Love at First Sight Part 13

But still, it seemed so unlike her. She had a feeling she hadn't been acting herself lately.

But what made her believe him was the electricity she felt sparking between them, especially when their gazes met and held.

Like right now. He'd looked over at her, concern still in the depths of his brown eyes. She felt herself sizzle under his gaze and smiled shyly. They must have a great s.e.x life. She couldn't wait to have her memory refreshed.

"I want you to see a doctor, just to make sure you're all right," he was saying.

"I really am fine, Jack." She liked the feel of his name on her lips. "I don't want a silly little fall to spoil our honeymoon. Where are we going for our honeymoon?"

"It's a surprise."

"I love surprises," she said, sitting back in the Jeep and watching the world rush by. Married. It felt strange, but good. It felt unfamiliar, but somehow right. Just like this man beside her.

JACK PACED outside the doctor's examining room like a man in one of those old movies whose wife was about to give birth. When the doctor finally came out, he gave Jack a big smile and a slap on the back. outside the doctor's examining room like a man in one of those old movies whose wife was about to give birth. When the doctor finally came out, he gave Jack a big smile and a slap on the back.

"Karen tells me the two of you were married this morning," he said. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Jack said, knowing he was going to live to regret his impetuousness-and probably very soon. "How is she?"

"She has a slight concussion. I'd keep an eye on her."

That's exactly what Jack planned to do.

"And don't worry, her injury won't interfere with your honeymoon plans," he said with a wink.

Great, Jack thought as Karen came out of the examining room and he led her out to the Jeep. She took his arm. He could feel her body heat, warming the mild spring afternoon. He could feel himself begin to heat up, as well. How was he ever going to be able to keep his distance from this woman?

"Tell me how we met," Karen said as he drove out of town. "Tell me everything."

"Wouldn't you rather wait until your memory comes back on its own?" he asked.

"No," she said, cuddling next to him. "I want to hear your version, then when I remember, I'll know how we both felt. It really must must have been love at first sight. I just can't imagine me doing something so..." have been love at first sight. I just can't imagine me doing something so..."

"Impetuous?" he supplied. It was going around.

She smiled and nodded. "I've always been so prudent and cautious. You must have really swept me off my feet."

Prudent and cautious? That definitely didn't fit the woman he'd come to know.

"You must bring out another side of me I didn't even know existed."

He groaned, afraid that just might be the case. Imagine what side he'd bring out in her when she got her memory back. The murderous side.

"Please tell me everything, from the moment we met to how we fell in love to the wedding ceremony and how I ended up in a phone booth on my honeymoon with a knot on my head." She ended with a laugh. "Don't leave out a single detail."

"Well," he began, wondering just where to begin and how much to tell her. Since the whole marriage was nothing but a lie, he could have made up any story he liked.

But instead, he found himself telling the truth. Up to a point.

"I literally could not take my eyes off you the first time I saw you," he began.

"LIZ J JONES," Karen said, shaking her head as they left Missoula far behind. "How strange after all these years and how awful."

He'd had to tell her about the murder. Wasn't any way to get around it. Just as he'd had to tell her about the man she'd seen in the hotel hallway. The man who had seen her and Jack's fear that she might be in danger.

She smiled and snuggled against him. "I know it must not seem odd to you-it certainly does to me-but I feel so safe with you and I don't really remember you." She looked up into his eyes then, her expression serious. She seemed to study him for a very long time. "I do do know you," she said after a moment. "Maybe not in my head but definitely in my heart." know you," she said after a moment. "Maybe not in my head but definitely in my heart."

Guilt twisted at his insides. He almost told her the truth right then. He knew by lying about the marriage he had only compounded the problem. But if he hoped to keep Karen alive, he had to protect her not only from the killer but the police. He had to consider that there was a leak in the department. Or that Baxter had gotten sloppy when he stashed Karen on the top floor of the hotel. And where had all the cops been at the second stakeout?

Whatever was going on, he couldn't trust the police to take care of her.

Karen loved the ski lodge and the view, just as she had the first time. Only now, in what was left of daylight, she wanted to explore the place, including the old chalet. He had to smile at her delight at finding the chalet stuffed with old furniture and odds and ends. She was full of ideas on what they could do to restore the place and live in it full-time, and he listened to her, caught up in her excitement. But he knew once she found out the truth, all of those ideas would be tossed out like yesterday's newspaper-along with him.

"Jack, I know something is bothering you," she said later back at the lodge. "Are you having regrets about...us?"

He looked over at her, her eyes large and filled with anguish. He quickly shook his head, his gaze softening at just the sight of her. This woman had the ability to turn him to mush with just a look. Or turn him as hard as t.i.tanium with a whole other look.

"I could never regret meeting you," he said, realizing just how true that was. "You are the most amazing thing that has happened to me."

She smiled, tears welling in her eyes. "Oh, Jack." She rushed into his arms. He held her, wondering how something so wrong could feel so right.

"What did the doctor say about..." Her eyes were large, her gaze so filled with love-and desire-as she pulled back to look at him.

He swallowed, feeling like the lowest form of animal life. Wasn't he the one who was always telling Denny that one lie led to another until you were caught up in them like a net?

Well, Jack was caught. And badly. But what other option did he have? Return her to Baxter and let him put her in another safe house? Not after the last one had blown up. Not after someone had tried to kill her a third time at the phone booth.

No, the only way Jack could protect her was to keep her with him and keep up the pretense a little longer. He'd done the chivalrous thing. Right?

"The doctor said we should wait because of your head injury," Jack told her.

Disappointment clouded her expressive eyes. "I'm sorry. You must be as disappointed as I am."

She had no idea. Just the mere thought of making love to her... Disappointment didn't even cover what he was feeling.

Then she smiled. "But I suppose we have the rest of our lives."

He saw her glance down at her ring finger on her left hand as if a little surprised and...disappointed to find it bare. She probably thought she didn't have a very caring or romantic husband.

"You're probably hungry," he said, feeling like an even worse heel.

"Actually, I'm not," she said, right behind him.

He glanced back at her. "I picked up some doughnuts. Lemon-filled."

She shook her head. "We must have a very pa.s.sionate relations.h.i.+p," she persisted.

He felt his heart skip a beat at the thought. "What makes you think that?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

She laughed, too, hers more natural, though. "When I'm around you I feel...sparks." She shrugged. "I've never felt like this around anyone else."

He definitely knew what she meant.

"And when I look at you, it's like the rest of the world doesn't exist." She shrugged, her smile bright as any summer day he'd ever seen. "You probably think that's silly."

"Not at all," he said, his voice cracking.

"And when I touch you-" She placed the flat of her hand against his chest, directly over his heart.

Oh, G.o.d. He closed his eyes, his heart a sledgehammer. Oh, yeah. He opened his eyes to find her gaze on his.

"Good," she said laughing, sounding relieved. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. It certainly explains why we got married the way we did, huh?" She slid her hand up his chest and along his shoulder to his arm, then pulled back slowly as if reluctant to break the connection. "But there is something I was wondering about."

He held his breath.

"It's such an old-fas.h.i.+oned thing for us to do, getting married instead of just living together first," she said. "I have a feeling you're the one who insisted on marriage. Such a gallant kind of thing to do."

Yeah, gallant. Really heroic. But he was was relieved that was the only thing bothering her. "When I met you," he said honestly, "you just reminded me of my image of the Girl Next Door. I wanted you almost the first time I saw you." It shocked him how true that was. relieved that was the only thing bothering her. "When I met you," he said honestly, "you just reminded me of my image of the Girl Next Door. I wanted you almost the first time I saw you." It shocked him how true that was.

"Oh, Jack, that's so romantic," she said, throwing her arms around his neck.

He circled her slim waist with his arms and hugged her to him, the feel of her an intoxicant that made him light-headed-and aroused.

She pulled back to look into his eyes. "I can't wait until I can remember every minute of it."

Yeah, he couldn't either. The doctor had said her memory loss would be short-term. The question was, how short-term? When she remembered maybe she'd be able to tell him who the killer was. But she would also remember that they weren't married. Not even close. That she didn't need him. And would know that he had lied and couldn't be trusted. The thought made him sick inside.

"In the meantime, you have time to take a nice hot bath before dinner," he suggested.

She smiled, her eyes an inviting blue. He knew better than to go there. "I wish you could join me in the tub," she said suggestively. Nor there, especially.

His Girl Next Door was turning out to be quite the woman. More of a woman than he'd imagined, that was for sure.

"Yeah, I wish I could, too," he said, meaning every word of it.

He waited until he heard the water running in the tub, before he called Denny from his cell phone.

"What the h.e.l.l happened at the safe house?" he demanded when Denny answered.

"I've been trying to reach you."

Jack had turned off his cell phone, busy trying to figure out how to deal with the latest challenge-his new bride.

"Where is Karen?" Denny demanded.

Jack had a sudden clear mental picture of her in the claw-foot bathtub. He dragged himself back from the enticing scene of his "wife" chin-deep in a bubble bath. "I don't know." Another lie. All for a good cause.

"I don't believe you," Denny said, no recrimination in his voice. "You'd be freaking out if you didn't."

Freaking. The same word Liz had used on the answering-machine tape. "This is so freaky."

"At least she wasn't in the hotel when it blew up," Denny said.

"She was determined to go to the meeting place so she gave her guards the slip."

"Amazing woman, isn't she?"

More than Denny knew. "There has to be a leak in the department," Jack said, voicing his suspicions.

"Seems that way, huh?" Denny was silent for a moment. "I hope you don't think I had anything to do with it."

Silence. Jack didn't know what he thought anymore.

"Baxter is going crazy," Denny warned. "He's beside himself. I thought he was going to shoot the two officers who lost her."

"They got off the floor before it exploded?" Jack asked in surprise.

"Supposedly, they were out looking for Karen. It seems she climbed out the bathroom window while they thought she was taking a bath, and down a fire escape."

Jack shook his head and smiled to himself. "She's something, that's for sure."

"Yeah, well, Baxter wants her found," Denny said.

"Denny, there weren't any cops at the stakeout. Someone had pulled them off."

"I heard Baxter got a call that said Karen was in trouble at the hotel and they were responding when it blew up."

Is that where they'd been, just across the river when Karen was attacked? How convenient. Jack no longer knew what to believe.

"Another letter came to the paper," Denny said into the silence.

Jack wasn't surprised. The killer had failed twice. He wanted another chance. Especially now with Karen missing. "When is she supposed to meet with this one?"

"Tomorrow night."

Jack knew he should tell Denny about Karen's memory loss. This was his partner. But he couldn't trust even Denny. Not now. Not until he could prove to himself that Denny wasn't involved.

"Who knows what Baxter will do if he can't locate Karen before then," Denny said. "You think it's another setup." It wasn't a question. Denny had to be thinking the same thing Jack was.

"Yeah. I think all the killer really wants is to draw her out now. He doesn't care if she's made him-or if she's told anyone else what she knows. He just wants her dead. With her dead, it would be hard to prove he killed Liz."