“Saw them before the patient disappeared,” he reminded her. “How do you know that there isn’t another body out there to be discovered?” He began to rock against her. “Did I tell you about this fantasy I had of you the other day? You never took off your gun.” “Switch places?” Ming said, frowning. “Yep.” He nuzzled her neck. “You’re wearing my favorite cologne.” “It’s Ivory soap.” “Still my favorite.” He worked his way down her collarbone.
“How did they meet?”
“Who cares?” He slid open her top button. “Boy, your skin sure is soft.”
“Josephine lived most of her life in Paris,” She mused. “She’s rich, has everything going for her...how does Michelle fit in the picture?” Conan worked his magic on a few more buttons. “Someone like Michelle wouldn’t be too happy that her twin sister received the better end of the stick.” “Mm-hmm.” He slid off her shirt and fumbled with the hooks of her bra.
“That would mean I met Michelle, not Josephine.” She thought it over, and then shook her head. “Nothing in my notes supports your theory,” she continued on. “I mean, this is pretty thin.” “Thin is good.” He tried tugging. “Was this thing so difficult last time?” Ming wiggled away. “Baby, stop. I think I better call Tyrese.” She grabbed her shirt from the floor. “But…”
“We’ve looked at everything else, it won’t hurt to check, this out.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then rushed off to find the cordless phone. “But…” “Thanks, honey,” she called out over her shoulder. “I owe you one.” “But...” Conan hunched his shoulders and slumped back in his chair at the table. “I want to have sex.”
Chapter 17
“When do you mean, ‘you can’t find her?’” Michelle Andrews seethed as she paced the green room inside the Ferrell estate. Josephine couldn’t have walked out of that hospital room in her own.” Her eyes flashed, and then narrowed. “If I didn’t know any better, I think you had something to do with her escape.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” Dr. Ambrose Turner retreated in the mist of her growing anger and took a nervous sip from his scotch on the rocks.
“Am I?” her voice dripped with venom. She closed in on him, and then circled as if contemplating to attack. “ Then how come my guys couldn’t find her when he went upstairs to her room?” “We’ve been over this a thousand times.” Ambrose slammed his glass down on a nearby table. “I don’t know.” Disbelief blanketed her face. “I do know that you never mention killing Dr. Bancroft,” he snapped.
Finally, Michelle’s intense expression relaxed with a sinister smile. “I don’t like loose ends.” Their gazes clashed, while she added, “you should know that.” Ambrose’s heart skipped a beat. Michelle shrugged. “She saw my face.” “And who is this D’Angelo? How do we know that we can trust him?”
“Don’t worry about D’Angelo. He’s a good friend of mine. Besides, it’s not like I could have gone in there myself. I would’ve been recognized, and you were too chicken to do the job.”
He stared at her and felt, once again, that he was in way over his head. However, it wasn’t easy untangling from Michele’s finely spun web. A few had died trying.
Michelle drew a deep breath and settled into a plush couch across the room. Her long shapely legs crossed about the leak, and Ambrose felt his anger ebb away.
“I still have a major problem,” she announced a pout. “I need to know whether you’re still on board or whether you need some further coaxing.”
Ambrose swallowed the large lump lodged in his throat.
Michele’s smile widened. “You know I haven’t asked you how Tricia was doing lately.”
The mere mention of his wife’s name caused a trickle of fear to slither down his spine. For a fleeting moment, he thought about lashing out, but wondered how close to a weapon Michelle hovered. He knew perhaps more than anyone that Michelle was not a woman to cross, and she was most certainly always prepared for the unexpected.
“Of course, I’m on board,” he said, with a tight smile and an erratic pulse.
“Good.” She winked. “Then you’ll have no problem finding who helped Josie out of that hospital.” She uncrossed her legs and stood once again.
As she closed the gap between them, Ambrose hated to admit even to himself that he was more turned on than he had ever been in his life. This was how it was always like between them. A dangerous attraction. “You’ll help me find her, won’t you?” she asked, pressing her body against his. He couldn’t think when she did that. She leaned forward until her lips were just inches away from his. “Will find her and kill her.” Ambrose sealed the deal with a kiss.
#
Josie sighed and stretched out her body as far as she could, then snapped back into her tried-and-true fetal position beneath the many piles of blankets William had supplied. She drew a deep, cleansing breath and smiled lazily.
She felt good, damn good, in fact.
Slowly, she became aware of a light snoring. Was that her? Couldn’t be, she concluded, and opened her eyes.
The room’s popcorn ceiling was the first thing that came into focus before her gaze slide down teal-colored walls. Oil paintings of luminous lighthouses and cobblestone churches hung from the walls.
The snoring continued from her right side. She turned her head and was startled by the close proximity of Williams’s handsome, but sleeping face.
Belatedly, she realized that one of his arms was draped across her waist. He must have fallen asleep comforting her last night.
Josie smiled.
He was so adorable when he slept. The small wrinkles and character lines she’d noticed the previous night were now smoothed and relaxed. He deceptively looked as though he didn’t have a care in the world.
“I still can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered, then stretched out her hand to brush her finger lightly against the petals of his lips.
He stirred, but didn’t wake.
For a moment, Josie watched him. Lord knows, she had never thought she would have this opportunity again.
She had spent more than a decade regretting the day she’d met the man, and suddenly, here he was, playing the role of her knight in armor. It didn’t make sense.
Josie turned away and gently pried his arms from around her waist.
When she sat up, she expected to be woozy, but was pleasantly surprised that she felt fine. Glancing down at herself, she repositioned her robe and tightened the belt before she chanced standing up from the bed.
There was a slight tremor to her legs, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. A towel fell from her neck and face. She pushed it from her eyes and hooked it behind her ears.
Unsure whether she should risk walking on her own, Josie stood beside the bed a long time before she inched one foot forward, then the other. Successful, she permitted herself a small smile.
Before long she had made her way across the room to the door. She left William sleeping in bed while curiosity led her to explore the house.
The cold surprised her, and she wished she’d thought to put something on her bare feet as she moved around on the hardwood floors, Josie took her time checking out the other unoccupied rooms. Everything had a country feel to it. That was interesting. It wasn’t quite her taste, but it was interesting.
Back in the hall, she discovered a wall leading down the staircase covered with family pictures. Josie recognized the couple smiling back at her.
Sheila. They were definitely not cousins. Her gaze drifted to Sheila’s husband, and now she knew why his eyes were so familiar. Larry. He was William’s older brother.