Mad Enough to Marry - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,13

of the duffels slid down her upper arm, nearly unbalancing her as it smacked into the smaUer bag at her elbow. **ril have to put some of this down," she muttered, trying to figure exactly how to do that in the narrow hallway.

A voice spoke in the vicinity of the top of her head. **Needhelp?"

Elena froze, then carefully swung toward the sound. Logan.

**I thought I heard someone at the front door but I was in my apartment on the phone."

He looked at perfect ease and perfectly decked out in a pair of heavy cotton khakis and a silky black T-shirt. His dark gold hair gleamed in the shadowy

hall and Elena suddenly pictured herself as he would see her—^her hair in two messy braids and her oldest jeans grubby.

''Making a hot date for martinis at the country club?*' she asked, hoping she sounded more sneering than self-conscious.

He cocked an eyebrow at her, looking so cool and so amused that she wanted to kick him. "Jealous?" he asked softly.

"You wish," she retorted.

"True." His white smile deepened at the joke and she wanted to kick him again. Or kiss him. Again. He looked over her head. "Hi there. Gabby. Tyler. You two need some help? It appears Elena is her usual capable self and doesn't have a single use for me.

"We need into the apartment," Gabby answered.

"TTie keys are in Elena's back pocket and she can't reach them," Tyler added.

Before she could step away, threaten or even scream, Logan reached around her. Three long fingers sUd inside her left rear pocket, the movement caressing her backside. "Here?" he asked innocently.

Elena stiffened. Less than ten minutes after her last vow not to involve him in her life, and he was already involved in htx pants. Before she could betray herself and shiver, she did what she must.

She dropped everything she was carrying.

On Logan's feet.

He yelped and jumped back. She smiled sweetly and slowly retrieved her keys from her other pocket.

**You're right," she said, opening the door to her apartment with a flourish. "I don't have a single use for you."

Amusement flickered in his eyes again as he watched her shove the boxes and bags forward with her foot. "With the exception of my available—^and rent-free—apartment," he said.

"You have the painting." She slid him a warning look. "For now."

Gabby and Tyler trooped inside with their burdens. Before she could follow, Lx)gan's voice stopped her.

"What do you mean 'for now'?" he asked. "We have a deal. You get the apartment and I get the painting."

Her back to him, she took a breath, almost swooning when she caught the scent of his deUcious, expensive-smelling aftershave. It reminded her of the kiss he'd given her last week. He'd smelled delicious then too. His face had been freshly shaven and she'd wanted to rub her cheek under his jaw. She'd wanted to run her tongue across his lips.

"Elena?" He said her name softly, as if he sensed her desire.

Snapping to attention, she spun to face him. She shoved her hands in her front pockets, her pose aggressive, her face scowling. She was supposed to stay uninvolved and here she was thinking things that made her knees weak. "What?" she bit out.

He couldn't ever know he made her weak.

One of his eyebrows made a long trek up his forehead, and he stepped closer to her. "Forgotten al-

ready, darling? I was reminding you of our deal. You get the apartment for as long as you and Gabby need it. I get the painting. Forever."

She could smell him again. Her heartbeat kicked up and she had to force her gaze off his mouth. "Fve reconsidered," she said, tilting her chin. **My side of the bargain is too generous. For six weeks I get the apartment and for those same six weeks, only six weeks, you get the painting." She pointedly turned her back on him and went into the apartment, pretending not to notice he was right behind her.

As his new housemates bustled about their apartment's small Uving room, Logan shook his head. Elena was up to her usual tricks.

She'd reneged in their original deal to irritate him. As always, she was working hard to push him away. But now he found himself with a hankering to know exacdy why she wanted him to keep his distance. He had suspicions about that. Intriguing suspicions that had entered his mind just as he'd teasingly slid his hand over her luscious, rounded backside in ''search" of the keys.

What he'd seen on her face in