Eclipse Bay

political receptions. The speeches are boring and the food is bad.”
    For some inexplicable reason she started to laugh.

chapter 11
    With the exception of a few stray chuckles, she had herself under control by the time they got outside. Rafe glanced at her as they walked to the far side of the lot where the Porsche was parked.
    “Told you he was still a jerk.” He opened the passenger door for her.
    “You were right.” She slanted him a quick glance. “How long were you lurking there in that hallway outside the rest rooms?”
    “Long enough to hear most of the conversation.”
    She paused, half in and half out of the cockpit. Then she straightened and went up on her toes. Leaning over the top of the car window, she brushed her mouth very quickly against his cheek.
    “It really was sweet of you to offer to beat Perry up for me,” she said.
    He lifted his fingers absently to the place where her lips had touched his skin. In the weak glare of the parking lot lamp his eyes were shadowed, impossibly enigmatic. “That’s me, a real sweet guy.”
    She stepped back quickly and sank into the rich leather upholstery. “But I really didn’t need rescuing.”
    “’Course not. You’re a Harte.”
    “And Perry is just a jerk with a temper who’s always looking for an angle.”
    Rafe folded his arms on the top of the window frame and looked down at her. “Got news for you. It wasn’t you I was trying to rescue back there.”
    She stilled. “I beg your pardon?”
    “I just figured I’d better break up that little one-sided skirmish before you cast any more nasty aspersions on Decatur’s masculinity.”
    She was not quite sure how to take that. “Oh.” She narrowed her eyes, trying to see his face against the pale light. “You, uh, care about Perry’s fragile male ego?”
    “Not particularly. But intimidation is a precious tool. Push a guy like Decatur too hard, and it can backfire on you. He might try to take revenge.”
    “Hah. There’s nothing he can do to me.”
    “Not to you maybe, but he could sure make life hell at the institute for your friend’s husband.”
    She stared at him for a beat or two as the implications sank in. “You’re right. If Brad gets the appointment, he’ll have to work with Perry, won’t he?”
    “Maybe not directly, but he won’t be able to avoid him altogether. They’ll be colleagues, after all. I’m sure Brad can take care of himself, but why make things any harder than necessary for him?”
    “Damn.” She drummed he fingers on the edge of the seat and gazed morosely through the front windshield. “I got a little carried away back there, didn’t I?”
    “Perfectly natural reaction,” he assured her. “Victory can make a person giddy.”
    “Apparently.” She frowned. “So how come it was okay for you to threaten to bounce him around, but it wasn’t okay for me to make rude remarks?”
    He exhaled with an air of long-suffering patience. “Because I’m a man and I was making a direct threat.”
    “Ah, yes, I get it.” She nodded wisely. “Macho challenge stuff.”
    “A challenge that Decatur was never forced to answer or back down from because you intervened, thus saving both his bacon and his pride.”
    She thought about that. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you? You knew I’d put a stop to anything that looked as if it would turn into real violence.”
    “Pretty sure, yeah.”
    “How did you know that?”
    He grinned. “Instinct.”
    “Yours or mine?”
    “Yours.”
    She pursed her lips. “You mean you just assumed that because I’m female I would automatically move to stop a couple of males from getting into a brawl?”
    “It had nothing to do with the fact that you’re female. Believe me, I’ve met women who love to watch men fight. But I figured that any successful wedding consultant would have developed finely-tuned radar when it comes to scenes. The last thing anyone wants at a wedding is a brawl, right?”
    “Well, yes, that’s true, of course.”
    “I figured you’d be good at intervening in a confrontation,” he concluded a little too innocently.
    “Hmm.”
    “And you did get in a few zingers,” he reminded her. “I heard them. Decatur took some well-placed hits.”
    She thought about Perry’s words. No wonder your engagement fell apart. What man in his right mind wants to go to bed every night with a woman who can’t stop lecturing? The invisible balloon of her triumph began to deflate.
    She exhaled deeply.