“Uh, the controls are a little sensitive,” Owen said, trying for a diplomatic tone.
“No kidding,” Alice said.
But she eased up on the throttle.
Sebastian recovered his shades and bounced back onto the dash. He leaned into the breeze created by the fast-moving vehicle. His gray fur was plastered against his small frame.
“There’s something I need to remember in the morning,” Owen mumbled. “Remind me.”
“Remind you of what?”
“It has to do with that crew that tried to grab you a few minutes ago.”
“What about that crew do you want to remember?”
“Just saylow-rent operation. That should do it.”
“Can you be a little more specific?”
“No. Can’t think.” He slumped deeper into the seat and rested his head on her shoulder. “Don’t forget.”
“I won’t.”
He tried to focus on the upcoming intersection. “You might want to slow down before you turn the corner.”
She took one hand off the wheel, reached out, and touched his wrist.
“You can go back to dreamland now,” she said.
“Okay. But remember,low-rent.”
“Sleep, Owen.”
He sensed another whisper of energy and then the tunnel faded around him. He was once again exactly where he wanted to be—in the big bed in the suite with Alice. Unfortunately, she was still in her pajamas.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
She woke up abruptly, awarethat she was not alone in the bed. Instinctively she froze, struggling to comprehend the unfamiliar sensation. Her companion wasn’t Sebastian. She knew how it felt to have his small, warm weight at the foot of the bed. This new companion was very human and very male.
Owen.
She was lying on her side, facing the window. The desert night had long since settled on the city. Illusion Town was never entirely quiet, but it really got going after dark.
She tried to move and realized she couldn’t. It took her a moment to realize that Owen had one arm draped around her waist in a casually possessive way—as if he had every right to pull her into his warm strength.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized they were both fully dressed. It would have been very depressing to think that she had been so disoriented by tunnel energy and so exhausted by the work of keepingOwen from plunging into sleep that she had forgotten having sex with him.
Memories slammed back—the mad dash through the tunnels to the hotel. Two Amber Palace security people helping her get the semiconscious Owen out of the sled and up to the suite via a back-of-the-house route that kept them out of the public eye. Sebastian had accompanied them back to the room and then disappeared with one of the security people.
The guards had dumped Owen, fully clothed, onto the quilt that covered the big bed. When she was alone with him, she managed to remove his boots, but that was as far as she had gone. It wasn’t as if she could have gotten him out of his clothes even if it had been a good idea—he was too heavy. She wouldn’t have been able to move him, at least not without a great deal of effort. Besides, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be smart to take off his shirt and trousers.
Once she was certain that he was on the right side of the sleep state, and stable, she had briefly considered opening the pullout bed in the couch for her own use. But the task had seemed overwhelming.
She had decided to curl up on the couch cushions instead, but that would have required her to walk across the room, and she had been so very tired. In the end she had concluded the sensible thing to do was to take a short nap on top of the quilt.
“In my dream, I was sure things were going to end a little differently,” Owen said into her ear. “But this definitely isn’t the worst possible outcome. I can work with it.”
She remained very still and forced herself to focus on the important things.
