Tony’s eyes narrowed as he saw a cloud of dust ahead, signaling to him the approach of a car. He dove into the brush at the side of the road and lay motionless.
The car was a brown Toyota, and it approached at a snail’s pace. Tony’s heart thudded loudly as the car passed within twenty feet of where he hid. He was close enough to the side of the road to get a good look at the occupants. They didn’t look like a typical couple out for a Sunday drive.
The two men in the car were big and burly, and the one on the passenger side had a gun pointed out the window. They were headed toward the grocery store where Tony had just been, and his nose told him they were looking for Libby and him. Obviously they were drones of the New Republic, and they didn’t look like nice men.
Once the car was out of sight and the cloud of dust had disappeared, Tony hit the road again. He stepped up his pace, anxious to get to wherever Libby hid. Thank God he’d decided to dump the car. He was certain the entire network of the New Republic group had a description, and probably the license plate number of his car. He and Libby would have been sitting ducks had they remained with the vehicle. As long as those men were looking for the car, maybe he and Libby would be safe.
“All we need is sixteen hours,” he said aloud, pacing the words to match his running footsteps. He didn’t want to think about how many things could go wrong in the space of sixteen hours.
He slowed down as he came to the place in the road where he had let Libby out of the car. Even though the scenery by the side of the road all looked pretty much the same, Tony had marked the position in his mind by noting a brilliant patch of yellow wildflowers on the left and a lightning-struck tree trunk in the distance. He left the road at this point and made his way through the thick underbrush.
Almost immediately he began whispering Libby’s name, wondering how far she might have wandered through the woods before coming to a place to stop. He walked and called to her for several minutes, then stopped as he heard her answer.
“Libby?” he called softly, looking around curiously.
“I’m here, Tony,” she answered, but he didn’t see her anywhere. He tried to follow the direction of her voice, but the surrounding trees and brush distorted it, and he couldn’t tell exactly where the sound of her voice came from.
“Libby, where are you?” he asked impatiently, straining his eyes to catch a glimpse of her.
She laughed, a wonderfully rich sound that made him smile in return. “I found a marvelous hidey-hole,” she said.
“Wouldn’t you like to share your marvelous hidey-hole?” he asked, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the area. He was surprised that he saw not one single sign of her…not a glimpse of her T-shirt, not a strand of pale, blond hair. Wherever she was hiding, it was definitely a good place.
He jumped in surprise as her head suddenly appeared in a small opening in the brush not ten feet from where he stood. “Come into my home, said the spider to the fly.” She gave him a small smile, the look in her eyes speaking of the relief she felt at his appearance.
Tony wiggled through the small opening, then sat cross-legged on the soft carpet of pine needles and looked around in amazement. “This is perfect,” he exclaimed.
“Did you have any problems getting rid of the car?” she asked.
Tony shook his head. “I found a small ravine about two miles away. I parked the car there, then pulled some fallen branches and limbs over it.” He grinned ruefully. “I’m not exactly experienced in the art of camouflage, but the car isn’t visible from a distance.” He frowned slightly. “We’ll have to keep very quiet because this New Republic group are on the lookout for us. Let’s just hope they keep looking for the car and don’t suspect that we’ve ditched it and are now on foot.”
Libby shivered, and Tony moved closer to her and placed his arm around her slender shoulders. “Stay strong a little bit longer,” he whispered softly. “We’ll meet Cliff first thing in the morning and hand over the necklace. Then we can get back to our normal lives.”
Libby nodded, cuddling closer into his arms. “It will seem sort of strange being just an ordinary pawnshop owner after being in the middle of a national security threat.”
Tony looked down at her with a grin. “Libby, you will never be just an ordinary pawnshop owner.” He leaned down to kiss her but stopped as his stomach rumbled loudly, causing her to laugh. “I’ve been trying to ignore the fact that I’m starving,” Tony exclaimed. “But unless I like pine needles, I guess we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow morning when all of this is over.” He groaned at the thought. “God, sixteen hours without food.”
“The best thing for us to do is keep ourselves occupied and not think about food,” Libby observed.
“How are we going to do that? We’ve got sixteen hours to occupy with no television, no radio, nothing to pass the time. I left the deck of cards back in the motel room.” He ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. “Waiting was never one of my virtues,” he admitted.
“I can think of one way to pass the time,” Libby said after a moment of hesitation.
He looked at her curiously. “What’s that?”
Moving out of his arms for a moment, Libby smiled at him, a sexy smile that instantly made his blood race a little faster in his veins. With one fluid movement, she pulled the T-shirt over her head and looked at him expectantly.
Tony’s physical reaction was swift and intense. “Oh, Libby Weatherby…” He sighed. “Sometimes you have the most marvelous ideas,” he murmured as he drew her back into his arms.
He didn’t think about what might happen in the next twenty-four hours, he didn’t think about what would happen when they got back to Kansas City. He certainly didn’t want to think about what a bastard he would be to make love to her once again, knowing there would never be, could never be, a future with her. All he thought about was Libby and his need to love her one last time.
His mouth was hard against hers, his tongue delving deep within. She kissed him back, reaching her hands up to tangle in his thick hair, wanting him with a fever that threatened to make her ill.
She helped him tug off his T-shirt and they both shrugged out of their jeans, coming back together naked and eager, but caressing slowly, exploring the mysteries they might have missed in the darkness the night before.
As he took his fingers and traced the rounded swell of one of her breasts, his eyes sought hers, and she saw the fires that lit their darkness. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered as his fingertips rubbed her swollen nipple.
“So are you,” she answered, reaching down and taking him in her hand, loving the feel of velvet heat, softness and strength. She stroked him gently, feeling the answering pulsating sensation, reveling in the fact that she was responsible for his powerful passion.
