Chapter 1
"Hello?" Kathleen whispered into her cell phone. She cringed at all the annoyed looks she was receiving for talking on the phone in the middle of the art museum. She backed around the corner hoping for a more private place to talk. Instead she found herself in another large exhibit room with more people to make her wish she could disappear into the white walls.
"Mrs. Larkin? It's Ashley. Matt just hit Jeffery over the head with a light saber and Caroline won't go to bed."
Kathleen took a deep breath and tried to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible. She walked quickly to the next doorway, mumbling apologies for her rudeness. She relaxed when she entered a longish hallway with only a few paintings and no viewers. "How's Kevin?" she asked, naming her youngest son.
"He's fine, he fell asleep awhile ago."
She glanced down at her watch. 9:21 So much for a nice evening out by herself. "I'll be home in twenty minutes."
"Great! But you're still paying me through eleven, right?"
She wished she could reach through the phone and throttle the teenage babysitter. But it was next to impossible to find a sitter in her neighborhood, let alone one who would watch three children and a baby. A toddler, she corrected herself, Kevin was eighteen months now.
"Sure," she agreed just to end the conversation. "Be there soon."
"Bye!"
Kathleen clicked her cell phone shut and dropped it into her evening bag. It was a mistake to try to go to the museum while Brad, her husband, was out of town, she decided. She should have planned better. This Van Gogh exhibit had been here for weeks and she had waited until the very last day to go. Stepping into the museum a little over an hour ago had felt so good, bringing back memories of her carefree college days when she had spent every weekend visiting the local museums. Back then she had each exhibit plaque memorized, the paintings etched into her brain down to the tiniest brush stroke. Now she was lucky to have remembered the driving directions to the museum.
She had better go home to the kids. It was stupid to do something for herself. She slipped the strap of her purse back over her shoulder and glanced at the two doorways on each end of the hall. She should have told Ashley half an hour because it was going to take her several minutes to find her way out of the museum.
Kathleen decided on the doorway to her right and as she stepped forward the lights went out. She tripped as she awkwardly brought her heel down mid step, surprised at the sudden darkness. A large hand grasped her arm and held her upright. She gasped in shock, there hadn't been anyone in the hall with her seconds ago. Her mind registered the high pitched voices and low baritones of the women and men in the rest of the museum expressing their concern over the lack of light. The hand didn't let go.
"I, uh…" She tried to pull away but the hand held firm. Kathleen wasn't one to panic in moments of crisis but she felt her heart beat faster as she realized what a precarious position she was in. There was no light, no one knew she was at the museum, and she was being held by a much stronger person.
Her capturer pulled her closer to him. By the flat expanse of chest she felt pressed to her front, he was definitely a man. A hand went to the back of her head, gently tilting her face upward as if to look at him. She realized he was going to kiss her a second too late.
Her mind was too befuddled to react. His mouth was warm and soft, she felt the slight scratch of whiskers, and he tasted like mint. Oh God, she realized, she was kissing him back! With a low sensual groan, he pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss. His hand caressed her back, easily sliding over the silky fabric of her dress. Stop it, she yelled at herself in her mind, you're going to end up dead in some ditch if you don't get away. She pulled back, straining her eyes in the darkness to see him.
The man let go and stepped away from her without a word. She felt herself shaking at the sudden loss of contact. The precariousness of her situation hit her and she was losing her composure quickly. Where was he and why were the lights still out? The muffled noise of her cell phone vibrating in her purse reminded her that she needed to be home with her kids instead of kissing strangers in the dark at an art museum. She blinked at the sudden tears in her eyes. She had to get home to her kids! She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to think. How was she going to get out of here?
His hand was on her arm again, more gently than before. "This way," he whispered, as if reading her mind.
She refused to move, the pressure of his mouth against hers hadn't been forgotten yet. She wasn't going anywhere with him. Her heels slid on the floor as he pulled her forward. Behind her, she heard a security guard ordering people out. The glint of light from a flashlight flickered somewhere in the building. She wanted to head that way, she decided and he was taking her in the opposite direction.
"This way." The gripe loosened on her arm as he stopped moving forward and she felt his body brush against hers. He was too close again. In the dark her senses seemed heighten, she could smell his cologne. Not aftershave because she would have noticed that when he had kissed her. What was she thinking, she chided herself, she needed to get out of her, not figure out his toiletry habits.
"I'll go that way, thanks," she said, her voice shaking a bit. She turned towards the flashlight. There was safety in numbers, she remembered from those required crime prevention classes in college. She wasn't even supposed to be here.
"You need to get home to your kids."
She stopped trying to pull away from him. "Who are you? How did you know that?" she demanded.
"There's been a robbery. They are questioning everyone at the door. You'll be held up for hours," the hushed voice replied, not answering any of her questions.
A robbery? How did he know that? And about her kids?
Footsteps and the beam of light were coming closer. "Anyone in there?"
"Trust me," the man whispered. He tugged on her arm. Kathleen swallowed. His hand brushed over her forehead before he placed a chaste kiss there. She was shaking again, she realized. "I'll lead you out so you can go home."
"Hello? Anyone there? This way to the exit!"
"Okay," she said softly. His hand slid down her arm to her hand. She grasped his leather gloved hand and ran as fast as she could in her heels to keep up with his brisk pace. Even though blind in the darkness, she knew she was letting herself be lead by the robber himself.
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