Stormy Challenge (12 page)

Still clasped in Court's arms, which had tightened at the sound of Keith's words, she looked past the massive shoulder and directly into her brother's smiling gaze.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, in a tone of voice she hadn't used on him since eighth grade, when she'd finally learned little brothers were more easily handled with cajolery than threats, especially when they started getting bigger than their sisters.

"Your, er, relationship with Court, here," Keith returned, picking up some of the vibrations but not yet paying them sufficient heed. "The last thing Court said to me before slamming out of the office to find you at that inn up in Oregon was that he had an awful premonition he'd been fated to tame the green-eyed witch who was laughing at him from the picture on my office wall. He said the one sure way to control a troublesome female was in bed. I'll admit I didn't expect an engagement so quickly. But Alex Harlow is telling everyone ..."

Keith broke off, grinning at his sister's stunned expression. "Haven't you learned yet, sister dear, that the only thing that prompts Court out of his easy chair or his workshop is a challenge? He'll do whatever he has to do in order to win. Why do you think I wanted him on the side of Brandon Security?"

"A challenge," Leya repeated, the metal in her eyes glowing with white heat as she stepped back out of Court's slackening embrace to face him.

"That's what this has been about all along, hasn't it? You
did
come up to that inn in Oregon intending to seduce me because that seemed like the easiest way to overcome the challenge I represented. You didn't take one look at me and suddenly decide our relationship was more important than the contract. You established a relationship in order to get that damned document signed! To control me!"

"Leya, listen to me," he began determinedly. "You've got it all wrong! Your brother doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. You and I—"

"No, he doesn't. He automatically assumed you were planning to marry me," she exploded violently. "Me, I know better. I know you'd never get
that
carried away with a mere challenge. An amusing little affair, during which you made certain I kept my interfering hands off Brandon Security, would be more to your taste, wouldn't it?

Well, just in case you're not getting enough excitement out of the diversion, let me spice things up a bit!"

With that, Leya grabbed the half-full glass standing on the railing and hurled the contents at his yellow shirt. As the alcohol and ice soaked him, she whirled and walked off the terrace.

Her exit scene lacked only a small touch of practicality to keep it from being perfect, Leya reflected a moment later as she swept into the party and realized she didn't have a convenient ride home.

It was the little things that could so easily trip one up in life! In disgust, Leya grabbed a drink off a passing tray, reminding herself she hadn't been allowed to finish one yet, thanks to Court. She was making her way over to a far corner of the room, where it might have been possible to stay out of sight until her brother reappeared from the terrace, when Susan Adams glided up to her. Why were half the women in California blonde?

"I was wondering where you'd hidden yourself, Leya." Susan's eyes were lit with an interest that didn't fool Leya for a second.

"I've hidden Court outside on the terrace," Leya told her sweetly. "But as you can see, I'm not the least bit hard to find. Don't worry, Susan, I'm sure he'll be back in a moment." The thought bred an unpleasant anticipation in Leya's own mind, however.

What was she going to do when he returned from the terrace and came gunning for her?

There wasn't much he could do to her in a room full of people, she told herself bravely and wondered exactly how much her own brother would be on her side.

Keith's admiration for his newfound mentor seemed very high. So high that he was happy to consider Court as a brother-in-law! Of course, that event was unlikely in the extreme, Leya thought glumly, taking a swallow of her drink. Court might bestir himself for a challenge, but something told her he had enough sense of self-preservation to keep from being so caught up in the battle that he'd go to those lengths!

"He's a very fascinating man, your fiancé," Susan was saying chattily, her bright eyes on Leya's brooding expression, "I must say the news came as a surprise, though. I had no idea . . ."

"My what?" Leya knew she sounded almost as startled at the statement as Alex had earlier. She frowned at Susan.

"Isn't it public knowledge yet?" Susan murmured with totally false anxiety. "I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to know, but frankly the whole room will know fairly soon. Rumors like this get around a party quickly, and several people here know you or your brother ..."

"Who told you that I was engaged to Court?"

"Alex Harlow. You remember him?" Susan's prompting on the name was quite unnecessary, Leya thought. She was well aware of what had happened a year ago.

"He seemed very upset about something and left a few minutes ago. You wouldn't know why he was angry, would you?" she added hopefully. Susan loved to know details.

"Haven't the foggiest," Leya retorted dryly. "As for this engagement business," she began, intending to squelch the stupid rumor as quickly as possible. She was interrupted before the blow could be dealt.

"Leya! Just heard the news! Congratulations. That tall man with the bedroom eyes is the one, I take it?" Alice Compton came forward, a sandy-haired escort in tow.

Alice's cheerful expression was full of genuine goodwill.

"Bedroom eyes!" Leya exclaimed vengefully." Court doesn't have bedroom eyes.

That sort of narrowed, sultry look is a sign of chronic laziness, not passion!" For the life of her, she didn't know what made her say that, but the impulse was irresistible.

"I resent that," murmured a familiar gravelly voice behind her, as Court's hand snaked around her waist and removed the glass from her hand. "Let's go home, little Leya, and we'll find out exactly which emotion you're seeing in my eyes!"

The laughter of those who heard the remark covered Leya's gritted exclamation. She turned to lift mocking liquid eyes up to his. "I wouldn't want to put you to the effort, darling," she purred.

"Don't fret, sweetheart," he returned with a patently insincere assurance, "I've been fortifying myself at Susan's buffet table. I think I can work up the energy!"

Under cover of more laughter from those around them, Leya bared her teeth in the parody of a charming smile. She confronted the deep, warning gleam in the tortoiseshell eyes and felt the overall intent in him as if it were a tangible electrical charge. He made no move to touch her but the threat in him was blatant.

"Oh, dear," she observed nastily. "Did you have an accident with your drink?" Her eyes ran mockingly over the dampened shirt front. A mixture of excitement and anger raced along her nerve endings as their confrontation began to escalate.

"Would you believe it? I seem to have gotten in the path of a young lady who'd imbibed a little too much this evening. But that's all right. I've got a dry shirt at home.

Are you ready to leave?"

"No, I'm not," Leya murmured in satisfaction. "Unlike the poor young woman whose path you crossed, I haven't had a chance to imbibe too much. I haven't had a chance to finish even one drink tonight!"

"Pity," he drawled heartlessly. "But if I'm going to make the effort to overcome my chrome laziness tonight, then the least you can do is try and keep from passing out on me!" His meaning was abundantly clear.

Keith's voice interrupted over the ensuing roar of laughter from a gathering crowd.

He pushed his way toward where his sister and Court were faced off, his green eyes laughing. Blonde little Angie was beginning to sulk at the lack of attention she was receiving, Leya had time to note.

"Are you two going to stand there and make a scene instead of officially announcing the engagement?"

"Yes!" Leya gritted willingly. She could think of nothing more satisfying in that moment than a knockdown, drag-out scene in which she was the undisputed victor!

Her eyes never left her opponent's face as he growled his answer almost simultaneously.

"No," Court said quite clearly. "We are going to make the announcement and then go home and conduct our scene!"

"I certainly hope you enjoy giving a performance on your own, because I intend to stay right here at the party!"

"Leya, my charming wife-to-be," Court said with vast politeness. "I will give you a choice: You may leave this party on my arm or over my shoulder. Take your pick!"

She felt the threat in him, but Leya's own emotions were vibrating at too high a pitch to care. The platinum sheen in her eyes clashed with the molten gold in his and she smiled dangerously.

"Is that a multiple-choice question?" she asked interestedly.

"It is."

"Then I choose 'none of the above!'" Leya whirled away, intent only on getting out of range as quickly as possible. But the amused crowd hemmed her in, trapping her very conveniently for Court, who didn't hesitate.

"I'll bet," he offered as his hand struck, encircling the small bones of her wrist like a manacle, "that you never did very well on multiple-choice tests in school!"

Leya gave a squeak of very real alarm as she felt herself yanked off balance. Before she could clutch at something, anything, she felt the impact of Court's shoulder in her stomach and then she was staring down his back at the floor, her heavy braid falling past her head.

For an instant, the wind was knocked out of her and, unable to protest, she heard her captor speak quite matter-of-factly to the roomful of people.

"You'll excuse us, I'm sure, while I take Leya home, so that one of us can beat the other into submission in private!"

Leya gulped air as Court began striding for the door.

"Keith!" she cried furiously. "Do something!" Desperately, she tried to twist her head high enough to see her brother, who spread his hands helplessly.

"What can I do, Leya? The man has an iron-clad contract to do just about anything he likes with Brandon Security!" The laughter in him was pure Brandon. "And you signed it yourself!"

"I'm not part of Brandon Security!" she charged ominously, knowing she had been carried almost as far as the door.

"Yes, you are," Court corrected as he put his free hand on the knob. "You're the silent partner, remember?"

"Damn you!" Then, knowing she needed the last word before the door closed, she said to the ring of delighted faces, "For the record, there is no engagement!" The last memory of the party was that of Keith's laughing eyes.

But her own silver-green gaze contained no humor at all as Court dumped her unceremoniously into the front seat of his car a moment later, slamming the door as she righted herself. He was sliding in beside her on the opposite side of the car before Leya had straightened up and found the door handle. He turned in the seat, filling the whole front cockpit with his strength and will, or so it seemed to Leya. His arm stretched out along the back of the seat, his hand resting threateningly behind her head as she twisted to face him.

"How dare you?" she choked, her fury and humiliation rising up like a tide. "How could you do a thing like that to me? You had absolutely no right to drag me off like that and . . . and make a fool of me! Again!"

"You asked for everything you got, Leya Brandon," he bit out and she abruptly realized there was no laughter in him, either. Their scene at the party might have amused the bystanders, but the two participants were in deadly earnest, locked in a battle that had escalated to major proportions.

"Only from your point of view," she spat. "Personally, I see myself as an innocent victim!"

"Shrews are never innocent victims! I'm still damp from that drink you threw all over me in a fit of temper, remember! And after all I'd just done for you, too!" he added, plainly outraged. In the darkness of the cold car, his eyes gleamed down at her.

"All
you
had just done! You've got your nerve! You simply walked into a private scene between me and another man ..."

"Walked in just in time to hear you making use of me to revenge yourself on said other individual! Talk about nerve, Leya, you don't seem to be lacking in it! I heard you tell Harlow you were in love with me, that my kisses made his seem like cold dishwater. That's called playing one man off against another, little witch, and I don't like being part of your games! I was willing to tolerate it so you could have your revenge on me, too, but ..."

"Tolerate it! You did a hell of a lot more than tolerate it! What did you hope to accomplish by letting everyone think we're lovers? Was it all part of the challenge, Court? The challenge I seem to represent to you? I can see how it all started, naturally. First, you were annoyed when I didn't meekly show up at the meeting you'd arranged so that you could browbeat me into signing that contract. Then, after you'd tricked me into signing it, you couldn't satisfy your damn male ego, which only knows one kind of victory over a woman. I realized what was happening before you got me into bed and that really annoyed you, didn't it? Made the challenge all the greater, didn't it? Then, tonight you deliberately came to my rescue and backed up my story to Alex. That gave you the opening you needed to renew your campaign to polish off your big win at Brandon Security! And I, like the complete fool I've shown myself to be lately, fell for it. I actually let you talk me into giving our relationship another chance!"

"You've got it all figured out in your own brilliantly twisted fashion, don't you?" he grated. Out of the corner of her eye, Ley a saw the hand resting beside her head close into a fist.

"Go ahead and deny it if you can! The only thing I don't understand is why the hints of marriage to Keith? Why let him think you're serious? But I suppose those were just tactics, weren't they? Little flanking maneuvers to push me in the right direction?"

"Which happens to be my bed! And that's where you're going to wind up, sooner or later, Leya my shrew," he flung back, "because you know what I think? I think you were telling Alex Harlow the truth tonight, even if you were using it for your own purposes!"