Before either woman could answer, he’d turned Madison toward the patio doors and begun gently nudged her in that direction.
Madison wanted to walk away. She was afraid her heart might literally beat right out of her chest. Was this what a heart attack felt like? Could you have a heart attack at twenty-five? She had a million questions, but she didn’t really want the answers to any of them. Had Pam said the words wedding announcement? Where had Aiden been all week? Had he really tried to find her? And who was the blonde he was about to marry?
THE TIREDNESS FELL off Aiden like a heavy coat he’d left behind. He couldn’t believe Madison was here, not only here, but lovelier than he’d remembered. The sapphire blue dress she wore accentuated her figure while somehow still emphasizing her smallness, her femininity. She looked better than she had a week ago, though how that was possible Aiden couldn’t say.
The trip from Dallas came rushing back to him, and he suddenly remembered the feel of her in his arms, the smell of her hair, the softness of her hand on his arm. If he didn’t get her out of this crowded room soon, he was going to pull her into his arms in front of everyone which would suit him fine.
Keep it cool, Iceman. She was collateral, nothing more, and you are still in the middle of Dambusters.
Aiden didn’t even try to listen to the voice of reason that usually ruled his every move. He’d managed to lead them across the room and out onto the patio, a patio that was blessedly empty of people.
Reaching the corner of the terrace, he tried to turn her toward him, but Madison pulled away. Putting several feet between them, she leaned against the cedar railing and looked out at the Montana night. Something in her stance stopped his questions. He had always been good with women and his natural instincts kicked in. She reminded him of a doe about to run. Better to give her space and tread lightly.
Instead of pulling her into his arms, he settled for standing next to her, his arm barely brushing up against hers. He looked out at the scene she seemed mesmerized by, mountains disappearing as darkness fell. A thousand points of light brightening the sky. A slight breeze rustled the trees, intensifying the feelings dancing between them.
“How was your first week?” he asked softly.
She drew a deep breath. “Good.” She still didn’t look at him, but seemed slightly less ready to bolt.
“Is Pam helping you out?”
“Pam’s a godsend.”
Aiden turned to look at her, drank in the sight of her. The mass of brown hair was piled on top of her head, revealing a slender neck. The breeze tickled a few strands of hair that had escaped, and Aiden nearly came undone. He wanted to pull it all down, bury his hands in it, nuzzle her neck, feel her in his arms again.
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Aiden. You helped me through a difficult night, and I appreciate that. It’s okay that you didn’t call.”
“It’s not okay, Madison. I tried to call, but I couldn’t find you. It never occurred to me you might be teaching at the high school.” Aiden ran his hand through his hair, then turned her gently to look at him. “I would have found you, Madison. I arrived back in town this afternoon. Trust me when I say by Monday I would have found you.”
Madison met his gaze. He looked into those brown eyes and fell a little farther, heard the last of the ice around his heart crack away. Without it he felt completely alive and vulnerable, more than he had on any mission.
“It was only one night,” she whispered.
“No. It was more than that.” The rebuke came out sharper than he’d intended. Unable to stop himself he reached out and touched both her bare arms, ran his hands up and down her soft skin. He needed to feel her, to know she was real, to somehow ground himself in her presence.
“It was more than that,” he said more softly. Then he pulled her to him, and he was kissing her—first tenderly, his lips barely brushing hers. He caressed the goosebumps on her arms. Her body perfectly melted into his.
Suddenly she stiffened and pushed him gently away.
The night had turned cool, but Aiden’s fingertips burned as if he’d spent long hours in the middle of a Texas summer day. Madison walked away from him. When she turned, she pressed her fingers to her lips and said, “Sharon...”
As if the word had conjured the woman, Sharon appeared at the patio door—blonde, elegant, and confident.
“Aiden?” She hesitated when she noticed Madison, took in the scene, and seemed to understand it in one sweeping look. “Aiden, the mayor would like a few more publicity shots.”
“Sure. Thanks.” Aiden felt as shaken as Madison seemed. Covering the distance across the patio in three strides, he took Sharon’s hand, pulled her over to where Madison still stood.
“Sharon, I’d like you to meet Madison Hart. Madison, this is my friend, Sharon.”
“You’re new to Edgewood.”
“Yes, I just moved here from Texas.” Madison shook Sharon’s hand.
“I hadn’t had a chance to tell you yet,” Aiden said. “I met Madison on the flight from Dallas.”
“Welcome to Edgewood. I trust if you need anything, you will let the school board know. Now if you’ll excuse us...”
“Yes, I will,” Madison said. “It was nice to meet you.”
Sharon nodded again, then turned back toward the room, never checking to see if Aiden would follow, which he did.
TWO HOURS LATER AIDEN escorted Sharon to her Porsche 911 and grunted when she handed him the keys. The Carrera 4S was a true sports car with four-wheel-drive and a 355-horsepower engine. The car was quite a luxury, but one Sharon could afford given her status as Edgewood’s top lawyer.
Aiden worked through the gears silently. He had tried to find Madison again later in the evening, but she had fled. The look on her face when Sharon had shown up still made him feel like a complete jerk. He’d find her tomorrow, and he’d explain. He’d make her understand.
“Do you want to tell me about Miss Hart?” Sharon’s voice was quiet, nonjudgmental, even a little amused.
Aiden tried to think of how to explain Madison. He had no idea where to begin.
“You could begin with the flight.”
“The flight.” Aiden thought about the last week, considered what he could tell Sharon and what he couldn’t.
“You flew from Dallas to Edgewood.” She settled into the corner of her seat so she could watch him closely, obviously enjoying his discomfort.
“Right.” Aiden sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Madison was sick on the flight, and I took her to the first-class lounge. We both missed our connection, so we had a few hours to kill. Then she saw the puddle jumper.”
The memories hit Aiden like a punch to his gut. Madison sitting next to Coyote. Madison unconscious on the plane. Madison wearing those goofball rhinestone sunglasses. Madison in his arms as he carried her through the airport.
“Aiden, maybe you should let me drive.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you’re going eighty, and you seem a little distracted.” It was Sharon the lawyer speaking now, and her practicality brought Aiden back to the present with a thud. He slowed down, waving away her offer to drive.
“You’re attracted to her.”
“It’s that obvious, huh?”
“Half of Edgewood is wondering why I put up with you, Aiden.” Sharon reached out and touched his arm. “If only they knew, right?”
“Yeah, if only they knew.”
Aiden focused on the car, the gears, and the winding road leading up the mountain, the whole time thinking—for probably the hundredth time—how lucky he was to have a friend like Sharon.
“Perhaps they should know.” Her voice was soft, testing the waters, daring him.
“I wouldn’t do that to you, Sharon. We said we’d stick by each other, and that’s a promise I’m not going to break.”
“But we knew we’d have to come clean one day.”
Aiden pretended to concentrate on navigating the curves u
p the mountain.
“And I think I’m ready,” she said.
Aiden jerked the little car into a pull-out overlooking Edgewood. They had climbed high enough that the lights of the town were a mere twinkle, one building indistinguishable from the next. Each melted into a menagerie offering no beginning and no end, much like the lies he had told. He set the brake and turned to look at her, taking a minute for his eyes to grow accustomed to the darkness, studying her face.
“You’re serious,” he said.
“Yes, I am.”
“I can be more discreet.”
“It’s not just about you, Aiden. Bix has been pressuring me to be honest with my parents, but I didn’t want to abandon you. After all this relationship is your cover story as well as mine.”
Aiden leaned against the door, weighing their alternatives, trying to put Sharon’s needs ahead of his own galloping emotions. “What about your parents?”
“I have an established clientele now. I didn’t have that five years ago when we hatched this crazy plan. I don’t think my parents would actually pull my inheritance off the table, but if they did I would survive. Besides, I’m learning there are things more important than money or approval. I want to spend more time with him. I want to go to hear his band. I want to travel with him.”
Aiden reached across the gearshift and hugged her. “My family’s in for a big surprise.”
“I think they’ll be relieved. One more lecture from Nate on how I shouldn’t tolerate your carousing anymore and I’m going to belt the man.”
“He has your best interests at heart.”
“Right.”
Aiden grinned, started the car, released the brake, and pulled back onto the road. “Bix is lucky to have you.”
“He knows.”
“I’m lucky to have you too.”
“I’m glad you realize that.”
“I’m serious, Sharon. If there’s anything I’ve learned in the last five years it’s that true friends are hard to come by.”
“Thank you, Aiden. But you have more friends than you realize.”
“Maybe.”
A comfortable silence filled the car as he turned into the golf course community and pulled up to his house. A fraction of the weight he was carrying around had been lifted, and for that Aiden was grateful.
He had set the brake, unbuckled his seatbelt, and reached for the door handle when Sharon put her hand on his arm.
“Tell me about her.”
Aiden released the handle, letting the darkness settle around them, wishing again he could tell her everything. If there was one person he could trust to know of his involvement with USCIS, it was Sharon. Unfortunately, too much was at stake. All it would take was a single slip and his cover would be lost. With the clock for Dambusters ticking, Martin needed every agent he had.
Telling Sharon what he really did on his golfing trips was out of the question. He’d have to be satisfied with telling her about Madison.
“I’ve never met anyone like her.”
“Go on.”
“She’s smart and funny, even when she’s—” He almost said in danger, but he caught himself and backtracked. “Even when she’s scared. If you could have seen the look on her face when she saw our connecting plane.”
“They are rather small.”
“Yeah. She came to Montana to teach.”
“There are teaching jobs in Texas,” Sharon said.
“True. I don’t know why she decided to teach here.” He shook his head in the dark, at the absurdity of it, at the wonder of it. How had she landed in his life?
“You’re serious about this one.”
“Yeah.”
Aiden rubbed his face with both hands. The last week was catching up with him. He needed sleep and time to unwind, but mostly he had to see Madison again. Feel her in his arms. Explain so many things to her.
“Take some advice from an old friend? Go slow. You’ve known her less than a week.”
“Right.”
“Not just for yourself, Aiden. Go slow for Madison. Dating you can be rather intimidating. You are one of Montana’s most eligible bachelors.”
Aiden scowled at the reference to an article published last month in several of the state’s papers. Even with Sharon as his supposed girlfriend, the press kept hounding him.
“She’s probably not used to a lot of public attention,” Aiden admitted.
“Probably not.”
Sharon got out of the car, walked around to the driver’s side, and held her hand out for the keys.
“I’m going to miss driving this car.”
“Buy your own.”
Aiden laughed and put his arms around her. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll still be around.” Sharon stepped back, then reached forward and raked his hair out of his eyes. “You need rest, Aiden, and a haircut. Then go after Madison.”
“Right. Rest. Haircut. Girl.”
“Don’t screw up the order.”
“Rest. Haircut. Girl.”
Aiden plodded up the walk, murmuring the words like a mantra. Deactivating his security net, he entered his home and dropped his keys on the table in the entryway. He briefly considered attacking the pile of mail, but he couldn’t do it. He could barely drag his exhausted body up the stairs.
As he collapsed onto his bed, he thought of Madison, how she had looked in the blue dress, the softness of her in his arms. If only he could have held on to that vision as sleep overtook him.
Instead he dreamed of Coyote, Dambusters, and the Hungry Horse Dam located outside of Edgewood. Even as he slept he chased the shadows, determined to protect her, doggedly trying to save them all. Hearing the ticking of the clock firmly in place at the back of his mind. Fifty-four days. He had exactly fifty-four days.
MADISON WOKE TO THE memory of his kiss, his hands caressing her arms, his voice soft and persuasive. Then she remembered Sharon.
“Move eighteen hundred miles across five states and find another cowboy who makes another worthless promise.” Throwing the covers off she stomped into the bathroom, turned the hot water on to the shower, then lectured the reflection in the mirror. “Mama did not raise a fool, and you will not make the same mistake again.”
The reflection looked ready to argue with her, so she stripped off her pjs, jerked back the shower curtain and stepped into the water without testing it, earning herself a very cold wakeup.
“Where is my hot water?” Jumping back out she grabbed one of the new yellow towels she’d purchased and wrapped herself in it. After a week in the apartment she knew the shower took a good five minutes to heat up, but she needed to scream at something and the plumbing was handy.
Thirty minutes later she’d finished her shower, made a cup of the strongest coffee she could brew, and was intent on reading through her English curriculum when the doorbell rang.
Only Pam knew where she lived, and Pam had gone to the Summit Station Lodge for a before-school-starts weekend away with her husband. Madison was tempted to ignore the ringing bell, but her visitor was relentless. He was going to wake up the stuffed bears lining her window seat if he didn’t go away.
“I’m not interested,” she said in no uncertain terms as she jerked the door open. The bouquet of roses temporarily caught her off guard, as did the teenage boy holding them. He wore a Edgewood Florist cap and seemed at a loss for words.
“Oh. Um. I think you must have the wrong address.” She started to close the door, but the boy edged forward and finally found his voice.
“Are you Madison Hart?”
“Yes.” Madison had a bad feeling about this.
“Well these are for you then.”
“But I don’t know anyone here.”
“They’re from Mr. Lewis. He wanted to send more, but my boss told him a dozen would be plenty.”
Madison resisted the urge to grab the flowers and throw them across the parking lot. She wanted to scream. She did not want flowers from an engaged man.<
br />
“It just so happens—what is your name?”
“Gabe.”
“It just so happens, Gabe, that I’m not accepting flowers today.”
The boy looked so confused Madison almost pitied him.
“But you have to accept them.”
“No, actually I don’t. I can refuse them. And that’s what I’m doing, Gabe. I’m refusing them.”
The boy looked at the flowers, then back at her, then at the flowers again.
“No one refuses flowers.”
“Well I am.”
“What am I supposed to do with them?”
“Take them back to the shop.”
“I can’t do that. My boss will kill me.”
“Then take them home to your mother. Or give them to your girlfriend. I don’t really care what you do with them, but you are not leaving them here.”
Madison slammed the door a little harder than she meant to, but it had the desired effect. When she peeked through her curtains, Gabe was walking slowly across the parking lot toward an old pickup truck, shaking his head and no doubt muttering about the strange ways of women.
Her day went downhill from there.
She tried housework, but there was no satisfaction in it. The place wasn’t dirty. She attempted to work on her lesson plans, but her computer was acting up, had been acting up for the last few days—since the internet people came to work on a problem that she didn’t have. How they messed that up, she couldn’t guess. Now she had a problem, and she’d need to call them back. Only when she contacted her service provider they had no record of anyone having been at her house.
She was put on hold and after twenty minutes gave up and collapsed on her couch. Looking out the window she thought again of the flowers, and Sharon, and Aiden’s kiss. She jumped off the couch as if a snake had bit her. She couldn’t sit there thinking about him.
If she couldn’t clean, she could hike.
AIDEN DROVE DOWN THE mountain at nearly the same speed he’d driven up it. He’d followed Sharon’s directions pretty closely, and of course they hadn’t worked. His sleep was long enough, but hardly restful given the number of bombs he’d tried to disarm. His hair appointment was scheduled for this afternoon, the earliest opening he could find on a Saturday, though with the Stetson he always wore he couldn’t see how hair mattered. The next logical step seemed to be to send flowers.
Coyote's Revenge Page 11
