The Cutting Edge Read online

  She was so full of happiness that when the waiter rather sloppily served their food, she overflowed with joy and rewarded him with a smile that stopped him in his tracks, and he retreated with a rather stunned look on his face.

  “You look happy,” Billie understated dryly.

  “Do I?” Happy wasn’t the way she felt; she felt delirious with joy.

  “The waiter’s tongue is hanging out.” Then Billie laughed. “I take it you had an enjoyable weekend?”

  “I never thought it would happen this fast,” Tessa mused, answering Billie’s question obliquely. “I thought that it would grow gradually, like a building going up brick by brick.”

  “Brett Rutland doesn’t look like the type to have any patience with the brick-by-brick method. I never should have doubted you. The poor guy didn’t have a chance. Rather than warning you, I should’ve been warning him. So when’s the wedding?”

  “We haven’t discussed that,” Tessa answered serenely, never doubting that the subject would be discussed before too much longer. “If he can get away this weekend, he’s taking me to his ranch in Wyoming.”

  “Oh, ho! To meet the family?”

  “His father, anyway. They own the ranch together. He hasn’t mentioned any other family.”

  “No problem, then. Well, whaddaya know?” Billie sighed in intense satisfaction. “We have great timing. Both of us, in the same weekend.”

  Surprised, Tessa looked at Billie’s bright, smiling face, then glanced quickly at Billie’s left hand. A sparkling diamond adorned it. She shrieked, then jumped up to pull Billie out of her chair and hug her. “You sneak!” she chortled. “You didn’t even tell me you were getting serious about anyone! Well, who is it? David? Ron? No, I know, don’t tell me! I know!”

  “You do not,” Billie laughed, ignoring the scene they were making in the restaurant.

  “Patrick!”

  “How did you know?” Billie yelped; then they were hugging each other again.

  “This calls for a toast,” Tessa proclaimed, picking up her glass of bottled water with the twist of lime that she liked in it. “To Billie and Patrick!”

  “To Tessa and Brett!” Billie picked up her teacup, and they clicked cup and glass together, then drank toasts to each other. When they resumed their seats, Billie said, “Well, how did you know?”

  “Elementary, my dear Billingsley.” Tessa sniffed. “Patrick is obviously smarter than the other two.”

  Billie had been dating Patrick Hamilton, as well as her other two suitors, for almost a year, but she’d never revealed any partiality to any of them. In Tessa’s opinion, though, Patrick was definitely the best man for Billie. He was a civil engineer, more at home in jeans and a hard hat than he’d ever be in a suit, but with a self-assured masculinity that would do wonders to Billie’s rather delicate ego.

  “Thanks,” Billie said softly. “What would I have done without you?”

  “Met and married him anyway. I told you, Patrick is smart.”

  “He’d never even looked at me twice before you came along and stopped me from looking like an escapee from a punk rock concert. I knew what you were doing, but I pretended not to notice,” Billie admitted a little shyly. “When Patrick asked me out, I had to pinch myself so I’d know it was real. I mean, look at him! And look at me. I couldn’t believe it; I didn’t even let myself hope. But this weekend…well, he’ll be leaving the country on a job that’ll keep him gone for almost two years, and he…he put this ring on my finger and flatly informed me that there was no way in hell—his words—he was going to spend two years without me, so I’d have to quit my job and go to Brazil with him.” She grinned. “I almost sprained my tongue, I said yes so fast. I’ll be turning in my notice at the end of this month.”

  They were so caught up in their celebrating that they were almost late getting back to work, and Tessa sailed through the rest of the day on a cloud. Brett hadn’t called her to make plans for the night, but somehow she hadn’t expected him to. Their relationship had progressed to the point that she felt he knew she wouldn’t have any other plans, just as she knew that she’d see him that night. She didn’t even feel a twinge of regret when she turned down invitations from two men she liked very much. They simply weren’t Brett.

  After work, she rushed home and took a pack of beef tips out of the freezer section of the refrigerator, putting it in the sink to thaw. She didn’t know what sort of work Brett was doing, but she’d seen the strain of it in his face when he’d shown up yesterday afternoon. He was tired; if he wanted dinner, they’d eat there. And if he had to work, she had to have dinner anyway, she thought philosophically, though she felt lonely at the mere thought of not seeing him that night.

  She stopped in the middle of the kitchen floor, her eyes dreamy, her pulse speeding up. Until she’d met him, she hadn’t known she could be so sensual, but all she had to do was look at him to feel her body heating. She wanted him with an intensity that was alarming, because her life had become focused on him to the exclusion of all else. His lovemaking made her go out of her mind with feverish desire. She couldn’t control it, didn’t even want to control it. She just wanted to lie with him every night for the rest of her life. She wanted to have his children, fight with him, love with him, ride beside him on his ranch, flirt with him until his beautiful navy eyes smoldered with desire and he reached out for her in compulsive need. She couldn’t wait to tell Aunt Silver—

  Silver! Groaning, Tessa remembered that an airmail letter from Silver had been in her mailbox, but she’d been in such a hurry to get the beef tips out of the freezer that she’d just thrown everything on the couch and gone straight to the kitchen. After retracing her steps to the living room, she sorted through her mail, picking out the letter from Silver and tearing it open.

  Smiling, she read the long, newsy letter. The mountains were full of blooms, and the summer crowds had already begun pushing into Gatlinburg. The doll shop was doing so well that Silver had hired extra help, and she’d been approached by a man who wanted to buy the old farm in Sevierville, if Tessa was interested in selling her half.

  Silver didn’t mention Brett until the last paragraph, but Tessa laughed out loud when she read it. She’d known Silver’s instinct would zoom in on him like steel to a magnet. “Bring this Brett Rutland to see me,” Silver instructed in her letter. “Your handwriting shook when you wrote his name!”

  The doorbell rang, and still chuckling, Tessa laid the letter aside. Her heart had already begun racing when she opened the door, expecting Brett. But it wasn’t Brett who stood there. She didn’t know the man and woman who faced her. “Teresa Conway?” the woman asked.

  “Yes. Can I help you?”

  The woman opened the flap of her purse, exhibiting a badge. “I’m Detective Madison, from the L.A.P.D. This is Detective Warnick. We have a warrant for your arrest.”

  * * *

  IT WAS LATE that night when Tessa let herself back into her apartment, and she groped her way through the dark to the couch, not even thinking to turn on any lights. She sat down, Silver’s discarded letter crinkling under her, and she automatically removed the sheets of paper. Fine tremors shook her entire body, and she couldn’t stop them. She’d been shaking for hours, ever since the nightmare had begun. This wasn’t happening to her; it couldn’t be happening. She hadn’t believed Detective Madison, at first. She’d actually laughed, wanting to know who was behind the joke. Detective Warnick had read her her rights, gently but inexorably insisted that she get her purse and come with them, and still Tessa hadn’t believed it was anything serious. It wasn’t until she was escorted outside and put in the back seat of what was obviously an unmarked police car that she’d been struck with the realization that this was no joke, and it was then that she’d begun shaking.

  She’d been arrested for embezzling. She’d understood that much of what they’d told her. They’d told her a lot, but though she’d tried very hard to concentrate, most of it hadn’t made any sense. She was too