Part 8 (1/2)

Ben shoved his salad away without taking a bite. ”Here's what I'm going to do. Tomorrow I'll talk to Pete Rossi, the private detective I hired to investigate you.”

Two days ago, Pete had called him in response to Ben's inquiry about Autumn and Gerald Meeks. According to Pete, Autumn had indeed spoken to Meeks at the federal prison in Sheridan, but Rossi couldn't confirm what Meeks had said. The inmate had refused his request for a visit and probably wouldn't have told him anything anyway.

”I'll ask Rossi to start digging around, see if he can turn up anything new about Molly's disappearance.” He hadn't done this yet. He'd wanted more proof that Autumn's crazy dreams were real.

”Did Rossi work on the case when Molly first disappeared?”

”No. I used a different agency. But I think it might be better to start fresh. Look at the whole thing from a different perspective.”

”That sounds like a good idea.” Autumn gave him such a bright, hopeful smile that Ben found himself oddly disarmed. ”So we're going to start looking?”

He leaned back in his chair. ”Don't get too excited. I said I'd ask Pete to do a little digging. I'm not about to set this whole thing in motion-not yet.”

”But-”

”Cancel your climbing trip and I'll pick you up for the benefit at seven o'clock tomorrow night.”

She toyed with her fork, eyeing him across the table. ”Are you sure your friends won't think you're lowering your standards? I'm hardly a cover model.”

No, she was nothing at all like Dolores Delgato or any of the other women he was likely to take to this kind of affair. But she was smart and interesting and-though she didn't seem to know it-s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. An image of Autumn's tight round behind flexing as she climbed the wall sent a shot of pure l.u.s.t into his groin. She chewed her bottom lip, which was rosy and full and made him want to run his tongue across it.

Under different circ.u.mstances- Ben cut off the thought. ”To tell you the truth, the evening will probably be a whole lot more interesting with you instead of someone who doesn't really want to be there in the first place. Now eat your salad and let's enjoy our meal. We can talk about climbing, if you want. That shouldn't be too personal.”

Autumn's small shoulders relaxed and she gave him another smile. It made her seem completely sincere and utterly without guile. He reminded himself he couldn't risk trusting her-not yet. He had to think of Katie and Joanne, his parents and the rest of his family. He refused to see them suffer again.

Time was what he needed. Time to know if Autumn Sommers was telling the truth. And if she was, time to discover whether or not-as impossible as it sounded-her dreams might lead him to Molly.

But how much time did he have?

Ben prayed that his need for caution wouldn't come at Molly's expense.

Nine.

Autumn was tired when she got back home. The evening with Ben had been taxing. She knew it was the s.e.xual attraction she felt for him that she didn't want to feel. She tried to tell herself it was only natural with a man as handsome and charming as Ben, but the truth was that Ben seemed to affect her in a different way than other men.

Usually, she had a knack for keeping the opposite s.e.x at arm's length. She let men know early on that she enjoyed their friends.h.i.+p but she wasn't interested in anything more. Most of them accepted it, some were maybe even a little relieved.

Ben was different. There was a look in his eyes that said he saw her as a woman, an object of desire that had nothing at all to do with friends.h.i.+p. It surprised and flattered her. The man dated the most beautiful women in the world. That he would show the slightest interest in her was amazing.

Of course she could be wrong. She could be seeing something that wasn't really there. Or perhaps he was just that way with women in general, seeing each of them as an object to be conquered.

Ronnie Hillson had been that way-charming her, pretending an interest in her that lasted through the month they had dated, then disappearing the day after he took her to bed. At first she believed she must be a really bad lover, but eventually she decided that more likely it was the conquest that had interested Ronnie and she was just too naive to see.

Autumn yawned as she headed for the bedroom, stripping off her sweater along the way. She had called Josh on her cell on the way home from the restaurant to apologize for breaking off their climbing date again.

”Things happen,” he'd said. ”It's no big deal. Mike Logan's been bugging me to go. I'll ring him up, see if he can get his s.h.i.+t together by tomorrow morning.”

”Mike's not ready for Castle Rock.”

”Yeah, I know. We'll go somewhere else.” She could almost see Josh grin. ”Which is good because I wouldn't want to tackle Castle Rock with anyone but you.”

”I'm really sorry, Josh.”

There was a pause on the end of the line. ”You...uh...seem kind of pre-occupied lately. You'd tell me, wouldn't you, if something was wrong?”

”I'm fine. I've been having a little trouble sleeping is all. I'm sure it will pa.s.s. I'll talk to you next week.” She'd hung up the phone and found Ben watching her.

”Sounds like your friend, Josh, is worried about you.”

”He's a very caring guy.”

”You sure it isn't more than that?”

Her head had come up at the odd note in his voice. ”Actually, Josh is in love with my best friend, Terri Markham. Unfortunately for Josh, Terri doesn't know he exists.”

”Poor guy.”

”Yeah. I keep hoping Terri will open her eyes and see how great Josh is.”

The taxi had pulled up in front of her building a few minutes later and Ben insisted on escorting her to her door. She didn't invite him in and it was clear he didn't expect her to. She'd said good-bye, then closed the door and leaned against it, surprised to discover how fast her heart was racing.

d.a.m.n.

Autumn sighed as she undressed and tossed her clothes on the bed. Feeling any sort of physical attraction to Ben McKenzie was the last thing she wanted. The man was way out of her league and even if he was interested-which he probably wasn't-she'd be a fool to even consider getting involved with him.

Autumn hung up her clothes-determined not to think of him-slipped into her pink shortie nightgown, drew back the covers and crawled into bed.

That night, she dreamed.

Ben spent all day Sat.u.r.day at his office, working on the problem of A-1 Sports and their threat to his Issaquah store. He made a phone call to Russ Petrone, the real estate broker who'd been keeping him informed, and Russ told him A-1 had officially made an offer on the vacant lot on the corner across the street from his store.

”Sonofab.i.t.c.h.”

”The sellers haven't accepted yet, but it looks like they probably will.”

”Not good news.”

”You said A-1 wants to buy your stores. I got this info without much trouble. I think they want you to know. Probably figure the threat of a competing store so close might be enough to get you to accept their offer.”

”I'm sure that's what they're hoping but I'm not taking the bait, which means they'll have to go one step further.”

”You think they'll actually build across the street?”

”I think they'll go that far if they have to. They'll figure if they can drive down the profits on the Issaquah store-maybe even force it to close-I'll be inclined to accept their offer for the chain.”

”Anything you want me to do?”