Just Like a Man (47 page)

And to think she had an outlaw like Adrian Windsor/ Padgett to thank for that. How strangely the world worked sometimes.

"What are you thinking about?" Michael said from his seat beside her, obviously noting her preoccupation.

But when she looked over at him, she found him following Alex's moves with his eyes. She loved that about him, how he could be equally in tune to both her and his son at the same time. It was just one of the many things she loved about him.

"I was thinking about Adrian," she said. "I wonder where he is right now, what he's doing, if some poor woman is about to fall for his suave, debonair act."

"If she is, she'll figure him out soon enough," Michael said with all certainty. "Women always figure Adrian out. Eventually."

Hannah hoped he was right. And she hoped it wasn't too late for whatever unsuspecting woman Adrian had on his radar right now. "I still can't believe I ever got involved in any of this," she said, leaning back in her seat. Alex was only practicing this evening, so the hockey rink was virtually empty, save the parents of the team members. So she kept her voice low as she added, "It seems like a dream in a lot of ways. Like something that happened to someone else, not me. When I think back on everything we went through, and how Adrian still managed to get away…"

"OPUS will get him, Hannah," Michael promised. "They've got some of the best men and women on it, so Adrian won't get far. Guys like him always turn up again. And OPUS will be waiting for him this time."

"Yeah, but where?" she asked. "The next time Adrian tries something, will it be thousands of miles away? In another country, even? Or will he just come back here?"

"He won't come back here," Michael said decisively. "This area is too hot for him now. OPUS has alerted all the local law enforcement people to be on the lookout for him. Even the feds are keeping an eye out. Maybe they didn't catch Adrian doing anything illegal here," he conceded grudgingly, "but he's up to something, and he knows OPUS knows that. So he won't try anything here again."

Hannah nodded. She supposed that was true. It was kind of ironic—Adrian had always basked in the limelight and loved being the center of attention. Now the center of attention was the last thing he could afford to be.

"If you're still worried," Michael said, "I can tell you this. She-Wolf is still on the case, and she's tenacious as hell. And she has a one hundred percent capture rate. Adrian might get away for a while, but as long as She-Wolf is after him, he's going to feel the heat. She's got a baaaaad reputation, that one."

Well, that Hannah could definitely believe. Even if she still couldn't quite believe that the innocuous, diminutive Tiffannee had turned out to be a fire-breathing operative for OPUS. "And here, until the end of everything," she said, "I was thinking a much better code name for her would be Majorette."

Michael chuckled. "She's good at the dumb blonde act, no question. She-Wolf's smart enough to take advantage of people who are dumb enough to succumb to common prejudices. In fact, she loves taking advantage of people who are dumb enough to succumb to common prejudices."

"Gee, you sound like you know She-Wolf pretty well," Hannah said suspiciously.

He turned to smile at her. "And you sound like you're jealous."

She gaped at him. "I'm not jealous. I'm just…"

"What?"

"Surprised, that's all."

"Her partner is after Adrian, too," Michael said. "And with that guy, it's definitely personal."

"Oh, and it wasn't personal with you?" she said. "Your partner and best friend, who had an affair with your wife."

"It's different with She-Wolf's partner," Michael said, turning to observe Alex's moves across the ice again, clearly unconcerned with all the water under the bridge that was Adrian Padgett. "That guy hates Adrian more than anyone I know."

Hannah remembered her brief encounter with the agent at the reception the night Adrian had gotten away. She recalled a dark-haired man with almost opaque green eyes who hadn't said very much, but who had seemed very menacing, very angry, and very dangerous.

"Why does he hate Adrian so much?" she asked.

Michael shook his head. "Don't know. He's never said. But having seen the look that comes over him whenever Adrian's name gets mentioned, I don't want to be around when he catches the guy."

Hannah remembered that, too. Just the mention of Adrian's name had made Tiffannee's partner look like he wanted to tear something—or someone—apart.

"And what's his code name?" she asked.

"If I told you…" Michael began.

"You'd have to kill me," Hannah finished for him wearily.

"No, if I told you, I'd be lying," he said. "I don't know what his code name is."

"It's that top secret?"

"Evidently. All I know is that nobody says that guy's name out loud. It's been rumored that all who have spoken his name have been found shortly thereafter in little pieces. Oftentimes mailed to loved ones."

Yikes,
Hannah thought. "Then what does everyone call him?"

" 'The guy who works with She-Wolf,'" Michael said. "Anyway, between the two of them, it won't be long before Adrian's pulled in."

"This is assuming he surfaces before long," Hannah pointed out.

"Oh, he'll surface before long," Michael said. "When a person has an ego the size of Adrian's, he can't stay underground for very long. He needs the attention and adulation of others in order to survive."

Hannah supposed that was true, too. Adrian had always taken control of a room the moment he'd entered it, and he'd commanded attention from everyone in it. The worst punishment he could receive would be the denial of praise and wor-ship. But she hoped the reason he was ultimately denied it wasn't because he was forced to remain in hiding. She hoped it was because he ended up rotting in prison somewhere.

"They'll get him, Hannah," Michael promised her again. "Whether it's She-Wolf or her partner or some other OPUS agent, they'll get him."

"As long as it's one of
them,"
she told him. "As long as you're not going after him yourself."

He smiled again. "Why don't you want me going?"

"Because I want you here, Michael. With me. And Alex. With your family. At home. Where you belong. I don't want to lose you. Not to Adrian. Not to anyone. I can't imagine my life without you."

He pulled her close, roping his arm around her shoulders, then pressed a fierce kiss to the crown of her head. "You won't lose me," he assured her. "Not to anyone. Because I can't imagine my life without you, either."

"You'll love me forever?" she asked.

"I'll love you forever," he told her.

"I'll love you forever, too."

For a long time they watched Alex—his son, her stepson-to-be—as he glided over the ice, dancing through his teammates like the naturally gifted athlete he was. They cheered when he scored, booed when he was fouled, and Hannah felt warmth spreading through her in spite of the cold arena.

"So, Raptor," she said as hockey practice drew to a close and the team skated off the floor to shed their gear and collect their things, "looks like you're going to have some time off from the spying game for a while."

"From the spying game, yes. But tax season is here, and that can get pret-ty dangerous, let me tell you."

"That kind of danger, I can handle," she told him.

"That makes one of us," he said. "I hope you can handle being an accountant's wife," he added. "It's not an easy job. Sometimes it's unstable. Sometimes it's not so secure. Sometimes, it's anything but uneventful."

"I'm up for it," she told him. "As long as you come home to your family every night, I can handle anything."

"I will come home to you every night," he vowed as they threaded their way between the bleachers and made their way down the stairs. He circled her waist with one arm and waved to Alex with the other. "Wild horses couldn't keep me away."

"How about OPUS?" she asked.

"Nah. They won't keep me away, either. My family comes first."

"Mine, too," she said with a smile.

"Forever?" he asked.

"Forever."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Well, then, what do you say, Hannah?" he asked as he pulled her closer still. "You want to collect our kid and go home so we can cook our dinner and feed our dog and then pop some popcorn and watch some TV by the firelight?"

She nodded, her entire body wanting to join in the gesture, so eagerly did she agree. It sounded exactly like the kind of evening she enjoyed most. "Yes," she told him. "I'm ready to go home. I've been ready for a long, long time."

And knowing she was going home to something that was even better than a storybook ending, Hannah took Michael's hand. And together, they took the next steps toward their happily ever after.

Do you think you know everything about your favorite Avon author/?

Well, think again!

In the fallowing pages you are going to hear

Ten things

you never expected about your or your favorite Avon writer…

Ad, of course, you will be getting a sneak peek

at their upcoming Club Romance Super leaders!

10 Things you don't know about Elizabeth Bevarly

1. I will do just about anything for a slice of chess pie.

2. When I was twelve years old, I took home the blue ribbon from the Kentucky State Fair for "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies." (I will only reveal the recipe for a million dollars. Or, you know, a slice of chess pie.)

3. I secretly devour true crime books. (So I know how to kill a man a dozen different ways. Of course, I never would. Unless he tried to get between me and my chess pie.)

4. I was once almost crushed in a mosh pit at a Clash concert. (Some idiot skinhead slammed into me and made me drop my chess pie.)

5. I once kissed the singer Harry Chapin. (And he wasn't even holding a chess pie at the time.)

6. My first job was at the age of twelve, drying silverware in my aunt's restaurant. (They had fabulous chess pie.)

7. I was on the dance team at my high school the year they took first place in state competition. (There wasn't any chess pie involved, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. The pie, I mean. Not the dance team stuff.)

8. I was born on the cusp of Scorpio and Libra, which means I think a balance of emotion is extremely important, but I'm much too emotional to achieve such a thing. (But it doesn't affect my affinity for chess pie, so it's okay.)

9. My favorite color is green. (Unless it appears on a slice of chess pie, in which case I don't care for it at all.)

10. I have a fetish for china, crystal and silver serveware, especially if it's antique. (Krautheim's Millefleurs pattern, for instance, looks especially nice under a slice of chess pie.)

And now a sneak peek at Elizabeth's

January 2005 Avon Romance Superleader

Out even all buttoned up and battened down the way Hannah Frost had been, he'd been able to sense a barely restrained… something… simmering just beneath her surface. He hesitated to ponder exactly what that
something
might be, though, mostly because it made something equally
something
simmer inside himself. Instead of a gray crew cut, her hair had shone like pure honey in sunlight, the elegantly twisted style making him think it must be long and silky when allowed to flow free. And instead of evil eyes, she had the eyes of an angel, as blue and as big as the heavens above. And as for persimmon lips…

Oh, baby. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Hannah Frost's mouth had been as soft as the rest of her promised to be, full and lush and ripe. It had been way too long since Michael had kissed a mouth like that. And there were other things he could imagine that mouth doing, too. Things to him, in fact. Things
on
him, in fact. Things he
really
shouldn't be thinking about when his son was anywhere in the same ZIP code.

So instead of mentally undressing Hannah Frost, he made himself think about the way she
had
been dressed, an austere study in gray. The suit hadn't suited her at all, yet she'd seemed perfectly at ease wearing it.

Because ruminating about Hannah Frost was as far as Michael would let things go with her. And that was more than he should be doing. She was one cool customer, to be sure. Too bad she didn't have the same cooling effect on him. She made his blood run hot and wild, even after one brief, passionless exchange.

Damn. This was an unexpected development he hadn't anticipated and certainly couldn't afford.

And what the hell did she think she was doing going anywhere near Adrian Windsor? Okay, so the guy sat on the board of directors of the Emerson Academy. After all, that was the reason he'd been instructed to enroll Alex at Emerson. And to the casual observer, Adrian Windsor was a forthright, upright, do-right, citizen. But Michael knew things about the guy no one else at Emerson knew. For example, that his name wasn't really Adrian Windsor. It was Adrian Padgett. And what he knew all added up to the fact that Adrian was trouble with a capital T.

If Hannah Frost was involved with the guy, that was really going to cause some problems. And not just for Michael, either.

10 Things You Don't Know about Rachel Gibson

1. I got my first motorcycle in the fourth grade. It was a Honda 50—not quite a Harley.

2. My little toes are on sideways. I know that sounds freaky but is very cute.

3. I love to sing loud but can't carry a tune.

4. My name is Rachel, and I am a shoe-oholic.

5. I speak fluent pig Latin.

6. I am not crafty. I tried it once and burned my fingers with the hot glue.

7. I jumped in a pool of Jell-0 and won a T-shirt.

8. I love to jetski and I'm learning to water-ski.

9. I have a terrible fear of grasshoppers.

10. I work in pajamas until noon. It's a good job.

And now a sneak peek at Rachel's