Winter Blockbuster 2012 (45 page)

“Oh, come on. What did we used to call you? Mr. Casanova. A new girl on your arm every night.”

His sigh was full of regrets. “You see, that’s just it.” He took a long drink from his beer and stared into space. “Lots of new girls. No true love.”

It was hard to believe that a man this appealing, this attractive, thought he couldn’t find his soul mate. She looked at him, so handsome, so adorable. Her fingers ached to run
through that thick auburn hair. It took all her will to stay where she was.

“Haven’t you ever been in love?” she asked him.

“Not really.” He squinted at her, thinking it over. “I don’t think so. Not like you and Eddie.” His smile was crooked. “I used to watch you two together and I think I hated you almost as much as I loved you.”

“Oh, Max …”

“You know what I mean. It was pure jealousy. You two were so good together, so … so devoted.” His voice broke on the word and she had to close her eyes and bite her lip to keep from going to him.

Devoted. Yes, that was exactly the way it had been. When she’d found Eddie, she couldn’t believe her luck. They’d met in an elevator in their apartment building in Paris. As they traveled up the floors, people got off, but the two of them remained, until they were alone and looking at each other tentatively across the empty car. Their eyes met. Love at first sight. And when they finally got to her floor, he admitted his had been four stops before. How could she not invite him in for a cup of coffee? Two months later, they were married.

When he’d died, she had thought life was over. She moved in a dark, menacing fog, blindly searching for some way out of the pain, not really believing it was possible. For days, she was obsessed, thinking of ways to join him. And then she realized she had someone else to think about.

“Do you remember …?” Max’s voice choked.

She stiffened. Here it came. She had to keep a cool front. Still, she had to tell the truth, at least as far as it was safe.

“I remember too much,” she said softly.

“Me, too.” He finished off his beer and looked at her. “I think about Eddie every day.”

She nodded, closing her eyes. “Me, too.”

She wasn’t going to cry. She had to hold it back. For a moment, she let herself recall the way it had been being married to Eddie. Sunshine every day. Champagne for breakfast. Walks on the beach and dancing barefoot to a reggae tune. Driving with the top down. Love in the afternoon. Eddie was the best. The very best.

But she couldn’t let herself think about him too much. That was a temptation that could sap her life away.

“Remember that day we went sailing in the bay,” he said, “and your straw hat flew off and Eddie and I jumped into the water and raced for it?”

She nodded, trying to smile. “We had a picnic on that little island and we ate all those cherries.”

“And then spent an hour rolling in the sand, moaning, with the worst stomachaches imaginable.”

She managed a half grin. “I thought we were going to die.”

He laughed. “I wanted to die.”

His words seemed to echo in the room. Eddie was the one who had died, not long after that sunny day.

She closed her eyes again. They had to stop this. No good could come of it. They were laying treacherous emotional land mines all around. If they didn’t stop, something was going to explode.

She wanted to stop. She tried. But somehow she couldn’t keep the words from coming.

“I remember when you and Eddie would fly off into those big thunder clouds,” she said softly, staring into the past, “like two falcons challenging the sky. It was so scary, but so magnificent. It made me shiver every time. I could hardly breathe. You were angels flying into the danger zone. And every time you came back victorious, another strike for the good guys, another strike for justice in the world.” She turned
to look at him, emotion almost choking her. “I was so proud of you both.”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he shook his head and looked away, and she knew his voice was probably too rough to use right now.

She should stop. She should push this all away into the past. But she couldn’t. It was as though she had to get this out in the open in order to let it go. She tried not to say anything more, but the words came anyway.

“Everyone was proud of you. You were heroes. The best. The brightest stars.”

She swallowed hard, then reached out across the coffee table and took his hand.

“And then, on that dark, rainy day in November, you took off together, as usual, but you … you came back alone.”

She blinked, wondering why there were no tears in her eyes. She usually had tears by now when she went over this in her own head. Why wasn’t she crying?

“I stood there and watched your plane fly in, and I knew in my heart what it meant. But I didn’t want to accept it. I kept thinking, no, he’ll be coming. He’s just had engine trouble or took a wrong turn or …” Her voice choked and she took a deep, shuddering breath. “I kept staring into the horizon, looking for that black spot to appear against the sky.”

Her words seemed to echo against the walls as they both sat quietly, waiting for the pain to fade.

“Eddie was the best guy I ever knew,” he said at last, his voice rough as a rocky beach. “It should have been me.”

“No …” She held his hand as tightly as she could, with both her own.

“He was true and honest and brave. Not like me.”

“No,” she said fiercely. “Don’t ever say that.”

His face was twisted with pain. “Kayla, Kayla, it should have been me.”

She was next to him on the couch now, and she wasn’t sure how she got there. But she had to be with him, as close as she could get. She had to remind him of his own worth, his own value. She couldn’t let him feel this way.

She took his beautiful face between her hands and stared right into his eyes. “Eddie was a wonderful man. But so are you. You’re just as good and precious and worthy.”

He looked at her and winced, as though the light was too bright in that direction.

“I would trade it all to have him back again,” he muttered.

She shook her head. “I don’t think you can make bargains like that. I don’t think you can trade yourself. What happens, happens. We have to use it to make ourselves into better people.”

“Yeah.” He tried to twist away from her, then gave it up. “But it shouldn’t have been Eddie. Not Eddie.”

Her fingers dug into his hair and he looked down into her eyes. He was going to kiss her. She knew it and she knew she should stop him. She tried. But as his arms slowly wrapped around her and he pulled her body close, she could only sigh and raise her mouth to find his.

The moment was electric. They’d come together as though it were inevitable, as though they were pulled by a force they weren’t strong enough to fight. Everything in Kayla cried out with need for Max. In this primal moment, he was hers and she was ready to surrender again. Just like before. She clung to him, clung and arched into his embrace, waiting for the touch of his tongue.

His face came closer. She could feel his warm breath on her lips. Closing her eyes, she sighed and offered her face to him.

And that was when the door to the apartment flew open and Pellea came storming into the room like a Valkyrie.

The two of them stared at her, mouths hanging open in shock, still tangled in each others arms. She glared back, her hands on her hips as the door slammed shut behind her.

“What the heck is going on here?” she demanded.

Max frowned, not letting Kayla go. “Doesn’t anyone ever knock in this place?” he quizzed right back at her.

“You’re a fine one to talk,” Kayla said, sotto voce.

Pellea’s nostrils flared. “I knocked. Nobody answered. I guess you were too busy with this … this …” Her hand waved around in the air but she couldn’t find a word that would suit. Still, her annoyance was clear.

Kayla began to pry herself loose from Max’s octopus embrace and rose quickly in order to show respect for Pellea’s position, hoping Max would notice and follow her lead.

“Oh, Pellea, don’t get upset,” she said, half laughing at the crazy situation. “We’re old friends. Max was Eddie’s best friend. They flew together in the Mediterranean.”

Pellea’s mouth made a round circle for a moment. She looked from one to the other of them. “Wow,” she said. “I had no idea.”

Kayla looked back at Max. He was grumpy and she couldn’t really blame him. But she was glad Pellea had interrupted them. If anyone needed an intervention, it was the two of them. She gave him a look and he slowly rose beside her.

“I didn’t realize he was the man I’d known until yesterday, when I first saw his picture in your office,” Kayla explained.

Pellea frowned suspiciously. “You didn’t say anything.”

“I … I needed some time to get used to it. You see, earlier I had thought he’d been killed in Somalia months ago and …”

“Wait.” Pellea held up her hand. “Your husband was killed flying for the Trialta National Forces, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. He and Max flew together there.”

Pellea looked skeptical. “And you never had any idea he might be royal?”

Kayla shook her head. “Never. I would have laughed at anyone who suggested it.”

“Hey,” Max complained in a low voice.

“Oh, never mind.” Pellea looked at Max, then at Kayla, and shook her head and her look turned thoughtful. “That just makes it all more interesting, doesn’t it?”

Kayla had to fight hard to resist rolling her eyes. “If you say so,” she muttered, wondering what the queen had up her sleeve now.

She was carrying a portfolio, obviously something she’d brought in to show off for some reason. But her attention had been diverted. She glared at the recalcitrant prince.

“I feel like I’m going to have to put a homing device on you,” she warned him.

He frowned, looking rebellious. He glanced at Kayla, then looked straight at the queen. “Is this prince job a twenty-four-hour commitment?” he asked suspiciously.

“Of course,” Pellea said sharply.

“Of course not,” Kayla said at the same time.

She certainly didn’t want to contradict the queen, but she thought they’d better widen the discussion a bit before Max said something he would regret. The look on his face already set the stage for handing in his resignation as a royal. She didn’t think the queen should portray it with quite such a heavy hand. Talk about scaring the quarry away! A little finesse was in order.

“The other princes don’t have homing devices,” she explained sensibly.

Pellea frowned at her. “The other princes don’t need them.”

Kayla shrugged reluctantly. “Good point.”

And don’t you forget it
, Pellea seemed to say with her flashing eyes, though not a word passed her lips. She turned to Max and her face softened.

“Did you enjoy the ball?” she asked him hopefully.

He hesitated. Kayla bit her lip and prayed. For once in his life, was he going to be good? She knew there was a struggle going on inside him.

“Yes, Your Majesty, I did,” he admitted at last. “You put on an amazing show. I was impressed.”

Pellea looked pleased. “There, you see? If you would just relax and see what we’re all about, you’ll learn to love us in no time at all.” She was smiling now, looking at both Kayla and Max with affection. “You’ll see,” she added, and then her smile faded and she took a deep, deep breath.

“But there’s something else,” she said, sliding the portfolio out from under her arm. “Take a look at this.”

Sweeping aside the things on the coffee table, she pulled a poster out and spread it out on the flat surface.

“All right,” she said dramatically, looking at Max. “Now explain this, mister!”

Max and Kayla stepped closer and looked down at the poster. Bright red with startling black writing, it displayed a large picture of Max and the announcement Max Arragen, Wanted, Dead or Alive!!!

CHAPTER FOUR

T
HE
silence in the room was electric. All three seemed frozen in place. Finally, Kayla looked up at Max and asked simply, “What does it mean?”

He didn’t meet her gaze. “I have no idea,” he said softly, still staring at the poster. His mind was working like a buzz saw, cutting through all options and leaving shards of rejected possibilities behind. What could he possibly have done …?

Pellea crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Okay, if nothing comes quickly to mind, let’s go over the facts. As you can see, this was issued by the small nation of Mercuria. Have you ever been there?”

He raised his head and looked at the queen. This was a can of worms he would rather not have to deal with, but it seemed he would have no choice.

“Yes. I’ve been there.”

“When? What were you doing there?”

Kayla was glaring at him now, as well. Interesting that they both seemed to assume he must be guilty of something. But then, he probably deserved that. If he didn’t want people to suspect shenanigans, he should have lived a different sort of life. Was it too late to change? Probably. He frowned.

“I spent a few months there last year. I did some work for the government. Actually, I helped them set up their air force.”

Pellea’s eyebrows rose at that. “And then what happened?”

He thought about it for a moment. Funny how things that seemed so mundane at the time became so impossible to explain to anyone. This looked a little more serious than he’d expected. But try as he might, he couldn’t remember having done anything illegal while he was there. He hadn’t robbed anyone. He hadn’t run off with the royal jewels. He hadn’t stolen any plans. The only thing he could think of that might apply had been a broken relationship with a rather beautiful … Well, he wasn’t going to tell these ladies about that. They wouldn’t be happy to hear it. And anyway that had been over a year ago.

He faced them squarely and tried to look candid. “I have to think it over and see if I can figure out what they are actually talking about.”

“You can’t tell us now?” Kayla asked.

He looked at her and shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. You’re going to have to wait until I get a bit clearer on just exactly what they’re objecting to.”