Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [40]
She didn’t move. “You think I’d go to a restaurant with you and have dinner while half the town looks on and gossips? Fat chance.”
“Good point. Though I don’t know why you should let gossip bother you if you know it isn’t true. Or is it the faculty-wife thing, then? Caesar’s wife must be above reproach.”
“I have a sense of propriety.”
“Do you? You can’t imagine how much that disappoints me. I thought you were a wild child with a reckless streak who simply made the mistake of marrying the wrong man. Maybe you’re ordinary after all.”
“It’s not going to work. You can’t goad me into behaving badly just because you want to injure your brother.”
“I don’t want to injure David.”
She looked at him, startled, and he realized his tone of voice must have given something away. He smiled his most rakish smile. “And I don’t care whether you behave badly or not. I just want the dinner promised me and company while I eat. You look like you could do with a few calories yourself. Where’s your coat?”
“You’re really asking for it,” she said, and he realized she thought he was mocking her. She had the beautiful curves of a Botticelli Venus, but there was a faintly hungry air to her, one that he was more than willing to feed in any way she’d let him.
He looked at her, trying to size her up, and then he grinned. “I know your tipping point.”
“I doubt it.”
“Your daughter’s out for the night, your husband’s off counseling distraught young women, and your only responsibility is to see that your unwanted guest is fed. Get in the car.”
“Go to hell.”
“Not without you, babe. Get in the car and I’ll fulfill your deepest, most-secret desires…”
“This is getting tiresome—”
“And I won’t even touch you to do it.”
“Ha!” She kept edging away from him, but fortunately she was heading in the direction of the front door. Maybe she thought she was leading him there. If so, she was coming, too.
“You doubt me? I won’t lay a finger on you, Scout’s honor. You’re not my type.”
That bugged her, as he’d meant it to, but she tried to hide her reaction. “Were you ever a Boy Scout?” she said doubtfully.
“Drummed out in Cub Scouts. David made it to Eagle level.” Looking innocent was not a major part of his arsenal, but he did his best. “I double dog dare you.”
She was wavering. “Not a finger?”
He resisted his flippant response. “I won’t even breathe on you. Come on, Rachel. Live dangerously. This staid life doesn’t suit you.”
“It suits me very well,” she said far too unconvincingly.
“I tell you what. If I don’t bring you undeniable sensual pleasure, in absolute privacy without laying a hand on you, then I promise to leave town tomorrow and not come back.” He was lying, of course. He’d left things alone for far too long, but she wasn’t going to know that. As far as she knew his return was incidental and could be ended just as easily. “Now that’s an offer you can’t refuse.”
She stared at him for a long, thoughtful moment. “Let me get my purse.”
“You won’t need it.”
“How about shoes?”
“You won’t need those either.”
“And you’re not—” she stopped midsentence. Poor grumpy baby—David had done a number on her. She didn’t trust him, but she also didn’t believe she was any kind of real temptation. Maybe the time would come when he could demonstrate just how tempting she really was, but that time wasn’t tonight.
“I promise,” he said, finishing her sentence.
She blew out the candles she’d set out for her seduction scene, turned off the gas fire, grabbed a brightly colored ruana and faced him, Joan of Arc at the stake. “I’m ready.”
She said nothing when he opened the door of the rental Four Runner. She slid in, wrapping the shawl around her, and fastened her seat belt as he climbed into the driver’s side. It was a chilly night, and he turned the heat on full blast for her bare feet, then pulled away from the house.
He knew where Maggie Bannister lived, assuming she hadn’t moved in the last ten years, and people never moved in Silver Falls. He could swing by there, lure Sophie into the car, and drive the two of