“Sorry, Rena. Stuart’s orders. The man’s a P.I. with plenty of security experience. He’ll just keep an eye on the comings and goings here at the hotel. You won’t even know he’s around.”
“Want to bet?”
He grinned faintly. “Okay, so maybe you’ll know he’s around. But it’s strictly low profile; he won’t hover over you with one hand ready to reach for his gun. I promise.”
“Brian’s just going to love all this,” Serena muttered.
“You’d better tell him. All of it.”
“Who you are, you mean?” Her expression was wary. “I’m not so sure I want to do that just yet.”
“When did you originally plan to tell him?” he asked, curious.
Serena reflected. “First anniversary?” she offered ruefully.
He chuckled softly. “You know, for someone whose plots are generally successful, you don’t plan ahead, do you?”
She looked up at him, the same masked vulnerability Brian had seen in the garden again tightening her face. “Not this time. It looks like I haven’t done anything right this time. Josh, he’s going to hate me! And he won’t leave, not when he finds out it’s more serious. He’ll stay with me—and he’ll hate me.”
Josh reached for her hands, drawing her to her feet. “Somehow I doubt that, Rena. It’d take a very hard and vindictive man to hate you, and I don’t think Ashford’s that.”
She sighed and sent him a humorous glance.
“You think more of him than he thinks of you. I believe ‘rake’ was the kindest word he used.”
Josh grinned, the tough, handsome face softening amazingly. “His judgment’s faulty where I’m concerned. I’m the villain of the piece, after all.”
Serena began looking thoughtful. “Maybe I can use that somehow. Until I tell him the truth, I mean. Sometimes tangling a problem even more is the way to untangle it.”
Josh was unsurprised, yet still he winced. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Look, Rena, I don’t mind—very much—being window dressing for you. But I’ll be damned if I’ll meekly let Ashford knock me into next week. Which, until he’s figured you out or he learns the truth, he’s very likely to do.”
“If you hit him I’ll never forgive you,” she said instantly.
There was a humorous gleam in his blue eyes. “Honey, if Ashford slugs me—”
“Please, Josh. You both know karate; if one of you doesn’t back down, you’ll both get hurt.”
Josh lifted his eyes heavenward. Then he sighed.
“All right. But he could probably use a good fight. Dissipates tension, you know.”
Serena ignored the information. “Promise?”
“I promise,” he agreed dryly. “Besides—from the look of him, if he decks me I’ll be a while getting back up. What does he eat for breakfast anyway, nails?”
She was gazing at him, obviously occupied by thoughts of her own. “How’s your evil-rake-benton-seduction laugh?” she asked suddenly.
Josh laughed, but it was a sound of pure amusement.
“That won’t do,” she told him, mildly cross.
“Honey,” he said, still laughing, “don’t ask me to play an impossible part, or Ashford’ll smell a rat.”
“From what I’ve heard, it isn’t at all an impossible part for you. Not evil, maybe, but you’ve been bent on seduction for years.” She looked at him curiously. “Why blondes?”
“I avoid brunettes.” He eyed her dark hair thoughtfully. “Can’t imagine why.”
“It isn’t because of me,” she said scoffingly.
Josh was already regretting his careless comment, and only shrugged. Truth to tell, it wasn’t because of Serena that he avoided brunettes, but he had no intention of explaining the matter to her. An amazing woman, Serena, with a heart of gold … and if she knew the truth about his weakness she was perfectly capable of using that knowledge ruthlessly.
“Look,” he said, “why not just be honest with him? It’s been known to work.”
She looked at him and shook her head a little. “I told you. He has more guards than you have, and you can’t fight through walls. I couldn’t think of a way over them or around them, so I decided to go through them any way I could. When we face each other on the same side of those walls, then I’ll be honest.”
After a moment Josh said, “And what if he decides a fling was enough? To get through his walls you’ll have to drop your own. There won’t be anything for you to hide behind, Rena.”
“I know.” She squeezed his hand and smiled in a way Brian wouldn’t have recognized, because it was entirely vulnerable and a little scared. “That’s … that’s a chance I have to take.”
“He could hurt you.”
“Funny. He said the same about you.”
“I believe it.” Josh sighed. “In fact, if you have your way about it, people are going to start using my reputation to frighten children with,” he commented sadly. “Clearly I’m a rotten human being.”
She looked up at him for a moment, her lips twisting. “I’m using you, too, huh?”
“Only because I let you,” he told her gently. “Rena, you’re too softhearted to make people do what they don’t want to do. It’s your saving grace, I think.”
“Am I as terrible as I sound?” she wanted to know in a small voice.
He grinned at her. “No. You’re worse.”
Serena shook her head slowly.
“Now. Seriously,” Josh said, “I think it’s time you put the tricks aside for a while, don’t you?”
She was silent for a long moment, then smiled slowly. Oddly. “Yes. I’ll tell Brian the truth. The whole truth.”
“You’re still plotting,” Josh accused with the acute perception of experience.
Serena looked at him guilelessly. “I’ll tell him the truth,” she repeated.
“What truth?” Josh demanded suspiciously.
Obediently she said, “I’ll tell him what’s going on with Daddy. And I’ll explain all about your being window dressing because I wanted to make him jealous.” She smiled. “And I’ll explain why I wanted to make him jealous.”
“You will?” He was still suspicious. He knew Serena.
“Well, what else can I do?” she asked reasonably. “I’ve as good as told him how I feel. Why not just be honest?”
Josh could tell she was up to something, but he couldn’t follow her reasoning. It wasn’t surprising; he couldn’t follow her tortuous reasoning half the time, and scared himself the rest of the time when he could follow her reasoning. “You’ll tell him the whole truth?”
“And nothing but the truth,” she said, solemn. “I swear.”
“I wish,” he said despairingly, “that made me feel better.” He wasn’t surprised at her changes of mood since he’d entered her room tonight, and he wasn’t entirely surprised that she’d decided to confess the truth to Ashford. What surprised him was how quickly she’d given in.
“Why?” he demanded suddenly, staring at her. “Why do you want to tell him the truth now?”
Since there had always been complete honesty between them, Serena answered honestly. “I just don’t want to trick him anymore.” Her smile was shaky. “I’ve been thinking about what happened in the garden—and that’s what it was. I looked at him and I couldn’t stand tricking him. So I’ll tell him the truth.”
Startled, Josh realized then that there was something about Serena that was guileless, something innocent. She was, he saw in astonishment, utterly and completely vulnerable—under all those plotting, scheming layers.
And if he, with considerably more than three weeks’ experience of her, had been deceived into thinking her far from vulnerable, then what would Brian Ashford believe?
“All your walls down,” Josh murmured. He felt a little grim, and more than a little awed. That Serena, with years of cheerful plotting and scheming at her back, should cave in abruptly because she loved a man was incredible.
Serena deciphered the expression on
his lean face with no trouble. “Time to grow up,” she said softly. “I can’t control everything, can I, Josh? I’m not even sure I can control me. Now. With him. I think I knew that even when I said I’d wait for his walls to fall before I was honest with him.”
After a moment Josh sighed. “I wish I could make it easier for you, Rena—at least to the extent of removing all these … outside influences. It’ll be hard enough for you to deal with yourself and Ashford without having to be on guard all the time. But I can’t do anything about that.” He reflected for a moment, then nodded decisively. “Except stay here at the hotel and keep an eye out myself.”
“You planned to leave tomorrow,” she reminded him.
“That was the original idea,” he agreed. “Partly because you wanted me here only a few days for the jealousy ploy, and partly because I was going to do a little snooping to find out if Stuart’s would-be employers had actually lost you or were just keeping quiet about having found you.”
“Did Daddy want you here at the hotel?”
“He said he’d feel better if I were. So I’ll stay. Especially since you’re going to tell Ashford the truth.” Josh glanced at his watch, and added firmly, “Tonight.”
She grimaced, and confessed ruefully, “I was hoping to use your absence for a little breathing room.”
“You said you were going to be honest with him.”
“Yes. But do I have to bare my soul tonight?”
Josh grinned at her. “You’ll feel better with it all behind you. You know what they say about confession being good for the soul.”
“He’s going to kill me,” she said darkly.
“You are,” Josh told her, “dressed to kill—not dressed to be killed. I think Ashford will know the difference.”
She sighed. “All right. I’ll tell him. If he’s speaking to me. Maybe he’s not speaking to me,” she added hopefully.
“Never put off till tomorrow. I’ll knock on his door as I pass and tell him you want to see him.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? The two of you haven’t even been introduced. Besides, Josh, he thinks you’re the villain—remember? He could—”
“He’s a rational man, Rena. I’ll just tell him you want to see him.”
“Why don’t I just go to his room—”
“Nothing’s going to happen.”
Brian was in a very peculiar mood. After hearing about the men who might be on Serena’s trail, he was anxious, and after the scene in the garden he was more than slightly confused. Three weeks of Serena’s company had taken their toll on his nerves when they’d arrived in Denver; after the surprises here, he knew himself to be badly in need of time to stop and think things through.
Though generally a controlled and quiet man, Brian had a considerable temper, and the physical expertise to cause a respectable amount of havoc if he lost control; he was near the edge now, he knew. He needed an outlet for the various kinds of frustrations building inside him.
He paced his room, jacket and tie cast aside, sleeves rolled up. Restless. He couldn’t get a handle on Serena’s sudden turnabout; her motivations eluded him.
So when he answered the firm knock at his door and found Joshua Long standing there, he felt an abrupt inclination to give in to at least one of his frustrations.
And his temper took over.
As if he were someone else, he felt his face assume a mildly quizzical expression, felt himself step back and gesture for the other man to enter the room. Long seemed surprised, but he came in. Brian wondered vaguely why there seemed to be a red veil between himself and his visitor.
Josh could have explained that. He turned, and had only a moment to note that red haze. And in that instant he recognized sheer, flaming temper in the other man’s eyes, and thought fleetingly and wistfully of his confident words to Serena. He barely had time to finish the thought.
“If we break the furniture,” Brian said calmly, “I’ll pay for it.” That was his only warning.
Joshua Long remained exactly as he’d fallen, except that he sat up. Working his jaw gingerly with one long-fingered hand, he stared up at Brian expressionlessly. “Contrary to popular opinion,” he said, mildly under the circumstances, “the boardroom isn’t the only place I tend to come out swinging. However …”
Brian, although he definitely felt better, was rather surprised at himself, since he couldn’t remember ever slugging another man who hadn’t provoked him physically. He met that steely blue stare—and every male instinct he could lay claim to told him that Long wanted badly to come up swinging this time. He really wanted to. But he sat there and rubbed his jaw, and somehow managed not to lose a single iota of dignity.
“Serena owes me for this,” Long said wryly.
“Get up,” Brian told him.
“I’d love to,” Josh responded cordially. “I could use a good fight. Unfortunately, I promised Rena I’d be the one to back down if you started a fight.” He frowned, but there was sudden laughter in his eyes. “And you did start it. Barely gave me time to turn around, in fact. Not cricket at all.”
Absurdly, Brian didn’t know whether to laugh and apologize or to yank Long up by his lapels and get the fight going in earnest. Lacking a stronger incentive, he gave in to temper again, verbally. “Look, I said get up, you—”
Long raised a hasty hand. “I really think,” he said gravely, “you shouldn’t say anything else until you’ve talked to Rena. Otherwise you’ll want to apologize later for what you’re about to say, and that’ll put the both of us in a damned uncomfortable position.”
Temper fled as Brian felt a bone-deep chill. The other man’s words, he thought, could only mean …
Josh Long climbed to his feet, eyeing Brian warily. Absently straightening his tie he said, “And I think you’re on the wrong track again. Talk to Serena, will you? She’s in her room now, waiting to find out if you’re still speaking to her.”
In a kind of daze Brian followed him out into the hall. Josh gave him a last look, a faintly musing, sympathetic look, seemed about to speak, then merely shook his head and strode toward the elevators.
Brian found himself in front of Serena’s door. He stared at it for a long moment, then squared his shoulders, braced himself, and knocked. She opened the door, quiet, subdued, and stepped back for him to enter.
“Did … did Josh tell you?”
“He said you wanted to talk.” Brian heard his strained, harsh tone of voice, and wished he could sound as if he didn’t care.
“Would you like a drink?” She was gazing at him, a little puzzled and wary.
Brian shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks and forced himself to meet her gaze without flinching. “No. Thanks. You have something to tell me?”
For some reason Serena felt that he wouldn’t want to sit down, either. She leaned a hip against the low dresser and crossed her arms over her breasts. “Um, as a matter of fact, I do. Several things.” She felt nervous and acutely uneasy; she’d been right to think he was going to hate her after this. Obviously he could barely stand to be in the same room with her now. And he looked so … grim.
She felt miserable, and her whole body hurt.
“I’m listening,” he said flatly.
Serena winced. “Josh didn’t tell you anything?” she ventured to ask.
Brian seemed to grit his teeth. “Just that you wanted to talk to me.”
So talk! He didn’t say it, but it vibrated in the air between them, impatient and harsh.
Almost inaudibly she murmured, “Daddy said you could be a hard man when you wanted to. I should have paid attention.”
“Serena—”
“All right.” She stared at him, bracing herself inwardly. “I told you … tonight in the garden I told you that I play tricks. I do, Brian. And … and I played a lousy trick on you.”
Brian managed a laugh that sounded like a snarl. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You used me to make Long jealous.”
Serena blinked. “No. T
he other way around.”
A new tension stole into Brian, and his earlier confusion settled back onto his shoulders. “What?”
“I was using Josh, hoping to make you jealous,” she confessed in a small voice. “I was lying when I implied that I wanted to marry him.” Wary of his stunned expression, Serena rushed on. “You seemed so conscious that I was Stuart Jameson’s daughter, I didn’t think you really saw me except as some troublesome kid. Kid!” That rankled. “So I decided to prove to you I was a woman. It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she finished desperately, very conscious of the oft-repeated refrain of her childhood.
Brian felt strangely suspended; he couldn’t seem to grasp what she was telling him. “You knew Long before he came here to the hotel?”
Serena nodded.
“How long have you known him?”
Serena cleared her throat carefully. “I’ve known him all my life.” Judging by his expression, she realized further clarification was needed. “I told you my mother had a previous marriage. Well, Josh is the sole product of that marriage.”
“He’s your half brother?” Brian asked faintly.
Hoping to avoid being strangled—there was a definite possibility of that, she was afraid—she hastily clarified a bit more. “Josh’s father was a very wealthy man; he left most of his estate in trust for his son. Until Josh came of age, his uncle had control of the various businesses, and Josh spent a lot of time with his aunt and uncle in the East. He and Daddy are close, but they never had much in common, and they never publicized the relationship.”
“Which is why,” Brian murmured, “I never knew Long was Stuart’s stepson. And your half brother.”
“Uh-huh.”
Brian took a step toward her, but only so that he could sit down on the bed. He stared at her. In spite of the sexy dress, she looked like a little girl who’d been severely scolded; he wondered if Josh was responsible for that. And he wondered why he wasn’t absolutely furious with her. His principal emotion was sheer relief.
However, he wouldn’t have been human if he didn’t want to punish her just a bit for her tricks.
“So you pretended to be after him to make me jealous,” he said. “And you asked me to teach you how to seduce a man. And you said that we could have an affair. Josh wouldn’t mind; Josh wouldn’t want a virgin in his bed. Was that a lie too?”