Enthralled (8 page)

Her house had
always given her a quiet joy and a sense of peace. She'd decorated it with
potted plants against cream-colored walls and trim and cheerful blue, red and
cream braided rugs to compliment the stone fireplace. Now the place seemed a
veritable torture chamber. When she beat eggs to make an omelet for supper, she
saw Chazz's face in the swirling mixture. When she watched dramas on TV, she
saw him dashing through the air with athletic ease to rescue the damsel in
distress. It did no good to tell herself that the actor wasn't Chazz, that he
wasn't kissing the full-breasted blonde. She still writhed with jealous anger.
She considered talking to Alison James, the staff psychologist, but she
couldn't face discussing Chazz with anyone. So she buried herself in work. It
didn't solve the problem, but it helped.

Teel hadn't planned to
accompany the children to New York, but two days before departure one of the
coaches came down with the flu. Teel crossed her fingers that it wouldn't
spread to other teachers or the children and said she'd help chaperon.

"I'm so glad you're
going, Teel," Nancy Weil shouted over the heads of the noisy children she
and Teel were shepherding onto the bus. "I couldn't believe how much you
had gone through until that man from
Day
magazine came to interview you—Stop that, Timmy. No, get on
the bus, the cat can't come—It must have been horrible for you."

"It was, but I hope you
don't think you and I are going to rest in New York with this crew." Teel
laughed.

Nancy
screwed up her face. "I don't mind the kids at all, but
sometimes the parents are tough going." She shrugged as she and Teel took
their seats with the other moderators.

"When the children have
reached this level in sports, we don't usually have much trouble," Teel
soothed. "It's the parents whose children have never done much
athletically who are the most fearful."

"Well. I'm not going to
worry," Nancy said firmly. "I'll just watch you and do the
same."

As Nancy took a cat nap, Teel
watched the rolling bills of New York state, but she was barely conscious of
the pine woods, the granite cliffs, or the mountains marked with ski runs. She
hardly noticed the last-ditch skiers who were taking advantage of the late
spring snows.

All Teel could see was Chazz's
face. It was like having a constant toothache, she thought. It was like being
caught in a trap. She shook her head, trying to force his image from her mind.

They arrived in New York with few mishaps. Their hotel, the Saratoga, was past its prime but had the
advantages of being able to accommodate all the children competing and being
located fairly close to Madison Square Garden. Even so, they would let none of
the children walk there. Teel was adamant on that point. The bus would take
them back and forth, not only for practice sessions that afternoon but also to
the finals at the Garden the next day.

Nancy
came puffing up to Teel as she got the children ready for
the trip to the practice session. "I need two huggers," she
explained. "Somehow they missed the bus. Where am I going to find two
people to greet each child at the end of each event with a hug and tell them
well done? It's so important that they all feel like winners."

"You and I will be
huggers," Teel decided. "There are already enough coaches." She
slapped the door of the bus and nodded to the driver, who pulled away from the
curb.

"I have to change into
sweats, then we can run over to the Garden." Teel smiled at Nancy as they strode across the lobby to the elevators.

"I hope you don't mean
that literally." Nancy sagged against the wall of the elevator.

Teel laughed and headed for
her small single room on the eighth floor. She had no desire to share a room
with someone. Since her return from the
Deirdre
she had suffered chronic insomnia. There were many nights
when she tossed and turned until dawn.

In minutes she had taken a
quick shower and donned the emerald green sweats with the white stripe down the
sides. She could almost hear Aunt Tessa's words of approval when she'd first
seen them. "Teel, my dear, the color is perfect for.. .everyone."
Tessa had given her niece an impish smile when Teel had laughed and called her
Irish.

Teel's aunt had spent three
days with her after her return from the
Deirdre.
Tessa had always been able to smooth Teel's
rough edges, but this time the job had been too tough. Nothing seemed to take
Teel's mind from Chazz Herman for long.

She sighed and tightened the
laces on her pale green running shoes. They were as comfortable as slippers.
She zipped her money and identification card into an inner pocket and took the
elevator to the lobby.

As soon as Nancy joined her,
they left the hotel. Despite Nancy's complaint about running to the Garden, she
was an inveterate jogger, and the two women found a mutual rhythm to their
running almost at once.

"I didn't believe all
those stories about New York until now," Nancy huffed into Teel's ear as
they jogged in place at a side street, pausing to let traffic pass.

"What do you mean?"
Teel puffed back as they crossed with the light.

"A really gorgeous car
has been following us for the last half block. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be
accosted in a Ferrari?" Nancy quipped sarcastically.

Teel gave a breathless laugh
but refrained from looking at the well-heeled stalker. "Don't pay any
attention. Whoever it is probably gets his kicks from intimidating joggers.
Just ignore him."

Madison
Square Garden
came into
view. At the door the two women paused to identify themselves and were shown
the door for the athletes and workers.

The next hours passed in a
whirl. Both Nancy and Teel acted as huggers as well as gofers for misplaced
items. When a co-worker tapped Teel on the shoulder and told her he would spell
her awhile, she sagged and gave him a relieved smile. She was starving. She
hadn't been hungry for breakfast, and lunchtime had slipped away, but now she
realized that the day's physical activity had made her hungrier than she had
been since her return from the
Deirdre.

She grimaced at the long line
in front of the refreshment stand as she passed there on her way to the ladies'
room. On her return the lines were no shorter. Resigning herself to a long
wait, Teel took her place. When she felt the nudge at her back, she assumed it
was someone behind her getting into line and didn't turn around.

"Damn you. Trying to
convince me you were a nun, then running out on me. You must have taken me for
thirty kinds of a fool, lady." The silky growl in Teel's ear made the hair
on her arms and neck stand straight up and sent the blood draining from her
limbs. A wave of dizziness swept over her.

She reeled in shock, and her
legs wouldn't accept the command from her brain to run. Her shoes felt cemented
to the floor.

"Turn around and face me,
Sister Terese Ellen."
The voice had the jarring effect of a jackhammer breaking
through concrete. Chazz lifted her out of line with an ease that panicked her.
"So what do I call you now?" he asked in a menacing tone.
"Terese Ellen? Or Teel, as your aunt and the authorities at your school
call you?"

Teel licked dry lips, noting
that his eyes followed the movement. "You've known since the beginning,
haven't you?" she said.

"Almost. Yes.
Why the hell didn't you tell me yourself? I gave you enough opportunity,"
Chazz exclaimed, apparently oblivious of the people thronging around them,.

"Protection."
Teel felt the curious stares of onlookers free herself but to no avail.
"Will you let me go?" the words out of her mouth, feeling shockwaves
through her at his touch. "Many of the people here are parents of my
students. I do not enjoy making a spectacle of myself in front of them."

"Damn you, you lied to
me! By not telling me who you were." His teeth snapped shut like fangs.

"I told you all you
needed to know about me," she retorted.” My name is Terese Ellen Barrett,
and that's what I told Darby. He assumed I was a nun." She glared up at
Chazz. "Why are you complaining? Why didn't you just come out and tell me
that you knew who I was? You're just as guilty of subterfuge as I am. Why
weren't you honest with me?

"You began the charade. I
just continued it."

"On board your yacht I
thought it better to pretend to be a nun," Teel blurted out, trying not to
shout yet struggling to free herself at the same time.

"As I recall, darling,
your masquerade didn't work," Chazz drawled. Teel's neck and cheeks grew
hot with embarrassment. "Shy, darling? It's a little late for that, isn't
it?"

"You knew I
wasn't a nun," Teel hissed. "You should have said something. Stop
grinning, you...you bastard." She tried to kick him in the shin. She
wanted to bury him up to his eyebrows in sand.

"Bastard, am I? After
what you put me through in the last month, I ought to drag you out of here by
your hair," Chazz snapped.

"Tough!" she threw
back at him, fury overriding prudence.

He hauled her hard against his
chest, knocking the breath from her body. She could only stare up at him, her
eyes wide, mouth agape. His own mouth fastened on hers in a moving, searching
caress that horrified her. Then his kiss blotted out all of her senses,
blinding her, deafening her, drowning her in Chazz. There was no world but him.
Her body betrayed her, and she moved closer to him just before he released her.

"You're
mine," he gasped, his amber eyes leaping with liquid fire. "And I'm
taking what is mine. You're coming with me to get something to eat now. You've
been working too hard."

"I can't leave."
Teel swayed, her voice unsteady.

"I'll have you back in a
little while. I'll just make a call, then we'll go." He pulled her behind
him, not looking left or right.

Teel was faintly aware of Nancy calling to her, but Chazz's rapid strides made it impossible for her to turn around.
"Where are we going? I won't go." She struggled against his grip on
her arm, but her efforts were useless. She sailed along behind him like the
dinghy following the
Deirdre.

Chazz kept Teel
clamped to his side even as he dialed and spoke into the phone in terse
sentences. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Nancy behind her, hands
clasped anxiously.

"Should I get
security?" Nancy mouthed, her throat working with concern as her eyes
darted from Teel's face to Chazz's hand manacled to her wrist.

Teel had opened her mouth to
say yes when she was suddenly whirled around, her back to the phone booth,
Chazz at her side. "Who's this?" he growled, nodding toward Nancy.

Teel glowered up at him.
"Don't you dare pull that Hitler act on Nancy," she panted, anger
making her out of breath. "This isn't the deck of the
Deirdre.
You have no authority
here."

"No?" he cooed,
making Nancy jump.

"No!" Teel flung the
words at him, using her free hand to try to pry the other from his grip.
"You try your strong arm tactics here and I'll have you thrown into the
slammer." She thrust out her jaw, itching to place a well- aimed running
shoe into his midsection.

"Introduce your friend.
Then we'll leave." Chazz transferred his grip to the left hand and held
out his right to Nancy, who leaped backward in alarm. "I'm Chazz Herman
and I'm taking Miss Barrett to lunch. Any objections?" he snapped.

"From me?" Nancy replied. "Hell, no."

"Nancy!" Teel cried, grimacing at her friend and jerking her head toward the uniformed
security guard who was passing fifty yards away through the press of people.

"Survival.
That's the key word," Nancy muttered, giving Teel a weak smile, then
beginning to edge away.

"Bright
girl," Chazz pronounced, giving Teel a gentle smile that had all the
sweetness of a barracuda on the prowl.

Teel sagged in defeat as Nancy disappeared into the crowd. She looked back at Chazz, whose expression was serene,
and hauled in a deep breath. "Mussolini," she hissed.

Once again Chazz began pulling
her after him, down a long tunnel and through double steel doors to the
outside. He didn't stop until he reached a Ferrari parked in a loading zone.

Teel prayed he'd been ticketed
and was incensed not to find a slip of paper under the windshield wiper.
"Carpetbagger," she seethed as he pushed her into the passenger seat,
then hopped around the car and under the wheel before she could figure out how
to open the door.

"Don't bother, love. It's
locked at the wheel." Chazz smiled wickedly at her and fired the engine.

"Bandit,"
she growled Then something clicked in her head, and she flung herself around to
face him. "Were you in the car Nancy saw following us this morning?"

He nodded. "Fasten your
seat belt."

"Monster."
she said. "You should be arrested. How dare you harass innocent women .
"