That cleared her brain a little. Some of the gray fuzziness around the edges sharpened up. Honey sniffed deeply. What are you doing here? she asked again.
I just told you.
No, you didnt. You tried to make me mushy. Which brought to mind everything hed done to herand the fact that he hadnt been where he was supposed to have been on one particular midnight. You left me. You sailed off without me and left me.
He wanted to touch her, Max thought. He wanted to slide over explanations and pick up where theyd left off. He wanted it badly. But theyd left off on lies and questions and pseudonyms, and they couldnt go forward on those. He cleared his throat.
I was in the process of hating you, he said honestly.
He expected shock, maybe fury, at least heated words in her own defense. Instead, he watched her face cave. Marcus, she said on a ragged breath.
The guy who chased you out of the quarry? Yeah, thats the one.
What did he say?
That I was part of a plan for you.
She looked mystified. Well, you were.
Max had expected anything but that. But she had never given him anything he expected. And you feel no shame?
Why would I? I told you you were a plan. It shouldnt have come as any great revelation from him.
You said you were playing a game.
I was. Game, plan, whatever. Same thing.
His head was starting to hurt. Maybe it was from the athletics with the guy whod been stalking her. Maybe it was from the way she was winging words around him again without saying anything. Care to tell me what the plan was?
Now she looked discomfited. Id rather not.
Max thought back to that conversation. It had something to do with you dumping your virginity on me.
I most certainly did not dump it.
You didnt warn me.
Of course not! What would you have done if I had?
Run for the hills. Except Brunhia didnt have any.
She folded her arms across her chest. Exactly.
Do you really want to have this conversation shouting at each other across ten feet?
Im not shouting. But she took a step closer to him. She was, however, still holding the wine bottle.
Maybe put that down? he suggested, motioning at it.
No. I havent decided yet if I want to use it on you or not.
Havent you had enough violence for one day?
Ill deal with that other business later. Matt, she thought again. She was going to have to touch base with Matt and tell him about the guy with the gun. This changed things. But for the time being, she just gripped the bottle more tightly. If I had told you I was a virgin, Id still be a virgin.
This plangame, whateverinvolved going to Brunhia to change that status quo?
Yes!
That was it? The beginning and end of your plan?
Of course. What did you think it was?
There was a whole new can of worms, Max thought. Hed have to tell herit would have to be part of the moving-forward businessbut he thought he might wait awhile. At least until she put the wine bottle down. Then he thought that he should have known that if this woman had had any sort of plan, it would be something just as crazy as that.
Suddenly she frowned at him. Max took a quick step back to put space between them again, not trusting her with that bottle. What? he asked warily.
How did you get here? she asked.
In a cab. Which, he realized, was probably still waiting for him and his fare. And the fare would be creeping upward. Ah, well, money was no object.
Not here to the park, she said. Here to the States.
What difference does it make? He wanted to move forward, he thought again, but this was more ground hed prefer to broach when she wasnt armed.
You couldnt have sailed across the whole Atlantic or you wouldnt be here yet, she said stubbornly. That would take time.
No. I mean, yeah. It does.
So you flew. And that takes money.
Not so much. The coach-class ticket had cost a hell of a lot less than fueling up his own jet.
Whered you get it? she demanded.
I have some stashed.
All those years of hammering and sawing?
You could say that.
He expected her to keep pressing. Instead, she finally lowered the arm that held the bottle. She let out a long, shaky sigh and turned away from him. She went back to where she had been sitting before all this had started and she sank down on her blazer.
Max approached her cautiously. What?
You spent what little money you have to fly all the way over here and find me.
Guilt churned in his stomach. I have plenty left. It was no big deal.
She looked up at him. Still.
Can I sit down now?
After all you went through to get here, sure. When he did, she added, This doesnt mean Im ready to forgive you.
I realize that. But shed let go of the bottle, he thought. And when had it come around to her forgiving him, anyway? This had started out the other way around.
If your boat is somewhere on the other side of the ocean, Max, then you must be planning to sleep somewhere else while youre here in Washington.
I havent done anything about that yet. I just got off the plane and went straight to the White House to find you.
Her eyes narrowed.
Kurt told me you worked there.
They narrowed even more. Youve been following me since I left work?
More or less. But that was a lie, too. Yes. You snooped on me, too.
I did not. How did I do that?
You just called me Max. So when, he thought, had she actually discovered who he was? How long had she known? This whole reconciliation business was rife with minefields.
Oh, that, she said. Paloma told me.
Paloma. She didnt know, then, because Paloma didnt know the truth. He wasnt sure if he was relieved or disappointed. Because if she didnt know, then it remained that he had to tell her.
When she found me on the beach that morning, she continued.
That morning?
I fell asleep waiting for you.
You waited?
I got there before ten and I thought maybe you just went to Portimao early for supplies.
Shed waited all night, he thought, thinking the best of him when hed deserved the worst. Things squirmed inside him. So what do we do now? he asked, half expecting that the question would bring the wine bottle back again.
She sighed. You can stay at my place. Weve got ample bedrooms.
He wasnt sure what part of that to address firstthe we business or the implication about the bedrooms. He decided to take them in order. You have a roommate?
A couple of them. But they actually live in Conover Pointe and they rarely visit.
Shed done it again. Shed just answered his question without telling him a thing. Max decided that moving forward also meant that that was going to have to stop if for no other reason than it made him dizzy. But they pay rent, he persisted.
No, the place is paid for. No mortgage.
Do you own it?
They do.
This was getting him nowhere. He veered to his other question about the bedrooms. Uh, are things curtailed between us physically? Are you making me sleep in another room?
She sighed and it was a heartbreaking sound. I sort of have to.
Because of the roommates?
No, I told you, theyre in Conover Pointe. But, Honey thought, this was Georgetown. And she knew what happened to her in Georgetown, in that townhouse.
Maybe she would decide to forgive him and take him with her when she ran away. But she knew that if she tried to make love to him here, it would be a disaster. Honey collected her purse and the wine bottle again and stood. She tugged at her blazer until he stood as well and took his weight off it. Maybe eventually the sex thing will change, she told him. Shed probably be able to have sex and breathe at the same time on the road.
At least she was going to let him in her home, Max thought. Unfortunately, they had other problems besides their relationship, or lack of one.
The gun was still sitting in the grass. Honey, we need to contact the authorities.
What for? Im over the age of consent. Though youd never know it where my family is concerned.
That comment gave him hope. She was still thinking about sex. But Max nodded at the gun. She followed his gaze and closed her eyes briefly.
Oh. That.
Its a rather significant that.
You dont know the half of it.
Another comment he couldnt even begin to fathom. We cant just leave it lying there.
No, we cant. I know.
Honey wrapped her hand in her blazer and went back for it. Marcus and assorted others might think she was an imbecile, but she did watch a lot of movies. She picked up the gun without actually touching it. She inspected it for a moment, figuring there was probably a safety or some such thing involved. At least, there always was on the silver screen. She really didnt need to be shooting her own kneecap off right now. She had enough to worry about with all this life-changing business. And with Max here, and the Coalition after her.
Honey closed her eyes briefly. I dont know that, she whispered aloud. This could have been anything. But it wasnt, and she knew it wasnt. Shed spoken to Hatch six hours ago and now all of a sudden someone was coming after her with a gun in his pocket.
She started shaking again. She really didnt want Hatch to be a bad guy. She liked him. Maybe the Coalition just knew that she had been on Brunhia with the rest of the gene-y babies. Maybe they had decided she was somehow associated with them or with one of them. In that case, then everyone else who had been there was in danger as well, and she had a real obligation to tell them all what had happened.
But if she did that, theyd never let her meet with Hatch.
No, she said aloud. She wasnt willing to give that up. She just wouldnt.
Youre talking to yourself again.
She jumped a little when Max came up behind her. Do you know anything about these things?
A little, Max said. Why?
Wheres the safety?
Honey, what are you going to do? he asked suspiciously.
Im going to wrap it up and put it in my purse. Im going to take it home and hide it.
Why?
She opened her mouth and closed it again without answering. This was the other reason no one had wanted to talk to her on Brunhiabecause she personally talked a lot. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him the whole crazy thing. She couldnt tell Matt or Carey or any of the others what had happened today because theyd yank her back from seeing Hatch. And she couldnt confide in Max either because that was something the old Honey would have done. She would have blabbed.
She was going to start over, run away from her old life if it killed her. For the first time she realized that it was going to involve more than just ditching the Mercedes and her job. She was going to have to handle this on her own.
Fix the safety, she said, pushing the gun at him a little. Make sure its on.
He watched her face and knew, for one of the few times in their acquaintance, that she was serious. Something was going on in that head of hers, but she wasnt going to tell him what it was. Max checked the safety.
She took the gun back and wrapped it snugly in her jacket, then she pushed everything down into her oversized purse. Come on. Ill give you a ride in my brand-new Jeep. But I guess if youve been stalking me too, then you already know about that.
Before he could think of any possible answer, she set sail out of the park. Well, Max thought, when you screwed things up royally in the first place, no one gave you any guarantees that it would go easy the second time around.
He followed her.
Fourteen
W hyd you dump the fancy car? Max asked as they headed back to the townhouse.
That tugged a smile to her mouth. Im going to LaCrosse, Kansas. Its the barbed-wire capital of the world.
No kidding. His own mouth tucked up.
She wanted to taste it again, she thought, glancing his way. She wanted it with a ferocity that surprised her. Hed dumped her, had taken a piece of her heart that she wasnt sure shed ever get back. And still she wanted to kiss him.
Barbed wire and a Mercedes dont seem to mix, she explained finally.
I know a few cattle barons who might disagree with you.
That caught her. You know cattle barons? I thought you were from Pittsburgh.
Ive traveled a lot.
Did he hesitate? Why would he?
You were still going to run away, werent you? he asked. With or without me.
Correction. I am still going to run away. Honey pulled into the driveway and jumped down from the blue Jeep. She went to the door, fitted her key in the lock, then stepped inside to turn off the alarm system.
What about the White House?
I quit today.
He caught her arm when she tossed her brand-new car keys on a fragile table in the foyer. A job like that is hard to get.
Not for me.
She looked both sad and whimsical. There were so many facets to her, he thought. Then she marched across an Aubusson rug toward the back of the house. Max followed her and found her in a small wine room off the kitchen.
French, Italian, Portuguese or Napa? she asked. Hmm, Portuguese would bring
back memories.
Oh, no, you dont.
She looked at him, startled. Dont offer you wine? I think theres beer, too.
You spin words and you never answer my questions.
Well, I was getting to it. She plucked a bottle of Niepoots Redoma from the rack and squeezed past him to go back to the kitchen. I was going to say that I dont even know why I majored in political science. I never gave it any thought whatsoever. Probably a bleed-in from everything I was trying to deny.
She found a corkscrew. He took it from her hand. Are we back to Princess Elise?
Yup. But politics never interested me.
What interests you? He set to work on the bottle and watched her sigh and brace her elbows on a breakfast bar. Then she tucked her chin into her hands.
Movies. People. Puzzles.
She was a puzzle, he thought. A delicious, invigorating, complicated puzzle. The more she gave him of herself, the more she was a mystery. He could live with her for forty years, Max thought, and never anticipate what she was going to say or do next.
His thoughts stalled on that. Live with her? How could he trust someone he couldnt figure out? Because, he thought, right off the cuff, everything she gave was genuine. A little skewed, but genuine.
Anyway, Im not sure it matters, she said. Provided Jake Ingram ever gets to the bottom of the World Bank Heist, I really never have to work a day again in my life. She went to the wine room again and returned with two glasses. So what are you going to do now?
He knew then. He knew the answer as clearly as if hed never had to drop out to find it. I dont want to work anymore either.
She laughed, delighted. Well, you dont, not near as I can tell. Do you think youll get bored eventually?
Family Secrets: Books 5-8 Page 67
