She wished he wouldn’t purr like that, like a full-grown tiger ready to spring.She always had that impression of him, that sense that he would pounce at any moment.
She set her jaw.“No.”
“Then we shouldn’t have any problems,” he said.
“But you still intend to … invade my clothing.”
“As I said, I have a difficult time believing a Randall.”
“Why?”
He leaned back on his heels.“Do you really not know your father?”
Shea hesitated.She didn’t know whether the truth would hurt or help her case, make her less or more of a weapon to Tyler.If he thought Randall didn’t care, didn’t even know she existed, perhaps he would let her go.But then, that wasn’t why he was keeping her.He was keeping her because of that foolish sketch of Ben, and nothing was going to change that fact.But perhaps it was worth a try.
“No,” Shea said.
“No, what, Miss Randall?”
“No, I don’t know him.I’ve never known him, and he doesn’t even know I exist and probably cares less.”
“Would you like to explain that?”
“No.”
“Oh, yes.You don’t start something like that without finishing the tale.An old law of the West.”
“But you don’t believe in laws,” she snapped back.
“I do when they benefit me,” he said lazily.“Now tell me more.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“I think there is, Miss Randall.A daughter who’s never seen the father she claims, who travels thousands of miles to see him.”
“I don’t even know he is my father,” she said desperately, very sorry she’d opened this Pandora’s Box.She didn’t want to explain her life to him, or her mother’s.“I just think so.”
“Why do you think so?”He was relentless in his questioning, just as he obviously was in his hatred.
She felt helpless before it.“Because of the letters.And you’ve seen those,” she added with no little resentment.
“That’s all?”he asked incredulously.“You traveled that far just on the basis of a few letters?”
“There was money.”At the sudden narrowing and hardening of his eyes, she regretted saying those words.
“How much money?”
“It doesn’t make any difference.”
“It does to me, Miss Randall.”
“Why?I don’t have it with me.You can’t steal it.”
“I can steal other things if you continue to try me,” he said in that hoarse voice again, his lips barely moving.
Shea knew she had gone too far.She leaned down and picked up her sketching case.His hand stopped hers midway.“There are a few rules, Miss Randall.”
She looked up at him.She wished he weren’t so tall.She wished he didn’t have those vividly colored eyes.She wished he didn’t make her feel like a … a wanton.She wished she knew where these odd, heated feelings were coming from.Fear, she fervently hoped.It had to be fear.
