Page 56 of The Playboy Meets His Match
She moved a step closer, aware of a faint scent of his aftershave, remembering Jason’s admonition to be careful. “You’re safe enough from me. You know me and you know Holly. When you left, you broke her heart, and you were rotten to take her money.”
“You do have the wrong person,” he said with an infuriating calm. “This is the first time we’ve met, albeit I doubt if it will be the last, since you persist in laboring under a delusion.”
“There’s no delusion, Dorian, and you know it.”
“There are laws to protect people like me from people like you. You can’t run around accosting me. I can go from here to the sheriff’s office. The police are willing to protect people from stalkers.”
“I’m not stalking you, and we both know that, too, as well as we both knew each other in Dallas. I don’t know why you’re ignoring me or what purpose it serves you, Dorian, but the truth usually comes out.”
“I hope it does and you pack up and go home. Now, if you’ll excuse me—” he stated in an impassive voice. After that first flare of recognition, there had been nothing but coldness in his expression.
Frustration rocked Meredith. The man was blatantly lying, yet there was nothing she could do about it. Why would he continue to lie? Jilting Holly had nothing to do with what had happened in Royal.
“Dorian, tell the truth!” she snapped.
“I’m going straight to the sheriff.”
“You can’t do anything when all I’ve done is say hello.”
“I’m sorry for you and your poor deluded sister,” he said. “Goodbye, miss.” He started to walk away and all of Merry’s frustration welled up. She shook with anger, clenching her fists more tightly.
“You’re going to get caught,” she said.
He looked over his shoulder at her and his eyes narrowed and for a few heart-stopping seconds, she felt a chill from the cold fury that glinted in his eyes. Then it was gone.
“I don’t have any idea what you’re babbling about, Miss Silver. I suggest you go home to Dallas before you end up in a psychiatric ward or in jail for stalking me.”
Turning, he strode past her to his car.
Merry watched helplessly, angry that she hadn’t shaken him and he hadn’t admitted one sentence of the truth.
She stood in the sunshine and watched Dorian climb into his car in one of the Wescott executive parking slots. Through his car’s tinted windows, he seemed to look into her eyes and it appeared that he smiled. She couldn’t be certain.
Her fists were clenched and she was breathing hard. As they had agreed, she turned to walk to Claire’s where she would meet Jason.
The moment she stepped into the restaurant’s cool, quiet interior, she reached into the pocket of her suit to switch off the recorder. Claire’s elegant interior and late-afternoon quiet was a relief to Merry. She realized that her nerves were stretched taut, and she took a deep breath, glancing beyond the entryway at the almost empty dining room with its linen-covered tables.
A minute later Jason came striding through the door. He was handsome, walking with an easy, self-assured stride, a faint smile on his face. At the sight of Jason, she forgot Dorian, her frustration and all the dashing of her hopes the past half hour had brought. She longed to walk into Jason’s arms and hold him, to feel his strong arms around her.
“There you are,” he said cheerfully, his easy-going, good nature having returned in full. “Have you been waiting long?”
“No, not at all,” she answered, knowing that he knew exactly when she had walked into the restaurant, and she wondered why he was bothering to create a cover for what they had been doing. No one else except Dorian would know or care.
Jason brushed her cheek with a kiss, hugged her lightly. “Let me get us a table,” he said quietly, and turned to talk to the maître d’.
In minutes they were seated in a corner, and Jason ordered chablis with appetizers of wild mushrooms with grated Asiago cheese. Looking at her over the plate of appetizers, he said, “I can tell—you struck out.”
“Yes,” she replied, scowling and not trying to hide what she felt. “I wanted to reach out and shake him.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. You know what I told you about goading him.”
“I didn’t touch him. He acted as if I was a total stranger to him. Not once did he say anything to indicate he had ever known me.”
“The man’s clever.”
“But such a blatant liar!”
“If he’s our man, he’s done much worse than lie. When we leave here, I want to go to your apartment and hear the tape. Unless you’ll come home with me and let me listen to it there?”
