The Welcoming

right interrupting me when I was welcoming guests. Then, to make matters worse, you decide to play Rhett Butler.”
    “As I recall, he had something entirely different in mind when he carried another stubborn woman up to bed.” He dropped her, none too gently, on the mattress. “You’re going to rest.”
    “I’m tempted to tell you to go to hell.”
    He leaned down to cage her head between his hands. “Be my guest.”
    She’d be damned if she’d smile. “My manners are too ingrained to permit it.”
    “Aren’t I the lucky one?” He leaned a little closer. There was amusement in his eyes now, enough of it so she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. “I don’t want you to get out of this bed for sixty minutes.”
    “Or?”
    “Or . . . I’ll sic Mae on you.”
    “A low blow, DeWinter.”
    He brushed a kiss just below the fresh bandage on her temple. “Tune out for an hour, baby. It won’t kill you.”
    She reached up to toy with the top button of his shirt. “I’d like it better if you got in with me.”
    “I said tuned out, not turned on.” When the phone in the parlor rang, he held her down with one hand. “Not a chance. Stay here and I’ll get it.”
    She rolled her eyes behind his back as he walked into the adjoining room.
    “Yes? She’s resting. Tell him she’ll get back to him in an hour. Hold her calls until four. That’s right.” He glanced down idly at a catalog she’d left open on her desk. She had circled a carved gold bracelet with a square-cut purple stone. “You handle whatever needs to be handled for the next hour. That’s right.”
    “What was it?” Charity called from the next room.
    “I’ll tell you in an hour.”
    “Damn it, Roman.”
    He stopped in the doorway. “You want the message, I’ll give it to you in an hour.”
    “But if it’s important—”
    “It’s not.”
    She sent him a smoldering look. “How do you know?”
    “I know it’s not more important than you. Nothing is.” He closed the door on her astonished expression.
    He needed to keep Bob on a tight leash, he thought as he headed downstairs. As long as he was more afraid of him than of Block, things would be fine. He only had to keep the pressure on for a few more days. Block and Vision Tours would be checking in on Tuesday. When they checked out on Thursday morning he would lock the cage.
    Roman pushed open the door of the office to find Bob staring at the computer screen and gulping coffee. “For somebody who’s made his living from scams you’re a mess.”
    Bob gulped more coffee. “I never worked with a cop looking over my shoulder before.”
    “Just think of me as your new partner,” Roman advised him. He took the mug out of his hand and sniffed at it. “And lay off the booze.”
    “Give me a break.”
    “I’m giving you more of one than you deserve. Charity’s worried that you’re coming down with something—something other than a stretch in federal prison. I don’t want her worrying.”
    “Look, you want me to carry on like it’s business as usual. I’m lying to Block, setting him up.” His hand shook as he passed it over his hair. “You don’t know what he’s capable of.
I
don’t know what he’s capable of.” He looked at the mug, which Roman had set out of reach. “I need a little something to help me through the next few days.”
    “Let this get you through.” Roman calmly lit a cigarette. “You pull this off and I’ll go to bat for you. Screw up and I’ll see to it that you’re in a cage for a long time. Now take a break.”
    “What?”
    “I said, take a break, go for a walk, get some real coffee.” Roman tapped the ash from his cigarette into a little mosaic bowl.
    “Sure.” As he rose, Bob rubbed his palms on his thighs. “Look, DeWinter, I’m playing it straight with you. When this goes down, I expect you to keep Block off me.”
    “I’ll take care of Block.” That was a promise he intended to keep. When the door closed behind Bob, he picked up the phone. “DeWinter,” he said when the connection was made.
    “Make it quick,” Conby told him. “I’m entertaining friends.”
    “I’ll try not to let your martini get warm. I want to know if you’ve located the driver.”
    “DeWinter, an underling is hardly important at this point.”
    “It’s important to me. Have you found him?”
    “A man answering the description your informant gave you was detained in Tacoma this morning. He’s being held for questioning by the