If you say so.” He grinned up at her, playing his part to the hilt. “But you can have a rain check, redeemable any time you want.”
Several long moments later the fire blazed to life. Michael could feel rather than see Kelly hovering over him. Once he succeeded in his task he had no choice but to look at her. He stood, turning to face her. She wasn’t looking at him.
Her blue gaze was focused on the fire. The light danced in her eyes, giving her the appearance of an angel in a trance. She was more than beautiful, he reluctantly admitted to himself. During his thirty-three years he had known his fair share of women, some of them beauties in their own right, but none could have held a candle to this lady.
Her eyes were bluer than the Montana sky. Her hair, the color of twenty-four carat gold, spilled over her slender shoulders in luxuriant waves. His hands itched to touch the silky strands. Her heart-shaped face and delicate features were a sculptor’s dream. Her lips were sensuous and pink. Michael had a hard time keeping his gaze from dropping to that lovely mouth when standing face-to-face with her.
She hugged herself and stepped closer to the fire, then slowly turned to him as if feeling his eyes on her.
“You know something?” she said. “At first when the door locked I thought maybe I was hallucinating. Then I realized I really was locked inside. I don’t know which is worse—thinking I’m crazy or knowing someone is trying to hurt me.”
“Why would you think you were crazy?” His eyes narrowed on her face, he tried hard to understand what she was saying. “Because of the dreams you had the other night? That was the medication. I thought we already went over that.”
“The dreams have nothing to do with it. It’s my mother. I’ve always been afraid I’d wind up like her.”
Michael froze, hearing the pain in her voice.
“You didn’t press me to tell you about my mother before and I appreciate it, but I think you need to know.” She continued. “I think I was six or seven the first time my mother went to the hospital. I barely remember it. Apparently she’d tried to kill herself—I’m not sure how. I think it was probably an overdose. I remember her medicine cabinet being filled to the point of overflowing with pills. My father called an ambulance, and the police came. She was gone for a week or so. When she came back, she was different.”
Kelly fell silent.
Michael chose his words carefully, afraid he might push her too hard. She could totally withdraw or freak out on him.
“How was she different?”
“She was a walking zombie.” Kelly’s fair eyebrows furrowed together with the memory. She stared into the distance. “I don’t think she even recognized me. She lived in a fog. No emotion whatsoever. I thought I’d done something wrong.”
“Didn’t your father explain things to you?”
“I was a child,” she reminded him. Her gaze swung to Michael. “I couldn’t possibly understand what was happening to her. When I was old enough, my father filled me in and I wished he hadn’t. It turned my life upside down. I was so afraid of becoming like my mother.”
Was it possible to pass insanity from mother to daughter? For Kelly’s sake, he hoped not. She’d had a rough life by the sound of it. She deserved better.
“My mother woke one morning and decided she wasn’t sick anymore. She stopped taking her medication without telling anyone.” Kelly’s eyes fixed on his chest, but he knew she wasn’t seeing him. “We had no idea there was a problem until Mom decided I was out to get her.” She swallowed hard. Michael watched with admiration as she pushed her pain down and went on. “She was boiling water for something. Macaroni and cheese, I think. Without a word she grabbed the pot and threw the scalding water at me.”
Michael’s sharp intake of breath went unnoticed. Kelly continued talking, and he regained his composure. The last thing she needed was him railing at the world as if he had the right. She was the one who’d been burned. She was the one in pain.
“Luckily, I saw it coming.” She forced a smile. “My mother was aiming for my face. I turned my head and put my arms up in an attempt to protect myself.”
Kelly demonstrated, lifting her arms as she told the story. He stared at her burns now, seeing them in a whole new light. How could anyone do that to her own child?
Michael kept his feelings deep inside. What had happened to Kelly was in the past. He couldn’t do anything about it. Getting upset, showing how angry he was that someone had hurt her, wouldn’t help.
He wasn’t psychic, but he knew what she was about to say. Her mother hadn’t come home again. Good. He hoped the crazy woman would stay locked away forever. If he had any say in the matter she wouldn’t get another chance to hurt Kelly. No one would.
“My mom is in the hospital and probably always will be. She was found insane by the court-appointed doctor. She has schizophrenia. A lot of people suffer from it but aren’t locked up. They said my mom was different. She was dangerous. Lucky her.”
Michael touched Kelly’s chin, tilting it until her eyes met his and lost that blank stare. “There isn’t anything wrong with you.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “Thank you, Dr. Taggert.”
“I may not be a psychiatrist, but I’m a good judge of character. You aren’t insane.”
“Not yet.”
“Not ever.” He released her chin, but his gaze held hers as a friendly hostage. “You are a strong, capable woman. Don’t let a few bad dreams brought on by bad medication throw you. You aren’t losing it.”
“Well,” she said, “today certainly wasn’t a part of my imagination. Someone locked me inside the garage. I know it.” She frowned. “Where are the supplies you went into town for? Are they in your car?”
Blast! The supplies. He’d forgotten his invented reason for going to town. Every time he thought he had Kelly a safe distance from the truth, she cornered him.
“I came back before getting the supplies.” He smiled easily at her, another lie sliding off his tongue. “I forgot my wallet. Can’t buy anything without money these days.”
He was in the clear now.
Her eyes sharpened on him. “You usually charge it to my account.”
Of course he did.
“Shopping was my idea.” He shrugged. “There were some personal things I wanted to get, so I was planning on paying for them myself. I would go back for the supplies now, but in light of what happened I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“I don’t need a keeper.” She shrugged. “I can ask a friend to deliver whatever we need. You can make a list and pay him when he gets here.”
Michael nodded. Now he was going to have to invent a list of personal items he just couldn’t live without. He needed to keep on his toes around Kelly Hall. Her mind was a steel trap. One wrong move on his part and she would be all over him like a pit bull.
“I’ll make a list later,” he said. “I want to walk the grounds, make
