now, he said, “I won’t. Cross my heart.”
“That’s what you always used to say to me whenever I got scared that summer we played together. All those days when it was your job to get me up to the cave in the cliff face so that I could wait around to be rescued, you’d say, “You’ll be safe, Nell. Cross my heart. Remember?”
Reid could hardly forget. Hands down, his brothers’ favorite game that summer had been pirates hunting for treasure—the treasure being Eleanor’s sapphires. Of course, any pirate had to kidnap and hold a fair damsel captive. After the first game, it had been Reid’s idea that Nell should have the permanent role of kidnapped damsel. It had been the only way to keep her off the cliff face and safe. “I never lied. And you’re stalling. Tell me your story idea.”
She passed a truck, shifted back into the right lane and said, “Okay. First, Eleanor wanted to leave proof behind that the jewels existed and had been in her possession. That’s why she wore them in the portrait. And she wanted the sapphires to eventually be discovered. She didn’t just throw them away. The two earrings were very carefully wrapped in leather pouches and hidden in places built to survive time and weather. So far the jewels have been found in the places we played as children—in the stone arch and the cave.”
“Correct.”
“So—and this is the ‘don’t laugh part.’ She hid each piece separately—so maybe she wanted them to be found now, and by my sisters and me.”
“You’re implying that she had some insight into the future.”
“Something like that.”
For a moment, Reid considered. “That idea might work very well for a children’s story.”
“But it’s not a possibility that a Secret Service agent would entertain.”
“No. We work in much more concrete scenarios.”
“Hypothetical or concrete, we’re both after the same thing,” Nell said, easing the car into the center lane again.
“With one important difference. You want to discover the story about the sapphires, why Eleanor hid them, figure out who they belong to and why someone else believes they have a claim on them. My goal is much simpler. I want to catch a would-be killer and write ‘the end’ on the story.”
She shot him a grin. “Works for me. And thanks for not laughing.” Then she turned her full attention back to negotiating her way through traffic.
By the time they’d cleared the D.C. area and had entered Pennsylvania, Reid became aware that he had a bigger problem than the cramp in his leg. He’d been trained to use all of his senses, and sitting in the tiny space with Nell, he’d found that he was definitely using all of them.
First, there was no escaping her scent. He still hadn’t come up with a description. But he’d smelled it before, perhaps in the gardens at the White House at night. He’d kept his eyes on the road, but he had excellent peripheral vision, and he’d been trained to use it. Therefore, in the space of thirty miles, he’d become very aware of the soft curve of her lips when she smiled, and that the sun lightened the color of her hair. He’d also had time to study her hands. They were small, the fingers slender. She wore her nails short with just a sheen of pink polish. A lady’s hands. And twice so far, he’d caught himself imagining what they might feel like on his skin. He’d found out when they’d both reached to turn the radio station at the same time. Her fingers had just brushed lightly against the back of his hand, but the burning sensation had shot right to his loins.
“Sorry.” They’d both spoken at once.
She’d laughed and held up one hand with her little finger extended. “Pinkie wish.”
“Pinkie what?”
“We both said the same word at the same time. Now we’re supposed to link our little fingers and make a wish. C’mon.”
“Okay.” He linked his pinkie finger with hers and felt the arrow of heat shoot through him again.
It gave him some satisfaction that her hand trembled just a little as she placed it back on the wheel. But he shouldn’t be hoping she might be feeling even some part of the attraction he was feeling. Because he shouldn’t be feeling this way; he shouldn’t be wanting Nell MacPherson.
The problem was, like it or not, he did. And the desire to have her was growing with each passing mile.
“Well, are you going to do something about it or should I?” Nell asked him.
Everything in his body went hard as he turned to stare at her. “Do something about what?”
“The static on the radio. What did you think I was talking about?”
Not going there, Reid thought. “What do you like?” But even that question had his mind wandering beyond her taste in music. How did she like to be touched? Tasted?
“I have pretty eclectic tastes.”
Good to know.
“But Piper’s been listening to that classic station for three days now. I need a change. Do you like the Beatles?”
“Who doesn’t?”
This time he kept his hands to himself as she punched some buttons and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” blasted into the small car. Listening to it didn’t solve his problem. He wanted to do a lot more than hold Nell’s hand.
She lowered the volume. He tried to do the same with the desire that was thrumming through him. He had only briefly touched the woman, not yet kissed her on the lips. His hormones hadn’t run this hot since he was in college.
Not since the last time he’d seen Nell beneath the stone arch.
Grimly, Reid shifted his attention to the side view mirror again and watched that for a while. “Pass a few cars,” he said.
While she did, he kept his gaze fixed. He saw what he was looking for when the highway began to climb.
“There’s been a silvery-gray sedan three cars back for a while now,” she said.
Surprised, he shot her a sideways glance. “You noticed it.”
“You said it was possible he’d follow us, so I thought it might be a good idea to keep a lookout. That car was behind us when we drove onto the beltway. It got ahead of us about twenty miles back, but we passed it when traffic got congested again before the last exit.”
The woman had good eyes. He, too, had noted the cars that had followed them onto the interstate, but he’d lost track of the gray sedan after it had passed them.
Because he’d been thinking of Nell.
A sign for the upcoming exit flashed by. “Cut back into the right-hand lane and take your speed down to just below the limit.”
Nell did exactly as he asked. Within minutes, the car directly behind them cut into the passing lane and drove by. The gray sedan merely slowed and kept its distance. Before long, several more cars passed.
“What now?” Nell asked.
