Candy Halliday – Are Men From Mars?: Are Men From Mars? / Venus, How Could You? (страница 8)

And that had been the deciding factor for Brad to place all the cards right out on the table. They were caught up in a bizarre situation. If he wanted her full cooperation, Brad knew he needed to tell the professor the truth. Instinct told him her own integrity wouldn’t let him down.

By the time he finally finished his lengthy explanation, Brad noticed she had wandered over to the love seat after all, and was now sitting stiffly on the edge of her seat with a panicked expression on her face. And then, from out of the blue, came the overwhelming urge to comfort her; to take her gently into his arms and kiss away the lines of worry that were now marring her beautiful face.

Whoa! Talk about a red alert.

He wasn’t the comforting type. Sure, she’d been handed a raw deal, but she’d have to suck it up and deal with it. Besides, only seconds earlier comforting her had been the last thing on his mind. He’d have to be dead not to find her attractive. Earlier, as he’d watched her pace around the room, all he could think about was wanting her naked. Plain and simple. Naked he could handle.

But being tempted to comfort her?

That was scary.

Purging any thoughts of comforting her from his mind, Brad said, “I hope you’ll agree protecting national security takes precedence over the research you were doing on your butterfly.”

She nodded, but continued sitting on the edge of the love seat with a vacant stare.

“And not to make light of things, but this is one of those situations where you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She glanced in his direction this time. “I don’t agree with that statement,” she said defiantly. “In fact, I think I was in the right place at the right time, or I never would have found the butterfly I was searching for.”

“We could argue the point for hours, but it wouldn’t change the situation,” Brad tossed back. “The fact still remains protecting this mission has to take top priority.”

She frowned. “Tell me, Captain. If this mission is so top secret, how did you get permission to tell me all of the details?”

Brad smiled, having anticipated she would ask that very question. “What was the point in insulting your intelligence? You’ve already seen the Black Ghost. You’ve even ridden in it. You had to realize it wasn’t your everyday run-of-the-mill helicopter.”

She seemed pleased with his answer. “You’re right. And then when you destroyed my film…”

“You realized it was the helicopter I was trying to protect?” Brad finished for her.

She nodded. “I suspected as much.”

“I was counting on the fact that if I explained the seriousness of the situation, you’d be willing to give me your full cooperation,” he added for good measure.

“Well, of course, I’ll give you my full cooperation now that I know the circumstances,” she said, sounding insulted that he might think otherwise. “I am a responsible citizen, Captain Hawkins, despite my one bad decision to climb that fence.”

“Good. Because I’m going to need your full cooperation. And that’s an understatement.”

She sent him a blank stare. “Do I dare ask why?”

Brad tossed his empty soda can in a small waste-basket sitting by the recliner and left his chair. Walking toward the bookcase, he hoped what little ground he’d been gaining over the last few minutes wouldn’t be lost when the full magnitude of the situation was finally revealed to the woman with whom he was destined to be spending the next three days.

However, just to be on the safe side, Brad purposely sent her an apologetic look when he picked up the television remote and reluctantly punched the button.

MADDIE GASPED WHEN A close-up of Mary Beth instantly filled the screen.

“Thank you for being so patient with me,” Mary Beth told the handsome TV reporter in what Maddie immediately recognized as her sister’s theatrical voice. “I’m still shaking so badly, I can hardly sit in this chair.” As proof, Mary Beth held out her trembling hands for the reporter to see.

Maddie frowned.

“Well, of course, you’ve been shaken up,” the reporter sympathized as he reached out to pat those poor shaking fingers. “Who wouldn’t be after what you’ve been through?”

Mary Beth dabbed daintily at her eyes with a tissue one of the adoring police officers standing beside her suddenly produced, then sent another pitiful look directly at the camera.

“For those of you just tuning in, we’re here at the police station in downtown Roswell this evening with actress and model, Mary Beth Morgan, who most of you will recognize as the Evershine Girl,” the reporter said.

“The Evershine Girl?” Hawkins repeated, looking back in Maddie’s direction. “Hey, I remember that commercial.”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you and every other man in the country who happened to be tuned in to the Super Bowl last year.”

Though his eyes turned back to the screen, Maddie knew that damn commercial was already running like a film strip through the captain’s head. Mary Beth riding out of the fog on a coal-black stallion. Steam pluming from the horse’s nostrils with every breath it took. Mary Beth holding on to its long black mane like Lady Godiva, with nothing to cover her nakedness but long blond ringlets of her damn Evershine hair.

In fact, it wouldn’t have surprised Maddie if the company had gone bankrupt from a legion of lawsuits filed by all those guys who probably choked on their tortilla chips when Mary Beth rode nude across their television screen.

“Was your sister really nude in that commercial?” he had the nerve to ask.

Maddie held her hand up to silence him when the reporter patted Mary Beth supportively on the shoulder and said, “I know this is very difficult for you, Miss Morgan.” His sympathy prompted another sniffle from Mary Beth. “But could you please tell our viewers exactly what happened a few hours ago on the outskirts of Roswell?”

When the reporter pushed the microphone in her direction, Mary Beth took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, trying, Maddie suspected, to produce a genuine tear. It worked. The camera zoomed in to watch the droplet roll down her sister’s flawless cheek.

“I was with my sister, Dr. Madeline Morgan, whom I might add is one of the most respected entomologists in her field,” Mary Beth told her viewers, making no effort to wipe the fake tear away.

“And…” the reporter urged.

“We were out in the desert searching for…” A few false sobs erupted before she added, “An endangered species of butterfly. A species my sister is absolutely passionate about. One she even hoped to save by proving that they did exist right here in southeastern New Mexico.”

There were more pats on the hand, more eye dabbing before she added, “And Maddie thought she saw one. The butterfly, I mean. That’s when she left the Jeep.”

Hawkins glanced back in her direction again. “Maddie, huh? Yeah, Maddie suits you much better than Madeline.”

Maddie left the love seat long enough to drop her own empty soda can into the trash, then came to a stop beside him. “I’m sure Hawk suits you better, too.”

He laughed. “Sergeant Baker has a big mouth.”

“Well, I’m one chick Sergeant Baker won’t have to worry about,” Maddie said right back. “My hen-house is hawk proof.”

He sent her a we’ll-just-see-about-that grin, but the reporter spoke up again and turned their attention back to the television screen.

“Please go on,” the reporter encouraged.

Mary Beth’s lip did a little quiver before she looked straight into the camera again. “And that’s when I saw it.”

“The spacecraft, you mean?” the reporter clarified.

Mary Beth nodded, her eyes growing wide in an expressive fear mode. “It was huge,” she whispered. “Silent. Deadly. It swooped down so fast Maddie never knew what hit her. I couldn’t do a thing to help my poor sister. All I could do was scream.”

When Mary Beth dramatically covered her face with her hands and burst into tears, Maddie said, “I’m going to kill her.”

He sent her a puzzled look. “Kill her? But you said your sister would be hysterical about this.”

“Yes, but I know my twin sister. And what you see now is nothing more than a fine piece of Mary Beth Morgan acting. Probably her finest piece of work to date, if you really want to know the truth.”

“Twin?” he echoed in disbelief.

“Identical twin,” Maddie clarified with a frown that only got deeper when Brad looked directly at her chest then back at the screen as if he certainly didn’t believe her story.

Of course, she didn’t know why she would expect him to be any different. Like all of the other men hovering around Mary Beth on the screen, the dear captain had obviously been dumbstruck by the ample cleavage Mary Beth didn’t mind flaunting. And why did she care if the man standing beside her was ogling her sister’s partially exposed size 36D bosom? He was no one she’d ever be interested in, at least not seriously. A man nicknamed Hawk because of the way he swooped down on innocent women? Forget about it!

His look was questioning. “So? You don’t think your sister really believes you were carried off by aliens?”

“Of course, she doesn’t!” Maddie said a little too sharply. “Mary Beth’s an actress. She’s not an imbecile.”