Stars of Mithra Box Set: Captive Star\Hidden Star\Secret Star (11 page)

“It might be worth checking out. We'll see. Would she go to her family if there was trouble?”

“The last place.”

“How about a man?”

“Why would you depend on something you could twist into knots with a smile? No, there's no man she'd go to.”

He thought about that one awhile, then blinked, remembered and grinned. “Grace Fontaine—the Ivy League Miss April. It was the hat in the wallet
shot that threw me off. I'd never forget that…face.”

“Really?” Voice dry as dirt, she shifted to look at him over the top of her sunglasses. “Do you spend a lot of your time drooling over centerfolds, Dakota?”

“I did over Miss April,” he admitted cheer fully, and rubbed a hand over his heart. “My God, you're pals with Miss April.”

“Her name's Grace, and she posed for that years ago, when we were in college. She did it to needle her family.”

“Thank the Lord. I think I still have that issue somewhere. I'm going to have to take a much closer look now. What a body,” he remembered, fondly. “Women built like that are a gift to mankind.”

“Perhaps you'd like to pull over, and we'll have a moment of silence.”

He looked over, kept right on grinning. “Gee, M.J., your eyes are greener. And you said you weren't the jealous sort.”

“I'm not.” Normally. “It's a matter of dignity. You're having some revolting, prurient fantasy about my best friend.”

“It's not revolting, I promise. Prurient, maybe,
but not revolting.” He took the punch on the arm without complaint. “But it's you I love, sugar.”

“Shut up.”

“Do you think she'll sign the picture for me? Maybe right across the—”

“I'm warning you.”

Fun was fun, he thought, but a man could push his luck. In more ways than one. He turned off 15, headed east.

“Wait, I thought we were going up to P.A. to call.”

“You just said Grace had a place in western Maryland. It wouldn't be smart to head in that general direction just now. Change of plans. We head in toward Baltimore first. Go ahead and make the call. I think we've said our last goodbye to our little motel paradise.” He smiled patted her hand. “Don't worry, sugar, we'll find another.”

“It couldn't possibly be the same. I hope,” she added, and dialed hurriedly. “It's ringing.”

“Keep it short, don't say where you are. Just tell her to go to a public phone, public place, and call you back.”

“I—” She swore. “It's her machine. I was afraid of this.” She tapped her fist impatiently against her knees as Grace's recorded voice flowed through the receiver. “Grace, pick up,
damn it. It's urgent. If you check in for messages, don't go home. Don't go to the house. Get to a public phone and call my portable. We're in trouble, serious trouble.”

“Wrap it up, M.J.”

“Oh, God. Grace, be careful. Call me.” She disconnected with a little catch of breath. “She's up in the mountains—or she got a wild hair and decided to fly to London for the Fourth. Or she's on the beach in the West Indies. Or…they've already found her.”

“Doesn't sound like a lady who's easy to track. I'm leaning toward your first choice.” He cut off on the interstate, headed north. “We're going to circle around a little, then stop and fill up the tank. And buy a map. Let's see if we can jog some of your memory and find Grace's mountain hide-away.”

The prospect settled her nerves. “Thanks.”

“Isolated, huh?”

“It's stuck in the middle of the woods, and the woods are stuck in the middle of nowhere.”

“Hmm. I don't suppose she walks around naked up there.” He chuckled when she hit him. “Just a thought.”

 

They found a gas station, and a map. In a truck stop just off the interstate, they stopped for lunch.
With the map spread out over the table, they got down to business.

“Well, there's only, like, a half a dozen state forests in western Maryland,” Jack commented, and forked up some of his meat-loaf special. “Any one of them ring a bell?”

“What's the difference? They're all trees.”

“A real urbanite, aren't you?”

She shrugged, bit into her ham sandwich. “Aren't you?”

“Guess so. I never could understand why people want to live in the woods, or in the hills. I mean, where do they eat?”

“At home.”

They looked at each other, shook their heads. “Most every night, too,” he agreed. “And where do they go for fun, for a little after-work relaxation? On the patio. That's a scary thought.”

“No people, no traffic, no restaurants or movie theaters. No life.”

“I'm with you. Obviously our pal Grace isn't.”

“
My
pal,” she said with an arched brow. “She likes solitude. She gardens.”

“What, like tomatoes?”

“Yeah, and flowers. The time we went up, she'd been grubbing in the dirt, planting—I don't
know, petunias or something. I like flowers, but all you have to do is buy them. Nobody says you have to grow them. There were deer in the woods. That was pretty cool,” she remembered. “Bailey got into the whole business. It was okay for a couple days, but she doesn't even have a television up there.”

“That's barbaric.”

“You bet. She just listens to CDs and communes with nature or whatever. There's a little store—had to be at least four miles away. You can get bread and milk or sixpenny nails. It looked like something out of Mayberry, except that's in the South. There was a bank, I think, and a post office.”

“What was the name of the town?”

“I don't know. Dogpatch?”

“Funny. Try to imagine the route, just more or less. You'd have headed up 270.”

“Yeah, and then onto 70 near, what is it? Frederick. I zoned out some. Think I even slept. It's an endless drive.”

“You had pit stops,” he prompted her. “Girls don't take road trips without plenty of pit stops.”

“Is that a slam?”

“No, it's a fact. Where'd you stop—what did you do?”

“Somewhere off 70. I was hungry. I wanted fast food.”

She shut her eyes, tried to bring it back.

You're still eating like a teenager, M.J.

So?

Why don't we try a salad for a change?

Because a day without fries is a sad and wasted day.

It made her smile, remembering now how Bailey had rolled her eyes, laughed, then given in.

“Oh, wait. We grabbed a quick lunch, but then she saw this sign for antiques. Big antique barn-like place. She went orgasmic, had to check it out. It was off the interstate, had a silly country-type name. Ah…” She strained for it. “Rabbit Hutch, Chicken Coop. No, no, with water. Trout Stream. Beaver Creek!” she remembered. “We stopped to antique at this huge flea market or whatever it's called at Beaver Creek. She'd have spent the weekend there if I hadn't dragged her out. She bought this old bowl and pitcher for Grace—like a housewarming gift. I bought her a rocking chair for her porch. We had a hell of a time loading it in Bailey's car.”

“Okay.” With a nod, he folded the map. “We'll finish eating, then head toward Beaver Creek. Take it from there.”

Later, when they stood in the parking lot of the antique mart, M.J. sipped a soft drink out of a can. She'd done the same on the trip with Bailey, and she hoped it would somehow jog her memory.

“I know we got back on 70. Bailey was chattering away about some glassware—Depression glass. She was going to come back and buy the place out. There was some table she wanted, too, and she was irritated she hadn't snapped it up and had it shipped. I won the tune toss.”

“The what?”

“The tune toss. Bailey likes classical. You know, Beethoven. Whenever we drive, we flip a coin to see who gets to pick the tunes. I won, so we went for Aerosmith—my version of long-hair.”

“I think we're made for each other. It's getting scary.” He leaned down, nipped her mouth with his. “What was she wearing?”

“What is this sudden obsession with how my friends dress?”

“Just bring it all back. Complete the picture. The more details, the clearer it should be.”

“Oh, I get it.” Mollified, she pursed her lips and studied the sky. “Slacks, sort of beige. Bailey shies away from bold colors. Grace is always giv
ing her grief about it. A silk blouse, tailored, sort of pink and pale. She had on these great earrings. She'd made them. Big chunks of rose quartz. I tried them on while she was driving. They didn't suit me.”

“Pink wouldn't, not with that hair.”

“That's a myth. Redheads can wear pink. We got off the interstate onto a western route. I can't remember the number, Jack. Bailey had it in her head. It was written down, but she didn't need me to navigate.”

He consulted the map. “68 heads west out of Hagerstown. Let's see if it looks familiar.”

“I know it was another couple hours from here,” she said as she climbed back in. “I could drive for a while.”

“No, you couldn't.”

She skimmed her gaze over the car, noting that the back door was hooked shut with wire. “This heap is hardly something to be proprietary about, Jack.”

His jaw set. The heap had, until recently, been his one true love. “There's more chance of you remembering if we stick with the plan.”

“Fine.” She stretched out her legs as he turned out of the parking lot. “Do you ever think about a paint job?”

“The car has character just the way it is. And it's what's under the hood that counts, not a shiny surface.”

“What's under the hood,” she said, then glanced at the stereo system. “And in the dash. I bet that toy set you back four grand.”

“I like music. What about that Tinkertoy you drive?”

“My MG is a classic.”

“It's a kiddie car. You must have to fold up your legs just to get behind the wheel.”

“At least when I parallel-park, it's not like docking a steamship in port.”

“Pay attention to the road, will you?”

“I am.” She offered him the rest of her soft drink. “I know it looks like it, but you don't actually live in this car, do you?”

“When I have to. Otherwise, I've got a place on Mass Avenue. A couple of rooms.”

Dusty furniture, he thought now. Mountains of books, but no real soul. No roots, nothing he couldn't leave behind without a second thought.

Just like his life had been, up to the day before.

What the hell was he doing with her? he thought abruptly. There was nothing behind him that could remotely be called a foundation. Nothing to build on. Nothing to offer.

She had family, friends, a business she'd forged herself. What did they have in common, other than the situation they were in, similar tastes in music and a preference for city life?

And the fact that he was in love with her.

He glanced over at her. She was concentrating now, he noted. Leaning forward in the seat, frowning out the window as she tried to pick out landmarks.

She wasn't beautiful, he thought. He might have been blind in love, but he would never have termed her by so simple a term. That odd, foxy face caught the eye—certainly the male eye. It was sexy, unique, with the contrast of planes and angles and the curve of that overlush mouth.

Her body was built for speed and movement, rather than for fantasy. Yet he'd lost himself in it, in her.

He knew he'd turned a corner when he met her, but hadn't a clue where the road would lead either of them.

“This is the road.” She turned, beamed at him, and stopped his heart. “I'm sure of it.”

He bumped up the speed to sixty-five. As long as one of them was sure, he thought.

T
he road cut straight through the mountain. M.J. supposed it was some sort of nifty feat of engineering, but it made her uneasy. Particularly all the signs warning of falling rock and those high, jagged walls of cliffs on either side of them.

Muggers she could understand, anticipate, but who, she wondered, could anticipate Mother Nature? What was to stop her from having a minor tantrum and perhaps heaving down a couple of boulders at the car? And since it was big enough to sleep eight, it was a dandy target.

M.J. kept a wary eye out of the side window,
willing the rocks to stay put until they were through the pass.

Ahead, mountains rose and rolled, lushly green with summer. Heat and humidity merged to make the air thick as syrup. Tires hummed along the highway.

Occasionally she would see houses behind the roadside trees, glimpses only, as if they were hiding from prying eyes. She wondered about them, those tucked-away houses, undoubtedly with neat yards guarded by yapping dogs, decorated with gardens and swing sets, accented with decks and patios for grills and redwood chairs.

It was one way to live, she supposed. But you had to tend that garden, mow that lawn.

She'd never lived in a house. Apartments had always suited her lifestyle. To some, she supposed, an apartment would seem like a box tucked with other boxes within a box. But she'd always been satisfied with her own space, with the camaraderie of being part of the hive.

Why would you need a lawn and a swing set unless you had kids?

She felt a quick little jitter in her stomach at the idea. Had she actually ever thought about having children before? Rocking a baby, watching it grow, tying shoes and wiping noses.

It was Grace who was soft on children, she thought. Not that she herself didn't like them. She had a platoon of cousins who seemed bent on populating the world, and M.J. had spent many an hour on a visit home cooing over a new baby, playing on the floor with a toddler or pitching a ball to a fledgling Little Leaguer.

She didn't imagine it was quite the same when the child was yours. What did it feel like, she mused, to have your own baby rest its head on your shoulder and yawn, or to have a shaky-legged toddler lift its arms up to you to be held?

And what in God's name was she doing thinking about children at a time like this? Weary, she slipped her fingers under her shaded glasses, pressed them to her eyes.

Then slid a considering glance at Jack's profile. What, she wondered, did he think about kids?

Incredibly, she felt heat rising to her cheeks, and turned her face back to the window quickly. Idiot, she told herself. You've known the guy an instant, and you're starting to think of diapers and booties.

That, she thought grimly, was just what happened to a woman when she got herself tied up over some man. She went soft all over, particularly in the head.

Then she let out a shout that surprised them both. “There! That's the exit! That's where we got off. I'm sure of it.”

“Next time just shoot me,” Jack suggested as he swung the car into the right lane. “It's bound to be less of a shock than a heart attack.”

“Sorry.”

He eased off the exit, giving her time to orient herself as they came to a two-lane road.

“Left,” she said after a moment. “I'm almost sure we went left.”

“Okay, I need to gas up this hog, anyway.” He headed for the closest service station and pulled up next to the pumps. “What was on your mind back there, M.J.?”

“On my mind?”

“You went away for a while.”

The fact that he'd been able to tell disconcerted her. She shifted in the seat, shrugged her shoulders. “I was just concentrating, that's all.”

“No, you weren't.” He cupped a hand under her chin, turned her face to his. “That's exactly what you weren't doing.” He rubbed his thumb over her lips. “Don't worry. We'll find your friends. They're going to be all right.”

She nodded, felt a wash of shame. Grace and Bailey should have been on her mind, and instead
she'd been daydreaming over babies like some lovesick idiot. “Grace will be at the house. All we have to do is find it.”

“Hold that thought.” He leaned forward, touched his lips to hers. “And go buy me a candy bar.”

“You've got all the dough.”

“Oh, yeah.” He got out, reached into his front pocket and pulled out a handful of bills. “Splurge,” he suggested, “and buy yourself one, too.”

“Gee, thanks, Daddy.”

He grinned as she walked away, long legs striding, narrow hips twitching under snug denim. Hell of a package, he mused as he slipped the nozzle into the gas tank. He wasn't going to question the twist of fate that had dropped her into his life, and into his heart.

But he wondered how long it would be before she did. People didn't stay in his life for long—they came and went. It had been that way for so long, he'd stopped expecting it to be different. Maybe he'd stopped wanting it to be.

Still, he knew that if she decided to take a walk, he'd never get over it. So he'd have to make sure she didn't take a walk.

Feeding the greedy tank of the Olds, he
watched her come back out, cross to the soft-drink machine. And he wasn't the only one watching, Jack noted. The teenager fueling the rusting pickup at the next pump had an eye on her, too.

Can't blame you, buddy, Jack thought. She's a picture, all right. Maybe you'll grow up lucky and find yourself a woman half as perfect for you.

And blessing his luck, Jack screwed the cap back on his tank, then strolled over to her. She had her hands full of candy and soft drinks when he yanked her against him and covered her mouthin a long, smoldering, brain-draining kiss.

Her breath whooshed out when he released her. “What was that for?”

“Because I can,” he said simply, and all but swaggered in to pay his tab.

M.J. shook her head, noted that the teenager was gawking and had overfilled his tank. “I wouldn't light a match, pal,” she said as she passed him and climbed into the car.

When Jack joined her, she went with impulse, plunging her hands into his hair and pulling him against her to kiss him in kind.

“That's because I can, too.”

“Yeah.” He was pretty sure he felt smoke coming out of his ears. “We're a hell of a pair.”
It took him a moment to clear the lust from his mind and remember how to turn the key.

Both thrilled and amused by his reaction, she held out a chocolate bar. “Candy?”

He grunted, took it, bit in. “Watch the road,” he told her. “Try to find something familiar.”

“I know we weren't on this road very long,” she began. “We turned off and did a lot of snaking around on back roads. Like I said, Bailey had it all in her head. Bailey!” As the idea slammed into her, she pressed her hands to her mouth.

“What is it?”

“I kept asking myself where she would go. If she was in trouble, if she was running, where would she go?” Eyes alight, she whirled to face him. “And the answer is right there. She knows how to get to Grace's place. She loved it there. She'd feel safe there.”

“It's a possibility,” he agreed.

“No, no, she'd go to one of us for sure.” She shook her head fiercely, desperately. “And she couldn't get to me. That means she headed up here, maybe took a bus or a train as far as she could, rented a car.” Her heart lightened at the certainty of it. “Yes, it's logical, and just like her. They're both there, up in the woods, sitting there
figuring out what to do next and worrying about me.”

And so was he worrying about her. She was putting all her hope into a long shot, but he didn't have the heart to say it. “If they are,” he said cautiously, “we still have to find them. Think back, try to remember.”

“Okay.” With new enthusiasm, she scanned the scenery. “It was spring,” she mused. “It was pretty. Stuff was blooming—dogwoods, I guess, and that yellow bush that's almost a neon color. And something Bailey called redbuds. There was a garden place,” she remembered suddenly. “A whatchamacallit, nursery. Bailey wanted to stop and buy Grace a bush or something. And I said we should get there first and see what she already had.”

“So we look for a nursery.”

“It had a dopey name.” She closed her eyes a moment, struggled to bring it back. “Corny. It was right on the road, and it was packed. That's one of the reasons I didn't want to stop. It would have taken forever. Buds ‘N' Blooms.” She smacked her hands together as she remembered. “We made a right a mile or so beyond it.”

“There you go.” He took her hand, lifted it to his mouth to kiss. And had them both frowning
at the gesture. He'd never kissed a woman's hand before in his entire life.

Inside M.J.'s stomach, butterflies sprang to life. Clearing her throat, she laid her hand on her lap. “Well, ah… Anyway, Grace and Bailey went back to the plant place. I stayed at her house. Those two get a big bang out of shopping. For anything. I figured they'd buy out the store—which they almost did. They came back loaded with those plastic trays of flowers, and flowers in pots, and a couple of bushes. Grace keeps a pickup at her place. I can imagine what they'd write in the
Post
's style section about Grace Fontaine driving a pickup truck.”

“Would she care?”

“She'd laugh. But she keeps this place to herself. The relatives—that's what she calls her family, the relatives—don't even know about it.”

“I'd say that's to our favor. The less people who know about it, the better.” His lips curved as he noted a sign. “There's your garden spot, sugar. Business is pretty good, even this late in the year.”

Delight zinged through her as she spotted the line of cars and trucks pulled to the side of the road, the crowds of people wandering around tables covered with flowers. “I bet they're having
a holiday sale. Ten percent off any red, white or blue posies.”

“God bless America. About a mile, you said?”

“Yeah, and it was a right. I'm sure of that.”

“Don't you like flowers?”

“Huh?” Distracted, she glanced at him. “Sure, they're okay. I like ones that smell. You know, like those things, those carnations. They don't smell like sissies, and they don't wimp out on you after a couple days, either.” He chuckled. “Muscle flowers. Is this the turn?”

“No…I don't think so. A little farther.” Leaning forward, she tapped her fingers on the dash. “This is it, coming up. I'm almost sure.”

He downshifted, bore right. The road rose and curved. Beside it fences were being slowly smothered by honeysuckle, and behind them cows grazed.

“I think this is right.” She gnawed on her lip. “All the damn roads back here look the same. Fields and rocks and trees. How do people find where they're going?”

“Did you stay on this road?”

“No, she turned again.” Right or left? M.J. asked herself. Right or left? “We kept heading
deeper into the boonies, and climbing. Maybe here.”

He slowed, let her consider. The crossroads was narrow, cornered on one side by a stone house. A dog napped in the yard under the shade of a dying maple. Concrete ducks paddled over the grass.

“This could be it, to the left. I'm sorry, Jack, it's hazy.”

“Look, we've got a full tank of gas and plenty of daylight. Don't sweat it.”

He took the left, cruised along the curving road that climbed and dipped. The houses were spread out now, and the fields were crammed with corn high as a man's waist. Where fields stopped, woods took over, growing thick and green, arching their limbs over the road so that it was a shady tunnel for the car to thread through.

They came to the rise of a hill, and the world opened up. A dramatic and sudden spread of green mountains, and land that rolled beneath them.

“Yes. Bailey almost wrecked the car when we topped this hill. If it is this hill,” she added. “I think that's part of the state forest. She was dazzled by it. But we turned off again. One of these little roads that winds through the trees.”

“You're doing fine. Tell me which one you want to try.”

“At this point, your guess is as good as mine.” She felt helpless, stupid. “It just looks different now. The trees are all thick. They just had that green haze on them when we came through.”

“We'll give this one a shot,” he decided, and, flipping a mental coin, turned right.

It took only ten minutes for them to admit they were lost, and another ten to find their way out and onto a main road. They drove through a small town M.J. had no recollection of, then backtracked.

After an hour of wandering, M.J. felt her patience fraying. “How can you stay so calm?” she asked him. “I swear we've fumbled along every excuse for a road within fifty miles. Every street, lane and cow path. I'm going crazy.”

“My line of work takes patience. I ever tell you about tracking down Big Bill Bristol?”

She shifted in her seat, certain she'd never feel sensation in her bottom again. “No, you never told me about tracking down Big Bill Bristol. Are you going to make this up?”

“Don't have to.” To give them both a breather, he swung off the road. There was a small pulloff beside what he supposed could be called a swim
ming hole. Trees overhung dark water and let little splashes of sun hit the surface and bounce back. “Big Bill was up on assault. Lost his temper over a hand of seven-card stud and tried to feed the pot to his opponent. That was after he broke his nose and knocked the guy out. Big Bill is about six-five, two-eighty, and has hands the size of Minneapolis. He doesn't like to lose. I know this for a fact, as I have spent the occasional evening playing games of chance with Big Bill.”

M.J. smiled winningly. “Gosh, Jack, I just can't wait to meet your friends.”

Recognizing sarcasm when it was aimed at him, he merely slanted her a look. “In any case, Ralph fronted his bond, but Big Bill found out about a floating game in Jersey and didn't want to miss out. The law frowns, not only on floating games, but on bail-jumping, and his bail was revoked. Bill was on the skip list.”