Guarding Raine Part 22

decisions to me.

Winters told the police detective that the first few letters and phone calls weren't reported because you told Raine not to bother.

Care to explain to me why that qualifies as the appropriate decision

for her?

" The man replied coolly, " I was merely trying to protect her.

She didn't need to be worrying about some crank letters when she was

busy with her work.

She agreed with me.

" " I know why she agreed with you, and I have a real good idea why you

suggested it in the first place.

It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you didn't take them seriously.

You didn't want her to take them seriously, because you were afraid

they'd affect her work, and that, in the end, would affect you.

" Mac bared his teeth in what could not pa.s.s for a smile. " How am I doing so far?

" " If you think for one minute that I was primarily considering

myself, you're insane, O'Neill," Andre returned angrily. " I was acting in Raine's best interests then, and I am now, I'm telling you to get rid of these men and clear out of here!

" Mac's eyes were slits. He walked closer until he was inches awayfrom Andre. " You don't make decisions around here, Kla.s.sen.Don't kid yourself.

You never did have that right.

I may not know Raine well, but one thing I've learned d.a.m.ned quickly is that she likes to call her own shots.

My men stay, I stay, and the work continues.

You have nothing to say about it.

Are we clear on this?

" " We'll see about that," the man said between clenched teeth. "

You're overstepping your bounds here, O'Neill.

You're way out of line.

" " I've never been in line, Kla.s.sen.

I leave that for guys like you.

" He walked past the man and went out the door. Jogging down thesteps, he approached the crew. The man was no threat to the work getting done here, Mac knew that. Kla.s.sen's only recourse would be togo to Raine or, barring that, to her father. Neither avenue would do him any good. Mac's lips curled in a grim smile. He'd like to witness the scene if Kla.s.sen attempted to push Raine about the changes beingmade to her home. Would she go head to head with him, the way she didwith Mac; or be more placating? So far, he'd been the only recipientof her temper as far as he could see, but somehow he'd bet that beingtold what to do wasn't something Raine Michaels accepted easily from anyone. For that fact alone, he almost wished that K!a.s.sen would go toher. But apparently the man had thought better of that idea, as well,because a moment later he got in his foreign sports car and roared downthe drive, narrowly missing the black pickup heading toward the house.The truck pulled up in front of the house and stopped. Mac walked over to greet his partner. " h.e.l.l, I see you more now than I did before Istarted this job," he gibed. " Lucky son of a gun," agreed Trey. " Actually, I'm on my way to a site and just swung by to see if youneeded anything.

I didn't know I was in danger of getting sideswiped by some crazy.

" He stopped to ~ at Mac. " That driver didn't happen to be someonewho had just finished a conversation with you, did he?

" " You're so funny. " "And right,"

Trey said surely.

"So who did you bowl over with your usual smooth manner this time?"

"That was Kla.s.sen. He was telling me to call off the work because itmight distract Raine from her painting. Which might take some moneyout of his pocket,"

he added caustically.

"The man's all heart. First he talked Raine out of reporting thehara.s.sment to the police, and now he's trying to cut short her securitymeasures ."

Trey raised his eyebrows.

"Makes you sort of wonder if he has any other reason for wanting tokeep this whole thing hush-hush."

Mac looked at his friend with sardonic amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Don't ever kid yourself, Garrison. Your mind is just as suspicious asmine."

"I know that. I'm just better than you are at covering it up. Besides,I've been asking around and I'm hearing rumors that Klas-sen is havingmoney problems."

"What kind of money problems?"

"I've heard from several sources that he's overextended himself, andhis cash flow isn't, shall we say, flowing. That would explain whyhe's so anxious for Raine to have a successful show. As her agent, he stands to make a nice profit from anything she sells, and she has beenselling well lately."

Mac silently examined what Trey had said.

It made sense, in light of Kla.s.sen's almost fanatical demand to leaveRalnc alone.

But the man would have to be one selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d to convince Raine and Winters not to go to the police, if his sole interest was that Rainefinish her paintings on time.

Of course, Mac continued to muse, nothing he'd noted about Kla.s.sentoday would be at odds with that supposition.

"All right,"

he said slowly.

"Keep asking around. Have you heard anything about Winters?"

"Haven't talked to many people who have heard of him,"

Trey answered.

"He was an accountant in a big corporation, but he left three years agoto start his own business. I don't know what kind of reputation hehas. But I'll keep asking around. Someone in the business has to know him."

Mac made a mental.

note to ask Raine how she'd first met up with her accountant.

Okay, thanks.

I owe you one.

" Trey grinned. " That's how I like it, pal.

" They spoke of business a few more minutes before he took his leave.As Trey drove away, Mac~s eyes went up to the windows of Raine'sstudio. Was she working? Had she been able to wipe out everythingthat had pa.s.sed between them the day before and concentrate on herpainting? Or was Kla.s.sen right in a.s.suming that she needed absolutepeace to paint? Somehow Mac didn't believe that. He'd witnessed her Strength of will on several occasions since he'd met her. Her father,too, had spoken of it. Mac didn't know how Kla.s.sen had formed his opinion of Raine's delicate nature, but he was betting the man'sperception was incorrect. More and more, he was getting the feelingthat Raine Michaels was a lot stronger than people gave her credit for.J Sitting on the floor of her studio, Raine stretched one leg out infront of her and touched her nose to her knee several times. Then she switched legs After a full day of painting, her back was full of knots,the muscles tight. The exercises helped loosen them at the end of theday, but didn't always complete the job. Today, no matter which wayshe bent and stretched, those knots weren't going away. Spreading bothlegs out, she bent forward, touching her forehead to the floor. After a brief knock, the door to the studio opened, and she raised her headto meet Mac's impa.s.sive gaze.

" Drop something?

" he inquired. Rising to her feet gracefully, she shrugged hershoulders first one way, then another. " Working the day's kinks out," sheexplained.

He didn't respond. Seeing her bent in those impossible contortions hadmade his throat go dry. Out of nowhere came images of her in other,more intimate positions. Those narrow jeans of hers should have beenconstricting her movements, but she moved as easily as though she waswearing a leotard. On the heels of that thought came a sudden desireto see exactly what Raine would look like in such an outfit. He'd seen her in nothing more revealing than jeans and T-s.h.i.+rts. He gave himselfan impatient mental shake. It had been a while sine~ he'd h~d a woman,but not that long.

Histaste in women ran to those with far more obvious physical a.s.setsthan Raine possessed. And when he was on a job, there was no room foridle imaginings. " My muscles get stiff standing here for hours," sheexplained.

" I'm tempted to put in a hot tub to do the job for me.

That would be easier than the exercising.

" Without conscious thought Mac walked toward her. She looked surprised and not a little wary at his approach. " Turn around," heordered. She stared at him, not obeying. He turned her gently, thengrasped the top of her shoulders. Using his fingers to ma.s.sage herneck, his thumbs rubbed deeply and rhythmically around her shoulderblades. Every muscle, every nerve in her body froze. Her heart stopped for an instant, then doubled it~ beat, the blood pus.h.i.+ngrapidly through her veins to pound in her pulse. Her brain screamed at her feet, ordering them to run. They remained rooted in place.

Raine stood fatalistically, incapable of movement. She waited for the silent scream to grow inside her until it beat at her temples,demanding to be released. Already her breath was coming in short,quick bursts, as if she'd broken from her frozen state and run as farand as swiftly as her mind commanded. She couldn't swallow around the knot in her throat. She waited for the nightmare to spring to life, inTechnicolor reality. Because this was so like her dreams. There was a man, a big man, standing behind her, out of her sight. He was touchingher, and she couldn't move, couldn't pick up leaden feet and flee. She had run before, on that dark, haunting night, as though her heels wereon fire, but she hadn't gotten far, no, not far enough.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, and her wide-eyed gaze went to thewindow. She blinked confusedly at the still bright sunlight streamingin.

It wasn't dark outside. It should have been dark. The sky had beenblack that night, and so it was repeated in faithful detail in hernightmares. She shook her head. dazedly. But this wasn't a night mare. The hands on her body weren't hurting, they were soothing. She concentrated fiercely on the rhythmic movement at the top of her spine.Her breath was released in an odd little sigh. Her heart continued to 'beat wildly, but the silent scream welling inside slowly dissipated.She was still tense, but movement had returned to her limbs. She s.h.i.+fted her feet slightly. The past was vacuumed away, back to theniche where her mind kept it. Instead Raine concentrated on the most amazing thing that had happened to her in years.

Someone was in back of her--no, not just someone, a man. He was touching her, and she hadn't screamed, she hadn't involuntarily reactedin a way sure to embarra.s.s her the next moment. The confusion she felt now was from a very different source. It was a moment before she realized the hands on her shoulders had dropped away. Turning slowly,Raine gazed at Macauley with a sense of wonder. How was it that this man could accomplish what no other could? What was there about him that could tame her reactions when she couldn't control them herself? " You are tense," he commented. " I wasn't much help.

" He didn't know what had had him reaching for the woman, anyway. It was totally out of character for him. But somehow, coming in here andseeing her like he had had forced him to react before he'd made theconscious decision to do so. Her voice was soft when she answered him. " Yes.

You were.

" She stared at him for another long moment, wondering how he hadmanaged to short-circuit her customary reactions. Shaking her headslightly, she said, " And I intend to pay you back.

With din- her.

" He was already shaking his head. " I don't expect you to feed me.

" Raine c.o.c.ked her head at him. " How do you eat at your other jobs?

As a matter of fact, how have you been eating since you got here?

I haven't fed you since the first night.

" He shrugged. " The men always bring me something.

And I just stopped in here to ask you to come down with me so I canexplain the alarm system.

" He hadn't answered the first part of her question, and from the looksof him he didn't intend to. But it didn't matter. " Well, your menwon't be around forever, although"-- she rolled her eyes " --it feelsas though they already have been.

You might as well start eating when I do.

I'm a pa.s.sable cook, as long as you don't expect anything fancy.

" He didn't. But he also didn't want to... what? 1~ in her companyany more than he had to be? That was ridiculous. He'd been busysupervising the work, making sure it got done as quickly as possible,and he really had been eating on the go. But she was right. There was quickly coming a time when the men would be done and he'd need to eat~It wasn't unusual for him to eat with a client, though it had been awhile since he'd done protection work like he was doing for Raine. He'dnever liked that aspect of the job, to tell the truth. Trey handledmost instances like this, When one of them was required to stay closeto a client. Mac lacked the will or the interest needed to soothe fears, to get on an informal footing with people he would likely neversee again, He looked at Raine. Her eyebrows were raised, and she wasno doubt drawing her own conclusions. He gave in gracelessly. " All right, just tell me what time you want to eat at night.

Don't expect me for breakfast or lunch, though.

don't have time to sit down to a meal more than once a day.

" " Good," she said, amus.e.m.e.nt lacing her voice. " Because I don't have time to fix one more often.

" " Can I show you the system now?