Free Deceptive Love by Anne N. Reisser Page B

flipped through her morning mail. She slipped several letters into her purse to read at her leisure, watered the philodendron and Boston fern, put the phone back on the hook, and headed toward the front door. The phone rang. She stuck her tongue out at it and closed the front door firmly behind her. She could hear its muted summons until the elevator door closed.

Chapter Four
    True to her word, she reached the Lawsons' comfortable home in McLean, Virginia, by lunchtime. Charles v with exquisite diplomatic tact, didn't mention Schyler or RanCo at all as they ate their way through delicious tostadas. Mary had become addicted to Mexican cookery while she and Charles were with a diplomatic mission in Mexico City, and thereafter Mexican cuisine was featured regularly in her menus to the delight of her family and friends.
    Keri helped with the dishes, grabbed a paperback she had started the previous weekend, and headed for the poolside. She pulled a lounger around to take maximum advantage of the sun, slathered herself with lotion, and dropped down gratefully onto the padded comfort of the sunwarmed canvas. There was a slight breeze to temper the heat of the sun and she read for a while in sybaritic comfort. Contented and relaxed as a cat, she surrendered to the soporific warmth of the afternoon as it dragged down her eyelids. The book fell unheeded to the ground and she dozed.
    When she woke she was sticky with sweat and slightly heavy headed. The cool invitation of the pool seemed the ideal solution for both problems, and she ran lightly to the side, arcing into a racing dive without breaking stride. As she started her dive she caught a glimpse of two male figures approaching from around the side of the house. With the outline of their figures imprinted in her mind, she sliced cleanly into the water, breaking the smooth surface of the pool. She emerged, hair dripping in water-laden strands around her face, and turned to face the men. One was Charles. She sank slowly beneath the water again, trailing her floating, water-darkened hair behind her in a fan. The other was Dain Randolph.
    Keri swam underwater toward the opposite end of the pool, surfacing under the diving board. She wondered, if she swam enough laps underwater, whether he'd give up and go away. Resignedly she decided he wouldn't. She submerged again and swam slowly back to the shallow end of the pool.
    When she surfaced in the thigh-deep water Charles had gone back into the house and Dain stood by the steps, a towel waiting in his hand. Keri dipped back into the water to sleek her hair away from her eyes, wiped away the water drops caught in her eyelashes, and mounted the steps. He politely handed her the towel, which she draped casually around her shoulders after she had used it to mop her face.
    Keri walked over to the lounger she had napped on so comfortably earlier and sat down. Her knees were tremulous and she quailed at the thin-lipped anger that pulled Dain's mouth. He looked very vital in the narrow-legged denims and pale green sport shirt which strained against the packed muscles of his legs and chest. In other circumstances she might have been pleasurably attracted by so much man. Just now though she wished him spindle-shanked and chicken-chested and anywhere but pushing her legs aside on the lounger so that he could sit down by her knees.
    "Mr. Randolph," Keri said, with as cool an intonation as she could contrive, which frankly wasn't much, "this is a surprise." An eyebrow lifted in sardonic amusement at this massive piece of understatement, but lowered again when she unwisely continued, "Just passing by?"
    Keri regretted this defensive bit of impudence as soon as it left her mouth, but it is hard to be coolly formal when dressed in a minuscule turquoise bikini and unexpectedly confronted by the devil on the doorstep, so to speak. With just a look he managed to make her feel gauche and vulnerable and it was all she could do not to huddle beneath the