Pandora's Box (22 page)

“That doesn’t make sense,”
Tyler
said.
 
He looked at her like she’d lost her mind.
 
“Why would she pretend to be a drunk?”

“Maybe she’s trying to embarrass your father.
 
Or maybe she wants him to give her a divorce.”

“No.
 
He already agreed to divorce her after he leaves the White House.
 
That’s always been the plan.”

“You owe me one now.
 
What other secrets do you have, Tyler Law?
 
Anything that would blow my socks off?”

He hesitated as his eyes moved to her face, filled with sincerity.
 

“I think I’m falling in love with you.”

What the hell did he just say?

Madison
turned away from him and downed the rest of her wine in one long gulp.
 
Her skin tingled.
 
Falling in love with her?
 
She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that.
 
She’d considered sleeping with him, but anything beyond sex was out of the question.
 
She’d already bungled one important relationship.
 

He asked, “How did you get like this?”

“Excuse me?”
 
She stiffened.
 
A rod of steel went up her spine.
 
She prepared herself for an insult.

“You’re so strong,” he said.
 
Admiration shone in his dark green eyes and it was directed at her.
 
“You’re so beautiful, so independent…so perfect.”

Wow!
 
Madison
didn’t know how to respond to the unexpected compliment.
 
He obviously meant the words.
 
Nervous, she began to babble.
 
“I’m not that different from anyone else.
 
I’m the product of a broken home.
 
My mother died when I was very young and my father couldn’t deal with a daughter alone, so I did what I could to make things easier on him.”

“By turning into a tom-boy?”

“By learning to fulfill my own needs.”
  

“It’s nice to be independent for the most part.”
 
He slid across the couch and leaned close until he was mere inches from her face.
 
“But sometimes it’s good to lean on somebody else.
 
You don’t always have to be the strong one.”

“Yes I do.”

He really didn’t understand.
 
With a weary sigh she decided to explain it to him.
 
She straightened her spine, steeling it with the truth of her convictions.
 
He’d called her independent, but he didn’t know the half of it.
 
She couldn’t rely on another soul.
 
She controlled her own fate.

“I don’t need you in my life.
 
You have this Sir Galahad complex where you think you have to protect poor little me.
 
And to think I used to believe you were different from the average chauvinistic male.
 
Now I’m telling you once and for all, I don’t need or want anything from you.
 
I don’t need you or anyone else.”

“Oh, baby, that is so wrong.”
 
He leaned closer still, and he touched the heavy chain around her throat.
 
He was going to kiss her.
 
Should she let him?
 
The pads of his fingers brushed her skin, burning her with knowledge she didn’t want.
 
He stirred something primal inside of her, something that responded to something in him.
 

He asked, “How can you be so fearless when it comes to your body, yet be such a coward when it comes to your heart?”

“Stop it!”
 
Madison
jumped to her feet, breaking the spell.
 
“Okay, we’re physically attracted to each other.
 
There.
 
I said it.
 
That doesn’t mean we have to play it through.
 
If we do decide to hop into bed, it will be because I want to, not because you dare me or manipulate me or confuse me.”
 
Her voice rose, quivering with anger.
 
“And if we do sleep together, I promise you two things right now.
 
First, I’ll rock your world.
 
Second, it will be purely physical.
 
No emotion whatsoever.”

Tyler
gaped at her as if he couldn’t believe his ears, but he didn’t say a word.
 
Instead of arguing the point with her he waved a hand at the door and mumbled, “I’ll get more wood.”

He got up and left before she could apologize.
 
She’d wanted to call the words back before they left her lips, but it happened so fast.
 
Then it was too late.
 
Tyler
left
Madison
alone and trembling in the cabin, her emotions a churning mess.
 
Why had she said those things to him?
 
She wasn’t sure she even meant them.
 
She realized she wasn’t mad at him but rather at herself for wanting him.
 

Madison
hunched down in front of the roaring flames and stared into them.
 
They flickered rapidly.
 
The colors caught her attention but the pulse of the fire kept it.
 
She couldn’t look away.
 
She couldn’t think.
 

Behind her, she could feel something dark pressing in on her.
 
A monster in disguise.
 
She wanted to look at it, but she couldn’t move.
 
Her eyes widened, unblinking, staring into the fire as it pulsated.

She tried to scream.

Nothing.

******

Chapter Ten

Tyler
returned with an armload of wood for the hearth.
 
In his absence the cabin’s interior had darkened considerably.
 
Madison
’s parting words echoed in his head.
 
How could he convince her that she could trust him with her heart?
 

Madison
, hunched down in front of the fireplace, back ramrod straight, was blocking him from stoking the fire.
 
He dropped the sticks and branches beside her.
 
She didn’t even acknowledge his presence.
 
Ignoring her, he bent over and fed some of the wood to the fire.
 
The flames licked higher.

The growing fire bathed the cabin in light and
Madison
’s hair shimmered.
 
It looked like wildfire.
 
His fingers itched to stroke that hair back from her pretty face.
 
He’d meant what he said earlier.
 
She was an amazing woman, and he wanted to know her better.
 
Perhaps when this whole ordeal was over they could take their relationship to the next level.

He went to her father’s desk and searched it even though he knew she’d already done it.
 
She could have missed something or more likely, hid something from him.
 
Either way he’d feel better after going through it himself and since she insisted on giving him the silent treatment, he had nothing better to do.

He found a folder beneath a ton of receipts.
 
Inside were newspaper clippings about a woman committing suicide.
 
Tyler
quickly scanned the articles with growing understanding and compassion for what
Madison
had suffered.
 

The woman who had killed herself had been
Madison
’s mother, Sharon Grey.

Tyler
tossed the folder to the center of the desk.
 
He turned to
Madison
, surprised to see she hadn’t moved an inch.
 
If she’d seen the folder, she could be in shock.
 
Maybe she’d thought her mother had died of natural causes or in some sort of accident.
 

Tyler
went to her and stood next to her.
 
Not a muscle in her body moved.
 
She could have been a mannequin in a store front window.

“
Madison
?”
 
He placed a hand on her stiff shoulder.
 
Despite the fire, his blood turned to ice.
 
Beneath his fingers, her shoulder felt like rigor mortis had set in.
 
He shook her fiercely.
 
“
Madison
!”

She leaped up and backwards simultaneously like a startled cat.
 
Her hands came up, ready to defend herself, and her legs spread apart in the familiar fighting stance.
 
She stared at him as if she didn’t recognize him.
 
Her dark eyes shone like chips of ebony, catching and displaying the firelight, flames of hell ready to take another victim.

Tyler
held his hands out, flashing his palms at her in surrender.
 
“Take it easy.
 
What’s wrong,
Madison
?”

Her upper lip curled in a fierce sneer, baring her teeth.
 
She growled at him.
 
She actually growled at him.
 
It might have been sexy if it wasn’t so freaky.

He blinked at her in stunned silence.
 

Madison
leaped high in the air and performed a perfect flying kick.
 
Her sneaker clad foot hit him squarely in the chest, knocking him backwards.
 
He fell in to the coffee table behind him.
 
The wood collapsed under his weight and the glass shattered beneath him.
 

Dazed, he tried to get his mental bearings.
 
Madison
’s movements flowed.
 
Her eyes remained fixed, staring through him rather than at him.
 

She returned to the fireplace and grabbed the black iron poker.
 
The fingers of both her hands curled around the end.
 
She walked over to him, her expression unmoved.
 
He watched in disbelief as she lifted the poker high, aiming for his head.
 
No hesitation in her.
 
She swung it down hard and fast.

Tyler
rolled to the left.

The poker hit the ground next to his face.
 
He turned his head, shocked by how close it had come.
 
But she wasn’t done yet.
 
With what seemed like an annoyed grunt, she lifted it high again.
 
She tried a second time to strike him in the head with the sharp end.

He rolled to the right.

It missed—barely.

Tyler
had had enough.
 
He brought his feet up in a sharp kick, hitting her in the stomach with just enough force to send her reeling.
 
She fell backwards.
 
She didn’t make a sound.
 
Add that to the growing list of disturbing behavior.
 
There wasn’t a startled shriek or even a cry of pain when she hit the hard wood floor.

Tyler
moved fast.
 
He climbed up her body, holding her down and grabbed the iron poker, one hand on each end.
 

Her hands slid to the middle as she fought to retain possession of the weapon.
 
Teeth bared, she fought like an out of control animal.
 
They both struggled for the poker.
 
Madison
seemed to have superhuman strength.
 
She pushed against him, lifting his hundred and eighty pounds in a reverse push-up.

If he didn’t do something quick, she would win this one.

He didn’t want to hurt her, but what choice did he have?
 
He released the poker, grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her a couple inches off the floor.
 
Reluctantly he slammed her down.
 
Her head struck the bare floor with a sickening thud.

The fight left her.
 
Her eyes went up, out of sight, and the lids nearly closed over the whites.
 
She let go of the poker and
Tyler
grabbed it, sliding it across the floor.
 
It hit the opposite wall.
 
Her eyelashes fluttered like hummingbird wings.
 

“
Madison
?”
 
He caressed her cheek and prayed she was okay.