Come Lie With Me - Linda Howard [30]
Her outraged temper was evident in every line of her straight back as she marched out the door, ignoring Blake’s rueful call.
“Damn!” he said softly. “Now I’ll have to apologize. It’s just so awkward explaining….”
Dione chuckled. “She’s definitely your sister, isn’t she?”
He eyed her warningly. “Don’t be acting so cocky, young lady. I’ve found the weakness in your fortress, now. You’re as ticklish as a baby!”
She prudently scooted out of his reach. “If you tickle me again I’ll sneak up on you when you’re asleep and pour ice water on you.”
“You would, too, you wretch,” he snorted, and glared at her. “I want a rematch in two weeks.”
“You’re a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?” she asked gleefully, getting to her feet and contemplating the problem of getting him from the floor to the table.
“Don’t even try it,” he ordered, seeing the speculative look on her face as she looked at him. She smiled sheepishly, because she’d been about to try lifting him herself. “Call Miguel to help you.”
Miguel was Blake’s chauffeur, handyman and, Dione suspected, bodyguard. He was short and lean, as hard as rock, and his dark face was marred by a scar that puckered his left cheek. No one had said how Blake had acquired his services, and Dione wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She didn’t even know where Miguel was from; it could have been any Latin nation. She did know that he spoke Portuguese as well as Spanish and English, so she suspected that he was from South America, but again, no one volunteered the information and she didn’t ask. It was enough that he was dedicated to Blake.
Miguel wasn’t one for asking questions, either. If he was surprised to find his employer on the floor, none of that surprise was reflected on his face. Together he and Dione lifted Blake and put him on the table.
“Miguel, I need another contraption rigged for me in here like the one by the pool,” Blake instructed. “We can bolt a bar across the ceiling, this way,” he said, indicating the length of the room. “With the pulley arm swinging in any direction we want, and running the length of the bar, I can get myself up and down as I please.”
Miguel studied the ceiling, getting in his mind exactly what Blake wanted. “No problem,” he finally allowed. “Will tomorrow be soon enough?”
“If you can’t do it any faster than that, I suppose it will.”
“You’re a brutal slave driver,” Dione told him as she was massaging his back with the warm oil.
“I’ve been taking lessons from you,” he murmured sleepily, burrowing his head deeper into the cradle of his arm. The comment earned him a pinch on his side, and he laughed. “One thing about it,” he continued. “I haven’t been bored since you bulldozed into my life.”
Chapter Five
He was already awake the next morning when she went into his room; he was bending from the waist and rubbing his thighs and calves. She regarded him with satisfaction, glad that he was taking an active part in his recovery.
“I had a long talk with Serena last night,” he grunted, not looking up from what he was doing.
“Good. I expect the apology was good for your soul,” she said, slipping behind him and kneading his back and shoulders.
“She was upset. It seems Richard has been leaving again as soon as he takes her home at night, and she thinks he’s seeing another woman.”
Dione’s fingers stilled. Was it possible? She hadn’t thought him the type to sneak around. It seemed so tawdry, and Richard wasn’t a tawdry man.
Blake swiveled his head around to look at her. “Serena thinks he’s seeing you,” he said bluntly.
She resumed the motion of her fingers. “What did you tell her?” she asked, trying to stay calm. She concentrated on the feel of his flesh under her hands, noting that he didn’t feel as bony as he had at first.
“I told her that I’d find out and stop it if he was,” he replied. “Don’t look so innocent, because we both know that