lately with a heart condition.”
“Old ladies with heart conditions don’t fling their shoes under the bed in a ‘I’m about to have wild sex’ kind of hurl.”
He started to laugh again. “Do you use that imagination in bed?” Infuriated, Rachel stopped wrestling with the zip on her dress and dragged down the one on his jeans. “I’m hoping that’s a yes,” he added.
“You think this is funny?” Her dress slipped and she made a grab for it.
“Rub some soap on the zipper,” Devin suggested. “C’mon, Heartbreaker, get my wallet out of my pants-there’s a picture of my mom.”
“I don’t care if there’s a picture of your family dog.” She yanked off his jeans and dumped them on the carpet, but lost her nerve at the boxers. “I’m leaving you here for room service to find in the morning. Maybe that will make you think twice before lying to seduce women.”
Devin started to struggle against his bonds. “Okay, this has gone far enough. Untie me right now.”
His panic was the sweetest revenge. “Maybe I’ll even ring the media. They love bondage stories involving celebrities.”
“I’m serious. Right now!”
“Go to hell.” Head held high, clutching her dress under her armpits, Rachel disappeared into the bathroom.
“If you leave me here, I’ll sue you!”
“I’ll settle the legal bill with what the tabloids pay me!” she yelled back. He heard the sound of cabinets and drawers being opened. “Where’s the bloody soap?”
Devin renewed his struggle. “As if I’m telling you!”
She slammed the bathroom door. He tried to reach the knots on his left wrist with his teeth but the librarian had strung him so tight he couldn’t get close. Just as well-he’d probably kill her if he got free right now.
“Devin.” A faint, familiar voice from the doorway wrenched him from his revenge fantasies.
“Mom,” he rasped. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I host the Coronary Club here Fridays.” As her fascinated gaze trailed over his bonds, he heard the sound of approaching voices, then several elderly women appeared behind her.
“Oh, my Lord, Katherine,” whispered one of them. “Is this one of your boys?” Everyone behind jostled for a look-see and within seconds half a dozen matrons stood at the end of the bed, checking him out with unabashed interest. And Devin discovered he did have inhibitions left.
He wiggled to try and lift the waistband of his boxers, which had gone dangerously low when Rachel had hauled off his pants, but all that did was draw the ladies’ attention lower.
“Anyone getting palpitations, leave the room,” said Katherine in a pained voice he recognized from his childhood. The one that usually preceded a grounding.
Devin cleared his throat to bring everybody’s attention back to his face. “It’s not what you think.”
The bathroom door opened and Rachel came out, rubbing a bar of soap on the zip of the dress, which was lowered to her waist. “The cabinet’s full of women’s toiletries. You’ve got quite a little harem going-” She looked up and gasped so hard, her lovely breasts threatened to pop out of her lacy strapless bra. Devin didn’t much like Rachel’s clothes, but her underwear was fantastic.
The expression on her face made her look like a Picasso: it was all over the place. He grinned suddenly. Okay, this was worth it. “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” he suggested kindly.
Her grip convulsed on the soap, which popped free and flew across the room. The ladies followed its trajectory, then turned back to stare at Rachel, who was zipping her dress up as fast as she could. “I’m not a groupie,” she faltered. “I’m his librarian.”
“And this is a new approach to chasing overdue books?” suggested Katherine helpfully.
Devin waited for the moment Rachel’s eyes widened as she registered their resemblance.
Because, as any bass player knew, timing was everything.
Then he settled back on his pillows. “Meet my mother.”
His date squared her shoulders and held out her hand. “How do you do.” Then Ms. Grace-under-pressure crumbled. “You see, I thought he had another woman,” she explained, clinging to Katherine’s hand. “It was your shoes under the bed. They were kicked off as though…” Rachel finally realized she held his mother’s hand in a death grip and dropped it. “Well, my mistake.”
Color flooded Katherine’s cheeks as if she was having a hot flash. Except she’d been through menopause. A horrible suspicion dawned on Devin, becoming certainty when his mother flicked him a guilty look. His mouth tightened.
“Now who’s got some explaining to do?”
CHAPTER TEN
SOMEONE UNTIED HIM. Devin got dressed, then he and Rachel made cups of tea for the Coronary Club. Because making nice, he told her when she fluttered, panicking, toward the exit, was the way you persuaded people to keep your secrets. It worked with the media…sometimes.
Rachel approached every individual and earnestly explained all the circumstances. Devin followed with a plate of low-fat oatmeal cookies and some high-octane flirting.
Devin and the ladies had a good time. Rachel and his mom skittered away whenever there was the remotest possibility of Devin being alone with them. But he didn’t own a cowboy hat just because it looked good.
He corralled his first filly when his mom left the safety of the herd to say farewell to one of her cronies. The elevator doors had barely closed on her full-figured friend when he said behind her, “You had sex with someone in my bed?”
Katherine turned on him defensively. “I changed the sheets.”
He’d hoped for a denial. “This isn’t the fifties, Mom. There are STDs to worry about now, AIDS.”
She tried to step past him. “I’m not having this conversation with you, Dev.”
He blocked her escape. “And what about your heart condition? I mean, should you be raising your heart rate like that?”
“Orgasms are very good-”
“Oh, God!” Devin clapped his hands over his ears. His father must be turning in his grave.
Katherine pulled his hands away. “For relieving stress, which in turn reduces blood pressure.” Exasperated, she surveyed him. “I did warn you not to start this conversation.”
“Well, who is it?” he demanded. “I’m assuming there’s only one.”
She considered him. “That’s none of your business, any more than what you do with Rachel is mine.” Her voice softened. “She’s adorable, by the way.”
Rachel came into the foyer at that moment, shawl clutched around her and staring over her shoulder as though fearful of being followed. Devin waited until she was close. “Looking for me?” he asked, and she started guiltily.
“I’ve explained our misunderstanding and accepted total responsibility.” She avoided his gaze by smoothing the fringe on her shawl. “I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about.” Awkwardly, she held a hand out to his mother. “Nice to have met you, Katherine.”
His mom clasped it in both of hers. “And you.”
Devin cut short the pleasantries. “How are you intending to get home?”
“I ordered a taxi.”
“I’ll wait with you. Mom-” his gaze pinned Katherine’s ”-we’ll talk when I come back.”
“Devin…we won’t.” Her tone was equally adamant. “At least not about that. Goodbye, Rachel.” She smiled. “I do hope I’ll see you again.”
“Oh, I’m nowhere near through with her yet,” he promised his mother.
Rachel got twitchy as soon as the elevator door closed. “I’m sorry about earlier.” Despite her calm tone, she kept jabbing at the elevator button to try to make it move faster. “I jumped to-”
Devin backed her into a corner and kissed her.
