Man of the Hour (10 page)

He sipped his coffee. “Where are we going to live when we’re married?”

“I like Alaska…”

He glowered at her. “In Wichita, Meg. I don’t work in Alaska.”

“What’s wrong with your house?” she asked.

“It doesn’t have much of a yard,” he replied. “We’ll need a place for a swing set and some outdoor playthings for the kids.”

She flushed, averting her eyes. “So we will.”

He stared at her until she lifted her face, and he smiled. He slid his arm over the back of the couch and his eyes narrowed. His head made a coaxing motion.

She put her coffee cup down, her blood throbbing in her veins, and went across to join him on the sofa.

He put his thumb over her mouth and pulled her down into his arms. As his hand lifted, his lips parted on her mouth, and he kissed her with long, slow passion. His hand found her breast, teasing the nipple to hardness while he kissed her as if he could never get enough.

When he lifted his head, her eyes were misty and dazed, her body draped over his lap.

He looked at her for a long, long time.

“I have to go,” he said quietly.

She started to protest, but she knew that it would do no good at all.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” she asked miserably as he helped her up.

“Probably.” He stood close to her, his eyes troubled. “Lock the doors. David will be home soon.”

“My brother is a poor substitute for my fiancé,” she muttered.

“It won’t always be like this,” he said solemnly. His silver eyes searched hers for a long time. “I promise you it won’t.”

She nodded. “Do be careful. The way you drive…” She stopped when he frowned. “Well, I’d like to think you could get all the way home in one piece.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Do you worry about me?”

“All the time,” she said honestly, her blue eyes wide and soft.

His heart raced as he looked down at her. If she was putting on an act, it was a good one.

Gently he brought her against him and bent to brush his open mouth softly over her own. She moved closer. His arms enfolded her, cherished her. She wrapped herself around him and gave way to the need to be held.

But things got out of hand almost immediately. He caught her hips and pushed her away, his face set in deep, harsh lines as he fought to control his passion for her.

“Go back inside,” he said huskily. “I’ll phone you in the morning.”

“Why did you bother to get engaged to me when you plan to spend your nights with another woman?” she asked miserably.

“You know why,” he said, his voice deep, his eyes glittering. “Don’t you?”

Because they’d stepped over the line and she might be pregnant. How could she have forgotten? She moved back from him, averting her eyes.

“Yes,” she replied, freezing up. She’d tried to forget, but he wasn’t going to let her. She was weaving daydreams. The reality was that he’d lost his head and now he was going to do the honorable thing. “Of course I know why, Steven. Silly of me to forget, wasn’t it?”

He scowled and his face tautened. She had the wrong end of the stick again. But he couldn’t, didn’t dare, say anything. “David should be here any minute,” he added. “Don’t go outside, and lock the door after me.”

“I’ll do that.”

He glanced around. Nothing and nobody was in sight, but he was certain that one of the agents guarding Meg was nearby. He’d arranged that before he left the office.

“I’ll phone you tomorrow. Maybe we can go out.”

“What a thrill,” she said.

He glared at her. “Keep it up.”

“I’m trying.”

He made an exasperated sound, stuck his hands into his pockets and moved toward his Jaguar.

After he drove away, Meg closed the door and locked it, and went back into the living room.

David came home long enough to change and went right back out again, apologizing to Meg. He had to go along with Steve and Daphne to hobnob with Ahmed.

“Is everybody going except me?” Meg groaned, exasperated.

David grinned at her. “Probably. Have a nice evening, now.”

She glared at him. He left and she busied herself watering her house plants. The house was unusually quiet, and she kept imagining noises. They made her uneasy, especially under the circumstances. She heard movement in the living room and slowly stuck her head around the door to see what it was, her heart pounding madly.

But it was only the big dark agent standing there, grinning at her. He put a finger to his lips, pushed a button on some small electronic device in his hand, and chuckled as it emitted a jarring noise.

“There’ll be plenty of headaches tonight,” he murmured dryly.

“What did you do?” she asked, and then clapped a hand over her mouth.

“It’s okay. I jammed them.” He studied her through narrowed eyes. “I need to talk to you.”

“What about?” she asked, and waited almost without breathing for the answer.

He was serious then, the twinkle gone from his dark eyes. He towered over her, almost as tall as Steve and just about as intimidating. He pushed the button on the jamming device with a calculating look on his face, shutting off the interference.

“I’m going to get you out of here, right now. Tonight. I want you to come with me, no arguments.”

She hesitated. “Shouldn’t we call Steve or your partner?”

“No one is to know. Not even my partner.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. She liked this man, but she didn’t completely trust him.

“Why isn’t your partner to know?” she asked curiously.

He muttered something under his breath. Then he calmly pulled out his automatic pistol and leveled it at her stomach. He seemed to raise his voice a little. “Because he would try to stop me, of course,” he replied. “I plan to turn you over to Ahmed’s buddies outside. You’ll be a hell of a bargaining tool for them.”

“You can’t do this!” she exclaimed, thinking of ways to escape, but unable to come up with anything. There was an automatic
pistol pointed at her stomach. She’d heard it said that even a karate black belt would hesitate to fight off an armed man.

“But I can,” he assured her. “In fact, I’m doing it. Let’s go.”

M
eg felt her breath catch in her chest as she stared down numbly at the muzzle of the pistol. Dozens of wild thoughts passed through her mind, none of which lingered long enough to register except one: she was never going to see Steve again.

Her blue eyes lifted to Lang’s dark ones. He didn’t look as if he meant to kill her.

He jerked his head toward the front door and indicated that he wanted her to go out it. “I said let’s go,” he said. “Now.”

She hesitated. “Can’t we…?”

He took her arm firmly and propelled her forward. She felt the presence of the gun, even if she didn’t feel it stuck in her back. She noticed that he looked around from side to side as if he was expecting company.

Perhaps the enemy agents would shoot him. But that wasn’t likely. If they’d overheard what he said, and that jammer had
seemed to be turned off at the last, they’d be waiting out here for him to turn her over to them. Would they pay him? Of course they would. They’d keep her hostage and use her to trade to Steve for Ahmed. She felt sick.

“Hey!” he called as they got to the front porch. “Let’s make a deal, boys. I’m cutting myself in on the action!”

“You turncoat,” Meg cried furiously.

“Stop struggling,” he said calmly. “How about it!”

“We have already heard you,” came a distinctly accented reply. “How much do you want for the woman?”

Lang turned toward the voice. “Let me come over there and we’ll talk about it. No shooting.”

“Very well!”

A shadowy figure appeared. Lang measured the distance from where the car was to where the man was and began to walk down the middle of it with Meg.

“Keep your nerve,” he said unexpectedly. “For God’s sake, don’t go to pieces now.”

“I’m not the screaming type,” she muttered. “But I am not going to let you give me to those people without a fight!”

“Good. Uh, don’t start fighting until I tell you, okay? I breathe better without extra holes in my chest.” He lifted his head and marched her quickly forward, beginning to veer almost imperceptibly when the car was in running distance.

“Wait! Stop there!” the voice called.

Lang broke into a run, dragging Meg with him. The sudden movement startled the two men who were in view now. Guns were raised and Lang groaned.

“Stop!” the accented voice warned harshly. “Do not attempt to enter the car!”

Lang stopped at his dark blue car with the hand holding the pistol on the door handle and lifted his head. The wind whipped his dark hair around his face. “Why not?” he called back. “It’s a great night for a ride!”

“What are you doing?!”

“I thought it was obvious,” he replied. “I’m leaving.”

“You agreed to bargain! Let the girl go and you may go free!”

“Make me.”

He pushed Meg into his car and locked the door from the passenger side. He jumped in on the other side and started the car. After a glance in the rearview mirror, he dropped it in gear, and shot off as two men came into view. Shots were fired into the air, but he didn’t even slow down.

Meg felt sick. She huddled against her door, wondering frantically if it would kill her to force the handle and jump out at the speed they were going. Lang’s actions were more puzzling by the minute. Was he holding out for a better price?

“Don’t be a fool,” Lang said curtly. He didn’t look at her, but he obviously knew what she was considering. “You’d be killed by inches.”

“Why?” She groaned. “Why?”

“You’ll find out. Be a good girl and sit still. You won’t come to any harm. I promise.”

“Steve will kill you,” she said icily.

His eyebrow jerked. “Probably,” he murmured. “He’ll have to
wait in line. It was all I could think of on the spur-of-the-moment.” He glanced in the rearview mirror and mumbled something about a force the size of NATO coming up behind, in a jumble of international agents.

“They’re chasing you?” She smiled gleefully. “I hope they shoot your tires out and kidnap you and sell you into slavery!”

He chuckled with pure delight, glancing at her. “Are you sure you want to be engaged to Ryker? I’m two years younger than he is and I’ve got an aunt who’d pamper you like a baby.”

“She’ll be very ashamed of you when you end up in prison, you traitor!” she accused.

He shook his head. “Oh, well. Duck, honey.”

“Wha…?”

He pushed her down and dodged as a bullet came careening through the windshield, leaving shattered glass all over the front seat, including Meg’s lap.

“Oh, my God!” she screamed.

“Keep your head,” he said curtly. “Don’t panic.”

Another bullet whizzed past. She kept her head down, mentally consigning him to the nether reaches.

“Exciting, isn’t it?” he shouted above the gunfire and the roar of the engine. His dark eyes glittered as he weaved along the highway just ahead of his pursuers. “God, I love being a secret agent!”

She stared at him from her hiding place on the floorboard as if he were a madman.

He was singing the theme song from an old spy TV show,
zigzagging the car on the deserted highway as more bullets whizzed past.

“Hold on, now, here we go!”

He hit the wheel hard. Tires spun on the pavement, squealing like banshees, and they were suddenly going in the opposite direction across the median. Blue lights flashed and sirens sounded.

“The police!” she gasped. “Oh, boy! I hope they fill you full of lead! I hope they mount your head on a shortwave antenna and throw the rest of you to the buzzards! I hope…!”

He grabbed for the mike on his two-way radio. “Did you get the signal? Here they are, boys. Go get ’em!” he said into it.

He stopped the car and as Meg peered over the broken dash, three assorted colors and divisions of police car went flying across the median and after the horrified occupants of the two cars that had been in hot pursuit of Meg and Lang.

“Now, admit it,” he said, breathing heavily as he turned to her, grinning. “Wasn’t this more exciting than watching some stupid game show on TV? The thrills, the chills, the excitement!”

She felt sick all over. She started to speak and suddenly wrenched the door handle. He pushed the unlock button on the driver’s armrest just in the nick of time. Meg lost everything she’d eaten earlier in the day.

Lang passed her a handkerchief and managed to look slightly repentant when she was leaning back against the seat of the
police car that had picked them up when one carful of enemy agents was in custody.

“They ought to put you in solitary and throw away the key,” the young police lieutenant told Lang when Meg had finished sipping the thermos cup of strong black coffee he’d fetched for her. “You poor kid,” he told Meg.

“I told you, it was all I could think of,” Land replied, lounging nonchalantly against the rear fender of the police car. “I overheard them talking. They were going to snatch her. So I jammed their signal into the house to get their attention, then let them hear me selling her down the river. I beeped you guys once we were in the car to let you know something was going down. I didn’t have time to do any more than that. They were headed toward the house when I decided to get her out.”

“You didn’t have to hold a gun on her!” the policeman raged.

“Sure I did,” he replied. “She’s a fighter. She was going to argue or maybe start a brawl with me. But when I pointed the pistol at her, she went with me without a single argument. And because they thought I was going to hand her over to them, they didn’t shoot at me until it was too late.”

“I still say…”

With a long-suffering sigh, Lang pulled out his automatic and slapped it into the policeman’s palm.

The officer stared at him, puzzled.

“Well, look at it,” Lang muttered.

The policeman turned it over and sighed, shaking his head.

Lang held his hand out. When the weapon was returned to
it, he pulled the missing clip out of his pocket, slammed it into the handle slot and cocked it, before putting on the safety. Then he slid it back into his underarm holster and snapped it in place.

“It wasn’t loaded?” Meg asked, aghast.

“That’s right,” Lang told her. He glowered at her. “And you thought I was selling you out. She called me everything but a worm,” he told the policeman. “A traitor, a turncoat. She said she hoped they hung my head on a radio antenna!”

The policeman was trying not to laugh.

“I didn’t know you were trying to protect me,” Meg said self-consciously.

“Next time, I’ll let them have you,” he said irately. “They can throw you into somebody’s harem and I hope they dress you in see-through plastic wrap!”

The policeman couldn’t hold it back any longer. He left, quickly, chuckling helplessly.

“I like that,” Meg said haughtily. “At least I’d look better in it than you would!”

“I have legs that make women swoon,” he informed her. “
Playgirl begs
me for photo sessions.”

“With or without your gun?” she countered.

He grinned. “Jealous because you don’t have one? Pistol envy?”

She burst out laughing. Lang was incorrigible. “All right, I apologize for thinking you sold me out,” she told him. “But you were pretty convincing. I had no idea you had on a mask, figuratively speaking.”

“You’d be amazed at how much company I have,” he said dryly. He glanced up as a car approached. “Oh, boy.”

She looked where he was staring. It was a big black limousine. Her heart leaped when it stopped and a white-faced, shaken Steven jumped out, making a beeline toward Meg.

He didn’t break stride except to throw a heated punch at Lang, which the younger man deflected.

“She’s okay,” Lang said, moving back. “I’ll explain when you cool off.”

“You’d better do your explaining from someplace where I can’t reach you,” Steve replied, and he looked murderous.

“I told you!” Wayne raged, moving into view behind Steve. “You idiot, I told you not to do things on your own!”

“If I hadn’t they’d have carried her off!” Lang shot back, exasperated. “What was I supposed to do, call for reinforcements from the trunk of their damned car on the way to the river?”

“They wouldn’t throw you in any river, you’d pollute it and kill the fish!”

Lang’s voice became heated as the two men moved out of earshot. Steven paused just in front of Meg and looked down at her from a strained face.

“Are you all right?” he asked tersely.

“Yes, thanks to Lang,” she replied. “Although I wasn’t exactly thanking him at the time,” she added, nodding toward the remains of the car Lang had rescued her in.

Steve didn’t look at it very long. It made him sick. He reached for Meg and pulled her hungrily into his arms. He held her
bruisingly close, rocking her, while his mind ran rampant over all the horrific possibilities that had kept him raging all the way to the scene after Wayne had gotten the news from the city police about the chase.

“I guess your evening with Daphne was spoiled?” she asked a little unsteadily.

“If anything had happened to you, I don’t know what I’d have done,” he groaned.

She eased her arms under his jacket and around him, holding on. It was so sweet to stand close to him this way while around them blue and red lights still flashed and voices murmured in the distance.

“You’d better get her home, sir,” the police officer said gently. “Everything’s all right, now.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks.”

He led her back to the limousine. “What about Lang?” she asked Steve. “And didn’t his friend…Wayne…ride with you?”

“They can go with the police or hitchhike,” Steve said. “Especially Lang!”

“What about Daphne…?”

“I’m taking you home, Meg,” he said. “Nobody else matters right now.”

“Is David there?”

He nodded. “He doesn’t know about any of this. I didn’t want to worry him.”

She crawled into his lap when the chauffeur started the car, to Steve’s amazement.

“Your seat belt,” he began.

“I’ve had my close call for tonight,” she told his chest. “Let me stay.”

His arms curved around her, pulling her closer. They rode home like that, without a word, cradled together.

David turned white when he learned what had happened. “But how did they know?” he groaned.

“The house is bugged,” Meg said, sitting down heavily on the couch. “Lang had some sort of jamming device…”

“He blew up the bugs,” David explained. “Scrambled their circuits. One of the agents explained that device to me, but I hadn’t seen one until I got home. When I saw it lying here, and you were gone, I knew something had happened. But I couldn’t find out anything.”

“Sorry,” Steven said. “I took off out the door the minute I heard what had happened, with Wayne two steps behind me. I didn’t want to worry you.” He grimaced. “I have to phone Daphne and tell her where we are.”

Meg didn’t look at him as he lifted the receiver on the telephone and dialed.

“I’ll go up and change my things,” she told David. She had pieces of glass on her skirt and in her hair. “It’s been a pretty rough night.”

“I can imagine. You’re limping!”

“I always limp,” she said dully. “It’s worse because I’ve walked on it.” She laughed mirthlessly. “I don’t think it’s going to get any better, David. Not ever.”

He watched her go with quiet concern. Steve hung up the phone after he’d explained things to Daphne and turned to David.

“This whole thing is getting out of hand,” he said tersely. “I can’t take much more of it. She looks like a ghost, and that damned fool agent could have killed her driving like that!”

“What if he hadn’t gotten her out of the house, Steve?” David asked, trying to reason with his friend. “What then?”

It didn’t bear thinking about. Steve stuck his hands into his pockets. “My God.”

“How about some coffee?” David asked. “I was about to make a pot.”

“I could drink one. They’ll have Ahmed under guard like Fort Knox by now. I’ll go up and see about Meg. She was sick.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Her ankle is bothering her, too.” He turned to Steve. “She’s not going to be able to dance. You know that, don’t you?”

Steve nodded. “Yes, I know it. Why else do you think she’s willing to marry me?” he added cynically. “We both know that if she really had a choice, her damned career would win hands down.”