Virgin in Disguise Page 11

  “You don’t have to convince me. The back of my neck’s been itching since we sat down.” He slid out of the red vinyl booth and met the waitress at the cash register.

  Angel studied the other patrons as he settled the bill.

  Most of them looked like the typical small-town diner habitués. The only one who caused any real concern was the town cop. He stood next to the register with a to-go cup of coffee in his hand as Cabrini paid the bill.

  Her stomach did a slow flip as the cop said something to him. She held her breath, waiting to see if recognition would dawn. Come on, come on. Quit acting like he’s your new best buddy.

  Cabrini finally turned and headed back to where she stood. The cop watched him, and Angel watched the cop. She didn’t protest when Cabrini slid his arm around her waist. They strolled out the door and down the street to the car.

  As soon as they were out of sight of the diner, she tried to pull away, but he clamped his arm tighter.

  “Uh-uh, Elf. He’s going to be watching us all the way, so play nice.”

  “What the Halifax were you doing back there? You couldn’t just pay the bill and leave?”

  “Not when there was information to be had.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like the fact that the local law enforcement offices just received updated info on the suspected arsonist team working its way through the vicinity.”

  “Team?”

  “Reports are they started with a fancy cabin over on Quay Lake, and were last seen headed north.” He stopped beside Rusty and held the door open for her. “Our friendly officer was just heading over to the station to pick up some flyers with the artist’s sketch of the big bad firebug and his accomplice.”

  “Accomplice?” She slapped the key ring in his outstretched hand and got in the car.

  “Yeah. Seems he’s working with a woman.” He closed the door before she could respond.

  Real fear had her regretting every bite she’d just eaten.

  Cabrini climbed behind the wheel and started the engine.

  “Dumb and careless, Cabrini. Dumb and careless.”

  “What?” He pulled away from the curb and headed out of town.

  “That’s who the cops catch. The dumb ones and the careless ones.”

  “We’re in good shape then, because we’re neither.”

  “Oh, really? What do you call having a friendly little chat with the local cop? Do you think he didn’t get a good look at your face? After he picks up those flyers, how long do you think it’ll be before he makes the connection?”

  “Long enough for you to work your magic.” He pinned her with a steady look. “I’m trusting you to do as good a job transforming me as you do with yourself and this car. Think you’re up to it?”

  He trusted her? What kind of an idiot was he? She’d done nothing to merit his trust. If he thought for one second that she’d make some sort of sacrifice for him, he had woefully misjudged her. The only person she sacrificed for was her mother. The sooner he realized it, the safer she’d be.

  Safer?

  Where had that come from? Time enough to worry about that later.

  Right now, Cabrini needed a dose of reality. “What makes you so sure I won’t call the cops myself and turn you in?”

  “Because you know the truth. You just don’t want to admit it.”

  “What truth would that be?”

  “That good old Dex set both of us up, and it’s going to take both of us to figure out why.”

  “I don’t need you to help figure out anything.”

  “I think you do. Otherwise you’d see the connection. Who else knows our descriptions?”

  “Anyone with access to the DMV records.”

  “Who else knows we’re together?”

  Damn him. “You’re wrong.”

  “Why are you protecting him?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Why won’t you tell me who he is?”

  “You already know. Dex is an old—”

  “Family friend,” he interrupted. “Yes, I know that. What I don’t know is why he hired you to get me out of town. Why did he set us up to be killed?”

  “He didn’t.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “He isn’t trying to kill us.” Her jaw ached from clenching it so tight.

  “You’ve got to trust me, Elf. That’s the only way we’re going to make it through this alive.”

  “Trust you? Like you trust me? Does that mean you’re going to tell me your client’s name?”

  Angel’s ringing cell phone interrupted Cabrini’s silence. She flipped it open, thankful for the distraction. “Donovan.”

  “Angela,” her mother’s voice came through the phone. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Mom?” Fear iced over her anger at Cabrini. Her mother rarely called. Getting a second call from her in less than twenty-four hours kicked up all sorts of fears. “What’s happened?”

  She ignored Cabrini’s inquisitive look. She’d rather handle this someplace where he wouldn’t be listening to every word she said, but that was impossible, given they were trapped in a small car. She shifted in her seat, turning slightly away from him.

  “You need to come home, Angela. As soon as you can.”

  She sat up straight at her mother’s tone. She sounded different, more alert than she had in years. “What’s going on? Where’s Corie?”

  “She’s outside. I don’t have much time before she comes back. You need to come home. It’s very important.”

  “Can you tell me why, Mom?”

  “It would be better done in person. I need to give you something.”

  “I’ll be done with this job in a couple days and we’ll have all the time we need then.”

  “No, it’s starting again. You have to come home now.” The urgency in her mother’s voice set off alarms. “The fire—just come home.”

  What was starting again? Was she talking about the cabin fire?

  In the background noise of the phone, the doorbell chimed. “Come home, Angela. It’s time you learned the truth.”

  The connection went dead. She looked at the phone, trying to understand what had just happened. Her mother had sounded upset but…normal.

  “Is everything all right?” Cabrini’s question broke into her thoughts, bringing her back to their current surroundings. They were approaching a highway over-pass.

  “We need to go south.”

  “Where?”

  “Back to the Cities.”

  “I thought we’d established that wasn’t a good idea.”

  “That was before your mug got plastered all over the newspapers up here. Now, every small-town cop with delusions of grandeur is going to be dreaming of being The Man who brings you down.”

  “Good point.” He took the entrance ramp onto the highway. “South it is.”

  “We need to get you out of those clothes.”

  “I’m flattered, Elf.” He looked straight ahead, but a smile pulled up the corner of his beard.

  “Get over it, Cabrini. We still need to do something about your appearance.”

  “Are you sure that’s what you meant?”

  She chose to ignore him. “We’ll detour over to St. Cloud, pick up what we need to perform your transformation.”

  Several miles passed before Cabrini spoke again. “Are you going to tell me what that call was about?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it has nothing to do with you.”

  “Maybe not, but it upset you. Maybe you could use a friend to talk it out with.”

  “And you’re proposing that you’re the friend?”

  “You have to admit, we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well.”

  The idea tempted her. The more time they spent together, the more she realized how alike they were. “I don’t think so.”

  “What are you afraid of?”

  She shook her head. No way was he going to lure her into tha
t conversation. The last thing she needed was him acting as her shrink.

  “Okay, then. I’ll guess the conversation and you can tell me how wrong I am.”

  She snorted.

  “You were talking to your mother. She wants you home. She’s worried about you. You’re worried about her.”

  “I’d be impressed if all that weren’t so obvious as to be meaningless.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She ticked off each item. “One, I started my conversation with ‘Mom,’ so no mystery there. Two, universal truth—mothers worry about their children, so it’s an easy guess that she’s worried about me and wants me home, where she’d know that I’m okay. Three, I told you yesterday that Mom is fragile. The logical assumption from that is that I’m worried about her.” She shook her head. “So much for your stellar observational techniques.”

  “You have to admit, I’m a good listener.”

  “Give it up, Cabrini.”

  A few miles later, he broke the silence. “What do you have in mind for my disguise?”

  Finally, a safe topic, one she could get her hands around without much risk. “Nothing too drastic. We can accomplish quite a bit with clothes. We’ll have to hit a couple stores.” She glanced at her watch and groaned. “That’s going to be a problem.”

  “You don’t like shopping?”

  “The problem is it’s Sunday. The mall will be closed by the time we get to St. Cloud.” She kneaded her fingers through her hair. “We can still hit the discount stores and get the basic necessities to start, but the bulk of it will have to wait until tomorrow morning. You’re proving to be a very expensive assignment, you know that?”

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “I already laid out a pile of money for your clothes which are now ashes.”

  “We could go to my room in Minneapolis.”

  “Too risky, don’t you think?”

  “Probably.”

  “Besides, we should get your new look in place before we venture back to the Cities.”

  “What you really mean is that we’re going to spend a night together in a motel, aren’t we?”

  Memory of waking that morning sent threads of electricity curling through her stomach. She’d been snuggled against his warmth, his arm draped over her waist, holding her close. The unusual sensations of comfort and safety seemed at odds with waking in the arms of a man. And yet, that was exactly what her first thought had been.

  The men she met in her line of work were criminals. The men her friends introduced her to fell into two categories—suits and uniforms. She lost interest in the suits when they could find no common ground. The uniforms lost interest in her when they realized how much they had in common, and how unimpressed she was with their stories.

  Cabrini was different, beyond her realm of experience. They were equals. They respected each other, even through the frustration of their impasse.

  Chances of meeting someone like him didn’t bear calculation.

  Spending an entire night with him could open a world of possibility that she’d like to explore.

  Reality intruded. She couldn’t risk a night confined in a room with Frank Cabrini.

  But there was little help for it. She’d just have to keep busy with transforming him from scruffy day laborer to yuppie office worker.

  Frank settled low into the passenger seat as Elf pulled out of the discount store parking lot. “I’ve got a bad feeling.”

  She checked her rearview mirror and changed lanes. “Me, too. That security guard seemed overly diligent.”

  “Yeah, I’d say it was a bit odd to search our bags while letting that home stereo system walk out the door without a second glance.”

  “We need to get off— Aw, Shakopee.”

  “What?” He started to turn around but stopped when she clamped her hand around his arm.

  “Cop car on our tail. And there go his lights.” She slowed and pulled to the side of the road. “Maybe he’ll…” She closed her eyes and wrung the steering wheel. “He’s stopping. Cover your face. You’re drunk and sound asleep, got it?”

  He slumped a little lower in his seat, and the ball cap slid down to shade his face. From the corner of his eye, he watched in amazement as she shimmied out of her seat. The process shortened her skirt from mini to barely there. The length of bare leg she flashed guaranteed distraction of any straight male within a ten-mile radius.

  He needed some cool air and wished he could open the window. All he could do was pray.

  “Officer?” Elf’s voice held just the right amount of confusion and innocence. “Is there a problem? I wasn’t speeding, was I?”

  “No, ma’am.” Gravel crunched on the passenger side.

  Frank let his head loll to one side and did his best impression of a drunken snore. From beneath the hat bill, he could just make out Elf’s shape, framed in the open car door. The image had his heart pumping just a little heavier.

  “Did I miss a stop sign?”

  “No, ma’am.” The cop’s voice, and footsteps, moved from the passenger side.

  “I had my seat belt fastened.” Elf continued, naming possible infractions, pausing for each answer.

  Frank’s admiration grew. By the time the cop got to the driver’s side, she had effectively eliminated nearly every possible reason for a legal stop.

  She knew it, too. “I don’t understand, Officer…Novak. Why did you stop us?”

  “The fuzzy dice, ma’am. You shouldn’t have anything like that hanging from your rearview mirror.”

  “I’m sorry. They were a gift from a friend who passed away. I guess sentiment overruled sense.”

  “I understand. We’ve been ordered to crack down on the little things. Zero tolerance and all that. Besides, there’s a report of an arsonist on the run in the area, so we need to be extra cautious.”

  “You thought we might be him?”

  “Just a precaution. I’m sure you understand. Is your passenger all right?”

  “My brother?” She turned and bent over to look in at him. The pose must have given the cop an eyeful because he began to cough. “He’ll be fine. He just had too much weekend and too little sense.” She chuckled, the sound low and sexy, as she straightened and turned around. “That ever happen to you?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I mean, no. Ma’am.” The cop’s voice faded as he beat a retreat to his cruiser. “You can go. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

  “No problem, Officer Novak. You’re just doing your job.” The cop drove away and she sank back into the driver’s seat. “Cresco, that was too close.”

  “You did well.” His next words stuck in his throat when she turned toward him.

  A blush darkened her cheeks, and she tugged on her skirt hem as she settled in her seat. “Let’s get out of here and find someplace safe for the night.”

  Safe? He wasn’t sure such a thing existed. Not for them.

  A few miles out of town, Elf stopped at a motel advertising free cable TV. “I’ll get a room away from the road.”

  While she used their dwindling cash reserves and checked them in, he parked the car at the rear of the building.

  A room. This time they’d both be conscious. The possibility of what the night might hold warmed his blood. When she waved to him from the back entrance, he gathered their purchases and trotted over.

  Supper consisted of pizza and soda, delivered to the room, eaten in silence while they watched the news. No mention of arson or a manhunt for suspects helped them shake off a little of the tension.

  They got to work on his appearance. Elf started with his hair. Laying a bath towel over his shoulders, she set about trimming the ragged length.

  He sat, silent, acutely aware of her nearness. Her soft vanilla scent surrounded him, enticing him with memories of her asleep in his arms.

  She stepped back and studied him with a critical eye. He sighed with relief at the reprieve.

  It was short-lived. She started on his beard.

 
She made a couple of cuts, then stepped back, frowning. “This isn’t working. I’m at the wrong angle.” She knelt in front of him and leaned in close.

  His body reacted with record speed at the brush of her torso against his inner thigh. He caught his breath.

  Her eyes widened and she scrambled away. “Uh, no. Not that, either.”

  She looked around the room and pointed at the small table. “Maybe if you stand there.”

  They finally got themselves arranged in a workable configuration, and she began grooming his beard.

  The process was sweet torture. He enjoyed her nearness, breathing in her scent and losing himself in the sensations of her touch.

  She seemed oblivious to the effect she had on him. All of her concentration focused on her task. She finished with a few last snips and a nod of approval. “Much better.”

  “You think so?” He took the scissors and comb from her hands and laid them on the table behind him.

  She folded the towel and used it to brush stray hairs off his shoulders. “Definitely more civilized.”

  “And that’s better?” He caught her by the hips, holding her in place between his legs. Leaning forward, he brushed her cheek with his newly trimmed beard.

  Her lips parted on a little gasp.

  She’d left enough length that his whiskers were a soft, dense pad that telegraphed every sensation straight to his belly.

  Where else could he touch her, and what would her reactions be? He nuzzled her neck, just below her ear. She shivered.

  She rested her hands on his waist, her fingers kneading as though she couldn’t decide whether to push him away or pull him close.

  He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He slid one arm around her waist and pulled her closer, cupping the back of her head in his hand as he captured her lips in a devouring kiss.

  This was what he’d been hungry for, ever since the first one. That time, he’d been handcuffed. The second time, the cabin had exploded. This time, he didn’t plan on stopping until there were explosions of another sort.

  She slid one arm around his waist, the other around his shoulder, threading her fingers into his hair. Her rapid breath tickled through his beard, lending another erotic sensation to the experience.