Guarding Raine Part 20

She's been raising her brother since her parents died.

"How did Sarah feel when her benefactor started taking an interest inyou?

" he quizzed. Her gaze flew to his, startled anew at his perception. "I think," she responded slowly, " that it hurt her feelings at first.

But she's okay with it now.

And she had a show last year that he was instrumental in arranging.

Of course, she's a very talented sculptor.

That's one of her piec~ on the mantel.

" Mac's gaze flicked in the direction she indicated, then to her. " Where's Bonzer live?

" " In L.

A.

" " Mac.

" They both turned when they heard the voice. One of the workers stood in the doorway, Raine's mail in his gloved hands. " I thought you'dwant to take a look at this.

" " Bring it over here and put it down, Mike.

" The man obeyed, while Mac pulled open a desk drawer and withdrew apair of plastic gloves. He drew them on, then flipped through the maildeliberately.

He handed all of it to Raine except for one long envelope. She peeredover his shoulder. " It has a postmark," she said, half to herself. " But no return address.

" Mac looked at the man. " Thanks, Mike.

" The man nodded and left the room. Mac opened the letter cautiouslyand withdrew the single sheet of paper. The room seemed to grow eerilyquiet.

Even the hammering outside had momentarily stilled. From the corner of the room, the ticking of the grandfather clock seemed intrusively loud.Raine's heartbeat sped up until she was convinced that the sound of itspounding was discernible in the near silence. Her palms grew clammy,and she had to force herself to watch over Mac's shoulder as he unfolded the letter. Time crawled interminably as he unfolded it once,and then again. Her breath came out in a rush, the first she'd beenaware that she'd been holding it. " An invitation to visit my aunt'scottage in Maine," she said, aware of the note of relief in her voice.Now that the moment was over, her foreboding seemed silly. " Prettydangerous.

" Mac folded the letter up, then handed it and the envelope to her. " Not this time," he reminded her soberly. She stared at him silently,reading his meaning. No, not this time. And maybe not the next. But one of these days, another threat would arrive, couched in terms just abit more sinister than the last. That certainty remained unspokenbetween them.

The phone rang again, and Raine,turned as he answered it. She wandered away from the desk to stare sightlessly out the front window. The bright California suns.h.i.+ne, the lush green gra.s.s, the walnut trees onthe edge of her property--they all seemed so ordinary. Cars drove byoccasionally on the ribbon of road in the distance, and with even lessfrequency on the road in front of her place. Even the men workingoutside could seem harmless, as if they were involved in a normalconstruction job, if she didn't know the events that had triggeredtheir presence here. Her eyes went toward the line of trees. Theysignaled the end of her property line. She had five acres, most of itcovered with a soft blanket of green gra.s.s, and it was an openinvitation to bare feet. As a child she'd loved to slip her shoes andsocks off and just run, flat out, as fast as she could on just such astretch of gra.s.s. She'd run as far and as hard as possible, until shewould drop, panting and laughing, into the gra.s.s. Then she'd roll to her back and watch the clouds float by until she got enough breath todo it again. She'd tried that when she was older, when she feltweighted by problems with no solutions except those that would comefrom within. But the feeling wouldn't die that she'd been running awayfrom something, something she carried with her always. The day she'dfinally faced that fact was the last time she'd indulged in thatparticular fancy. Aware that Mac had hung up, she turned to himquizzically. " That was Trey," he said soberly. " He had some information for me, and I'm sure you're not going to like it.

You may as well come over and sit down.

" She didn't immediately obey. Anything Macauley thought she wasn'tgoing to like, she was pretty sure she was really going to hate, andshe was suddenly loath to hear it. She ran a hand over her short hair in an unconsciously nervous gesture. Then, biting her lip, she drew.herself up straighter and headed over to him. Mac observed her closely. She'd had to visibly gather her defenses, and he wondered fora moment if he was doing the right thing in sharing this informationwith her. He still didn't know just how strong Raine Michaels was, howmuch she could withstand before she broke down. He'd already witnessedher upset once, when he'd deliberately pushed her. But he had the feeling that that time had been unusual for her, just as her temper oftoday had been. And he guessed that she wouldn't welcome him hidingsomething from her, at any rate. She returned his gaze with one of her own. " Well, you may as well get this over with," she said, strivingfor lightness. " Unless, of course, you're trying to rack up extrapopularity points for drawing out the misery.

" He didn't crack a smile. Holding out a piece of paper on which he'djotted down notes, he said, " These are two of the names from the listof art students you gave me.

" Raine looked down, then at him. " I remember.

Why?

" " Trey has been doing some checking on all the people on the list.

" Raine frowned. " Do you mean to tell me," she said, her voice ominous, " that you've been prying into these students' lives?

" He didn't blink. " That's exactly what I mean.

And it's fortunate he was able to get to it so soon, and d.a.m.n lucky he has the contacts he does in the police department.

Both of the people on that list have been in trouble with the law.

" She stared at him, momentarily at a loss. She was caught between

renewed anger at the lengths he'd gone to and a sudden sense of unease.

" What.

" Her voice sounded rusty. She cleared her throat and tried again. "

What did you find out?

" " Andy Radcliff was accused of date rape three years ago, when he was a freshman in college.

The case never went to trial because the girl abruptly refused to

testify.

". " You mean she recanted?

" Raine asked slowly. " No, I mean that she suddenly changed her mind

about going through the trial process.

" He watched her carefully. " That's not the same thing.

" Her face was completely composed, but he noted that one of her hands

clenched and opened, over and over. " What else?

" " Sally Jessup is on probation for vandalism.

Seems she got angry at one of her professors and did about a thousand

dollars' worth of damage to his car.

" Raine took a deep breath as she absorbed the news. She didn't know Andy and Sally any better than she knew the other students. That was to say, she was on speaking terms with them, but they wereacquaintances. This news was a surprise to her, but it shouldn't havebeen. She'd been warned often enough of the dangers of taking peopleat face value. But it had been a conscious decision to ignore thatadvice. She hadn't intended to take foolish risks, but she'd wanted tolive her life free of the kind of suspicion of people that could chokespontaneity from her. And she had felt alive again, making her choicesbased on what was right for her and not necessarily on what was safest,what was smartest. That fact was apparent. She didn't feel scared right now. Regardless of the news he'd given her, she somehow couldn'timagine Andy or Sally were to blame for her hara.s.sment. She just feltsad. She knew that she wouldn't be able to forget this, wouldn't beable to look at the two in the same light as before. Right or wrong,her perception of them would be colored by what she'd learned today.And the next time she would be just a little less trusting. " I'm not saying that either of them has been linked to your case," Mac surprisedher by saying. He'd seen the color slowly recede from her cheeks, andher hand abruptly stilled on her thigh, as if she'd just become awareof its action. " What you're saying," she said woodenly, " is thatI've been taking an unnecessary risk by allowing people I don't knowwell to come into my home.

Especially in light of the threats.

" Mac hesitated. There was something about her demeanor that made hima little cautious about pus.h.i.+ng her much further. She was composed,but she was a little too composed for his liking. She looked as if she could shatter at one more word from him. At the same time, for onceshe was listening, and maybe this moment was what it was going to taketo wake her up. With that thought in mind, he answered deliberately. "Yes.

" " That's what you've been saying all along, isn't it?

I guess I owe you an apology.

" He felt as though he'd been pole axed. " An apology?

What the h.e.l.l for?

" " For questioning your actions.

I can see now that they make sense.

I should have seen it before.

" She hesitated. When she finally finished, her voice was flat. " I didn't want to see it.

" " Are you saying you'll quit fighting me now?

" His tone was cautious. Whatever had brought about this abruptabout-face, he was going to take advantage of it. His job would be ah.e.l.l of a lot easier if he didn't have to constantly convince her tolisten to him. " That shoul~ make your day, shouldn't it?

" she said with a fixed smile. " And now, if you'll excuse me, I'mgoing to see if the men are finished in my studio.

" She turned and walked swiftly out the door. He watched her go witha frown furrowing his forehead. He'd won a valuable concession justnow, he knew. In her current frame of mind she was going to be muchmore amenable to work with. But somehow he couldn't summon up anysatisfaction about that. He shook his head, but it didn't helpdislodge the memory of that wounded expression on her face. Not for the first time in their brief acquaintance he was responsible fordimming the bright light from her eyes. Before she left they'd lookedhaunted again, vulnerable. He couldn't quite put his finger on whathe'd seen in them. And he couldn't help feeling like a b.a.s.t.a.r.d forbeing responsible for it. Chapter5 l l So how's the piece comingalong, Raine?"

Andre walked into the kitchen, where she was sitting at the table withGreg.

Despite the early hour he was impeccably dressed in a three-piece suitwith a silk tie.

"No problems, I hope."

Raine caught the look of dislike Greg sent the other man, and inwardlysighed.

After the scene with Macauley last night, she wasn't in the mood forcompany, nor did she feel like playing referee between her agent andher accountant.

But Greg had shown up early this morning, before Raine had hadbreakfast, and it would have seemed churlish not to offer him coffee.

He'd accepted with alacrity and had seemed quite contented chewing ablueberry m.u.f.fin and drinking cup after cup, saying little.

Actually, when he wasn't lecturing her on money-saving skills, Gregnever did have much to say.

Raine had noticed before that he had a tendency to stumble.

over his words a bit, then become tongue-tied into an awkwardsilence.

It was an oddly endearing quality, one that made him.

Safe.

The word hissed mockingly in her mind, but she dismissed it.

She usually filled in the silences with light chatter and questions todraw him out a bit.

But she wasn't doing too well in that department today.

Sleep would have been a welcome visitor last night, but had remainedelusive for hours.

having trouble forming coherent sentences, much less sparklingbreakfast conversation.

"The painting is coming along fine,"

she said, lying a little.

It had been progressing well until yesterday, when she couldn't get into her studio.

There was no reason to tell Andre that.

He already worried too much over the endless arrangements for the

showing.

If he thought anything was going to slow her progress on the paintings, he'd have a heart attack right on her kitchen tiles, and that was