Books by Maggie Shayne (9 page)

"All fight, I'll take your word. You don't look much like a car thief, and I s'pose I've yet to see one Off on a camping tfi." p with his wife. I'll open the barn door for you. Drive it fight in. "

"Thanks." Torch went back to the car where Alex still sat behind' the wheel. He didn't look into her eyes, aside from one quick glance. He didn't like looking into her eyes. There were things going on in her mind that he'd rather not try to figure out just yet, and her emotions were too plainly visible in her face. Especially in her eyes. She was still stinging over his anger with her, and over his harsh words to keep her at bay. She was still wary of him. Not quite trusting him, not quite sure of him. She still didn't believe the truth about her saintly father.

And she was still thinking about that kiss. Analyzing it. Trying to read more into it than there had been. Knowing there was more to it than what he'd admitted to her. He liked that least of all.

He opened the door. She stared up at him, those huge brown eyes of hers compelling him, almost daring him to meet their steady gaze. He looked everywhere but St her. "We're gonna leave the car here for a while. In the barn, out of sight. We'll take the camper from here."

She hadn't moved. Just sat there, staring, pulling his eyes to hers with some kind of invisible magnet.

"Because Scorpioifs seen the car."

"But'whya camper? Why not a picknp truck or a station wagon or a compact? WhY that huge RV?"

"Why all the questions?" he countered.

"Look, I do this kind of thing for a living. I know my job, okay?"

He made the cardinal mistake of looking into her eyes as he snapped at her, and there was no mistaking the way she flinched at his tone.

She looked away too quickly.

Torch cleared his throat.

"The last thing Scorpion would find suspicious is a vehicle like this.

And having a place to sleep might come in handy. No more ambushes at motel parking lots. We can't exactly take up residence at your house in the woods again, Alex.

Hell, Scorpion probably men posted there in case we come back. "

lef~"I don't think Scorpion would have any reason to do that." She thinned her lips, tilted her head, still not looking at him.

"But what do I know? You're the expert on all this stuff. I suppose I should have been able to figure all of that out for myself. Sometimes I'm not very smart. Slow on the uptake, Father used to say. But I didn't mean to question your judgment."

 
Torch blinked. He didn't know what he'd expected to hear from her but not that.

"You're a doctor, for crying out loud."

She got out of the car, snatching her inhaler off the dash as she did.

"Yeah, well, you don't have to be a genius to be a doctor." She headed toward the RV, got in without ever looking back at him.

Alexandra waited in the RV. In the passenger seat. Torch drove the car into the barn, helped clos the. door and after another brief word with the farmer, he came to join her. He slid behind the wheel and started the engine. And without even looking at her, he said, "You know, Alex, I'm one of the best there is at what I do."

It didn't sound like idle bragging. Sounded more like he had a point to make, and this was the opening argument. She looked at his profile.

Strong. And attractive, if not exactly handsome. It drew on something inside her. Some instinct that made her fingers itch to trace him cheekbone and the square line of his jaw. It made her palms ache to run over the dark shadow of stubble growing there. She resisted the urge and instead remembered his actions back at her house with those two armed thugs.

"I believe that," she said softly.

"You outwitted me, though," he said.

"I'm not happy about it, but you did. And I already told you, your plan wasn't half-bad. Pine Lake is probably the last place I'd have gone looking for you. If you'd managed to ditch me, you just might have pulled this off."

She frowned, sending him a sideways glance.

"You think?"

He nodded.

"Yeah.-And I'll tell you something else, I don't get outwitted very often."

"No?"

"Almost never."

"Hmm."

He. glanced sideways at her as he drove.

"What?"

She shrugged.

"I just wondered why you suddenly felt compelled to tell me how tough it is to outwit you."

"Because you seem, somewhere along to line, to have picked up the notion that you'~e ... slow on the uptake, isn't that how Daddy Dearest put it?" He made a disgusted sound deep in his throat.

"But you're not."

"I didn't say I was stupid, Palamaro. Just that I'm no genius."

"So who the hell is?"

"My father was."

He nodded slowly, as if he were beginning to understand something he probably never truly would. Ever.

"Must have been tough, trying to live up to the standard of a geaius."

She shrugged. 'My father only wanted me to succeed. " " And did you? "

She said nothing, only bit her lip.

"You graduated with honors and a degree in medicine. Most people would call that success."

She closed her eyes, tried to tune him out.

"But I guess it just wasn't up to your father's lofty standards, was it, Alex?"

"You don't know anything about this."

"Sure I do. I did my research."

She shook her head again, doing her best to ignore him. For some reason, she didn't like the idea of Torch Palamaro studying her background, reading about the many failures in her life.

 
"Your father isn't here anymore, Alex. But I am. And you've already proven that you can match wits with me, and that's saying something."

"So?"

"So I can't have you working with me if you keep questioning your judgment. We're liable to end up in situations where a second's hesitation could be the difference between life and death. Don't stop to second-guess yourself. If you're in a pinch and you see an out, take it."

She stared at him, listening, hearing, not really sure she believed him.

"I don't know if I could do that. I've spent my whole life second-guessing myself."

"You can do it. You did, back at the motel when you pulled hat gun out of the duffel and took a potshot at Scorpion."

She tilted her head.

"I ... I guess I did, didn't I?" "Damn straight, you did."

Her lips curved at the corners, almost on their own. For a second she smiled, and felt her back straighten just a little more than usual and her chin come up a fraction. She had used her wits back there.

And she'd probably saved Torch's life, as well as her own.

Father wouldn't have been proud if he'd seen her actions. No, he'd have called her foolish for risking her life by pulling a gun on an armed criminal. He'd have called her weak for the asthma attack that had ovetwheimed her in the middle of all of it. He'd have called her simpleminded for having wound up in this situation in the first place.

But he wasn't here, and he wasn't saying any of those things. Torch Palamaro was here. And he was some kind of expert in these matters.

And according to Him, she'd been dam near brilliant.

Deep inside, part of Alexandra cringed at the imagined condemnation from her father. But another part, a very small part, swelled a bit in pride at what she'd done.

Maye she was a LITTLE stronger, a little smarter, than she'd realized.

Maybe her father just hadn't seen it in her, "You seem surprised."

"Hmm?" She jerked her attention back to the man beside her, frowning.

"You seem surprised," Torch repeated.

"Did your old man do such a number on your self-esteem that you're actually surprised you did something right?"

Alex felt her smile die, felt her jaw go rigid.

"If you don'f want me talking to you about your family, Torch, how about returning the favor? Your opinions about my father are way off base, so please keep them to yourself."

"Sure. I can do that."

Only, he didn't really want to keep his opinions to him' self. And he knew that was a mistake, because none of it mattered to him. He could care less whether her father had messed up her head.

But he knew. That Was the problem. He'd done the research, he'd read all the reports, and according to everyone who knew him, Alexander Holt had treated his daughter like a poor relation. No matter what she'd ever accomplished, the man had never seemed to find it sufficient. He'd criticized her often enough in public that it was on the record. And if he'd done it that often publicly, he must have really ripped her down in private.

The bastard should have been horsewhipped.

If Torch had harbored any doubts about Holt's parenting skills, they'd been erased just now. There'd been a decided glow about Alexandra when Torch had told her she'd outsmarted him. He couldn't help but notice it, though he'd been deliberately trying not to look at her too much or too closely. She'd seemed pleased, delighted. For crying out loud, she'd apparently had so little praise in her life that a few words of it could change her entire mood. Her father must have been one hell of a sweethearL Genius. Right. If he was so smart, why didn't he know what he was doing to his kid?

 
And why had Torch ruined it all by saying what he thought of the old idiot? He'd taken away her pleasure with a single sentence. He ought to remind himself often not to say anything against the father she still worshiped.

He couldn't help but wonder what it was going to do to her to learn the truth about the man. She was too damned sensitive, too vulnerable. It was going to tear her world apart.

The thought of that made his throat go a little dry, even as he told himself it was nothing to him. At least then she'd have something on her mind besides trying to offer comfort to a man who was far beyond its reach. And maybe she'd stop trying to analyze that kiss, too.

Torch drove north until noon, and when he stopped to get them a bite to eat he didn't use one of the restaurants right off the exit ramp, but instead, drove into the nearest town and meandered around until he found a. diner that probably catered more to locals than passers-through.

For some reason, he'd stopped being furious with the woman beside him for her lies. He couldn't really blame her, could he? Hell, he'd probably have done the same thing in her situation. So his anger had died. somewhere around the same time he'd seen the glow come into her eyes. How could he be mad at her for outsmarting him when she was apparently so damned proud of it?

He didn't like not being angry with her, though. Because anger was a good buffer. And he needed one between her and him. He needed one badly.

"Hungry?" he asked as he found a parking space big enough for the beast he was. driving "Starving."

"Come on, then. But let's get something to go."

She nodded and slid out the door. The clouds overhead were ominous.

She looked around as she headed for the diner, then stopped, pointing.

"There's a department store across the street. Maybe we ought to pick up some things before we leave."

Good idea."

In the diner, Torch was uneasy. Too many eyes on them, eyes that could describe them later, should Scorpion stop by asking questions.

But he figured the chances of the bastard checking every diner in every town were slim. And since he'd expect them to continue south, they were even slimmer.

No one in the place seemed to be paying undue attention to them. He breathed a little easier and headed up to the counter. Alexandra was already there, ordering a club sandwich and a soda to-go in a soft, deep voice that made a person really listen when she spoke. Torch stepped up beside her.

"You two together?"

He blinked at the waitress's question'. It seemed to take Alexandra by surprise, as well. She looked up at him, and he met eyes filled with uncertainty. He had to tear his gaze away before he got lost in hers.

He gave the waitress a curt nod.

"Yeah. I'll have the same."

She was still looking at him. He felt the satin touch of her eyes as the waitress punched keys on an old-fashioned cash register that chucked and clicked and pinged. Still touching his face, those brown eyes, as he took the wallet from his pocket and handed over a ten-spot and waited for the change. Why did she find it necessary to look at him like that?

There was a country song wafting from a radio behind the counter. And another waitress was busy tacking strands of green garland to the edges of the counter, reminding him of the approaching holiday season. Someone had sprayed the place with a pine-scented air freshener. A memory slipped into his mind. He heard young boys' high-pitched laughter, and the crinkling and tearing of gift wrap.

The memory was brief but vivid, real. And it took him by surprise, because he'd been denied any real memories for almost a year.

The bell over the entrance jangled, and he glanced behind him, watching his back as he always did. And then he felt a hot blade slip right into his chest and twist slowly, tearing his insides to shreds.

The little boy was no more than five. All dark curls, baby blue eyes and dimples as he grinned up at his father. And as the pair moved inside, talking and laughing, finding a table, Torch felt the black emptiness in his soul reaching up to claim him. To draw him into the depths of loneliness, despair, endless grief. He closed his eyes to blot out the image of the child who looked so much like one of his own.

They should have been outside playing. Dammit, why the hell hadn't Josh and Jason been outside? They never came in until Marcy called them for dinner.

"Never. Why this one night, had they come in earlier?

He felt a warm, firm hand on his shoulder. He swung his head around.

Alexandra's eyes were wider and browner than ever, and they were damp as they probed and questioned him.

He gave his head a slight shake and simply walked out. The door swung closed on the child's laughter, and Torch blinked in the crisp November air, wishing it were. colder wishing it could slap his face and snap him out of this grief. But it wasn't and it didn't. Nothing ever had.

Maybe nothing ever would.

Alexandra stared after him. Part of her wanted to go to him, try to help him through the haze of pain he was obviously battling. But another part knew he wanted to be left alone. She stopped herself from intruding, with an effort. "Miss?"

She turned back to the counter, to see the woman on the other side holding out a handful of change. Alex took it.

"Is there a rest room I can use while I'm waiting for the sand-withes?"

The woman nodded, pointing toward the back of the building. Alex tried to put Torch's heartache out of her mind and walked into the ladies' room. She took her time, washed her face and finger-combed her hair, and stared at her reflection in the mirror, telling herself she'd never hold a candle to the blond woman in Torch's picture. Some twenty minutes later, when she pushed the door open to head back out, she glanced up to see a man dressed all in black, leaning on the counter where she'd been standing. And for just a second, she stiffened. It was that color that did it. Everything black,. right to the ski cap on his head. He had everything the thugs at her house had, except the mask.

She shook her head, chiding herself for an overactive imagination.

And then she saw the waitress hand a photo back to him, and saw her lips form the words "rest room" and her head tilt toward where Alex now stood. And, as if in slow motion, she saw the man's heading toward her.

She ducked back inside and closed the door, turning the lock, panting.

She gasped as she felt her bronchial tubes spasm, automatically press' rag a hand to her chest.

"Not now," she whispered.

"NOt now, the inhaler is in the RV." She leaned over the sink, cranking the tap and splashing handfuls of cold water on her face. What should she do?

Was she imagining things? She didn't think so. And Torch had told her to trust her instincts. She certainly wasn't going to march back out there and pick up their food when the man might very well be one of those working for Scorpion.

She scanned the rest room. There was one squat window, on the back wall, too high to reach from the floor. Alex looked around for something to stand on, and settled on the trash can. It only took a second to remove the rounded top and flip the can upside down. She silently apologized for the mess she'd made as she climbed up. The window locked from the inside, and she turned the clasp to the unlocked position, mentally crossed her fingers and shoved at it. It opened easily, and Alex thanked her lucky stars. She climbed up on the ledge, peering outside first. She saw no one, but there was no way to be sure.

Well, she couldn't just sit there waiting for the jerk to get sick of being patient and come in after her.

 
She slipped over the edge, turned and lowered herself until she dangled a few feet above the ground. Then she let go and landed with an ungraceful tumble. She looked around, hoping she hadn't been seen as she got to her feet and brushed the dust from her jeans. Carefully she made her way back to where the RV was parked out front, keeping the vehicle between her and the diner.