality he so easily aroused in her.

He turned to lean against the counter and smile at her slowly, as if he could read her mind and approved the direction of her thoughts. *'How are you today?"