She finally quieted down to the occasional chuckle and hiccup. She smoothed back his hair. He tried to resist the placating gesture but he melted at her touch all the same.
"While you"re in town, I"ll only be with you," she promised.
That should have made him feel better, but it didn"t. In fact, it only made him feel worse. He didn"t want any other man touching Olivia. Ever. Unrealistic but he couldn"t help feeling that way.
And he didn"t want to a.n.a.lyze why that was.
Her hand, soothing one moment, suddenly gripped a lock of hair and pulled. Hard. "The same goes for you. I"ll run you down with my car if you so much as glance at another woman."
Michael pulled her on top of him and kissed her. His part of the deal wasn"t going to be a problem. Olivia was the only woman who"d turned him on in longer than he cared to admit.
He didn"t think she"d be able to keep her part though. He trusted Olivia-it was Lurch he couldn"t count on.
Contrary to what Olivia believed, Lurch wasn"t going to understand. In his shoes, Michael knew he"d do whatever it took to keep Olivia to himself. Lurch would be no different.
Michael gripped her tighter against him. He wasn"t ready to let her go-not yet. Lurch may fight him for her, but he had a surprise coming. Michael intended on being the victor. At least for the short-term.
Chapter Nineteen.
Parker slid into the booth. "What do you have for me?"
Clancy c.o.c.ked a brow and grinned. "Good evening to you too. I"ve been doing great, thanks."
Controlling the unaccustomed urge to snarl at the man, Parker motioned to the waitress. He needed scotch. Bad.
"Someone sure got your panties in a twist this evening," Clancy said, sipping his drink.
He had no interest in talking about anyone"s panties. He looked around the bar. Where was the d.a.m.n waitress? "What do you have for me?"
Clancy only grinned harder. "Want me to wait until you get your drink? You look like you could use it."
An understatement. He didn"t need a drink-he needed the whole bottle. It was Elaine"s fault.
"What can I getcha, honey?" the peroxided waitress asked.
"Your best scotch. Neat."
She nodded and turned an insipid smile to Clancy. "Getcha anything else, sugar?"
Clancy shook his head. "I"m fine, Molly, thanks."
Her sneakered feet squeaked on the sticky floor as she hurried to the bar to get his drink.
He never liked women in tennis shoes. Lily wore them despite his complaints, daring him to run after an energetic little girl in three-inch heels. Elaine always wore sensible shoes, though they were obviously of high quality.
He scowled. What the h.e.l.l did he care what kind of shoes Elaine wore?
Where was his drink?
He looked up and noticed Clancy watching him with amus.e.m.e.nt he didn"t bother to veil. "Your choice of establishment is-colorful."
"My clients expect to meet me someplace seedy. They"re disappointed if we don"t. They feel they didn"t get the full experience of hiring a private eye. The Lockdown fits."
"Here ya go, honey." The waitress set a napkin on the table before placing his drink in front of him.
He picked it up and took a swig. Not as good as he was used to but at the moment he"d be willing to swig hooch from a jug out back.
He realized Clancy was observing him and cursed internally. He was off his stride. d.a.m.n Elaine.
What had come over her? For seven years she"d been a competent, perfectly subservient a.s.sistant and suddenly she was barging into the bathroom making demands on him.
He took another mouthful. He needed to get himself under control and back to the matter at hand. "What do you have for me?"
"Can I be frank?"
"That"s what I"m paying you for."
"I thought this was going to be a wild goose chase, but I think you"re right."
Parker kept his face impa.s.sive, but he wondered what the h.e.l.l Clancy was talking about. "Was I?"
Clancy nodded. "Elaine Adams is definitely up to something."
He felt the compulsion to snort. He"d been spending entirely too much time with Mae Pembroke. "What did you discover?" he asked, knowing the PI was barking up the wrong tree. He couldn"t say why he was so sure of it but Elaine would sell out her own mother before she"d sell him out.
"She"s been spending an inordinate amount of time with Olivia." Clancy pulled out a small notebook. "In the past week, she"s been at Romantic Notions four times, an hour being the shortest period. And that"s not counting the evenings she"s gotten to together with Olivia and Olivia"s friends." He pushed the notebook across the table for him to look at.
Parker frowned at it. He didn"t know Elaine had been spending so much time with Olivia. When was she finding the time to go to Romantic Notions?
Was that where her selection of lingerie was coming from? He preferred to think so. Thinking she"d been wearing such alluring underwear all these years, without him realizing it, would drive him insane.
"Has she been asking you anything? Anything related to Olivia and your relationship?"
Parker blinked and brought his thoughts back to the present. "What?"
"I believe Ms. Adams is going to sell Olivia out to the tabloids."
"Interesting theory." Part of him wanted to laugh at that absurdity. The other part couldn"t discredit the notion so quickly given Elaine"s strange behavior. "What would be her motives? Surely she"d make more money selling the behind the scenes for the movie."
Clancy shrugged. "Who knows what"s motivating her? Perhaps she"s out to seek revenge on you. Denied her any raises in the recent past?"
"Hardly," he replied wryly. Elaine made more money in a year than most lawyers.
"Any other grudges she might hold against you?"
"No." Not until tonight when he forced her out of his bathroom. Though she shouldn"t have been in there to begin with.
"Could she be jealous of Olivia and want her out of your life?"
"No," he replied definitively. Elaine wasn"t the type of person to resort to petty emotions. That was one of the reasons he"d kept her around. She was cool and calm at all times.
Except for tonight.
She"d actually pushed him.
He could still feel the imprint of her small hand on his chest, right over his heart. He"d felt her warmth through his dress shirt. He"d never thought of Elaine as a warm creature.
"Mr. Parker?"
Parker refocused on the man in front of him. "Elaine has been championing Olivia as of late. I have a difficult time seeing her doing anything to harm my daughter."
"Maybe her support is a front to cover up her activity."
This was absurd. Reminding himself this was his scheme, he pulled what little patience he had together. "Do what you need to do and let me know what you find."
"Shall we meet again next weekend? I"m sure I"ll have more information by then."
Clancy set his unfinished drink on the table and got up. He hovered uncertainly over the table before he asked, "Mr. Parker, is there anything you"d like to tell me?"
"Such as?"
"I just have a feeling there"s more to this than you"re letting on."
"There"s absolutely nothing to tell." d.a.m.n it, he wished the man weren"t so astute.
Clancy studied him for a split second before nodding. "I"ll be in touch."
Parker watched the lanky man strut out after a casual goodbye to the man behind the bar.
He needed to resolve Michael and Olivia"s situation before this so-called investigation got out of control.
He looked at his wrist.w.a.tch. Nine o"clock. They"d been in the shed less than two hours.
As Mae pointed out, locking two volatile people in a small s.p.a.ce had to result in some kind of chemical reaction. He was counting on it-he needed to call Clancy off. If Elaine found out... After this evening, he wasn"t sure she wouldn"t resort to some kind of bodily damage before leaving him.
He blinked, trying to identify the sharp pang the thought of her leaving him brought on.
He dismissed it. That wasn"t going to happen. He wouldn"t let it.
He downed the rest of his drink. Leaving the bar, he decided to go for a walk around town. The alternative of going back to Mae"s farm and facing Elaine was on par with an IRS audit.
Chapter Twenty.
Olivia frowned at Michael"s sleeping form. He never said he wouldn"t see anyone else.
She resisted the urge to punch him. Of course he"d declare he didn"t want another man to sniff anywhere in her vicinity while they were seeing each other, but did the same rules apply to him?
It wasn"t like she and Michael were dating. She"d set the boundary. They"d have s.e.x and that was it. In a few weeks when he was gone, things would go back to normal. He"d go back to his life in LA and she"d stay here in Mill Valley. Alone.
Again.
My choice. She loved it there. This time it"d be her decision to stay here.
She studied Michael"s face. Even in his sleep, she could tell the innocent enthusiasm he once had was gone. Wisdom and experience replaced it.
She traced the outline of his lips with a finger. Michael leaving was a good thing. She couldn"t think why at the moment, but it was most a.s.suredly a good thing.
Olivia looked around. The kerosene in the lamp had run out a long time ago. First, they"d been too busy to refill it and then after they"d been too exhausted. It had to be close to morning though, didn"t it?
She"d spent the night with Michael Wallace. Never in a million years would she have thought it would happen again.
She was sure she had Gran and her father to thank.
She grimaced. Gran probably expected her to clear the air between them, not get it on like there was no tomorrow. Gran wasn"t going to be happy to find out she didn"t tell Michael about the baby.
Well, she tried to tell him. If he weren"t so eager to get into her panties, he"d know she"d been pregnant when he left. Though she had to admit having someone be that eager to get into her panties was pretty d.a.m.n nice.
"Michael." She tickled the lobe of his ear, chuckling softly when he scowled and batted her away. "Michael, you have to wake up."
"Make me," he mumbled before turning around and burying his face into his jacket, which he used as a pillow.
She leaned over his shoulder, deliberately pressing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against his shoulder. "Michael, we have to get dressed. I don"t know what time it is and I don"t want Gran or my father to catch us here like this." She brushed a kiss under his ear.
He groaned and turned onto his back, flinging an arm across his eyes.
Grinning, she straddled him. "Oh h.e.l.lo. What have we here?" She rubbed herself over his erection.
"Leave me alone," he groaned even as he gripped her b.u.t.t and arched his hips into her.
She shifted and he slid right in. She sighed, it felt so right. "It"s no good pretending you"re still asleep."
He cracked open his eyes and looked her over. She wasn"t sure what he saw, but whatever it was must have made him happy because he moaned, sat up, and began saying good morning to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.