Free Uneasy Alliance by Unknown

cancel our date?"
    "I can't explain. I'm not even sure myself what's going on. I don't want
    you involved, Torr," she whispered honestly.
    "I am involved. Honey, I'm going to keep you with me night and day
    until I find out exactly what's going on."
    "You can't!"
    "Do you really believe you can stop me? Abby, very soon I'm going to be
    your lover. I have a right to protect you."
    She shook her head, feeling trapped by his strength and his intent
    perseverance. She had a premonition that it might ultimately be
    impossible to deny this man anything. "You can't say that. You don't know
    what will happen between us. Torr, be reasonable. Can't you accept my
    word that you shouldn't get involved?"
    "No. And I'm being perfectly reasonable because I do know what will
    happen between us. I've known since the night I took you home after
    class."
    "Torr, I won't let you take control of me like this!" The protest was faint
    but it carried determination. "I won't be rushed into a relationship I'm not
    sure I want and I won't let you assume rights I'm not prepared to give."
    "Then we'll just sit here in your living room and talk about it until you
    are willing to be rushed into a relationship with me and until you are
    willing to give me some rights."
    She could hear the lazy amusement in his voice and her head jerked up
    as annoyance began to replace some of the hopelessness and anxiety she
    had been feeling all morning. But before she could speak, she found herself
    tumbled lightly down across his thighs as he seated himself on the sofa.
    His golden brown eyes gleamed with a trace of his indulgent humor, but
    they also reflected the depths of his inflexible will. Abby felt a kind of
    puzzled wonder as she tried to comprehend the man who cradled her.
    "You're serious, aren't you?"
    "As you've pointed out, I'm always serious. Abby, I don't get involved in
    anything I don't wish to be involved in. But once I've made the decision…"
    He shrugged with massive finality. The message was clear.
    "I used to watch in amazement as you made those flowers do exactly as
    you wished in class," she murmured, searching his face for answers to
    unknown questions.
    "Just remember that I never bruised or broke one in the process." He
    toyed with several tendrils of her honeyed hair. "Abby, are you sleeping
    with that man in the photograph?"
    "No."
    "Did you go away with him this past winter? Did you sleep with him
    then?"
    "Would it matter?"
    "No. Not if it's all over between the two of you now. If it isn't, I want it
    over. And I'm willing to do the job if you're afraid to face him and tell
    him."
    She watched him a moment longer and then she came to a decision.
    "I'm not having an affair with Ward Tyson, nor did I ever have one with
    him. He's my cousin's husband. Cynthia and I were practically raised
    together. We're like sisters. I wouldn't hurt her for the world!"
    He assimilated that, his expression unreadable. "So what's the
    problem?"
    "The problem is that…" She paused, licked her dry lips and tried again.
    "The problem is that there was a weekend a couple of months ago. A
    weekend that could be misinterpreted. It would hurt my cousin very badly
    if she were to find out about it. And someone else seems to know about
    that weekend."
    "And?"
    She couldn't tell how much he believed and how much he was simply
    filing away for reference. Without a word she freed herself and got up to
    cross the room to where her purse lay on an end table. She opened the red
    leather bag and removed the second photo along with the typewritten
    message. Silently she walked over to where he sat waiting and handed him
    the two items.
    He studied them both for a tense moment and then put them carefully
    down on the smoked-glass coffee table.
    "You're being blackmailed," he said quietly.
    Hearing the word said aloud made her shiver. Unconsciously Abby
    crossed her arms over her small breasts in a childish gesture of
    self-protection. "It looks like it."
    "How much?"
    "I