Duplicity Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Excerpt from Where Dolphins Go

  From Chapter One

  About Peggy Webb

  Other E-Books from Peggy Webb

  Duplicity

  by Peggy Webb

  Copyright

  Copyright 2011 Peggy Webb

  Cover design copyright 2011 Marc Fletcher

  Publishing history/ Bantam / September 1986

  www.peggywebb.com/

  Follow Peggy on Facebook

  Chapter One

  "You're late." Dr. Ellen Stanford looked up from the notes she was studying and assessed the man standing in her doorway. He had the muscles of a linebacker, piercing black eyes, and a little-boy smile.

  She sighed. Trust Rachelle to pick a football player.

  "You're taller than I wanted, but you’ll do." She set her notebook on a cluttered desk, perched on its edge, and crossed her legs. "Just so we have a clear understanding of this job from the outset, I am not paying you for sex—just to act as if we have it."

  The man didn't bat an eyelash. He simply leaned against the door and surveyed her with those unsettling eyes. By the time he got to her face, she felt like squirming. Now she knew how all those poor bugs she had studied under the microscope had felt. She wondered if she should go back to Duke University and apologize to them.

  "Rachelle didn't tell me your name," she said. "What is it?"

  "Dirk."

  She liked his voice, deep and rumbly, like thunder in the mountains. "That's it? Just Dirk."

  "Since we're not going to have sex, I think that's all you need to know." His expression was as unreadable as Beech Mountain. Only the twinkle in his eyes betrayed his amusement. "You can supply the rest."

  Ellen found her gaze wandering to his hips, noting the snug fit of his jeans, the powerful lines of his thighs. She almost blushed when she realized he was aware of where she was looking. Fortunately he didn't grin. If he had, she would have kicked him all the way down this North Carolina mountain, and she would have forgotten all about the family reunion.

  "I'll call you Smith," she said. "Easy to remember. You need to get acquainted with Gigi before we leave. She's out back waiting for her banana."

  o0o

  For the first time since he had entered the cabin, Dirk Benedict had second thoughts about going along with this charade. Somebody out back waiting for a banana sounded as if she would have all the appeal of his friend Anthony's snaggle-toothed cousin, Frances Jean.

  "Who's Gigi?" he asked.

  "My gorilla." The good doctor slid off her desk with the nonchalance of a person who had just claimed ownership of a tabby cat. "She's waiting to meet you. Right through those double doors and to the left. My assistant, Ruth Ann, will show you the way."

  She turned her back on him in dismissal, picked up the half glasses she wore for reading, and began making rapid notations in the margin of the report she was studying.

  Dirk gave her a final measuring look, adding the escaped red curl on the nape of her neck, the amber glint in her green eyes, and the graceful way she stood to his growing catalog of details.

  An extra burst of adrenaline pumped through his body as he shoved open the heavy doors and prepared to meet the gorilla. He chuckled to himself. For a man

  who had faced firing squads and assassins and some of the world's most powerful crime figures, one gorilla named Gigi should be a piece of cake.

  His overheated car radiator could wait. If that stunning woman in the white lab coat didn't find out his deception, this charade could prove to be just the thing he needed to take his mind off his work.

  o0o

  The minute Dirk was through the doors, Ellen breathed a sigh of relief. She was gifted with the power of total concentration, but right now her notes could not hold her attention.

  Why couldn't Rachelle have chosen somebody less imposing? she wondered. And why did that man have such a strong effect on her?

  She forced herself not to think about him, and to think about Gigi instead. The gorilla was making remarkable progress in the area of abstract thought. Although Ellen's work was labeled maverick and unsubstantiated by some of her colleagues, she believed that her methods of language research with gorillas would someday be the yardstick by which ail other research was measured. She became so absorbed in her work that she didn't hear the front door open.

  The young man, unsure of himself in the presence of a woman doctor, shifted from one foot to the other, and finally worked up enough courage to interrupt. "Ah, excuse me."

  Ellen lowered her report and looked over the top of her glasses. She judged the sandy-haired, baby- faced man to be at least six years her junior, around twenty-three or so. "What can I do for you?" she asked.

  The transition from total absorption to charming hospitality was made so smoothly that the young man thought he had just dreamed that the doctor had been working when he'd come in out of the bright sunlight.

  "I'm Nate Jones," he said, "and I guess you already know why I'm here." He ran a finger under his collar to release some of the sudden heat he felt in the presence of this awesomely beautiful woman.

  "Why don't you refresh my memory?" Ellen suggested. She rapidly backtracked through her mind, trying to recall what her business with this ill-at-ease young man could be. Delivery boy for one of her suppliers? A new laundry man on the route? A reporter?

  "It's about the—" He stopped speaking long enough to still the nervous bobbing of his Adam's apple. "Well, I need the money, you see, and when I heard about you wanting a man . . . That is . . ." He wiped the sweat off his forehead with a giant paisley print handkerchief. "Rachelle sent me." His snort of relief sounded like the blowing of a horse.

  "Rachelle sent you?" Ellen spoke carefully, not believing what she had just heard.

  "That's right, ma'am. I'm happy to go with you to the family reunion and pose as—"

  He never got to finish his sentence. Ellen's notebook crashed to the floor as she bolted for the double doors. "Who the hell is that man back there with Gigi?"

  Her feet flew down the corridor, out the back door of the building, and into the bright sunlit area that housed Gigi's summertime enclosure. She slowed down as she stepped into the sunlight and willed herself to regain her composure. Angry scenes were avoided in front of Gigi. Upsetting a two-hundred-pound gorilla could be dangerous.

  She spotted them through the fence. Dirk and Gigi were sitting cross-legged, facing each other and sharing a banana. Ellen quietly let herself through the gate and approached the pair. She smiled in spite of her recent news. They looked like two solemn Buddhas, watching each other chew and pausing between bites for Gigi's ritual of carefully measuring and doling out the next two pieces.

  Ellen sat beside Gigi and faced the man who called himself Dirk. "Who are you?" she asked.

  "Found me out already, have you?"

  "Yes. The man I thought you were is standing in my office right now adjusting his Adam's apple."

  "The sex part made him nervous, did it?"

  "You seem to have a one-track mind."

  "This game was your idea, not mine." He stopped talking long enough to take the piece of banana Gigi handed him, pop it into his mouth, and solemnly submit to the gorilla's investigation to see if he was actually chewing.

  “I like Gigi," he said. "She's a woman of few words, Dr. Stanford."

  "Five hundred to be exact. How did you know my name?"

  "Your assistant, Ruth Ann. But seeing Gigi jogged my
memory. I've read about your work. Congratulations. You seem to have done everything you claim."

  "I wish my colleagues would say that! But let's not get sidetracked from the main issue here. You are not who you claim."

  He laughed. "Maybe not, but you've already told me that I’ll do. Why don't you fill me in on the details? Just what is it that you want me to do . . . except act as though we make love three times a day?"

  "I didn't say that!"

  "You disappoint me. Dr. Stanford. Only twice a day?"

  "How often I make love is none of your business."

  She felt the blood rush to her face. She had never encountered a man who could keep her continually off-balance. What made it even worse was that she liked him. In spite of his deception, in spite of his word games, she liked the big hunk. She liked the way he smiled. She liked his unruly thatch of dark hair, his black eyes. She liked his self-confidence, almost arrogance, and the quiet dignity he used with Gigi.

  "The charade is over," she said. "You can take your bite of banana and go. The man I need is waiting in my office."

  "How do you know I'm not the man you need?"

  She chose to ignore the implications of his question. "You're too forward. You're too tall. You're too dark and you talk like a Yankee. Need I say more?"

  "Yes. Go back to 'You're too dark and you talk like a Yankee.' Personal prejudices?"

  "Partially. I prefer my men blond. As for the speech, my relatives are suspicious of anybody who doesn't talk with a Southern drawl."

  "Once they get to know the lovable me underneath this Yankee exterior, they'll change their minds. But don't ask me to bleach my hair. There I draw the line." He winked at Ellen and shook his head at Gigi's offer of another bite.

  Ellen stood up. "Tell Gigi good-bye. You won't be going with us to the family reunion."

  Before Dirk could reply, Gigi grabbed him with one hand and frantically signed to Ellen with the other.

  Ellen shook her head at the gorilla. "No, Gigi," she said while signing. "Man go. Ellen come back."

  Dirk laughed. "I can't read what she's signing. American Sign Language, isn't it? But it looks like I have a two-hundred-pound gorilla on my side."

  "Don't look so smug. You not only have her on your side, you're stuck with her. She told me, 'Man stay. Gigi love.' It looks as if you've made at least one conquest today."

  "Just my luck. It's with the wrong woman."

  Ellen laughed. "Don't let Gigi hear you say that. She's liable to take exception."

  "You think she understands?"

  Dirk was genuinely interested. Ellen's work intrigued him, and he admired her courage in trying unusual methods of research more than he admired her legs. Which was quite a lot of admiration, he thought, for he hadn't seen a set of legs like hers since he left Paris.

  "At least some of what we're saying," she said. "Probably more than we realize." She turned back to the gorilla. "Man like Gigi too. Man must go. Tell good-bye."

  Gigi reacted to that outrageous suggestion by going into a corner to pout.

  "This way, Dirk." Ellen preceded him through the gate.

  "I hate to go and break her heart this way."

  "Don't flatter yourself. I'll have Ruth Ann bring her some potato chips. Shell have forgotten you by the time she's ripped open the bag."

  "Fickle woman."

  When they returned to her office, the nervous young man was still waiting, standing beside the door and twisting his handkerchief into knots.

  Dirk smiled as he lounged carelessly against Ellen's desk. He was going to enjoy this scene, he decided.

  "I'm so sorry to keep you waiting," Ellen said. "What did you say your name was?" She noted the adoring-puppy look on the man's face and felt an instant sympathy for him. She didn't mean to generate that kind of adoration. It just seemed to happen.

  "It's Nate, ma'am. I already told you once."

  "So you did, Nate. My mind was on my gorilla."

  Dirk noticed the way Nate's eyes widened at the mention of that fearsome animal. "The gorilla who's going with you to this family reunion," he said.

  Although he wasn't absolutely certain that was true, he thought it was highly probable. He had been putting together random bits of information.

  Anyhow, the statement was made to achieve maximum effect. He noted with satisfaction that it did. As Nate wiped his face with the most godawful handkerchief Dirk had ever seen, he could tell that the young man hadn't expected a gorilla to be a part of the deal. Dirk winked at Ellen, and thought that if looks could kill, he would be dead on the spot.

  "A baby gorilla?" Nate asked.

  "Full grown," Dirk said before Ellen could answer. "Over two hundred pounds. If I were you, I'd meet her before I started on a long trip. She might not like you."

  "Rachelle didn't mention a gorilla, ma'am."

  "Now don't you worry about a thing, Nate." Ellen said. "Gigi is harmless as a flea. And anyhow, my assistant is going along to take care of her." To Dirk she hissed, "You stay out of this."

  "Excuse me, ma'am, but I'd like to get all this straight. I'm supposed to pose as your fiance for all your kinfolks, and the gorilla is going too?"

  Before Ellen could reply. Dirk spoke. "In the same car. Breathing down your neck, no doubt."

  Ellen calmly moved closer to Dirk and ground her shoe into his foot. "Don't mind a thing my . . . cousin says. He's just jealous because I'm not taking him. But if you're a little nervous about this deal, I'll add another fifty dollars to your pay."

  "Take it, boy," Dirk said. "You'll earn it." He slipped his arm around Ellen's shoulder. Ignoring her look of outrage, he squeezed. "My cousin here expects you to make love four times a day."

  She scowled at him. "Whatever happened to three?" She was so furious that all her thoughts were focused on the audacious man at her side.

  Dirk smiled and tightened his hold. "Was it just three, darling?" He winked at Nate. "A regular hellcat, she is."

  Ellen twisted out of his grasp. "I must apologize for his boorish behavior," she said to Nate. "Besides being unmannerly, he's a pathological liar. We're going to get treatment for him."

  "Touche, Doctor," Dirk whispered.

  She grandly ignored him. "Why don't we go outside so that we can talk in private, Nate? There's really no cause for alarm here. You can make friends with Gigi and—"

  Nate interrupted her. "If you don't mind, ma'am, I think I'll just tell Rachelle I can't go tomorrow. It's not that I don't like you or anything. It's just that I don't cotton to the idea of riding in the same car with a gorilla."

  "I understand, Nate," she said. "Many people would feel that way. I'm afraid gorillas have earned a reputation they don't deserve." She escorted him to the door. "I'm sorry you had to drive all the way up Beech Mountain for nothing."

  Nate had begun to relax a little under Ellen's reassurances, but his Adam's apple still bobbed nervously from just being this close to a woman who looked as if she ought to be in the movies.

  "It wasn't for nothing, ma'am. It was worth the trip just to see you." He ducked his head awkwardly and walked out the door.

  "That's one smart boy," Dirk said. "I think I'll see him out." He was through the door before Ellen could say a word.

  o0o

  Dirk caught up with Nate under a pine tree. "Thanks for being a sport back there, Nate. Sometimes that woman makes me lose my head."

  "That woman, sir? I thought she was your cousin."

  "I just met her today. I made all that up so you would leave and I could go on this trip with her." Dirk offered his hand and smiled. "No hard feelings?"

  Nate hesitated, then stuck out his large, bony hand. "Can't say as I blame you."

  Dirk reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of bills. He peeled off two and handed them to Nate. "For your trouble. Take your girl out to dinner, on me." He winked. "We'll keep this between us."

  "Right, sir." Nate gave him a glad-this-is-over grin and ambled to his car.

 
Dirk watched the dust settle after Nate had driven away, then threw back his head and roared with laughter. The hearty sound of satisfaction startled the squirrels in the pines and sent a covey of quail into flight. He had never felt so alive, Dirk thought. And he knew that it all had to do with a red-haired doctor and a gorilla named Gigi.

  He turned and walked back toward the cabin when he heard the door bang open. Ellen was standing on the front porch with her arms folded across her chest. "You think this is all pretty funny, don't you?" she asked.

  "It served the purpose."

  "Well, why don't you fill me in on the details, Mr. Dirk Smith, or whatever your name is. You've ruined my plans, and I think I deserve an explanation."

  His eyes caught and held hers as he mounted the porch steps. "The purpose, my darling, is to go with you to this family reunion." He leaned against the unfinished cedar post and gave her a beguiling smile. "You see, I'm just a lonely little orphan child. I've never been to a family gathering. When I saw this remarkable opportunity, I grabbed it."

  "That's a likely story. You haven't told the truth since you set foot in my compound." The way his black eyes kept staring at her—seeming to see right through her, seeming even to read her thoughts—almost made her blush. What if he guessed that she had derived a strange kind of thrill from his touch? What if he knew that the way he looked at her made her want to run her hands through his hair? What if he guessed that her anger was partly real but mostly bluff?

  "And don't call me your darling," she added as that unrelenting stare unnerved her even more.

  "I'm just practicing. I want to put on a convincing show for your relatives."

  "Save your energy. You're not going. Rachelle can send somebody else."

  "I'm not sure I'd trust Rachelle's judgment if I were you. She didn't do too well with Nate What's- his-name. If I were you, I'd find my own fiance."

  "I don't have time for men."

  She said it before she thought. This presumptuous man already knew too much about her. She kept giving him inches, and he kept taking miles. She wondered why in the world she had ever thought she liked him. He had to be the world's all-time champion arrogant horse's behind. And that made her the world's all-time chump for being sexually attracted to him. Just one set of genes calling to another was her scientific conclusion.