Maybe then he?d get the picture.
* * *
Sprat made a wide circle and finally arrived back at the mansion. He looked up and down the street, but there was no sign of the squad car. Good. He looked at his watch. He hadn?t lost much time. He regretted having to break surveillance, but really, what could possibly have happened during the ten short minutes he?d been gone?
38
Andrew rolled over in the dark, put his hand on Lizzy?s bare stomach. She sighed, half- sleepy, half-content. Outside, the crickets sang. The moon hung low and huge in the wide Okie sky, washing them in pale light. It made Lizzy?s white skin glow. Again, Andrew thought she was beautiful. He wondered at the circumstances that brought them together, ached at the thought they might part.
He tried not to look very far into the future. They were here, now, in Linda?s big, four-poster bed. That was enough. Wasn?t it?
Linda had said they could use the bed, use the house, stay as long as they wanted. She didn?t care anymore. She was going back to Chicago to stay with an aunt and figure things out. Her life the last few days had been turned into a horrible nightmare of violence and fear. Adding insult to injury, Linda felt she?d betrayed her husband?s memory by not calling the sheriff like a good citizen. She needed to go away and figure things out. Andrew thought the woman might be a nervous wreck the rest of her life.
He rubbed Lizzy?s stomach again, whispered, ?Hey.?
She stirred. ?Hmmmmm.?
?I think I love you.? It was sudden and ridiculous, but Andrew wasn?t interested in pretending it wasn?t true.
?Go to sleep,? Lizzy whispered.
?You don?t love me??
A pause. ?Maybe I do. I don?t know. I?ve never loved anyone before.?
?Let?s run away together.?
She rolled into him, buried her face in her pillow. ?We?ll talk about it in the morning.?
?I?m wide-awake.?
?Leave me alone. I?m sleeping.?
?Come on. Talk to me.? He reached, grabbed her shoulder to turn her back over.
She rose up suddenly, turned, and jerked away from his grasp. ?Get your hands off me!?
She swung, her little fist connecting with his chin.
Bells went off, Andrew?s head flying back. He bit his tongue, tasted blood, and tumbled backward off the bed. He landed flat on his back, stared up at the ceiling in shock, stuck out his tongue, and touched it. Not too bad, he hadn?t bitten that deeply. He lay dismayed at the sudden violence.
Lizzy?s hair appeared over the side of the bed? she looked down at him. ?Sorry.?
?What was that for?? He rubbed his chin.
?You should know something about me,? she said. ?I?m a little?touchy.?
Andrew refrained from commenting that suddenly smashing him in the face qualified as more than touchy in his book.
?You can?t pressure me,? Lizzy said. ?And I don?t like to be touched suddenly. And don?t sneak up on me.?
?Anything else??
?I do like you,? she said. ?A lot. But let?s just play it by ear, okay??
