Part 8 (1/2)
”Fine. I intend to do some shopping today. With luck I can have a few things delivered early in the week.” The coffee was hot, and no better than she made herself. Diana resented knowing she'd be fully awake before she'd half finished it.
”Good idea. I'll go with you.”
”Where?”
”Shopping.”
”I appreciate the offer, but it's not necessary. I'm sure you have other things to do.”
”Not really.” Then he laughed, leaning over to tug on her hair. ”Why is it I find it irresistible when you tell me to go to h.e.l.l so politely?”
She gave him a long, cool stare. ”I have absolutely no idea.” ”I like spending time with you, Diana.” At ease, Caine sat back again, but his eyes never left hers. ”Why do you have such a difficult time accepting that?”
”I don't-that is, I do, but...” He's doing it to me again, she realized, and frowned into her coffee.
”There's three reasons,” he continued, settling back. ”We're family, we're a.s.sociates...” Caine paused, watching her continue to frown in consideration. ”And I'm attracted to you,” he said simply. ”Not just that rather fascinating face, but to all the quirks in your mind.”
”I don't have a quirky mind,” she objected, then rose. Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she paced to the window. She could accept the a.s.sociates.
She was trying to accept the family without completely understanding it, but...
”You confuse me.” With a sudden pa.s.sion that surprised them both, Diana whirled back. ”I don't want to be confused! I want to know exactly what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, how I'm doing it. When I'm around you for too long, there's all these blank spots in my head.” She gestured, then dropped her hand again. ”d.a.m.n it, Caine, I can't afford to have you popping up and making me forget things every time I start to work them out.”
Intrigued by the abrupt burst of temper, he watched her calmly, then took a slow sip of coffee. ”Have you ever considered letting things work themselves out?”
”No.” She shook her head. ”I let my life drift for too many years. Not anymore.”
”In other words...” He set down his coffee and rose, eyeing her thoughtfully. ”Because of a set of circ.u.mstances you couldn't avoid, you're going to shut yourself off from whatever feelings or desires you have for me because they don't suit your current plans?” ”Yes, all right.” Knowing nothing was coming out as she wanted it to, Diana pulled a hand through her hair. ”All right,” she repeated with a nod. ”That's close enough.”
”That's a very weak case, counselor,” Caine commented as he walked to her. ”I could poke all sorts of interesting holes in it.”
”I'm not interested in your cross-examination,” she began.
”We could settle out of court,” Caine suggested, moving closer.
”Then there's your reputation,” she added, deliberately stepping back.
”You've hardly kept a low profile in your pursuit of women.”
”You'll never get a conviction on circ.u.mstantial evidence and hearsay.”
He lifted his hands to her shoulders, ma.s.saging gently. ”You've got to build your case on something stronger. Or...” Softly, he brushed one cheek, then the other with his lips. ”You might try trusting me.”
She felt the weakness creeping into her and forced herself to concentrate. ”I might also try jumping out the window. Either way I risk a few broken bones.”
Wis.h.i.+ng he had some defense against vulnerability, Caine drew away.
He'd meant what he'd said. He wanted her to trust him-even though he wasn't sure he could trust himself. ”You want promises, guarantees. I can't give them to you, Diana. Then again,” he added, ”you can't give them to me, either.”
”It's easier for you,” she began, but he stopped her with a shake of his head.
”Why?”
”I don't know.” She let out a long, weary breath. ”It just seems it should be.” He clamped down on the need to just gather her into his arms until she'd forgotten she had doubts, forgotten to be logical. With an effort, he kept his hands gentle.
He wasn't certain what his own motivations were; perhaps he'd never had to dissect them before. He knew he wanted to introduce her to new things-excitement, fun, pa.s.sions. The knight beating down the walls for the captured princess, Caine thought ruefully. In any case, he could work out the reasons tomorrow.
”Look, get dressed, spend the day with me. The circ.u.mstances when we met weren't the best. Why don't we take a little time and see what else we can come up with?”
”I'm not sure I want to know what else we can come up with,” she muttered.
”Did Justin really get all the gambling blood, Diana?”
His eyes were so appealing when he smiled. She felt herself weakening again. ”I don't know. I used to think so.”
”What's a lawyer but a gambler figuring odds on the law?” Caine countered. The tension was easing out of her shoulders, so he resisted the need to do any more than keep his hands light and friendly.
”The problem might be I'm not thinking like a lawyer at the moment.”
Then, relaxing fully, she smiled. ”If I were, I could probably cite several precedents that would establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that I should toss you out the door and go back to bed.”
Caine considered this a moment, then gave a sober nod. ”We could probably argue that particular point of law for several hours.”
”Undoubtedly.” ”Diana, I'll” be perfectly honest.” Still smiling, he twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. ”If you don't get dressed soon, I'm going to satisfy my curiosity and find out just what you have on under that robe.”
She lifted a brow. ”Is that so?”
”Of course, we could negotiate.” Caine rah the lapel through his thumb and forefinger. ”But I feel obligated to warn you I'm fully prepared to move on this point-in the very near future.”
”Since you put it that way-I'm going to take a shower.”
”Fine, I'll just finish off the coffee.” Caine watched her walk away, letting his eyes roam down to where the robe swung across her hips.
”Diana... just what do you have on under that robe?”
She sent him a bland look over her shoulders. ”It's nothing,” she said.
”Nothing at all.”
”I thought as much,” Caine murmured as the door shut behind her.
Laughing, Diana pushed open the door of the shop. ”I can't believe you did that I just can't believe it!”
Caine followed her in, shutting out the cold. ”It was a simple matter of truth,” he said mildly. ”I did see that identical lamp downtown twenty dollars cheaper.”
”But did you have to tell that woman in front of the shopkeeper?”
Caine shrugged. ”He'd be wiser to keep his prices compet.i.tive.”
”He was about to have apoplexy,” Diana remembered with another smothered chuckle. ”I'd have died of embarra.s.sment if I hadn't been concentrating so hard on not laughing. I'll never be able to go in there again.”