The Great Escape (18 page)

flashing blue, they captured his attention and held him still. She was

laughing up at him as he towered over her, and as he watched, her

smile slowly died away to leave a more serious, perplexed pucker

around the eyes.

Dee stared at him, feeling all the questions and the incomprehensions

of the previous day well up inside her. The questions she had been too

exhausted, too overwhelmed, too drained to ask herself last night now

clamoured for attention. 'Mike, about yesterday—I don't understand

any of it. I don't see why those men came after me in broad daylight.

It—it doesn't make sense, does it?' And the look in her eyes as she

stared at him was lost, bewildered, and somehow imploring.

Something clicked over in his face, something slight, undefinable,

and so tangibly real that she stared, harder. It was, inexplicably, a

barrier. 'What don't you understand, love?' he asked calmly, sitting on

the bed.

Puzzlement quivered through her. 'Well ... for instance, why do you

suppose those two men abducted me after attempting to and failing

the night before? Once might be a random incident, but twice? Come

on, now, really --'

His jaw clenched, briefly, and she sensed the smoky embers of a deep

anger that had not quite died down yet. 'I expect because they were

afraid you'd seen them the* -night before and wanted to get rid of you

before you identified them and pressed charges,' he replied smoothly.

'But it was nearly pitch black that night!' she protested against this

line of reasoning. It seemed illogical. 'I didn't even get the slightest

hint of what they looked like.'

'But you marked one of them quite definitely with that nasty bite of

yours,' he pointed out, after a moment's reflection.

Dee nibbled at a finger thoughtfully, frowning. 'That's true. But it still

seems a bit much, don't you think?' He didn't answer, and after a

moment she shrugged fretfully. 'Oh, well, it's over now, and it doesn't

matter any more! But it's still strange, and it makes me wonder. One

of them said something about having a job to complete, and I never

have figured that one out. Oh, and I know that the house they found

was totally by chance. One of them had overheard in the doctor's

office about it being vacant.'

'There,' said Mike immediately. 'That's your answer. The job they had

to complete must have been robbing the house.' She stared at him.

'That hadn't occurred to me,' she said slowly. 'I suppose it's possible.

By the way, however did you manage to find me so conveniently in

the nick of time?'

'I'd managed to dive into my car and follow them a ways,' he said,

smiling crookedly. 'But then I managed to lose them in the residential

area where that house was. The streets are very winding and

confusing, and I was sweating out a whole host of fears before I

finally noticed a whiff of smoke coming from the house you were in.

It was hidden from the road, and I'd gone up on the driveway purely

out of a rather hopeless curiosity, wondering who in their right mind

would be burning trash on a day like yesterday.'

'How very strange,' she murmured. 'It was my thought exactly, before

I realized the house was on fire. Then, of course, everything made

sense.'

He said dryly, 'Of course. Anyway, I noticed it was the house, too,

and then went to the front door to see if anyone was at home. The

lock, I saw, had been forced and I became suspicious enough to break

inside. I called for you, experimentally, and you answered. The rest is

history.'

'Well!' she said, laughing in a way that was not amused at all. 'Am I

glad you're of an inquisitive nature! Otherwise I'd be past history

right now.' And a shudder quivered through her shoulders at the cold,

frightening thought.

Mike was suddenly brisk. 'Come on, up now for sure. We have a lot to

do today, and more of our journey yet to go. Hurry, or I'll lay first

claim to the shower and use all the hot water!' Dee smiled,

reluctantly, but something niggled at the back of her mind, even as

she obediently rose to pad into the plain white bathroom and turn on

the taps. She couldn't pinpoint the problem, not even to herself, for

she wasn't sure she'd correctly picked up the unspoken messages

Mike emitted.

The slight impression that something was not quite right haunted her

throughout their quickly snatched meal, in a restaurant not far from

the motel where they had stayed. Mike was responsive enough to her

conversation, and yet she noticed his eyes straying to the window

when he thought she wasn't looking. He smiled quickly enough at her

jokes and good humour, and it didn't seem to reach his eyes. He

responded quickly to her outstretched hand, tucking his big warm one

into hers, and yet it was done with a sombre expression that had her

more than a little worried.

She helped carry the suitcases to the car later on, watching him

covertly. After he had taken the key to the front office while she

waited in the car, she saw him come out of the building slowly and

stop, his head turned to the road south, away from her, the spring

breeze fluttering through his dark hair. The set to his shoulders was

stiff. Then he moved, breaking the brief illusion that she had felt

when he had stood so absolutely still, like a marble statue, no feeling

and no expression on his face. When he got into the car and put the

key to the ignition and yet made no move to start the car, she finally

spoke.

'What's wrong?' She watched him, worried. Silence, no movement,

no indication that he had heard her. 'Mike, something's been troubling

you all day long. What is it? Where are we going? Why aren't you

talking to me?'

The questions were spoken quietly, and she tried to sound placid

enough so that he would know that she was not worried and trusted

him, but something quivered through her words despite her efforts.

He didn't turn to look at her and his hand went out to the ignition. The

car purred to life. 'What do you mean, I haven't been talking to you?

I've been talking to you all day long,' he replied expressionlessly. Dee

jerked in her seat.

'No, you haven't. You've been making surface noises to appease me.

You haven't really said anything
to
me since we got out of bed. Is—is

it me? Is it something I've said, or—or done?' Her voice wobbled

betrayingly at the end, and she caught her breath, furious at herself for

showing such distress at his uncommunicative mood.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him glance sharply at her

unsteady voice, and his hand flashed out, caught hold of her fingers

and gripped them so tightly it hurt. She held on to the pain as if it were

a reassurance, which in a way it was. 'You're referring to last night

and this morning, I take it,' he said quietly. Dee stared out of her

window blindly and nodded, forgetting that he was most likely

watching the road. He apparently saw it, though, for he was

responding promptly. 'Dee, are you sorry for last night? I know it hurt

you a little bit, but honestly, love, it doesn't every time --'

'Oh, God!' she exploded, hiding all her pent-up uncertainties behind a

sudden spurt of anger. 'Don't patronise me! I know I'm young, but I'm

certainly not ignorant of the facts of life—they do teach things in

school, you know!' She stopped abruptly, felt his hand withdraw, and

her voice changed. 'That's it, isn't it? You're regretting last night, not

I. Is it because I'm so young? I believe it's called statutory rape when a

legal adult has sex with a minor.' The words were staccato- swift and

cutting as she struggled with her foolish desire not to cry.

'Stop it, just stop it!' Mike's voice rose over hers and she did,

clamming up and staring away from him. 'All right, maybe I'm

wondering if we did the right thing last night, what's wrong with that,

for God's sake? For crying out loud, Dee, I'm twenty-nine years

old—eleven years older than you. You aren't even eighteen!'

'And if I'd been forty?' she queried chillingly, and heard his impatient

sigh. 'What then, answer me that? It wouldn't have mattered so much,

would it, that you were eleven years younger than I was? You'd have

considered yourself quite capable of dealing with it, wouldn't you?

Wouldn't you?'

'That's ridiculous,' he gritted. His knuckles were white as his hands

tightened spasmodically on the steering wheel.

'Why is it ridiculous?' she shouted, spilling all of her turbulent

emotions out and sensing his wince. 'I knew what the hell I was

doing, didn't I? What if I'd been a forty-year-old virgin? It still

wouldn't have mattered so much—don't shake your head like that—it

wouldn't! I can see it in your eyes.
Damn
it, you're looking at statistics

again, and you aren't really seeing
me
under all that! When will it

stop, Mike? When will people stop looking at me and saying "there's

the millionaire heiress" or "there's the seventeen-year-old"! Do you

know how I've been patronized at the restaurant, just because people

think that if I'm a waitress I can't be that sharp in the brains

department?'

'I can't overlook the facts, no matter how you may want me to!' he

snapped, a host of thunderclouds lowering on his brow.

'I don't want you to! It's a fact that I was a virgin and I'm not now, and

you're the one who took my virginity!' she hissed. 'And it's a fact that

last night was something very special to me, and I think that if you'd

let it, it would be special to you, too! And mister, it's a fact that you

can either look at what we had last night as just having sex or making

love. I don't want you to ignore the facts, man, I just want you to have

the right perspective on them! Would you have minded so much if I

hadn't been a virgin?'

Amazingly, a slight, quick smile quirked at his lips. 'I probably

wouldn't be feeling so guilty,' he admitted ruefully.

'Well, then,' she said hardly, watching closely for his reaction, 'if I'd

known, I would have lost my virginity in some raunchy little motel

room with a total stranger, and then you wouldn't have to be feeling

so bad.'

She was totally unprepared for his viciously bitten off oath, or the

violent swerve of the car cutting off the highway and parking jerkily

at the side of the road. He reached for her, grabbed her by the

shoulders, and began to shake her hard. 'Don't you ever, ever say a

thing like that again!' he snarled, and she wondered at his anger, even

while a slow glow of warmth spread through her. 'My God! Don't you

have any more respect for yourself than that? I've never --'

She stopped him simply by reaching forward and pressing her soft

lips to his. Then she leaned back and smiled at him. 'And aren't you

glad I had more respect for myself and you by making it much, much

more special to me than just a tawdry one-night stand?' she asked him

softly. 'Mike, do you really regret it? If so, I'm very sorry. I just can't.'

He relaxed his grip on her and sighed, replying, 'Maybe I think I

should regret it. Maybe that's why I'm putting myself through such

throes of guilt, I don't know. And yes, it was very, very special to me,

and I'll treasure the memory.' He brought his lips down and caressed

hers gently.

But she drew back and frowned into his shirt. 'Mike, why won't you

tell me where we're going? Trust is one thing, but this is going a bit

far, surely?'

He looked at her a moment. 'I've been putting it off,' he muttered,

rubbing his eyes with his fingers. 'And you're right, I should have told

you sooner. We're going to Knoxville.'

It was a flat statement, brooking no argument, and yet he paused,

watching her closely. At his words, Dee felt a deep blow of dread in

her chest, but she strove to overcome it, thinking to herself, trust. He

wants me to trust him. Trust him, Dee. She drew a deep, shaky breath

and asked, 'How long are we staying, then?' And for the life of her,

she couldn't help looking the question
why?
at him, tensed. Why

home, why now?

He relaxed slightly, smiled a little, and he cupped her cheek in that

familiar way. 'You surpass all my expectations,' he told her quietly.

'We are, my girl, going to my apartment. We're going to test out that

once-tried theory of yours and really see if the one place no one will

look for you is at your own home base. My apartment is just

downtown, not fifteen minutes from your house. And if my guess is

right and if you manage to keep pretty much hidden, we should be

able to limp along tolerably well for a while.'