The Great Escape (26 page)

why you were ail invited. If you all would be so kind as to have a seat

at the table over here . . .' An ensuing quiet scuffle arose at that as

everyone slowly filed over obligingly to sit down at the huge

mahogany table. Dee moved over to the end seat and sat down

silently, putting her wine glass in front of her. Her head turned as she

looked to see where Mike was heading, and she saw him start her

way, still with that stern expression on his face. He was forestalled by

something the woman said to him, and by the time he had turned

around again, the president of the board of directors at Allied had

seated himself at her left while a man whom she couldn't remember

seated himself at her right. She noted that Mike had finally located a

spot about halfway down the table, then she turned her attention to Mr

Whittaker, who had taken up the position at the head of the table.

' . . . thank you very much.' He paused and cleared his throat again,

then looked towards Dee. Very much aware of the close attention that

she was receiving from Mike and, incidentally, everyone else in the

room, she nodded slightly and the older man began. 'You have all met

your hostess, Deirdre Janson, the daughter of the late millionaire

Charles Janson. He was the man who started Allied Corporation and

built up the business into the multi-million-dollar operation it is

today. What most of you do not know is that today is Miss Janson's

eighteenth birthday and the day that she legally comes into the bulk of

her inheritance.'

A buzz of conversation murmured around the room and Dee

responded somehow to the expressed good wishes of various people,

but she wasn't really paying attention to them. Pale and tense, she

kept her eyes on Mike as he shot her a narrowed, keen glance. She

kept her eyes on him.

Mr Whittaker quietly continued, 'Several weeks ago, Deirdre asked

me to look into the various organisations that you all represent here

today and to collect information on each one's goal and financial

status .. .' She could see a muscle bunch in Mike's jaw.

He was as tense, then, as she was.'. . . which I was quite willing to

comply with. Then, after learning what I had to tell her about you all,

she requested something of me that was so incredible, I at first did not

credit her with being totally serious. After many hours of discussion,

though, I realised that she was utterly sincere and adamant, so I

reluctantly started the rather lengthy procedures that managing such a

huge estate entails. Thus, on the date of her legal acquisition of her

inheritance, she is able with little delay to dispense with her fortune as

she sees fit.' He put on a pair of gold- rimmed eye-glasses, and while

he rummaged around in his coat pockets, the room was so still one

could have heard a pin drop. Dee was still watching Mike and saw

him turn rigidly white. Mr Whittaker asked gently, 'Would you like to

carry on, my dear?'

She started as if coming out of a trance and murmured, 'No, thank

you.'

'Very well,' and he pulled out a sheet of white paper and studied it for

a moment before continuing. 'Without further preamble, here are the

final figures that Miss Janson has decided to contribute to you. To the

American Cancer Society, she wishes to contribute the sum of five

million dollars, to be used specifically for research purposes and the

relief of the huge medical costs for cancer-stricken families. To the

Blue Cross, she wishes to contribute the sum of four million dollars,

to be used as the administration sees fit. To the National Aeronautic

Space Administration, she wishes to contribute the sum of four

million dollars, to be specifically used for space exploration and

research. To the . . .' And so the list went, as Mr Whittaker's dry,

unemotional voice read the distribution of the source of all Dee's

former unhappiness. She didn't listen; she'd heard_.it all before, time

and time again, as they'd thrashed out the exact sums of the money

she was handing away so freely. She was experiencing at the moment

a huge relief to be free of the heavy burden her inheritance had been,

and a terrified reaction to Mike's silent, white, rock-carven face and

leaping eyes. She didn't even hear the incredulous gasps from

everyone else or the ejaculations of astonishment her bombshell had

induced.

Mr Whittaker was finishing. '.. . and finally, the bulk of the rest of the

inheritance, which is around six million dollars, is to go to the

workers at Allied Corporation, to be specifically used for better

insurance coverage and retirement benefits, and safety procedures.

Miss Janson has expressed the wish to me that on her twenty-first

birthday she wishes to sign over all her controlling stock to the

workers of Allied Corporation on the stipulation that the controlling

power of the stock shares is to be used by the board of directors only,

while the profits are to be put back into the company to benefit the

workers and the business. Miss Janson is keeping enough money for

the complete and permanent upkeep of this house, together with a

pension plan for her housekeeper, Mary Janusinski, and enough

money to send her through college, but it's a mere fraction of the

money she's just handed to you all on a silver platter. In essence,

ladies and gentlemen, she's just given away twenty-three million

dollars.' And in the amazed and delighted uproar that followed these

words, no one heard him say softly as he sat heavily down, 'And a

more lunatic and wonderful act I've yet to see!'

Dee was swamped with the effusive thanks and delighted

exclamations. She felt bowled over with the concerted rush everyone

made to shake her hand, and it was a few minutes before she could

look up to see where Mike was. He wasn't in his seat, so her eyes flew

around the room and she found him casually pouring a drink on the

other side of the room and handing it gallantly to the woman from the

Cancer Society. His face was bland and calm and so utterly normal

that at first she felt a sharp disappointment. Then he looked up and

glanced her way, and she caught the banked-down emotion in those

violently leaping expressive eyes. Still, it was impossible to gauge the

extent or exact nature of his reaction, and she felt suddenly, totally

flat.

After an eternity of chatter and the nightmare of bearing patiently

with everyone's bubbling gratitude, she finally felt that she could take

the chance to sneak away for a breath of fresh air.

A smiling, quick glance around the room placed everyone's position

in her mind, and a minute or so of alert scrutiny presented a moment

when everyone, for some reason or another, was looking away from

the direction of the door. Dee nimbly made her escape. Out in the hall

she sent one brief, longing glance towards the closed front door,

imagining momentarily with a sharp pang the feeling of utter freedom

and flight, and the exhilarating excitement of the chase. She smiled,

touched the necklace that caressed the hollow of her slim throat, and

sedately walked into the small family room, towards the back of the

house. She checked her watch and guessed five minutes.

Mike made it there in three.

Her head jerked swiftly to the door as she heard the sound of

approaching footsteps. They paused outside the closed door and then

the knob was turned and the door opened silently. He slipped through

quietly, checking the hall before shutting the door behind him. Then,

as he turned to face her, sitting with a credible appearance of calm in

a high-backed armchair, his hand went to the door and locked it

deliberately.

That made her heart start to thump with surprise and consternated

uncertainty. With lifted golden eyebrows, she watched him lean

casually against the door, one foot kicked over the other, hands folded

across his chest, and an implacable, unfathomable look on his utterly

serious face. His jaw was tight, she could see. A muscle bunched

spasmodically and then relaxed. 'They're beginning to wonder where

you are,' he commented offhandedly.

Dee expelled a sudden, explosive breath and the pressure of the

moment made her answer snappily, 'So what? I'm entitled to my

privacy, like everyone else. They were all smothering me!' And she

caught her breath at the controlled frustration in her voice.

He didn't move and his expression didn't shift or change. And with

that flat, unemotional voice that gave her absolutely no hint as to what

his feelings were, he asked her, 'Why did you do it?'

She just looked at him, large eyes black with dilated strain, darkly

sparkling against the perfect background of her golden hair and pale

skin. She swallowed, and the glittering gem at her throat winked. 'I

didn't want the money.'

One brow lifted, sardonically, and he remained silent, his expression

extremely sceptical, goading. She resented that look, and she retorted,

'Don't look at me that way, damn it! I've no earthly reason to lie to you

or anyone else about it! It was a dead weight around my neck, always

present, always constricting, always the source of my

unhappiness—it's caused me nothing but grief and pain and

trouble—ever since my parents died. It's been the mire that bogged

me down so that I couldn't be free!'

Something quivered across his face and flickered away, so fast she

couldn't define it. He seemed to hesitate and search for words, then he

asked her carefully, 'Why is it always the source of your

unhappiness? Why was it making you unhappy now? You'd

everything ahead of you, the freedom and respect from your

guardian, the immense freedom of being wealthy enough to do

whatever you wanted . . . what's made you unhappy now?'

As realisation hit her of what she had just given away, she flinched

physically and then instinctively retreated into a shell of

uncommunicative silence simply sliding away into herself, quivering

in her chair like a caught and frightened rabbit. And even while she

reacted so involuntarily she berated herself for not being able to take

that final, declarative step.

Across the room she heard a violent exclamation, but she didn't catch

what was said—and then suddenly Mike was right on the floor in

front of her chair, reaching convulsively for her trembling hands. But

everything about Dee was trembling, and not just her hands: her

shoulders, her mouth, her whole body quivered. Then he was looking

up at her, so dear and familiar and strong, wonderfully, masculinely

strong, nd she couldn't stop herself from falling forward, right into his

arms. They closed around her with an eager swiftness, crushing her

tight against him, and as her face instinctively burrowed into the front

of his shirt, she felt his face come down with a great sigh and nestle in

her hair.

'Dear, sweet, unpredictable, crazy girl,' he murmured, running both

hands up and down her back. She hiccuped an incoherent response,

meaning vaguely to say something intelligent but only managing an

inarticulate mumble. He whispered to her, 'Shall I tell you what I

think? I think you meant every word you just said to me, but there's

something you haven't yet told me. I think that there's only one

explanation for the reason you invited me here today to witness what

just happened. I was the only one besides Mr Whittaker who-wasn't a

beneficiary. There was no practical reason for my presence, was

there, sweetheart? Except maybe one insane, wild, improbable reason

. . . Dee, look at me.'

It was an impossible request. She shook her head frantically, twisting

her hands into his shirt and probably ruining the material quite

irreparably, but neither really noticed as he put both hands gently on

the sides of her head and forced her to meet his incredible, warm

eyes. And of course once she looked at him she couldn't look away

but instead drank in greedily that telltale emotion that spilled from his

glowing gaze.

'That money has made you impossibly touchy for some time now,' he

went on slowly, still with that look of incredulity lingering. 'And we

both know that it's made me more than edgy. I wanted to give you

time, time to readjust to a normal life without always having to look

over your shoulder and be afraid. I wanted to a give you the chance

for freedom if you wanted it, and chance to realise the enormous

potential that your inheritance would bring you. I didn't want to

restrict you in any way. And oh, God, I wanted to have you so!' He