Lauren shoved her arm forcibly between the two men, prying them apart as they reluctantly let go of each other. Doubt crept into the Romanian"s face, and he peered closely at Lauren. "Meg? No, it can"t be. Meg"s lips are as full, but her taste is a little more-"
"Watch it," Drew warned.
"Different." His face cleared as he stepped back from Drew. "Ahh. Then you must be Lauren."
"Yes," she said, surprised. "How do you know my name?"
"Megan told me, of course." He turned an amazed look on Drew. "Are you Jeff?"
"h.e.l.l no," Drew spat out. "I"m Drew Creighton."
"The senator"s son? Yes, that makes more sense. From what I"ve heard, I didn"t think Jeff would"-he glanced at Lauren-"be here," he concluded, which Lauren thought was not what he"d been about to say. "Where is Meg?"
"In the Virgin Islands," Lauren said. Then, considering the steamy kiss she"d just received, she emphasized, "On her honeymoon."
He made a negating motion with his hand. "I have heard that rumor. So you don"t know where she really is?"
Lauren frowned at his easy dismissal of Meg"s claim, but before she could question it, Drew said, "Why don"t you tell us why you think she isn"t where she says she is, and why you think she"s in danger. And start with your name."
"Forgive me. I am Michael Dragos." He shook hands with Drew, then smiled warmly at Lauren. "I think we have already greeted one another," he told her.
Drew scowled.
Lauren smiled back self-consciously. It occurred to her that in the past ten minutes she"d been in a pa.s.sionate clinch with both men, neither of whom was her fiance. Maybe she really was a bit drunk.
"How do you know Meg?" Drew asked. At least one of them was thinking clearly.
"We have dated for the past two years."
"Meg has dated several men during the past two years," Drew told him. "And she married my father."
Dragos waved Meg"s marriage aside. "No, that is what they want you to believe. She is in love with me."
Lauren exchanged quick glances with Drew. The man sounded like an obsessed ex-lover. "She never mentioned you," Lauren told him cautiously.
Dragos nodded, unfazed. "Michael is the Americanized version of my name. Meg would have referred to me by my real name, Mihaly. That is what she calls me."
"You"re Mihaly?" She turned to Drew. "There is a Mihaly, a guy she keeps going back to between other men. She seemed pretty hung up on him."
Drew looked at him skeptically. "Doesn"t sound like love to me."
"Meg is in denial," Mihaly told them, shaking his head with regret. "She has difficulties with the concept of love but, fortunately for her, I am a patient man. However, she is putting herself in danger, and that that is straining my patience." is straining my patience."
Lauren watched him run his hand through his dark hair and decided that her sister was an even bigger idiot than she"d suspected. Meg was skittish about love, but if her sister was risking the devotion of this gorgeous hunk of a man by fooling around with other guys, even rich United States senators, she was out of her mind. Anyone who would tolerate Meg"s flings while patiently waiting out her "difficulties" with commitment was either crazy or truly in love with her.
Lauren decided she trusted Mihaly. She also decided that he would never learn of the photos of Meg and the blond stud.
In a burst of sobriety, Lauren remembered their reason for their meeting. "When you called you told me Meg was in danger. Why do you think that?"
He gestured at the chairs and they all sat, but no one looked comfortable. Mihaly was on the edge of his seat, leaning toward them as he spoke.
"I returned from Bucharest yesterday and discovered that someone had broken into both my emba.s.sy office and my apartment. Believe me, these are impressive feats. Nothing was taken, but someone went through all my personal papers-letters, pictures, expense accounts, anything having to do with my personal life. It was a professional job, bypa.s.sing alarms and opening deadbolt locks."
Drew listened impa.s.sively. "If nothing was taken, how can you be sure someone broke in?"
Mihaly gave him a direct look. "I know these things."
Drew narrowed his eyes, and Lauren realized what Mihaly had meant-he had more than a pa.s.sing acquaintance with espionage.
"I don"t see how breaking into your apartment puts Megan in danger," she said.
"They disabled the alarms, but they didn"t bother with the security cameras," Mihaly said, his accent making each word precise. "The man entered with his gun drawn and checked the rooms before he searched the place. He spoke into a wireless microphone and said, in English, "She"s not here." Before he left, he asked his partner if he"d found anything in the Maxima."
Lauren bit her lip. "Meg drives a Nissan Maxima."
Drew seemed not to hear her. "You have security cameras inside inside your apartment?" he asked. "And audio?" your apartment?" he asked. "And audio?"
Mihaly turned an expressionless gaze on him.
Drew stared back, his eyes hard and calculating. "Perhaps the danger to Meg has something to do with your profession," he said.
"Perhaps," Mihaly admitted. "But I don"t think so. The man seemed to be interested only in things pertaining to Meg."
"What did the guy look like?" Lauren asked. "Did he have a large, hawkish nose? Or wear a trench coat?"
Mihaly looked confused. "No, no trench coat. He wore a ski mask, so all I could tell was that he was a tall white man with long hair, possibly blond. Some of it stuck out from beneath the mask.
Her gaze darted to Drew"s in alarm. He shook his head, and she stayed silent, but felt chills creep over her back. If it was the same blond guy who had costarred with Meg in the photos, then they obviously knew about Mihaly and her sister had had been set up. Meg might be in more danger than she realized. been set up. Meg might be in more danger than she realized.
Mihlay had reached a similar conclusion. "I didn"t recognize him, but that only means he"s probably not CIA, because I know most of them. Meg is still in danger. And if Lauren is mistaken for Meg," he paused to look directly at Drew, "she is in danger, too."
Suddenly, enjoying the Washington social scene while pa.s.sing as Meg wasn"t as much fun anymore.
Drew apparently had the same thought. "Let"s get you home," he said, offering his hand.
Mihaly stood too. "You will call me if you hear from Meg?" He offered Drew his card.
"If you"ll do the same," Drew agreed. "Or if you learn anything about Meg and my father."
They left Mihaly standing with his hands jammed into his pockets, a worried look creasing his brow and tightening his mouth. His distress seemed sincere; Lauren flashed a sympathetic smile before the door closed. The possibility that her sister might have a future with Mihaly Dragos intrigued Lauren and made Meg"s marriage to Senator Creighton look even more like a lie.
"Do you think Mihaly is a spy?" she asked Drew.
"Ssh, not so loud." He pulled her against him as they walked through the people mingling in the wide corridor. "The term is intelligence agent, and yes, I think he is. Or was. I don"t know what his position with the emba.s.sy is now." He steered her to the coat check room. "Now that we"ve talked to him, I think we should get out of here. I don"t like the idea of you posing as Meg when those guys have already zeroed in on her connection to Dragos."
He was being protective again. Since she seemed to need it, she wasn"t about to object.
With a light wool cape over her shoulders, the night didn"t seem as chilly. "Let"s walk to the car," she suggested.
"In those heels? It"s several blocks."
"I know. The night air will clear my head."
He chuckled. "I hope it doesn"t clear everything from your head. I"m interested in pursuing a couple of the thoughts you had back there."
Uh-oh. Perhaps Lauren had been a little too too uninhibited on the emba.s.sy patio. She hadn"t meant to offer an open invitation-had she? She tried to move away but Drew tucked her arm firmly against his side as they started down the sidewalk. uninhibited on the emba.s.sy patio. She hadn"t meant to offer an open invitation-had she? She tried to move away but Drew tucked her arm firmly against his side as they started down the sidewalk.
He didn"t say anything as they walked, just hummed to himself under his breath. Lauren winced. He thought she"d meant something with that silly little kiss. Well, okay, maybe it was a steaming hot kiss, and it had been fun, but it didn"t mean she wanted more than that. This was exactly why Jeff was right about never veering from a sensible, prudent lifestyle. As soon as you did, someone was bound to misinterpret your harmless intentions.
"Are you warm enough?" Drew took her hand in his as they stepped off the curb at the end of the first block. "Your fingers are cold. Don"t worry, I know how to warm them up." His smile promised incredible heat.
Oh, d.a.m.n. If only he wouldn"t look at her like that. His eyes glinted dark blue in the lights from a car pulling out of a parking spot down the street, and his smile had the lopsided, devilish curl of a little kid with a naughty idea. She shouldn"t have met his hungry gaze, because now she couldn"t look away, and her body vibrated with antic.i.p.ation and her heart pounded, until the roar of blood rushing in her ears drowned out everything else...
Drew"s rough embrace dragged her off her feet. It wasn"t until they were falling sideways that she realized the noise in her head was the roar of an oncoming car, bearing down on their position in the center of the street. Drew"s pull swept her out of its path a mere inch from the blur of metal and tires. The car fishtailed through the intersection, squealed as it laid a strip of burnt rubber, and sped off. The roar died out, along with shouted obscenities from other distant pedestrians, and Lauren was left sitting on her b.u.t.t beside a parked Land Rover on the dark street, with Drew sprawled motionless beside her.
CHAPTER Seven.
"Are you all right?"
They said it together, but Lauren answered first. "I"m fine, just a sore tailbone." Between dodging cars and falling on slippery sidewalks, that part of her body was getting quite the workout. He hadn"t moved, and she laid her hand on his head, lying still beside her. "You"re injured," she said, her voice wavering.
"No, I"m fine."
"Then why aren"t you moving?"
"I"m enjoying the view."
Lauren looked down. His face was turned toward her, less than a foot from her fully exposed thigh.
"Stockings and garters." He sighed. "G.o.d, I love an old-fashioned girl." His hand reached toward her.
She slapped it, then yanked the full skirt down with a swish. Embarra.s.sment, and maybe something else, gave her a warm flush.
"Spoilsport." He sat up, brushed dirt from his jacket, then eyed her critically. "You"re really okay?" He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned close, examining her face by the weak light of the street lamp.
She nodded. "Thanks to you. That idiot could have killed us both."
His voice was low and serious, his eyes watching her closely. "I think that was the idea, Lauren."
She sucked in her breath. "Because he thought I was Meg?"
Drew didn"t answer, but his expression was hard as he got up and helped her to her feet. "Come on, you"re going home. No more role-playing."
She wasn"t about to argue. Whatever Meg had gotten herself into was far more than Lauren could get her out of.
She was silent on the ride home. Between the cool air and nearly being flattened against the Washington, D.C., pavement, the effects of the champagne had evaporated. It didn"t take her long to discover that even acrylic nails could be chewed off, and her last decent fingernail was history before they hit the quiet streets of Georgetown.
Drew parked in the driveway and came around to open her door. With a rueful glance at the hand he held, he said, "I"m glad your fingernails were the only casualty tonight."
"I don"t care about my nails. I just want Meg to be safe."
"And I"m not worried about Meg. No, wait!" He held up his hands. "Before you start shooting laser beams from your eyes, listen. She"s with my dad, and he has all sorts of resources in this town. I"m more worried about keeping you safe. I"ll feel better once you"re home."
"We are home." Concern made her glance up and down the dark street. "Do you think someone might try to kill me between the car and the house?" She moved closer to him.
"No," he said, but put his arm around her anyway and kept her close as they walked to the front door. "I meant I"ll feel better once you"re home in Lansing. You"ll be safe there."
She looked at him in surprise. "You want me to leave?"
"As soon as possible." He unlocked the door and took her arm to guide her inside, since she was too stunned to move on her own. "You can call your boyfriend in the morning. I"m sure he"ll approve."
My fiance, she thought, but didn"t say aloud. She was distracted by the realization that, even though Drew was probably right, she wasn"t looking forward to seeing Jeff. She"d much rather stay with Drew.
It hit her like a blow to the head.
"I"ll miss you, though," he told her with a mischievous smile as he locked the door behind them and set the alarm. "I hate to let you leave without giving me a chance to fulfill my promise."
"What promise?"
"Don"t tell me you forgot." He leaned close and ran a finger from her ear, down her neck, over her collarbone, to the rise of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She shivered, not sure if it was from his finger or his gentle breath on her ear. "The promise I made to kiss you all over your body until you were breathless and hot and yearning and..."
And wet, her mind finished eagerly. Part of her brain was stumbling in shock, but the part that controlled her physical responses was keeping up just fine.
Drew"s finger stopped right above her cleavage. "But I guess attempted murder spoils the mood, doesn"t it?"
No, it doesn"t, her overheated libido fairly screamed.
"Too bad," Drew said, pulling back enough for her to see that he looked truly regretful. "I"d bet it would be phenomenal."
Phenomenal? She"d had good s.e.x before, but never anything she"d call phenomenal. It could have been an arrogant boast, but she believed it.
Lauren hadn"t moved a muscle, including her eyes, which couldn"t seem to leave his face. They nearly crossed as his mouth moved toward hers.
"Good night, Aunt Lauren," he murmured, and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. While she blinked stupidly, he turned and headed upstairs, humming the melody from one of the songs they"d danced to.
She carefully felt for the door behind her and sagged against it.
The feather-light touch Drew had placed beside her mouth was playing as much havoc with her nerve endings as their soul-searing kiss at the emba.s.sy. That wasn"t good. Jeff should be the one shorting out her neurons, not her s.e.xy nephew, whom she"d known all of three days.
She"d lied to Drew about not having been kissed like that in years. She"d never never been kissed like that. Even under the liberating influence of alcohol, Jeff"s kisses didn"t compare to the heated rush of pa.s.sion Drew could ignite with one touch of his lips. Jeff"s kisses left her content and confident of his love. But not once had she felt pierced to the soul, restless with desire, and heaven help her, eager to wrap her legs around him and do it again. been kissed like that. Even under the liberating influence of alcohol, Jeff"s kisses didn"t compare to the heated rush of pa.s.sion Drew could ignite with one touch of his lips. Jeff"s kisses left her content and confident of his love. But not once had she felt pierced to the soul, restless with desire, and heaven help her, eager to wrap her legs around him and do it again.
And she was about to walk away from the one man who did.