she felt every nerve ending stand at attention. When the forbidden fruit looks like you.
It was a credit to her self-control as well as her talents for performance that she said, “Not particularly. But getting at the truth does.”
Turning away, he switched on the dryer and passed it over his semidry hair. Instead of a brush or a comb, he used his fingers.
“Sounds to me as if someone doesn’t want you to get at the truth.”
She raised her voice to be heard above the hair dryer. “Or someone wants me to think that someone doesn’t want me to get at the truth.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t do riddles. But if you think I called you, have the phone records checked out.” Finished, he put down the hair dryer and plucked his cell phone out of his back pocket. He handed the silver half-shell to her. “Mine. The hotel’s.”
There was a third, more likely possibility. “You could have placed the call from a public phone.”
She made no effort to take the phone from him. He tucked it back into his pocket. “Well, that makes things harder now, doesn’t it? You’ll just have to take my word for it. I was too busy talking to Eric’s ex-girlfriends, or at least scratching the surface of that very large, inharmonious group, to call you up and do heavy breathing.” Cole was beginning to think his brother needed some serious help when it came to selecting the right type of woman. He’d run across nothing but gold diggers and airheads so far.
“No heavy breathing,” she contradicted. “Just two words. Said twice.”
His eyes met hers and held for a long moment. He hadn’t a clue what was going on in her mind, but it didn’t take much to know that she didn’t exactly think of him as an ex-Boy Scout. Few people did. Only the ones whom he’d managed to place into houses, making their impossible dreams come true.
“I guess you’ll just have to trust me on this, then. I didn’t call you and, before you ask, I didn’t have anyone else call you, either.” Cole appealed to her sense of logic. “My brother is going to be on trial for his life unless I find out something to save him. I don’t have any time to play games, Rayne. Now you can believe me or not, the choice is yours, but I can’t make it any plainer than that.”
She studied him for a very long moment. She wasn’t one to give her trust easily. Of all of her siblings, she’d always been the most cautious, the most suspicious.
But something about the expression on Cole Garrison’s face, the look in his eyes, negated any distrust she naturally felt.
“All right,” she conceded, “I believe you.”
Chapter 7
H e looked at her for a long moment. Rayne had absolutely no way to gauge what he was thinking. The man would make an excellent poker player. Something her cousin Janelle could appreciate.
She, however, was given to more than her share of impatience. She liked having answers, not questions and this man raised more than his share of the latter without yielding any of the former.
“Good,” he finally said. “Trust is the cornerstone of everything else. Let’s move forward.”
She was still trying to find her way here. The fact that Cole still smelled of soap and her mind was still fresh with the impression of his dripping, near nude body wasn’t helping to keep her brain at its sharpest. “Excuse me?”
“Move forward,” he repeated. He was hoping for more, for some bombshell of a discovery that would blow the door off Eric’s cell and set his brother free. When she didn’t say anything, his eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You didn’t come to my hotel room just to ask me if I’d called you on your cell phone and done a bad imitation of Darth Vader, did you?”
And get one hell of an eyeful, Rayne added silently, though she maintained an impassive expression on her face. “Actually, I did. And as for the voice, it wasn’t as deep as Darth Vader’s. Just male.” That wasn’t strictly a nondisputed fact. “Actually,
It was a credit to her self-control as well as her talents for performance that she said, “Not particularly. But getting at the truth does.”
Turning away, he switched on the dryer and passed it over his semidry hair. Instead of a brush or a comb, he used his fingers.
“Sounds to me as if someone doesn’t want you to get at the truth.”
She raised her voice to be heard above the hair dryer. “Or someone wants me to think that someone doesn’t want me to get at the truth.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t do riddles. But if you think I called you, have the phone records checked out.” Finished, he put down the hair dryer and plucked his cell phone out of his back pocket. He handed the silver half-shell to her. “Mine. The hotel’s.”
There was a third, more likely possibility. “You could have placed the call from a public phone.”
She made no effort to take the phone from him. He tucked it back into his pocket. “Well, that makes things harder now, doesn’t it? You’ll just have to take my word for it. I was too busy talking to Eric’s ex-girlfriends, or at least scratching the surface of that very large, inharmonious group, to call you up and do heavy breathing.” Cole was beginning to think his brother needed some serious help when it came to selecting the right type of woman. He’d run across nothing but gold diggers and airheads so far.
“No heavy breathing,” she contradicted. “Just two words. Said twice.”
His eyes met hers and held for a long moment. He hadn’t a clue what was going on in her mind, but it didn’t take much to know that she didn’t exactly think of him as an ex-Boy Scout. Few people did. Only the ones whom he’d managed to place into houses, making their impossible dreams come true.
“I guess you’ll just have to trust me on this, then. I didn’t call you and, before you ask, I didn’t have anyone else call you, either.” Cole appealed to her sense of logic. “My brother is going to be on trial for his life unless I find out something to save him. I don’t have any time to play games, Rayne. Now you can believe me or not, the choice is yours, but I can’t make it any plainer than that.”
She studied him for a very long moment. She wasn’t one to give her trust easily. Of all of her siblings, she’d always been the most cautious, the most suspicious.
But something about the expression on Cole Garrison’s face, the look in his eyes, negated any distrust she naturally felt.
“All right,” she conceded, “I believe you.”
Chapter 7
H e looked at her for a long moment. Rayne had absolutely no way to gauge what he was thinking. The man would make an excellent poker player. Something her cousin Janelle could appreciate.
She, however, was given to more than her share of impatience. She liked having answers, not questions and this man raised more than his share of the latter without yielding any of the former.
“Good,” he finally said. “Trust is the cornerstone of everything else. Let’s move forward.”
She was still trying to find her way here. The fact that Cole still smelled of soap and her mind was still fresh with the impression of his dripping, near nude body wasn’t helping to keep her brain at its sharpest. “Excuse me?”
“Move forward,” he repeated. He was hoping for more, for some bombshell of a discovery that would blow the door off Eric’s cell and set his brother free. When she didn’t say anything, his eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You didn’t come to my hotel room just to ask me if I’d called you on your cell phone and done a bad imitation of Darth Vader, did you?”
And get one hell of an eyeful, Rayne added silently, though she maintained an impassive expression on her face. “Actually, I did. And as for the voice, it wasn’t as deep as Darth Vader’s. Just male.” That wasn’t strictly a nondisputed fact. “Actually,
Similar Books
