Anything You Can Do

CHAPTER 1



"If you're determined to push down a tree, why don't you try that one over there? The scenery's better."

Leaning against a big oak tree, Bailey Russell paused in her efforts to stretch her hamstring muscles and followed the direction of Paula's gaze to the tall man on the other side of the trail. He leaned forward, both arms braced against a tree, muscular legs stretched behind him in the same pose she'd just been executing. His head bent forward in concentration, hiding his face, showing only a crop of thick, razor-cut black hair.

Bailey regarded her friend, shook her head and laughed. "You've been in Kansas City less than twenty-four hours, and you'll probably have half a dozen offers to go to dinner by tonight. Some things never change. As I recall, you were the only girl in Haywood High history to have three dates for the prom."

"It was only two, and I tried to give you one."

For an instant, the memory tugged Bailey back to the painful days of being a skinny, awkward adolescent, the butt of jokes about red hair and freckles and brainy women. But that was the past. She stretched again, savoring the present, her status as a successful attorney, the no longer awkward body, the smooth response of well-toned muscles.

Her gaze shifted involuntarily across the way, to the long legs stretched out behind the dark-haired man. A quick thrill shot through her at the sight, a thrill she immediately quelled. Of course it was only a thrill of admiration, she assured herself. Impersonal admiration of good musculature. She wasn't leering at him or anything silly like that.

Thus reassured, she allowed her gaze to travel up his body, past the flat stomach encased in silky running shorts that looked as if they'd never been worn, over the pectorals bulging under the thin material of his T-shirt. He lacked the lean, streamlined upper body of a serious runner, would be more at home in the gym, obviously worked with weights.

Then her eyes met his impossibly blue ones. He was watching her and smiling. Busted!

Abruptly ducking her head, she concentrated on her exercises, tried to tell herself she had no reason to be embarrassed. The man probably scarcely noticed her watching him since he was undoubtedly focusing on Paula. Men did that.

"Go get him, kiddo," she said brusquely. "You've got his attention now."

"I don't think—" Paula began.

''I've got to go find my spot," Bailey interrupted as the man pushed away from his tree and strode toward them. Jamming her sun visor over her cropped auburn hair, she turned to leave. There was no reason for her to hang around and watch him flirt with Paula when she'd just made a colossal fool of herself gawking at him. Studying his musculature, she corrected.

She did, however, pause long enough to turn back with a grin. "But take note, the man's wearing a green T-shirt. Only members of the Bar Association, our race sponsor, got green ones. And I do recall that you said you're allergic to lawyers." With a wave and a laugh, Bailey jogged away.

When the five-minute warning buzzer sounded, Bailey watched in surprise as the man she had not been ogling moved into the front ranks of the group of almost nine hundred runners. Since race etiquette dictated everyone line up according to speed, the man obviously thought he would finish in the first group. Bailey didn't think so. Not with all that weight in his chest and arms.

On a hunch, she looked down at his shoes. New, not a speck of dirt on them. Since no one could be stupid enough to come to a 10K race with shoes that hadn't been broken in, she could only assume he did his running indoors. She could imagine his surprise when he came to the first hill, a geographical feature noticeably absent from health clubs. He wouldn't be smiling so broadly then. That perfect hair might even get mussed.

The starter's gun sounded and the crowd plunged ahead.

Bailey forced herself to settle into an easy, loping gait. She yearned to stretch her long legs to their limit, pass everyone, and run straight up into the crystal blue prairie sky, but common sense tugged on the reins. Six and two-tenths miles was a long way to run. Pacing was important.

She soon found her stride and began to run effortlessly. As she moved from the shade of a tree into the sunlight, then back into the shade, as the cool morning breeze stroked her cheeks, she gloried in the joy of running, almost forgot that the purpose of the race was to win. She drew in a deep breath, picturing it full of rich oxygen from the forest of trees along the path through the Corporate Woods area, felt that richness flowing through her blood, energizing her body.

"I see we're in the same profession."

The voice jarred into her concentration, causing her to make a misstep and lose her stride.

The dark-haired man ran beside her. Knowing he was a lawyer, Paula had doubtless sent him packing, and now he thought he'd get to her through her friend. He wouldn't be the first to try that.

"I doubt it," she said. "I'm a thief. I stole this shirt from the lawyer who's defending me."

She increased her pace slightly, pulling away from him, concentrating on regaining her stride.

When the water table at the end of three miles came into view, she still had scarcely broken a sweat. Neither, she noted as she approached the table, had her friend, Gordon Thomas. At least he had made it out of bed in time to help serve water.

She smiled as she watched her friend, perfectly tanned and immaculately clad in white shorts, lounging beside the bottled water, handing out soggy paper cups. Gordon had probably never broken a sweat in his life except in a sauna or steam room.

"There are people ahead of you in this race!" Gordon exclaimed, holding out two paper cups. "It's not like either of you to allow that."

"I'm still running faster than you are," she retaliated.

At the same time a familiar voice declared, "The race isn't over yet," and as she reached for one of the cups of water, another hand clasped the same paper cup.

She looked up into electric blue eyes. At least the man wasn't smiling anymore. He looked as confused as she felt.

"I have two cups," Gordon said. "One for each of my friends."

"You know him?" Bailey asked.

"Turn loose of the cup, both of you," Gordon insisted, offering two fresh waters. "Of course I know him. This is Austin Travers. Austin, Bailey Russell."

With a brief nod of acknowledgment, Bailey accepted a new cup, gulped the tepid water, and tossed the paper into a convenient barrel. "See you at the awards, if you don't fall asleep and miss the whole thing," she called to Gordon as she loped away, consciously controlling her pace, resisting an urge to run full out until she left Austin Travers and his compelling eyes far behind.

How distressing to find that man was Austin, Gordon's old college buddy. Gordon had been anticipating Austin's impending arrival in Kansas City for some time, and she'd been looking forward to meeting him, to having another friend like the easygoing Gordon. She was pretty sure Austin would not fit into that category. She suspected he was highly competitive.

She forced herself to concentrate on the run, on settling back into her satisfying rhythm. The race was about half over, and already her steady pace carried her past many of the runners who'd passed her earlier. At the end of the next mile she could begin to stretch out a little, start to move up, then sprint the final mile.

"Gordon's told me a lot about you, Bailey Russell."

Bailey almost stumbled. That man again. And now that she knew who he was, she supposed she had to be nice to him.

"Ditto," she said. No point in overdoing the nice.

"He and I went to school together," he continued.

"Yes," Bailey acknowledged. "So I've heard." And now she could see the stories in a different light.

Gordon, who'd been born with a platinum American Express card in his mouth, was proud of his self-made friend. Austin had put himself through school with jobs and scholarships while still having the best grades, the prettiest women, the most honors. She'd assumed all those things would matter as little to his friend as they did to Gordon. That assumption was likely erroneous. Though to be fair, she supposed she'd have to give him the benefit of incomplete evidence thus far. Just because he looked like a movie star and came to the race wearing new running shoes didn't necessarily make him all bad.

"Gordon tells me you've come all the way over from St. Louis to shape up Kearns, Worley's branch here in Kansas City," she said, making an effort to be polite.

"I missed the last partners' meeting and got elected." He tossed the information out casually, though it was a glaringly obvious way to work into the conversation that he was a partner. So much for incomplete evidence. The man was an arrogant jerk, no doubt about it.

Since she couldn't think of any subtle way to retaliate by letting him know that she was up for a partnership in the very near future, she just kept running, increasing her pace slightly even though they were starting up a hill.

He stayed right with her, and while his face was shiny with perspiration, he continued to breathe through his nose, a feat she was finding increasingly difficult. She grudgingly gave him credit. He was doing a lot better than she'd expected.

"That hill was a killer, wasn't it?" he asked as they started down the other side.

She smiled. She'd been right about the health club. This was probably the first hill he'd ever run. "Wait till you get to the one at the end of the fifth mile. We're talking serial killer."

"You sound like you're familiar with the route."

"I've run here a couple of times."

"I've only run sporadically since the high school track team."

Aha, Bailey thought. Already he's making excuses for losing. She increased her pace again, but again he refused to fall back.

"Twenty-eight thirty!" a voice announced.

Bailey's attention snapped to the volunteer with the stopwatch calling out the four-mile time. The marker must be short. Her time should be closer to thirty minutes. Austin didn't seem to notice, and she wasn't about to tell him. Let him relax, think he was doing better than he really was, then she'd run the socks off him.

They strode along in silence for a few minutes. He really did keep an awfully good pace for someone of his size.

"You don't look like a runner," she finally said.

"You do," he answered, and something in his voice made her glance his way, into his bright, appraising gaze.

She directed her attention back to running. That particular stare was undoubtedly calculated to make women melt—a weakness to which she was fortunately immune. Nevertheless, it was time to speed up again.

Adrenaline and endorphins gushing, running on a high, almost flying, she found herself smiling. Only from the joy of the exercise, she assured herself, not from Austin's comments. Nevertheless, she quickly erased the smile lest he see it and think she'd been taken in by his erotic eyes.

Almost without conscious effort, her pace increased a little more. By the time the two of them reached the "killer hill at the end of the fifth mile," however, Bailey thought she just might have pushed a bit too hard. Her breathing had increased almost to the point of panting, and her easy stride felt forced. She gave serious consideration to crawling up the hill.

"How you doing?" Austin asked as they began the climb. It was his first comment in quite a while, and Bailey was grateful for more than one reason. She had no energy left to talk, needed it all for running.

"Great," she answered in a breathy grunt, the most articulate sound of which she was capable. She'd die before she'd let him know how close to the end she was, before she'd expose a weakness, leaving herself vulnerable.

Her legs were numb, but that was better than pain.

As long as she could persuade her brain to keep ordering them forward, they'd be okay. However, the pressure in her chest and the ache in her side were distracting. She decided to wait until the last half mile to sprint past him.

The hill stretched longer than ever. The street department must have added an extra block or two.

Finally the finish line loomed ahead. Less than half a mile to go. Time to sprint for it, leave Austin Travers far behind with his toothpaste smile and blue contact lenses—for surely his eyes weren't really that bright. Her brain ordered her legs to stretch out farther, move faster. She thought they were following orders, but somehow Austin stayed beside her, a permanent fixture in her peripheral vision.

She pushed harder. The red FINISH banner grew larger, but the letters began to blur. Reaching deep inside, Bailey found an extra ounce of energy and stretched farther, churned her legs faster. From the corner of her eye, she saw Austin move ahead, cross the line a split second before her.

She wanted to curse, but couldn't. Breathing was an all-consuming activity. She stopped for removal and recordation of her number then stumbled on to the end of the women's chute.

"That was incredible!" Paula shouted, grabbing her arm.

Bailey wanted to protest that it wasn't incredible, that Austin had beaten her, but the words wouldn't come out. She took the cup of water Paula offered and raised it to her lips, rinsing her mouth. Swallowing would have meant a brief cessation of breathing, and she needed all the oxygen she could get right then.

She scanned the crowd but didn't see Austin. That was good, because she was pretty sure she was going to throw up from the extreme exertion, and she had no intention of letting him know how tough the race had been. Moving shakily, she made her way to the sidelines, aware that Paula was talking, but too intent on her own body's agonies to catch the words.

As she concentrated on walking out her cool-down, ignoring her protesting muscles that wanted to rest, breathing fast enough to get adequate oxygen into her system to avoid passing out, Paula's words suddenly penetrated.

"My time?" she gasped, not sure she'd heard right. "Yes," Paula assured her, "forty-two minutes, seven seconds."

Suddenly it didn't matter quite so much that Austin had beaten her because she'd just beaten herself, turned in a personal best. As soon as she was physically able, she planned to shout to the heavens.

Paula grabbed two oranges from a refreshment table and began peeling as they walked. "I see you came in with that gorgeous lawyer," she said, offering a half skinned fruit to Bailey. "Do you have something to tell me?"

Bailey gulped down a piece of orange, greedy for the sugar and liquid to nourish her exhausted system. "Gordon's friend," she gasped. "Thought you weren't interested in lawyers."

"I can admire a thing of beauty while having no desire to mate with it. Anyway, he passed me by with a wave. I think he's interested in you."

Even though it sent her into coughing, gasping spasms, Bailey burst into laughter at the idea. Men like Austin Travers reserved their interest for beautiful women with soft voices and bust line measurements that exceeded their IQs.

On the other side of the path, Austin held his side to ease the stitch and walked around the sidelines, fighting the nausea of overexertion, trying to cool down slowly. Across the crowd, he caught a glimpse of the woman who'd almost killed him.

He studied her for a moment, watched her accept an orange from her friend. When he'd first seen her before the race, stretching her long, sleek muscles, she'd seemed a regal gazelle. She enhanced that image when she ran with long, graceful strides, hair sparking red in the sunlight. Now, however, he knew her to be a tiger, a force to be reckoned with.

If he could just manage to catch his breath, he'd go over and congratulate her on a race well run. Not to mention that she'd pushed him into his best time since the high school track team.

But by the time he got back in control, ready to face her, she and her friend had disappeared into the crowd.

Feeling oddly disappointed, he got a cold soda and wandered through the throng.

"Austin! Over here!"

Austin turned at the welcome sound of Gordon's voice and saw him standing under a large tree, waving. Beside Gordon, Bailey and her friend lounged on the grass. Sunlight dappled Bailey's smooth, sweat-shiny skin and blazed in her hair. However, her gaze was cool and green as she watched him approach.

The combination of fire and ice was daunting and tantalizing. He'd probably be wise to keep on running. Instead he sank to the ground beside her.

"Bailey's trying to make me take up some exhausting sport," Gordon complained as Austin sank to the cool grass, "and Paula Duvall, whom you haven't met and probably don't want to, thinks I should find a decent job."

"Make something of yourself," Paula supplied, laughing, looking up at Gordon. "Better yourself. Become a janitor, wash dishes, dig ditches."

"But Bailey's a lawyer, and you like her," Gordon objected.

Paula sighed heavily, lowering her eyes in mock shame. "I'm partially to blame for her sorry lot in life. From the time we were in third grade, I encouraged her to go to law school. I blame it all on too many Perry Mason reruns."

"What is this?" Austin asked, laughing. "Are we trashing attorneys?"

"Why not?" Paula quipped. "Can you think of anybody who deserves it more?"

"I asked her to marry me," Gordon declared, leaning lazily back against the tree trunk. "She told Bailey I showed good sense in not running or indulging in those other activities that make you sweat, so naturally I asked her to marry me. That's when she said I'd have to get a decent job."

The sound of Bailey's throaty laughter drew Austin's attention to her. She was leaning back on her arms, long legs stretched in front of her, the corners of her full mouth tilted upward. Once again she was the sleek, sensuous woman he'd noticed earlier rather than the tiger he'd almost lost the race to.

But then she turned toward him, eyes narrowing, smile challenging. "Jump in, Austin," she dared him, sitting upright, pulling her knees to her chest and leaning her chin on them. "Defend your chosen profession."

Austin cleared his throat, suddenly at a loss for words, inexplicably feeling eighteen years old again with the task of proving himself still looming ahead. "What exactly don't you like about lawyers?" he asked.

"I've been a legal secretary for twelve years," Paula answered. "Need I say more?"

"I promise not to hold that against you if you don't hold my law degree against me," he retorted with a smile.

"I'll try, counselor, but these ingrained prejudices are hard to overcome. Are you with the same firm as these two?"

"No," he said. "Does that make it better or worse?"

"A little better, I suppose. Gives you some distance, at least. You see, I go back home to Haywood tomorrow to pack my bags, move in with Bailey next Saturday, and go to work for Hoskins, Grier and Morris on Monday. Since secretaries and lawyers are natural enemies, there's absolutely no chance for Gordon and me to be friends." She sighed in exaggerated fashion. "Unfortunate, really. He has some good qualities, like being rich, lazy, and blond, but hey, that's life."

Austin laughed in genuine delight. Paula was witty, entertaining, and attractive. A quick glance at Gordon convinced him he shouldn't go any further than admiring her, though. He'd known Gordon a long time, but he'd never seen him look at a woman the way he was looking at Paula—kind of a combination of the way he used to look at his dog and the Playboy centerfold.

Well, if she and Gordon developed a relationship, at least the three of them could get along. However, he wasn't too sure about Bailey. How was it possible with only a glance she could make him feel the way he'd felt those early years in law practice—like he had to work twice as hard just to catch up with the rest of the world?

From the corner of his eye, he watched her stretch her long legs across the grass.

She made him feel frustrated, defensive, and, damn it, exhilarated in anticipation of the challenge, an aspect of those early years he'd forgotten until now.

*~*~*

The waitress left with their post-race breakfast order.

Paula disappeared behind a newspaper she'd picked up as they came into the coffee shop while Austin and Gordon discussed the fate of a mutual friend from college days. Bailey settled back in the plastic-covered booth, sipped her soda, and thought again of the awards ceremony.

She still couldn't decide if she should be proud of winning a second-place medal in her age and sex division. Ordinarily second place, especially with the age and sex qualifiers, was the same as losing. Still, Austin didn't get a medal even though he'd beaten her. So that kind of meant he hadn't really beaten her…didn't it?

And he had run one hell of a race, hadn't held back just because she was a woman. Besting him would be a noteworthy accomplishment—and a far safer one than getting pulled under by those vibrant eyes so full of energy and life, those thighs with the well-defined muscles that looked as if they'd be rock-hard to the touch. Not, of course, that she was in any danger of doing that.

"Hey, listen to this!" Paula smoothed her newspaper onto the table. "SWM, thirty-two, professional, seeks long-term relationship with attractive, single woman, twenty-six to thirty-five. Could this be the father of my future children? Nope, he smokes."

"What on earth have you got there?" Bailey demanded, glad to have a new direction for her wayward thoughts.

"The Kansas City Observer. It has this section called New Friends. There's pages and pages of ads."

"I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble finding dates," Austin assured her.

The man really was dense. Bailey didn't see how Paula could have made it any clearer that she didn't want to date an attorney, but he kept trying.

"I'm not looking for dates," Paula advised him. "I could have stayed in Haywood if all I'd wanted was dates with male bodies. I'm looking for a relationship with someone who's intelligent, romantic, exciting, funny, handsome...hmm...Degreed DWM, professional, divorced two years, no diseases... Oh, gag."

"Prince Charming," Gordon contributed. "She's looking for Prince Charming, but no lawyers need apply."

"That's a great idea," Paula said, folding the paper. "I'll run my own ad. Looking for Prince Charming, no lawyers need apply, although the exclusion should be self-evident."

"Ah, revenge will be sweet," Gordon drawled, raising his eyes to the ceiling. "Stafford Morris, for all those weekends you made me work and all the nasty memos, not to mention the cigar smoke, behold your secretary."

"May the two of them have a long, long relationship." Bailey lifted her soda in a mock toast. "Our beloved managing partner," she explained to Austin.

"I've met the man," he acknowledged, and Bailey wanted to ask the circumstances, why his lips thinned when he made the curt remark. But before she could decide on a polite way to frame her question, the food arrived and conversation ceased.

*~*~*

Full and exhausted, Bailey pushed open the door of her second-floor condominium and stooped to catch the tiny bundle of black and red fur that launched itself into her arms.

"Did you miss me?" Bailey asked, cuddling the little dog, reveling in the unconditional love.

"You didn't miss her, did you, Samantha?" Paula scratched the animal behind one pointy, tufted ear. "She's only pretending to be ecstatic. A good job of it, too, Samantha."

"Want to go for a walk?" Bailey asked, stressing the last word. Samantha wriggled out of her arms, jumped to the floor, and began running in circles, yipping and waving her plumed tail.

"I'd say that's a definite yes," Paula interpreted, tossing her handbag onto the glass-topped coffee table. "Poor thing's probably been standing around for hours with her legs crossed."

Bailey withdrew a lavender halter and leash from the coat closet and held it close to the floor. Samantha lowered her head and charged directly into the opening, dancing up and down impatiently while Bailey fastened the buckle and laughed at Samantha's enthusiasm.

"Come on," she called to Paula. "This is a great way to meet your new neighbors. Samantha knows everybody."

As the trio proceeded across the grounds, the little dog pranced along, sniffed shrubs, trees, and flowers, and stopped to say hello to everyone. After Paula had inquired as to the identity of the third man they met, Bailey finally asked her, "Do you want me to have a party and invite all the males I know, however remotely, so you can meet them?"

"That's a good idea," Paula agreed. "You're just wasting them."

A high-pitched voice interrupted. "Look, Pumpkin. There's that cute little dog again." A white toy poodle and matching owner bounced up to greet Samantha. "What kind of dog did you say she is?" Pumpkin's leash holder asked.

"A Chorkie," Bailey replied, ignoring Paula's coughing spasm.

The woman nodded sagely. "They're such a cute breed. I almost got one before I found Pumpkin."

The dogs sniffed each other briefly then led their owners on to seek more interesting smells.

"Chorkie?" Paula questioned when the pair had moved a few bushes away.

"Yorkie/Chihuahua. What do you want me to say she is, a Yihuahua? That lady'll tell all her friends about seeing a Chorkie, and they'll all pretend to know what she's talking about. They'll probably go to the pet store and ask for one. But there's only one Samantha, isn't there, sweetheart?" She reached down to scratch the little head as Samantha bent over a tuft of grass, sniffing in absorption.

"Hey, Ms. Attorney-at-Law, what would your new friend, Austin Travers, think if he saw you goo-gooing over a dog?"

"Your new friend would be jealous because I have a Chorkie and he doesn't."

"Jealous? No, I can't see that. Though if there were only one Chorkie in the world and he wanted it, I can see him moving heaven and earth to get it."

Bailey scowled at her friend but didn't deny the accuracy of her assessment. Austin's competitive nature, Austin's ability to win, both excited and frightened her. A tingle raced along her spine as she recalled the fierce competition of the race.

Mostly, she had to admit, it excited her.