Leanne Banks – The Danforths: Marc, Tanya & Abe: The Laws of Passion / Terms of Surrender / Shocking the Senator (страница 4)

At last she gave in and shrugged her shoulders. “Where I was raised, animals were too much of a luxury. I knew a couple of kids from the block who had dogs.” Her eyes were dark and stormy. “But my father always used to say pets were a waste of money and that their families would be better off eating them rather than feeding them.”

Marc winced at the thought. “Where were you raised?”

“Somewhere far removed from where you were brought up,” she replied with sarcastic fervor. “Not all of us are lucky enough to have mansions and luxuries while we’re growing up. The place where we lived was smaller than one of your guest bathrooms, I’m sure.”

“Hey. Take it easy. I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just that the thought of eating a pet is a little hard for me. I have enough trouble thinking that someday I’ll have to sell off some of my sheep. So far, all I’ve managed to do is have a man come in to shear them in the spring.”

“My father…thought about things a lot differently than your average man.” A couple of beats went by in silence. “So, you think of your sheep as pets?” she asked with an abrupt change of topic.

“I try not to, but sometimes it isn’t easy to treat them like a business proposition, either.”

They’d arrived at the gate between pasture and pen. Marc swung open the gate and whistled for Laddie to get around behind the small herd and begin moving them toward the pen.

“Come on,” he urged her. “I’ll show you how to set out their feed. And then you can learn how to clean out a chicken coop. Won’t that be fun?”

She threw him such an incredulous look that he had to laugh. Wherever she’d grown up, she certainly hadn’t been raised on a farm.

But the surprise was that she was willing to get her hands dirty. She dug right into the chores. He’d never met a woman quite like her.

Dana was so far removed from the last woman in his life that it was almost a joke. Nothing, however, about that miserable affair had been a bit funny.

Dana took the last dish from Marcus, dried it and put it in the cabinet. She turned and watched him clean the counters. He was such an intense kind of guy that this domestic scene seemed slightly off.

While he’d been in the shower, she’d done a cursory search of the house. No one else was here at the moment and, judging by the absence of anyone else’s personal effects, he lived alone. She hadn’t had the time to go through his papers or files, but she’d noted that his answering machine had an even dozen messages blinking.

She wanted to find out more about him, before she did anymore digging. “Whatever made you decide to live on a hobby farm?”

When he turned to her with a slightly embarrassed smile, she felt a lump forming in her throat. She couldn’t figure out why the handsome and outgoing man’s sudden red flush should bother her so much. But she felt her own pink-tinged blush rushing up from her chest and spreading over her neck and face.

He looked good enough to eat for dessert. His hair was still wet from the shower and had darkened to a deep coffee color. He’d changed into a pair of jeans. No shirt. No shoes. Just a worn pair of work jeans.

His well-earned muscles rippled with the slight sheen of sweat, making her want to touch him—to learn the ins and outs of every crevice on his body. He was the first man that had ever made her tremble at the sight of a bare chest.

But she couldn’t allow herself to dwell on his formidable body, she chided herself. He was her suspect and a potential informer. She had to play this smart.

“I don’t quite know how to answer you,” he replied. “I work hard at my job and don’t have many hobbies…anymore. I bought this place a couple of years ago because I thought it would make a good place to raise a family.”

He hung up his dish towel and sat on a stool at the kitchen counter. “About a year ago I…uh…changed my mind about the family. But then I thought the place seemed lonely without youngsters around, so I bought a few lambs. And here we are—a real working farm.”

“You don’t mind the work?”

“Not at all. It relaxes me. I’ve found I love to work the ground and care for the animals. It’s so basic. So elemental and idyllic. And a small place like this doesn’t take much time.”

She hung up her own towel. “I like working my body hard too. When I’m concentrating on the work, the rest of the world disappears. It’s quite powerful.”

“Exactly.” Marc tried not to react to her words, but the image of her working her powerful body while on top of his body just wouldn’t go away.

The silence between them was tense for a minute.

Finally, Dana broke the ice. “I checked your security system while you were in the shower. It’s a fairly good system. It should keep you safe.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle. “I had it installed when I moved in, but I keep forgetting to set the darn thing.”

“Not while I’m on the case, you won’t.”

“Will you be staying here with me?” It hadn’t occurred to him that this was a twenty-four hour a day job.

“Of course. Kidnappers and assassins don’t exactly operate in broad daylight or when it’s convenient for you.”

“But I’m going to be…uh…searching for evidence to prove my innocence.” He didn’t want anyone around if he had to break into someone’s office looking for evidence.

“Not a problem. I’ll be right there with you.”

“But…”

She didn’t let him finish his sentence, but waved him off instead. “That’s my job. I intend to keep you alive until the trial. And I don’t care what it takes.”

He thought she was the most adorable “tough guy” he’d ever laid eyes on. If he was really in more danger than merely being framed, he couldn’t have picked a better person to watch over him.

“Do you receive mail out here?” she asked.

“No. I have everything sent to my office.”

“That’s good. It might take them a little while to figure out where you live. We have some time.”

“Time? Time for what?” Now if that wasn’t a leading question, he didn’t know what was. But he knew exactly where he wanted it to lead.

“To prepare ourselves for an attack…more than just the alarm system. Do you own any weapons?”

“Guns? No way. I’ve always figured that in case of a break in, I’d probably get shot with my own gun.”

“How about Laddie? Will he bark if someone comes around to let us know there’s danger?”

“Hmm.” He thought of the overgrown, fluffy puppy and grinned. “Maybe. If we can keep him out of the house. He likes to sleep on the suede sofa. And he’s a pretty heavy sleeper, too.”

Dana threw her hands on her hips and grimaced. “For crying out loud. Haven’t you ever considered the possibility of a kidnapping before? You’re a wealthy and intelligent man, Marcus. That sort of thing can easily happen if you don’t pay attention.”

An unwelcome memory snuck up and jabbed him. “Yeah, I know that. One of my cousins disappeared a few years back. Victoria was a pain in the neck when we were kids, but she had turned into quite a beautiful teenager. The family figured when she was missing for a while that it was a kidnapping, but no ransom demand was ever made.”

“Disappeared? Was she ever found?”

He slowly shook his head. “Maybe she just ran away from home. But I doubt it. She didn’t seem unhappy.” Marc stood and stretched. “I guess I have been a little careless. But somehow you just don’t think things like that can ever happen to you.”

“Well then, I’d like to suggest that we spend no more time here at your farm than we have to. I’ll go out in a while and move my car out of sight. I’ll put it into the barn next to your SUV for the night. And we’ll keep the drapes drawn and lights dim. Tomorrow we can make other arrangements. All right?”

“Yes, I guess so. I do have the animals to worry about, however. But maybe I can ask my neighbor to keep an eye on them again.”

“Good idea. And I think you should let your answering machine pick up all your calls from now on.” Dana stood and shook the kinks out of her arms and legs.

She looked like a raw bundle of energy packaged into a long and beautiful body. The very air around her shivered with the powerful and electric vibes she threw off. Man, would he like to capture a little of that energy. She seemed so vital and sensual.

Marc couldn’t remember lusting after a woman the way he’d been lusting after Dana…not since…way back as a horny teenager. He’d been aroused since the first moment he’d seen her standing in the parking lot.

“By the way,” she interrupted his thoughts. “When I was checking your security, I noticed that you had a few phone messages on your answering machine. Maybe you should listen to them so you can clear the machine for more.”

“I imagine that’s my family wondering how I’m holding up after my unfortunate incarceration.”

“You have a big family, don’t you?”

“Enormous. There were five kids in my immediate family. And my aunt and uncle have four kids…plus a great guy they took in, who seems like just another brother now.”

He headed toward the den, but kept talking over his shoulder. “A couple of months ago we found out about an adult sister that none of us had known anything about. And just lately we’ve had a rash of weddings and engagements, adding spouses and potential spouses, with kids and babies coming along faster than you can think.”