Fools Rush In (9 page)

Erin looked up at Max with a polite little smile, and he stiffened as he sensed her withdrawal before she even spoke. "Max, I want to thank you for all you've done for me. And for Elise. Especially for saving my life. I'll never forget it. I want you to know that."

Max simply stared at her, unable to believe his ears for a moment. Or his eyes. She was actually standing there with her hand stuck out for him to shake!

Fury swept through him. He wanted to throttle her on the spot, shake her until her teeth rattled. To keep from doing just that, he rammed his hands into the pockets of his suede jacket and balled them into fists.

All evening he'd been consumed with a desperate, almost obsessive need to protect this courageous, willful woman, to take her someplace isolated and quiet where she'd be out of harm's way until this whole mess was over. And now, here she stood, trying to give him the brush-off with a few mealy-mouthed platitudes. He couldn't believe it!

And he sure as hell wasn't going to stand for it.

He stared hard at her outstretched hand until it began to tremble and she withdrew it self-consciously. Then he looked her right in the eye. "Save your breath. You are not going anywhere. Weave."

"Max, I couldn't ask you to fly all the way to San Francisco. You've done so much for me—for Elise and me—already and—"

"You're not asking. I'm telling. And don't bother to argue. This time you're not getting your own way. Now could we please get the hell out of here?" he ground out tightly, casting one last anxious look over his shoulder as he grasped her elbow and marched her toward the door.

"This is really unnecessary," Erin protested, trotting along beside him. "I assure you I can handle things from hereon."

A low sound rumbled from Max, and this time he did give her a little shake. "Shut up, Erin," he hissed. "I'm warning you, you've pushed me right to the limit."

Outside, he steered her away from the lighted entrance. When they reached the shadows he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned her to face him. Erin felt a little thrill of fear shiver down her spine at the harsh anger in his face.

"Now listen, and listen good, because I'm only going to say this once. Until we have Elise safe and sound and this whole mess cleared up and the people responsible behind bars, I'm not about to let you sashay off on your own. No matter how long it takes or where we have to go, I'm sticking to you like glue, lady. You got that?"

Erin opened her mouth to reply, but before she could utter a sound, he continued in the same clipped, no-nonsense tone. "And furthermore, if at any time we find ourselves in what I consider to be a dangerous situation, you are going to do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you. No backtalk, no questions. If you don't, so help me I'll... I'll..." He groped a moment for a suitable punishment, failed to find one and, with another growl of frustration, hauled her against him and crushed her mouth with his.

It was a stunning kiss, hot, hard, demanding, full of male aggression and possessiveness. At first Erin was too shocked to resist, and then she was too caught up in the heat and the magic to even think of it.

Legs braced wide, he held her close, fitting their bodies together like two pieces of a puzzle. His mouth rocked hungrily over hers. His tongue delved and stroked with a sweet, erotic rhythm that sent shimmering waves of fire straight to the core of her femininity. He was strong and masterful, yet it was the heady touch of desperation beneath his ardor that thrilled—and frightened—Erin the most.

The kiss ended as quickly as it had begun. Max grasped her shoulders and held her at arm's length. His breathing was labored, his face flushed. Erin couldn't tell if it was from passion or anger.

"I mean it, Erin. We're in this together, okay?"

Breathless and a bit shaken, her heart pounding, Erin stared up at him. A gentle breeze stirred her hair, and she felt its crisp coolness against her flushed skin. Dimly, she was aware of the derelict from the bus station stumbling by, the flash of headlights and the rumble of the passing cars. Mesmerized by the glittering look in his narrowed eyes, she nodded and replied in a meek voice, "Yes, Max."

They broke all speed limits getting to Albuquerque. Max drove the powerful Lincoln full throttle, nearly burning up the pavement and covering the sixty odd miles in just forty-five minutes. If Erin hadn't been so keyed up and anxious, she would have been terrified.

Even so, they barely had time to buy their tickets and check Erin's bag, arriving at the gate after half the passengers had already boarded.

Relieved and breathless, Erin hurried to the end of the line. She had edged up to within fifteen feet of the boarding tunnel, where a flight attendant was taking tickets, before realizing that Max was not with her.

She whirled around, her anxious gaze darting in all directions. Finally she spotted him at the bank of phones. For a moment she dithered, looking back and forth between the diminishing line of passengers and Max. Gritting her teeth, she dashed over to him.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. Max raised a hand, silencing her.

"Sam, this is Max," he said into the phone, and Erin felt her heart skip a beat. "Listen, I won't be in the office tomorrow morning, so handle that meeting with Jacobsen for me, will you?"

There was a moment's pause, and though Erin strained to hear what Sam was saying, all she caught was a faint murmur.

"No, I'm not sure when I'll be back. I'm going to San Francisco to help Elise. She's in some sort of trouble. I have to make it there in time to intercept a bus."

Another pause followed, longer this time. Listening, Max glanced toward the boarding tunnel and frowned when he saw the last passenger going through. "Look, Sam, I don't have time to explain it to you right now, okay? I'll tell you all about it when we get back tomorrow."

Erin tugged at his sleeve as the voice on the PA system announced the last call for boarding their flight. "Max, c'mon."

"Dammit, Sam! I've got to go or we'll miss the plane. I'll explain tomorrow." He slammed the receiver down and grabbed Erin's hand.

"Let's go," he said, and sprinted toward the gate.

They made it—barely. Max shouted for the flight attendant to hold the door as they tore down the boarding tunnel, and the moment they ran in she closed and locked it behind them. Mere seconds after they had collapsed in their seats the plane started taxiing out onto the runway.

Gasping for breath, Erin leaned her head against the high seat back and closed her eyes. "Why on earth did you do that?" she asked after a moment when her chest stopped heaving.

"I know, I know. I cut it close, but I had to tell Sam something. I couldn't just disappear without a word. We're partners, remember? We've got a business to run."

Again Erin felt a twinge of guilt for involving Max, but then she reminded herself that he was the one who had insisted on coming with her. She looked at him. "But couldn't you have made up something? Did you have to tell him where you were going and why? How do you know that your partner isn't the one behind all this?"

Max's head swiveled sharply. "Because I know Sam," he said with a touch of annoyance. But then, as he studied her, his expression softened. He shifted almost sideways, facing her, and took her hand. "If that's what's worrying you, forget it. Sam's been my best friend since we were three years old. I promise you, there's no one straighter."

Erin wanted to believe him, both for Max's sake and her own peace of mind, but it was difficult. Even now, the memory of Sam Lawford's pale, lifeless eyes sent a shiver through her.

Unable to meet the tender, tolerant look on Max's face, she lowered her eyes and watched his thumb rub slowly back and forth across the back of her hand, feeling guilty and defensive. "I still think it's safer if no one knows where we are," she muttered stubbornly.

Max's thumb stilled, and his hand tightened around hers. "Erin, you realize, don't you, that we might be too late? It's possible that whoever is after Elise might have already found her." Erin's stricken gaze flew upward, locking with his, and Max grimaced. "I just think you should be prepared for the worst. Remember, if we could trace her movements, so could someone else."

Before he'd even finished Erin began shaking her head. "No. No, I don't believe that," she insisted. "If Elise were hurt, I'd know it. I'd sense it. I know I would."

"Erin—"

"No, really. You see, we've always had a special kind of communication between us. A kind of... well... I guess you'd call it telepathy. We often know what each other is thinking, and many times, even with great distances separating us, we pick up on what the other is feeling."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I swear, it's the truth. It often happens that way between identical twins. Our parents noticed it when we were small. As we were growing up we even took part in a university study on the subject."

She looked at Max earnestly, needing the reassurance his believing would give her. "So you see, if something had happened to Elise, I'd know it. I'd feel it."

"Fine." Max gave her hand another squeeze. "If you say so, that's good enough for me."

"Thank you," she said quietly, and though it made no sense at all, she felt the knot of tension in her chest ease.

A flight attendant came by with the drinks cart, and both Erin and Max asked for coffee. As they sipped it Max said, "Tell me more about this study. It must have been fascinating."

"It was. It was all done under very controlled conditions, and the results were amazing. They always separated us so there'd be no eye contact, no body language or anything like that to pick up on. In one experiment, I remember, they gave Elise a pad and pencil and me a piece of paper with a word written on it. I was told to concentrate on the word very hard. After only a few minutes, three doors down the hall, Elise had written the word down on her pad."

"No kidding?"

"Honestly. They even reversed the experiment several times, sometimes giving me the pad, sometimes Elise, but the results were always the same.

"And sometimes they'd have one of us watch a movie, and the other one would always know if it was funny or sad or romantic. Whatever. Once, when I was watching a real tear-jerker, Elise actually cried."

"Amazing," Max murmured, gazing at her, his chin propped on the heel of his hand. "You two must be very close."

"We are. Sometimes it seems as though we're one person who has been split in two, as though we're two halves of a whole."

"Yet, except in looks, you're very different."

Erin gave a little chuckle. "Oh, yes. Very. We're like the opposite sides of a coin. Elise is.. .well, I guess special is the word," she said, her voice softening. "She's patient and sweet and gentle. There's a wonderful kind of sereneness about Elise, a calm contentment and a warmth that draws people to her. When we were kids she was the angelic one who never got into mischief. Yet every time I landed in trouble, she always tried to cover for me, and she cried harder than I did whenever I got spanked."

"From what I've seen so far, my guess would be that that happened fairly often," Max commented, making no effort to hide his amusement.

Erin wrinkled her nose at him in feigned annoyance, but then she sighed and rolled her eyes. "I hate to admit it, but you're right," she confessed ruefully. "I was as restless as Elise was content. Ever since I can remember I've had a burning desire to know what was beyond the next hill. I was always getting into trouble for wandering off."

"Didn't you ever get lost?"

"Oh, sure. Countless times. It got to be a joke among our neighbors, who always joined in the search. I'd end up scared and getting the tar walloped out of me, but that never cured me of the wanderlust. A week after Elise and I graduated from college she married the boy next door, and I took off for Europe."

"And you've been seeing the world ever since."

"Mostly," Erin said with a self-conscious shrug. "But what's really strange is, even though Elise put down roots and I roamed, our lives have always run parallel."

"How so?"

"The major events and turning points in each of our lives have always occurred at about the same time. When we were kids Elise broke her right leg one day, and I broke my left one the next. We had emergency appendectomies within thirty-six hours of each other. In college we majored in different fields, but we always had the same grade-point average. I thought that when Elise married Tommy the pattern had been broken, but I met Andre Meleaux on the plane to Paris, and a month later we eloped."

Max had no ready reply this time; and that surprised Erin. She looked up to find him frowning, his eyes a sharp, glittering blue.