Twice Kissed - Lisa Jackson [157]
Maggie’s heart was a drum. Another long pause and the conversation was again one-sided. He checked his watch. “All right,” he agreed, snagging the jacket he’d flung carelessly over the back of a chair. “I’ll meet you there in half an hour.” He hung up and shrugged into the short rawhide coat. “That was Roy,” he explained, his expression a mixture of worry and excitement. “He thinks he’s found my son, and he’s flying through Denver. Waiting for a connection, so I’m meeting him at a bar in Denver International. Why don’t you come along?”
Relief chased away her fears though she knew the feeling was only temporary.
The invitation was tempting, but she shook her head. “No, Thane,” she said, knowing this was something he should do on his own. “I’ve got a million and one things to do here. I know there’s some connection between Mary Theresa and Renee Nielsen—something I’ve seen somewhere.” She motioned to the rumpled stack of papers that represented Marquise’s life. “I’ll go through these again.”
“I don’t like leaving you here alone.”
“I’ll be fine.” His concern was touching, but ludicrous. “I’m a big girl.”
“There might be a nut on the loose.”
“The doors here lock and hotel security seems pretty tight to me. Really.” She placed a hand on his arm, ignored the protests forming in his eyes. “I’ll be safe.”
“I’d feel better—”
“When you find out about your son.” She felt a painful little tug on her heart; the knowledge that Thane and Mary Theresa had conceived a child was a new stumbling block, one more tie that bound them together forever and reminded her of their betrayal.
Get over it, Maggie, this boy is your nephew. M.T.’s child. Thane’s son.
“Go,” she encouraged. “If you’re gonna meet your friend between flights, you don’t have a lot of time.”
He found his keys in a pocket of his jacket. “Promise me you’ll be careful. Don’t take any risks. And stay put. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
“I should be right here. Go on. I’ll go over these notes again.”
“You think it’ll do any good?”
“Don’t know. Won’t hurt.”
He stared at her for half a second. Fire ignited in his eyes. “Oh, Christ, Maggie, you take care of yourself,” he whispered, grabbing her fiercely under the arms and forcing his mouth to hers. He smelled of smoke and leather, tasted of coffee. His kisses were warm, hard, and filled with a new desperation that caused her heart to pound. There was something different about him. About them. She couldn’t breathe, could barely think, and the room seemed to spin.
Dear God, help me, she thought, knowing that she was foolishly trapped in a one-sided love. His tongue was insistent, and his voice cracked when he lifted his head. “What you do to me should be illegal,” he admitted, stroking her hair.
“You’d better go—”
He cut her off with another kiss, the pressure of his lips anxious and wanting, the heat from his body quick to spark. It was as if he was kissing her for the last time, she realized, as if he sensed the same aura of despair that had been boring a hole in her soul for the past few days.
“I’ll be back soon,” he promised, his voice gruff as he lifted his head and touched the tip of his nose to hers. “And then, darlin’, you and I, we have to talk.”
A lump filled her throat. “I know.”
“Maggie, Maggie, Maggie.” Sighing, he let his arms fall and strode to the door.
“Good luck.”
As he glanced over his shoulder, one side of his mouth lifted in that smile she’d loved all of her life. “Why do I feel like I’m gonna need it?”
“Don’t know.”
With a wink, he was out the door, his boots echoing dully down the carpeted hallway before the door slammed shut.
Maggie touched her lips with her fingertips, refused to give in to the urge to cry, then picked up the scattered pages of her sister’s life and sat down on the edge of the couch, her eyes scanning the computer printouts sightlessly. She gave herself a quick, hard mental shake because her thoughts drifted back to Thane, who was on his way to find out about his son.
“Now listen, Maggie,” she told herself, shuffling through the pages.