“So you did, but you didn’t tell me you were going home today. I hope you haven’t cost me a multimillion dollar deal on the club I was trying to buy.”
“You shouldn’t have come,” Lotus muttered, finding it hard to inhale.
“You shouldn’t have left me. Tell me why you did.”
“No,” was all Lotus managed to say.
“Oh, but you will. I’ll insist on that.”
“You can’t threaten me.”
“So you’ve told me. Do you often repeat yourself?” he asked her with clinical interest.
“I don’t want you on this plane.”
“Do you own it?” Dash settled back in his seat, his eyes glittering. Then he smiled at the puzzled flight attendant when she approached them. “I’m sitting back here for the time being, trying to convince my friend to join me in first class.” He explained to the curvaceous redhead who leaned toward them “Oh, you should, miss. Mr. Colby has two seats in first class.”
“No, thank you.” Lotus tried to smile, but her lips felt like cement. She could kill him for finding her! And how did he know how to find her? She was just beginning to deal with the sense of loss she had felt at leaving him. Now he was here! Was he here to arrest her? Was this his way of entrapping her? All her paranoia resurfaced in one balloon of pain and uncertainty.
“Suit yourself.” The flight attendant flashed a big smile at Dash, then wandered up the aisle.
“You can’t be traveling on this plane all the way to Rochester.” Lotus enunciated each word, trying to control the quaver in her voice.
“No. We change planes at O’Hare,” Dash said pleasantly.
“Don’t sit next to me. . . Lotus cleared her throat, hearing her voice rise. She caught the curious glance of the man across the aisle and spoke in a whisper. “This seat belongs to . . .”
“Me. I had my security people track you down. The L. Sinclair threw them for a moment, but not for long. They’re very efficient. It didn’t take them long to track down a very slim, attractive Oriental . . .”
“I’m as Yankee as you are,” Lotus snapped.
“. . . Looking woman who moved like a dream. They had you pegged in minutes.”
“Oh? What do you have? A private F.B.I.?” “Something like that. I couldn’t run casinos and
not have a thorough security system. That would be stupid. And I’m not stupid.”
“You are if you think that I’m going to allow you into my life,” Lotus snapped, turning her head to look at him for the first time.
Dash faced her, his lazy smile not masking the silver fury that had turned his eyes to lava. “Too late. I’m already in your life. Would you like me to refresh your memory? We could start with the tiny, sweet mole you have on your backside, darling.”
“Stop . . . sadist . . she hissed, her glance sliding away from him and hitting the man across the aisle who was looking at them.
“Settle down, Lotus. I’m going to nap.” Dash slouched in his seat, his long leg hooked over the arm of the aisle seat. “Damn short seats here.”
“Then go back to first class. Your seats are there.”
“These two are mine also.” His eyes closed.
“You bought four seats on an airplane? That’s disgusting.” Lotus exhaled brimstone.
His eyelids fluttered up, a pained look on his face. “I thought Orientals were inscrutable, silent types. How is it that I never noticed how you chatter?”
“I am an inscrutable, silent Oriental when I’m with normal people, not . . . not plutocrats . . .” Lotus sputtered, wondering for a moment if she would ever be back on even keel. In a few short days, Dash Colby had reduced her cool, calm demeanor to that of a gibbering idiot. She could kill him!
He squinted at her. “Are you relaxed now? I’d like to rest.”
Lotus fulminated at him in silence wishing she could blacken those blue eyes of his as she watched them flutter shut. How could he sleep when she was so upset? Then she hunched her shoulder and stared out at the cloud blanket that seemed to sit beneath the plane. She didn’t even realize she was sleepy until her eyes closed.
“Lotus, Lotus, wake up, we’re landing in O’Hare. ...” Dash pressed his mouth to her ear, letting his lips rove over the shell-like surface. Even her ears were perfect! She was a doll! But he was going to show her that she couldn’t jerk him around like this! Leading him on a merry chase to the East when he had a deal pending in Las Vegas! He watched her blink her eyes awake. Then he leaned over and took her mouth with his when she tried to smother a yawn. “Ummm, nice. You yawned into my mouth.” He muttered, watching her angry eyes shoot around them to see if anyone was looking at them. “Pay no attention to what people think.”
“I happen to come from a respectable family,” Lotus seethed as he pulled her from her seat to the aisle, then reached up into the overhead and took down her duffel bag.
“Let’s go, darling.” He urged her in front of him. When it looked like she would balk, he gestured to the people behind them. “Do you want to hold them up?”
“Ah . . . no.” Lotus reached for her duffel bag, but decided not to argue when he shook his head. “Where is your luggage?” she asked him as they walked along the portable corridor to the terminal.
“Haven’t any.” He ushered her out into the teeming human condition that was O’Hare Airport.
Lotus was struggling to get her ticket out of her purse. “Are you sure you’re going to the right gate? Ah, there’s an attendant, we’ll ask him. . . .” Lotus felt herself pulled back. Then her mouth dropped open as a golf cart vehicle pulled up to them, and Dash lifted her into the seat, then crowded in beside her. “But we don’t need this,” she hissed at Dash, then threw the driver a shaky smile when he stared at her. “Is it far to the . . . ?” Lotus began.
“Just get us to the area where we should catch our flight. You’ve been given your orders, haven’t you?” Dash interrupted, gesturing for the man to get moving.
“Yes, sir.”
“This is ridiculous.” Lotus tried to wriggle away from Dash but he kept her tight to his side. “We’re leaving the terminal! Why are we doing that?” Suspicion filled her mind. “You are not taking me back to Las Vegas.” She threw herself sideways trying to get away.
“For God’s sake, Lotus, hold still. Do you want to tip the cart? I am not taking you back to Las Vegas. I am taking you to New York, then we’ll go to Rochester.”
“I don’t want to go to New York.”
“I just have to pick up some papers and make some calls. We’ll be leaving for Rochester as soon as I do that.”
“I don’t want you with me. I have a single ticket. My brothers are picking me up . . .” she babbled.
“We’ll call them from my apartment and tell them we’ll be a little late. It won’t be more than two or three hours,” he declared.
“Kidnapping!” Lotus shouted.
“Stop that.” Dash leaned over and unthreaded her white knuckled hands. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.” His voice was soft. “Even though I felt like killing you at first.”
“I’m not reassured,” Lotus ventured watching the faces of people flashing past them, curiosity on their faces as they looked at them.
The long ride seemed to weave in and out of corridors and around corners. By the time the man reached his destination Lotus was lost.
Dash helped her out of the cart and threw a bill at the man.
“That would feed me for a week,” Lotus muttered, pulling at his hand on her arm.
“Would it, darling?” Dash answered her absently as they went along a narrower hall, then out a door, where plane engines were revving up.
“It’s so noisy . . . and windy. Why are we here?” Lotus raised her voice as Dash bent his head to listen.
He pointed downward to a sleek Lear jet on the field. Then preceded her down the steep steps to the tarmac, his hand reaching up to guide her behind him. “That’s our plane.”
Lotus dug in her
heels and shook her head. “Can’t be!” she shouted, fumbling for her ticket again. “I’m sure Petras wouldn’t book me on a little plane. I don’t fly on little planes,” she tried to explain as Dash kept a tight hold on her and urged her forward. “I like the bigger ones better,” she shouted. Was he really kidnapping her? She tried to break free. He wasn’t the type to use torture even if he did know about the file, was he? Oh, Lord, she moaned to herself. What’s going to happen ?
“Not to worry, darling. Come on.” Dash watched the play of emotions over her face as she hesitated on the last step. It was like a hand squeezing his heart to see panic and fear war with determination. Her face was like a book! He could read every expression. When her eyes flitted to him again, he pulled her close to him and spoke against her ear to blot out the cacophony around them. “I will never hurt you, no matter what else happens between us.”
“Then let me go.” Lotus mouthed the words, her insides churning with delight and horror because he was with her.
He shook his head as he leaned back from her. Then, with his arm around her small waist, he led her to the plane.
Lotus tried to hear what he said to the man in gray coveralls who spoke to him, but most of Dash’s words were carried away by the gusts of wind that buffeted them, or they were drowned in the noise of the engines. Lotus was glad Dash was holding her, but at the same time she had the feeling she should be running down the airstrip after the Japan Airlines plane that was just taxiing for takeoff on the other side of the field.
“Hurry, darling. Daydream later.” Dash laughed down at her, seeing the bemused look on her face. She was plotting something, but it wouldn’t do her any good. She wasn’t getting away from him! Annoyed with himself at the emptiness he had felt when her landlady had told him she was packed and gone from her room, he resented the unfamiliar possessiveness he felt about her.
He kept his hands at her waist as he helped her up the steep steel steps that led into the plane, then he followed her and signaled that the hatch be shut. “Do you like it?” He watched her stare around the plush interior, her mouth slightly parted.
“I’ve never been inside an airplane that has paneling and a living room with tables and chairs.” Lotus’s smile trembled across her face. “Do I get to meet the pilot too?”
“You’re looking at him, darling.” Dash took her hand, ignoring her gasp and led her to the cockpit. “Buckle in, love.” When she paused to stare at the instrument panel, he pushed her gently into the copilot’s seat and buckled her himself.
Then he sat down, twisted the handle over his head, affixed the headphones, and contacted the tower. He smiled at her while he waited for instructions, leaning over to squeeze her knee. “Relax, angel. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I’ve been flying for years and I even checked out on the big planes.”
“Better for me to take one of those,” Lotus muttered, adjusting the headset, her stomach fluttering. Then she was silent as a voice crackled over the headphones. She only caught every other word, but Dash seemed to have no trouble in understanding what was said.
They were moving! Lotus sucked in an excited breath as she watched the nose of the plane steer along the white line, then follow a marker to get in line behind a much larger commercial jet.
“It’s not too backed up, for O’Hare, so we’ll be in the air before you know it,” Dash assured her.
“Yes,” Lotus hoped, trepidation giving way to excitement as they taxied out onto the takeoff area. “We’re next.”
“Yes.” Dash laughed, not able to believe the joy that filled him because she was excited about the takeoff. “Here we go.” Dash forgot she was beside him for a moment as he pushed in the throttle and felt the sleek machine quiver with power.
They scampered down the runway, the engines roaring to lift off in a fury of grace and speed.
“My goodness, we almost went straight up,” Lotus said and laughed. “That was wonderful.” It was crazy! She was with Dash, a man who could cause her and her family a great deal of trouble, but she had never been happier.
“I’ll teach you how to fly, my dove. You’d be a very good pilot, I’m sure. You are a very steady lady.” Lotus couldn’t hold back her grin as they climbed through the cloud level, Dash making some notations on a pad, then barking once into the headphone.
“Are we on course now?” she asked. Her anger and irritation with him were fast dissipating. She couldn’t quell the happiness that being with him brought.
“Pretty much,” he said. We’ll be changing our heading a few times, but we’re on course, copilot.” Lotus laughed out loud, then stared at him as his mouth opened a little. “What is it?” she asked. “You look surprised.”
“You have a very sweet laugh. It runs up and down my spine like your fingers did last night, love.” “Now, listen”—Lotus struggled to keep the blood from filling her face—“if you’re trying to embarrass me . . .”
“I’m not. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable in any way, but you might as well get used to the idea of being with me . . . because that’s the way it’s going to be.”
“Last night . . Lotus cleared her throat.
“Was wonderful and it will be repeated often, before and after you marry me,” Dash said.
“You don’t force people to marry you anymore. That went out with the tyrannosaurus Rex,” Lotus sputtered.
“There will be no rough stuff, China Doll, but you will marry me. . .”
“You don’t know me. I don’t know you.” Lotus cast around in her mind for some way to tell him what she had done. There was no easy way. “I’ve done some things I’m not proud of—”
“So have I,” Dash interrupted.
“Let me finish,” Lotus said, wondering just how angry he would get with her. He wouldn’t throw her out of the plane! Or would he? “I broke into your office,” she blurted.
Dash looked her way. He inhaled. “So! You did do it,” he exhaled. “I told my security people they were crazy, but they pinpointed you. Hans told me the same thing.”
“He doesn’t like me,” Lotus whispered.
“He doesn’t trust women. He thinks they’re trouble.” Dash ran a hand through his hair. “I’m inclined to agree with him.”
“Now you had better let me go. You could turn around and take me back to O’Hare,” Lotus suggested.
“Why the hell did you break into my office, and who taught you to use a burglar’s tool, then wipe off the file?” Dash snarled.
“Ah, I can’t tell you,” Lotus hedged.
“Why not?” Dash quizzed, making her shiver. “Stop that. I damn well told you that you had nothing to fear from me.”
“You’re giving a very good imitation of King Kong right at the moment,” Lotus shot back, inhaling a shaky breath.
“Well, what the hell did you think I’d do after you tell me a thing like that? It’s a shock!” It frosted him that he was so shaken. She seemed so perfect! He hated finding out that she could be underhanded. “Tell me.”
“No. I don’t think so. Some of the things are really no business of yours . . . and . . . and I have to find out something by myself. ...”
“Lotus!” he roared, making her cringe against her seat belt. “Tell me.”
“I can’t!” she shouted back, feeling tears sting her eyes.
He shot a look at her, then reached out and grasped one of her clenched fists. “Is it money you want? I have plenty ...”
“No,” she fired back at him, stung that he could think she was after his money. “No, not one penny,” she gulped, trying to wrest her hand free of him to no avail.
He stared at her, checking the controls all the while. “Then let me tell you what my security people have surmised.” He looked over at her, snapping his teeth together when she became white. “That, one, you’re a compulsive gambler, looking for money. Two, that you’re a spy from another gambling conglomerate. Wait, let me finish.” He put his hand over on her knee again. “Three, that you have a
record with us”—he paused only a millisecond when he felt her flinch under his fingers—“and fourth, that you have some weird idea of getting your hands on a system we might have.”
“No, no, nothing like that,” she told him looking out the window. Never, never will I tell you, Dash. It’s my family, my uncle who is on the block, and I won’t do anything to hurt him. Besides, you will still want to collect on the gambling debt that bears my uncle’s name. . . . She bit her lip and reached down without thinking to pat the carryall at her side.
Dash was watching her face out of the corner of his eyes, his hands flicking over the instrument in automatic check. He saw her hand go down and pat the bag in a protective way. “Would you like to go back and lie down for a while?”
She jumped and stared at him for a moment, the hard planes of his face seeming to reach out for her. “Ah, no, I like being up here.”
For long minutes they flew in silence, the throbbing of the engines mixing with the guitar cadence coming from the stereo system. When Dash pressed a switch, unbuckled himself, and rose to his feet, Lotus looked at him in alarm. “Where are you going?”
“Just to use the bathroom. Not to worry. It’s on automatic pilot and we’re in a light traffic area. I’ll bring us some food when I return.”
Lotus nodded, her smile fleeting, her gaze returning to the vista out in front of the plane.
Dash watched her for a few minutes, then went to the aft cabin, pausing there and watching the doorway he had just closed between the cockpit and the cabin. Then he pressed a button and the desk opened to a console that included a phone. He dialed and waited. “Yeah. It’s me. How did it go? So hold them. I’ll call you from New York, and we can arrange to have a phone meeting on the computer.” He looked over his shoulder at the cockpit door again. “Have you found anything out about an L. Sinclair. Right. Yeah.” He took a deep breath, then drummed his fingers on the console. “Don’t read me the entire file, just run the facts by me.” Dash listened for a few minutes. “Does he have a daughter? No. Wrong name. All right, keep digging. Save your breath, Hans, and do what I told you. Right. I’ll call from the apartment.” Dash replaced the receiver, then pressed the switch to hide the console once more in the desk. He stood there staring at the paneled wall, feeling his face crease in concentration. Damn you, Lotus. You’re putting me through an obstacle course, baby, but I will find out what's going on.
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