Blurting it out was probably best. "I"m fine, Jeff. And I wasn"t delayed in traffic, because I didn"t go to Virginia."
"You didn"t?" It was the cool, controlling tone usually reserved for Meg, and never before directed at her. Of course, she"d never gone against his wishes before. He"d just have to learn to deal with it.
"I didn"t call you because there have been a few problems here." She took a deep breath and began explaining about the trip to the bank and the Hart building. Before she could get to the TV coverage, Jeff"s anxiety turned into full-blown panic.
"A gun! He had a gun?" She could picture him jumping to his feet, his perfectly chiseled face going pale. "You could have been killed! What"s going on there?"
She had to admit, it was gratifying to hear his concern. "I"m not sure, Jeff. But Meg and Senator Creighton apparently left for the Virgin Islands today, so I"ll have to wait a few days for her to get back before I know the whole story."
His voice held a low note of warning. "Lauren, if Meg is mixed up in something bad, you should come home right now. Let the authorities deal with it."
"The authorities are are dealing with it," she said, a bit defensively. She didn"t know if that made her any safer, but she wasn"t going to leave without knowing what was going on. It bothered her that Jeff thought she should. But Lauren reminded herself that he loved her and wanted to protect her-a n.o.ble objective. Drew Creighton wasn"t the only man with protective instincts. dealing with it," she said, a bit defensively. She didn"t know if that made her any safer, but she wasn"t going to leave without knowing what was going on. It bothered her that Jeff thought she should. But Lauren reminded herself that he loved her and wanted to protect her-a n.o.ble objective. Drew Creighton wasn"t the only man with protective instincts.
"Lauren, are you listening? I asked if you were able to reach my aunt and uncle."
"What? Oh, that. I haven"t had time yet, Jeff. But I promise to get in touch with them. I"d like to meet them, but things are just too unsettled right now. Maybe after Meg gets back."
"Of course." His voice was a little more strained than his words. "I didn"t mean to rush you. I know how responsible you feel for getting your sister through these messy relationships she keeps falling into. But, honey, she"s married now. We talked about this. It"s not your problem."
Lauren sighed. Jeff had never understood Meg, or the bond between Lauren and her sister. But in his defense, he barely knew Meg, so why should he understand her? And it"s not like he had experience with any impulsive or overly dramatic members in his own family. She doubted that anyone had ever called a Duchaine a colorful character. She let his comment go by without protest. "Maybe I can call your Aunt Betty and Uncle John tomorrow, after Drew and I check out Meg"s apartment. We"re hoping to find some clue about those awful photos or about the two men who are after her."
"Drew?"
"I thought I told you, he"s the senator"s son, the one who"s been helping me look for Meg."
"You didn"t tell me his name." He seemed to take a polite interest. "So this guy is probably quite a bit younger than you. College age?"
She laughed. "Drew? No, he"s about your age. Senator Creighton"s sixty-four, you know."
"Oh." From that one sound, she knew what was coming next. "I imagine he"s as much of a bed-hopping playboy as his father is."
"I wouldn"t know." Although she had to admit she"d wondered.
"Lauren, do you think it"s wise to be seen around town with that man?" Disapproval oozed from his tone. "Hanging around with a man like that is the kind of thing that can destroy a woman"s reputation."
"I don"t have a reputation to destroy in Washington, Jeff. No one knows me here. They probably don"t even know Drew very well, either. And besides, he seems to be a very nice man." And deeply unsettling in a way she didn"t feel comfortable describing to Jeff, or even examining too closely.
"I still don"t feel good about you spending so much time with him. It might put even more strange ideas in your head."
Even more? These phone conversations were becoming very enlightening. "What strange ideas do I have, Jeff?"
"I"d call phone s.e.x a little strange."
"Oh." She smiled to herself. "I"ll admit it"s different for us. But we can"t say it"s strange if we haven"t tried it."
"G.o.d, I knew it. You really expect me to do it, don"t you?"
"Well, there"s nothing wrong with trying something once..." She faltered, finally catching the resignation in his voice. "Are you willing to do it?"
She heard a long sigh, the kind Jeff made with his mouth pressed into a tight line with his nostrils flaring. The kind that warned he was being pushed to the edge.
"I still don"t approve, but you seemed to have this harebrained idea that it would help our relationship, so I looked into it."
She had no idea how one looked into phone s.e.x, but the fact that he had was too incredible to pa.s.s up. If she didn"t ask, she"d always wonder. "So what did you learn? Go ahead, I"m very curious about this. Who knows, it might revitalized our s.e.x life." G.o.d knew it could use something.
She heard mumbled swearing and throat clearing, and what sounded like pages turning.
"Jeff?"
"Wait, wait, I"m trying to figure out how to start."
"Um, probably by taking off clothes."
"Yeah. I guess I would describe that, like I"m taking off my shirt now. Then my pants. h.e.l.l, I don"t know how to do it."
No, he didn"t. And she was trying as hard as she could not to laugh, which was probably not a good sign for their relationship.
She heard more paper shuffling sounds. "All right, I, um, take off all my clothes, then... Jesus, I can"t say that!" Furious rustling filled the phone, like paper being crumpled. "This is obscene, Lauren. Embarra.s.sing. Does it really do something for you?"
She rolled her eyes. Hardly. "Well, I guess I"ll never know."
"Because frankly, this sounds like something your sister would do."
Whoa. She started to protest, but he"d found his momentum and spoke over her.
"You got this idea from Meg, didn"t you? She was never afraid to be outrageous and a little distasteful."
She knew she"d pushed him into this so she tried to control her anger, even though he"d just crossed the line. "Jeff, I hardly think that"s fair."
"Lauren, stop trying to cover for her and face the facts. Your sister"s morals leave a lot to be desired. I know more than you think I do, and it worries me when you act like her."
She did a few of Jeff"s nostril-flaring breaths to calm herself. "What do you mean? What do you know that could possibly worry you?"
He sighed heavily. "I didn"t want to tell you, but I suppose you should know since so many other people must by now. Do you remember when Meg visited you last summer and I arranged for her to double date with us and my friend Charlie?"
"Yes, we went to the lake. It was fun, and Charlie seemed to have a good time."
"Oh, he had a good time, alright. I heard about it later. Remember how we were all sunning ourselves on the raft, and taking turns diving off it?"
"Sure." The wooden platform anch.o.r.ed in deep water was a favorite place to spend a few hours, laughing and swimming.
"And remember how we went back to sh.o.r.e first, so we could take a walk in the woods? Well, guess what happened while we were gone?"
"Uh, I don"t know."
"Meg and Charlie had s.e.x! Right there in the lake. How does that make you feel?"
Jealous probably wasn"t the right answer.
"Because I can tell you I found it pretty embarra.s.sing that Charlie thought I was engaged to a woman who was probably just like her twin sister, who was so free and easy with her body that she probably had a string of one-night stands with G.o.d knows how many men before I came along."
The little red coal of anger that had begun glowing inside her was being fanned by a hot breeze. "Are you saying this is all about you, Jeff? About how my sister"s s.e.x life makes you look?"
"No, I"m saying it"s about how Meg"s s.e.x life makes you you look. I know you aren"t like your sister, but other people don"t know that. Stuff like that gets around, Lauren. It won"t make me look bad-h.e.l.l, some guys would probably envy me-but I don"t want people looking at you and thinking you"re just like your sister." look. I know you aren"t like your sister, but other people don"t know that. Stuff like that gets around, Lauren. It won"t make me look bad-h.e.l.l, some guys would probably envy me-but I don"t want people looking at you and thinking you"re just like your sister."
He sounded sincerely concerned. She made an effort to douse her smoldering anger. "I don"t know what to say, Jeff."
"Just say you"ll forget about trying to spice up our s.e.x life for now, and concentrate on getting back home. Then we can talk about your concerns and see what we can do."
"That"s fair." Also vague. But he claimed to have her best interests at heart, which was hard to argue against.
She hung up, realizing their relationship was going to require a lot of work. But since he was willing to try, she could put in a little extra effort herself.
Her gaze fell on a notepad on the senator"s desk. She ripped off a square sheet of paper and wrote "Call Betty and John Duchaine" and stuck it in her pocket. Satisfied, she left to find Drew.
He was putting his plate in the dishwasher. With a wave he indicated the food on the kitchen island. "How do you feel about eating now? Have you found your appet.i.te?"
She"d nearly lost it forever, but she wasn"t going to let him know that. "I believe I have." She began constructing a sandwich every bit as big as the one Drew had finished off, humming to herself as she did.
Drew leaned against the counter and watched. "Did you give what"s-his-name the whole story?"
"Jeff," she reminded him clearly. "Yes, I told him about the pictures, the two guys, and the Virgin Islands."
"So loverboy"s all right with you being chased around Washington by armed kidnappers?"
"Of course he isn"t," she said with a haughty air, irritated by his flippant tone. "He"s a sensible person, and he loves me. He would prefer that I come home right now."
Drew was silent a moment. "He expects you to leave while your sister is gone and people with guns are looking for her?"
She frowned at him. "He wants me to be safe. That"s what you do when you love someone." But Drew wouldn"t know because he"d never loved anyone that much. She felt a small pang of sympathy for him, and tried to help him understand Jeff"s point of view. "a.s.suming you had a fiancee, what would you do if she called you from another city and said her sister had disappeared and armed men were trying to kidnap her?" She watched him think it over, certain he"d come to the same conclusion Jeff had. "You"d tell her to come home," she answered for him.
"No, I wouldn"t." His voice was quiet and full of certainty.
She laid down her knife. "You wouldn"t?"
"No." She thought he was teasing, but his blue eyes met hers with a steely, direct gaze. "We"re talking about your sister sister," he said, pausing to let it sink in. "If it were me, I"d be on the next plane, offering to help."
She stared back, wordless, until the corner of his mouth curved into an ironic smile. "But, hey, what do I know? I"ve never been engaged." He straightened. "I"ll be in my dad"s office going through papers. If you want to help when you"re done eating, you know where to find me."
She watched him walk away, wanting to say something in Jeff"s defense, but unable to come up with the words. He"d made it sound like Jeff didn"t care about her. Even though she"d begun to see how self-centered Jeff was, accusing him of not caring was going too far. He just believed in going through the proper channels and letting the police and Secret Service handle it. Drew didn"t understand Jeff"s need to protect her.
On the other hand, she was getting pretty d.a.m.n tired of making excuses to justify Jeff"s behavior.
Lauren slapped a second slice of bread on her sandwich and stuck it in her mouth, viciously ripping off a bite. Better that than another fingernail.
Drew tried to focus on the pile of doc.u.ments he"d pulled from his father"s safe, but he couldn"t.
His instincts could be wrong. He"d watched two men try to abduct Lauren, and he"d never suggested she leave town and let the police handle it. Maybe he should have. What made him think he could keep her safe? He didn"t even know what those men wanted. But letting her go might not keep her safe, either. They were obviously watching her. If they followed her back to Lansing, still thinking she was Meg, would sensible Jeff protect her? For no reason he could pin down, he didn"t have a good feeling about Lauren"s fiance.
Speak of the devil.
Lauren walked in, and Drew patted a spot on the floor beside him. She settled into a cross-legged position and leaned forward with her elbows propped on her knees, watching him sort through papers. She didn"t seem angry, so he a.s.sumed he"d been forgiven for insulting her lame excuse for a fiance.
"What are we looking for?" she asked.
"I have no idea. Anything that strikes us as odd."
"Like a threatening note that says, "Give us the money or we"ll kidnap your wife"?"
"Yeah, like that." That would actually be too good to hope for. Then he might have a clue to what in the h.e.l.l was going on. Sorting through piles of insurance policies and tax records had so far revealed nothing. "If you have a better idea, I"m open to suggestions, but this is all I can think of."
She shook her head and looked about as hopeless as he felt.
"Okay, then I guess we do this. Help me look through these." He glanced at another stack of investment statements and set them aside, making no effort to angle them her way. She scooted closer and peered over his legs, examining the papers. He was about to tell her they weren"t important but was distracted by the light floral fragrance of her hair. It seemed at odds with her "practical through and through" personality. Selecting another folder from the pile, he pretended to peruse it closely, making her bend her head near his own to see it. Lavender? He was no good at these things, but the scent was definitely feminine. He inhaled deeply.
She was giving him a puzzled look. Jerking his attention from her hair, he frowned as if she had interrupted his concentration. "What?"
"You sighed," she said.
"I did?"
"Yes. Am I missing something?" Her gaze went to the folder, then back to his eyes. "It just looks like a thank you letter from President Carter."
"It is." He looked at the letter and blocked out the sensory input that made him think of the springtime meadows around his house. "It"s from my dad"s first term in Congress. I was just..." Just sniffing your hair, like some sort of pervert. "... remembering."
"Oh." She watched him carefully.
This would work better if she weren"t leaning so close to him. He hefted a stack of folders and set them in her lap. "Here, hold these. You look at each one first, then pa.s.s it to me."
It hadn"t been smart, having her sit next to him. She was attractive and spirited, which aroused a feeling he"d normally follow up on, but there was little point in pursuing it with Lauren. They were going to end up hating each other if she wasn"t there already. He already despised the social climbing tramp who"d married his father, and despite an instinctive faith in Lauren, she was the tramp"s sister. Better to keep things impersonal, allowing everyone to enjoy their mutual distrust later. Besides, whether what"s-his-name was a poor choice or not, she had a fiance.
Lauren scrutinized each paper before pa.s.sing it to him. He glanced at the vehicle registration she"d just examined at length and suppressed an amused snort as he set it aside. "You"re taking this search pretty seriously, aren"t you?"
Her eyes flashed disapproval. "Of course I am. My sister suddenly married a notorious playboy twice her age, has dirty pictures of herself hidden away, and two men with guns are trying to kidnap her. I want to know why, and I intend to examine every detail of her life I can find." She slapped a paper in his hands. "Here, see if everything looks normal on this statement. I wouldn"t know."
He scanned the annual report from an investment firm. "I wouldn"t either. You aren"t suggesting I look for suspiciously large withdrawals of cash, are you?"
"Or deposits," she said seriously. "We don"t know what we"re looking for, so we have to look everywhere, for everything."
He should probably snap back in his dad"s defense, but since her doubts about Harlan Creighton were no different than his low expectations about her sister, he let it go. Besides, he didn"t want to argue with her. If she got all huffy, she might not let him sit beside her and catch whiffs of her hair, or notice the way she caught her lip in her teeth when she concentrated.
She was doing that now, as she stared at another financial report. "Diligent, aren"t you?" he said. She ignored him. Her hair had fallen forward as she bent over the next folder, and he couldn"t see her face. He liked it better when she looked at him. "Good work ethic. I"ll bet financial management requires all sorts of rules and procedures. No room for creativity."
It was like poking a caged animal just to see what it would do. Not nice, but it got a reaction.
She brushed back her hair, fixing him with a regal, I-am-not-amused stare. "Are you calling me a.n.a.l?"
Her eyes looked gray in this light, but not the least bit dull. They still had a nice, sparkly quality when she was annoyed. "Are you a.n.a.l? Not that it wouldn"t be useful. I"ll bet being thorough comes in handy with whatever it is that financial managers do." you a.n.a.l? Not that it wouldn"t be useful. I"ll bet being thorough comes in handy with whatever it is that financial managers do."