The Real Allie Newman by Janice Carter

Author:Janice Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2002-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

IT SEEMED TO BE a pattern, he thought. Their parting. Her—slamming a car door and marching, shoulders straight, up the steps and inside. Him—guiltily watching her back as she put distance between herself and the car.

It was a nice back, too. Compact. Strong. Joel sighed, sensing he’d never get the chance to place his hands on that back again. The scene on the bench had been the line drawn in the sand, so to speak. Now he wished he’d been more restrained. But that first kiss of hers—the one telling him she knew what he was feeling—had unraveled all his resolve.

God only knew what might have happened if that older woman hadn’t come along. Joel shuddered. How could he have been so reckless, so oblivious to anything but the woman in his arms? What if Pat had decided to drive by the clinic? Or if Spiro had changed his mind and come by in the limo with Marko?

The front door closed behind Allie, and Joel, shifting the car angrily into drive, headed for the garage. Two of the doors were open when he pulled up. Marko and another man were at the far end of one of the garage bays, huddled in deep conversation. Curious, Joel sat in the Caddie and watched.

Marko had his back to Joel, shielding the other man. Although Joel couldn’t hear what was being said, it was obvious the two were arguing. Marko was waving his arms about as if refereeing a basketball game.

Joel didn’t care for Marko and he knew the feeling was mutual. Marko had greeted him with hostile suspicion the afternoon Joel moved into the apartment above the garage. Fortunately, they’d managed to stay out of each other’s way, though Joel suspected Marko wouldn’t tolerate his presence for long. Which was okay because Joel hoped he wouldn’t be around for long. After what had happened in the parkette, that was just as well, too.

He was about to get out of the car when Marko spun around and stomped into the house through the inside door. The other man—George, Joel saw now—watched him go, his face an angry red, then headed for his silver-gray Jaguar parked in the adjacent bay.

Curiouser and curiouser, Joel thought, wondering what those two were up to. It would have made more sense if the other man had been Christo. Now he was definitely a guy up to no good.

The Jag’s engine roared to life, and Joel got out of the Caddie before George noticed him. He popped the hood and pretended to be inspecting the interior as the Jag reversed out of the bay. He kept his eyes on the engine in front of him, but his ears tracked the Jag as it purred to a halt a few yards away. There was the soft hum of an electric window followed by George’s voice.

“Back from the clinic already?”

Joel looked up, feigning surprise. “Yep.”

“So how’d it go?”

Joel shrugged. “No idea. Miss Newman said it would take a day or two.”

Without another word, George zipped the window back up and continued on his way.

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