Kiss an Angel(49)

“Then the menagerie’s all yours.”

As he walked away, it occurred to her that every time she cast him as the principal villain in her life, he surprised her. She also realized she was no longer afraid of him. Not really. His code was a harsh one, and, in her eyes, unfair, but he always acted within its framework, and she couldn’t imagine him ever compromising what he believed in.

For the next few hours, she hosed down the cages and cleaned away the accumulated filth while she tried to stay as far from the animals as possible. When she was finally done, she was even dirtier than when she’d started since she’d added mud to the rest of the grime that covered her.

She coerced one of the workers into moving Sinjun’s cage to the shade, then put out fresh hay for Chester and Lollipop. The camel tried to kick her, but the llama remained placid, and as Daisy gazed into Lollipop’s bedroom eyes, she decided she’d finally found an animal she liked. “You’re a sweet lady, Lollipop. Maybe the two of us are going to get along.”

The llama drew back her lips and shot a glob of smelly spit directly at her.

So much for gratitude.





10




Alex decided he had never seen anything more pitiful in his life than his poor little ditz of a wife. He turned away from the pot of chili he was making to watch her stumble into the trailer, her clothes filthier than those of the most ill-kempt workers. Pieces of hay and the residue from several kinds of animal feed clung to what was left of her ponytail. Her arms were streaked with mud. She also stank.

Since he’d been the target of an annoyed llama more than once himself, he recognized the smell. “Got too close to Lollipop, did you?”

She muttered something indecipherable and dragged herself toward the donnicker.

He smiled as he stirred the chili. “I didn’t quite catch that. What did you say?”

Her response came to him in the polite, well-bred accent of a young woman accustomed to the finer things in life. “Go to blazes.” She shut the door with a thud.

He chuckled. “I take it that was your first encounter with a llama?”

She didn’t reply.

He threw in another tablespoon of chili powder, added some hot sauce for good measure, and took a taste. Too bland.

There was still no sound from the donnicker, not even running water. With a frown, he set down the hot sauce. “Daisy?” When she didn’t answer, he made his way to the door and knocked. “Daisy? Are you all right?”

Nothing.

He turned the knob and looked inside to see her standing frozen in front of the mirror with tears creeping soundlessly down her cheeks as she stared at her reflection.

Something soft and unfamiliar turned over inside him. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

She didn’t move, and the tears continued to trail down her cheeks. “I was never really pretty, not like my mother, but now I’m ugly.”

Instead of irritating him, her badly battered vanity seemed somehow touching. “I think you’re beautiful, angel face, even dirty. You’ll feel better after you’re cleaned up.”

She remained motionless, gazing at her reflection while the tears dripped off her chin.

He crouched down beside her, lifted her legs one by one, and pulled off her sneakers and socks.

“Please go away.” She spoke with the same quiet dignity he’d observed several times in the past ten days as she’d struggled to complete one difficult task after another. “You’re just doing this because I’m crying again, but it’s only because I’m tired. I’m sorry. You mustn’t mind.”

“I didn’t even notice you were crying,” he lied, unsnapping her jeans and, after a moment’s hesitation, pulling them down over her hips. The sweet sweep of those slim legs instantly aroused him, and he had to tear his gaze away from the enticing triangle made by her mint green panties.

How much longer was he going to be able to keep his hands off her? For the past week and a half, she’d been so tired she could barely stand up, but all he could think about was burying himself in her soft, pliant body. It had gotten to the point where he couldn’t even look at her without getting hard, and that irritated the hell out of him. He liked to be in control of every aspect of his life, and he clearly wasn’t in control of this one.

Even a woman who’d been raised in the circus would have had a hard time keeping up with all the work he’d thrown at Daisy. He kept telling himself it would only be a matter of days—hours even—before she’d throw in the towel and leave. That meant he couldn’t touch her, not the way he wanted to. Sex between them at this point would only complicate the situation, and no matter what his body wanted, he had to leave her alone.

But she still hadn’t given up, and he didn’t know how much longer he could stay away from her. When he fell into bed at night, he was so aware of her curled up on the couch only a few yards away that he had trouble falling asleep. And just the sight of her during the day was making it impossible for him to concentrate on his work.

Why hadn’t she left? She was soft. Weak. She cried at the drop of a hat. But even as he tore apart her character, he remembered that she’d found the guts to take on Neeco Martin and champion those poor, sad creatures in the menagerie. Daisy Devreaux Markov wasn’t quite the weakling he’d thought.