Never Love A Stranger Part 18

"Obviously no cause for the fire has been determined yet, but police suspect faulty wiring," Susan Takahas.h.i.+ said as she looked into the camera with a serious expression. The news anchor was a small, slim woman, her glimmering blue-black hair cropped into a short, no-nonsense cut that emphasized her delicate features. She gave her audience a slight smile. "Although a good deal of smoke and water damage has been done, authorities say this fire could have been far worse. No one here at the Wynn Building was injured, and there were no fatalities."

She let her smile broaden. "Police and firefighters agree that the hero of the evening is this gentleman, who went back into the building to recover a stranger's baby." The cameraman panned outward enough to include James in the picture. Susan went on. "In the confusion, the child's parents each thought the other had the baby. When they found out young Madison Stella had been left inside the burning building, they were panic-stricken. Fortunately, this man saved the day."

James stood, bare-chested and smudged with soot, next to the anchorwoman, looking slightly uncomfortable at all the attention. He drew back slightly as Susan thrust the microphone at him. "Tell us precisely why you went back into the burning building, sir."

James blinked, clearly startled. "I would prefer not to discuss the matter."

"Oh, don't be so modest," she said with a smile. Annie thought with annoyance that Susan's smile was a little too brilliant and her dark eyes gleamed a little too brightly as she looked at him. "You single-handedly rescued a one-year-old girl, did you not'"

James hesitated a long moment. "I only did what anyone else would have done," he said at last.

"Let me remind you that no one else did it," she said with a twinkle. "You did." She turned back to the camera, smiling, and began to wrap up the story. James stepped away from her with clear relief.

"She's right, you know," Annie said. "You are a hero."

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly at the approval in her voice. "I simply like babies."

"You could have been killed." She hesitated. "Or could you'"

James shrugged. "I can be burned to death, yes, although I am somewhat more ... durable than you would be in a similar situation. I--" He broke off as the news anchor, finished with her story, headed in their direction with an expression of steely determination concealed beneath her bright smile.

She paused in front of James and looked him over, not sparing a glance for Annie and Kay. She was so small that her head only came up to the middle of James' chest, but despite her diminutive stature she was extraordinarily beautiful. "I meant what I said over there," she said. "You are an amazing man. James, right'"

James nodded.

She held out her hand. "Susan Takahas.h.i.+. Nice to meet you. It's not every day I get to meet a real, live hero."

James took her hand and shook it, somewhat awkwardly. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me." She flashed sparkling white teeth in a predatory smile. "Do you live here, James'"

James shook his head. "No. I was just--visiting."

"I see." The brilliance of Susan's smile dimmed several watts as she glanced at Annie, who stood no more than a foot behind him. "Good thing for that little girl you were. The firefighters tell me that they probably couldn't have gotten in there in time to save her from death by smoke inhalation. Her unit was right across the hall from the one that caught fire."

"I am pleased I was able to help."

Susan studied him thoughtfully for a long moment. "Do I know you from somewhere, James' I mean, are

you an actor or something'"

"No."

"A model' Come on, don't be modest."

She had the look of a reporter digging for a story, but her eyes were a bit too interested. Annie got the

distinct impression she was a woman digging for information on a man who intrigued her, though she

might not have admitted it. "I am neither an actor nor a model."

"What do you do for a living, then'"

James hesitated. Annie had the sense he was rapidly sorting through his options, trying to tell the woman nothing that would pique her curiosity. "I am currently unemployed."

Susan looked at him for a long moment. "Ever think of working as a TV reporter'"

James lifted his eyebrows. "I beg your pardon'"

"I mean it," she said seriously. "You have the voice and the presence for television. The only thing is--"

She flashed him another grin. "You'd probably have to cut your hair. And that would be a real pity."

Annie felt annoyance. This woman was actually hitting on James, right in front of her. She stepped forward and took James' hand in an unmistakably possessive gesture. She saw Susan's eyes narrow.

"She's right, you know," Annie said. "You were really brave."

James entwined his fingers with hers and looked down at her. "I am glad you think so."

Faced with their obvious intimacy, Susan had the grace to look uncomfortable. "I was wondering," she said, a little less aggressively, "if you'd be willing to do an interview tomorrow in the studio."

James blinked. "An interview'"

"Yes, you know, you come in and we talk about you for a few minutes. After this segment is aired, everyone in the city is going to want to know more about you."

"I'm afraid not," Annie said hastily. That was a recipe for disaster if she had ever heard one. There were too many unknown terms for James to trip over, too many ways for him to display his ignorance of this society. "He isn't interested."

Susan regarded her through cool dark eyes, then turned back to James and continued as if Annie hadn't spoken. "How about it, James'"

"No, thank you," James said with steady courtesy. He looked down at Annie, dismissing Susan, and said, "It's late. We need to find a place to stay."

"Yeah," Annie agreed. "Let's see about getting a hotel. Come on, Kay."

As they walked away she was uncomfortably aware of Susan Takahas.h.i.+, watching them through narrowed eyes.

They took Kay's car, since it already had Clark's car seat installed. At any rate, Kay's Volvo station wagon had considerably more room in it than Annie's Mini. James sat in the front seat. If the car wasn't big enough to allow him to precisely stretch out his long legs, at least they weren't drawn up to his chin.

Annie sat in the back seat, next to Clark, and marveled at the baby's ability to go to sleep almost the

precise instant the car began to move.

"I don't like the way that Susan Takahas.h.i.+ looked at you," she said. "I think she's going to make trouble."

"You're paranoid," Kay said dismissively.

"I am not. She was staring at James like she wanted to have him for breakfast. She's got the hots for him."

"Hots'" James echoed in puzzlement. He was wearing a navy blue s.h.i.+rt one of the reporters at the fire

had given him, and despite his tousled mane of hair and soot-streaked skin he looked fabulous, just as he always did. Any woman in her right mind would have the hots for him, Annie thought.

"Never mind," Kay said. "Annie is getting paranoid. If she was looking at him oddly, Ann, it's because

she scents a story, not because she wants to jump his bones."

"That's not particularly rea.s.suring," Annie said. "The last thing I want is Susan Takahas.h.i.+ on the trail of James' story."

"It'd make her career if she found out the truth about James, that's for sure," Kay agreed.

"Yeah, well, I don't want James to be the story that launches her to the big time." Annie heaved a sigh.

"Actually'." Kay turned her head and glanced at James for a moment. "What if we did tell her about James'"

"Say what'"

Kay shrugged, her eyes back on the road. "Think about it, Annie. We're being chased by crazy people who want to kill us. If we tell the authorities about James, go public with all of this, maybe they'll leave us alone."

"That would probably discourage the Bureau," James agreed. "Yes, but it would mean James would be taken apart. I don't think there's any way James could come out of it intact." "If we were to publicize the problem, however," James said, "only one of us would be at risk, rather than all four of us. I believe the suggestion has merit." "No." Kay shook her head. "Annie's right. We need to come up with a solution that doesn't involve any of us winding up in pieces. But in the meantime, the Bureau is on our tails." She glanced at James again. "James, do you think there's the slightest chance the fire was an accident'"

Annie did not miss the subtle change in her att.i.tude toward James. She spoke to him as if he were a person. Apparently the incident with the baby had altered her thinking. "I'm not sure it makes sense that the Bureau set it," Annie said. "Wouldn't they have known you'd smell it before anyone else in the building' You'd be more likely to get out alive than anyone else."

"That is a reasonable point," James admitted. "There is a chance it was an accident. But it is rather unlikely, considering that the fire began in an unoccupied unit that just happened to be right next to yours."

"Why such a little fire'" Kay asked. "Couldn't they bomb the building if they wanted to'"

"They would have a difficult time making it look like an accident. They are trying not to alter history."

"And yet they were willing to fire at us with a ray gun," Annie said.

"Dekka is ' not totally rational," James replied, and Annie thought wryly that was the biggest d.a.m.n

understatement she'd ever heard. Dekka was a psycho, pure and simple. "I believe she lost control of herself in the heat of the moment."

"So you think this fire was set by what's his name, the other guy."

"Gar'" James hesitated, then shook his head. "I find it difficult to believe that Gar would deliberately set a fire that might kill innocent people."

"Dekka again, then."

"Yes, I suspect so. But in a slightly more rational moment, evidently."

"d.a.m.n." Kay blew out a breath of exasperation. "That woman is really out for blood." She slid a sideways glance at James and grinned wryly. "Or in your case, machine oil, I guess."

James seemed taken aback by the friendliness in her voice. "She wishes to destroy me," he agreed. "She will stop at nothing."

"Yeah, like killing a whole bunch of innocent people in the process. The woman is as warm and cuddly

as a barracuda."

"Fortunately no one was killed. This time." James stared into the darkness beyond the car windows.

"Next time we may not be so fortunate."

The despondency in his voice caught Annie's attention. "James'" she said suspiciously. "What are you