“Sir?” said a polite voice. “Would you empty your pockets, please?”
Liam bit back a groan, dumped his change into a receptacle and watched as Jessie merged with the crowd. By the time he started after her, she’d disappeared. He moved quickly from one gate to the next. She could be anywhere by now. If only he had some idea…
There she was, at the information desk at gate twelve. Liam looked at the sign behind the desk. Flight 937 to Miami, it said. Departing at 10:45. He looked at his watch. It was 10:15. Not that it mattered. Jessie wasn’t going anywhere, not without a ticket. But she was. Everything clicked into place. No cash, no credit card needed, not if she’d made all her arrangements via the Internet. With luck, she could even switch to an earlier departure.
“Where are you guys going on your honeymoon?” he’d asked last night, as he’d tried to make conversation and get his mind off Bill’s fiancée.
“Florida,” Bill had replied with a quick smile at Jessie. “Hibiscus Key. Well—” he’d blushed “—actually, it’s a place called Couples’ Cove.” He’d looped his arm lightly around Jessie’s shoulders. “Jessica made the arrangements. She makes all my travel plans on the computer, don’t you, dear?”
And Jessie had torn her eyes from Liam, cleared her throat and said yes, yes, she did, and they’d continued with some meaningless chitchat.
Liam swung away and ran through the terminal to the AmericAir ticket counter while he dug his cell phone from his pocket. There were two people ahead of him. “Emergency,” he said, and stepped quickly to the head of the line as he punched in Bill’s number.
“Hello?”
It was Carrie’s voice. “Put Bill on,” Liam said curtly.
“He’s resting. I hate to wake him, Mr. Malone. He’s had such a bad—”
“Give him a message. Tell him…” He looked up. The ticket clerk was staring at him, eyebrows raised. “Hang on,” he said, and hit the mute button. “One seat, Flight 937 to Miami.” He dug in his pocket, took out his driver’s license and his credit card, handed them over. “Charge the ticket, and there’s my photo ID.”
“Coach or first class?”
“First class. Look, pal, the flight’s going to be boarding in—”
“It’s already boarding, sir. If fact, I don’t know if I can—”
“Just do it,” Liam said tersely, and put the phone to his ear. “Carrie? Tell Bill… Tell him I…” Liam watched as the clerk began typing his ticket. Jessie was on that plane. She was leaving Seattle, putting three thousand miles between them. “Tell him that I’ve found Jessie. She’s at the airport, and she’s fine, and—” And what? “Tell him I’ll be in touch,” he said, and hit the disconnect button as the clerk handed him his ticket.
The attendant was just closing the door that led to the boarding ramp as Liam sprinted through the gate. “Wait,” he yelled. “That’s my flight.”
The attendant opened the door and reached for the phone. “Talk about cutting it close—”
He thundered down the ramp to the plane. The flight attendant greeted him with a smile.
“Just about missed it,” she said brightly.
He nodded, struggled to catch his breath. “Yeah,” he said—and then he saw Jessie, sitting by the window, alone in the last row of the first-class cabin. She looked up and saw him, and for the first time in his life, Liam knew what people meant when they said they were terrified, because that was how he felt now, scared right through to the marrow of his bones.
His eyes never left hers as he walked down the aisle. “I almost missed the flight,” he said softly when he reached her. “I probably could have bluffed my way into picking up Bill’s ticket and using it, but I didn’t want to.”
Jessie touched the tip of her tongue to her bottom lip. “Why not?”
“Because I’m not standing in for Bill, or speaking for him. Not anymore. Do you understand that?”
Her mouth trembled as Liam sat down and took her hand. “Yes,” she whispered. “Oh, yes, I understand.”
Liam took Jessie’s face in his hands. This time, when their lips met, it was in a kiss so tender that it almost turned him inside out.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SEAT BELT SIGN BLINKED OFF when the plane reached cruising altitude.
Liam looked at Jessie. The softness of her smile, the undisguised joy with which she’d greeted him, were gone. Instead, she stared straight ahead, features rigid, face pale, her hand turning to ice in his.
“Jessie,” he said, and she looked at him, her eyes wide with a fear he could only guess at.
He wanted to gather her into his embrace. He’d always liked having a woman in his arms, in bed or on a dance floor, but women in need of soothing made him feel clumsy. That wasn’t how he felt now. He wanted to hold her, not to kiss her but to comfort her, warm her, rock her against him as if she’d just awakened from a bad dream and only he could chase away the demons.