The Ties That Bind (19 page)

"I've got to get back to San Jose," Garth finally stated.

"I realize that. You've got a business to run. With that proposal due in to
Carstairs
by Monday, you can't be running around the countryside."

Garth nodded thoughtfully. "This whole thing is too hot. There are too many unknown factors here, including the possibility that whoever is responsible for the theft is getting very desperate. It looks like it's a much bigger mess than I originally figured. I need to be where I can keep an eye on
Sherilectronics
. I've got to find out what's going on and who's trying to betray me. There's nothing I can do here on the coast."

"Of course," Shannon said quietly.

"And I need you where I can keep an eye on you," he concluded. "You'd better pack a bag, Shannon. I'm taking you back to San Jose with me."

Shannon's cup came down on the saucer with a small crash. Her eyes widened in protest and astonishment. "Garth, I can't go back with you. I've got the first shipment of tote bags to finish. Even with Annie's help it's going to take me right through the weekend to finish the sewing process. Then I have to pack and ship them."

"Shannon, your neck is a lot more important than your tote bags!"

"My tote bags are as important to me as
Sherilectronics
is to you, Garth. I'm not going to blow my first big order by failing to meet the deadline. I have to stay here and finish them."

Garth surged to his feet, pacing across the kitchen with a scowl on his face. "I can't leave you here alone," he bit out.

"I can't come with you."

"Damn it," he grated, swinging around to glower at her, "for the past few weeks you've done nothing but try to push your way into my San Jose life. Now that I'm offering to take you back with me, you dig in your heels."

"I don't call dragging me back to San Jose so that you can keep your eagle eye on me an example of sharing your world with me, Garth. You're just trying to kill two birds with one stone. You want to keep tabs on
Sherilectronics
during this crucial juncture and you feel you should also keep tabs on me."

He planted both hands on the table in front of her and leaned forward. "You bet your sweet tail I feel obliged to keep an eye on you. After what happened here last night, what do you expect?"

"You're not responsible for me, Garth."

"The hell I'm not."

"We're involved in a weekend affair. That's the sum total of the arrangement, and frankly that doesn't say a great deal. It certainly doesn't imply that you should be excessively concerned about my well-being. I'll exercise due caution until Monday. Take your stupid bid package back to San Jose and worry about finding the thief. I'll be fine."

"Now you listen to me, Shannon
Raine
." Each word was harsh with leashed fury. "I've had a rough night and a long drive. I'm in no mood to put up with your artistic temperament. You're going to be reasonable and rational about this. And that means you will pack a bag and come back to San Jose with me."

Shannon was almost overwhelmed by the force of the command in him. It took all her nerve to hold her ground. "I don't know how to tell you this. Garth, but for some reason I've lost all interest in San Jose and what it represents. You're welcome to it. And you don't have to worry, I won't be pushing you anymore to make me a part of your life there. I've decided I don't particularly like your Silicon Valley world, Garth. I agree with you. We should keep our relationship limited to the weekends."

"You're upset and you're not thinking logically, honey. Stop arguing with me and trust me to do what's best for you."

"You don't know me well enough to know what's best for me. And if the only time we see each other is on an occasional weekend, you probably won't ever get to the point where you know what's good for me." She was getting hysterical and she knew it. Shannon reined in her volatile emotions, striving to bring them under control. She had to keep calm or Garth would take over.

"You must see that I've got to get back to San Jose," Garth said through gritted teeth. "Someone is trying to betray me. I've got to stop him, and I don't have a chance of doing that if I stay here."

"Go."

"I'm not leaving you here alone!"

"I'm not coming with you."

Garth's eyes were twin pools of ice as he glared down at her. Then quite suddenly he was straightening and heading out of the kitchen. Shannon watched warily as he disappeared into the living room. "Garth?"

She got up and followed as far as the kitchen door. Garth was dialing her phone. "Garth, what are you doing? Who are you calling?"

"Bailey Security. I'm going to have them assign someone to watch this cottage night and day until I can get back here. If you insist on staying here alone, Shannon, I'm going to make sure you have a bodyguard."

Shannon was floored. "Garth, you can't do that. I won't stand for it!"

"You," he told her coolly, "don't have any choice."

THE BALLEY OPERATIVE was as discreet as possible. Shannon gave him credit for that much, at least. But every time she glanced out her window she could see his incredibly nondescript car sitting across the road. The figure inside the vehicle was that of a man. Slightly balding, slightly built and slightly self-effacing, he had been quite polite in the face of Shannon's obvious disgust with the entire situation. He had introduced himself to Garth and Shannon as Ted Walters, and physically he was as nondescript as his car. Shannon had gloomily decided that was probably an asset in his business.

"Well, at least he's not going to be baby-sitting me inside the house," Shannon remarked irritably as Garth prepared to take his leave. It had taken Ted Walters nearly two hours to arrive from one of Bailey's branch offices. Garth had stayed with Shannon until the security man was in place.

"I don't want him inside your cottage," Garth told her. "I want him out there where he can keep an eye on things. That way he won't be underfoot. You'll be able to go about your normal routine without being aware of him."

"Oh, sure. And when my friends ask me why a beige Ford has been parked across the street for a couple of days I can always tell them he's a traveling salesman."

Garth reacted to the gibe. It was the first time he had responded with anything but quiet, inflexible patience to Shannon's increasingly angry comments. Perhaps it had been his cold determination that had fed her sense of outrage. If he had argued with her, even yelled at her, she might have at least gotten some satisfaction from yelling back. Instead he had simply made the arrangements he wanted and refused to discuss them with her. Now he was almost ready to leave, and Shannon had reached the end of her own patience. She stood facing Garth with her hands on her hips, her head thrown back and the light of battle in her eyes. Garth watched her with considering eyes for a moment and then stepped forward. He gripped her shoulders, keeping his voice dangerously soft.

"You will not tell your friends anything, Shannon. There is nothing they need to know. This will all be over in a couple of days. With luck, by the weekend. I'm going to go back to San Jose and clean up this mess. In the meantime, I don't want to take any chances on this end. Logically, you should be in the clear by now. Whoever's behind this must know the police were called and that I'm alerted. But just in case, Walters and his relief man are going to keep an eye on this place. You don't have to worry about anything except getting that damn tote bag order filled. It seems to be the most important thing in your life, so stop sniping at me and get busy." He dropped his hands from her shoulders and turned toward the door.

"Garth, wait..." Shannon sucked in her breath on a sob of frustration and hurried after him. She caught up with him at the door. He stopped and faced her, eyes unreadable. "Be careful," she whispered. "Please, be careful."

For the first time since she had refused to return to San Jose with him, Garth's expression softened. He touched her cheek. "I'll be careful. Stop worrying, Shannon." He leaned over and brushed his mouth across hers. "I'll be back on Friday evening."

He was gone before she could think of anything else to say. Standing at the window, Shannon watched the Porsche slip out onto the road and disappear. For a few moments she remained where she was, trying to understand the emotional storm that seemed to have her in its grip.

She loved him, Shannon thought, but how could she tolerate the constant suspicion and betrayal that seemed so much a part of his world? It was true Garth had tried to keep her free of that side of his life, but Shannon had gotten involved anyway. He couldn't shield her forever-and she didn't want him to. She had to be able to share his world if she was going to continue the relationship. She had learned enough during the past few weeks to know she couldn't be just a weekend lover or a weekend wife.

Slowly Shannon turned away from the window and headed toward her studio. Working with a skill that was automatic, she set up the screen, applied the ink and went to work on the last portion of the canvas squares. Then she removed the wet canvas and put another in its place. Time passed as she labored, and when Shannon happened to glance at her watch she was vaguely surprised to find it was nearly noon. She wondered if Ted Walters was getting bored or hungry.

Stretching to get the kinks out of her back muscles, Shannon straightened away from the silk-screen frame and decided to make herself a bite to eat. Maybe she would show how broadminded she could be and offer Walters a sandwich or a cup of coffee.

She wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. The only things that looked appealing were a slab of cheese and some sprouts. Locating a loaf of whole-grain bread, Shannon set about making two thick sandwiches. Then she made coffee and poured a healthy dose of it into a large mug. Security guards probably didn't drink tea.

Feeling enormously kind and forgiving, Shannon picked up one sandwich and the oversize mug and opened the front door. After all, it was unfair to blame poor Ted Walters for what amounted to merely doing his job. It was hardly his fault Garth had demanded the services of a full-time baby-sitter for her. She smiled benignly as she opened the door, hoping to make amends for her less than polite greeting earlier.

Prepared for a hungry, grateful man sitting out a solitary vigil, Shannon was startled to see that the nondescript car was no longer parked across the road. For a moment she stood in the doorway, glancing around to see if Ted Walters had changed his location. There was no sign of him or the car.

Shannon closed the door again and went back to the kitchen to eat her own lunch. Perhaps security types had regular coffee and meal breaks, just like normal employees. The man hadn't knocked on her door with a request to use her plumbing facilities all morning. He might have taken a fifteen-minute break to search out his own now.

Deciding it really didn't matter to her, Shannon finished her meal and considered a short walk on the beach. She felt the need for some exercise before going back to work. Silk-screening was hard, physical labor that often left her muscles cramped and tired.

The day had turned out beautifully. All traces of fog had evaporated. In another couple of hours it would be genuinely warm. Shannon made her way down the short cliff to the rough beach and thought about her mad dash across the same territory the previous evening. She realized she had been lucky not to take a couple of really bad falls on the uneven ground.

Setting off toward the far end of the beach, Shannon walked briskly. The exercise felt good, clearing away some of the cobwebs from her troubled mind and loosening her muscles. Deliberately she considered her future.

She knew she was going to have to make some harsh decisions. True, she was in love, but no amount of passion was going to sustain her in the kind of relationship Garth seemed to want. Furthermore, the uncertainty she always felt when she tried to assess his emotions was as strong as ever. Valiantly, she tried to mentally list the pros and cons of her situation.

There could be no doubt that he desired her, Shannon thought wistfully. And she sensed that his possessiveness and feelings of responsibility toward her went deep. The fact that he had managed to convince himself she hadn't stolen the bid package was heartening. Shannon smiled grimly. All things considered, it was actually pretty remarkable that Garth had given her the benefit of the doubt. Judging from what she knew of his world and his past, she was aware that it would have been logical for him to assume the worst.

Of course, having him think of her as simply too unsophisticated and naive to know how to go about seducing and betraying him wasn't exactly a compliment. Shannon rebelled at the idea of being declared somewhat innocent by reason of stupidity. And as much as she loved him, she rebelled, too, at the notion of marriage to a man who wanted to keep her stashed away until the weekends. He wasn't just trying to protect her, Shannon knew intuitively. Garth was really trying to protect himself. He had practically admitted as much. He wanted to be able to use Shannon as a retreat and a refuge, not realizing that by so doing he was relegating her to only a minimal role in his life.

Not that she couldn't comprehend and even sympathize with his desire for an alternative to his working world, Shannon thought with an inner sigh. But she wondered whether he could learn to ever really love her as long as she was kept on the fringes of his life. A part of her clung to the knowledge that he wanted her to love him. She tried to tell herself it was a hopeful sign. But another more practical voice warned Shannon that she needed to be loved completely in return. She wasn't sure how long it would take a man like Garth to trust her and himself deeply enough to allow himself to risk loving her.

In many ways she had been right about him that first morning when she had followed him down to the beach and invited him to her dinner party. Garth's dark, brooding spirit was as complex and remote as that of any poet or writer. Unfortunately for her, she still felt the same compulsion to force her way past the barriers he was so good at erecting. It would be simpler, Shannon thought, if she could write Garth Sheridan off as a negative experience. But writing off the man you loved was easier said than done.