behind her, looking smug and so damned arrogant that she could have thrown the typewriter at him.
“Hello, Dad,” Cabe said absently. “Need something?”
Eugene stared at his son, looking for traces of lipstick probably, Cabe thought amusedly. The older man’s face fell. “Not really,” he said. “I wanted to know if you’re coming to our anniversary party tomorrow night. Nicky’s expecting you.”
Nicky? Danetta had heard that name once or twice. Was it a man’s name or a woman’s? Probably a woman’s, she thought miserably.
“I’m busy tomorrow night,” Cabe said shortly. “I’m taking Karol to the ballet,” he added, with a long, silent stare at Danetta’s averted face.
“So that painted woman is more important to you than I am,” Eugene said angrily. “And what about Cynthia? Is she going to suffer for the rest of your life because I had the audacity to marry again?”
Cabe turned on the older man, his eyes dangerous. “She’ll never be my mother, and Nicky will never be part of my family! Damn you, I loved my mother! You couldn’t even get her in the ground before you had Cynthia in front of a justice of the peace!”
“That’s a lie and you know it,” Eugene said in a surprisingly calm tone. “Cynthia did work for me while your mother was alive, but it wasn’t until after her death that we fell in love. Nicky was a delightful surprise, not an accident, and I won’t apologize for him. My God, boy, he isn’t taking anything away from you! He doesn’t even inherit anything except a share of my total estate. Cynthia and I agreed on that from the start! She’s got money of her own to settle on him, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I’ve forgotten nothing,” Cabe told his father in a tone like shattering ice.
Eugene started to speak and then just shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “It wouldn’t kill you to spend one night with us, all the same. It hurts Nicky that you ignore him.”
“I owe him nothing!”
The older man grimaced and turned away.
Cabe slammed his fist down on Danetta’s desk, startling her. She’d put away her coat and was just sitting down to work. “All right,” he said angrily. “Damn it, I’ll come for the night.”
“That’s my boy,” Eugene said with an infrequent tenderness. He looked past Cabe at Danetta, who was trying to be invisible. “Why don’t you leave the brassy blonde at home and bring that one with you?” he mused. “She keeps an iguana. Nicky would love her.”
Danetta actually gasped. “How did you know about Norman?” she asked.
Eugene grinned. “Ask Jenny.” His eyes went back to Cabe. “Your secretary here looked pretty flustered when she walked in. I thought maybe you’d—”
“We just came from Harry Deal’s oil field,” Cabe said with uncommon venom. “She and Harry got into it.”
“I hope she won. He’s hell on the nerves,” Eugene said with a disappointed sigh. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow night,” he muttered. “Brassy blonde, God knows how many men—”
“Get out!” Cabe said shortly.
Eugene knew when to quit. He waved at Danetta and walked out without another word.
Danetta was fumbling with the computer, trying to turn it on. Considering how well she did it normally, it was rather disturbing to look like a rank amateur. It had been an upsetting morning.
She smelled cigarette smoke. Cabe came closer with a cigarette in his fingers and stood over her, his pale eyes watchful, his dark, wavy hair falling rakishly onto his broad forehead. He had one hand in his pocket and his chiseled lips were pursed as he looked at her openly and with pure male appreciation.
“I don’t have a crush on you,” she said, trying to appear calm.
He lifted the cigarette to his mouth and took a long draw from it. “I’m thirteen years older than you,” he said quietly. “From a practical standpoint, you don’t even have a yardstick to measure me against. Your life is a blank slate.” He blew out wispy smoke. “No, I’m the last complication you need in your life, kid,” he said shortly. “So no more close encounters. Let’s get to work.”
He went back into his office with that quick, measured stride that meant he was in a temper. She should have been relieved. But she wasn’t. It was like the end of something that hadn’t even begun.
She loaded the computer, her heart around her ankles. If he didn’t want complications, why did he touch her that way in the car, saying those things to her? Her brows drew into an angry frown. He couldn’t resist a little mockery, she supposed. But she wouldn’t let him get away with it twice. From now on, she was immune. Or at least, he was going to think she was.
She wondered vaguely who Nicky was. It sounded as if he was a relative, and why would he like Danetta just because she had an iguana? She sighed. Her whole life seemed to be one big question these days.
She started the word processing program and began to type out the routine letters that Cabe had scribbled answers on before they left the office.
Danetta sighed over her boss’s new and distant attitude in the days that followed. He didn’t offer any more conversation that wasn’t absolutely necessary, he didn’t talk to her unless it was about the job. He didn’t even treat her like a younger brother anymore. She had become a piece of office equipment, and he barely looked at her. She’d gone back to her sedate way of dressing, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered if she’d come to work nude. He’d said they weren’t going to complicate their relationship, and boy, was he keeping his word!
She felt alone, even more than she had when she moved here to stay with her cousin Jenny over two years ago. She’d wanted to be independent, to live her own life, and her parents had supported that need. But now she missed the family. She missed Jenny, because her cousin was a good listener. Jenny was still off in the southwest on some hush-hush assignment. She wished she’d thought to ask Eugene last week if he’d heard from Jenny, but it hadn’t been a good time.
She needed someone to talk to because she hadn’t realized until now how big a part of her life she’d allowed Cabe Ritter to become. She looked forward to coming to work because he was somehow bigger than life to her. His smile made her tingle, his vibrant masculinity challenged and excited her, his dry wit made her laugh. Just being around him made her feel more alive than she’d ever been before.
She’d had erotic dreams about him ever since that morning in his big Lincoln when he’d woken all her senses with his ardor. But that morning might never have been, because his new attitude was so determinedly business. And Karol was very much in evidence now. Cabe almost seemed to flaunt her, as if he wanted to make sure Danetta didn’t get any romantic ideas about him.
She finished the letters she’d been typing and put them aside, her slender fingers lightly resting on the stack. Perhaps he was even trying to freeze her out of his office. The thought made her uneasy. She’d gotten used to his moods and his tempers, and she didn’t
