Midnight Heat (12 page)

He finally lifted his mouth and let his forehead rest on hers. “You’re right. You deserve better than me. I made you a promise, that I’d find the truth. And yet the moment I get an order, it’s like I’m one of Pavlov’s dogs. ‘Sorry, but duty calls.’ I would have kept looking—on my own time, I’d have helped you, but it’s a poor excuse. I’m sorry. I’ve always been so sure that I control the system and make it work for me, I never realized just when I became the system.”

He leaned down and kissed her again, his touch almost reverent. “You humble me.” At her confused expression, he said, “I have no doubt that you’d have gone to the wire for a colleague, for anyone you felt was being wronged—” He broke off, his eyes widening as if he’d just solved a puzzle. “That’s what the reprimands were about. You were taking the rap for someone else. Why, Adria?”

Adria didn’t answer for a while. “It was Pete Moore,” she finally muttered.

“What is Pete Moore to you that you’d risk blemishing your work history?”

Adria wasn’t sure what motivated the new tension in his voice, but she was certain she shouldn’t be intrigued by the possibility that it might be jealousy. But it did take the edge off her reply. “Pete is a man going through personal hell. A hell I know all too intimately. He’s going through a divorce. Thinking I was helping him, I misguidedly helped him out a few times when fatigue and emotional exhaustion made his judgment a tiny bit foggy.”

“You don’t have room for those kinds of mistakes in your job, Adria. I can’t believe you stood by and allowed the man to put people at risk.”

“I didn’t stand by, I stepped in and did what I had to do. My mistake was in thinking I was helping Pete. I realized that the night of the incident. He’d let the AirWest and the Liberty get too close together. I noticed it when I took control of my position that night and moved immediately to rectify the situation. But even before the incident occurred, I’d already decided I was going to have a long talk with Pete and convince him to take personal leave and get some help. I should have done that right from the start.”

Dane put the rest together quickly. “You spoke to Pete after the incident. Why didn’t you tell me? I specifically asked you for a list of who you spoke to that night.”

“I didn’t talk to him that night. I called
him the next day. Not to tell him about what had happened, but to follow up on my original vow to get him out of the tower. Pete was more resistant than I’d expected, and I got angry. I explained what he’d left me with that night and I guess I mentioned the primary target plane.” She paused for a moment, the heated emotion of her long conversation with Pete playing back through her mind. “He was upset, but he was convinced his job was all he had left keeping him sane. He swore he’d do better, get more rest.”

“Adria,” Dane warned.

“I didn’t let him get away with it. I eventually issued him an. ultimatum: Either he take leave and get counseling, or I’d report him for negligence.”

Dane nodded, clearly respecting and understanding how difficult that had been for her. “Do you think he was angry enough to contact the media and try to point the finger at you? Could he have mentioned the target plane not knowing it hadn’t been discussed outside your talks with Beck and me?”

Adria thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. But if our intrepid spy-slash-reporter was covering all her bases, she might have known enough to contact Pete and ask questions. The state he’s in, it wouldn’t have been too hard to get him to reveal what I’d told him. I didn’t caution
him against it; it didn’t occur to me that I had to. He knows the rules.”

“Ms. Greene, or whoever she is, could have told him she was from my office. He might have assumed he was talking on the record for the investigation.”

Adria nodded. “That makes sense. And I guess she didn’t use the same ruse with me because she knew I’d been questioned too closely by you.” She snorted and hung her head. “Not to mention I gave her the perfect cover by assuming out loud that she was the
Post
reporter.”

“You had no way of knowing.” Dane was silent for a moment, then released her and turned to his desk. “I wish we could figure out who the hell she is. I spent all night going through every database I have access to and a few I don’t. I called in favors, used contacts I haven’t used in years. No one knows this woman.”

Adria had started to reach for him, intent on rubbing his shoulders. Her hand stilled in front of her. She felt like slime as she took in the strain and tension that lined his weary face. “I owe you an apology. You were wrong earlier. You have no reason to be humbled. Certainly not by me. I shouldn’t have said what I did about the kind of man you are. I know what kind of man you are. I’m sure I’ve always known. You’ve gone above and beyond what
other investigators would have. Most of them would have listened politely to my explanation on the highly improbable third-plane scenario, and it would have ended there. Certainly when the ARTS tapes were reviewed. Even before we … became involved, you were already helping me. You’d have done the same for anyone you thought might shed light on the facts. On the truth.”

“Adria—”

“I owe you for going as far as you have. I’m scared and angry and I hate feeling trapped like this by the system, but I had no right—”

“Adria, I
am
the system.” He pressed a finger to her lips to keep her from going on. “But this time I can’t make the rules work for me. Or for you.” He moved away from the desk, his lips pulling back until two rows of white teeth were exposed in the most devilishly sexy grin she’d ever seen. “So, I say it’s about time we broke a few.” He stopped less than a breath away. “How about it? You up for a little aviation espionage?”

Right now Adria would have settled for air. “I should never have taught you how to smile like that,” she whispered.

His chuckle was rusty, but it made her shiver all over. His hands settled on her hips and he gently tugged her forward until they bumped his.

“So, are we a team?” The rough quality to his voice made her think of all sorts of teamwork she’d like to indulge in with this man.

She nodded.

“Good. But first I really need to do this.” He slid his hands up her back and pulled her fully against him. Just before his mouth covered hers, he whispered, “I won’t let you down again, Adria. I swear it.”

Adria fumbled with her house keys, conscious of Dane right behind her. Even though they’d driven separate cars, she’d been aware of him since they’d left his office.

That kiss … Something had changed between them. It was as if his whispered vow carried a much deeper commitment.

She really hadn’t given much thought to what would happen between them after the case was over. Now she did.

She finally managed to open her door. “Can I get you something to drink,” she asked as she entered.

“The usual. Thanks,” he said. Adria was warmed by the smile in his voice. He
had
changed.

“No problem.” She dropped her purse and
keys on the foyer table. “If you want to make your calls, I could fix a bite—”

Dane took her elbow and swung her into his arms, against his body. It thrilled her how smoothly, how easily, how perfectly, she moved against him. He closed the door with his back and leaned against it, pulling her with him. She rested between his legs. His mouth came down on hers and she gave to him willingly.

His hands slid down and gripped the curve of her buttocks. “We have to get to work, set plans in motion.…” His words trailed off as he brushed kisses along her jaw and down her neck to her shoulder. “And all I can think of is making love to you again.”

“Me too. My job is at stake, and I can’t stop thinking about … wanting to …” Her hips arched against his, making her desire clearer than any words could.

Dane groaned. His hands still molding her backside, he pushed from the door and backed her to the stairs. Instead of climbing them, he pressed her down until she was on her back and he lay fully on top of her. She opened her legs, forming a cradle for his hips.

Adria reveled in how readily, how badly she wanted him. How she enjoyed his intensity. His control, his command of her body, was so different, so pleasurable.…

She had changed too.

“The bed,” he whispered roughly. “I thought it would be nice to make love to you on a bed, but—”

“Next time.” She reached for the waistband of his pants. She had his buckle undone and the zipper halfway down when the phone rang. Dane stilled, Adria didn’t. “Don’t. Let the machine get it.”

Bracing his weight on one arm, he pulled her shirt from her pants.

The machine clicked on. “You’re kidding yourself if you think spreading your legs for the investigator will help your cause,” the caller said in a low, rough whisper. The gender was difficult to discern.

They both froze.

“Leave it alone,” the caller continued. “And leave Colbourne alone. You’re in over your head. And his. It’s over. You lost.”

Dane was across the room before Adria could take a single breath. But the click of the disconnection sounded just as his hand hit the phone. He was too late.

He lifted the receiver anyway, then slammed it back on the base. “Damn!”

Adria jerked into action, yanking her shirt down as she scrambled off the step.

“No!” Dane made a chopping motion with his hand. “Stay where you are.”

Adria was so taken aback, she followed without question. She watched, her heart still
pounding, only not with passion, as he moved to the side of her front window.

He carefully nudged apart the blinds and scanned the street. “No cars on the curb, two cars in driveways. A red Bronco two doors down, this side of the street, and a gray Honda three doors down across the street.”

“Those belong there,” she confirmed. “I’ll check from upstairs, the view is better.” She half expected him to stop her and demand that he be the one to check.

“Be careful,” was all he said.

She knew him well enough to realize his respect wasn’t easily won. And apparently he knew her well enough to understand how important it was to her to be taken seriously, to be considered an equal. Her nerves were still jangled, but she found a smile for him. “I will.” She climbed up a step. “Not exactly how I expected to end up in my bedroom.”

“I remember exactly where we left off.” He crossed the room to stand by the stairs. All business now, he said, “After you check the backstreet, I want you to throw a few things together. I don’t think it’s safe to stay here.”

She didn’t either. “I guess we can go to a hotel.”

He shook his head. “No hotels. If this person is tracing your every move, they’ll figure it out.”

“So where do we go?”

“To my place.”

“That’s safer? It’s the first place they’ll look.”

“I don’t intend to stay there, but I have to contact someone who can help us out and get a few things as well.”

She nodded. “Okay, I trust you.”

“I won’t forget that either.” She took another step, but he stopped her by putting a hand on hers. The warmth of his skin, the strength in his fingers, comforted her.

“Don’t use a suitcase, just a large handbag or something.”

She nodded again, not trusting herself to speak, and ran quickly up the stairs.

“Who is Jarrett McCullough?”

Dane was thankful that was all Adria asked. He didn’t want to have to explain the cryptic message he’d just left on Jarrett’s answering machine.

“He’s a friend. The best.”

He scooped up his Coke and notes and sat on a barstool across the room from Adria. She was curled up on the end of his couch nursing an iced tea.

He’d chosen the couch as he’d chosen everything else in his house—for comfort and utility. Now he had to admit the place did look a bit drab. If what was surfacing in him was
some latent urge to decorate, at least he’d started with the best room brightener he could think of. Adria.

She studied him for a moment. “You don’t have too many friends, I’d wager,” she said.

He tried to look affronted. He wasn’t too keen that she’d realized just how easily he shut most people out. Even his sister’s well-meaning teasing hadn’t woken him up to that fact.

“You’re intimating I don’t play well with others?”

“Not at all. But I can’t see you letting anyone too close either. In fact, I’ll bet ten to one you’ve known Jarrett since you were kids, before your walls were too high to scale. He’s one of the Musketeers you mentioned, isn’t he?”

He glanced at the table that doubled for his desk over in the corner of the small living room. It was cluttered with open books, charts, piles of folders, mangled plane parts. And one photo. He looked back at her.

She wasn’t the least bit repentant. “So I glanced at your ‘collection’ while you were fixing my tea. Call it professional curiosity.”

He thought of all the things he wanted to share with her, none of them remotely professional in nature. “Those plane parts don’t belong in my collection. They’re bits and pieces
of ongoing investigations. Most of what I’ve kept is at work.”

It went unsaid that since he spent most of his time there, it made sense to keep any personal mementos there. But he knew she didn’t judge him wanting because of that.

The tension eased out of him slowly; his body relaxed. He let out a long, slow breath as he drank in the sight of her. She made him feel as if he’d been holding his breath all his life … waiting. For her.

“Who’s the other boy in the photo?”

“Zach Brogan.” His smile was slight, but he was enjoying the instant reaction he always got from Adria when he tried one out, so he was making an effort to do it more often. “He just married the girl in the photo.” The smile broadened a bit more easily. “My twin sister, Dara.”

“Your twin?”

He’d surprised her. “You say that like you feel sorry for the world in general that there are two of us.”

She shook her head. “No, not at all. Something about the way she’s looking at the three of you tells me she was probably the only person who kept you guys in line.”

Dane stepped over to the desk. He didn’t have to look at the picture to know every individual grain of color in it. He picked it up and crossed to the couch. Adria lowered her feet to
the floor and Dane sat close beside her, holding the photo so they could both look at it.