Mystery Lover(10)

"Did you have some water?"

"Yes. There's a well."

Tony spoke up. "We've got food in the truck. I don't see any reason to hang around here, do you?"

Chad glanced over at him. "No, I don't. Especially if you think you've been followed."

The three of them started for the truck, but Chad hadn't let go of his  grip around Jennifer. He had tucked her under his arm, his hand clamped  against her waist, holding her to his side.

Jennifer clambered into the truck quickly and sat in the middle. The men  hastily followed, slamming their doors. Tony had automatically slid  behind the wheel again, leaving Chad to sit beside her. Because of the  floor shift, Jennifer found herself plastered against Chad's side. His  arm was draped on the seat behind her. She wriggled, trying to place  some distance between the two of them. His hand fell on her shoulder,  effectively pinning her to his side. "You're fine, just where you are. "

Of course. He still knew what she was thinking. He had always known,  even when they were working together. Never by any hint had he given  away his extra knowledge of her. She wondered how he'd managed.

''It wasn't easy, Sunshine, believe me."

She darted a glance in his direction, but he wasn't looking at her.  Instead he had leaned forward and was digging into the sack at his feet.  "Ah, food." Reaching down into the sack he pulled out a plastic-wrapped  sandwich. With a grin he handed it to her. "How about opening this for  me, would you? I'm short of hands at the moment."

Since his left hand was curved around her shoulder and he gave no  indication that he would ever move it, she recognized that he preferred  their current position over eating, despite how hungry he was.

Without saying anything, she unwrapped the sandwich and held it out to  him. He seemed to inhale it. She reached down and found the six-pack of  soda they had bought and without asking, opened one of them for him.

"Thanks," he muttered, taking a long swallow and exhaling with a sigh.

"What do you think is going on?" Tony asked.

That was what Jennifer wanted to know, but she had a hunch they were concerned about two different subjects.

"The way I figure it, your friend didn't appreciate all my questions. I was sent out here on a wild-goose chase."

"Where did they force you off the road?"

"I don't know. I've never been out here before. It was long before we  left the highway, though," Chad replied. He began to massage Jennifer's  neck and shoulders, his fingers pushing and kneading the stiff muscles.  They hit a sudden bump and he held her against him for a moment, then  eased his grip and began to stroke across her shoulders again.

"I didn't see any sign of your car."

Chad sighed. "I'm not surprised. I didn't have a chance to remove the  keys. There were three men in the car. Only two brought me up here. My  car will probably turn up abandoned somewhere."

"Do you think they intended to let you die up here?" Jennifer asked.

"Who knows? I didn't make any friends when I hit the first guy. That's  when I must have gotten clobbered from behind. By the time I came to I  was in the back seat with a pistol aimed at me and we were on this road.  My biggest fear was that one of the holes in the road would cause that  pistol to go off. You can bet I stayed as quiet as possible."

Tony laughed. "Actually, you look a hell of a lot better than I  expected. I can remember some of the scrapes we used to get into when-"

"Yeah. Me, too, Tony. But I'd rather not go into them at the moment."                       
       
           



       

Jennifer felt his gaze rest on her profile but she refused to look up at  him. He still didn't want her knowing any more about him than he could  help, which she found extremely annoying, under the circumstances. He  knew everything about her.

"Not everything, Sunshine."

She forced herself not to answer him out loud. Tony didn't need to know  what was between them. Why didn't you ever let me know who you were  were?

"How could I? Remember, it wasn't my idea for you to come to work at the  agency. It took me a few weeks to overcome the shock of finding you  working for me, and another few weeks to decide that despite everything,  you were the best employee I had."

She remembered now that he had questioned her on her choice of coming to  work there. At the time they were having a high turnover of employees.  Since then, the problems had been worked out and the work force was much  more stable.

"People still move away and have babies. That's the norm for the working world these days," he continued.

If you didn't want me working for you, why did you make me your administrative assistant?

"I didn't say I didn't want you working for me. I said it was a shock.  Like I told you, despite our relationship, you were the most suited for  the position. The personnel director suggested you to me, although I had  already recognized how well you edited my tapes as you went along."

I thought you were upset about that.

"I was more amused than anything. You have such a keen mind. You  constantly amaze me. You might be shy in other areas, but when you know  you're right you do what you have to do."

I am not shy.

' 'Of course you are. You rarely date.''

Whose fault is that? she demanded, glancing up at him out of the corner of her eye.

Chad had been eating another sandwich while she held his soda. Now he  took it from her, deliberately trailing his fingers across hers.

"/ never stopped you from dating. You and Jerry seemed to have a good relationship. "

A friendly relationship, that's all.

"What's wrong with being friends?"

Not a thing.

"Are you still blaming me for telling you Larry Donahue was married?"

Of course not! She thought back for a few minutes. Wait a minute. You're the one who introduced me to Larry.

"Right. But I didn't expect you to date the man just because I introduced him to you."

Then why didn't you say something there in the office?

"Because we don't have that sort of relationship in the office."

Jennifer grew quiet. So much had hit in the past hour that her head was  still reeling. What was going to happen to her now? Nothing in her life  was going to be the same again.

"That's the way life works, Sunshine. Nothing ever stays the same. We  wouldn't want it to, now would we? That's part of our growth pattern-to  learn, to gain wisdom, to expand. "

I was perfectly content to leave things the way they were.

"Oh, were you now? Who was it who insisted on coming up here to finally  meet Chad? Who was so gleeful that you had found me in a position where I  had no choice? You wanted to know. Now you do."

Now I do, she repeated a little sadly.

"And you're disappointed. " Chad shifted. She could feel the long length  of his leg pressed against hers. Since he had taken the can of soda out  of her hand, it was free. She could almost feel the hurt that he was  experiencing at the thought that she was disappointed to learn his true  identity. She shifted her hand until it rested on his thigh.

Not disappointed. Shocked is more the word. When I think of the times-

"Don't think of them."

How can I possibly forget them? You listened patiently while I carried  on and on about how cold and unfeeling my boss was. You must have had a  tough time not revealing how amusing you found me.

"I wasn't amused, Sunshine. I could feel your frustration with the situation. Unfortunately, what

you were dealing with was the real me out in the business world."

Nonsense. You are not cold and unfeeling. You are warm and caring and-  Jennifer caught her breath as the memory of his earlier words came back  to haunt her. He had told her that he loved her. He had told her that he  had always loved her. Chad loved her. That meant that C. W. Cameron  also loved her. She was dazed by the thought.

He sat quietly beside her, refusing to comment on her most recent thoughts. She was almost grateful.

The two men began to talk and Jennifer gratefully tuned out their  conversation. Her mind was in such turmoil. In all the years that she  had tried to guess at the type of person Chad was, she would never have  pictured him as a no-nonsense businessman, brisk and efficient.                       
       
           



       

Jennifer let her head rest wearily against his shoulder. Too many things  had come at her too quickly for her to take them in. She allowed her  eyes to close, enjoying his solid warmth beside her. She would have to  think about everything later.

By the time they reached the smoother surface of the highway, Jennifer was sound asleep in Chad's arms.





Later Jennifer vaguely recalled being lifted and held close and a sense  of movement, but that was all. She had been so tired. And why not? She'd  made the drive from Los Angeles, plus the additional one into the Utah  mountains. She'd been bounced and bruised and she had met her lifelong  friend in the flesh, which had been traumatic, to say the least.