THIRTY-THREE
Isabel could never tell anyone what Michael gave her for her birthday. To say his “gift” was X-rated was an understatement. She didn’t wake up until nine. She sat up in bed, her hair hanging in her face. She brushed it over her shoulder and found Michael across the room. He was working on his laptop.
He didn’t look up. “Good morning.”
He was dressed and ready to go. “How long have you been up?” she asked. Her voice was as croaky as a frog’s.
“A couple of hours. Get moving,” he said.
“Yes, all right.” She continued to sit there, staring off into space.
Isabel closed her eyes, and after a minute or two Michael realized she had gone back to sleep. Sitting up, no less.
His laughter startled her. She wanted to curl up and go back to sleep for a couple of hours, but she knew she couldn’t. With a groan she slid out of bed and went into the bathroom.
After dressing, she returned to the bedroom to find Michael still on his laptop. She watched him reading the screen for several minutes and then said, “I thought you were in a hurry to leave.”
“I was just checking our route to Inverness. I booked our flight to Boston, and we need to be at the airport by five tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? You want to fly back to Boston tomorrow?” She hadn’t expected his abrupt announcement. “Couldn’t we stay an extra day or two? I like it here. There’s so much I want to see.”
“No.”
No? The refusal came a little too quickly. “I know you want to get back to your life... ,” she began.
“Yes, I do.”
His curt response made her angry, but she was determined to stay calm, and yelling wouldn’t accomplish anything. She began to straighten the room just to have something to do while she worked on getting her emotions under control.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making the bed.”
“The maids will strip the sheets,” he said.
“I know.”
She didn’t say another word until she had finished the task. Okay, her temper was under control, and her breathing was normal again. “Now that Clive Harcus is locked up, there isn’t any reason to be worried about my safety. You go ahead and fly home. I’m going to stay here awhile longer.”
Michael tried to be reasonable. “What about all of Clive’s friends? You think they won’t come after you?” Before she could think of a logical answer, he said, “A lot of people don’t want you to ruin their plans for Glen MacKenna, and aside from that obvious threat, there’s also the fact that you’re a celebrity.”
“What does that matter?”
“You don’t remember what it was like getting out of the arena in Boston?”
Oh yes, she remembered. It would have been terrifying if Michael hadn’t been with her. “Not all that many people know who I am,” she argued.
“You’re wrong. They know who you are. They just haven’t been able to find out where you are, and that’s because of all the help we’ve gotten from Nick and Alec and Noah with cars and hotels...”
“I can handle a crowd.” It was a blatant lie, but she thought she told it well.
Exasperated, he said, “They’d run right over you. I’m not going back to Boston without you. It isn’t safe for you here. You’re going home with me.”
He walked over to her, tilted her chin up so she would look at him, and softened his tone. “Do you honestly believe I would leave you?”
He didn’t give her time to answer. He leaned down and kissed her. When he pulled away, she looked a little dazed.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here. We’ll stop at the front desk and let them know we’ll be staying one more night.”