He opened his eyes. “Yes, you do.”
She ignored what he said. “Do you have an old girlfriend’s name tattooed under there or something? Because I promise you that I don’t care.”
“No. It’s not a girl’s name.”I loveyou,no one else.
“Okay then. Please let me see.”
“What initials are you looking for?” he asked. What were the odds she was looking for someone else with initials on a right-hand ring finger? Astronomical?
“MCVIV.”Space potatoes.
He sucked in a hard, fast breath and stood up. He’d expected her to say it, but hearing the hated initials spoken out loud sent a shard of panic to his very soul. He’d been found out. Someone was looking for him. Who was it? Should he run for it? Where would he go? He was stuck.
“Are you truly the one I’ve been looking for all night?”
Max pushed out a long sigh, pulled the wide band off his finger and showed her the hated initials that forever identified him as Maximillian Cornelius Vandervere the Fourth.
“I guess I am.”
Ruby looked beautiful, staring up at him with those fathomless dark blue eyes, a hue that matched her coat perfectly. However, the realization that he’d been found out eventually obliterated her face from his perception as fear soaked into his tortured soul.
Chapter Eight
Stunned, Ruby stared at Max’s finger and the initials she’d been searching for all night long at the party. What were the odds that the guy who loved her and wanted to marry her was the person she sought? Apparently, the odds were even.
“Why did you hide this?”
Max looked miserable. Like his life was over. “Like I said, it’s personal.”
“I see. Well, what does it mean?”
“Don’t you already know?”
“Nope. I was hired to find a man who had these initials and deliver a message. That’s it.”
“What message?”
“I don’t know. It’s in a small package back at my office in the mercantile building down the street.”
“Do you know anything about me? About my past? Is that why you sent the Sheriff after me?”
She frowned. “No. The initials were merely a means of identification. And I didn’t send the Sheriff after you. The police asked me if I saw anyone near the bathrooms at the time in question and you’re the only person I saw.”
“Okay.” He sat down, but didn’t look any happier.
“What do the initials stand for? Some alien sacrificial pledge for mayhem or something? A vile swearword? What?”
He looked skyward and shook his head as if at the end of his patience. Occasionally, she had that impact on people.
“They are my initials.”
“Really? Huh. Well, you have quite the mouthful of a name with five initials.”
“You have no idea.”
“Max Vander isn’t your name?”
