Authors: Jennifer Ryan
Morgan came back to herself all at once at Tyler’s words. For a moment, she’d completely forgotten about him, and still she felt like a part of her was safe knowing he’d always be there.
“I forgot you were here.”
“You drifted away. I held your hand and waited for you to come back. Looks like you’re almost all here now. Have a sip of your tea. It’ll make you feel better.”
It felt too good to have him care about her well-being. She took a sip of her tea and let out a big sigh.
“Let’s get out of here. Where’s the waitress? We need to pay the check.”
“Already took care of it. She came by a few minutes ago,” he said with an easy tone and smile.
“She did?” She didn’t remember the woman coming by the table. She hated when that happened. Very disconcerting to blank out and not know what happened around her. She thought of her house in Colorado and the peace and safety she’d found there. She wanted to go home, and yet sitting next to Tyler felt almost as good.
“Yep.”
She ran her hands through her hair and held her head between her hands and rested her elbows on the table. “She must have thought I was a complete space case. I’m so sorry I embarrassed you.”
She looked so upset over something so little. He didn’t care if she spaced out for a while. It gave him a chance to study her without her being aware of it. He liked looking at her beautiful face, the soft curve of her jaw, and the small pale freckles on her cheeks. She had the longest eyelashes. They swept up, a soft brown against the striking blue of her eyes.
“You didn’t embarrass me. I told the waitress you were in shock because I told you I wanted to rip your clothes off and make love to you all night when we got home.”
“You did not!”
“Sure did. She said if you weren’t going to take me up on it, she’d be happy to take your place.” Her shocked open mouth turned into a small grin. “That’s just about the same smile you had when she said it.”
“Oh, really.”
“Yeah. I don’t know if you were laughing at me or her.”
“You’re incorrigible. Listen, Tyler. You have to understand, I’ve been alone for a long time, and you and I have shared a kind of long-distance relationship…”
He stopped her right there. “We’ve shared a very one-sided long-distance relationship where you gave and gave and I took and took. Don’t think for a minute I haven’t figured that out. About the ripping off clothes and hot sex, it was just a joke to get the waitress to leave. Relax.”
Her shoulders went lax and the intensity in her dimmed.
“Feeling better?”
She’d missed it. “You just did all that to take my mind off of that horrible scene with my sister.”
“It worked. You’re looking better every minute. Besides, we learned a few things about her and your father.”
“He wants something from me, and he’s going to use her to get it.”
“Exactly. He knows there’s money set aside for the kids. He’ll probably be wondering how much he can get out of you based on how much Jillian told him you’ve set aside for them.”
Morgan rolled her eyes. “I think my sister’s thinking along the same lines as my father, only she’d like to get her hands on the children’s account. He’s probably told her that he can”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“
invest
the money for her and make her ten times as much. Then, she and her husband will have all their dreams come true,” she said with a sarcastic and whimsical note and rolled her eyes.
“How much are we talking about?”
“In the kid’s accounts?”
“Yes, and how much could he expect to get from you.”
“He’s not getting anything from me.”
“What if he took one of the kids? How much would you pay to get them back?”
She put both her hands over her face. “He’d do it. He’d hurt one of them to get me to cooperate. I know he would.”
Tyler hated to put the possibility to her, but she had to face what could happen. “How much?”
“All I ever wanted was to have enough money to live my life the way I wanted. I’ve worked really hard to put some money away and buy the property in Colorado. It’s my sanctuary. I can be there and no one bothers me. I don’t have to worry about the guy next door, or across the street. I don’t have to put up blocks and guard myself, like I do when I’m here.”
“If you don’t want to tell me how much, then say so.”
“It’s not that. The first year I started, I took what little money I had and hoped I didn’t lose it the first day. It turns out I have a knack for investing. Like I said, I wanted to make enough to live on and buy a home. I earned enough the first year to do both, though I didn’t buy the property in Colorado for a few years. I rented a house in Texas before I moved. After that, I continued to work at it and set my goals higher.”
“So, what are we talking about? A hundred grand? Several hundred grand?”
“And then some,” she said and smiled sheepishly. She didn’t want to brag, or seem like a snob about how much money she made.
Her evasion told him he wasn’t even in the ballpark.
“Are you trying hard not to tell me we’re talking in the millions?”
“A few,” she said vaguely.
“What’s a few? Two? Three?”
“About nine.” She sat back in her seat and stared at the table. “I told you, I’m good at it. I’ve been doing it for the last five years. I have a lot of time on my hands. When I had enough for a house and to live on comfortably, I used the rest to invest. I figured if I lost it, I could start over with the money I make on the website. It isn’t much, but it’s enough of an income to cover my monthly expenses. Sometimes things go my way, and other times they don’t. I turned a little bit of money into a lot. I set aside some money for the kids. It’s some long-term investments that will grow and be enough for them to go to any college they want. Right now, there’s about forty thousand dollars.”
“Forty grand. That’s a lot, but not enough for your sister to use without jeopardizing the kids’ education.”
“Forty grand each. There’s eighty thousand all together.”
“Damn, where are you sending these kids to college? Europe?”
“No.” She laughed. “I want them to go wherever they want, and be whatever they want. What if one of them wants to be a doctor? That’s four years of college, four years of med school, internships, and whatever else. That will take years, and that takes money. Law school would be the same. What if they want to get a PhD?”
“I see your point. I think I need to start saving now.”
“You don’t have any kids.”
“If that’s what college is going to cost me, I’d better start now.” He smiled and liked that she smiled back.
He couldn’t compete with her wealth, didn’t know why he felt he had to. So she made more money than he did. It shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter to Jack that Jenna had millions and ran Merrick International. It didn’t bother Sam that Elizabeth came from an extremely wealthy family and was worth millions herself. Cameron was rich and Marti was even richer than him. They all seemed fine with it. He would be too. It would just take some getting used to.
“I just want to know what we’re dealing with, so that when he calls me, I’m prepared.”
“Why would he call you?”
“Because he knows I’m in touch with you. He’ll try to get to you through me. Jillian will probably tell him she saw us together. Does she know where you’re staying?”
“No. You don’t even know where I’m staying.”
“Why is that? Did you not want me to know, or was that all Sam and Jack’s idea? You know Sam won’t let me live down the fact he’s seen you naked.”
Pretty in her embarrassment, she turned a bright pink right before his eyes.
“It’s not that I didn’t want you to know, I thought you needed time to be alone and clear your head. Besides, I thought you didn’t want to see me. When I got here tonight and saw you, I knew it would be impossible to avoid seeing you. How’d you know I’d be here?”
“FBI, remember. Sam told me about your sister. I figured at some point you’d come see her.”
“You staked out my sister, so you could see me?”
“Is it so hard to believe I desperately wanted to see you? Besides, I thought seeing your sister and her family would teach me something about you. You’re truly unique and special.”
She turned her head and looked at the table instead of him. Uncomfortable, she changed the subject. “You know, I couldn’t help it, Sam had to undress me. I was passed out.”
He rubbed his hand over her back and shoulders and pulled her to his side. “I know. You were hurt. I should have been the one to take care of you. I’m sorry. How’re the back and arm?”
“The stitches itch, but they’re healing. They don’t hurt anymore.”
He kissed the side of her head. “I’m real sorry I wasn’t more cooperative. You should have told me about what happened. Maybe I could have helped and made it less debilitating for you.”
“You weren’t in the mood to listen, let alone help me.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t get my head screwed on straight until about four o’clock yesterday morning. Those late-night reflections of one’s life take a lot out of a man. I finally straightened myself out and realized if there are things in my life I want, I have to work to get them, and that means putting in as much as I take out.”
“Four o’clock in the morning, huh?”
“Honestly, I found it hard to sleep knowing you were out there somewhere.” He gestured to the room and world at large. “Knowing you were close by, and I’d been the one to push you away, only made it worse. I wanted to hear you tell me I wasn’t alone, like you used to. I needed to know you were all right. I wanted you to tell me we were back to being close. Instead, you were physically close, but I couldn’t reach you. I tried really hard, but it didn’t work. You know, you’re really doing a number on me.”
“You’re doing a really good job of doing one on me, too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. When you start talking, you can really turn a girl’s head.”
“I like your head just fine. You’re smart and funny and you do some pretty remarkable things with that pretty head of yours. What I’m interested in is a little further south.”
“Oh, really.” She raised her eyebrows, her eyes filled with disappointment.
She thought all he wanted was to cop a feel and tumble her into bed. That wasn’t the case, and it stung to know that’s all she thought he wanted. He had it coming, and he knew it. Now he needed to make her believe she was different. His friends had been trying to tell him for years, but now he got it. He felt it in every part of himself, deep into his soul. She was the one for him.
“Morgan, while I think you’re gorgeous from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, the thing I’m interested in, besides your dirty mind, is your heart.”
The unexpected truth, the sweet smile on his face, and the soft glow in his eyes when he looked at her melted her heart. What woman wouldn’t simply melt when a man asked for her heart? Especially when that man was the right man.
She had no words to give him that would tell him how she felt. She turned in the booth and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love she had for him. She hoped he felt it.
“Wow!” Blown away, he didn’t know a kiss could feel like this. He held her face in his hands. Her eyes came open and instead of seeing warmth, or even a sparkle, he saw the fog had rolled in again.
“Phonebook.”
“It isn’t exactly what I thought you’d say after a kiss like that. I know I have an effect on women, but never have I made a woman say
phonebook
.”
“He’s going to kill her.”
And that killed the moment they’d just shared.
T
YLER HELD HER
close and practically dragged her out of the restaurant and into his car. Physically, she was there, but mentally she was trying to hold on to the images in her mind. She spoke softly to him and sat staring into space.
“She’s alive. Something about her is keeping him from killing her like the others. She’s sitting in a chair at a round table with a large crystal ball. It’s just a prop. The room looks like so many of the other psychic shops, but the woman looks at the room and shop as ridiculous.
“That’s what’s different about her. She’s got a real gift, and he knows it. He’s keeping her alive for a reason. He wants something from her.”
“Where, Morgan? Where are they?”
“I need a phonebook. That’s how I’ve seen him in the past, crossing out the name or ad. I can’t see the name, but I did see the size of the ad and where it’s located on the page. If you get me a phonebook, maybe I can pick it out.”
Tyler pulled the car over next to a line of shops, leaped out, and headed for the payphone outside a liquor store. He couldn’t believe he’d actually found one of the endangered gadgets. He opened the phonebook holder. Empty. With a frustrated growl, he ran inside the liquor store, identified himself as an FBI agent, and asked the clerk if he had a phonebook. The clerk found one in the cluttered back office.
He slid back into the car, dropped the book in her lap; she immediately flipped through it, and he called Sam.
“Sam, it’s Tyler. I’m with Morgan. She says our guy is holding a woman hostage. No, he hasn’t killed her yet. At least, that’s not what Morgan is seeing. She’s looking in the phonebook, trying to get us a location.”
Morgan found the listings for psychics in the city, and he sped away from the curb and headed in that direction.
“I’m not sure. This isn’t the same phonebook. It’s not laid out like the one the man is using.”
“Just do your best. Do any of the ads look familiar? Is there something about the ad you see that is the same in one of the ads in this book?”
She leaned her head back on the headrest and cleared her mind of the speed of the car, the sounds of the road, Tyler sitting next to her, and everything else. She focused all her energy on the snapshot of the scene in her head. The open phonebook lay on the scarred coffee table. She hated seeing the names and ads already crossed out on the open page. Four murders, so far. She looked to the new, circled ad. He hadn’t crossed it out yet. The ad showed a rose encased in a crystal ball.