Claimed by the Secret Agent (15 page)

M
arie found Grant’s apartment easily enough. Mercier had actually encouraged her to go there and gave her directions.

The three weeks she had spent without Grant had firmly reinforced the decision she’d made the last time they had made love. She had wanted to be certain and needed the alone time to ask herself some hard questions about her life and form some answers.

The first dealt with her mother and stepfather. Somehow, some way, she decided she had to forgive them for her own peace of mind.

She investigated and found that Barry, her stepfather, had been confined to a nursing home for almost fifteen years, paralyzed from a shooting. At least he hadn’t done any damage to any other little girls.

No charges were filed, but Marie had to wonder who had shot him. She did discover that her mother had taken a job at a pistol and pawn shop out in Decatur a week before it had happened. Maybe her mom had learned the truth. Marie dropped the inquiries then and there. It simply didn’t matter anymore. Those bridges were burned, but she forgave.

Her fiancé, Thomas, had married. Then divorced. Then married and divorced again. Poor Tom couldn’t seem to get it right. It wouldn’t do a bit of good to wish him well, but she did anyway.

All that remained was the necessity of eliminating what she could of Grant’s angst. Hence the visit today. During the effort to make it happen, she had come to understand Grant’s compulsion to make things right for her, to do everything possible to save her grief and hurt, even when she resented it, didn’t appreciate it and misread his motive. He’d already forgiven all that. He loved her.

She winked at her companion as she rang Grant’s doorbell and waited.

He wore a look of shock when he opened the door and saw her. “Hi. What are you…I thought you weren’t coming back.”

She raised her hands in a here-I-am gesture, then brought them together on his beard-rough cheeks and gave him a kiss hello. “Hey, Tyndal. What’s up?”

He responded as if she was his last breath and he couldn’t wait to take it. To take
her.
When he grabbed and kissed her, Marie forgot about why she had come, how she had gotten there and all she’d planned to say.

Greedy for all she had missed, she threw herself into
the kiss and stopped only when the sound of girlish laughter interrupted.

She pushed at Grant’s chest and stood back, still grasping his forearms. “Wait,
wait!
I brought someone to see you,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath and steady it.

He finally noticed the woman standing beside her. His look was questioning.

Marie cleared her throat and gestured to the guest. “Elizabeth Karg. She lives in New York. Albany.”

Still obviously confused, he held out a hand. “Ms. Karg?”

The woman laughed merrily as she took it in both of hers. “Don’t you know me, Grant?”

He squinted and peered at her more closely, then his mouth dropped open. He exhaled the name. “Betty? Betty Schonrock?”

“Well, I
was,
once upon a time. I came to apologize for shaking you up so much all those years ago. Marie told me how you’ve worried about me ever since, and I wanted to come by and thank you for all that concern. I really am sorry for that, but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine. Married. Four kids. Great husband.” She patted his hand. “You can stop worrying now.”

Grant took a step back, shaking his head in disbelief. “I see. Well, uh, will you come in? I could…make coffee or something.” He looked at Marie, a dawning look of wonder on his face.

“Oh, I can’t stay,” Betty said, laughing at his expression. “My family came with me, and they’re waiting to do a little sightseeing. I promised I wouldn’t be long.
It is so nice to see you again, though.” She shook her head. “You sure have changed! I guess I have, too. For the better, I promise. Maybe not better physically.”

“You’re
beautiful,
Betty. Absolutely beautiful. You always were.”

“Thanks!” She turned to Marie and winked. “He always was a sweetie. Take care now, and if you two are ever up in Albany, please stop by to see us. Marie has the address.”

He couldn’t seem to let go of Betty’s hand. “But where did you go?” he asked. “And why?”

She frowned. “Family troubles no one wants to talk about, especially me. Werner helped me disappear until my parents left for the States. Then we got married and spent a few years in the country near Stuttgart with his folks. Marie will tell you all about it now that you’ve seen for yourself I’m not dead and gone.”

“You survived,” Grant said. “I can’t get over it!”

“I do appreciate that you kept on trying to find me when everyone else gave up. Good thing you didn’t succeed, I guess, but it’s really touching that you tried.”

The two shared a long moment’s wordless reunion as Marie looked on.

Then Betty gave a nod and broke the spell. “I’ll just leave you and Marie alone now and wish you the very best. Maybe we’ll see each other again sometime.”

She clutched Marie’s hand in farewell. “Thanks for arranging this, Marie, and for offering to finance the trip. It was so nice to meet you and to see you again, Grant. Goodbye for now.” She gave him another hug, then reached up and pinched his cheek. “You sure filled out nicely, beanpole!”

With that, she was gone again.

Marie smiled at Grant’s awestruck expression. “She’s a doll. I can see why you had such a crush on her. Uh, it
is
over now, isn’t it? She’s taken.” Marie snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Grant?”

He shook off the shock and reached for her, enfolding her again in those big, strong arms that felt like heaven after too many weeks apart. “You are amazing, Beauclair, you know that? How did you ever
find
her?”

“When you said you couldn’t figure why she left when she had everything going for her, I wondered if it might not have been abuse at home.”

“Same reason you and your family parted company,” Grant said. He shook his head. “But I looked so hard for her. It was as if she had dropped off the planet.”

“Yes. Well, I have more resources to find people than you did then. I had some downtime while I was winding things up on the case I’d been working. Since I was in Germany already and you had me wondering about her, too, I kept digging until I found her.”

“I’m amazed that you’d do something fantastic like this, just for me. What can I say?”

“How about
thanks and let’s play catch up?
It has been a long time since Paris.”

“So it has, and here you’ve found me a wreck, all scuzzy looking and needing a shave and a shower.”

“A shower sounds great. Have you got two towels?”

He hugged her again, nearly crushing her. “Thank God you came. Promise you’ll stay?”

“Guess I’ll have to. I’m on the payroll as the new
liaison between COMPASS and the Company. We’ll be coordinating a lot, I expect. Can you stand it?”

Grant leaned his head back to look down at her, his hands still gripping her waist. “I meant stay
here.
With me.”

She looked around the typical bachelor digs, littered with books, clothes and newspapers. Two beer cans lay crushed on his coffee table, a monstrosity he’d probably picked up at a yard sale. The lumpy sofa looked clean, but that was its only saving grace. “Where else would I go? This is such a neat place you’ve got here. Real homey.”

He looked around and winced. “You mean,
homely,
don’t you? We’ll junk everything and redecorate immediately. Anything you want, we’ll do it.”

“Anything?” She grinned. “Okay, let’s tackle the bedroom first, then. I have some great ideas for in there.”

“You haven’t even seen it yet,” he said, taking her hand to lead her there.

“Well, I wasn’t talking about replacing the drapes.” She pinched his arm playfully. “Your original offer still good? You know, that marriage and babies deal?”

His grin widened. “Absolutely. The loner thing was getting really old.”

“For me, too. We’ll make a good team, don’t you think?”

“The best. I can be a real team player now that you showed me how. And I don’t hover anymore.” He shook his head. “Never hover.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see how you do. Promise you’ll let me make at least half the decisions?”

He nodded with enthusiasm. “Beginning right now. Shower or sex? Your choice.”

She laughed. “What a wealth of options! Did I tell you I love you yet?”

“Oh, yeah, you did,” he assured her seriously. “You said it very well, but I’d still like to hear the actual words.”

“Every day I’ll say it, in every way I know how,” she promised and uttered the phrase she had never said before to anyone. “I love you.”