Call My Name Read Online Free PDF Page B

loaded.”
    “What?” Protest finally exploded.
    “Point out your car and let me have the keys.” Reversing the line of thought left Daran perplexed. Mutely she regarded the commanding figure as though he were from another planet. “The keys?” he repeated, looking down on her as though she had temporarily lost her senses, which she had, she concluded silently, as her docile hand began a search of her bag for the large and heavy key ring.
    “Your car,” the deep voice at her ear prodded. “Which one is it?” Simultaneously he spotted the very visible RESERVED FOR DR. PATTERSON sign and, within a minute, had removed the keys from her hand, unlocked the door, and gallantly seated her on the passenger side before appearing behind the wheel.
    Suddenly the scene took on slapstick proportions, drawing a spontaneous fit of laughter from the hitherto sober Dr. Patterson. With the slam of the door beside him and a low oath as he groped beneath the seat for the lever to give himself more leg room, the distinguished senator from Connecticut turned to his passenger, sighing with relief as the seat finally slid back. “Now what in the devil is so funny?”
    Barely suppressing further mirth, she angled sideways in her seat, back flush against the door. “This whole thing is absurd,” she began, tapered fingers splayed across her chest as she steadied her breathing. “I was prepared for a very formal discussion with a supposedly dignified legislator, and what do I get? I get spirited away like a thief in the night, in my own car, at my own expense, and—” She broke off as laughter erupted once more. “And you look so funny, crammed into this car like … like…”
    “Go on,” the deep voice dared her. When she could not, he did so for her. “Like a clown at the circus.” As he scowled good-naturedly, she laughed again, pausing only so as not to miss a word of his rebuttal. “Let me tell you, lady, it’s a crime against those lovely long legs of yours to squish them up so close to the wheel. And although I like small cars myself, this Beetle is ridiculous. No wonder they stopped manufacturing them years ago. And—” he went on strongly, quite adept at speaking off the cuff, as his job must demand “—you may think it hilarious to be rushed around, dodging here and there, but if you had a face as easily recognized as this one, you’d do the same.”
    The boyish intensity of his complaint, intoned in such a low and very masculine timbre, struck a sympathetic cord in Daran. Yet she could not resist one further dig. “I would have thought that you’d want every last bit of publicity; or is that only during an election year?” Wasn’t it the image? Wasn’t that how it had been with Bill? Her sober undertone instantly spread to the senator.
    “This may come as a surprise to you, Dr. Patterson, but there is indeed a very private man somewhere deep down inside this outwardly public shell. And that very private man needs to let it all out, as they say, every once in a while. Without the press. Without his staff. Without a ubiquitous public looking over his shoulder.”
    The atmosphere in the car suddenly grew heavy with the turn of the conversation. Guilt-ridden at having been as insensitive as she must have appeared, Daran stared for long moments at the steel-hard silver-edged gaze that speared her.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I meant no harm.” The softness of her voice rang with sincerity; her own eyes echoed the apology. Feeling herself about to wither beneath his penetrating stare, she turned to look out the window. The fingers on her chin took her by surprise when they effortlessly tilted her face back to his.
    Even before his eyes dropped to her lips, she felt the pull. It was an intangible force, rippling from man to woman and back, an invisible current, until the two pairs of lips were no more than a breath apart. With one hand on the back of the seat and another on the dashboard, he did not