Living on the Edge (17 page)

“That had to be hard,” he said.

“It was worse—her father was killed instantly. So it was just her and her mom. There was no money. The local doctors did the best they could, but they weren't plastic surgeons. One of her eyelids folded over and the right corner of her mouth pulled down. As she got older, her face grew but the scars didn't. Every year she was more and more misshapen. When I met her, she was fourteen and looked like something out of a horror movie. But she was a sweet kid. Funny and smart. She and her mom had a great relationship. I wanted to wrap them both up and take them home with me.”

“Did you?”

The smile returned. “I did one better. I got her help. Two incredibly gifted surgeons worked on her face. They reduced the scar material, got everything back where it was and made her pretty for the first time in her life. She'll always have scars, but the new ones are thin lines easily covered with a bit of makeup.”

Madison continued to talk about Kristen's dance experience, but he stopped listening. He would rather lose himself in the pleasure of watching her mouth move when she spoke. He liked how she formed words and used her hands to illustrate a point.

Emotions widened her eyes or brought color to her cheeks. Her mouth curved. Every movement, every action, reminded him how beautiful she was.

But it wasn't just that, he thought. Beauty was easy. It was the woman inside who had him mesmerized. The one who cared about kids she'd never met, who
worked long hours for no pay because she could make a difference. He liked that she worked hard, that she stayed in touch, that when push came to shove, she would move mountains to get her kids what they needed.

He admired her and he knew he couldn't say that about any other woman he'd ever been intimate with. She was special in every sense of the word.

“You're not listening,” she said as she folded her arms over her chest. “I could really take offense at that.”

“But you won't.”

She sniffed. “What were you thinking about that was more interesting than what I was saying?”

“Not more interesting. Just different. And I was thinking about you. How great you are.”

“Oh, please.”

“I'm not kidding.”

“But I'm not all that special.”

“Want to bet?”

She ducked her head and flushed. “Well, thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

He studied her, knowing that she would not be easily forgotten. That when this was over…“I'll miss you,” he said, without meaning to speak the words aloud.

She stared at him. “Tanner?”

“Yeah, yeah, it doesn't mean anything. It's just you're not that bad to have around. I didn't think I'd like you, but I do. You're a hell of a woman. Beautiful, tough, caring.”

“I think you're pretty amazing, too.”

Which was not a place she should be going, he thought. When this was all over, she would walk away,
returning to her regularly scheduled life. He would move on to the next assignment. Neither of them should try to fool themselves into making it something more.

“I'm just the hired help,” he said. “Nothing more.”

“Actually you're not hired. You won't let me pay you.”

“That's because we're sleeping together. Money makes it all too complicated.”

She smiled. “A man of principles.”

“On my good days.”

“What about on your bad days?”

He stood and reached for her hand, then pulled her to her feet. “On my bad days, I'm a hell of a lot of fun.”

Then he kissed her.

Madison had made love with Tanner enough times in the past few days to anticipate the pleasure before it even began. All it took was his hand on her waist and his mouth on hers for the melting to begin. She yielded, leaning against him so they could touch everywhere, even as she parted for him and circled her tongue around his.

He tasted of coffee and the oranges they'd had after lunch. Heat began between her thighs and radiated in all directions. Her breasts ached, her muscles tensed and all he'd done was kiss her.

“I can't get enough of you,” he breathed against her mouth before breaking the kiss and moving to her jaw.

She echoed the sentiment silently, as she was too caught up in the feel of his lips and tongue on her sensitive skin to do more than gasp her pleasure.

He nibbled on her earlobe, gently biting down on the
flesh before sucking on it. Goose bumps erupted everywhere. Her nipples hardened. She wanted him, all of him, right this second. The bedroom was too far away.

Even as the thought formed, she reached for his belt and began to unfasten it. He chuckled against her neck.

“Impatient, are we?”

“Yes. Very.”

He grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it off in one easy movement. Her bra quickly followed, then he turned his attention to her breasts.

He cupped them first, caressing every millimeter of sensitized skin. Then he bent down and licked the very tips of her nipples. Her body clenched in response as she clung to him.

It wasn't enough, she thought, barely able to stay conscious. It would never be enough. She raised her arms. She wanted him naked, but right now she could only experience what he was doing to her.

“More,” she gasped, sliding her fingers through his hair to hold his head in place.

He responded instantly, opening his mouth and sucking deeply on her breasts. At the same time, he tugged at her shorts. He unfastened the snap and pulled down the zipper. As he licked and sucked and teased her breasts, he slipped his hand inside her panties and between her legs. Then he found that one sensitive spot and began to rub it.

She was already wet and swollen. His clever fingers applied just the right amount of pressure at just the right speed. She tried to part her legs more, but the fabric of her shorts wouldn't let her.

“Tanner!” she gasped as she felt herself getting closer and closer.

He continued to suck on her breasts as he moved his hand between her legs. Tension grew until release became inevitable. She grabbed his shoulders as her body convulsed in perfect bliss. Her release swept through her.

When she was still, he raised his head and began to kiss her mouth. Even as satisfaction rolled through her, desire heated again. She reached for his jeans and finished the job of freeing him from his belt.

“Get naked,” he said as he drew back enough to pull off his shirt and toe out of his shoes.

“Right here?” she asked with a grin. “In the control room?”

He pulled a condom out of his jeans pocket, then pushed them and his briefs to the ground. After stepping out of them, he slipped on the protection.

“Does all the high-tech equipment get you hot?”

She laughed as she quickly shed her clothes. “Not especially, but you do.”

When she had done as he requested, he lifted her onto his desk and parted her legs.

The height was perfect, she thought as he slipped between her thighs and entered her in one smooth movement. The thick hardness of his erection filled her. She wrapped her legs around his hips and urged him deeper. He obliged her with a slow, deep push.

Nerve endings danced with delight. She reached for him as he reached for her and they met in a kiss that caused their souls to touch. Over and over he filled her,
making her stretch and feel and want to scream. Tension grew. He moved faster, the slick friction pushing her closer and closer to the edge until she could only surrender to his will and climax again.

He continued to thrust in and out of her until the last contraction faded. Only then did he give in to his own pleasure and groan out his release.

When they were finished, she felt herself fill with emotions. She wasn't sure what they meant or even what they were. She only knew that she'd never been this close to another person before. She rested her forehead against his and did her best to keep her tone light as she said, “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”

“You're not too bad yourself.”

There was more, she thought. More to say, more to experience. Yet something kept her quiet. Maybe it was the realization that nothing about their situation was normal. Danger was supposed to heighten all the senses. Did that explain her attraction to Tanner? And how was she supposed to figure out what was the moment and what was real? It wasn't as if he was going to stick around after the danger had passed. So this was probably all they were ever going to have.

She would make it enough, she told herself, even as she realized she wasn't sure how that was possible.

 

Madison woke around midnight. Despite a long day and another session of lovemaking, she didn't feel tired. Restlessness stirred her, pulling her from the bed she shared with Tanner.

He slept, unaware of the demons that drove her. She pulled on a robe and walked out of the room.

Once in the kitchen, she searched the refrigerator, but nothing caught her attention. After nibbling on a cookie she didn't really want, she headed for her bedroom, where she could play on her computer. Maybe a couple of card games would still her thoughts.

She'd been cooped up in the house too long, she thought. She needed to get out. There had to be a way she could safely leave. Maybe she and Tanner could discuss it in the morning, she thought as she booted her laptop. The walls were definitely closing in on her.

She moved the cursor to her games program, then decided to check on e-mail first. Only one letter waited for her. She clicked on the icon to open it.

Madison stared at the unfamiliar return address. It took her a second to recognize the last name in combination with her father's company name. His secretary, Alison Harris, had sent the note.

Why on earth would the woman write her? Sure, Alison had worked for her father for fifteen or twenty years, but the older woman had never had much contact with Madison.

She clicked on the mail itself and began to read. Horror chilled her to the bone.

 

Madison—Please! I'm desperate to get in touch with you. Please call me as soon as you read this. It's your father. He's had a heart attack and he's near death.

M
adison stared at the e-mail for several seconds before panic set it. She scrambled for a piece of paper and a pen, then quickly wrote down the phone number. When she had it, she ran into the control room and picked up the phone.

“Please enter your authorization code.”

The computerized voice confused her. She punched in Alison's number, only to hear the instruction again.

“What?” she demanded, then remembered this was Tanner's safe house. The regular rules didn't apply. She hung up the phone.

“I have to know,” she murmured as she scanned the room for some way to find out the truth. There were only blinking cursors on various computer screens. How could she—

Tanner's cell phone! She could use that or have him make the call from the regular phone.

She turned toward his bedroom, then froze in place as fear battled with reason. Tanner. He'd said that her father was okay. He'd let her listen to his conversation with one of his men. Her father was fine. He hadn't been going to the doctor. This was just a trick. Christopher was trying to trick her.

“But not through Alison,” she whispered to herself.

The gray-haired woman had been with her father for years. Madison had met her countless times. There was no way she worked for Christopher—she'd been employed by Adams Electronics over ten years when Blaine had first met Christopher.

“Why would she lie?”

Nothing made sense. Was it possible that Christopher had been lying about her father being sick, only now he'd had a real heart attack? Stranger things had happened. She had to find out.

She hurried to Tanner's bedroom. He was still sprawled across the bed. She stared at him, not sure if she should wake him or not, then she decided to err on the side of caution. She reached for the cell phone he kept clipped to his jeans and carefully pulled it out of its carrying case. When that was done, she hurried to the far end of the house and punched in Alison's number.

There was a moment of silence followed by the sound of ringing. Thank God Tanner didn't use an access code for his cell.

“Hello?”

Madison's chest tightened. “Alison? Is that you?”

“Madison? Finally. Where are you? I've been trying to reach you for days.” The other woman sounded frantic. “Oh, Madison, your father is so sick. He had a heart attack. It's bad. Really bad. He's been having symptoms for days but ignoring them. He was so wrapped up in his work. You know how he is. I made him go see his doctor, who warned him to take it easy, but would he listen?”

Alison began to cry softly. “I'm sorry. It's just I'm the one who found him. He never came out for lunch and I got worried. I went back in his lab, even though he's told me not to. It's his sacred space. He doesn't want anyone mucking around with his experiments.” The tears came faster. “He was on the floor. I thought he was dead.”

Madison felt tears fill her eyes. How was this possible? “Are you sure? He's really sick?”

“He nearly died. The doctor at the hospital said if I'd found him an hour later, it would have been too late. You have to go see him right away. He's been asking for you.”

“I will. What hospital?”

Alison gave her the name and address, along with the direct number for Cardiac Care. Madison wrote it all down. She felt as if she were living underwater where nothing was as it should be.

“I wish he'd listened to his doctor,” Alison said sadly.

“When did he go see him?” Madison asked.

“A few days ago. Three, maybe four.”

After Madison had listened to Tanner's man give his report. Was it all a lie? Tanner had been so furious about her playing him for a fool, but was the truth the opposite?

“Thanks, Alison,” she said. “I'm going to call the hospital right now.”

“You do that, honey. I'm praying for him to make it.”

“Thank you. For everything.”

Madison finished the call and immediately made another.

“Los Angeles General. Cardiac Care.”

“Hi. I'm trying to find out about my father. Blaine Adams. I understand he was brought in this afternoon.”

“Just a minute.”

A couple of seconds later, another woman picked up. “Hi, this is Sandy. Are you Dr. Adams's daughter?”

“Yes. This is Madison.”

“Great.” The woman sounded intensely relieved. “We've been going crazy trying to find you. Your father was brought in this afternoon in critical condition. The doctors are hopeful he'll pull through, but it's still not a sure thing. The next twenty-four hours will tell. He's pretty out of it, but he's been asking for you.”

Madison's tears fell faster now. Oh, God. Her father was really sick. He could die. Christopher had been telling her the truth and she hadn't listened.

“I'll be there,” Madison promised. “Please tell him to hold on a little longer. I'll be there.”

She hung up the phone and ran to her room. It only took her a couple of minutes to dress. She tucked the cell phone into her jeans pocket, then headed for the cabinet in the control room where Tanner kept the keys to the van. As she reached for them, a faint light from the window glinted on the bracelet.

Damn. The second she walked out of the house, the
alarm would go off. Tanner couldn't possibly sleep through the noise. He would come after her and stop her from seeing her father.

Panic surged through her. She glanced around for the electronic device he'd used to unfasten the bracelet, but she couldn't remember what it looked like. Every second she wasted felt like a lifetime. What if her father died while she was still searching?

Where would it be? Where would—

She saw the medicine cabinet. Drugs, she thought, remembering what Tanner had done to her. It would serve him right, she thought as she ran over and jerked open the door.

Several bottles of liquid and pills sat on shelves. She flipped on a desk light, then began reading the labels. The long names confused her. Besides, she couldn't make him swallow a pill and she didn't know how to use a needle. What if she didn't inject him correctly? What if he wasn't knocked out? She needed a sure thing.

And then she remembered the gun he'd given her. The one with a sedative instead of a bullet.

She returned to the first cabinet, pulled it open and grabbed for the van keys. When they were safely in her other pocket, she searched through the various weapons on shelves until she found the one she recognized. She knew enough to drop the clip and check that there weren't any bullets. She wanted Tanner out of it, not dead.

She ran back to his bedroom. He lay sprawled across the mattress, naked, vulnerable. How could he have done this to her? How could he have lied? She thought about her father, slowly getting sicker and sicker. Fury
and pain steadied her arm as she pointed directly at his chest and pulled the trigger.

The shot was quieter than she would have thought. The sedative struck him in the upper left part of his chest, close to his shoulder. His eyes flickered open, then closed. She waited five seconds before shaking him.

“Tanner,” she yelled. “Can you hear me?”

He didn't budge.

She dropped the gun onto the floor and ran for the garage.

She was nearly halfway across the cement floor before the computerized voice warned her that she had violated her authorized perimeter. That if she didn't return, an alarm would sound. The shrill siren began as she started the engine. She started to back out before the garage doors had fully opened, and there was an ugly scraping sound, barely audible over the pulsing alarm.

Madison turned on the lights of the van and drove down the street. She had a vague idea of where she was from the trip to Christopher's house a couple of days before. At least she remembered her way to the 110 freeway. Once she was going north on that, she could head west and make her way to the hospital.

Not long now, she told herself over and over again in a litany of prayer.
I'll be there, Daddy. Just hang on for me.

Tears threatened, but she willed them away. She had to see to drive. There was no point in escaping only to get in an accident. She had to stay strong and in charge. Once she was with her father and he was getting better, she would figure out how to make Tanner pay for what he'd done to her.

 

In the hours after midnight even the Los Angeles freeways were empty of traffic. Madison made excellent time to the hospital. She parked in the back, then hurried toward the building. Her heart pounded in time with her steps as she wondered how long it would be until the effects of the sedative wore off. She figured she had at least a couple of hours but not much longer.

She might have taken Tanner's van and his cell phone, but once he woke up, he could still use the land line to call in his team. If only she'd thought to tie him up. That would have bought her more time.

Too late now, she told herself. Once he was awake, he could easily figure out where she'd gone. After all, he had access to her e-mail, which meant he could get to Alison. She would have to warn the other woman.

But first, her father, she thought as she hurried inside and studied the directory.

The large sign told her that Cardiac Care was on the third floor. Madison took the elevator, then followed the arrows to the right department. A woman sat at the front nurses' station.

“I'm Madison Hilliard,” she told the nurse. “I'm here to see my father—Blaine Adams. Is he all right? Is he still…”

The nurse, a young woman in her twenties, smiled. “Don't worry, Mrs. Hilliard. Your father is doing all right. Actually, as soon as I told him you were coming, he perked right up.”

“He did?”

“Absolutely.”

The nurse took her by the arm and led her through the closed double doors into the department. There was a sign saying only family members were allowed for ten minutes every hour. Madison glanced at her watch only to realize she wasn't wearing one.

“Can I stay longer?” she asked. “I haven't seen him in so long.”

“Of course. Take as much time as you need.” The nurse stopped and pointed at a curtained area. “Just through there.”

Madison ran forward and pushed the curtain aside. In that second before the cloth moved, something inside her head screamed out.

But it was too late.

The curtain parted to reveal Christopher sitting in a chair. He had a gun, and when he saw her, he raised it until it pointed at her heart.

“Ah, my lovely wife. Hello, Madison. I'll say this about you—you're consistent.”

Her stomach clenched until she was afraid she was going to throw up.

A thousand thoughts filled her mind. Everything from wondering when he'd turned Alison to how he'd managed to get control of some of the hospital staff. There had to be a whole lot on the line for him to go to this much trouble.

The last thing she thought before she inhaled the sweet, sticky smell she remembered so well and everything went black was that Christopher was finally going to win.

 

Consciousness returned in the form of a blinding headache. At first, all Madison could focus on was the pulsing pain. She didn't want to open her eyes or move in any way, but she forced herself to turn onto her back and look at her surroundings.

Even with her head throbbing, she saw she was in a small room, on a bed. Muscles ached from the awkward position she'd been in. As she tried to straighten her legs, pins and needles shot through them. She gritted her teeth and moved her feet, then her legs.

The pain made her cry out. Her stomach flopped over, making her nauseous. All she wanted was to curl up and disappear into unconsciousness, but she refused to let herself. She'd gotten herself into this and she had to find a way out.

The ache in her legs faded first. Slow, steady breathing kept her stomach under control. If her previous experience with Christopher knocking her out was anything to go by, the headache was there to stay for at least a few hours. She would simply have to work through it.

She sat up and looked around. The room was maybe ten by ten, with a bed, a sink and toilet and a small window. The quality of light was faint enough to make her think it was dawn. So she'd been out about four hours. There was no sound—not a car driving by, not a dog barking. Wherever she'd been brought, it was in the middle of nowhere.

At least she was alone. Last time, she'd awakened to find herself watched twenty-four hours a day. The con
stant monitoring had been difficult to take. Better to be alone, she thought as she stood and explored the room.

There was only one door—metal and locked. No food, no change of clothes. In a way it was very much like the room Tanner had taken her to when he'd rescued her. Only a lot more terrifying.

Tanner. She didn't want to think about him, but she had to. How could she have been so stupid as to believe he would turn on her?