'I see. You toiled and starved all those years to make your own money, so you know all about being rough and tough and surviving. You couldn't have starved too damn long. You're what--? All of thirty-five now? They made a movie out of Cat in the Night ten years ago, so you weren't eating rice and potatoes all that long! And for your information, having money does not equate to sloth or stupidity or--'
'I never implied that you were stupid--' 'Or incapable or inept! I've damn well seen spiders before, and roaches and rats and--'
'Hey!' He came to his feet before her. A pity, she thought--it had been easier to rant and rave righteously when he had been sitting and she had been able to look down her nose at him. But now his hands were on her shoulders and he was smiling as he stared down at her and she knew that he was silently laughing again.
'No one likes things crawling on her--or him. And let's face it--you can't be accustomed to such shabby conditions,' he said. His smile faded suddenly.
'Or,' he added softly, 'a different kind of creepy-crawly. Intruders in the place.'
'Oh!' She had forgotten all about the footsteps. Forgotten that someone had been in the house. That he or she or they had escaped when the lights had gone out and blackness had descended.
She backed away from Rex. 'What...what do you think was...going on?'
Rex shrugged and grimaced. 'Alexi, if--and I'm sorry, I do mean if--someone was in the house, I don't know. A tramp, a derelict, a burglar--'
'All the way out here?'
'Hey, they deliver pizza, don't they?'
'Do they? The pizza hasn't even gotten here yet!'
'Well, I'm sorry! It is a drive for the delivery man, you know. He isn't a block away on Madison Avenue.'
'Oh, would you please stop it? We are not in the Amazon wilds.'
'No, but close enough,' Rex promised her good-naturedly. She stared at him with a good dose of malice. Then she nearly jumped, and she did let out a gasp, because the night was suddenly filled with an obnoxious sound, loud and blaring.
'Joe's boy's horn.' Rex lifted his hands palm up. 'It plays Dixie.'
It did, indeed. Loudly.
'I'll get the pizza,' he told her.
Still smiling--with his annoying superiority--Rex went out. Alexi followed him.
Joe's boy drove a large pickup. He was a cute, longhaired kid, tall and lanky. By the time Alexi came down the walkway, Rex was already holding the pizza and involved in a casual conversation.
'Oh, here she is.'
'Wow!' the boy said. He straightened, pushed back his long blond hair and put out his hand to shake her hand soundly. 'The Helen of Troy lady! Boy, oh, boy, ma'am, when I see that ad with your hair all wild and your eyes all sexy and your arms going out while you're smiling that smile, I just get...well, I get--'
'Urn, thanks,' Alexi said dryly. She felt Rex staring at her. Maybe he had expected her to be like the woman in the ad. He was probably disappointed to discover she was quite ordinary. 'The magic of cameras,' she murmured.
'Oh, no, ma'am, you're better in the flesh!' He blushed furiously. 'Well, I didn't mean flesh--' he stammered.
'I don't think she took any offense, Dusty,' Rex drawled. 'Well, thanks again for coming out. Oh, Alexi, Dusty wants your autograph.'
'Mine?'
He lifted his hands innocently. 'He already has mine.'
She gave Dusty a brilliant smile--with only a hint of malice toward Rex.
'Dusty, if you don't mind waiting a day or two, I'll get my agent to send down some pictures and I'll autograph one to you.'
'Would you? Wow. Oh, wow. Could you write something... kind of personal on it? The guys would sure be impressed!'
'With pleasure,' she promised sweetly.
'Wow. Oh, wow.'
Dusty kept repeating those words as he climbed into the cab of his truck. Alexi cheerfully waved until the truck disappeared into the night. She felt Rex staring at her again, and she turned to him, a cool question in her eyes.
'Well,' he said smoothly, 'you've certainly wired up that poor boy's libido.'
'Have I? Shall I take the pizza?'
'No, my dear little heartbreaker. I can handle it.'
He started back toward the house. Alexi followed him-To her surprise, she discovered herself suddenly enjoying the night. She felt revived and ready for battle.
But there was to be no battle--not that night.
Rex went through the hall to the kitchen and put pizza box on the table. 'There's a bolt on the wood to the parlor. If you just slide it, you can be sure that one will come in by way of the window you broke. It was probably just some tramp who thought the house was unoccupied, but I'd bolt that door anyway. You can get the window fixed in the morning. You should have done it today.'
'You're leaving?'
He nodded and walked to where she stood by the door, pausing just short of touching her. He placed a hand against the doorframe and leaned toward her, a wry grin set in the full, sensual contours of his mouth.
'You're playing a bit of havoc with my libido, too.' He pushed away from the wall. 'If you should need me, the number is in the book by the phone. Good night.'
For some reason, she couldn't respond. She felt as if he had touched her...as if some intimacy had passed between them.
Nothing had happened at all.
By the time she could move, he was gone. She heard the front door quietly closing.
She hurried to it, biting her lower lip as she prepared to lock the door for the night. She was still so uneasy. Rex's being there had given her a certain courage. She knew that someone had been in the house. Had he really left? Was there, perhaps, some nook or cranny where the intruder could be hiding?
She gasped. There was another tapping at the door. Her fingers froze; she couldn't bring herself to answer it.
'Alexi?'
It was Rex. She threw the door open and prayed that he wouldn't hear the pounding of her heart.
Rex,' she murmured. She lowered her face quickly, trying to hide her relief, trying not to show the sheer joy she felt at seeing him again. 'Urn, did you forget something?”
'Yes.' out.
He leaned against the doorframe, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He studied her for the longest time, and then he sighed.
'You're making me absolutely insane, you know.'
'I beg your pardon,' she murmured.
He shook his head ruefully, then straightened. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her into the hallway to allow himself room to enter. Wide-eyed, Alexi stared up at him.
'I'm staying!' he seemed to growl.
'You're what?' she whispered.
'I'll stay.'
'You--you don't need to.'
He shook his head impatiently. 'I'll curl up in the parlor. Since you haven't gotten the guest rooms prepared yet,' he added dryly.
'Rex...you don't have to.'
'Yes, I have to.' He started for the parlor.
'You should at least have some pizza!'
'No. No, thanks. I should lie down and go to sleep as quickly as possible.'
