'Sure. Why not? A last fling, more or less.'
They stood there staring at each other for a long moment. Rex wondered how they could be planning any kind of a 'fling' when hostility seemed to be raking the air about them with bolts of electric tension.
A crisp-coated doctor stuck his head in to smile and tell Alexi that her release papers were all ready. She was chagrined to be forced to leave in a wheelchair, and Rex tightened his lips with a certain grim satisfaction--someone else had told her what to do that time.
Rex drove his Maserati up to the door to collect her downstairs. She exhaled with a great deal of pleasure when she was out of the wheelchair. Rex turned the car out of the drive, noting that it was going to be a beautiful--but deadly hot--day. There wasn't a sign of a cloud.
'Where are we going now?'
'To the club at the dock.' “What if I were to tell you that I get seasick?'' 'I wouldn't believe you.'
She hesitated, looking down at her hands. 'I really don't think that this is such a good idea, Rex. I mean, I was even thinking that I should go home... and that you should go to your own house.'
He had never known that words could cut so deeply. The wheel jerked in his hands, and it took everything within him to straighten out the car and keep his eyes on the road ahead.
'I kind of thought you liked me around,' he said. She remained silent.
'I can't leave you alone right now, Alexi. You could be dead next time.'
'I can't keep sleeping with you because I'm afraid to be alone in my own house, either.'
This time he did drive the car off the road. The gearshift made a horrible grinding sound as the engine died, and Rex wound his fingers around the steering wheel like steel.
'What?'' he demanded in a breath of fury unlike anything she had ever heard. 'I--I--'
She didn't mean it. Not that way, of course. But the words were out and she didn't really know how to undo them. She was, at that moment, more afraid of Rex than of any mysterious entity in her house. His temper was afire, while the way he stared at her was ice; he looked as if he hated her.
'For one thing, Ms. Jordan, you haven't the God-given sense to be afraid!'
'You know I didn't mean it that way!' Alexi cried desperately.
He didn't look at her again. He shoved the car back in gear in such a manner that she wondered about the Maserati's life span, and then her own. He took to the road in a flash. She sat back, biting her lower lip so that she wouldn't cry out. She wanted it--she wanted a 'last fling.' But something bitter inside her--maybe common sense- warned her that she was becoming too involved--falling too deeply in love. She was spending too much time fantasizing about a forever-and-ever kind of love. It would be a good idea to end it all now, and maybe that was just what she was going to get. Rex wasn't mad--he was lethally furious. When she glanced his way, his face might have been carved in stone: eyes black as pitch; mouth grim.
Alexi gripped the leather seat, wondering if he wouldn't just head back for the peninsula. She shivered, remembering the feeling of being stalked yesterday. Yes! Yes, she did have the sense to be afraid. But she couldn't keep running away. She had come here to get away from New York and John and all her fears there. She couldn't run from here, too.
But she wasn't suicidal, either. She had to be intelligent about it all. A good security system could be installed. And she could get a wonderful big shepherd like Samson to go along with the kittens. But no other shepherd would be Samson....
Just as no other man would be his master.
But Rex Morrow didn't want to be tied down. He'd been burned once, and he was determined not to trust again. She should understand. She'd been hurt.
But he'd taught her that the world could be beautiful, too. He'd taught her to love and to laugh....
Couldn't she teach him the same things?
The car jerked violently. She didn't even know where they were. Her heart beat violently. Did he still intend for them to go away? She cleared her throat.
'Er, where are we?'
'The marina,' he said curtly. 'If you would deign to come into the dining room, someone wants to meet you.'
He got out of the car, slamming the door. Ignoring her, he started toward a building with a painted sign that boasted of the yacht club's famous Florida lobster thermidor.
Alexi followed him slowly. She felt so numb. What had she done? The best thing in her life, and she was letting it all slip through her fingers. Losing it all, because she didn't know how to hang on.
She got out of the car and followed Rex. He had waited for her at the restaurant door and was holding it open for her.
Curious, she stepped inside. The place was bright, pretty and air-conditioned but open to the sun, with wall- length plate-glass windows on all sides. The tables were made out of varnished woods and heavy ropes, and the scent of fine seafood was unmistakable. A hostess in navy shorts and a red-white-and-blue sailor top was just coming toward them when Rex waved toward the back of the restaurant.
Alexi followed his gaze, then gave a glad little cry as she saw Gene standing there, waiting for them to join him.
She hugged him fiercely, receiving his tight hug in return. He talked in fragments, and she did, too. Then she smiled brilliantly, kissed his cheek and told him she was very glad to see him.
Rex came to the table, and they were all seated. Alexi realized after a moment that Gene was studying her as surreptitiously as she was studying him. He lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger, openly looking her over with a thorough scrutiny.
'Still pale,' he commented. 'I'm fine! The doctor let me go.' 'Hmmm. Well, it's good you're going out to sea for a few days. Sea air has always been the best thing in the world.'
Alexi stared at him blankly, wondering just what Rex had told him. It wasn't that she wasn't old enough to indulge in an affair; it was just that it seemed very strange to be quite so open with him.
The waitress came. Alexi quickly ordered some wine and the lobster thermidor. She sipped her wine after it was poured, not daring to look at Rex at all and nervously aware that Gene was still watching her, a good deal of humor in his deep and wonderful blue eyes now.
After a few moments, Alexi realized that Gene and Rex were going on almost as if she wasn't there. They were discussing different security systems for the place, the possibility of a big dog--all the things she had been thinking about herself.
'Hey, I'm here, you know,' she reminded them. They both stared at her. She wished for a moment that she could tell Rex to go jump in a lake, that she could take care of herself. But she couldn't really do that--not then. Although Gene had turned the Brandywine place over to her to reconstruct and refurbish as she saw fit, the property belonged to him, not her.
She sipped more wine, then smiled, a little spitefully, and sat back. 'Well, I am here, but please, don't let me bother you. You two just go right ahead without me.'
They glanced at her again, arched their brows at each other, then thanked the waitress as she delivered their lunches. Then Rex went on to tell Gene that he thought maybe Alexi needed to have some sort of peace warrant sworn out against John Vinto
Alexi decided to ignore them then. Her lobster was delicious, and the wine was dry and good.
Toward the end of the meal, Rex excused himself to get the check. Alexi looked down at her plate, unable to think of a thing to say to Gene. She felt a blush rising to her cheeks; she knew he was watching her.
'You're not surprised that we're together,' she said.
'I'm overjoyed.'
'Oh?' Alexi stared straight at him, but she quickly lowered her lashes again. Gene, it seemed, had amassed all the wisdom of the ages. She had always felt that he was incredibly wise. That his gnarled and leathered face and fantastic eyes held all the wisdom of the ages. He could read her mind--and he could read her heart.
'Let me just say this. I like you both very much.'
'But, Gene!' Alexi protested softly, loving him. 'Liking us both doesn't make us right for each other!'
'Haven't you been?'
She didn't answer him, and he went on. 'I've lived a long time, Alexi. A long, long time. I remember the turn of the century; I remember Teddy Roosevelt and the Roughriders, and I even remember what clothes were being
