Whisper To Me In The Dark (3 page)

"None of your business."

"Well then it's none of your business why I'm really going to Boston."

Angelica's cryptic response piqued his interest. He did need to protect his brother if she had some sinister plans, although there didn't seem to be anything remotely sinister about Angelica. Ditzy maybe. Flighty maybe. But nothing malevolent.

"Ok I'll bite. Why are you moving to Boston, other than your so called acting career?" Cash queried.

"So called?!" Angelica blurted. "You are so rude and obnoxious. Just never you mind."

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry. What brings you to Boston instead of like New York? I’d think you’d have more opportunities in New York for your acting career.  I'm genuinely interested."

Although Cash's yawn betrayed his apparent interest, Angelica decided to answer. "My sister lives there I was told. I'm trying to find her again."

"You've lost your sister?"

"Do you think you can try to ask a question without using sarcasm? Hmmm?" Angelica asked.  She was trying to engage Cash in some intelligent conversation, but he seemed to have the verbal skills of a cave man and it was starting to exhaust her.

"She went to live with some relatives during a hard time in my past and I've lost track of her. Her name is Sissy. Well that is what I called her anyway."

"Ok, Sissy. Got it ..." came his muffled reply.

Angelica waited for another sarcastic question, but Cash's only response was the sound of deep breathing as his bare, massive chest moved up and down. He apparently didn't have any issues with modesty. Although she was furious, the sound of his breathing was strangely comforting and she fell quickly to sleep.

***

Angelica was busily buzzing through the tiny car, looking for her makeup case, trying to primp and preen before Cash woke up. She propped her makeup bag on the bed, trying to pry it open. Strangely she'd never met any resistance before in the simple task of opening its shiny lock.

Hey, this wasn't even her bag!

"Cash? Cash?"

"Hmm?" Cash groaned as he stretched lazily. The morning light greeted Cash with a smack in the face. His one pounding eye would have sworn that he'd been on an alcoholic bender last night instead of a cozy slumber party with Angelica.

"This is not my bag!"

"What is not your bag?" Cash's brain was too tired to deal with Angelica's riddles this early in the morning.

"THIS is not my bag," Angelica ranted, as she plopped the heavy case smack dab in the middle of Cash's stomach.

Cash groaned even louder. "What is wrong with you? Are you trying to maim me before we get there?"

"This is not my bag! What did you do to my makeup bag?"

"Girlie, I did nothing with your damn bag.  You're the one who took it out to supper last night. Maybe it decided to run away from home. I could understand that urge."

Angelica smacked Cash on the arm.

Cash rolled his eyes and propped himself up on the bed, leaning his muscular back against what served as the headboard.

"I didn't take an inventory of what luggage you took with you. I'm not your valet." Cash responded.

"Open it," Angelica demanded, as her tiny fingers were having no luck in loosening the shiny platinum lock.

Cash pulled out his pocket knife and with one swift motion snapped the lock off, as the case opened, spilling out hundreds of thousands of dollars of rubies, diamonds, emeralds and pearls.

Angelica sat still, with her mouth open, like a kid in a candy store. Running her fingers through the jewels was magical. It was as if all of her dreams had suddenly come to life.

Angelica didn't appear to be a jewel thief and Cash obviously was the one who originally carried her bags to the train. They definitely weren't this heavy when he carted them.

"Damn it. I'm supposed to be on the lookout for a jewel thief and you've got me so frazzled we were in direct contact with him and I didn't even realize it. Do you know how bad that will make me look? It had to be that man who stopped by the table and crashed into your chair. He must have switched cases. I noticed that the porters were looking through some of the cases. Stay here. I'm going to go and talk to the porter. That man has probably already gotten off the train at another stop." Cash flung on his shirt, buttoning it crookedly and stomped out of the door.

Angelica continued to look on in mesmerized joy, running her fingers over and over through the glimmering stones, letting them slide down her milky skin, picking out one particularly large diamond and setting it on her finger like an engagement ring. She suddenly had a mental picture of her wedding, wearing a gorgeous lace dress, with a shimmering diamond on her finger. She could picture her handsome husband, Cash, standing there looking at her lovingly.

Cash?! Cash? What was she thinking. It was Edward. Edward that she was betrothed to! She threw the diamond back into the case and backed away. She must be delirious. That was it.

Chapter 3

Angelica trailed along down the sidewalk, as always, like a little lost puppy, desperately and unsuccessfully trying to keep pace with the easy strides Cash took with his long legs, trying to juggle three suitcases by herself as Cash clung protectively to the case with the jewels.

"Such a gentleman ..." Angelica whispered to herself.

"I'm not actually old enough for my hearing to have gone yet. You know I
can
hear you ... even when you try to whisper," Cash replied with a laugh. "You should really invest in a hat with a veil so I can't see you rolling your eyes."

Angelica ignored Cash's quip and continued, "Where are we going anyway? It would be nice if you kept me apprised of what was going on."

"You don't need to be kept apprised. I'm in charge here, remember? We are bringing this valise to the police department. That is where I'll be working while I'm in Boston."

Angelica looked hopefully at Cash as he replied, "And, no, I refuse to ask them to search for your makeup case."

Angelica rolled her eyes for the tenth time on their very short trek. Luckily she wore a natural beauty that really needed no makeup, but the loss of her makeup was giving her a mini girly panic attack as she needed it for her future glorious plans of becoming an actress.

"What are you thinking about now?" Cash asked, as he noticed the intense look in her eyes.

"How I'd better invest in that hat with the veil, very, very soon ..."

Chapter 4

The Police Station was so modern looking, so unlike the one jail cell monstrosity back home. Wanted posters hung on the walls, littered with ugly faces of criminals Angelica couldn't fathom anyone wanting to capture. They definitely looked better off left alone. Modern lighting. Telephones in each room. Rows and rows of legal books. It was strangely intoxicating.

The deputies, in their shiny blue uniforms and polished black shoes, looked knowingly at Angelica. One deputy, rotund and smiley, looked at Cash and asked, "I assume you've got another prostitute to be jailed?"

Angelica's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she heard his comment. "How dare you! I'm not a ... a ..."

Cash placed the valise on the front desk, laughing hysterically and replied with a smile, "No. I'm Cash Worthington. She's only my traveling companion. I'll keep your suggestion in mind if she doesn't start behaving though."

Cash cleared his throat and continued, "I'll be working here. You should have received a telephone call regarding this matter."

"Oh yes," said the deputy knowingly. "We've been expecting you."

Angelica heard only snippets of the conversation in the next room. She sat primly on the bench, looking like a child being scolded, waiting outside of a school Principal's office. She just wasn't in the mood to be mistaken for a lady of the evening again, even though Cash found it hysterically funny and would, undoubtedly, not let her forget it. She was even more irked that some criminal was carrying around her bag full of her best blusher, eyeshadow and lipsticks.

Cash strode confidently out of the back office, not even bothering to turn around to see if Angelica was following him out of the building.

"Cash, what is going on? Explain to me what is going on. Where is my bag? Why did that man switch cases like that? You're going to be working there. I don't understand. Please explain it to me." Angelica's questions were endless and her bubbly voice was starting to grate on Cash's nerves.

They turned the corner walking toward a boarding house three blocks down. The deputy had suggested it as a safe place for Angelica to take a room.

"Would you please just be quiet. Just for a little while. I am trying to get everything settled and your incessant babbling is driving me insane."

Angelica was truly hurt. She was just trying to make pleasant conversation. Just trying to learn what was going on. What in the world was she thinking to take a trip with this man - alone to Boston? She barely knew him. She'd be better off alone and scared than having to deal with his cranky disposition - even though he'd be gone soon.

"All I'm asking is simple - tell me what is going on. I have the right to know and ..."

They turned and entered an alley behind the boarding house. Cash dropped Angelica's luggage with a thud as Angelica looked down quizzically at the cloud of dust created when they thumped on the ground.

Cash grabbed Angelica roughly and pulled her close. So close she could feel the pounding beat of his heart. So close she could feel every rippled muscle in his body, the heat emanating from his skin, his rough hands running slowly down her arms, giving her shivers. His delicious scent that made her knees so weak. He savagely claimed her mouth, kissing her so she couldn't catch her breath, pressing her closer so she could feel exactly what she did to him. How every time he looked at her he had no control over his body - how hard he got just from one touch of her voluptuous body.

Angelica thought she may faint, feeling him so hard, pressed into her. Feeling his power. She was completely breathless from Cash's searing kiss and leaned against the wall behind the building to steady herself. Overwhelmed by how much she wanted him to finish what he had started, how she suddenly, mindlessly wanted to feel that hardness not just pressed against her like it had been but how she ached to feel it inside of her, possessing her. How she wanted to surrender to him completely.

"Just wanted to shut you up and show you who is in control. Got it now?" Cash asked, smugly, satisfied that he'd proven his point.

Angelica was speechless and apparently immovable, as she remained planted against the wall. Cash walked around, breathing in the fresh air, trying to forget the feelings Angelica had aroused in him.

Chapter 5

Angelica stood in the shadows, seemingly claustrophobically wedged into a corner of the hallway, a feeling she did not enjoy, intently listening to Cash's normally soothing voice asking she did not know what.

'Sono venuta a vedre l'appartamento." Cash stated simply, as he stared questioningly at the landlord.

"Quale? Ce ne sono due," came the reply from the short man. He was obviously Italian, as he spoke it so fluently. The glow from the light in the hallway bounced off his bald head, creating a strangely angelic glow around his square, kindly face.

Angelica, impatient and tired of waiting in the shadows, raised her eyebrow quizzically at Cash, who sensed her restlessness. "I told him that I have come to see the apartment, but he told me there are two available. So that will solve all of our problems." Angelica, unaware of any so called problems, bit her lip in annoyance as he was always running her life and it irritated her beyond all measure.

More dialogue was exchanged in this verbal sparring match. Cash ended with, "Molte grazie."

Angelica, now impatiently tapping her tiny white boot, looked on and poked Cash in his shoulder. "For God's sake, stop it," Cash retorted, exasperated at having to take care of Angelica already. "It's like being clawed by a hawk with those fingernails of yours."

That only served to infuriate Angelica more, so she gave him a good poke in the back for good measure.

Cash grabbed her wrist and said, "Do it one more time and I'll give you a good spanking."

"Just try it," Angelica retorted. She would not be treated like this. Edward's brother or not, she would not put up with his behavior.

Cash only sighed and rolled his eyes, too exhausted from the long train ride and having to deal with Angelica's petulant mood.

A quick trip to the landlord's office, some papers signed, money exchanged, and Cash and Angelica were on their way to apparently
two
apartments.

Turning the skeleton key in the lock seemed an easy task, but the huffing and puffing from Angelica's admittedly pretty lips were grating on his nerves. "You take your key, and get settled in your apartment. I'll take mine and get settled in mine." He wearily handed Angelica the key as sparks flew from her formerly sparkling eyes.

"Your apartment?" Angelica nearly screamed.  "What in the world are you talking about? I do not need a babysitter."

"It's already been decided. I will take an apartment next to yours so I can make sure you're still in one piece when Edward gets here. I've already sent him a telegram. Now cool your heels. You know you're not exactly a picnic to deal with. And the fellow who switched cases with you is obviously going to be looking for you and his jewels – ever thought about that little fact girlie?"