Kat Attalla Special Edition (12 page)

From the closet, she grabbed her coat and briefcase before stepping outside into the crisp morning air. Once she got to her car, she shifted into neutral and let the vehicle roll down the driveway before turning over the engine. Free at last. Grinning happily, she took off down the road.

* * * *

While
Victoria
made the great escape, Erik waited at the window until the compact car turned the corner. He stepped outside. A gust of wind swirled the fine powder of snow that still remained on the grass, even though the ice on the roads had melted. He inhaled the fresh air and smiled.

The battered blue Chevy pulled up to the curb, and Daniels leaned out the window with a taunting smirk. “She gave you the slip.”

Erik opened the door and dropped into the tattered seat. “No. I let her go.”

“Care to explain?”

“DeMarco warned me that she would try to lose me, so I’m letting her get it out of her system.” He slouched down and pulled his baseball cap over his forehead. Was his partner an Eskimo? He could freeze ice inside the car.

“I suppose you know where she’s going, genius.”

“No.” He pulled a GPS receiver from his pocket. “But she’ll let us know as long as she’s carrying her purse.”

“Cold, man. You’re cold.”

What choice did he have? While she remained flaming mad at him, she wouldn’t agree to a single request of his. “Better than letting her kill herself. She doesn’t realize what she’s up against and she’s not likely to believe me.”

Daniels chuckled. “You mean you haven’t charmed your way back into her good graces yet?” Her good graces?

She barely spoke to him after dinner. He would have preferred a shouting match to her stony silence. Despite obvious exhaustion, she’d ignored his suggestion that she go to bed. Instead, she sat in front of the television watching the most ridiculous shows she could find. He’d learned more about the mating rituals of the fruit fly than he would ever need to know.

He figured she wanted to punish him, but after watching her jump at every little noise, he realized she was trying to bore herself to sleep, not him. Of course, she would never admit that she appreciated his presence in her house. Instead, she wrapped herself in a blanket and stared at the screen.

“So, what direction is she heading?” Daniels asked.

“Northeast,” Erik said. “She has her briefcase. My guess is that she’s heading to her office.”

“For a woman who’s on vacation, she sure spends a lot of time there.”

From what Erik gathered, she didn’t have much of a social life outside of her work. She referred to neighbors and colleagues, but never spoke about friends. He imagined that a woman with her looks and intelligence would intimidate both men and women alike.

Oddly, solitude suited her. Several times last night he got the impression that she was off in her own world and perfectly happy there. Unfortunately, with his ego running in overdrive, he couldn’t stand not having the attention of a beautiful woman and he spitefully made his presence known.

Why? Personal involvement led to complications. Once this job ended, he’d be assigned to another case.

Victoria
differed from the scheming felons or thrill-seeking operatives he’d come to know through his work. She was a “to have and to hold” type of woman. That made her all the more dangerous to his peace of mind and the unencumbered lifestyle he’d perfected over the years.

* * * *

Victoria
finished up the last of her paperwork, keeping a watchful eye on the door. She’d accomplished her escape with surprising ease, but she couldn’t enjoy the moment. In fact, her so-called brave action put her in more danger. With Becker still on the loose, her safety depended on Erik for the time being. She decided to return to the house before he sent out a search party. Or worse, called her brother.

As she started down the hall, she caught sight of Roger strutting towards her with one of his physically endowed, but intellectually impaired, coeds at his side. She figured he’d planned a private tutoring session. “
Victoria
. What brings you here today?” He waved the young woman into his office.

“Hi, Roger. Just leaving.”

“Too bad.” He looked her over like one of his “grade A” students. She didn’t acknowledge his appraising grin, since he looked at her sweater instead of her face when he spoke. “Maybe we can meet up for lunch later.”

“I don’t think—”

“Are you ready, Tori?”

The deep voice from behind gave her a start. She turned to see Erik leaning against the wall, his long hair shining under the florescent lighting. He flashed a brilliant smile. Lord, he was gorgeous.

A ribbon of heat fluttered through her. She folded her arms across her chest to hide the physical reactions his nearness inspired. He had no right to make her body react in such a traitorous way. No right. He didn’t even have to do anything but look at her with that hungry gaze. It’s an act, she reminded herself.

Roger cleared his throat. “A student of yours, Dr. Jansen?”

“Ah … no.”
Victoria
mumbled.

Erik drew up alongside her, draping one arm across her shoulder and offering his hand. “Erik Sanders, Tori’s fiancé.”

She swallowed a cough. Roger’s expression alone was worth the deception. His forty-three years showed clearly in his frowning face.

After an embarrassing silence, he shook hands. “That’s quite a girl you have there.”

“Woman,” Erik corrected.

Roger puffed out his chest and self-consciously loosened his tie. “Are you in the same field as
Victoria
?”

“He’s in hydrodynamic engineering,” she answered before Erik could.

Roger’s insinuation that she could only interest another boring physicist didn’t bother her. She enjoyed seeing him on the receiving end for once. At least, until she realized that playing up the lie for her own satisfaction was no better than what Erik had done to her.

“We really should be going, Tori,” Erik said. “We’re already late.”

“I guess I’ll see you both tonight at the
Whitehall
reception,” Roger said.

“I’m not sure”
Victoria
began before Erik cut in.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Her colleague tipped his head. Erik playfully tugged her towards the exit. She fought the urge to shove him away until they exited the building.

“You can remove your arm now,” she muttered though clenched teeth.

His fingers ran slowly down her spine and then cupped her backside in a gentle squeeze. “Better?”

A thousand volts of pure electricity shot through her. The jolt caused her heart to race and her breathing to quicken. “Stop it,” she said. “You’re embarrassing me at work.”

“Well, you’re my job, Doctor, and when you disappear on me, it’s just as embarrassing.”

Damn the man and his effortless ability to fluster her. She twisted away from him and ran across the parking lot before turning back. Where did she think she was going? The arrogant glint in his eyes said he could find her again any time he wanted. Why bother fighting him? She’d never win. Better to spend her time and energy keeping up her defenses so that when the case ended and he finally left, she would feel relieved.

As she fumbled with her purse, she watched him stride towards her with long, purposeful steps. He was a fine specimen of the male anatomy. Every muscle finely toned and working in homoeostatic harmony. Too bad the macho male mentality went along with his body.

“Keys,” he demanded when he reached her.

“Why? You already stole one set. Use those.”

“You’re right.” He withdrew the gold key ring from his jacket pocket and opened the passenger door for her.

* * * *

At the very least, Erik expected an argument. Instead, she slipped into the car without a word. By the time he came around to the driver’s side, she’d dumped the contents of her purse into her lap.

“Lose something?”

“No. But I think you did.” She picked through the loose change, credit card receipts and assorted make-up and found the small transmitter. “Yours, I believe.”

She dropped it into his open palm. No yelling, no histrionics, not even a frown. He missed the clumsy woman who had covered him in fruit punch, who couldn’t hold onto anything when he stood close, and who generally turned ten shades of red when he paid her a compliment.

“Tori?” He stared for several seconds before she became uncomfortable enough to answer.

“What?”

“Hydrodynamic engineering?”

She rolled her shoulders in an indifferent shrug. “Well, I couldn’t tell him the truth. It seemed appropriate at the time.”

“Is that the politically correct term for a plumber, now?”

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, despite her obvious effort to fight it. “Something like that.”

He started the car and backed out of the parking space. “So what’s this
Whitehall
reception?”

“It’s a party for the science department. I’ll call when I get home and send our regrets.”

“Don’t. If we’re going to pull off our cover, you have to live your life as if nothing’s changed.”

“Your cover. Not mine. You’re not the one who’s going to have to live with all the pity for being dumped after you leave.”

“When it’s over, you can tell them you dumped me for being a jerk.” He left the campus lot and pulled onto the main road. “Where to?”

“The supermarket. Since I won’t be going to
Burlington
for the holidays, I’ll have to see if I can find a turkey. Present company excluded.”

“You don’t have to cook for me.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“I meant I would take you to dinner.”

Her eyes clouded over with sadness. “If I’m going to eat out in a restaurant on a holiday I might as well just stay home and have a bologna sandwich. It’s the same sentiment.”

Erik knew when to dig in his heels. This wasn’t one of those times. Despite the fact that he hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, he nodded and drove to the supermarket for a turkey.

* * * *

Victoria
dropped a package on the kitchen counter, and Erik, right behind her, left two more. His male scent caused an unwelcome heat in her stomach. She jabbed with her elbow to move him away. He’d gone into the store with her and followed her around like a devoted fiancé. Although she blushed furiously every time she saw someone she knew, she couldn’t say she minded the attention. She should have.

To Erik, this was an act, a cover to draw out a criminal. She knew this, yet her body still reacted to his touch with a yearning borne of too many years of loneliness.

“Excuse me,” she said and took a wide step around him to put groceries into the refrigerator.

He shook his head and walked around the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. His partner was watching one of the pre-Thanksgiving football games. “I need to sleep. If she tries to give you the slip, cuff her to the sink.”

Victoria
pounded a can of cranberry sauce on the counter. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Daniels grinned. “Don’t worry, Dr. Jansen. I know you won’t try to skip out on me.”

Erik arched his eyebrow in warning. “Don’t turn your back on her. She has carving knives in there.”

Daniels sent her a sly wink. “I’m sure the professor and I won’t have any problems.”

“No, sir, we won’t.” She smiled. “Would you like some coffee?”

Erik grunted and stalked down the hall grumbling, “He gets room service, I get grief.”

She lifted her shoulders in a gesture of confusion. “Gee, I wonder what his problem is?”

Daniels chuckled and ambled towards the counter. “Why don’t you give him a break?”

She looked up from her task of scooping coffee into the machine. “He lied to me.”

“So did I.”

“But he—” She broke off abruptly. What could she say? He kissed me? He made me believe he cared about me? When she thought about her naiveté, the pain still cut deep. “You never lied. When I met you, I knew who you worked for.”

“For the record, Professor, he thought you were innocent from day one. I had my doubts. And he has firsthand experience dealing with scheming women.”

Erik probably thought her too comically gullible to work as an industrial spy. Perhaps she was. Many child prodigies suffered from arrested emotional development because they spent so little time interacting with people their own age. “If he asked, I would have told him about the flower. Instead, he put listening devices all over my house.”

“If you were the courier, we would have tipped off Becker and you.”

His argument made sense, but that didn’t lessen the pain. For too long she’d let people walk over her instead of fighting back. She let her colleagues believe her weak because she couldn’t make them understand why she’d left the research center.