In Serena's Web by Kay Hooper Read Free Book Online Page B

with me as watchdog, while he busily, heaven only knows
how
, tracks down these unknown people.”
    “That sums it up nicely.”
    “And—
and
—while all this is going on, while you are presumably safest moving from place to place, and while your father and his mysterious ‘contacts’ attempt to track down these equallymysterious people, while I’m being led by the nose down a blind alley filled with thugs, for all I know—” Under stress, Brian lost track of his sentence and hastily backed up to the point. “While all this is going on, you’re planning to stay here in Denver for at least three weeks? Stay in one place? The worst thing you could possibly do at the moment?”
    “I thought I would,” she confirmed cheerfully.
    Brian made a sound indicative of despair.
    “Why don’t we walk in the garden?” she suggested.
    “You’ll catch your death in that gown,” he retorted.
    “I never catch cold.”
    “Who said anything about a cold?” he muttered, signing the check and then following behind as Serena glided—there was no other description for the way she walked—from the restaurant. As they passed Long and his blond companion, Brian saw the other man shoot Serena a quizzical look, eyebrow lifted and amusement gleaming in his eyes; since Brian was behind Serena, he couldn’t see her response. But she hadprobably, he thought sourly, given Long a come-hither look to end them all.
    Brian was feeling somewhat put-upon. Being an honest man, he acknowledged inwardly that he was also feeling angry, sorely abused, bewildered, slightly anxious over the possibility of a kidnapping in the near future, and jealous. And he wanted Serena Jameson until he couldn’t think straight
anyway
.
    He was hardly in the mood for a quiet stroll through a discreetly lighted garden. But when Serena slipped her hand beneath his arm and when he looked down at the top of her sable head and at the silver gown she hadn’t bothered to cover with a wrap, he couldn’t seem to form a protest.
    “Why is it,” she asked thoughtfully, “that we always seem to fight in restaurants? Have you noticed?”
    “We weren’t fighting. I was just trying to hold on to my sanity,” he corrected.
    They walked slowly in silence for a few moments. Then Serena stopped, turning to gaze up at him almost as if she’d never seen him before. The whitewashing moonlight and shrubbery lightingmight have been deceptive, but she looked both pale and oddly uncertain. And she spoke with unusual seriousness. “Go back to California, Brian.”
    He was more than a little startled, since her voice sounded shaky, and very small. He saw an expression on her delicate face he’d never seen before: a strange, masked vulnerability.
    She looked up at him, her expression naked. “Go back,” she repeated softly. “I’ll be all right here. Daddy said they were closing in on whoever it is. I’m not in any danger now. And you’ve put up with me long enough.”
    “I told you.” He found his hands lifting to her bare, tanned shoulders. “I’m in for the duration.”
    “You said that,” she agreed wryly. “But you didn’t know then what the duration entailed. You deserve combat pay, Brian. Even for just this far, these last weeks. I’ve put you through hell.” She laughed shakily. “I’ve said and done ridiculous things, I know. Oh, I know.” Her chin dropped, and there was something bewildered and childlike in the gesture. “I get things all tangled and confused. Sometimes,” she confessed softly, “I do it deliberately. But not always.”
    “Rena—”
    She cut him off, speaking rapidly, her voice suddenly taut. “Dammit, I’m trying to warn you. I play tricks, Brian. I plot and I scheme—and I always get my own way. You don’t know—”
    “I know,” he interrupted gently, “that you’re kind and softhearted and generous. I know that, Rena.”
    Her chin lifted and her gray eyes shimmered wetly. “You’re not
listening
to me.”
    He was,