A Special Man

by Billie Green

  "Daniel, that's wonderful. Will he help?"

  "He's my brother," he said simply, then he pushed a hand through his hair. "We've got problems I hadn't thought of. Jonas says there's a full-scale manhunt underway. The police are looking for us everywhere."

  She drew in a sharp breath. "Does that include the Nevada police, too?"

  "According to Jonas, it includes every police department in the country... and the FBI."

  "Oh, my God," she whispered. "They think I kidnapped you, don't they?"

  He cupped her chin in his hand and lifted it, meeting her eyes. "Don't worry," he said softly. "I'm here, remember. They won't catch us, but even if they did, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I give you my word on that."

  Amanda wanted to believe him, but she knew if the police found them, they would arrest her first and ask questions later. It could take days to get it straightened out.

  "Amanda," he said firmly. "I said I would take care of you. I don't give my word lightly."

  She exhaled slowly. "No.. .no of course you don't. I'm not worried, really. It's just a little strange to think my face might be on post-office walls all over the country." She grinned suddenly. "I'm torn between hoping it's not the picture from my driver's license and hoping it is. If it is, no one could possibly recognize me from it. On the other hand, if I have to gain notoriety, I like to do it looking my best."

  He threw back his head and laughed in genuine amusement and Amanda felt as though clouds had lifted and the day had grown brighter.

  "Did Jonas tell you anything?" she asked, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked up at him.

  He shook his head. "Nothing substantial. I know who took over after I left, but it doesn't mean anything. Ed Beeker isn't a man after power...and that's what this is all about. I'm sure of it. There are a lot of ambitious men at Philton, men who would break a few rules to get to the top." He frowned thoughtfully. "The thing about power is that the need for it grows in direct proportion to the amount attained—the more you get, the more you want. When people get in the way, sometimes it's necessary to run over them."

  "That sounds so cold," she said, shivering slightly. "I don't think I could live in that world, always wondering if one of my associates is out to get me."

  He shrugged. "You get used to it. And after a while it gets to be a game... king of the hill."

  She shook her head, then met his eyes. "What do we do now?"

  He drew in a deep breath. "Now we call Kyle." Turning away, he walked back to the booth.

  "Kyle?" he said a few seconds later.

  There was tense silence on the other end, then Kyle whispered, "Dan? God, Dan, is that really you?"

  Daniel laughed. "Yes, it's me. Listen, Kyle, and don't say anything until I'm through."

  This time Daniel left nothing out. He told his brother everything he knew about what had happened to him, everything that he and Amanda had pieced together.

  Five minutes later, Kyle let out a long breath. "Son of a bitch," he said roughly. "I can't believe it. It's like a science-fiction movie. But you're really all right...I can tell by your voice. You can't imagine what it was like knowing that physically you were Dan, but mentally you were—"

  Kyle broke off and laughed harshly. "I can't take it all in. It's just so incredible. When are you coming home?" His voice was urgent. "I want to be with you when you talk to the police about Sutherland....just in case they don't believe that you're really all right again." He swore viciously under his breath. "That bastard Sutherland. I always knew there was something phony about him, but I just thought it was that pretty-boy smile. I sure never thought of anything like this. Hell, I panicked like everyone else when I heard that nurse kidnapped you."

  "She isn't a nurse," Daniel said, frowning. "She's a bookkeeper. And she didn't kidnap me. If it weren't for her, I would still be in that place. I owe her a lot." Like my life, he added silently.

  "My, my," Kyle said. "What's this note I hear in your voice? Don't tell me you've been getting your kicks while we were all going crazy. Where are you anyway?"

  "That doesn't matter." He was annoyed, and he didn't know why. Kyle was a casual devil, but Daniel didn't like him talking about Amanda as though she were a roll in the hay. "What's important is that I'm on my way home. It may take us a while; can you wait there at the house for us?"

  "Do you even have to ask, brother? I won't set foot outside until you get here. But Dan, can't you tell me—"

  "I've got to go now, Kyle. I'll tell you all about it when we get there."

  He hung up and stepped out of the phone booth. His head was throbbing slightly, his pulse pounding. Fight or flight. Why should he react that way? It was almost finished now. He could hand it over to the police, and they would find out who had done this to him.

  Shaking his head, he walked back to the car. "We'll have to drive to Los Angeles," he told her. "The police are probably watching the airports."

  "When do you want to leave?"

  "Now," he said abruptly, and slid behind the wheel.

  It was the same trip she had made two weeks before, only this time they were driving the other way. Now she didn't feel that everything was on her shoulders. She didn't have to pretend to be strong.

  Miles and miles of Interstate IS roadside scenery passed by as Amanda watched-silently, sometimes dozing, sometimes listening to the radio, but rarely talking. She could feel him getting more and more tense with every mile that brought them nearer to Los Angeles.

  Daniel didn't even slow down until they reached Las Vegas. Amanda watched the city pass, thinking how different it seemed from the last time she had seen it.

  That night, that terrifying night, seemed to have happened to someone else. All the fears she had had, all the doubts, were echoes now. She had lost Danny, but in losing him she had given him back his life.

  There were lines of weariness around his eyes when Daniel pulled into the parking lot of a small diner on the western edge of the city. After they had given the waitress their orders, Amanda put her forearms on the Formica table and leaned toward him.

  "What if the police can't make Ted tell who paid him? How are you going to be able to go back to work?"

  His eyes narrowed and the look in them made her shiver. "I'll find out," he said quietly. "With or without Sutherland." He glanced up. "But I don't want to talk about it now. For just a little while, I want to forget about what's happened. Talk to me about things that happen in the normal world. Tell me why you decided to be a bookkeeper."

  "I don't think I ever made a conscious decision ... I mean I didn't spread a dozen careers out in front of me and say, 'I'll take this one.' Dad was a bookkeeper, and he took me to work with him occasionally." She shrugged. "It just always felt right."

  "Tell me about your childhood," he ordered.

  She frowned. "Daniel, you don't really want to hear all this."

  "Yes. Yes, I do," he said firmly. "I want to hear about your Christmases and when you lost your front teeth. I want to hear what boy you had a crush on in the sixth grade."

  She felt strange, talking about such trivial things, and began hesitantly. But after a while, after she realized that he really did need to hear the things she was telling him, that it in some way soothed him, she began to relax.

  "Then in the first grade, I met Mrs. Appleton," she said, smiling.

  "You liked her," he said, studying her face.

  They had eaten and were finishing their second cup of coffee.

  "I liked her," she confirmed. "I still can't figure out why she didn't call my parents and complain about me. Before we ever met face to face, I had harassed her unmercifully."

  He raised one dark brow. "You?"

  She laughed. "Me. I could be a brat at times. Instead of an ordinary doorbell, she had a real brass bell on her porch. It fascinated me. Every morning as I walked to school I would detour by her house just to ring her bell., .then I would run." She shook her head. "She must have been over seventy then,
and arthritis made her move very slowly. But old age had no reality to a six-year-old." She laughed softly. "Then one

  day, sitting on the porch under the bell, I found a cigar box full of crayons... and my name was printed on the top of the box."

  He chuckled. "That was a slick move. I think I would have liked your Mrs. Appleton."

  "You would have loved her. I did," she said, remembering. "I thought about the crayons all night, then the next afternoon—after school—I went back and rang the bell again. This time I waited. She asked me in just as though she had expected me. In all the time I knew her—she died when I was eighteen—she never once mentioned the bell or those crayons."

  He stared at her for a moment. "I wish I had known you then."

  She shook her head. "No, you don't."

  "Why do you always underestimate yourself?" he asked. "Everyone has faults, but not everyone faces up to them the way you do. That takes real courage."

  She laughed. "Now I know you're crazy. I don't have an ounce of courage. The night we left Green-leigh I was shaking so hard I could barely hold on to the steering wheel. I kept saying, 'I can't do this. I can't do this.'"

  "But you did it," he said softly. "Courage isn't fearlessness. It's not giving in to the fear."

  She glanced down at her cup in embarrassment. "I don't know about that," she said, then raised her eyes.

  Suddenly she broke off, drawing in a sharp breath. "Daniel," she whispered, staring in horror at the doorway as two policemen walked into the diner.

  "Don't panic," he said, taking in the situation at a single glance. "They're not looking for us. They're simply taking a coffee break." The two men had sat down at the counter and were now laughing and talking with the waitress. "We're leaving now, Amanda, but we're not in a hurry. We've simply finished our meal. Right?"

  She nodded jerkily and stood when he did. Her legs felt like rubber and she couldn't understand how they could carry her all the way across the room. But they did, and minutes later she and Daniel were once more on their way to Los Angeles.

  It was early in the morning when Daniel sat in a chair in a small motel room, watching Amanda as she slept. Her dark hair was spread out over the pillow. There had been no question of separate rooms when they had checked in. Maybe she didn't like what was between them, but she had accepted it.

  The room was full of echoes, he thought as he leaned his head back. Echoes of their lovemaking. Echoes of the taste of her flesh, the feel of her body.

  He stood and moved to the bed to stare down at her. Why did he get the panicky feeling, the fight-or-flight sensation, when he looked at her? Why, suddenly, did he want to turn around and go back to the cabin?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Amanda awoke slowly. She didn't open her eyes at once hut merely lay there. She could feel Daniel's warmth beside her and wanted it to last a little while longer.

  When she felt him move, she raised her eyelids reluctantly. His head was next to hers on the pillow, so near she could see the flecks of gray in his eyes. The look in those eyes burned through her, branding her with his heat.

  She didn't even know him, she thought in amazement. She didn't know him, and yet they were bound inextricably.

  He threaded his fingers through her hair, framing her face, never taking his eyes from hers. "In a few hours, we'll be in Los Angeles," he whispered frantically, his tongue plunging deep into the seductive depths of her mouth.

  He entered her with a desperation that told her it could be no other way. The fiery sweetness filled her, taking her to a different, more basic level. Nothing mattered except that she reach that special place. The place she could reach only with Daniel.

  Then suddenly, with overpowering strength, he took her there and their tightly clasped bodies shuddered together in prolonged ecstasy.

  When the world stopped whirling around her, Amanda opened her eyes and glanced at him. His eyes remained closed, but as though he sensed her gaze on him, he whispered huskily, "Amanda, I've never— I can't explain it. It's the most incredible thing I've ever experienced in my life."

  "I know," she said softly. And she did. She knew just exactly what he meant. What happened between them when they made love was beyond explanation. The future was a closed book and she had no way of knowing what would happen for the rest of her life. One thing she was sure of—this thing between them was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It was something she would never experience with another man, because it could only happen between the two of them.

  Two hours later, in a booth in the café attached to the motel, they sat across the table from each other, as far as the world was concerned an ordinary couple. Again their relationship had undergone a subtle change. Daniel had allowed her to get a glimpse of the man he really was.

  "Would you or your wife like orange juice, sir?" the waitress asked, staring at her pad.

  When she left, Daniel glanced across at Amanda, a strange gleam in his green eyes. "Do we look so much like an old married couple? Surely the honeymoon couldn't be over after only two weeks."

  Amanda drew in a sharp breath. How could she have forgotten she was married to this man? But as incredible as it seemed, she had. Even in Las Vegas, when memories of the night they were married were so strong, she hadn't connected those memories to Daniel. With all the turmoil, with all the revelations of the past two weeks, she had simply overlooked it. Or had she purposely put it from her mind?

  "What's wrong?" he asked, some of the stiffness returning to his voice.

  She shook her head helplessly. "I didn't foresee any of this happening when I took us to that chapel in Las Vegas." She ran her finger around the rim of the water glass, staring at it with intense concentration. Inhaling deeply, she glanced up. "I suppose since you weren't responsible for your actions, the marriage is void. It should be easy to get an annulment, don't you think?"

  He glanced away from her and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. After a moment he met her eyes. "It might have been easy in the beginning, but I'm afraid I wasn't mentally incapacitated when we made love this morning... or last night or the night before." His smile was slightly mocking. "That might make a difference."

  Idly. "It win all be over." Moving his head, he brushed his lips across hers. "This time, don't make me feel like I'm taking something from you. Give it to me freely, Amanda. And just as freely, take what I have to give."

  Again his lips found hers, and she closed her eyes, trying to absorb the feeling. There was urgency in the kiss, but only a hint of the desperation of the night before. That desperation had puzzled her, still puzzled her.

  His lips moved to the corner of her mouth, then down to the nape of her neck. "Say yes, Amanda," he whispered against her throat, the words almost a moan.

  "Yes," she said hoarsely, clutching his shoulders. "Yes and yes and yes."

  Wrapping his arms around her, he crushed her body to his and she could feel his heart pounding. The taste of him, the feel of him, had consumed her for what seemed like forever. His hungry mouth on hers triggered a wildly explosive response. She clasped his neck, defying him to leave her, and met the warm moistness of his mouth with her tongue.

  She heard and felt his gasp of surprise at her response, and then he groaned, an agonized sound, and pulled her beneath him in an exquisitely intimate, thoroughly possessive embrace.

  Lifting his lips from hers, he sought the warm flesh of her throat. A quivering tension was building inside her and when he sought her breasts, teasing the tips with his tongue, she was breathing in frantic gasps. With closed eyes, he brought one hand up to cup the fullness, urging it closer to his mouth. His hands felt electrically charged, as though all the desire in him were concentrated in the tips of his fingers.

  The pagan pleasure visible in his strong face was the most blatantly erotic thing she had ever seen. She clutched wildly at him, reveling in the feel of his hair-roughened chest and thighs pressing against her softness. She clung to him, arching her hips convulsively, entwini
ng her legs with his as though she would pull him into her body.

  A stick sheen of perspiration covered them both, brought by the frenzy of their writhing bodies. Clasping her buttocks with his large hands, he slid downward, pressing his face into her belly, trying to merge with her softness.

  She caught her breath in a startled gasp as she felt his hot breath on the throbbing place between her thighs, becoming one with the inferno he had already built there.

  Sounds penetrated her pleasure-drugged mind. Husky, animal sounds. Somehow she realized that the sounds came from her own throat.

  The feeling of being completely immersed in tactile sensation was mind-numbing, absorbing her completely. She moved her hand over his thigh, exhaling a soft, moaning breath when she found his pulsating strength.

  The effect on Daniel was explosive. He moved swiftly, powerfully, and suddenly she was beneath him, feeling the hard length of his body against the eager softness of hers. His mouth devoured hers

  Amanda clenched her fists in her lap. Did he regret having made love to her? she wondered as she stared at his stony features. As usual, she found no clue there. But she couldn't believe he regretted it. The sensations had been too strong to be one-sided.

  When their breakfasts arrived, they both merely sat pushing the food around on the plates. With one swift movement, Daniel pushed his aside and stood. "Let's go," he said abruptly.

  One step forward and three steps back, she thought as she stared out the window of the car. What did he want from her? At times she thought she caught glimpses of the lonely boy he must have been, but then before she could be sure, he shut her out, pushing her away violently. She was beginning to think that no mortal would ever truly know Daniel Phillips; no one would know the person he was beneath the rock-hard facade.

  It was early afternoon when they reached Los Angeles at last, and the traffic, as always, was frantic. Once they were in the city, Amanda lost track of the turns they made. She only knew for sure that they eventually came to a hilly section where elaborately landscaped mansions lined the streets.