Page 68 of Cutter’s Lady

“We shouldn’t sleep together anymore?” Cutter suggested.

“Well, yes. That’s right. Exactly.”

“I see. And what brought you to this, shall we say, somewhat surprising conclusion?” He mirrored her serious, unemotional delivery.

“There’s no need to be sarcastic,” Leslie said.

“No? What should I be? What’s the correct way to act when the woman who’s been hot and hungry in your arms suddenly turns ice cold? I don’t move in your refined circles and I don’t know how to act.”

“Cutter, please…”

“Please what? Please make it easy for you? No way, lady. I want to know what in the hell happened to change you.”

“I didn’t change. I’m the same now as I’ve always been. I was changed in the mountains. It was such an unusual circumstance. We were in danger, and our adrenaline was pumping, and, well, it was just a physical thing brought about by our desperate situation.”

Cutter bolted off the bed, anger coiled tight within him, his eyes blazing so that Leslie took a step backward. “You’re right there. It was desperate, and what we had was damned physical. It was so physical I felt like I’d shatter into a million pieces every time I touched you. You changed in the mountains all right. For a while you were human and warm. You let down your defenses and acted like a real woman, with feelings and desires. I thought you had let the real you out, but I should have known that as soon as we returned to civilization, you’d shove her back down. You’re too big a coward to remain free. You’d rather run back to your prison.”

“That’s not fair! It’s not true!”

“The hell it isn’t. You’d rather deny what you are and be safe than risk anything. You’d rather be cold and alone every night than face yourself and your own passions.”

Leslie was stiff with hurt, and tears pricked at her eyelids, but she refused to let them fall. She wasn’t about to let him see how much he had hurt her. “And you’re the kind who lashes out at everybody else when you can’t get exactly what you want.”

“Oh, I’ll get what I want. It’s just won’t be with you.”

His words stabbed her. “I’m sure that’s true. Anyone else will do just as well. After all, when you want a little physical gratification, the woman who gives it doesn’t matter.”

“You’re more in denial than I thought if you believe that. You don’t know me, and you don’t even know yourself.” Cutter strode past her to the door, his boots thudding heavily against the wooden floor. He opened the door and turned back. “I’ll get another room. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning. Be down in the lobby at six. Sharp.”

He went out the door and slammed it shut so hard that the windows rattled. Leslie’s lips quivered, and the tears that had threatened now rolled from her eyes.

***

Leslie was ready early. It wasn’t difficult, since she hadn’t slept all night long. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and her head pounded ferociously. When she stepped into the lobby she could see Cutter just beyond the front door, reclining on a large cement planter and smoking a cigarette. Apparently the first thing he’d done was go out and pick up a new pack last night. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was the only thing he had picked up. Tears pricked her eyes anew, but she blinked them away and straightened her shoulders before heading outside.

She was ashamed for Cutter to see her and realize that she had cried over him, but she found she needn’t have worried. Cutter jumped up and threw the butt in a nearby trashcan the moment he spotted her, then strode out to the car, barely glancing Leslie’s way. He got in behind the steering wheel and tapped his fingers impatiently as he waited for Leslie to join him. As soon as she sat down and closed her door, he roared away. Neither spoke on the two-hour drive to the resort town of Costa Linda. Leslie even held her tongue when Cutter broke her rule about smoking in the car. In fact, he smoked more cigarettes on the drive than any other time they’d been together and she had the feeling he was trying to get a response out of her. Which made her all the more determined not to bat an eye even as the smoke started to sting.

There was little to Costa Linda but Leslie was so relieved to see it come into view that she felt as if she had arrived at some coveted destination. It had once been a fishing village and small port, and the old, rather seedy village remained in the central knot of the town, with expensive shops, nightclubs and restaurants built up around it. Most of the town consisted of a long string of hotels curving along the edge of the coastline, all of them new and towering. Cutter pulled into the circular drive of a gray stone hotel, built to resemble the Mayan pyramids, with each succeeding floor of rooms set farther back than the one below. It was quite modern and gorgeously decorated inside—even in her current state Leslie made a note to look it up later and find out who owned it—it was also blessed with all the conveniences one could ask for, even desk clerks who spoke French and English as well as Spanish.

The rooms were large and comfortable, each with its own private terrace and view of the ocean. Neatly trimmed tropical plants grew in the courtyard, and a swimming pool meandered like a stream around the area, crossed by footbridges and with an island bar in the center. It was a typical elegant tropical resort. And, strangely, after what she’d been through, its very poshness grated on Leslie’s nerves.

The bellman showed them to their side-by-side rooms, and Cutter tipped him. Then Cutter turned to Leslie. “I’m going to town to see what I can find out about the kidnapping. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“Wait. I want to come, too.”

His face was cool, impersonal. “No reason. I won’t cheat you.”

“I didn’t say you would. But I want to come, anyway. I want to help.”

“You won’t be any help. It’ll be easier by myself. Besides, I won’t be visiting the tourist spots; it’s a pretty bad area of town.”

“You think that after having been in a rebel camp and being fired on by the military that I’m going to be frightened by a cheap bar or some unsavory men?”

“Frankly, I doubt you’re frightened of anything.”

“Then there’s no problem, is there? I’m going.”

He shrugged. “You’re the boss. Come on.”