by Molly Liholm
Adam’s anger deflated as quickly as it had built. His shoulders slumped and he turned away from her. Meg wished she could go to him and wrap her arms tightly around him, but he didn’t want her. In a defeated voice, he said, “You’re right. I didn’t even tell you that the first fire was a warning sign. Or about Kelly. I’m sorry I got so mad. I just feel like a total idiot for walking into this.”
“Me, too,” Meg agreed, feeling a chasm opening between them. Their lovemaking this morning already felt far away. She let the silence stretch out between them. She had told Adam how she felt What happened between them now was up to him.
Adam flipped channels idly, almost hoping to get a rise out of Meg. At least fighting with her would keep him from thinking about what a fool he was. He’d blindly walked into a trap without any kind of backup plan in place. Reid could very well kill him, Meg and Abby tomorrow and no one would suspect anything unusual. It would be a week or two before his editor began to worry about him—Adam had disappeared on assignment before. Plus, this time he’d told her that the story was personal, so she would give him even more leeway. Cynthia was good like that.
But he hadn’t told anyone what he was working on, because he was afraid of the answers he might find. If his sister was up to her eyeballs in the mess, he’d planned on helping cover up for her. It was what he’d always done for her.
Only he hadn’t counted on meeting Megan Cooper. She had knocked him off his feet and he still hadn’t recovered. Making love to her had only proved how she had him under her spell. He liked her. He liked her a lot. Too much. She was brave, determined, passionate. Everything he could ever want in a woman.
So he was going to think up some kind of plan to rescue them and then he was going to send Reid Logan to jail for a very long time. And then he was going to say goodbye to Megan Cooper, because if he didn’t, his life would continue to be one mess like this after another.
Meg paced the room, the pretty, ruffled pink skirt she’d worn with cowboy boots flaring against her legs as she walked. She might be gorgeous and sexy, but she was all wrong for him. Still, seeing the frown on her face, he was sorry that he had been so rough on her. “Don’t worry about Abby, I’ll think of something.”
“Yes, well...” Meg began. Then Gloria walked in. Today she was dressed in a turquoise shirt and matching flowered skirt. Her shiny blond hair cascaded in soft curls over her shoulders.
She smiled at Adam, her lips, painted a pale pink, curling delicately. A dimple twinkled in one cheek. “Good, you are here. I was afraid Reid might have locked you in our drafty barn.″
“No, we’re quite comfortable,” Meg said, glaring daggers at the woman.
Gloria chose to ignore the sarcasm and Meg altogether. She touched Adam on the back of his hand, letting her slender fingers rest against his darker, leathered skin. It would be so easy to turn his hand over and crush her fingers between his. Instead he linked his fingers with hers. “So you’re the mastermind behind this operation.”
“Without me, there would be very little profitable activity at the Liberty L,” Gloria said proudly. “I thought the name of our ranch was rather prophetic, considering the business I ended up starting. Liberty was what our ancestors fought for. And liberty—an American identity—is what my customers are able to find at the Liberty L.”
“You mean purchase,” Meg snapped, wishing Adam would let go of Gloria’s hand.
Gloria flicked a cool glance at her. “Of course I mean purchase. Nothing is free anymore in this world. Certainly not my services. But where are my manners? Let me ring for some coffee.” She squeezed Adam’s hand and regretfully turned away from him to buzz the intercom. They waited in silence while Josh arrived with the coffee tray. The blond giant didn’t look too pleased at being turned into a houseboy, but he didn’t argue, either.
“Delicious coffee,” Gloria said with a sigh after taking a sip. “It’s sent to me direct from Columbia by a friend who owns a coffee plantation.”
Adam was amazed at the woman’s coolness. “Aren’t you worried about receiving regular shipments from Columbia? The DEA could become very interested in you because of them.”
“I prefer the original source as opposed to paying inflated New York prices to have the same coffee shipped to me. Besides, I go into the DEA’s computer system and erase the oldest deliveries. I’m not flagged by their programs until I have six deliveries, and I never let my file get over four.”
“Tell me how you began creating the computer forgeries.”
“I needed some kind of a career.” Gloria fluffed her hair as her dimple flashed. “The ranch was losing so much money that we were afraid of going under. Reid wasn’t willing to admit the truth, but he was becoming desperate.
“I wasn’t sure if I could do it at first, but through my international school contacts I knew people who were willing to pay a great deal of money to have an American identity. Getting into all the systems to be able to create a complete background took me months, but I did it. The first three transactions provided enough money to pay off all of our debts.”
“And so your business was born.”
“Yes.” Gloria nodded sweetly. “It’s extremely profitable and yet leaves me with a lot of free time for my studies.”
“How nice for you,” Meg interjected.
Gloria ignored her words, focusing on Adam. “Reid and I have been conducting our little business enterprise for over five years without any problems, until you came along. Why did you have to pry into our business? Why didn’t you take the hint to leave it alone?”
“How did you know Adam was investigating you?” Meg asked.
“I put security checks on all of my newly created identities so I could be alerted whenever anyone looked into one of my people.” Gloria smiled her glowing smile. “My people,” she said fondly. “In so many ways they’re like my babies. Usually, it was banks or car companies who were querying an identity—until the inquiry from the Times. At that point I stayed next to my computer waiting for the next log-on. I waited three days for you.” She shook her head sadly. “You got careless and I got lucky because you accessed the Times main frame from your home. I was able to trace you through their system. Then I tracked you, and learned the minute you booked airline tickets for Phoenix. Unfortunately, you did so almost immediately.”
Adam had to admit that Gloria was efficient. “So you arranged to get rid of me.”
“Before you learned anything concrete. We weren’t sure how you had traced us, so eliminating you quickly seemed like the best idea. I didn’t even realize you were Kelly’s brother at first. Smith is such a common name, after all. She’d mentioned you, but I’m afraid that I never paid all that much attention to what she said. Kelly was always nattering away about something or other, but nothing was ever that interesting or relevant. Only once I began to do a background check on you—after I had sent out Josh and Tom to stop you—did I learn exactly how personal your involvement was.”
Adam leaned back in his chair, clearly fascinated by her explanation. “Unfortunately for you, your men didn’t do such a good job.”
“No,” Gloria agreed, and delicately bit into a cookie. “But we’d never really done anything so...violent. I should have taken that into account. I have now,” she added coolly, and Meg shivered. With every word, Gloria’s sweet demeanor was disappearing.
She frowned, furrowing her eyebrows together. “It was Abby who sent you our way? Who realized what we were up to?”
“So it seems,” Adam said, refusing to admit much.
Gloria scowled briefly, but then her face smoothed back to beauty. “Too bad. Everything was going along so well until you interfered.”
“Hardly.” Adam couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice.
Gloria studied him for a moment. “You’re referring to Kelly. That was an unfortunate coincidence.”
When Adam didn’t answer, Meg had to ask, “How did Kelly get involved?”
Gloria drank more of
her coffee and then put down her cup. “Kelly was before your time in Sedona, Meg. A beautiful, free-spirited girl who fell in love with Reid. And he with her. Only it didn’t turn out so well.”
Gloria turned cold, hard eyes on Adam. “She didn’t tell you anything, did she?”
“No. After the accident, Kelly lost her memory. The last few weeks I’ve suspected some of it was returning, but she still wouldn’t tell me anything. Plus, I believe she truly loved Reid. My sister is very loyal.”
“I didn’t think she’d talk. I told Reid that, but he wasn’t sure. But I saw how much she loved him. Kelly might have been disillusioned by Reid, but she couldn’t betray him. And she didn’t.”
“No, she didn’t.”
Gloria had moved a little closer to Adam on the couch. Meg stood up, going over to the pile of magazines in the rack next to the fireplace. She discovered several she hadn’t read and an issue of Cosmopolitan with the excerpt of a book she had edited before her extended sabbatical from Scorpion Books.
She suddenly longed for home and her family. What if she died without ever seeing her father and brother again? Even the office where she had spent so much of her life? She vowed that when she and Adam managed to escape, she would return to New York. Ideally, Adam would be part of her new life. But even if not, she would still go home.
But they had to escape. She looked up from her magazines to see Adam and Gloria sitting very close together. Gloria laughed at something he said and arched her lovely neck as she did. Meg wanted to wring that lovely neck. She slammed her magazine shut, but unfortunately, that made little noise.
She stomped around the room, but it had no effect, so she sat back down in a chair far away from the pair and turned to a scandal magazine. She managed to lose herself in the latest gossip, only occasionally raising her head to glare at the back of Gloria’s shining curls. The two remained completely oblivious of her.
Finally, Gloria rose, adjusted her dress so that even more skin showed, touched Adam on the shoulder and left without even looking at Meg.
Meg and Adam were taken back to a bedroom and locked in. Once inside, Meg turned to ask Adam if he had any kind of a plan for escape, but he silenced her with a kiss. Then he made slow, determined, passionate love to her and Meg forgot everything.
12
THE NEXT MORNING Meg wondered if Adam’s lovemaking had been intended to keep her mind off what would happen once Abby arrived in Sedona. The thought only came to her once she and Adam were back in the recreation room and Meg had turned on the TV in a desperate attempt to distract herself. Abby was due to arrive in town soon and Reid’s men would be waiting for her. Then Abby would be in equal danger, all because of Meg. She wished she’d been able to think of some better way to warn Abby than the lame clues she’d dropped in her telephone conversation.
When she thought about their situation, about her wish for adventure, she could hardly believe that they might actually die. It had all happened so quickly. Surely, this couldn’t really be the end? The optimistic part of herself refused to believe it, but she was scared.
She also wished that Adam would tell her he cared for her. Perhaps his lovemaking proved his feelings for her. Unfortunately, Meg wasn’t convinced.
Gloria swept into the room, today dressed in a shocking pink halter dress and sandals. Meg hated to admit that Gloria looked beautiful, fresh and sexy. She, on the other hand, looked liked she’d been living in the same clothes for the past three days. The discouraging part was that it had only been two days.
Adam looked at Gloria appreciatively, raising one brow. “Very sexy.” He made space on the couch so Gloria could sit next to him.
At that moment Meg could have hit him. So what if him seducing Gloria was part of her plan? She had outlined that scenario to Adam last night—but he didn’t have to be so good at it. She rather thought Adam also had his own plan, but he wasn’t sharing it with her. She wished he would; she wished he believed that they could work as a team. Despite the fact that he’d made love to her as if he treasured her, despite the fact that he’d held her all night long, he was keeping himself removed from her. Oh, she knew she’d thrown him off balance by telling him she was in love with him, but Adam simply refused to believe that they were meant to be.
Meg sighed. With everything that had gone wrong so far, she was beginning to wonder herself.
No, she wasn’t. She knew that Adam was the man for her. She was just afraid that she might not be the woman for him. Ever since her abruptly canceled wedding, her luck with romance had been bad, and she feared it was going to stay that way. Okay, she promised herself. Just let them get out of this bad situation alive, and she would leave Adam in peace. But that didn’t mean she had to like Gloria. In fact, Meg was beginning to hate the beautiful Gloria.
“We have some new guests coming in this afternoon and I always like to show them all the possibilities,” Gloria teased as she twirled around in front of Adam.
“Don’t mind me,” Meg said. “Just pretend I’m not here.”
Gloria shot her an annoyed glance as she sat down next to Adam.
“I’ll get some air on the balcony,” Meg continued. She stepped out the glass doors and waved at the guard, who stood not more than thirty feet away. Luckily, there was a chair, so she was able to plunk herself down as if she was interested in the scenery. Unfortunately, neither the buildings nor the landscape held any appeal. She wondered briefly about how you hired thugs. Did you advertise in Thugs Unlimited? She tried to make out what Gloria and Adam were talking about, but all she was able to hear were Adam’s low seductive tones and Gloria’s lilt.
Meg couldn’t believe she was still jealous. She was the one Adam had made love to. She felt more alive and sensual than she’d ever felt in her life. Even if something terrible happened, she wouldn’t have traded a minute with Adam for anything.
All he was doing now was looking for a way to escape. They had discussed it in the middle of the night. Taking Gloria as a hostage seemed to be their only option. Clearly Reid was very fond of his sister.
Meg peered in the window and saw Adam kissing Gloria. Meg turned away, hoping this wouldn’t take too long. After a couple of minutes, she couldn’t help herself and, waving to the guard outside, went back into the recreation room. Gloria was still plastered against Adam. He looked at Meg as she entered, as if he knew she’d be walking in, and she raised her brows questioningly. Finally Adam separated himself from the blond piranha and looked down at her. “I’m sorry,” he said, before he raised his hand, hitting her just above the ear. Gloria crumpled into his arms.
Meg went over to help him hold Gloria upright. “Took you long enough.”
“I don’t like to hit women. I was trying to work up my nerve.”
“As long as that was all you were trying to work up.”
Adam picked up the unconscious Gloria. Meg looked around the room for some kind of a weapon, but she didn’t think the flimsy magazine rack would be of any use. “What about the guard at the door?” she asked.
Adam put Gloria on the couch. “Open the door, act hysterical and get him in here.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. In fact, she was rather impressed watching Adam in action. But would the guard fall for this old routine?
She threw open the door and barreled into the thug. It was Josh, the one who had enjoyed hurting her. She hoped Adam hurt him back. “Help,” she shouted into his chest. Then she spit out his shirt and raised her head. “Help,” she said again. “It’s Gloria. I think she’s having a heart attack or something....” She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him into the room. At first Josh didn’t budge, until he looked over her shoulder and saw Gloria passed-out on the couch. Putting his hand over the gun in his holster, he moved Meg aside easily and stepped into the room. Meg followed behind, wishing Adam would have told her more of his plan. She’d shared her ideas with him, including that he make Gloria fall for him. He could have shared with her what exactly he planned to do—a
fter all, he was much better at investigating and skullduggery than she was. Normally she read about it or watched it on the screen; she didn’t actually live it.
Warily Josh stepped closer to Adam and Gloria, but Adam didn’t turn around. “What happened?” Josh demanded.
“We need to get a doctor. She had some kind of seizure.”
Josh stepped even closer. “I need to see her before I call any kind of doctor.”
In irritation, Adam turned toward Josh and slammed his fist into the man’s stomach. Josh doubled over, and Meg, having decided the magazine rack wasn’t so flimsy after all, smashed it over the goon’s head. The man collapsed face first onto the floor.
“Ouch, that would have hurt,” Adam said as he rolled the body over and checked Josh’s eyes. “He’s out.”
“Now what?” Meg asked.
“Now—” Adam took Josh’s gun and slung Gloria over his shoulder “—we get out of here.” He stepped toward the balcony window and peered out at an angle so that no one outside would be able to see him. “How many men did you spot outside?”
Meg frowned. Most of her attention had been on the action inside the recreation room. “I saw one man by the courtyard.”
“No one else?”
“No, that was it.” Meg realized how odd that was. Why would there be only one sentry? Moreover, the man had kept looking toward the road like he was waiting for something.
Adam glanced around the room. “We need some kind of rope so we can bind Gloria—and we’ll have to gag her.’
Meg grabbed the afghan off the burgundy couch and began to work on the threads she’d unraveled yesterday out of boredom. She stopped and looked at Adam questioningly. “I thought we were taking Gloria with us as a hostage.”
“No.”
Adam ripped apart the afghan in her hands and used strips to bind Gloria’s feet. “Tie her arms behind her.”
Meg did as instructed. “Why not?” she asked, when it was clear Adam had no intention of volunteering more information.