Always

He nodded. 'It was necessary,' he said simply. 'I have to get Baldwin: I told you that.'

'So you kidnapped me,' she said. 'Another trap, you said. I wouldn't act as bait in the trap, so you just moved the bait to another trap.' She raised her hand and pushed the hair away from her forehead. 'Is that what you did?'

'That's what I did. I told you I wanted your cooperation. I'm sorry it had to be this way.'

'Sorry!' The anger was curling through her veins, burning away the haze that had befuddledher senses. 'Dammit, you kidnapped me and all you can say is that you're sorry? You committed a crime!'

'Yes, I know.' Clancy frowned. 'I wish you'd try to go back to sleep. We can discuss this later. According to the doctors, you should have slept another five hours. I'm not sure this upset is good for you.'

'You don't think it's normal for me to be upset about being kidnapped? It may be commonplace in your life- style, but it's not in. mine.' Her eyes were blazing up at him. 'I've never been kidnapped before.'

His lips tightened. 'I don't go around kidnapping people off the streets, Miss Landon.'

'No? Should I be flattered that you selected me?' She struggled to a sitting position, throwing off his hands. 'Well, I'm not, Mr. Donahue. I'm mad as hell.'

'I can see that,' he said dryly. 'I didn't expect anything else. However, I'm afraid you'll have to resign yourself to the fact and make yourself as comfortable as possible. You're here, and you'll remain here until Baldwin shows up.'

'The hell I will.' She leaped out of bed and started to run toward the door. But there was something wrong with her legs. They felt weak and flaccid, and her head was whirling again. There was a sudden sharp pain as she stumbled blindly and fell to her knees on the carpet.

Vaguely Lisa heard Donahue's low curse, and then he was on his knees beside her. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?' His arms were about her, her face crushed against his chest. Mint andsoap and musk again, she thought dully. 'I told you that you should stay in bed. You had a drug overdose. How the hell do you expect to go running around when you can hardly hold your head up?'

'I wasn't running around. I was escaping,' she muttered. Even through the whirling darkness it seemed important that the distinction be made. Desperately she clutched his sweater to try and steady herself. 'Drugs?'

'We gave you a harmless sedative. We had no idea that you took sleeping pills.' His arms tightened around her. 'You shouldn't take the damn things, anyway. Why the hell do you?'

'I need them.' The darkness was clearing again. She tried to raise her head from his chest, but discovered it felt far too heavy. 'Besides, it's none of your business.'

'Isn't it?' It was almost a growl. 'The hell it's not.' He was suddenly on his feet, pulling her with him. 'You're my business from now on.' He lifted her up and carried her to the bed. 'I think it's about time you were someone's concern. You sure as hell don't seem to be able to take care of yourself.'

She knew she should resent that slur on her independence. And she would-as soon as she could muster enough strength to feel anything at all. 'I need the sleeping pills,' she whispered again. It seemed important that he realize that.

'Not anymore.' There was a thread of grimness in his voice. 'We'll find a substitute.' He placed her on the bed and covered her carefully with the sheet. 'Now listen to me. Okay?' His expression was as grim as his voice had been. 'I know you'reangry, and you have a perfect right to be. I'd feel the same way, but angry or not, the situation exists. You'll either be a guest or a prisoner. The choice is entirely your own. This place is located on a stretch of private beach, and you can scream the house down and no one will hear you. There will be two men on duty at both front and back entrances at all times. If you manage to knock me out or cut my throat, as I'm sure you're tempted to do, you'll still have them to contend with.' He sat back down on the chair by the bed. 'Here's the way we play it. The hotel staff has been given the story that you left your singing engagement so abruptly because you've made a connection with a wealthy American oilman, Paul Desmond.' He indicated himself with a half-mocking gesture. 'You've moved into a love nest down the beach and will soon be returning with him to Texas. That should bring Baldwin running.'

'No.

'I take it that's a protest, not disagreement. We both know he'll come, Lisa. He has a history of psychotic jealousy where you're concerned.'

She was having trouble keeping her lids from closing. 'I won't let you do this,' she murmured. 'I'm going to get away.' Her eyes closed in spite of her struggle to keep them open. 'I'm going to get away from you, Donahue.'

Was it her imagination or did she feel a whisper-soft caress as he brushed a curl away from her temple? 'It's too late, Lisa.' The words came out of the hovering darkness, blurred but unmistakable. 'You'll never get away from me.'

When she opened her eyes again it wasn't Donahue's face she saw, but one that was far less intimidating. The man who was grinning appealingly down at her was much younger and as ail-American as apple pie. He was dressed casually in jeans, a wildly flowered Hawaiian shirt, and tennis shoes.

'Hi, I'm John Galbraith, Miss Landon. I hope to hell you're feeling better. Clancy has been spitting like a cat for the last hour or so. He's telephoning the lab now to yell at them for not calling the shots more accurately about your reaction to the drug.' He made a face. 'Better them than me. I nearly got myself mutilated when I brought you in here in that comatose state.'

The breezily casual statement issuing out of that boyishly appealing face shocked her into full consciousness. 'You brought me here?'

'I get all the really quality assignments,' he said sarcastically. 'Kidnapping an American citizen was a natural for me.'

She sat up in bed. Her dizziness was gene now, though there was still the trace of a headache. 'A criminal assignment,' she said. 'You're going to go to prison for a long time, Mr. Galbraith.'

'I won't, you know,' he said softly. 'Clancy wouldn't have sent me on the job if he hadn't had me covered. He protects his men.'

'He'll have trouble protecting himself this time.'

A tiny frown wrinkled his brow. 'Look, Miss Landon, I know you're upset, but don't make the mistake of going against Clancy. He has no intention of hurting you, but he's not about to let you gountil Baldwin surfaces. It will be a good deal pleasanter for you if you'll accept that. Clancy is the toughest bastard I've ever run across. You don't want to cross him.'

'The hell I don't.' Lisa could feel her anger igniting once again as she remembered the sheer arrogance, the outrageous illegality of Donahue's actions. 'At the moment, I not only want to cross him-I damn well want to draw and quarter him.' Her voice dropped to an ominously low pitch. 'After I finish with you.'

Galbraith flinched. 'I'm easier meat than Clancy, but I don't think I'd like that. You seem to be a little bloodthirsty at present. I think I'd better feed you.' He rose to his feet. 'You haven't had anything to eat for nearly twenty-four hours. I'll go to the kitchen and see what I can whip up. You'llTind all your clothes in the closet and in the drawers of the bureau.' He gestured to a door to the right of the bed. 'The bathroom's right there. I'll tell Clancy you're feeling much better… well, better enough to create a little mayhem.' He was strolling toward the door across the room. 'I'll be right back with your dinner.'

Dinner? Her gaze flew to the French doors across-the room. The sky was flushed with the scarlet and pink of sunset. She must have been unconscious almost an entire day. No wonder Clancy Donahue had been concerned, she thought grimly. He'd probably thought he was going to have to face a murder charge as well as the one for kidnapping. He would face those charges as soon as she found a way out of here. There was no way he was going to get by with this!

The French doors. Lisa acted without thinking, tossing the covers aside, slipping out of bed, and running toward the doors. They were unlocked! The tiles still held the afternoon heat and were hot beneath her bare feet as she dashed across the courtyard. There was a brass-bracketed mahogany door in the stone wall surrounding the yard, but she ignored it. Donahue had said there would be guards at all the entrances, but they wouldn't expect her to go over that seven-foot wall. The wall was covered with a thick blanket of fragrant honeysuckle that just might give her enough purchase to climb to the top. She scrambled recklessly up the vines, ignoring the fact that her slight weight was tearing them off the wall. Let Donahue get a gardener to repair the damage. She hoped it cost him a