See Me in Your Dreams (5 page)

What to do?

Tyler was
torn. This woman either really did know something about Cheryl's disappearance
or she had an in with one of the policemen who gave her details no one else had
privilege to. Maybe he'd better check that out. And while he was at it, he
could get the police to check
her
out. Maybe she was in on a kidnapping. Maybe that's why he hadn't gotten a
ransom note, because she was going to work him somehow.

"I need
some time to think," Tyler said.

"I fear
time is running out."

He ignored the
renewed prickling at his nape. "Why don't you give me your address and
phone number so I can get in touch with you."

Looking
crestfallen, she didn't continue arguing. "I'm staying at the Hotel
Clareton
."

"The
hotel?"

"I just
flew in from Cork early this morning."

Tyler started.
"Then you weren't even here when Cheryl disappeared."

"No."
Her smooth brow furrowed. "I don't understand it, either. A stranger in a
strange land. No connection between us. I knew the others."

Despite the
cynicism that long ago had become part of him, Tyler felt himself wanting to
believe her. At the same time, her sucking him in made him uneasy. He was a
rational man, one not given to being conned. What was it about this woman that
got to him where he lived? He was vulnerable because of Cheryl, Tyler reminded
himself. Because the only person who really meant anything to him was missing.
If anything happened to her, it would kill him. And Keelin McKenna could use
his powerful emotions against him.

As if reading
his thoughts, she pressed her case. "You say you would do anything to find
your daughter."

"I
would."

He'd done
questionable things to protect Cheryl over the years, but his efforts hadn't
been sharp enough. They'd been too focused. Danger had come from some
unexpected direction.

"Then
trust me," Keelin pleaded, her tone heartfelt. "I do not know your
city, therefore I cannot find her alone."

What would it
hurt? Tyler decided agreeing was a win-win situation. He'd get Pamela to
contact both the police and his private detective, to see what they'd come up
with on Keelin McKenna. In the meantime, he'd become her shadow.

"All
right," he said. "I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
For Cheryl's sake."

"Good."

Her relieved
smile mesmerized him. It trembled on her lips, lent a sheen to her eyes, brushed
a glow across her cheeks. Like a quiet little bud blooming into a full-blown
flower, Keelin suddenly appeared unspeakably beautiful. Again, he felt the
connection...and purposely stood and turned his back on her to break it. He
couldn't let her affect him in any way. He needed his wits about him. Needed to
concentrate on what was important here.

"You can
tell me more about these powers of yours over dinner," he said. "And
you'll detail the
dreams
concerning
my daughter. Maybe I can pick up on something you couldn't."

"That was
my thought."

Or he'd trick
her into revealing her hand, Tyler added to himself.

Suddenly, the
appetite that had eluded him at lunch kicked in. He felt not only a powerful
hunger, but a renewed strength that had eluded him for the past two days. A man
who was energized by doing, his sitting back and letting others handle things
had festered inside him.

If the woman
had the power to make some otherworldly connection with his daughter, Tyler
thought, she'd make a believer of him. And if she had had anything to do with
the girl's disappearance...she would be damn sorry.

If Keelin
McKenna were part of some con to wring money out of him at the expense of his
daughter, he would personally turn her life into a living hell.

NEARLY AN HOUR LATER, STILL WAITING FOR
TYLER LEIGHTON to finish up business, Keelin wondered if she'd made a pact with
the devil. A dark-haired, pale-eyed, too-handsome devil. She knew he didn't
trust her, and she could hardly blame him.

But he had
agreed, and that's all that counted.

This time, the
story would end well, she assured herself. They'd find Cheryl Leighton and from
that day forward, her father would keep her safe. Keelin had no doubts as to
his love and devotion to his daughter. She didn't know what had driven Cheryl
to run, though she gathered the girl blamed him for some terrible lie.

A
misunderstanding, perhaps?

Keelin rested
her head against the chair back, her energy suddenly at a low. The dreams had
interfered with her sleep the last two nights. Added to jet lag...

"I'm
ready."

She started.
"And just as I was getting comfortable." She forced herself from the
chair and into close proximity of Tyler Leighton. Too close. His warmth reached
out to her, curled along her tired body.

"I wouldn't
get too comfortable around me, if I were you," he murmured.

"A
warning?"

"Call it
what you will."

Keelin stared
up at his enigmatic expression. Though she was of average height and size, she
felt dwarfed by the man. He wasn't so very tall. She judged him to be just
short of six feet. And he wasn't so very large. His shoulders were of medium
breadth beneath the tailored suit jacket. But she recognized strength in his
visage and power in his gaze when he stared at her with lids half-lowered as if
he were trying to sear her brain.

Keelin
suspected she
should
be a bit afraid
of the man, but at the moment, she was too weary even to be intimidated.
"Then I'll consider it a challenge," she finally returned. "But
don't underestimate me, Mr. Leighton. I'm as motivated as you are to find your
daughter." In some ways more so. She had a lot to make up for.

"Then
let's get started. And my name is Tyler."

Keelin found
Mr. Leighton
safer. Not that she would
admit it. As he held the office door open for her, she nodded agreeably and
adapted a positive attitude.

Seeing to
Cheryl Leighton's safety wouldn't bring back Galvin Daley, but it might assuage
a bit of her guilt, Keelin thought hopefully as they descended to the first
floor. Besides which, she certainly didn't need another soul on her conscience.

Downstairs,
she waited in the sheltered entryway while Tyler left her to fetch his vehicle
from the car park across the street. A movement to her right caught her eye.
Her attention refocused, she watched a stocky man slide out from the protection
of a nearby doorway. Nearing middle age, he had a jowly face and salt and
pepper hair. He glanced around furtively, then crossed the street at a trot,
entering the same door that Tyler had taken.

Keelin frowned
and her stomach tightened for a moment until a bottle-green Jaguar rolled out
through the car park exit and stopped directly across from where she stood.
Tyler swung open the car door and slid from behind the wheel, then motioned for
her to cross.

A quick look
around assured her there was no sign of the other man. Undoubtedly he was
merely fetching his auto, as well, Keelin decided. Shaking away the odd feeling
his furtive actions had given her, she waited for a break in traffic, then
raced across the street.

A short ride
took them south, toward the center of the city. Tyler drove in silence,
stopping just before crossing the Chicago River. A doorman opened her car door,
and as she stepped out, a valet traded places with Tyler, who then escorted her
into a lovely two-story restaurant with glass walls overlooking the water. The
tables were draped with white linen, their centers decorated with bouquets of
fresh cut flowers mixed with herbs.

Taking
pleasure where she could, Keelin inhaled the fragrance and absorbed the ambiance.
She was certain she wasn't going to enjoy what was coming. Tensely, she waited
for the inquisition.

It seemed as
though Tyler was in no hurry. They perused menus and ordered. The waiter
quickly brought a bottle of Merlot, and after Tyler approved it, filled two
stemmed glasses. Keelin sipped at the red wine. As tired as she was, one glass
would be her limit or Tyler would have to carry her out of the restaurant. The
wine was relaxing her when he finally got down to business.

"So tell
me about this unusual ability of yours."

"I dream
through other people's eyes," she told him again. "I cannot explain
it any more accurately."

"So, in
your dream, you see what someone else, who is awake, is seeing at that very
moment?" When she nodded, he asked, "How long has this been going
on?"

"Always,
I guess. When I was young, I simply thought all my dreams were of the normal
sort. And as I began to sort out the difference between real dreams and
these...visions...I assumed everyone had like experiences. Then I learned that
no one else in my family had the...well, gift or curse, however you want to
think of it. Except Gran, of course. My father's mother, Moira. She explained
things to me."

The way Tyler
was looking at her, Keelin couldn't tell if he believed her or not.

"And what
exactly did she tell you?"

"That I
was given a responsibility which I couldn't put aside. That I was the one to
inherit because I was strong enough to deal with the consequences."

Not that she
felt
strong. If she could give the
supposed gift away, she'd do it in a heartbeat, just as she'd told her
grandmother at age fifteen, after the first of the darker episodes that she
called her night terrors.

Always a wise
woman, Moira had merely said a person couldn't fight her fate. It had taken
more than a decade and an unnecessary death to convince Keelin of it.

After the
waiter had delivered their salads and a basket of bread, Tyler continued his
line of questioning. "What kind of consequences?"

Not about to
share her personal traumas with a stranger, Keelin made light of the issue.
"Having to deal with the distrustful sort who thinks I make my living
spinning fairy tales." She punctuated the observation with a forkful of
salad and a piece of crusty bread. Both were delicious.

But Tyler
didn't seem about to let her off the hook with a joke. "How
do
you make your living?"

"Herbs."

"What?
You grow or sell them for cooking?"

"And for
healing."

A dark brow
shot up at that one. Keelin was used to skepticism when it came to alternative therapies.
She wasn't about to try to convince him that many modern medicines were based
on herbal remedies.

"So was
it herbs that brought you here from Ireland? Or was it Cheryl?"

Relieved he
wasn't going to take issue with her work, not missing the shot about his
daughter, Keelin said, "Actually, I'm here to see family. My father's
sister and brother both emigrated to the United States more than three decades
ago." She figured if she was being honest, she might as well go all the
way. Taking a big breath, she said, "Skelly McKenna is my first
cousin."

He shrugged.
"Am I supposed to know who he is?"

"You do
in a way." Her fingers tightened on the stem of her glass. "You
watched his telecast this afternoon."

"
The Whole Story
?"

"That
would be the one."

"What the
hell? Is that why you sought me out?" His roar turned heads. "To get
a story for a televised rag?"

Embarrassed by
the unwanted attention, she shrank into her seat. "No, of course not. I
told you why. That Skelly did the story on your daughter's disappearance was
coincidence." From his glare she didn't figure he believed her, but she
went on. "It was how I recognized her."

He lowered his
voice. "I thought you were inside her. That you didn't see her. Or did
Cheryl conveniently look at herself in a mirror on the way out of our
house?"

Keelin shook
her head. "I had no idea of what she looked like until a few hours ago.
The bracelet – the strands of leather with magical charms. I saw it on her
wrist in my dreams and then again on the studio monitor while I was waiting for
Skelly. That's how I put it together. I had no idea of who the girl in my head
was until that moment, I swear."

Tyler appeared
to be bursting with accusations or questions – she didn't know which – but the
waiter delivering their meals held either off.

Keelin didn't
have much success eating her pasta creation bursting with fresh, barely cooked
vegetables and judiciously sprinkled with herbs. Tyler, however, wolfed down
his rare steak like a man possessed. Tension sizzled along her nerves. Keelin
hated the feeling. Unlike her more easily inflamed sister Flanna, she wasn't
one to thrive on arguments and stress. If she had a choice, she would pick
herself up and walk away from the whole situation, never to look back.

But she had no
choice. She had Cheryl Leighton to find.

"Why are
you doing this?" Tyler suddenly asked.