Free Darling Enemy by Diana Palmer Page A

figure relax visibly, and frowned thoughtfully. Then they were underway again, with only the radio to break the silence that lasted until they reached Gray Stag.
    * * *
    “Did he start on you again?” Jenna asked as they went upstairs that night.
    Teddi only nodded, going into her room, aware that Jenna had followed.
    Jenna closed the door and sat down on Teddi’s blue coverlet, her hands folded, watching her friend pause by the darkened window and stare blankly out of it.
    “And what else?” Jenna pursued. “You come back home looking like a ghost, King goes out and doesn’t come back...even Mother, bless her, noticed something was wrong.”
    “I can’t talk about it,” Teddi whispered. She sighed. “Jenna, I think I’d better go back to New York in the morning.”
    “No!” Jenna jumped to her feet and caught Teddi’s hands. There was sadness in her whole look. “You’ve got to tell me what happened. Did he make a pass at you?”
    Teddi tried not to answer, but her own hesitation, the fright in her eyes gave her away.
    “You never told him what happened to you, did you?” Jenna asked knowingly, nodding when she read the answer in Teddi’s wide, haunted brown eyes.
    “Tell King? Give him a stick to hit me over the head with?” Teddi moaned. “He would have accused me of tempting the man, and you know it! He thinks I’m a tramp, and that’s how he treated me today.”
    “Oh, Teddi,” Jenna said sympathetically. “I think you underestimate King all the way around. Frankly I can’t see him making a pass at a woman he hates, it isn’t in character. He’s not a playboy, and he’s much too intense for love games.”
    Teddi turned away. “No, he’s not,” she mumbled darkly. “He hates me, all right, he’s shown me that. And now I’ve got to go away, don’t you see?”
    “At least wait until morning before you make any decisions,” Jenna pleaded, her face worried. “I know you’re upset, but sleep on it, please?”
    “It won’t change anything,” Teddi told her.
    “You don’t know that.” She caught Teddi by the arms and shook her gently, smiling. “Maybe King will decide to spend the rest of his life in Australia, have you considered that? Maybe he’s packing right now.”
    Teddi couldn’t help smiling, too. “I’m sure he is,” she muttered. “I can just see your brother running from a woman.”
    “Hasn’t he been running from you for years?” Jenna asked softly. “Sleep well. Things will work themselves out, truly they will. Good night.”
    Teddi paced the room after Jenna had left. Sleeping on it wouldn’t help; she couldn’t stay if King was going to treat her so shabbily. She’d wondered how she’d react to him if he ever made a pass, and now she knew. She’d panicked. But...but she hadn’t down by the lake, when he’d touched her so gently, caressed her so tenderly. She hadn’t been afraid, she’d wanted more. She folded her arms across her chest and sighed. If only he hadn’t come on so strong, perhaps she could have given him the response he wanted. She would have held nothing from him if he’d just been gentle.
    Now she was faced with going back to that empty apartment sooner than she planned. What if Dilly was there? Dilly was nobody’s idea of a mother. Saddled with the responsibility of caring for her brother’s child, Dilly had never liked Teddi. And when she’d broken with her boyfriend, he’d told her all sorts of lies about Teddi leading him on. That had placed a wall between them that had never come down. It never would, if Teddi knew her aunt. She’d be so glad when her education was completed and she could strike out on her own.
    She put on her nightgown and got into bed. She wouldn’t think about it, not about Dilly or King or the future, she told herself. But she did. And the night was the longest she’d spent in many long years.
    She was up long before the rest of them the next morning, finding the kitchen deserted when she went into