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  Her gaze darted to the rearview mirror as she slammed her door shut. “I guess the stress of all that’s happened today just caught up with me.”

  He began to hand her fresh tissues, then changed his mind and gently eased the box into her shaking hands. Why did he have the unsettling feeling stress wasn’t behind Eva’s quick trip to the side of the road?

  “I saw a sign indicating a rest area coming up,” he said. “Why don’t you let me drive there and we’ll get something to settle your stomach?”

  She blinked at him. “I thought you were sleeping.”

  “No. I can’t sleep around strangers. I’m too afraid I’ll do something embarrassing, like get caught drooling or something.” He reached for the door handle, relieved when she didn’t try to stop him. By the time he rounded the driver’s side, he was soaked. He cleaned off his rain-speckled glasses, then adjusted the seat and started off again.

  Within minutes, he was waiting in the atrium outside the ladies’ room for Eva to come out. It was 1:00 a.m. and the restaurants the rest area boasted were closed. Plateglass windows faced the parking area and he stared through the rain at where another car pulled up.

  “Sorry I took so long,” Eva said, rejoining him. “Let’s go.”

  “Whoa.” Adam lay a hand against her arm. “I think your body could do with a little rest. Why don’t we get some coffee or something?” he said, gesturing at a row of vending machines.

  “Coffee?”

  Adam’s gaze swept her face, finding the color had returned to her cheeks, a reassuring sign even if her eyes were a little too bright. She’d released her hair from its usual restraints. It surprised him with its silken length, stretching down her back in dark, thick tangles. He’d pegged her as the conservative type who wouldn’t let her hair grow past her shoulders.

  First the heat of her skin…now the length of her hair.

  So far he was zero for two on the assumptions he’d made about Eva Burgess. Zero for three if you counted her bizarre request that he play her husband for the weekend.

  “I suppose I could do with a little decaf,” she said softly.

  She dug in her purse for change, but he slid his own coins into the metal slot and gestured for her to make her selection.

  “Thanks.” She poked the buttons for decaf, no cream, no sugar.

  Her cup landed sideways in the slot, the coffee streaming off the side in a wide arc that nearly hit her green skirt.

  “Figures,” Eva murmured.

  “Here, let me try,” Adam said, pushing up his glasses. “Machines and I speak the same language.”

  Moments later, he handed her a fresh, intact cup, and she thanked him again.

  He made his selection. Extra strong with plenty of sugar and cream. The cup slid down…sideways. The coffee sprayed the knees of his brown slacks. Eva laughed.

  “Looks like a breakdown in communication,” she said. “Here, why don’t we just share mine? I can’t drink it all, anyway. I mean, if you don’t mind it without sugar and cream.”

  He glanced at her, the prospect of sharing something as innocuous as a cup of coffee with Eva striking him as somehow intimate. He finished mopping his pants with paper towels and motioned to a wood-backed bench near the doors. For long moments they sat there staring at the rain. She took a sip of the coffee, then handed it to him.

  He purposely hesitated. Would a nerd so easily drink from the same cup as a stranger? “Are you sure whatever you got isn’t contagious?”

  She smiled softly. “Believe me, what I have, you can’t catch.” She flicked a damp strand of hair over her shoulder. “Sorry about that. I usually don’t get carsick.”

  He eyed her carefully, finding her nearly as nervous as she’d been in his office that afternoon. She smoothed out her skirt repeatedly and kept crossing and uncrossing those marvelous legs of hers.

  “Has it been a while since you’ve visited your parents?” he asked.

  “A little over a year.” Her gaze fastened on his mouth, then skittered away. “I usually get back more often, but this year’s been rough.” Her expression darkened, then she looked up. “I mean, it’s been especially hectic at the office.”

  “Oh?” Adam doubted work was what had been on her mind. But work was exactly what he wanted to talk about. “It’s been busy?”

  “Not so much busy,” she said, taking the cup back. “It’s been more or less problems with personnel.” She gestured toward him. “Take the guy you replaced.”

  “Oliver Pinney?”

  A frown drew her feathery eyebrows together. “Yes. About a month ago during an audit, he just…disappeared.” She looked away. “Well, not exactly disappeared without a trace, really. He left a typed resignation that was effective immediately.” She looked down at her wet shoes. “I don’t know, maybe it wouldn’t strike me as being so odd, except shortly before he left, he’d been acting…I guess anxious is the word I’m looking for.”

  “How so?”

  Whatever lipstick she’d had on earlier was gone. Adam found the natural color almost unbearably appealing. The two, tiny peaks at the top of her upper lip were perfectly defined, her lower lip a little fuller, her teeth white and smooth.

  She took a small sip of coffee, apparently aware of his attention as she offered a shaky smile.

  “I don’t know, really. Whenever I talked to him, it was as though he really didn’t hear me. I can’t count the times I had to repeat myself.” She skimmed her manicured, clear-polished nails against the length of the paper cup. “Word has it he and Norman had a falling-out last February, so maybe that was the cause of his anxiety.”

  Adam had caught wind of the rumor himself. But aside from raised voices coming from inside Norman Sheffert’s office, no one had any idea what the disagreement was about. Given Pinney’s subsequent questioning by Weckworth, Adam didn’t have to wonder about the cause. He knew. Pinney had caught on to Sheffert’s illegal dealings and must have confronted his boss with them.

  “How long have you been at the firm?” Adam asked, though he already knew the answer.

  “Six years.” Eva raked her thick, glossy hair back from her face. “I came in as an intern after graduating from Rutgers and have been there ever since.”

  He was right. She had been away from Louisiana for a while.

  “You and Sheffert get along well?”

  Her eyes narrowed. Adam warned himself against sounding too un-geeklike. Especially so soon after the Julia episode. He pushed up his glasses for good measure. It seemed to do the trick.

  “Yes, I suppose you could say Norman and I get along okay.”

  He cleared his throat and held out his hand for the cup. She gave it to him. “What about Norman and Oliver? Did they have a good work relationship? I mean, before the argument?”

  She shrugged her slender shoulders and unbuttoned her blazer. “I guess. I never paid much attention.” She opened her jacket. “Why all the questions?”

  Adam managed a shrug. “Just curious.”

  Silently, he cursed. The sight of her white blouse plastered against what appeared to be a very lacy bra threatened to wipe all thought from his mind. All thought, that is, except how he’d like to explore the supple curve of her breasts. To draw the tips into his mouth and watch her melt with pleasure.

  He caught the curious shadow in her eyes and decided now wasn’t the time to pursue any more questions…or the other thoughts he had in mind. He’d have to earn her trust first. He sipped the coffee, looking out the window. Why did he have the sinking feeling that getting Eva to trust him wasn’t going to be easy?

  “Who’s that?”

  Adam jerked to find her staring out the window. “Who’s who?”

  “That man looking in my car.”

  Adam thrust the cup at her and leaped from the seat. Through the pouring rain, he vaguely made out a figure bending near the driver’s side of the Mercedes.

  “Did you lock the car?”

  He had his answer when the man opene
d the door.

  Adam cursed under his breath and rushed toward the double glass doors. He snatched off his glasses and bolted into the rain, Eva on his heels, as he thundered toward the car and the guy rummaging around inside. Damn, what did he think he was doing? He couldn’t act the renegade when the most exercise Eva would expect from him were trips between his desk and the coffee machine. If he yanked the man out by the collar and interrogated him, it would surely make Eva more suspicious than ever.

  The would-be thief spotted him, climbed from the car and ran in the opposite direction. While Adam could probably catch him, doing so was not a good idea.

  Thinking fast, Adam feigned a stumble on the slick pavement. Eva slammed into his backside. He instantly turned to steady her, and she grabbed on to his arms to balance him. The quick movements put her lush body flat against the length of his. Her full, firm breasts pressed against his chest, her hips rested flush against his. She gave a small gasp that induced a similar arousing reaction in him. The fantasies he’d been entertaining about her all day surged back tenfold. Eva Burgess firmly crowded against him and the ineffectual way she tried to free herself did unwelcome, interesting things to his libido.

  Adam’s gaze dropped to her damp, berry-colored lips to find them slightly, enticingly parted. He groaned, filled with an incredible urge to kiss her. To sample the taste of that generous mouth. To see how her own unique flavor mingled with the wetness of the rain. He slowly inched his lips nearer to hers…then drew to a stop. Where were his glasses?

  Eva went completely still, staring at him. Shock colored her appealing features as her gaze probed him from forehead to chin, lingering on his mouth mere inches away from hers. Her fingers tightened on his upper arms, as if exploring the muscles concealed beneath his shapeless shirt.

  Oh, hell, I should have just gone for the guy and taken my chances, Adam thought. Better than having Eva figure out he wasn’t the man he pretended because he’d kissed her. Even if it meant missing out on the taste of her lips.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said in a tight, geeklike manner, thrusting her away from him. “I’ve never been so embarrassed.”

  The move wiped the alert expression right off her face.

  The thief was running toward the other side of the lot, a bright yellow rain slicker with a hood concealing his features. He looked about as experienced as a ten-year-old. Adam grimaced. He’d nearly blown his cover over some moron probably looking for change for the coffee machine.

  “Are you all right?” Eva asked, straightening her jacket.

  Adam kept his face averted.

  “Fine…I’m fine,” he said, watching a late-model Ford race from the far end of the lot and onto the interstate. Damn.

  “You broke your glasses.”

  Adam looked to where he had dropped his eyeglasses. He picked them up to find an earpiece had snapped away cleanly.

  “What did you think you were doing, running after him like that?” Eva asked, the beam of a streetlight bathing her in yellow.

  Adam wanted to grin. What a picture they made. The two of them, drenched to the skin, Eva lecturing him.

  She blinked at him, a frown on her alluring face. “You do have an extra pair of glasses, don’t you?”

  “No…I didn’t think to bring them with me.”

  He followed her to the Mercedes.

  “Did he take anything?” he asked, glancing around the dark interior.

  Eva flicked on the dome light and shifted to look in the back seat.

  “I can’t be sure, but I don’t think so.”

  Her attaché sat cockeyed on the seat, but was still closed, and his overnight bag had been opened, but was otherwise still intact.

  That was no traveler looking for small change.

  Adam stared in the direction the dark-colored Ford had gone. He’d like to have had a little one-on-one with the driver about what he’d been after. Adam’s gut instincts told him the guy had been more than a simple thief.

  “I think we should report it to the highway patrol,” he said quietly.

  She thought about it, looking first at the digital clock on the dash then out into the rain. “What’s the point? It doesn’t look like anything’s missing. Besides, since we’re driving, we’re already way behind the schedule I gave my mother.”

  She switched off the overhead light and he squinted at her. In his goal to get her to trust him, he would have to demonstrate his trust in her and her judgment. That meant letting the Ford get away.

  Eva seemed nervous. Which seemed right, considering she’d just had her car broken into. But somehow Adam didn’t think that’s what caused the wrinkle between her dark, soft eyebrows. Was it the prospect of talking to her mother? If so, why? Because her father was ill? Or did Eva Burgess know how to deal with everyone except her parents?

  Interesting thought.

  Not that he had firsthand experience with child-parent relationships. Raised by a foster family—who’d had their hands full with eight other parentless children—Adam had more or less charted his own, solitary course. What did it feel like to have family obligations? He didn’t know, but judging by Eva’s anxiety, he guessed it wasn’t all peaches and cream.

  He grimaced.

  “What’s the matter?” Eva asked quietly.

  “Matter? Why would anything be the matter?”

  “You frowned just now. Are you sure not going to the highway patrol is all right with you?”

  “I’m positive. I’ve caused enough trouble by making us drive down, Eva. I don’t want to be responsible for any more.”

  She reached out and laid her hand on his forearm, sparking all sorts of emotions that had nothing to do with naughty string bikinis or boats. “You haven’t caused any trouble, Adam.” She increased the pressure of her fingers against his skin. Again he was struck by the heat she radiated. “Everything considered, I think you’re doing wonderfully.” Her smile was sweet, reminding him he hadn’t even noticed that the coffee they’d shared in the rest shelter had been black. “You’re in a situation you didn’t ask to be stuck in.”

  God, he was really coming to hate this geek stuff. “I’d offer to drive, but…”

  “Oh, God, your glasses,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Why? You didn’t break them. I did.”

  “Yes, but if I had locked the car that guy wouldn’t have gotten inside, and you would never have run after him.” She frowned. “Why did you run after him, anyway?”

  There it was. The suspicion he’d dreaded. Good thing he hadn’t turned the thief into a hood ornament. He was pretty sure that little move would have put him on the first bus home. “Instinct, I guess. I don’t have any idea what I would have done if I’d caught up with him.”

  She stared at him for a long moment, then smiled. “Thanks for the gesture, anyway. It’s been a long time since someone did something brave on my behalf. I’d forgotten what it felt like.”

  He raked his hair into place and squinted, pretending he was lost without his glasses, though his vision was twenty-twenty. His accuracy at the firing range proved that. “Yes, I’d say almost falling flat on my butt qualifies me for hero status.”

  Her laugh rang low and enchanting as she backed the car out of the parking spot. “At least you tried. Alot of men I know wouldn’t have done more than yell out, ‘Hey you!’ and expect the guy to freeze in his tracks.”

  His gaze roamed over her smiling face, then fastened on her wistful green eyes. “Are we talking about your husband again?”

  Her smile vanished and everything about her tensed.

  “Ex-husband,” she said as she pulled back into the light highway traffic. “Maybe we can stop at one of those one-hour glasses places in the morning.”

  The pain in her eyes at the mention of her ex struck him in a way he was unprepared for. She looked abandoned. Alone. A long-buried part of Adam responded. He couldn’t resist touching her hand where it lay against the steering wheel, no matter how unacc
ountably bold the action was.

  “I shouldn’t have brought him up,” he said quietly.

  She stared at where his hand lay against hers. Her throat contracted as she swallowed and he felt an answering twinge low in his stomach. Surprisingly, she didn’t try to shake off his hand. In fact, she almost seemed to welcome the gesture.

  “No problem,” she said softly. “That’s the reason you’re on this trip anyway, right?”

  He reluctantly removed his hand from hers. “Right.”

  3

  THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON Eva rushed around the rest-area ladies’ room, a few minutes and a couple miles separating her from a family reunion that included her husband. Correction, a reunion that included the man acting as her husband.

  Groaning, she gathered her cosmetics from where she had scattered them across the counter and shoved them into her overnight bag. A woman stepped next to her. Eva stared at her wristwatch. God, was it really four-thirty in the afternoon already? She wiped a smudge of lipstick from the corner of her mouth, trying not to notice the exhausted circles under her eyes from having been on the road for the past twenty hours straight.

  She drew in a deep breath and prayed she could pull this off.

  She emerged from the exterior door and a thick wave of heat crashed over her. She always forgot how swelteringly hot it got down here. She glanced toward the car to find Adam leaning against the front grille. The day was overcast and hazy, but there was no evidence of the deluge that had plagued them almost the entire trip down. Adam’s face was drawn into stern lines as he watched the cars driving in and out of the parking area.

  “Adam?” Eva asked.

  He snapped instantly to attention. “Hi. Are you ready?”

  Eva felt a pang of amusement. Somewhere in Tennessee he’d emerged from a service station with his glasses taped back together with gray duct tape. Gray duct tape, for God’s sake. Did every nerd on earth know where to get a supply? Her anxiety momentarily forgotten, she watched him wipe the spot on the car he’d leaned against and told herself this ruse was going to work. Actually, it was going to go better than she hoped. There wasn’t a chance her brash, hard-as-nails father would get along with the unassertive man before her. She could see it now: her father demanding she get rid of him, her refusing, then telling him after she returned to Jersey that she was getting divorced.