Secrets Amoung The Shadows (31 page)

Well, she thought, locking the door, this is sort of like a first date. This would be the first time they'd been able to be together and relax, give totally of themselves, the first time she'd go to sleep in his arms.

If, she reminded herself sternly, his news justified her remaining there overnight. Otherwise, she'd leave and go straight home. She wouldn't let her emotions control her the way they had the night she and Eliot had made love. That had been irresponsible. Wonderful and unforgettable, but irresponsible.

Through the glass doors ahead, she could see the security guard Eliot had mentioned. That proved she was safe, didn't it? Edward would surely realize that if anything happened to her in Eliot's home, the guard would remember her going up.

But Eliot would be blamed, not Edward.

The thought stopped her for a moment, but then she moved on, opening the glass doors and walking across the lobby. For the sake of professional curiosity, she had to hear Eliot's story. For herself, she had to know.

***

Tires screaming, Eliot took another corner on two wheels. He knew it was crazy, but he couldn't dispel a driving need to get home as soon as possible. Halfway to Dallas, in the midst of the spiral of bizarre thoughts spinning through his mind, he'd been overwhelmed with a feeling that Leanne was in danger...from Edward. From himself.

Even though he knew that was impossible, he found his foot nudging the accelerator. The closer he got to Dallas, the stronger the sensation became.

He tried to think of other things, but his mind wouldn't cooperate. His palms became damp and sweaty around the steering wheel. His stomach muscles clenched. His right foot pushed harder.

Was this unfounded dread part of his illness? A panic attack? That was the only thing that made any sense.

Finally, a few minutes ago when he'd pulled off the highway and headed across town for home, he'd given in to his anxiety and stopped to call Leanne. Surely if he could speak to her, be assured that she was all right and that her house was secured, he could get rid of this insane feeling. When she didn't pick up, when the call went to her voice mail, alarm bells screamed inside his head, and his fear doubled.

That fear was still with him as he pulled up to his condo building and started to go down into the garage. But the sight of Leanne's car parked in the guest area in front stopped him.

It wasn't Leanne's car, he told himself. There were lots of white, mid-size cars around.

Nevertheless, he changed direction and pulled up beside the automobile. Directly ahead, walking across the lighted lobby inside, he saw Leanne. His heart leapt into his throat.

He tried to tell himself that this proved his fears had been unfounded. Leanne was fine. Maybe she was visiting a friend. His was certainly not the only condo in the building.

But he couldn't stop the terror welling up inside him. He dashed out of the car and charged through the glass doors. Across the lobby the elevator doors opened, and Leanne started to get on.

"Leanne! Don't!" he shouted, racing toward her.

She turned, a mildly surprised look on her face. She stepped out before the elevator doors could close, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The inexplicable terror abated.

She was beautiful, he thought. Her eyes shone brightly, her cheeks were flushed, and she wore a blue outfit of some soft material that floated tantalizingly over every curve of her body. And he experienced a moment of jealousy wondering who'd inspired the glow, who she was wearing the sexy outfit for.

"Eliot, what are you doing down here?" she asked, smiling at him.

"I live here," he said. "What are you doing here?"

A tiny frown line appeared between her eyes though she gave a brief, uncertain laugh. "You invited me. Don't you remember?"

He grabbed her arms. Too tightly, he realized when she flinched. He released her and dropped his hands to his side, clenching them into fists until the nails dug painfully into his palms. "When?" he demanded. "When did I invite you?"

She took a step back from him. The flush had disappeared from her face, leaving it pale. "You mean you don't remember? It wasn't you?"

As they walked together to the door, he realized that the glow on her face and the sexy outfit had been for him. And now he'd brought a frightened look to her eyes that had shone so brightly only a few minutes ago. What in heaven's name was Edward up to now? Why would he lead her to a locked condominium some time before he'd have arrived home if he hadn't driven like a demon?

Chapter 24

Confused and disappointed, Leanne slid onto the plastic covered bench in the almost-empty coffee shop. Eliot sat across from her, the fluorescent lights accenting the grim look on his face. This certainly wasn't the way she'd envisioned spending the evening.

Obviously there would be no news to assure her Eliot wasn't a murderer, wasn't a danger to her, wouldn't be arrested for murder in only two days. No tender lovemaking and cuddling until dawn. Instead they sat stiffly with a Formica table between them in a restaurant that smelled of stale grease and onion rings already consumed.

Leanne looked down at the scratched surface of the table, embarrassed that she'd been so eager to see Eliot she'd let herself be fooled. Dismay weighed heavily on her shoulders. Her hopes, so recently buoyant, had been destroyed. She'd had no choice about loving her father, but this pain was her own fault.

"You called...at least, I thought it was you." She related, in as much detail as she could remember, the exact conversations that had taken place. She was pretty sure she remembered every word, that she'd never be able to forget. For a delicious half hour, she'd dared to hope that she and Eliot could be together.

The waitress returned and poured coffee into the thick white mugs. Leanne stared at hers. It mirrored the way she felt—black and murky.

"I must have stopped somewhere and called you," he said, the words seeming to be ripped from somewhere deep inside. "Probably about halfway because that's when I got an eerie feeling that something was wrong. Guess that explains my
psychic
warning."

"But, Eliot, I don't understand. How could I be in danger when you weren't even here? Why would Edward want me to come to an empty condo?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was an ego thing, to see if he could do it after I warned you to stay away from me. Maybe just to upset you, to make you mad at me. Maybe he thought he could get there without me." He laid his head in his hands. "I still can't accept it. I'm still talking about him as if he's another person, as if I'm not the one doing all these unspeakable things."

She resisted the impulse to touch him, to try to soothe and comfort him. He had to come to terms with reality.

"It doesn't make any sense," she agreed. "I took half an hour getting ready. If I'd gone straight over after you...he...called, I'd have been gone by the time you got there."

She looked away from him, staring at the window that showed only her own distorted image staring back at her. If Edward had wanted to upset her, he'd succeeded.

"So it was all a lie," she said quietly, addressing the image in the window. "You didn't find out anything new."

"I did find out something," he said, pulling her attention—her hope—back to him. But whatever he'd discovered, it wasn't good. He held himself with a stony rigidity, his expression bleak. "Edward...the real Edward, my brother...may still be alive. He didn't die in the car wreck. He was put into a state hospital in Ft. Worth. He was catatonic, had a brain injury."

"Oh, no. I'm so sorry." She reached across and touched his forearm where it lay on the cold table top. "You must be devastated." This was all he needed on top of everything else. A lesser man, someone not as strong as Eliot, would have cracked under the pressure.

A shiver darted down her spine as she reminded herself that he had cracked, had split into another personality. It was so easy to forget that.

He accepted her gesture of comfort, laying his hand over hers. "The really horrible part is that, if he's still alive, he's been there all these years, and I didn't know it. I could have gone to visit him."

He grimaced. "If I don't, Edward probably will. At least Edward's done me one favor. By making that phone call, I got to see you tonight." He looked around the restaurant. "This isn't exactly the setting of my fantasies, but I guess it's better than not seeing you at all."

"We could go to my house," she said. "Sit on the porch."

"What would be the point?" His voice was harsh. Abruptly he slid out of the booth, snatching their ticket off the table. Without a word, he strode over to the cashier and paid.

With a sigh, she rose and followed. He was right. This was it. The end.

The thought of never seeing him again filled her with a tearing loneliness. But what difference did one more minute or one more hour or even one more night make? If her father had waited one more day to kill himself, the end result would still be the same.

Though she'd give anything for one more day with her father.

Eliot held the door open for her, and she stepped into the dark parking lot, walking beside him over to her car.

"Leanne." The mist falling around them cushioned the edge in his voice, made the single word sound muffled and intimate.

She turned to face him. "It's all right," she said. "I understand."

He trailed one finger down her cheek...so achingly tender. "Do you have any idea how much I want you? How much I care about you? I thought the worst part of going to prison would be losing my freedom, being restrained...but the worst part is that I'll lose you."

With a groan, he pulled her into his arms, his lips devouring hers. She pressed her body against his, releasing the hunger that overwhelmed her in the ferocity of their kiss. The world around them vanished. The only reality was where Eliot's body touched hers. Only now did she feel alive.

Slowly he withdrew his lips from hers and gazed at her, a thousand questions and a thousand doubts in his eyes.

"Come home with me," she said. "You're gaining more control over Edward." If Eliot should be arrested on Monday, if she could never hold him or make love to him again, she wanted this night, this one last chance to be with him. Maybe it wouldn't make any difference in the ultimate outcome, but that didn't matter. She wouldn't want to lose even one of the days she'd had with her father.

Eliot scowled, his eyebrows almost meeting over his nose so severe was his expression. "I have more control, but it's not enough. What you're asking is impossible. You're still in danger."

"I have—" She hesitated, then forced herself to say the words. "I have the gun you gave me." For Eliot, for the chance to be with him, she could overcome her apprehension about guns.

As she drove homeward, Eliot's car lights shone behind her, making every turn and every stop with her, staying with her, following her for good or ill...for possibly the last time.

A tiny voice niggled at her, whispering that, even though Eliot had gotten into that car in the restaurant parking lot, she had no idea who was driving it now.

She ignored the voice. It was Eliot. It had to be Eliot. She couldn't bear for it not to be him. More than she feared Edward's threats, she feared losing Eliot.

She pulled into her garage, and he pulled in the driveway behind her. Without waiting for him, she ran up to her front door and unlocked it. Greta met her, wagging her tail and bouncing around happily.

Leanne paused just inside the screen, one hand still on the wooden door, and looked back. Eliot stepped onto the porch, and Greta continued her antics.

A potent mixture of relief, gratitude and ecstasy flooded through Leanne. Fate was going to allow her this last night. She'd been cheated of a chance to say goodbye before her father's madness took him from her, but this time she'd have her chance. She'd have one more night, one more hour with Eliot before the results of his madness took him from her.

He stepped inside, she closed the door behind him, and he pulled her against him. She slipped her arms around him and pressed her face to his broad chest, savoring his scent, the feel of his cotton shirt on her cheek, the width of him in her arms, the exact spots on his back where her hands reached. She had to have it all now. There'd be no second chance.