CHAPTER 4
“How far is it to your place?” Libby asked curiously as the car got underway. She tried to imagine the kind of apartment where he lived. It was probably a typical bachelor’s pad, furnished with ultramodern furniture and the latest in stereo equipment. It was funny—there was no doubt in her mind that he was single, although he hadn’t actually said he wasn’t married. Yet she knew with a certainty there was no little lady keeping the fires warm at home.
“My place is about twenty minutes away. I live on the south side of Kansas City,” he explained.
“Tony, if I knew what these people wanted from me, I’d tell you. Heck, I’d just give it to them. But I honestly don’t know what this is all about,” she said, unable to forget the doubt she’d sensed in his voice earlier.
“I know that,” he replied after a moment’s hesitation.
They fell silent, each disappearing into their own thoughts as they headed for his house. “Home, sweet home,” he said as he turned down the street of a quiet, darkened neighborhood. He maneuvered the car into the driveway of a split-level house. With the push of a control button, the garage door rose. He pulled the car into the garage and together, Twilight, Tony and Libby got out of the car and entered a door that led into a small kitchen.
“You’ll have to excuse the mess.” He gestured rather sheepishly to the dirty dishes that were stacked up in the kitchen sink. “I wasn’t exactly expecting company.”
“Please, don’t apologize.” She shook her head tiredly. “I’m just grateful to have a place to sleep undisturbed.” She hardly noticed the living room they passed through as he led her up the five stairs that went to the bedrooms.
“You can sleep in here,” he said, placing her suitcase on the bed in what appeared to be a little used, spare bedroom. “I’ll be right in the next bedroom if you need anything….” His dark eyes twinkled. “Or if you just want to snuggle.”
“Twilight makes a very good snuggle partner,” she returned lightly. He shrugged in mock resignation. Then, nodding a good-night, he left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Oh, Twilight, he’s a smooth one,” Libby murmured softly as she set the cat down on the edge of the bed. Twilight meowed as if in agreement. Yes, Tony Pandolinni was definitely a smooth operator, she thought as she quickly shrugged out of the large sweatshirt and jeans, eyeing the mattress longingly.
She turned off the bedroom light and crawled beneath the sheets of the unfamiliar bed. She yawned, smiling as she felt Twilight curl up at her feet. Yes, Tony had the capacity to be tremendously charming. It was a charm she assumed came quite naturally to him. But she also had a feeling it was one he took for granted, one that held little substance. She had a feeling that Tony Pandolinni gave his charm quite easily, but would give his heart much more grudgingly. Not that she cared, she reasoned sleepily. All she wanted was to straighten out this mystery and get back to her own life.
* * *
Tony changed out of his clothes and pulled on a robe, then went downstairs to the living room to sit and unwind. He knew from past experience that it would be some time before the adrenaline quit pumping through his veins and he could settle down to get some much-needed sleep.
He turned on the table lamp beside the sofa and was satisfied when the room lit with the warm glow of the low-watt bulb.
Libby… His expression turned thoughtful as he lit a cigarette and settled back on the sofa. What could she possibly possess that was so important? She certainly wasn’t wealthy; her living conditions ruled out the possibility of a simple burglary. No, he was smart enough to recognize the signs of a search, and both the pawnshop and her apartment had undergone a massive one. Whatever it was they had been looking for, it had to be something very important to somebody.
His eyes narrowed even more as he remembered the bullet that had been directed at him. It was an intriguing puzzle, one that he was determined to put together. He dismissed the idea that her ex-husband was involved. Although the man was obviously besotted with Libby, and obsessed with getting her back into a marriage, he was far too pathetic to be able to put together this kind of thing.
He stirred restlessly on the sofa, his thoughts still on the woman upstairs in his spare room. Those eyes, those beautiful sapphire eyes. A man could melt into those blue depths, or he could be pulled up short by the strength and determination that lingered there. Most women would have completely fallen apart under the circumstances, yet Libby had remained firmly in control. There was more to the lady than met the eye, and this somehow pleased Tony.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, remembering that instant in her apartment when he had pulled her tightly against him. It had been the first moment when he’d noticed that her attire was less than modest. The blue teddy did little to hide the rounded curves of her breasts and slender hips, the silky length of her long legs. He’d been shocked at the unexpected flare of desire that ripped through him, a desire that was completely unwanted.
He stubbed out his cigarette, looking up as he heard a door open upstairs. Libby appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked, noting how small and vulnerable she looked as she stood hesitantly, clad in her oversize robe. Her pale hair was tousled like a halo around her head, attesting to the fact that she had tossed and turned restlessly.
“No. I’m totally exhausted, but I can’t seem to wind down enough to sleep.” She self-consciously smoothed the front of her robe, pulling the belt tighter around her slender waist. “Would you mind if I joined you?”
“Not at all,” he agreed easily, watching her grace as she walked down the stairs and sat down in the chair across from him.
“This is all so bizarre,” she began hesitantly, fingering the fringe at the end of the robe’s belt. She sighed tiredly. “I’m sitting in the living room of a man I hardly know because somebody is after me for something I have, only I don’t know what that something is—” She broke off with a deep sigh of frustration. “I’m so tired, but the minute I lay down on the bed, all kinds of questions start playing in my mind.” She smiled ruefully. “Twilight didn’t have the same problem. He curled up in a ball on the bed and immediately fell asleep.”
Tony grinned his easy smile. “We should all have the adaptability of animals.” He smiled at her again, suddenly making her conscious of the intimacy of their setting. The soft, warm lighting…both of them in bathrobes. Anyone peeking in the windows at the moment would have guessed them to be a married couple, or perhaps lovers. Certainly nobody would guess they were relative strangers thrown together by a series of events that were out of their control.
“How about a drink?” Tony suggested. “I’d offer you a glass of wine. Physically you look like a wine sipper, but something tells me that look is probably deceptive.” He smiled teasingly. “Let me guess, you probably can knock back ten Scotches on the rocks without blinking an eye.”
“Actually, I’m a tequila drinker from way back,” she admitted, finding it impossible not to respond to his light tone.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise at her answer. “Whew! You’re a better man than I, Libby.” His grin was infectious and Libby felt herself responding with a warmth that coursed through her veins as he continued. “I’m afraid I don’t have any tequila, but I can offer you some nice, smooth brandy.”
“That sounds great,” she agreed, a smile lingering on her lips as she watched him rise from the sofa and disappear into the kitchen. Did he know how potent his smile was?
Probably, she reasoned. Men who looked like Tony Pandolinni were rarely unaware of their charm. It would be easy to be drawn into the magic of it, but that was something she wasn’t about to do. She was finally getting her life back together, learning to be alone again. She wasn’t interested in jumping into another relationship, especially not with a smooth operator like Tony.
