Darling Enemy
Autore
Diana Palmer
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Capitoli
9
Chapter One
It was the most glorious kind of morning, and Teddi Whitehall leaned dreamily on the windowsill of the dormitory room overlooking the courtyard below, watching the pigeons waddle like old men over the cobblestones.
The buildings on college campus were romantically Gothic, like something out of another century. But its green and flowering grounds were what Teddi liked most. They were a welcome change from the sophisticated New York apartment where she had to spend her holidays.
She leaned her face on her crossed arms with a sigh and drank in the smells and sounds of the early morning. She dreaded the time when she’d have to board the plane back to New York, away from the exclusive Connecticut college and her friend and roommate Jenna. There was a chill in the June air, and the beige gown that complemented Teddi’s short dark hair and huge brown eyes was hardly proof against it. It was a good thing that Jenna had already gone downstairs, she thought, and couldn’t chide her about her impulsiveness in throwing open the window.
Jenna wasn’t impulsive. In that, she was like her older brother. Teddi shivered delicately. Just the thought of Kingston Devereaux was enough to cause that reaction. They’d clashed from the very beginning. The big rancher with his Australian drawl and cutting smile might have sent the other girls in the dormitory into swoons, but he only made Teddi want to turn away. He’d made his contempt for her more than evident during the years she’d been friends with his sister. And it was all because of a false impression he had, which nothing she said could change. His snap judgments were as unfair as his treatment of Teddi, and she dreaded visits to the Canadian ranch with Jenna. Teddi had an uncomfortable feeling that Jenna was getting ready to spring another invitation on her, since they were both free until fall quarter began. Kingston Devereaux would fly his plane over from Calgary to get Jenna, and Teddi would find excuses to avoid him...as usual.
She shook her head miserably. At least Jenna had a mother and brother to go home to. Teddi had no one. Her aunt, who was her only living relative, was somewhere on the Riviera with her latest lover. The New York apartment Teddi shared with her on holidays was going to be particularly empty now. At least there would be plenty of modeling offers forthcoming, she was assured of that. She’d been modeling since her fifteenth birthday. She was blessed with good bone structure and eyes so large and poignant that one of her boyfriends had likened them to a doe’s. The modeling agency that handled her was proud of its star client—if they had a complaint, it was that she was being wasted in the halls of academia.
She felt suddenly chilled to the bone and drew back into the room, closing the window with nervous hands. Modeling was the sore spot with Kingston, who had the immutable opinion that models and virtue didn’t mix. It hadn’t helped that Teddi’s aunt was notorious for her affairs. Kingston was an old-fashioned man with narrow-minded views on modern permissiveness. He might have an affair himself, but he had nothing but contempt for women who indulged. And he was certain Teddi did.
She’d never forgotten her introduction to him. She’d met Jenna at boarding school when she was just fifteen, and the two girls had become fast friends. She’d expected Jenna’s family to be equally friendly and caring, and had received the shock of her young life when Kingston Devereaux had shown up at Christmas to fly Jenna home to the ranch outside Calgary for the holidays.
His first reaction to Teddi had been strangely hostile, a long, lingering appraisal that had touched Teddi like a cold finger against her bare skin. Jenna’s gay announcement that she’d invited Teddi for the holidays had been met with a cold, gray glare and a reluctant acceptance that had spoiled the trip for her. She’d done everything but move outside to keep out of the big man’s way. Then, and since.
She shook off the memories along with her gown, and slipped into a silky beige pantsuit that her aunt had mailed to her for Easter—one of a number of presents that were supposed to take the place of love and affection. Teddi ran a comb through her short, thick hair and decided against makeup. Her complexion was naturally olive, her lips had a color all their own, and her long-lashed eyes never needed enhancing. She slipped into a pair of low-heeled shoes and went downstairs to find Jenna, idly wondering why her roommate had rushed out in the first place.
She started into the dormitory lounge and stopped, frozen, in the doorway. Jenna was sitting stiffly on the couch, facing a big, elegantly dressed man with gold-streaked blond hair.
“...And I said no,” Kingston Devereaux stated flatly, his back to the doorway, his Australian accent thick. “She’s not going to turn my damned cattle station upside down again the way she did at Easter. Can you see the men getting any work done? Hell, they do nothing but stare at her.”
“She won’t cause any trouble,” Jenna retorted in defense of her friend, venom in her normally sweet tone. Her gray eyes, so much like Kingston’s, were flashing with anger. “King, she’s nothing like her aunt, she’s not what you think...!”
“Too right, baby, she isn’t rich, and she’s never going to be, unless she can get her claws into some poor, trusting male.” He rammed his big hands into the pockets of his slacks, stretching the expensive gray fabric across his flat stomach, his powerful, broad thighs. “Well, she isn’t going to spend the summer making cow’s eyes at my men—or at me,” he added with a bitter laugh.
Teddi, listening, blushed. That Easter vacation had haunted her.
“King!” Jenna gasped. “You must know that Teddi’s frightened of you, you’ve made sure of it. She’d never...”
“Wouldn’t she?” he growled. “Surely you noticed the way she stared at me during Easter? An Easter I’d have preferred spending alone with my family,” he added with a cruel smile. “Mother should have had another daughter to keep you company, then maybe you wouldn’t spend your life picking up strays!”
Teddi’s face went white. She stood there like a wounded little animal, her huge eyes misty with the hurt, and Kingston turned at that moment and saw her. The expression on his broad, hard face was almost comical.
“Oh, Teddi,” Jenna wailed, grimacing as she, too, caught sight of her and realized that her friend had heard every harsh word of the conversation.
Teddi straightened proudly. “Hello, Jenna,” she said softly. “I—I just wondered if you wanted to have breakfast with me. I’ll be at the dining hall.”
“King came early,” Jenna said helplessly, with a shrug. “We were talking about vacation.”
“You’ll enjoy yours, I’m sure,” Teddi said, forcing a smile to her full, faintly pouting lips. “I’ll go ahead...”
“I want you to come to the ranch for the summer,” Jenna said with a defiant glance at Kingston.
“No, thanks,” Teddi said quietly.
“King won’t even be there part of the time,” the smaller girl said sharply, tossing her long, pale blond hair.
Teddi glanced at the taciturn rancher, whose jaw was clenched taut. “I’ve spent quite enough of my holidays being treated like an invading disease,” she said deliberately. “I’d rather spend this one alone, and I’m sure your brother will be delighted to have his family to himself,” she added venomously.
“Teddi—” Jenna began.
“I’ve got modeling assignments lined up, anyway,” Teddi added truthfully with a last, killing glare at Kingston as she turned. “Why spend my vacation on a ranch when I can seduce half the men in New York while I make my fortune?” Her lower lip was trembling, but no one could see it now. “Thanks anyway, Jenna, thanks a lot. You can’t help it that you’ve got an insufferable snob for a brother!”
And on that defiant note, she stormed out of the dormitory into the sunshine, her back rigid, the tears welling up in her smoldering eyes.
She walked over the cobblestones numbly, the tears coming in hot abundance, trickling down into her mouth. How could he be so cruel, how could he? The conceited ass! As if any woman would be stupid enough to get herself emotionally involved with that arrogant Australian...the gall of him to accuse her of making cow’s eyes at him! She flushed at the memory. He’d never let her live down her foolish behavior at Easter; if only she’d realized that he was teasing....
She fished in her pocket for a tissue. As usual, there wasn’t one. She brushed the back of her hand angrily across her cheeks, hating her own weakness. She’d write to Jenna, he couldn’t stop her from doing that, and they’d be together when the fall quarter started. Kingston couldn’t keep them from being friends, after all. He’d never had a chance once they’d enrolled at the same college.
She passed a couple of her classmates and tried to smile a greeting just as a lean, commanding hand caught her arm and jerked her around, marching her to the shade of a nearby oak.
“Running again?” Kingston Devereaux asked curtly, his glittering eyes biting into hers. “You’ve done a lot of that.”
“Self-preservation, Mr. Devereaux,” she replied coldly, brushing wildly at one stray tear. “You make me forget that I’m a lady.”
“A lady?” he drawled. “You?” His eyes ran down her slender body, over the high young breasts and down the tiny waist and sweetly curving hips to her long, graceful legs in their clinging cover.
“Oh, excuse me—in your exalted opinion, that’s a title I don’t deserve,” she replied coolly.
“Too right,” he ground out. He lifted his broad shoulders restlessly. “Jenna’s back at the dormitory crying her damned eyes out,” he added roughly. “I didn’t come all this way to upset her.”
“Upsetting people is one of your greatest talents,” Teddi told him, glaring back.
One eyebrow went up as he studied her face. “Careful, tiger,” he drawled. “I bite back.”
Teddi wrapped her arms around herself, turning her attention to passing students. “You’ve done nothing but attack me for the past five years,” she reminded him. “And for your information, Mr. Devereaux,” she added hotly, “if I stared, it was out of apprehension, wondering what minute you were going to start something!”
“You started it the last time, darling,” he reminded her, smiling coldly at the blush she couldn’t prevent. “Didn’t you?”
She didn’t like being reminded of that fiasco, and her eyes told him so. She turned away.
“How long did it take you to perfect that pose of innocence?” he asked.
“Oh, years,” she assured him. “I started while a baby.”
He looked down his arrogant nose at her. The sunlight made gold streaks in his dark blond hair. “You didn’t get to your particular rung on the modeling ladder without giving out a little, honey. You’ll never convince me otherwise.”
“Why bother to try?” she countered. “You’re so fond of the playgirl image you’ve foisted on me. And you’re never wrong, are you?”
“Not often,” he agreed. “And never about women,” he added, with just a trace of sensuality in his deep drawl.
She supposed that he’d had his share of women. Her own small experience of him had been devastating. He had an eye-catching physique and when he liked, he could be charming. Teddi, having seen him stripped to the waist more than once, couldn’t find a fault in him. A picture of his bronzed, hair-roughened muscles danced in front of her eyes, and she shook her head to get that disturbing memory out of her mind. Kingston disturbed her physically, he always had, and she disliked the sensations as much as she disliked him. He was the enemy, she mustn’t ever lose sight of that fact.
“You know very little about the type of modeling I do,” she said numbly.
“More than you think,” he corrected. “We have a mutual acquaintance.”
She let that enigmatic remark fly right over her head as she started walking.
“Going somewhere?” he challenged.
“To inflict myself on someone else over breakfast,” she agreed cheerfully. “Strangely enough, there are people who don’t think of me as a walking, talking 8 x 10 glossy photograph.”
“Fair dinkum?” he murmured, falling into step beside her.
She glared at him. “Believe what you like about me, I don’t care.” But of course she cared, she always had. She’d gone out of her way to try to make Kingston like her, to earn even the smallest word of praise from him. But she’d never accomplished that, and she never would.
“You can have breakfast with Jenna and me,” he said after a minute, as if the words choked him. They probably had, she thought miserably.
“No, thanks,” she said politely. “I can’t eat wondering if you’ve had time to sprinkle arsenic over my bacon and eggs.”
A chuckle came out of his throat, a surprising sound. “You never stop fighting me, do you?”
She shifted her shoulders lightly. “I’ve spent most of my life fighting.”
“Poor little orphan,” he murmured coldly.
She glared at him. “I loved my parents,” she said curtly. “Shame on you for that.”
He had the grace to look uncomfortable, but only for an instant. “Hitting below the belt?” he asked with a lifted eyebrow.
“Just exactly that.”
“I’ll pull my punches next time,” he assured her.
“You make it sound like a game,” she grumbled.
“Oh, no, it’s stopped being that,” he replied, his eyes on the dining hall ahead. “It stopped being that at Easter.”
She colored delicately, her eyes closing for an instant to try to blot out the memory. She hated him for reminding her of what had almost happened.
“I should have taken you right there in that stall instead of pushing you away,” he said in a husky, deep whisper.
She moved jerkily away from him. “Please don’t remind me of the fool I was,” she said tightly, avoiding his glittering eyes. “I had you mixed up with someone else in my mind,” she added to salvage what she could of her pride.
His features seemed to harden even more. “And we both know who, don’t we, honey?”
She didn’t understand, but was too angry to ask questions. “If you’re quite through, I’m hungry.”
His darkening eyes traced her face, the slender lines of her body, as if the word triggered a hunger of his own.
He moved closer and she stiffened, catching the amused, curious glances of the other students on their way to and from the dining hall. “People are staring,” she murmured nervously.
“Afraid they’ll think we’re lovers, honey?” he asked with magnificent insolence.
She reacted without thinking, her fingers flashing up toward his hard, tanned cheek. But he caught her wrist just in time to avoid the blow, holding it firm in a steely, warm grip.
“Temper, temper,” he chided, as if the flash of fury amused him. “Think of the gossip it would cause.”
“As if you’d ever worry about what people thought of you,” she returned hotly. “It must be nice to have enough wealth and power to be above caring.”
He searched her dark, dark eyes for a long time. “Your parents were poor, weren’t they?” he asked in an uncommonly quiet tone.
She flushed violently. “I loved them,” she muttered. “It didn’t matter.”
“You push yourself way too hard for a girl your age,” he said. “Who are you trying to show, Teddi? What are you trying to prove? Jenna says you’re studying for a major in English—what good is that going to do you as a model?”
She tugged at his imprisoning hand. “None at all,” she admitted, grinding the words out, “but it’ll be great when I start teaching.”
“Teaching?” He stood very still, staring down at her as if he doubted the evidence of his own ears. “You?”
“Please let me go...” she asked curtly, giving up the unequal struggle.
His fingers abruptly entwined with hers, the simple action knocking every small protest, even speech, out of her mind as he drew her along the cobblestoned path beside him. She wondered at her own uncharacteristic meekness as the unfamiliar contact made music in her blood.
“You’ll come home with us,” he said quietly. “The last thing you need is to be alone in that damned apartment, while your dizzy aunt bed-hops across Europe, with no one about to look after you.”
She knew he disliked her aunt Dilly, he’d made no secret of the fact. She’d often thought that his dislike for her aunt had extended automatically to herself, even though she was nothing like her father’s sister.
“You don’t have to pretend that you care what happens to me,” she said coldly. “You’ve already made it quite clear that you don’t.”
His fingers tightened. “You weren’t meant to hear that,” he said. He glanced down at her. “I say a hell of a lot of things to Jenna to keep the issue clouded.”
She blinked up at him. “I don’t understand,” she murmured.
He returned her searching look with a smoldering fire deep in his gray eyes that made her feel trembly. His jaw tautened. “You never have,” he ground out. “You’re too damned afraid of me to try.”
“I’m not afraid of you!” she said, eyes flashing.
“You are,” he corrected. “Because I’d want it all, or nothing, and you know that, don’t you?”
She felt her knees going weak as she stared up at him, the words only half making sense in her whirling mind. One of Teddi’s friends walked past, grinning at the big, handsome man holding Teddi’s hand, and King grinned back. Women loved him, their eyes openly interested, covetous. But the looks they were attracting embarrassed Teddi, and she tried to pull loose.
“Don’t,” King murmured, tightening his warm fingers with a wicked smile. “Don’t read anything into it, it’s simple self-preservation. If I hold your little hand, you can’t slap me with it,” he added with a chuckle.
It was one of the few times she’d ever heard him laugh when they were together, and she studied his lofty face, fascinated. She was of above average height, but King towered over her. He wasn’t only tall, he was broad—like a football player.
“Like what you see?” he challenged.
“I was just thinking how big they grow them in Australia,” she hedged.
“I’m Australian born,” he agreed. “And you’re from Georgia, aren’t you? I love that accent...early plantation?”
She pouted. “I have a very nice accent. Nothing like that long, twanging drawl of yours,” she countered.
“A souvenir from Queensland,” he agreed without rancor.
She searched his eyes. “You spent a lot of your life there,” she recalled.
He nodded. “Mother was a Canadian. When she inherited the Calgary farm, we left Australia and moved to Canada. That was before Jenna was born. Dad and I spent a lot of time traveling between the two properties, so Mother and I were little more than strangers when I was younger.”
“You don’t let anyone get close, do you?”
He stopped at the door of the dining hall and looked down at her. “How close do you want to get, honey—within grabbing distance of my wallet?” he asked with a cold smile.
She glared up at him. “I’m not money crazy,” she said proudly. She jerked her hand out of his grasp, and this time he let it go. “I have everything I need.”
“Do you really?” he retorted. “Then why do you live with your aunt—why does she have to keep you?”
She wanted to tell him that she made quite enough modeling to pay her school fees and to support herself. But she hadn’t seen the sense in trying to maintain an apartment of her own when she was in school nine months out of the year. Besides, she thought bitterly, Dilly was rarely at the New York apartment these days. There was always a man....
“Think what you like,” she told him. “You will, anyway.”
He looked down at her quietly. “Does it bother you?”
She shrugged carelessly. “You don’t really know anything about me.”
His eyes dropped to her soft, full mouth. “I know that underneath that perfect bone structure and bristling pride, you burn with sweet fires when you want a man to kiss you....”
Her face flamed. She moved away as he opened the door for her, standing in such a way that she had to brush against his powerful body to enter the dining hall. She glanced up at him as she eased past, her eyes telling him reluctantly how much the contact disturbed her.
“Soft little thing, aren’t you?” he asked in a deep, lazy drawl, his eyes pointedly on the high thrust of her breasts as they flattened slightly against his broad chest in passing.
Teddi was grateful that Jenna was already at a table waiting for them, so that she didn’t witness the strange little scene. Jenna tended to carry teasing to an embarrassing degree.
