Something Different/Pepper's Way

  She grinned to herself. “Okay, Pepper,” she murmured out loud, “how do you propose to do the thing? And never mind the idea. The idea is dumb…and dangerous.” She brooded silently for a moment.

  “He’s interested. That was obvious. I don’t know why, but he is.” She winced as Fifi clambered up onto her lap—all hundred pounds of her. Stroking the sleek fur, Pepper gazed sternly into mild brown eyes. “He didn’t want you, old girl. I’m sure he’ll give you a good home, and love you once he gets to know you. But curiosity brought him here. He wasn’t interested in a hundred-pound lap dog. However… he said he wants you. I wonder if he realizes I won’t totally abandon you to a stranger?”

  Fifi whined what could have been taken for an agreement.

  “I wonder exactly how far his interest goes?” Pepper mused to her sympathetic canine friend. “He doesn’t look like the home-and-hearth type. I was right; his face has a history. That little scar above his left eye … And he looks tired. I wonder what he does for a living? Something out in the weather. That’s not a swimming-pool tan, and his hands have seen rough use. And he’s strong.”

  Fifi saluted her mistress’s cheek with a tongue the size of a hand towel and smiled all over her face.

  “Thank you,” Pepper told the dog dryly. “I’ll certainly try to justify your faith in me.” She managed to worm her way out from under Fifi, knowing from experience that it was much easier to move herself than to move the huge dog. Absently she paced over to the sliding glass doors that opened onto her balcony. Then, turning away a moment later, she caught her reflection in an ornate mirror on the wall and paused to study herself critically.

  “If only you were a few inches taller,” she told the frowning reflection mournfully. “And brunette. And busty.” She turned sideways and stuck out her chest experimentally. The experiment wasn’t a complete success; she looked decidedly off-balance and rather ridiculous.

  Sighing, Pepper turned away from the reflection and assumed her normal posture. “Face it,” she told herself aloud in a firm voice. “You’ll just have to do the best you can with the material available.”

  She paced restlessly around the room, only vaguely noticing that Brutus had returned from the kitchen and taken up a heel position, pacing along beside her like a diminutive sentry. She thought back over the years, reviewing the personalities and appearances of various men who’d crossed her path and expressed a preference for pint-size blondes.

  Pepper had received more than one proposal during the past ten years and quite a few propositions, none of which she’d felt even mildly tempted to accept. For the most part, she reflected, men tended to treat her like a kid sister, but the ones who had felt romantically inclined had certainly tried hard enough to arouse the same reaction in her.

  Self-confident without being at all vain, Pepper was always surprised by interest from a man; it was never something she expected. Generally content with her own appearance, she nonetheless fell prey to wishful thinking whenever confronted by a tall, graceful brunet woman. She was ruefully aware that it was impossible to be either graceful or striking when one was possessed of a snub nose and less than five feet of height.

  The desire to change both characteristics had never been more than wistful… until just a few minutes ago … when she had opened the door to admit Thor Spicer. At that moment she had wanted desperately to grow six inches and acquire a thin, aristocratic nose.

  The shrill demand of the phone yanked Pepper from her thoughts just then, and she went over to an end table to lift the receiver.

  “Hello? Oh, hello, Mr. Jacobs. Well…yes, I still have the dog, but— Yes, I know when I sublet the apartment I agreed— Yes, but— Mr. Jacobs, if you’ll just let me tell you— I know how long it’s been— Look. I’m trying to tell you—”

  She felt an unaccustomed anger growing inside of her as she listened to the annoyed and repetitive voice of the building manager. And the idea she had firmly discarded, she realized later, began prodding her subconsciously… or at least that’s how she excused herself forever afterward.

  “Mr. Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs! Enough with the threats, all right? Nobody’s complained to me about the dog except you, and I think— What? There’s no need to be abusive! Fine. Fine. But you’d damn well better not rent this apartment to anyone else, because Miss James has a lease and it’s paid up for months! And another thing: You’re responsible for her furniture until she returns from Europe. I’ll call her attorney tomorrow, and he’ll be over to inventory every stick of furniture and every ornament in the place. And every bit of it had better be here when she gets home! Good-bye!”

  Pepper slammed down the telephone and spent a few moments breathing quickly and feeling mildly surprised at her own anger. By nature she was a peacemaker and not given to outbursts—least of all with someone who had every right to be angry at her. She sat down on a chair and looked thoughtfully at her waiting canine audience.

  “I believe I just burned my bridges,” she told them slowly. “With a vengeance. My friends, we’re about to embark on an all-out frontal assault. We’re going to storm the battlements … march on the citadel… with banners flying and cannons at the ready.” She giggled suddenly, nervously, at her own imagery, then sobered.

  “I only hope that laugh I saw in his eyes was for real. Otherwise he’s going to repel this invasion with the greatest of ease!”

  Thor found himself going to the front window for the tenth time in as many minutes, and swore softly. But he didn’t leave the window. He stood looking out over his neatly manicured front lawn and thinking absently about the hours spent raking leaves over the past week. A calming pastime, and one he enjoyed whenever he was home. He’d be home now for several weeks. Time enough, he thought, to get to know a tiny blonde with the most incredible violet eyes he’d ever seen.

  A motion on the edge of his line of sight caught his eye, and he turned his head to see Lucifer’s sleek black head lift above the split-rail fence bordering the yard. The stark white diamond in the center of the stallion’s forehead pointed toward the house, and he seemed to be watching intently. Thor pulled one hand from the pocket of his jeans and swept the drapes aside, giving the horse an indication of his presence.

  Immediately Lucifer shied violently away from fence and house, a movement prompted by spirit rather than fear. He patrolled the fence for a few moments, head high, nostrils flaring, and long black tail held like a banner of pride, looking toward the window as if in invitation. Then he took off in a burst of speed, galloping toward his open stable in the little hollow below the house.

  Thor felt a sudden uneasiness. Other than himself, Lucifer hated every living thing, and dogs topped his list of enemies. How he would react to “one of the hated” living with his master, Thor didn’t even want to guess. He comforted himself with the reminder of Fifi’s cowardice; she probably wouldn’t go near the pasture, he decided. He hoped.

  He started to turn away from the window when a motion from the opposite direction caught his attention. And as soon as his eyes focused on the predominantly white object, he realized that Pepper had arrived to effect the relocation of her pet.

  She’d said she had a van, he remembered, but… “Good Lord,” he murmured to himself, fascinated. Anyone, he decided, who could call that vehicle a van was prone to vast understatement. He made an absent mental note to remember Pepper’s penchant in that regard and then stared at her vehicle again.

  In the first place, it was not a van at all, but what was commonly called an RV—a recreational vehicle. And it was thirty-five feet long. Custom built from the looks of it, it boasted tinted windows along the sides; cheery bumper stickers and more prosaic state travel stickers were plastered everywhere; a blue and white awning was rolled up and tied in place above the door; and the whole was liberally splashed with mud.

  Wondering how a woman as tiny as Pepper could wheel that monster into his driveway so neatly, Thor left the window and headed for his front door. And if he’d been fasci
nated yesterday, he was even more so now. From childhood he’d been drawn to the offbeat, the unusual—and it had led him into trouble more than once. It could, he knew, be leading him into trouble now. But the realization didn’t cause him to falter.

  He enjoyed trouble. Usually.

  Shutting the front door behind him, Thor left the house and went down the walk to the paved driveway. He enjoyed the ludicrous contrast of his sleek Corvette and the hulking monster Pepper had parked behind it. The side door of the RV opened just as he reached it. Brutus leaped out first, lifting a lip at Thor but not wasting time with an attack because of his obvious desire to explore new surroundings.

  Pepper got out of the vehicle in a no less sedate manner, jumping down without bothering to use the built-in step. Thor almost sighed aloud at the lovely picture she made in her neat jeans and pale blue sweater, her long hair caught up in a casual ponytail. And he forwent polite greetings out of the necessity to give a hasty warning.

  “Better not let Brutus go near the pasture. If he attacks Lucifer, he’ll learn how to ‘break’ the hard way.”

  “Lucifer?” she questioned over her shoulder, somewhat occupied with half lying inside the door of the RV and hanging onto the collar of a reluctant Fifi.

  “My horse,” he murmured, watching the struggle with interest and silently betting with himself on the outcome.

  He lost the bet. Pepper emerged victorious from the struggle, hauling the hundred-pound dog out of the vehicle. Fifi immediately hid her face behind the woman, quivering.

  “Is the name descriptive?” she asked, one delicate eyebrow rising.

  “’Fraid so.”

  Pepper looked around quickly and spotted the tiny dog near the rear of the RV “Brutus, heel!” she ordered in that disconcertingly icy voice of command, and the voice was heeded as Brutus came to sit by her ankle.

  “I thought he didn’t obey,” Thor noted in surprise.

  “He obeys everything but ‘break,’” Pepper told him cheerfully “And I think he only ignores that because he likes attacking.” Before he could respond, she was speaking once again in that little-girl, breathless voice that utterly fascinated Thor.

  “Just look at the trees! They go on practically forever. You know, after I lived in a desert for six months, I learned to absolutely adore trees. I guess you can never know how much you will miss something until it isn’t there.”

  “I guess.” Thor watched her reach back to shut the door of the RV, feeling his mind drift gently into that bemused sphere that Pepper seemed to carry around with her. “You lived in a desert?”

  “For a while. Never really liked it though. No trees. And I hate camels. What a beautiful house! I love the bay window. And that rock chimney! Is the fireplace rock?”

  Trying not to laugh, Thor followed Pepper as she began to explore the outside of the house and the yard. “It’s rock,” he barely had time to answer, and then she was off again.

  “Is that the barn down there in the hollow? Of course. What a beautiful horse! He looks so proud. Do you ever show him? Oh, I love your patio! What do you cook in that barbecue—a whole steer? Heel, Fifi, and stop being so silly; no one’s going to hurt you! Out of the shrubs, Brutus, and heel, blast you!”

  Having given up on his intention not to laugh, Thor just enjoyed the stroll around the house. He listened to Pepper’s questions but didn’t again try to answer them, content just to watch her profile and hear the lovely sound of her voice. And he wondered to himself if it would be possible to get to know this woman in a few short weeks.

  And then her words penetrated, and he felt slightly bewildered for a moment to hear her voice his thoughts.

  “… and it’ll only be for a few weeks, after all.”

  They had completely circled the house by then, coming to a halt back where they’d started beside the vehicles. Thor blinked and tried to concentrate. “I’m sorry. You were saying … ?”

  “That it’ll only be for a few weeks, three months at the most,” she responded cheerfully. “When Kristen comes home, I’ll be on my way again, so it’s just until then. That English breeder carried her off with him just for the season, he said. Anyway, I think that paved area beside the garage will be perfect for the van. But we never discussed rent. I’ll be quite happy to pay what the apartment was costing, if that sounds reasonable to you.”

  “Rent?” Thor managed blankly, wondering with an unfamiliar sense of desperation when he’d lost the thread of the conversation.

  She looked surprised. “Of course! I mean, I wouldn’t think of parking the van on your property and living here for weeks without paying rent. I’ll need bathroom privileges too. I can hook up to that outside receptacle for power, but it’s really not practical to hook up the water or septic tank for such a short time, don’t you think?”

  With her inquiring violet eyes on his face, Thor could only answer in one way. “Uh… of course. It’s not practical at all.”

  Pepper nodded. “That’s what I thought. Here, let me go ahead and park the van in place, so it’ll be out of your way. Stay!” she ordered the two dogs firmly, casually guiding Thor’s hand to grasp Fifi’s collar. And then she opened the RV’s door and climbed inside.

  Thor found himself leaning back against the hood of the Corvette, holding a quivering Doberman by the collar and staring down at an obviously hostile and watchful Chihuahua. He lifted his gaze to watch Pepper, looking absurdly childlike through the driver’s window, maneuver the RV expertly into place beside the garage without once getting into the grass or near his car.

  Bemused, bewildered, and ruefully convinced that he’d wandered back through Alice’s mirror, Thor was conscious of only one thought: It couldn’t be this easy!

  It can’t be this easy, Pepper thought a little wildly, parking her van neatly beside the garage. She felt a giggle rise in her throat and let it emerge. Oh, his face! The poor man; she really should be ashamed of herself for barreling over him like a steamroller!

  He’d taken it well, though, she thought in amusement. A blank look and then a blink—and then she’d seen that really marvelous gleam of laughter rise in his eyes.

  And she didn’t regret a thing. In fact, she’d never before been so glad that she’d followed her instincts and jumped headfirst into a situation without a lot of planning. Of course, it was quite possible that nothing would ever come of it.

  Pepper felt something in that moment that she’d never felt before. A surge of emotion blocked her throat, and she hesitated for a minute before leaving the van.

  What if nothing came of it?

  A gambler at heart, and quite prepared to pay whatever price was demanded for the chances she took, Pepper was fully and completely conscious for the first time of just what she was doing. She had never gambled for such high stakes, or bet so heavily on herself.

  The game—for now, at least—was blindman’s bluff. Each bit of knowledge and understanding she could gain of him would light a dim candle, and with those candles she would have to find her way. The more she learned, the brighter the light to see by… to see if what she’d instantly felt for him was real… and to see if he could learn to feel the same for her.

  Pepper squared her shoulders and reached for the door. Well, she had played more dangerous games—more dangerous to life and limb, that is. Not more dangerous to the heart. Danger didn’t bother her. If one risked nothing, one gained nothing, after all.

  So she was risking everything, her whole self, on one throw of the dice. And if what she felt was real, she meant to chase Thor as long and as far as it took. Until he caught her.

  Emerging from the van and crossing over to where Thor and the pets waited, Pepper choked back a laugh at his still-bemused expression. She quickly began to speak. “You know, it’s a good thing you answered my ad yesterday. My landlord called right after you left and threw me out. Wasn’t that mean of him? He was supposed to give me more time.”

  Thor roused himself from some inner speculation. “I meant to
ask why you lived in an apartment at all. Since you have the RV, I mean. Or isn’t it yours?”

  “Oh, it’s mine.” Pepper bent to pick up Brutus, tucking him under an arm. “The apartment wasn’t though. Not really. I sublet it from Kristen, primarily so that I could take care of her furniture and things while she was in England.”

  “A friend?” he guessed, feeling his way.

  “A good friend. We met at Madison Square Garden in New York a couple of years ago at a dog show.”

  Thor glanced down at Fifi, who was sitting beside him and looking less nervous than he’d yet seen her. Then he looked at Brutus. “Which one were you showing?”

  “Oh, neither. I was handling another friend’s Great Dane. Kristen was handling a Dane, too, for a client of hers. We got our leashes tangled on the way to the ring, and one thing led to another. We’ve been friends ever since.”

  Thor nodded as if the meeting made perfect sense to him. “I see. Uh … why don’t we go inside the house? I n— that is, I’d like to have a drink.”

  He thought that he saw a quick gleam of laughter in her eyes, but it was gone too rapidly for him to be sure. She looked anxiously from one dog to the other, then back up at his face.

  “The dogs are very well mannered, but—”

  “They’re invited too.” Thor sighed and started up the walk, automatically retaining his hold on Fifi’s collar. “My housekeeper is off today, so she can’t object.”

  “You have a housekeeper?” Pepper was walking beside him. “What’s she like?”

  Thor didn’t answer until he’d opened the front door and stood aside for her to precede him. “Difficult,” he pronounced finally.

  Pepper halted in the doorway to give him a mischievous smile. “Ah. Your home is her castle?”

  “Something like that.” He followed her into the entrance-way and shut the door behind them before releasing Fifi. A bit uneasy, he watched Pepper set Brutus down on the carpeted floor. “If he attacks me again…”