Shades of Twilight

People milling about in the room had noticed Webb, and an agitated buzz was growing in volume. Roanna glanced at Webb, and the glint in his green eyes told her that he was well aware of the stir his presence was causing and wasn’t the least concerned about it.

"Don’t think you’re off the hook," he said to Roanna, turning a smite on her.

"Just because I’m home doesn’t mean you get to goof off from now on. We’ll probably come to the meetings together."

Despite her shock, Roanna nodded gravely.

Webb looked at his watch.

"Don’t you have a lunch engagement in Florence? You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry."

"I’m on my way.

"Bye, Chet."

"See you at the next meeting," the commissioner said, still in that falsely jovial tone as she maneuvered past him and into the hallway.

"I’ll walk you to your car." Webb nodded at the commissioner and turned to fall into step with Roanna. She was acutely aware of him just at her elbow as they walked down the hall. His tall form easily dominated her even though she was wearing high heels. She didn’t know what to think about what had just happened, so she didn’t let herself jump to any conclusions. Maybe he truly intended they should work together, maybe he’d just been saying that to smooth the way. Only time would tell, and she wouldn’t let herself hope. If she didn’t hope, then she couldn’t be disappointed.

A wave of double takes followed them down the hall as people recognized Webb and turned to stare. Roanna walked faster, wanting to get out of the building before a confrontation could develop. She reached the end of the hall, and Webb’s arm extended in front of her to open the door. She felt the brush of his body against her back.

They exited into the glare and sticky humidity of the hot summer morning. Roanna fished her keys out of purse and slipped her sunglasses on her nose.

"What made you come to town?" she asked.

"I wasn’t expecting you."

"I figured now was as good a time to break the ice as any."

1 193

His long legs easily kept up with her hurried pace.

"Slow down, it’s too hot for a race."

Obediently she slacked her pace. Her car was parked close to the end of a row, and if she hurried all that distance, she "Were would be drenched in sweat by the time she got to it.

you serious about the meetings?" she asked.

"Dead serious." He had put on his own sunglasses, and the dark lenses kept her from reading his expression. "You already know "Lucinda has been singing your praises. Y what’s going on, so I’d be a fool if I didn’t use you."

One thing Webb wasn’t, particularly where business was concerned, was a fool. Roanna felt a wave of dizziness at the thought of actually working with him. She had been prepared for anything, she’d thought, from being ignored to being evicted, but she hadn’t considered that he would want her help.

They reached her car, and Webb plucked the keys from her hand. He unlocked the door and opened it, then handed the keys back. She waited a moment for the wave of pent-up heat in the car to dissipate, then slipped behind the wheel.

"Be careful," he said, and closed the door.

Roanna glanced in the rearview mirror as she pulled out of the parking lot. He was striding back toward the building; perhaps he was parked up that way, or he was going back inside. She let her gaze move hungrily over that wide, muscled back and long legs, just for a second’s delight, then she forced her attention back to her driving and merged into traffic. Webb unlocked his own car and got inside. The impulse that had sent him into town had been a simple one, but strong. He had wanted to see Roanna. That was all, just see her. After the disturbing things Lucinda had told him, the old protective instincts had taken over and he’d wanted to see for himself that she was all right.

She was, of course, more than all right. He had seen for himself how deftly she had handled Chet Forrister, her composure unruffled by the commissioner’s opposition and on Webb’s own behalf. Now he understood exactly what Lucinda had been telling him when she’d said Roanna was stronger, that she’d changed. Roanna no longer needed him to fight her battles.

The realization left him feeling oddly bereft.

He should have been glad, for her sake. The young Roanna had been so painfully vulnerable, an easy target for anyone who wanted to take a verbal potshot at her tender emotions. He had constantly been stepping in to shield her, and his reward had been her unflagging adoration Now she had forged her own armor. She was cool and self-contained, almost emotionless, keeping people at a distance so their slings and arrows couldn’t reach her. She had paid for that armor with pain and despair, almost with her own life, but the steel was strong. She still suffered, in the form of insomnia and nightmares when she did manage to sleep, but she handled her own problems now When he had walked into Davencourt today and seen her standing there on the stairs, wearing that elegantly understated silk dress and creamy pearls, with her dark chestnut hair in a sleek, sophisticated style, he had been rendered almost speechless at the contrast between the rowdy, untidy girl she had been and the classy, classic woman she was now.

She was still Roanna, but she was different. When he looked at her now, he didn’t see the urchin with the unruly tongue, the awkward teenager, He looked at her and thought of the slender body beneath the silk dress, the texture of her skin that rivaled the dress in luxurious silkiness, the way her nipples had peaked at his slightest touch during those long hours in the motel in Nogales.

He had covered her naked body with his own, pulled her legs wide open, and taken her virginity. Even now, sitting in the contained, roasting heat of the car, he shivered with the power of the memory- God, he remembered every little detail-how it had felt pushing into her, the hot, soft tightness of her body as he sheathed himself inside her. He remembered how delicate she had felt beneath him, her