Chasing Adonis (25 page)

“Even now? After the wallet and this hotel room, you still
think he’s a hired assassin? That this is some kind of elaborate web he hopes
to draw me into? Send me far away, and then strike when no one expects it?”

Okay, so she made sense there. It was a little far-fetched
as killer-for-hire scenarios went. But what scenario
would
match these
bizarre circumstances?

She sighed. “What’s it going to take for you to admit you
might be wrong? Or do you ever admit when you’re wrong?”

Stung, he couldn’t help but remind her, “I admitted I was
wrong about you with your karate.”

“True,” she replied with a grin. “And you’re wrong this
time, too. Even if you
are
too stubborn to admit it. As a matter of
fact, the more I think about it, the more I believe Ted came here at exactly
the right moment because he
knew
I was in danger. That psychic
connection we have was working even then.”

He was silent for a long time, digesting her argument like
an overcooked cheap steak. No matter how hard he tried to swallow it, he still
couldn’t get the bad taste out of his mouth. One issue stuck between his teeth,
and he knew he wouldn’t rest until he’d heard the truth from her lips. “Are
you?” he finally asked.

“Am I what?”

“Are you his beloved?”

“He thinks I am. He even asked me to marry him. And I know
he’d pay any amount of money to keep me safe in the eventuality that I accept
his proposal.”

“So you haven’t turned him down yet.”

“He wants me to have time to think about it.”

“Very chivalrous of him.”

“I’m sure he thinks so. Anyway, I’m betting when this is
over, he’ll offer to pay you even more than that five thousand dollars. Ted’s
an old-fashioned guy, and he looks upon this as a debt of honor. After all,
what price do you place on the life of your beloved?”

She giggled, the sound rippling down his spine in pleasant
waves. But the waves did little to soothe the feathers she’d already ruffled.
“Having no beloved,” he retorted. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Well, if he could, Ted would probably pay you my weight in
gold.” After glancing down at her hips, she lifted her gaze and offered him a
rueful frown. “Which, if I keep eating at all these fast food joints, could
make you and your entire family wealthy for generations to come. Now, enough of
this nonsense. Let’s go get Tyler. I’m dying to see his face when he gets a
look at his room.”

With a quick tug on his hand, she drew him into the hallway
again, closing both the door and their argument behind them.

~~~~

Tyler’s reaction was everything Adara hoped it would be.
From the lobby to the elevator to the suite itself, he oohed and aahed at every
detail related to his favorite Stegosaurus superhero. Upon seeing the smoking
spires of Dragon’s Lair from the patio, the child screeched in delight. “That’s
his house. Look, Adara. See that purple tower? That’s where Prufrock sleeps.
Uncle Shane said next month he’ll redo my room, and I can paint it that same
purple.”

Adara fought the urge to cringe before the child’s
eagerness. Like a ripe eggplant, the color screamed purple in a big, bold, in
your face, hue. “Wow,” she said instead, “that’ll look cool.”

“I know. And see that pink tower. That’s Salome’s room;
she’s the only girl Wasteoid. Once, a long time ago? She used to be a mermaid.
But the bad guys dumped chemicals into the water near her home. And she almost
died. That’s when Penn and Prufrock found her. They brought her to Dragon’s
Lair. Did you ever see that show?”

Adara had a hard time keeping up with Tyler. His mind
flitted from topic to topic, all related to Prufrock, but for someone who’d
never seen the show, his devotion was a lot to take in at once. “That
particular episode? I think I saw it once or twice.”

“What’s your favorite one?” Thank goodness, before she could
reply, he continued, “Wanna know mine? It’s the one where Prufrock eats the
magic leaves and can fly. Do you remember that one? He gets stuck up in a real
high tree when the magic wears off, and his feet are too fat for him to climb
down. In the end, Penn has to eat some of the leaves to fly up and carry
Prufrock to the ground. Do you like that epi-sode?”

Oh, the effort it took to keep from giggling at his attempt
to say the strange new word. “That’s one of my favorites, too,” she said when
her humor was under control.

“Really? So, which one is your very favoritest?”

“Tyler,” Pauline interjected from the table in the dining
room. “It’s way past your bedtime. Say goodnight to Adara now. Tomorrow, you’ll
get to see Prufrock in person and tell him all about your favorite episodes.”

“Okay, but I want to sleep in Adara’s bed, Grandma.”

Well, this brought up an interesting dilemma. In her
excitement over their spectacular accommodations, she’d never stopped to
consider the sleeping arrangements. Judging by the frown on Shane’s face, he
hadn’t thought much of it, either. Still, it didn’t stop him from taking
control of the situation—a little too quickly and efficiently.

“Tyler and I will sleep in the master bedroom,” he
announced. “Mom, you and Adara take the smaller room with the two fulls. Is
that okay with everyone?”

Not quite, Adara thought, but she refused to voice her
resentment aloud. Although, she couldn’t keep the angry words from running in
her head.

Nice going, Shane. Using a five-year-old to ensure no
intimate contact between us for the next two weeks. You big coward.

But Adara wasn’t the only one displeased with this
arrangement.

Tyler stamped his feet and whined, “I don’t wanna sleep in
the big bed.”

“Why not, sweetie?” Pauline asked. “From that big bed,
you’ll have a view of Prufrock’s castle, even while you sleep. Isn’t that
terrific?”

“I wanna sleep with Adara.”

Didn’t it figure? If she were five, she’d be thrilled at
such devotion. But she wasn’t five, hadn’t been five in a long time. Here she
was, two males in the room, one trying everything to avoid her, the other
wanting only to be near her. And which one did she prefer? The Great Evader,
naturally. No sense in ruining a perfectly good losing streak at this stage of
the game, was there?

“Uncle Shane is right,” she heard herself say. “Men in one
room, women in the other. It’s
safer
that way.” She caught Shane raising
his eyebrows at her barb, but she ignored him and turned her attention back to Tyler.
“I’ll tuck you in, though, if you like.”

In reply, Tyler tucked his tiny hand into hers. “Okay. Maybe
you could tell me a story, too?”

Her mouth dried to sawdust. A story? She didn’t know any
stories.

Once again, Pauline came to her rescue. “It’s late, Tyler.
Too late for stories. Let Adara tuck you in, and then it’s right to sleep.”

“It doesn’t have to be a long story, Grandma. I want Adara
to tell me about how she beat up the bad guys again.”

“
That
is not a story for bedtime.” Pauline’s
scandalized tone could shame an egotistical nudist.

“Let her tell him,” Shane said, drawing surprise from Adara.
He shrugged at her quizzical glare. “It’s the only way we’ll get him down
tonight.”

“Come on, Adara,” Tyler said, dragging her down the hall.

Having no alternative, she allowed the boy to pull her into
the master bedroom. Once there, she pulled the coverlet off the bed, drew the
sheets back, and helped the boy get settled. If anything, the sheer size of the
king-sized bed dwarfed his too small frame. Again, her heart splintered. Such a
tiny child, yet he’d already borne so much sadness. Hard to imagine he still
found the wherewithal to smile and to enjoy life.

“Adara?” his squeaky voice broke into her thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Are you going to marry Uncle Shane?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Envy whirled in Shane’s senses as he watched Tyler towing
Adara into the bedroom. It had taken every bit of self-restraint to keep from
shouting, “Me, too,” when Tyler demanded to sleep with her.

“So?” His mother’s inquisitive tone interrupted his thoughts
of lying beside Adara in that big bed, watching moonlight paint her naked skin
in tones of white and gold. “Who is she, Shane?”

“She’s a material witness in a murder case. Someone’s out to
kill her in order to keep her from testifying.”

No sense in confiding their own dangerous situation to Mom.
In all his years in the police force, his father never brought work home with
him. And while Shane knew his mother could handle the news, and probably had
the right to know, he hated to burden her with it. She’d already suffered so
much in the last year.

“Then why are we here?”

“I think someone on the force might be involved.”

Mom gasped and placed her hand over her mouth as if to
stifle the sound too late. “Oh, Shane, no! Do you have any idea who?”

“No.”

Hoping to change the subject, he flipped open the manila
folder the desk clerk had given them and leafed through it. It shouldn’t have
surprised him to see four week-long admission tickets to KidLand among the
papers, but for some strange reason, it did. What the hell was going on here?

Pha strikes again
.

Yeah, sure, but how? Reading through the rest of the sheets,
he also found invitations to a special breakfast with Prufrock and his pals,
passes to an evening Prufrock show at a nearby stadium, and coupons for free
Prufrock merchandise at the Prehistoric Palace’s gift shop.

Apprehensive shivers paraded up Shane’s spine, and the blood
chilled in his veins. The bizarre man from Cyprus knew an awful lot about their
whereabouts and interests. How did Pha manage all this? And why? Was it, as
Adara said, because Pha considered him hired help? Or did something more
sinister lie behind his boundless generosity and wealth of personal information
regarding the Griffins?

“Shane?” His mother prompted yet again. “You’re not telling
me everything.”

He never could hide anything from her. Still, he’d keep his
concerns to himself for as long as humanly possible. “What do you want to know?”

“Who is she?”

“I already told you, she’s a witness in a murder case.”

Her eyes glistened, piercing green beneath the yellowish
light of the Tiffany-style lamp that swung overhead. “She’s much more than a
witness, Shane. Even Tyler sees it. Somehow, she’s managed to get under that
wall you’ve built around yourself.”

“I haven’t built a wall around myself.”

“And I’m the Queen of Sheba. You, me, even Tyler. We’ve all
built walls. Since Cassia’s death, we’ve all been going through the motions of
life, shutting ourselves up in our misery, letting no one get close to us.
Adara makes us come out of our shells, if only to please her. I like her, you
know. I like her a lot. And I’m amazed at how positively she affects Tyler. I
haven’t seen him this animated since his mother was alive. He’s almost his old
self again.”

Shane frowned. “That’s what scares me.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Sooner or later, this little escapade will come to an end.
Then what?”

Mom leaned back in her chair, her posture relaxed. A warning
sign that she was going in for the kill. “Maybe someone should make sure Adara
has a reason to stick around then.”

“Stop, Mom. It won’t happen, so don’t even go there.”

“Go where? I’m just saying, she’d be a wonderful addition to
our family.”

“Then adopt her.”

“If I have to, I will. But I think she’d rather the offer
came from a different Griffin.”

He stood then, the need to run, to hide, too overwhelming to
ignore. “Forget it. Even if I wanted something permanent between us, it can’t
happen.”

“Why not?”

He shook his head, remaining mute for a moment. Saying the
words aloud would make them true, and he couldn’t face the idea of never seeing
her again. Not yet. Not so soon. In less than a week’s time, she’d become his
strength. And dealing with her eventual loss took more self-control than he
owned right now. Probably more self-control than he’d ever own.

Eventually, he’d have to prepare himself, but not now. Not
tonight.

And never if she continued to look as breathtaking as she had
just a few minutes ago. Moonlight’s glow, streaming in from the patio doors,
formed a halo around her while she bent to speak to his nephew. If not for Mom
and Tyler’s presence, he would have crushed her against him, inhaled the
honeysuckle fragrance saturating her skin. He might have tasted every inch of
her, drunk in the sweetness that enveloped her, and felt sustained. Deep inside
him, a gnawing hunger built.

Yet, he didn’t have the right to satiate it. Regardless of
anyone else’s presence. Adara Berros was a witness, a crime victim, off-limits
to him. He’d forgotten that fact last night, but he could never allow himself
to forget it again.

While he stared at the closed bedroom door, another dart of
jealousy stabbed Shane with such sharpness, he winced. How lucky Tyler was, to
fall asleep with Adara by his side. To be able to voice his affection for her
aloud with no fear of rejection, no fear of tomorrow…

What were they doing in there right now? If he closed his
eyes, he could picture her holding Tyler close against her soft breasts.
Imagining himself in the boy’s place, he inhaled her sweet floral scent, felt
the tender touch of her fingertips when she pushed the hair from his eyes. No
doubt, her gentle heartbeat would pulse a lullaby in his ears. And the steady
rise and fall of her chest as she breathed would soothe better than the most
comfortable rocking chair. Lucky, lucky boy to fall asleep with such tranquil
warmth surrounding him.

Shane would give his left nut to be in that room with Adara
right now.