Somewhere I'll Find You (16 page)

One
fine
black brow rose towards his hairline.  “N
ow look who is reading minds.”

Snagging a chair, her eyes swirled with emotion.  “Some years back I took a bad fall. A fall that would have killed most people.”  Her soft hair moved across her shoulders when she slowly shook her head.  Her hands barely
trembled
as she snagged her cup of cold coffee.  “When I
woke up
, I was
…
different
.”

“Different,” he asked quietly.  “Different
…
how?”

“I have to be careful when I touch things or people.  If I’m not, I
know
things
– and they’re often so personal that it’s considered
an invasion of their privacy.
”  She paused, trying to gauge his reaction, but she could read nothing in his eyes.
 
“
It’s called psychometry, if giving it a name will help you understand.”

Sitting back, Michael drew in a deep breath.  Although it wasn’t something tossed around the water cooler, he was well aware of a separate division that used ‘gifted’ people to work intelligence.  Hell, he thought, the O
.
S
.
S had even used it to try
to
work out what Hitler had been planning, so it didn’t surprise him to learn of it
still
being used today.  “And you’re telling me that
you
. . .”

Hearing the doubt in his voice, Paige simply sighed.  With a gesture that should have been intimate, she placed her hand over his.  “You’ve been injured.  More th
an once.  The last
being  . . .,
” She gasped when pain rocketed through her.  “
A
n injury that tore up most of your calf.  I can see . . .”

Jerking back in surprise, Michael’s eyes narrowed and darkened, watching the color wa
sh from her face.  “Don’t,
” he warned, yanking
his hand away.  “You’re moving into territory that’s dangerous to both of us.  I don’t care what you think you’ve seen.  Forget it.”

Paige stared at his face, watching it close off any vestige of emotion.  Shoving from her chair, she moved stiffly from the kitchen.  His reaction wasn’t totally unexpected, she tried to console herself, but somehow, it still stung.  Muttering, she gathered
up
the
scatter
pages that had been hidden
in the hearthstone
along with the canister of film.  “Who gives a damn what he thinks?” she grumbled.  “If he doesn’t believe me, maybe he’ll finally leave me alone and I’ll get some damned peace.”  And then she froze.
 
My … gift.  Oh, no, my gift …
With wide eyes
,
she watched
as
the past
unfold
ed
before her.

* * * *

“Do ya want to tell me what in the hell is wrong with you?”  Erik’s dark eyes flashed with anger as he glared at the man he normally considered his closest friend.  “Christ on a crutch, Daniel, you drove Jenny harder than I’ve seen you do to anyone.”

“
Aye
and I got the performance out of her that I needed for that scene.”   Leaning back against his trailer, Daniel’s eyes glimmered with surprising amusement. 
“
I’ve never been known for treating the ladies any different
from
a man – at least on set
,
that is.  And Jennifer Bowman had better quit doddering around and understand she’s in front of the camera now, and there’s a lot riding on her shoulders.”  Suddenly Daniel burst into laughter as he looked at the man called the ‘playboy of Hollywood.’. 
“
I didn’t believe that it would ever happen – but boy-o
, you’ve
fallen . . . and fallen hard.  If I know women at all, Jenny feels the same about you.”

“Did a boom hit you on the head
when I wasn’t looking
?”  Scowling, Erik lounged in his canvas chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him.  “The woman barely says t
w
o words to me unless it’s dialogue.  I might have had a shot at her if you hadn’t barged in on us that one day.”

“And then all she would have been is
ano
ther notch on your headboard,”
Daniel returned firmly.
 
“
She deserves better than that.  The fact that she’s giving you the cold shoulder has only intrigued you that much more.”
  Crossing his bony arms, Daniel’s face creased in a broad smile.  “I’ll wager that if you play your cards right, you could have the one thing that all your success has never gotten you.”

“And what is that?” Erik spat,
attempting to retain his glowering visage but
his curiosity getting the better of him.

“A woman that sees you for who you really are and
,
for some damn reason
,
still loves you.”  For a moment, the laughter left Daniel’s eyes.  “And if you’re stupid enough not to go after her, then you’re a damn fool.”  Lurching from his chair, Daniel bellowed for his coupé to be brought around, announcing loudly he was going out for a good drunk, and actors be damned – all of them.

Watching with amusement, Erik sat for a moment, his friend’s words echoing in his mind. 
Impossible, he scoffed mentally.
  Me
,
in
love
?  She’s a challenge, Daniel’s right there, but that’s all she is.  Once I get her in the sack, she’s just another broad.

It took only a few moments for Erik to move from his chair, finding himself suddenly at Jenny’s door.  Her trailer was little more than a
shack that
had been
thrown together once Olivia had left for greener pastures.  He paused
, one hand raised
before the door
,
at a sound
coming
from within.  Heart-wrenching sobs came from the little trailer; a moment later, he stood in the doorway, watching helplessly as Jenny looked up, tears swimming in her
gray
eyes.

“Oh, go away,” she sniffled,
rubbing a
hand under her nose
.  “Can’t you see that I’m miserable?”

“Yes, I can,” he said quietly, offering her a monogra
m
med linen handkerchief.  “I could hear it, too.”  Leaning back, his voice was calm and silky smoot
h, “Now what
could have brought on the waterworks?  Don’t tell me it’s Daniel.  If you do, I’ll have to hunt him down and when I’m done, he’ll beg me to put him out of his misery.”

“Oh, be quiet.”  There was a gurgle of laughter mixed with her tears, her brow lifting in suspicion.  She had heard tales of
Erik’s
adventurous times in far off places. “You’d no more hurt Daniel than I would.”

Taking the linen from her hand, he gently scrubbed at her tears.  “Now, that’s better.”  His thumb traced around her lower lip, the one that had fascinated him from the first day.  Slowly he inched his way forward, his lips touching hers with just a promise of a kiss.

It’s true,
he thought idly, while her hands slid up his shoulders. 
My God, Daniel’s right – I am in love with her.
 
“
You’re mine . . .” He heard himself uttering the words as he pulled her closer.  Even if a part of him couldn’t believe he was
speaking
the words, the rest of his soul knew they were right – and truthful.  “In this world, and possibly into the next – you’re mine.”

* * * *

What in the hell was keeping the woman?  Scowling, Michael glanced down at his second cup of coffee, and sighed, relenting.  Both of them had a storm of emotions brewing inside – one that required space and time for both of them to settle.  She certainly wasn’t what he had thought that she would be,
during
all those long nights when dreams had interrupted his sleep.  But Paige was . . . was what, he wondered.

Difficult? Yes.

Stubborn? Beyond a doubt.

The only woman for him?  Absolutely.

Pushing to his feet, he scowled in Paige’s direction. 
All right
, he grumbled,
enough of
her
women’s temperament
s.  I’ll go see where she is
.
  But it wasn’t temper that he saw on Paige’s lovely face when he moved into the living room.  Stark pain glimmered in her eyes, while a long trail of tears streaked down her cheeks.

“Angel, what is it?  What?”
  He gripped her shoulders gently.

“He loved her so very much.”  The words were barely a whisper and yet somehow they ripped through his heart.

“Who loved her?
” he asked cautiously.  Carefully, he reached out for her hand.  She looked like someone who was c
aught in a waking dream – one from
which he was afraid to
rouse
her.  Suddenly, he knew what he wanted to say to her.  To do for her.  But he didn’t know if it was the right time . .
. or
if it would ever be.  All he knew was that whatever hurt her tore him to shreds.

Sliding away
from his grasp
, she took a deep breath, the yellowed papers still in her hands.  When she looked at him, there was a calm frankness in her eyes.  “When I touched these, I could sense – no
,
it was more than that.  I could
feel
what they felt.  I saw them – I
saw
Jenny and Erik.
They met here . . . they l
oved
here
.
” 
Looking around the room, a frown wrinkled her brow.  “Odd that I never sensed it before now . . . the house still needs repairs
, so
mayb
e it jumbled . . . . Maybe…”