Relentless Adversary Read Free Page B

accept the idea of a man having certain weaknesses as well as strengths, she told herself forcefully as they made their way to the door. But she was damned if she was going to let another male trade on her strengths to compensate for his own weakness. Not when he wasn't capable of offering the same deal in reverse.
    But it would never come to that with Locke Channing, Kelly assured herself as they stepped out into the chill Washington night. With Locke she was engaged in a fencing match. Any weakness she uncovered in him was to be exploited in order to protect herself. And she was under no illusion that he wouldn't also be testing, feinting, and otherwise attempting to find her poorest line of defense.
    She would not have to feel sorry for this man, Kelly thought suddenly, a rush of some heretofore unknown thrill pouring into her bloodstream. She need only keep in mind that he was an opponent.
    "How long ago did you move to Bellevue?" Locke asked conversationally as he held the door of his black Jaguar for her.
    "About a year ago," Kelly replied distantly.
    "Where were you moving from?" he persisted just before closing the door.
    "San Francisco."
    "Quite a change."
    "I haven't regretted it," she told him aloofly.
    "But you'd rather not talk about it?" he hazarded dryly and slammed the door before she could respond.
    "I'm a native myself," he went on cheerfully, opening the door on the other side and sliding behind the wheel. "Grew up here in the Northwest and went to school at the University of Washington over in Seattle. I probably never would have got down to San Francisco. Lucky for me you had the sense to move here!"
    Kelly smiled politely in the darkened car but said nothing. She was too busy deciding how to handle Locke. The Jaguar sped through the rain-shimmered city with its sprinkling of high-rise buildings and on into the residential neighborhoods perched on the edge of Lake Washington. In the distance, sitting in the middle of the lake, Mercer Island glittered with its necklace of expensive, shoreline homes.
    "Where are we going?" Kelly roused herself from her reverie to ask, frowning across the distance of the front seat.
    "Home for a nightcap naturally. Isn't that the usual procedure?"
    "Only when the couple is heading for the woman's home. In which case you missed the turn!" she stated waspishly.
    "Would you have invited me in if I'd taken you straight home?" he asked pleasantly.
    "No."
    "That doesn't leave us with much choice, does it?"
    "Locke, I'm really not in the mood to play any more games tonight. I've had dinner and your report, along with a great deal of unnecessary philosophy, and I'm ready to call it a night," Kelly began determinedly.
    "I hope you're not contemplating anything dramatic like leaping out of the car and screaming for assistance," he said. "We're almost there and it would be a pity if you got yourself soaked. It's going to rain again in a few minutes."
    "Locke, whether you like it or not, there are rules to this game and you're not following them," Kelly said flatly, more annoyed with herself for having got into the situation than anything else. She didn't sense any genuine danger yet, only the potential for more combat.
    "I know. I'm stepping outside the rules long enough to kidnap you. It's an old, established method of obtaining a woman," he chuckled, his strong hands shifting slightly on the wooden steering wheel.
    "Perhaps among your relatives; certainly not among mine!”
    "If the women in your family tree were anything like you, they probably wound up being the kidnappees more frequently than they'd like to admit. Women like you were born to fascinate men like me."
    Kelly considered that for an instant, faintly intrigued. "Being fascinated makes you vulnerable," she finally warned softly, slanting a long silvery glance at his hard profile.
    "I was wondering when you'd realize that."
    He turned the Jaguar into a steep drive and parked it among the trees that surrounded the angular