«I'm all right,» she said quietly. She let her knees give way and sank down on a little Victorian dressing stool, toeing off her ruined espadrilles and starting on the buttons of her blouse. She watched Lucky move back and forth along the bed, tension rolling off him like steam as he forcibly calmed himself. «Where were you?'
«I had business to take care of.»
«You certainly have strange working hours.»
«I have a strange life,» he admitted dryly. «You may have noticed.»
Serena arched a brow. «What? Everyone I know lives in a swamp and picks their teeth with a commando knife.»
She dismissed his dark look and started to shrug off her blouse, but stopped herself as she realized two things simultaneously-she wasn't wearing anything underneath it and Lucky's eyes had suddenly settled, hot and glowing, on her chest. It wasn't that she felt modest around him. But a wild sensation fluttered in her middle. A deep, primal fear combined with excitement that took no notice of her need for control. Nor did it seem to care that the path it wanted to drag her down led to heartache. She managed to head it off at the pass and pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the protests of her aching legs.
«I have to take a shower,» she said, her fingers clutching her blouse together between her breasts.
Lucky stared at her. All the anxiety he had felt channeled itself into the one emotion he could understand and deal with-lust. When he'd heard about the explosion he'd nearly gone wild with thoughts of Serena lying burned and twisted among the rubble. Now she stood before him, looking bedraggled and a little bit afraid, but alive. Her dark eyes were wide and soft as she stared up at him.
He closed the distance between them with two long strides. His fingers pulled the blouse from her hand and peeled the two halves back as he pulled her gently into his embrace. With reverent care he bent and pressed his lips to each scratch that marred her face.
«I have to take a shower,» she mumbled again, her breath catching as Lucky's mouth settled on the pulse spot in her throat. «I have to go to Gifford's.» She gasped and arched her back as his hand carefully claimed her breast, but tried valiantly to hold on to her train of thought. «Will you take me?»
Lucky raised his head, his smoldering gaze capturing hers, an unconsciously tender smile turning one corner of his sensuous mouth. «Oh, yeah, chere. I'll take you. Absolutely.»
CHAPTER 14
«Arson!» gifford exploded, his weathered face turning an alarming shade of red. «By God, that tears it! That just tears it! I don't know what the hell this world is coming to. People got no respect for nothing anymore.»
He set aside the shotgun he'd been cleaning and rose from his lawn chair to pace in agitation. His hounds lay on the ground, one on either side of the chair, watching him move back and forth with their droopy eyes and somber expressions.
«That bastard Burke. I'll have his head on a pike before this is over. And that smarmy little Clifton York too,» he said, jabbing the air with a forefinger for emphasis. «The nerve of that little weasel, refusing to pay the claim.»
Serena thought of the apologetic insurance adjuster and felt a pang of sympathy. «Mr. York is only doing his job.»
«Practically accusing me of burning my own property,» Gifford ranted. «By God, I'd eat dirt before I'd stoop to something so low. No Sheridan ever behaved in such a reprehensible manner-not counting the ones that got kicked out of the family, of course.»
«Of course,» Serena confirmed dryly. She stood before him with her arms crossed over the front of her wilting pink cotton blouse and her knees locked to keep her legs from buckling beneath her. The early morning storm had turned the cabin's meager yard to a soft ooze that squished up around the sides of her calfskin loafers. This trip was taking a heavy toll on her footwear on top of everything else. If she stayed much longer, she was going to have to go around in bedroom slippers.
«There was a time in this country when a man's honor meant something,» Gifford announced, as upset with having his reputation impugned as he was with having someone burn his machine shed to the ground. He planted his feet, jammed his hands at the waist of his jeans, and glared down at Serena as if it were all her fault standards had fallen to such an appalling level.
«I'm sure it's nothing personal,» she said. «It's a clear-cut case of arson. Until they figure out who did it, the company can't pay.»
Gifford snorted. A shock of white hair tumbled across his forehead. His eyes were fierce. «Until they figure out who did it. A blind halfwit could figure out who did it. Burke is responsible. Goddamn Texan. This state ought to have border regulations.»
«Burke has an alibi,» Lucky said unexpectedly. «He was at Mouton's.»
Serena turned toward him, unable to hide her surprise. He was leaning indolently against the trunk of a big live oak, his eyes hooded and sleepy. He looked like a panther, all leashed strength and quiet intensity, waiting for some unsuspecting deer to wander past.
«How do you know that?»
He gave her a look that was flat and unreadable. His big shoulders rose and fell in a lazy shrug. «Because I was there too, sugar.»
He'd left her bed to go to Mosquito Moutons. Serena did her best to stem the rush of hurt. She had no hold on him, she reminded herself. Regardless of what her heart wanted, Lucky had clearly defined their relationship as just sex. Having agreed to those terms, she had no right to be angry with him or feel hurt that he hadn't chosen to hold her all night.
Business, he'd said. She wondered what kind of business one conducted at Moutons in the wee hours of the morning. She wondered if it was the same kind of business he had been conducting the last time he'd been there-starting brawls, threatening people with knives.
«Of course he has an alibi,» Gifford said with disgust. «A man like Burke does his own dirty work when he's coming up through the ranks, but he hires it out as soon as he can. It wouldn't be any mean feat to hire some local piece of trash to start a fire. People will do anything for a dollar these days.»
«Unfortunately, no one saw anything,» Serena said. «Whoever did it managed to get away either before the first explosion or during the confusion afterward. I know I never thought of looking for a car or for anyone running away from the scene.»
«Maybe they never left the scene,» Lucky said quietly.
Serena sighed, blowing her breath up into the sweat-damp tendrils of hair that stuck to her forehead. She could feel Lucky's eyes on her, but she didn't look at him. They had already had this argument on the way to Giff's. She didn't for a minute believe Shelby had started the fire. It was simply impossible for her to picture Shelby slinging gas cans around and rigging machinery to blow up. But there may well have been a hired man capable of being bought off-by Burke, Serena insisted. Or the perpetrator may have been an outsider compelled by God knew what, a man who had simply blended in with the rest of the men while they had struggled to save the building.
«Well, there's no use speculating,» she said at last. «The point is, this business is getting way out of hand. You have to come back home, Giff. I mean it this time.»
Gifford lifted one bushy white brow. «Why? So you can cut and run?»
Serena refused to flinch. She stood toe to toe with the old man and said calmly, «So you can face up to your responsibilities.»