“Yes, but it’s not what you think. Tonight I’m the one who’s canceling,” Natalie said with a little giggle. “I’ve got a date with my new guy.”
“Oh, good for you. Let’s get together over the weekend, okay?”
“If I can. He’s pretty hot stuff…or at least he looks like he is. I’ll probably find out all about it tonight. I’ll let you go. Just didn’t want to leave you hanging on a Friday night.”
“I appreciate the consideration. Bye for now.”
Maggie broke the connection and saw the most peculiar look on Benton ’s face, a rather sour look, in fact. It struck her then that Nat was a non-gender name. She could have been talking to a man!
The damned dog in the manger. He didn’t want the hay but neither did he want the horse to have it. Okay, she’d had enough of his lecherous looks and about-face attitudes. It was kill or cure time…and he sure deserved anything she might dream up to make him show his true colors.
“I have the weekend off,” she said casually. “What’s your day like tomorrow?”
Startled, Josh sat up straighter. “Um, I’ll be here for most of it. Why?”
“That dinner party I mentioned.”
“You can plan a party and invite people that fast?”
“My friends aren’t at all uptight. If they’re not busy, they’ll be happy to come.”
“Well…sure…I guess I could make it. About what time?”
Maggie could tell he wasn’t thrilled about this. He seemed sort of squirmy to her, but since he’d already said he would come if invited, he would keep his word.
Good boy. “Seven should do it. Is seven okay for you?”
“It’s…uh, fine.”
“Good. Now, I have something I’d like you to take a look at.” Maggie handed him the photo she had enhanced and printed.
Josh took it, studied it for several moments then looked at her. “You’ve brought up portions of a design. That’s darn good computer work, Maggie. Do you think you could make this clearer still?”
“I fully intend to try. Maybe I should come in tomorrow and work on it,” she added thoughtfully. Personal plans were secondary to solving a crime of this magnitude, especially when the plan was nothing more than a half-baked, undeveloped, completely aimless impulse in the back of her mind. It was all about putting Benton in his place, of course, but how did a sexual greenhorn accomplish such a feat with an obviously experienced man?
Shuddering and praying he wouldn’t notice, she expanded her previous comment. “Tomorrow morning, at least. What do you think?”
Josh nodded. “Maybe you should. But would your working tomorrow morning…say until noon…ruin your dinner party plans?”
Maggie began gathering her things. “I don’t think so. Is there anything else for now?”
“Well, we could talk all night about the case, but I doubt we would know any more at sunup than we do right now. Are you going to be here in the morning, then?”
“Yes.”
Josh got to his feet. “Maybe I’ll see you, maybe not. I plan to spend some time at the lab in the morning. I’d like another look at that coffee table, for one thing.”
Maggie was immediately defensive. “I’m sure you’ll find everything in order as far as the tests and analyses I did at the lab.”
“Did I say I wouldn’t? Did I even hint that you might not have handled everything as professionally as possible?”
“Well, no, but…”
“Go home, Maggie. I’ll either see you here in the morning or at your apartment at seven tomorrow evening.”
Cheeks on fire over being dismissed so abruptly, she hurried out.
All during the drive home she worried about her virginity. The only thing she knew about luring a man into either making love or an awful fool of himself was what she’d read in novels, or heard about from friends. Did she possess enough knowledge to behave as a worldly woman? She had to, she told herself. She simply had to! If he ever caught on that she was green as a gourd around men, he would probably laugh her into next week.
“Oh dear Lord,” she whispered, almost afraid to get to the bottom of what was driving her into doing something so foreign to her nature.
The streets were dangerously icy in spots. Maggie drove with a tight grip on the steering wheel, an eye out for black ice and an agonizing sense of despair. The despair was a result of feeling so confused about tomorrow night. When Benton arrived at her door expecting to join other guests for her “dinner party” and discovered he was the only guest, would he bolt? Laugh at her?
At a red light Maggie watched for the green signal and realized that she had turned into an awful wimp since meeting Josh again. Other than her outburst last night, she had let him walk all over her. For heaven’s sake, why? Had she been thinking that he was so far above her that he was better than she was? He wasn’t a bit more intelligent. Yes, he had more experience with the CPD, but he was also ten years older, which meant that when he reached retirement age, she would still be going strong.
“Hmm,” she murmured thoughtfully. The signal light turned green and she got the car moving again.
And that was when her plan-so vague and undefined before-became clear in her mind. Each and every step of it. She wasn’t a wimp, she never had been, and tomorrow night she was going to knock Josh’s socks off.
Still at his desk, Josh finally heaved a sigh and closed the Gardner case file. It was becoming thicker by the day-by the hour, actually. Colin Waters and his partner were doing an exemplary job of interrogating family, friends and business associates. There was a report in the file about Desmond Reicher, the COO for Gardner Corporation, which was intriguing because of its reference to Reicher, supposedly an upstanding citizen, possibly having an underworld connection. The report left Josh uneasy and wondering if Franklin had been aware of the corporation’s chief operating officer’s extracurricular activities. And, of course, the logical question to follow that one could only be, was Gardner himself involved in Reicher’s unlawful schemes, if they were, in fact, provable?
Josh’s thoughts suddenly changed directions. Maggie, Maggie. What am I going to do about you? Leaning back in his chair with his hands locked behind his head, he put his feet up on his desk. He felt all torn up over Maggie, and he truthfully didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe when the Gardner case was solved and they were no longer working together, he could stop thinking about her.
But, hell, there’d be another case, he thought disgustedly. Even so, he might be able to avoid Maggie most of the time, but how could he avoid what was going on inside his own body? He wanted her. There, he had finally admitted it. He wanted to make love to Maggie Sutter, and not just a quick slam, bam, thank-you-ma’am kind of love. He wanted to hold her, to stroke her beautiful long hair, to look into her eyes while he…while he…
Josh dropped his feet to the floor and told himself to get a grip on reality. Good God, she was ten years younger than he was and Tim’s kid sister, to boot. Besides, she sure didn’t act as though she would welcome a seriously adult pass from him.
Wishing that he’d refused her dinner invitation-he could have come up with some excuse-he pulled on his heavy coat. But there was consolation in knowing about the other guests. Probably wouldn’t be many because Maggie’s apartment wouldn’t accommodate a crowd, but there was safety in even small numbers. Two or three other guests would be enough to make him keep his hands to himself. It might even turn out to be a pleasant evening.
“Yeah, right,” he muttered on his way out.
The next day, Maggie worked intently on those photo enhancements until noon. She had printed out five of the best ones and put them in the case file, although she still wasn’t satisfied with their quality.
Benton hadn’t shown his face all morning, and she was glad because her stomach had been doing somersaults as it was. She rushed away a few minutes after twelve, made several stops to purchase the things she needed for dinner tonight, and finally got home at one-thirty. After working in the kitchen for two hours-now all she had to do to feed Benton was turn on the oven for about fifteen minutes-Maggie hurried to the bathroom to start on herself. She had cleaned the apartment last night, and everything shone like a looking glass. This morning she had put fresh linen on the bed. Everything was ready for the evening ahead except for herself and a few final touches to the apartment. She had hours to get ready, and she planned to use every minute of them. She began with a foot soak and a pedicure. No part of her was going to remain untouched. She was going to be as perfectly groomed as any woman could be.