When he realized he was still looking upward toward her bedroom, he lowered his gaze. There were no noises from the second floor. Olivia must be in bed, and he was headed there soon. Not to her bed, he reminded himself.
***
Upstairs, Olivia plumped up her pillow and tried to relax. At first all she could think about was Max. He’d probably be glad to come up here and relax her. For a few tempting minutes she let herself think about what the two of them could be doing. When she found her body starting to heat up, she pushed Max Lyon out of her mind. Instead she focused on the relaxation exercises she’d learned from a DVD, deliberately tensing various muscle groups, then relaxing them. As her body settled down, she found herself thinking of the assignment that Max had given her. She’d never tried anything like that before, and she was pretty sure it wouldn’t do her any good. But she was going to try it so she could tell him in the morning that it had been a waste of time.
Why was that so important? Because she wanted to needle him? Or distance herself from him? She wasn’t sure of her own motivation, but she knew that it was counterproductive to be at odds with him. The better she learned to work with him and be comfortable with him, the faster she could get him out of her life. He was the wrong kind of man for her. He was too aggressive and too sure of how things should be done.
Like her father. And maybe like Jerry, she silently admitted.
The thought brought her up short. Was that the problem with her view of Max? That he reminded her too much of the men who had run her life? And that she’d let strong men have too much power over her?
She made a dismissive sound, but now that the notion had lodged in her head, it was worth examining. Had she left her strong-willed father back in Maryland and wound up in a similar situation in New York? And could she really say that her father had ruined her life? It had felt like it when she was living here because of all his rules and his reactions when you didn’t follow them. And she’d vowed to get out from under his thumb as quickly as she could.
Her father had been very sure of his values—and of how the women in his family should comport themselves. He was the one in charge, and his word was law in the Winters’ house. He hadn’t been harsh—if you fell into line with his plans. It had been easier to comply than to overtly rebel. A few times she’d done stuff she knew would make him angry and lied to him about it to cover up. Maybe her teenage behavior had been her failing. But she’d told herself Dad was the reason she’d gone off to New York without even considering furthering her formal education. Dad had argued against her making the break. But she’d been too determined to be swayed. She’d been nineteen at the time and sure that the best thing for her was to get away while she still could.
Then Jerry had taken her under his wing. She’d told herself he was making her career possible. And that was why she’d fallen in line with all his advice. But was she really just repeating her experience with Dad?
And here she was back at the old homestead—with another aggressive man. Like Jerry and Dad, he was telling her what to do. She knew it was for her own good.
And to be fair about Max, he hadn’t been trying to force his will on her—at least not unless he thought she was in danger. He had very strict ideas about safety, and she knew she’d be foolish to ignore the advice he was giving. Not simply because she was paying him her hard-earned money to solve her friend’s murder—she didn’t want to end up as another one of the class whose life was cut short.
She was safe at the moment with Max in the house.
She closed her eyes, getting comfortable on the bed as her mind drifted back to the meeting they’d attended this evening, thinking about the men and women who had been there. They’d been in their teens the last time she’d seen them. Some of them seemed pretty much the way they had been in high school. Others had changed—mostly for the better.
As she thought about the meeting, she felt herself drifting off. Getting to sleep had never been a big problem for her, and soon she crossed the divide. For a little while, she slept peacefully, despite all the stress of the evening. Then everything changed as she fought to figure out where she was and who held her captive.
Chapter 9
Olivia was somewhere else. Not in her bed. In the middle of chaos. Back in her own past in a crowd of high school kids frantically trying to get away from danger.
Around her people ducked behind furniture or tried to stampede up a flight of stairs. A lot of them were charging toward her, and someone grabbed her, trying to pull her to safety.
They crashed to the floor, and she cried out, “Let me go,” even though she knew he wanted to drag her out of danger, away from the terrified crowd and a gunman behind them.