He felt as if he'd had selective amnesia for the past hour and a half, the situation they were in disappearing from his mind altogether. But as they lay in bed now it all started to come back to him, and he knew there was something he had to do. Something he should have already done.

"I'm sure my brothers have heard what happened by now," Dave told Lisa, rising from the bed. "I'd better give Alex a call and tell him what's going on. I'll be back in soon."

She nodded and closed her eyes with a weary sigh. Her cheeks were still flushed pink from the hot shower, her reddish-gold hair still tangled and damp. At that moment, he was sure he'd never seen a more beautiful woman.

He should be going home. He knew that. But he couldn't fight it. He couldn't fight the all-consuming attraction he felt to this pa.s.sionate, excessive, exhilarating woman who was little more than a hundred and twenty pounds of adrenaline rush, a woman who would fit into his life, and his daughter's life, like a leopard fits into a petting zoo.

Maybe in the light of day he'd go back to denying it, but right now, as he stared down at her, he knew the real reason he'd made her that promise all those years ago. Because he thought that someday, no matter which way life led him, if Lisa took him up on his promise, he'd have to fulfill it. One tie, one link, one tiny thread that had continued to connect them all these years.

And here they were together again.

Lisa lay awake in her bedroom, staring into the darkness. She knew why Dave had gone to the kitchen to make that phone call, even though there was a phone right beside him on the nightstand. Because he didn't want to have that conversation in front of her, the one where he had to justify to Alex what had happened and why he wasn't coming home. She had no idea what he would tell his brother. She was only glad he was staying. And that was exactly what she'd been afraid of. Wanting him too much.

Every moment she was with Dave was heaven and h.e.l.l all rolled into one, the glorious feeling of being in the arms of a man who had lived in her heart for eleven long years, a man she'd practically been obsessed with, combined with a feeling of apprehension that sooner or later the ax had to fall. He had a life to return to in Tolosa, a child to think about, and undoubtedly there was a woman in his future who'd be the perfect wife for him and mother for his daughter.

Every time I look at you, something happens to me that I can't explain. It's attraction. It's admiration. It's this strange can't explain. It's attraction. It's admiration. It's this strange out-of-breath feeling I get when I even think about touching you. out-of-breath feeling I get when I even think about touching you.

She didn't know what that meant, except that s.e.x did crazy things to men. Made them do crazy things, say crazy things. For the sake of great s.e.x, politicians became reckless, rulers abdicated thrones, international spies spilled state secrets.

Before now, I don't care who you've been with, he'd told her. he'd told her. But from here on out I'm going to. But from here on out I'm going to.

And some men turned possessive in the heat of the moment and said things they didn't really mean.

Just always make it good for him. Make him want you so much that he can't stop thinking about you, and maybe he'll much that he can't stop thinking about you, and maybe he'll be yours forever. be yours forever.

Good Lord. What was she thinking? Forever? Forever?

That was so irrational. The very idea of her sitting in Tolosa, Texas, playing soccer mom and baking cookies was so foreign that she almost couldn't imagine it. And no reality existed where Dave would forget his family and his job and climb into the clouds with her, leaving her free to fly at a moment's notice but still be there whenever she wanted him.

Even as she was beginning to realize just how much she wanted him, she wanted her independence more. She had the life she'd always dreamed of, and no matter where this led, she had no intention of giving that up for anything.

Or anyone.

Dave sat down in one of Lisa's kitchen chairs, drumming his fingertips on the table, waiting for Alex to come on the line. Finally he heard his brother's voice.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"Alex. It's me."

"Dave? Where are you?"

"San Antonio."

"What in the h.e.l.l is going on there? Tell me there's been some mistake. Tell me you weren't picked up on drug charges."

Dave steeled himself against the accusation in his brother's voice. "You heard."

"h.e.l.l, yes, I heard!"

"Take it easy, Alex. They haven't charged us yet."

"But you were arrested for carrying counterfeit drugs! What the h.e.l.l was that all about?"

Dave told him the whole story, from the time he found Lisa in Santa Rios, to being chased out of town, to the moment they were picked up at the airport in San Antonio.

"Good G.o.d!" Alex said. "You mean to tell me that you were chased out of town by the police? You could be dead right now in some unmarked grave outside of Santa Rios."

"It didn't happen that way, Alex. I'm just fine."

"No, d.a.m.n it, you're not fine, or you wouldn't be in the middle of all this! You need to come home!"

"Not yet. We're going back down to Mexico."

"You're what what?"

Dave knew his brother had plenty more reprimands to heap all over him, but Alex kept quiet long enough for Dave to tell him about Adam and Gabrio and what was happening in Santa Rios.

"Okay," Alex said. "I agree. Bad situation. But what the h.e.l.l are you doing getting mixed up in it?"

"If I can get Adam Decker up here, he can back up our story and clear both of our names. But that's the least of it. He's in danger down there. If Robert Douglas finds him before we can get him out of there, he's a dead man."

"Jesus," Alex said. "What a f.u.c.king mess."

"I'm going down there. It's the only way."

There was a long silence. He pictured his brother on the other end of the phone, pacing up and down.

"Okay," Alex said finally. "If the guy can clear your name, by all means get him out of there. But you know what? You never should have gotten mixed up in this situation to start with. For G.o.d's sake-you've got a daughter to think about!"

"Don't lay that guilt trip on me," Dave said hotly. "Don't you do it."

"I know what Lisa was like in high school. News reports say she already has one drug conviction."

"That was a false conviction. Her brother set her up."

"Right. They're all innocent, aren't they?"

"I know what it sounds like, Alex. But Lisa hasn't done a d.a.m.ned thing wrong, then or now, and I don't want her taking the fall for it."

"d.a.m.n it, Dave, what's the deal with her, anyway? Why the h.e.l.l did she call you in the first place? I know you knew her in high school. That was a long time ago, yet the minute she's in trouble, your name pops up on her radar. Why you?"

He paused. "We were friends."

"It's more than that. I asked you before, and I'm asking you now. What went on between you two back then?"

Dave was silent.

"Just how personal are things between you and Lisa?"

"That's none of your business."

"So it is personal."

Dave let out a breath of disgust. "Yeah, Alex, it's personal. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"No. I've got a pretty clear picture now."

"Of what? Of your brother thinking with his d.i.c.k instead of his head? Is that it?"

"h.e.l.l, I don't know what it is! All I know is that Lisa Merrick is bad news. You've got to ask yourself how she gets herself into messes like this. You don't want a woman like her. She'll only cause you one h.e.l.l of a lot of trouble."

Dave felt a surge of anger, flaring up from a place that had smoldered inside him for a very long time. As if Alex were the ultimate authority on what he wanted? As if he or the rest of the family knew anything about him at all?

Alex sighed heavily. "Look, Dave. I know it's been hard on you these past few years. But you got through it, because you've always had your head on straight. Everybody counts on that. So when you go off the deep end like this, we've got to wonder why."

You got through it. You can get through anything.

They just didn't know. His family, his friends-n.o.body. They had no idea just how he hadn't hadn't gotten through it, how Carla's death still ate away at him and always would. His family always expected that he'd find another woman just like their glowing image of her, who'd be the perfect mother, the perfect wife, and then he'd settle down and play house all over again. gotten through it, how Carla's death still ate away at him and always would. His family always expected that he'd find another woman just like their glowing image of her, who'd be the perfect mother, the perfect wife, and then he'd settle down and play house all over again.

They thought they knew what he wanted. They didn't know a G.o.dd.a.m.ned thing.

"It's just like you said, Alex. I'm the guy with his head on straight. So get off my back. I know what I'm doing."

"I'll tell you what you've been doing. You've been risking your life for a woman you never should have been messing with in the first place."

"Let's get something straight here. I didn't call to ask your opinion, and I'm sure as h.e.l.l not asking your permission. I just called to tell you I'm going to Mexico. I don't know how long I'll be gone. Just watch Ashley for me until I get back. I've got to go."

As he was hanging up, he heard Alex's voice. "Dave- wait."

He pulled the phone back to his ear, gripping it tightly and dropping his forehead to his hand in frustration. There was a long silence.

"I don't like this," Alex said finally. "If I told you anything else, you'd know I was lying." He let out a long breath of resignation. "But I know you, Dave. So I know that somehow you must be doing the right thing, even if I sure as h.e.l.l can't see it."

"It is the right thing, Alex. Trust me on that, will you?"

"Yeah. Just be careful. I don't want to have to explain to Ashley why her daddy went to Mexico and never came home."

Dave listened for reproach in Alex's tone but didn't hear a bit of it. All he heard was concern.

"You guys take care of her for me."

"You know we will."

"I'm staying at Lisa's apartment tonight, and then we're flying out tomorrow at dawn. You can't tell anyone where I'm going or what I'm doing. I don't want anyone even knowing we're in Mexico, and I sure don't want anyone knowing that Adam Decker is alive until we can get him out of there."

"I hear you. Just keep me posted, will you? Let me know what's going on?"

"Yeah. I will.

"If you need any help, call me."

"I will."

Dave hung up the phone, knowing that his brother was as p.i.s.sed off at him as he could possibly be, yet at the same time he'd go to the mat for him if things got tough. Lisa had been right.

No matter how bad the situation was, his family was on his side. But n.o.body was there to be on Lisa's side.

n.o.body but him.

Lisa opened her eyes when she heard Dave come back into her bedroom. He pulled back the covers and slid beneath them, falling to his back and settling his head on the pillow, his arm resting against his forehead.

"Did you talk to Alex?" she asked him.

"Yeah. I talked to him."

"Had he already heard?"

"Oh, yeah. News travels fast in the Tolosa Police Department."

"Did you tell him you're innocent? That it was my fault you were caught up in this situation?"

"I told him the whole story. Then I told him I was going back down to Mexico."

"What did he say to that?"

"He's not happy about me leaving my daughter."

"Understandable."

"He's not happy about me getting into another potentially dangerous situation."

"Also understandable."

Dave was silent.

"What else?" Lisa asked.

"Nothing."

"It's me, isn't it?"

"What?"

"He knew who I was in high school, and he thinks a man like you shouldn't be hanging around with a woman like me, desperate situation or not."

"No. He doesn't think that."

"You're lying."