In the Running Read online

  Maura’s life held too many unpleasant truths. Her father, heir to two political dynasties, and then Maura, herself, had disappointed Gran by refusing to go into law and politics. Now she was bound to destroy her grandmother’s dream again.

  That was too depressing to think about on this bright, breezy afternoon. She would let Gran know she was alive, then she was going to see what it was like to spend what was left of the afternoon - maybe longer - as Reenie Kelly.

  The jaunty little aircraft was empty.

  “Where’s the pilot?” Reenie asked.

  “Right here,” Matt announced, opening the door and giving her a boost into the plane. “Learned to fly in the service.”

  Of course. That take-charge manner was definitely military. He didn’t volunteer anything more about his background, and she didn’t ask. She had enough to occupy her senses with the sights and sensations of flying over the rugged Michigan Uplands and the sparkling waters of Lake Michigan in a light airplane.

  “Eddie said he’d arrange to have a car left at the airport for me,” Matt told her as they landed at the Manitowoc airport. “I’ll drop you off in town so that you can make your purchases in private. My business shouldn’t take more than an hour. I’ll pick you up then.”

  Reenie flashed him a grateful grin. “And I thought you were looking forward to browsing in ladies’ wear shops,” she teased.

  “I was. Oh, I was.” He laughed back at her, then turned his full attention back to the runway that was rushing towards them.

  “I don’t know much about the stores here,” he said, a few minutes later, as he stopped in front of a promising mid-priced department store on the main street. “They should have most of what you need. I’ll take you into Bay City one day next week to look for some winter things. Oh, I almost forgot.”

  He caught her hand and pressed a roll of bills into it. “You’ll want this.”

  “I have money,” she said, trying to give it back to him. “I can buy what I need.”

  “Call it an advance on your salary. You might see a coat or something you can’t quite cover,” he said, closing the car door firmly.

  She shook her head as the little white car pulled away. It was hard to get really upset at his high-handed manner when he was so thoughtful. She looked up and down the main street. With only an hour at her disposal, she had a lot of things to do.

  She had a few cosmetics in her bag but she needed some essentials. She picked up some moisturizer, toothpaste, shampoo, and feminine products. When a display of condoms caught her eye, she thought of the amazing kiss that had almost swept them both away yesterday afternoon at the apartment. Just because Matt was sure they were going to make love didn’t mean it was going to happen. She almost walked by.

  Would Reenie walk by? Her heart gave a little skip as she tossed the box into her basket.

  She found a phone booth in the vestibule of the department store. She placed the pile of coins she’d obtained in the pharmacy on the tiny shelf in front of her and punched in the number of Gran’s private line.

  The pulse of the phone ringing in Lansing seemed to go on forever, but on the fourth ring, someone answered.

  “Jon Casen, here.”

  She should have known. Well, Reenie was determined to talk to her grandmother. She adopted the thin, nasal tone of her grandmother’s most autocratic and impatient bridge partner.

  “This is Muriel Elderson, Jon. I need to talk to

  “She’s resting, Mrs. Elderson.” She’d fooled him! “I’d be glad to take a message for you.”

  “Nonsense. Wake her up. I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important,” Reenie snapped, in good Muriel Elderson form.

  A couple of minutes later, Gran came on the line. The tentative, “Yes?” didn’t sound like her usual assertive challenge.

  “Hang up, Jon. This is private conversation,” Maura told him with a vintage Elderson bite in her voice. She did not continue until she heard the click of his extension disconnecting.

  “Gran? It’s Maura.”

  “Who … who is this?”

  “It’s Maura, Gran. I heard a report on the radio that I’d been kidnapped. It’s not true.”

  “Maura, child. It is you. You got away from them.”

  “Listen carefully, Gran. There was no kidnapping.”

  “Thank the Lord! Jon was right. He backed off on the injunction because I begged him to, but he never believed you were kidnapped. He said the man who called me was using the fact you were missing.”

  “Gran, listen. I ran because I was afraid Jon was going to kill me.”

  “Oh, dear.” Gran sounded genuinely distressed. “Jon said you’d been working too hard and that with the wedding plans your nerves were ragged. Where are you, dear?”

  “I can’t tell you that, Gran. I don’t want Jon to find me.”

  “Now, he told me you were upset. But he really loves you, dear, and he’s sorry he made you jealous. He’s been out of his mind with worry.”

  Gran could be so pig headed. Maura wanted to shout at her, but giving in to her anger would only serve to reinforce her grandmother’s conviction that she was a basket case.

  “Gran, listen to me.” That was better. Her words were more deliberate and calm. “I actually saw Jon do someth—”

  “No, you listen to me,” The imperious Gladys was back and in full overbearing stride. “Stop behaving like a child. You’ve worried us all terribly. You must accept that women make overtures to men like Jon. But you’re the one he’s going to marry. Pull yourself together, Maura, and come home.”

  It was obvious that her grandmother would not listen to the truth, much less believe it. Reenie had no ally there.

  “Come on home to Lansing,” her grandmother had switched to the sweet coaxing voice that had always preceded a bribe. “Take a leave of absence from that lodge. You’ll be able to relax here. You won’t need those silly pills anymore.”

  “What pills?”

  “It’s all right, dear. Jon told me all about them. I’ll make an appointment for you with my analyst. He always does wonders for me.” Before Maura could say anything, Gran hurried on to dangle what was in her opinion the big carrot. “We’ll go shopping. Elly has a new line of dresses that would look fabulous on you.”

  “Goodbye, Gran. I love you.” Her hand was shaking when she broke the connection.

  Maura didn’t know why she ever thought the conversation would go differently. Gran only listened to facts that fit in with what she wanted to believe. Knowing that didn’t make her feel any less rejected. Being Reenie Kelly was looking better and better to her.

  She glanced at the little gold watch that was one of the few remnants of her old life. If she didn’t hurry to finish her shopping, she’d keep Matt waiting. It struck her that she could count on his waiting. Her own grandmother had no trouble accepting that she’d changed from a competent woman to a flake in a few weeks, but, after knowing her only three days, Matt would be there.

  He got out of the car when he saw her and gave her a broad smile.

  “Did you get what you needed?” he asked, taking most of the bags she was carrying from her and depositing them in the trunk.

  “I think so.” She returned his smile. As she got in, she handed him his untouched roll of bills. “I didn’t see a coat that I liked so I didn’t have to get into this. Thanks, anyway.”

  Before he could utter the protest she could see building, she craned her neck to see into the back seat. “Did you get the treasure?”

  “In the trunk.” He was almost glowing with happiness. “It’s perfect, Reenie. Beautiful. And it’s shot the stars in every hemisphere.”

  There was such awe in his voice that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

  “Maybe it will again.” Her voice was hushed in response.

  “I can dream,” he said and reached over to squeeze her hand.

  During the short drive and longer flight, Reenie dozed. In her dreams, she and Matt were lounging on the
satiny deck of the Sailing Solution, drifting peacefully under southern skies. Matt, of course, looked marvelously sexy in skin-tight denim cut-offs, while she looked more voluptuous than she ever had in her life in a skimpy midnight blue bikini.

  “Reenie,” he said, leaning over to stroke her cheek. “Reenie,” he repeated as he brought his face closer.

  “Oh, yes,” she said, tilting her head and opening her lips to meet his in a languorous kiss.

  The lips were warm and firm, and the tip of his tongue was minty and slightly rough, but the kiss was anything but languorous. Matt’s fingers slid into her hair as his searching tongue explored her mouth. The sensations were at once unexpected and familiar as breathing.

  Her eyes sprang open and she pulled away. His laughing eyes were only inches away.

  “I couldn’t resist, sweetheart,” he said with a grin. “I was only going to wake you, but you were too warm and tempting.”

  He opened the door and climbed around her. “I’ll get out first and help you down.”

  Still only half-awake, she found herself bundled into the Jeep and on her way up the dark highway once again towards Hanson’s Marina. But this time, the dark-eyed driver was no longer a stranger. He had kissed her and called her “sweetheart.”

  For a few brief moments, her troubles were forgotten. Her whole world had shrunk to Matt’s mouth on hers, to her racing pulse, and her heart swelling with an unfamiliar kind of joy.

  Now, in the delicious closeness of the dark car, Reenie decided she wanted to experience that again. Soon.

  Chapter Nine

  Matt glanced over to the slight figure dozing in the other bucket seat and smiled. Reenie Kelly was a lot of woman. His smile twisted a little. Actually, she was a lot of women. There was the feisty woman he encountered at the accident scene; the terrified waif he glimpsed all too often; the fiercely independent woman who refused to accept anybody’s charity; and the warm passionate woman who melted in his arms, then almost incinerated him with her heat.

  Every time he looked into her hypnotic deep blue eyes, he had to struggle to hold on to any shred of common sense. Why did she have to come along now? For the last couple of years, he’d been halfheartedly looking for something or someone to fill the clamoring emptiness inside him. He hadn’t been sure if a career change was what he needed or whether he needed to find a woman to share his life. The choice had been made for him.

  On his visit home last spring, Bronwyn had taken him aside and set him straight on the situation at the marina. The arthritis in Pete’s hip was making it impossible for him to do the heavy work. Because he refused to admit it and hire the necessary extra help, they were starting to lose business. She told Matt plainly that it was his duty to come home to stay.

  He hadn’t fought it. Pete hadn’t fallen all over him, but Matt had the feeling he was grudgingly pleased to have him there. It was the right decision at the time.

  He was fed up with chasing dirty money through intricate electronic mazes for the Justice Department. He had enlisted full of idealism and dreams of adventure. However, he hadn’t been with the antiterrorist squad long when the army discovered his talent with computers and immediately slotted him into a government agency that combated international terrorism by tracking the sources of their funding. Recently, he’d lost even that contact with his boyhood dreams. Most of his time was being pre-empted by the antiracketeering boys who focused on organized crime. There were more connections between the two groups than he liked to think about.

  A totally different dream was almost within reach. The Sailing Solution would be ready in a few months. He had this winter to find someone to help Jeff with the snowmobile engine maintenance that was a growing part of the business. When he had that minor problem solved, he’d have the perfect life. He could run the marina during the summer tourist season and sail the southern seas all winter.

  Reenie gave a soft sigh and stirred in the seat beside him. Still asleep, she stretched and, as she did, one hand lightly grazed his thigh. Matt’s body stirred, too.

  The spontaneous combustion that occurred at this woman’s touch was new to him. The way his emotions insisted on getting tangled up with his physical response was another first. He’d had a couple of fairly intense relationships, but he hadn’t ever been afraid he might lose something of himself when they ended. He didn’t know how long he was going to be able to resist the lure of Reenie’s delectable little body. She scared him. No, he scared himself.

  Maybe one long night of lovemaking with her would get her out of his system. To be honest, he doubted if one night would do it, but a short, intense affair might. Being noble about her vulnerable state sure wasn’t working. Since the moment she opened those startlingly blue eyes in the wrecked car, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.

  A quiet, sane little voice was trying to make itself heard above the roaring of his hormones. What about the dead man? And the blood? Maybe Reenie wasn’t running from her fiancé. It was possible she had killed him. He let out his breath in a long, silent whistle. He and Reenie had to clear the air.

  Friday went by in a flurry of activity. In the morning, Bronwyn and Pete arrived with some of Pete’s books. Wyn spent most of the day helping Reenie move into the apartment. They washed and ironed curtains, put supplies in the larder and scrubbed every inch of the place. Matt saw Reenie and spoke to her a few times but didn’t get to spend a minute alone with her.

  Even when she invited him over to the apartment to see how well she was settling in, Pete was included in the invitation and she directed most of her conversation to him.

  “Your daughter is a marvel,” she said, pointing happily at the starched and ironed curtains.

  Pete beamed. “Did you know she made the slipcovers?”

  Reenie looked suitably awed. She was a different woman bustling around, proudly showing them what they’d accomplished. Matt got a glimpse of what she must be like when she wasn’t looking fearfully over her shoulder. She hadn’t many possessions to put her personal stamp on the apartment, but she’d hung the jeans and blouses she’d picked up in Manitowoc in the closet, arranged the women’s magazine and the paperback mysteries that were her only extravagances on the coffee table, and laid out her few toiletries and her new brush and comb on the bathroom counter.

  Out of the clear blue sky, Pete said, “I wonder, Mattias, if you could help me. That computer you gave me to do the books and inventory with can do a lot of other things, can’t it?”

  Matt gave him a puzzled look. “It sure can,” he said slowly.

  “Could you rig it to organize the telephone fan out?”

  “Sure.” Matt looked pleased. “Let’s go and see what’s involved.”

  The apartment door had barely closed behind the two men when Bronwyn exploded in a loud whoop.

  “I never thought I’d see the day when Dad would ask Matt for help. He swore he wouldn’t ever again after Matt refused to stay at the marina after high school.”

  “Matt mentioned he was the prodigal son,” Reenie said.

  “After Mom died, the marina became Dad’s whole life. He intended it to be a family business. Matt had other ideas. When he won a math scholarship to Michigan State, Dad forbade him to accept it. So Matt gave up the scholarship and joined the army. Their relationship may not be that great now but it’s sure improved.”

  “Matt’s here now.”

  “Dad really needed him. Matt’s a good guy, you know.” Bronwyn hesitated a moment, then blurted, “You aren’t married, are you?”

  This question she could answer honestly. “No, I’m not.”

  “Good.” Bronwyn’s relieved smile spoke volumes.

  “I’m only staying for a couple of weeks,” Reenie warned her.

  “Of course.” The smile became indulgent. “I think we’re finished here. I’d like to stop at the house before I pick up Tommy from school.”

  At the main house, they found Pete unpacking books while Matt did something on the compute
r in Pete’s study.

  “I can’t wait to get started,” Pete told them. “Matt’s got a program he’s adapting to set up a list so that no GEL member in the whole country will have to phone more than four people with any future message.”

  He turned to Reenie. “The boy is brilliant with these machines. The army had to lend him to some outfit in Washington for the last few years, but, of course, he got tired of that, too.”

  “Dad, you know that’s not fair.”

  Rather than argue, Pete changed the subject. “I suppose your committee will do the original phoning about the hot line.”

  Bronwyn shrugged. “If we get that list of yours on time, Donna’s group will start calling from the bank they minute they close and mine will do the other half from the County offices. It shouldn’t take long. We want the members to run a test on the 1-800 hot line,” she clarified for Reenie’s benefit, “and, at the same time, as a favor to Jon Casen, let us know if they’ve seen anyone who resembles Maura Fitzpatrick in their area.”

  “Maybe Reenie could help,” Pete suggested.

  “I’m really not any good at that kind of thing,” Reenie replied quickly. “I’ll provide the refreshments.”

  “Well, you’re a whiz at that.” Reenie was too numbed by the news to appreciate the warmth that beamed from Pete’s dark eyes.

  “I think I’ll go over to the apartment right after dinner,” Reenie said. “There’s no reason I can’t sleep there. That way your room will be free for you in the morning, Pete.”

  “That’s perfect,” Pete announced. “I can sleep here tonight. I’ll start entering the names and phone numbers now and maybe finish them up before I go to bed. Your crew could start phoning tomorrow soon as you can use the phones, Wyn.”

  “You’re sure it won’t be too much for you, Dad?”