Julie Garwood - The Ideal Man

Clark and Hershey were in the apartment with Ellie. Max was unprepared for what he saw when he walked in. Hershey was shirtless and perched on the arm of the sofa while Ellie appeared to be rubbing his side. Clark was at the coffee table using Ellie’s laptop.

“What the…,” Max began.

“You’re back,” Ellie said. She patted Hershey’s shoulder. “Okay, you can put your shirt on. It’s scar tissue.”

“You’re sure?” Hershey asked.

“I’m sure. It’s all good.”

Ellie went to Max and almost kissed him before she realized what she was doing. She took a step back and asked, “What were the Pattersons like?”

“They won’t ever win parents of the year,” he answered.

Clark closed the laptop. “I talked to your friend Sheriff Spike Bennett,” he said. “Strange name, but a nice guy,” he continued. “He wanted you to know there’s a gun shop close to a town called Lipton, and the owner isn’t real reputable. Spike’s been trying to shut him down, but so far no luck. He said that for the right amount of money Patterson could get anything he wanted. Bennett’s on his way there now to talk to the owner, find out if Patterson came around yesterday.”

“Do you think he’d tell him if he had?” Hershey asked the question.

“Patterson might not know about this gun store,” Ellie suggested.

“Bennett wants to warn him, just the same. After he’s finished in Lipton, Bennett will come here to help with surveillance.”

“You won’t have to worry about anything tonight, Ellie,” Hershey assured. He buttoned his shirt and tucked it in his pants.

Ellie checked the time. “I need to get ready,” she said. “Thanks for babysitting me.”

Both agents, Max noticed, were smiling like idiots at her, but as long as they did their jobs, he didn’t care if they were infatuated.

“Does it seem a little cold in here?” Clark asked.

Ellie’s laughter followed her into the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later she was ready for the party. Max had put on a suit and tie and was tugging on it when she walked out. She looked stunning. She wore a pale pink dress and high-heeled sandals.

“Do I look all right?” she asked. “Max?”

He shook himself out of his stupor. “Yes, you look fine.”

Fine? Ellie knew he wasn’t one to embellish… but fine? “Thanks,” she said. She’d spent a long time curling her hair just so, and she’d even put on makeup. All that for fine?

“You look nice,” she said. “But your tie is crooked.”

She crossed the room and stood in front of him while she adjusted the knot in his striped tie. Her perfume enveloped him, and all Max wanted to do was tear her dress off and make love to her.

“I hate ties,” he said instead.

“I’d think you’d be used to them,” she replied. “Don’t you wear a suit and tie every day in Honolulu?”

“No, we wear khaki shorts, no shirts.”

She laughed. “Where do you put your badge and gun?”

“Waistband of our shorts… or swim trunks. We have to be prepared for anything.”

“What do the female agents wear in Honolulu?”

“Bikinis,” he answered with a straight face. “We don’t get a whole lot of work done.”

“I’m not nervous about tonight, so you can stop trying to put me at ease.”

He looked at her skeptically.

She kissed his cheek. “Okay, I am a little nervous.”

“Maybe I could think of something to take your mind off tonight.”

“Like what?”

“Give me a few minutes.”

Ellie’s cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number and almost didn’t answer it.

“You need to find out who it is,” Max insisted.

She answered the same way she had for years. “Dr. Sullivan.”

The voice on the phone was deep. “No, I’m not going to the Colts.”

Ellie’s hands were still shaking from talking to Simon Daniels, the most spectacular quarterback of all time. Oh God, had she told him that? She couldn’t remember what she’d said for the first minute or two, but she knew she’d gushed, then she had recovered and grilled him on the upcoming season.

It turned out that Simon was a bit of a hypochondriac, and for the next half hour it was quid pro quo. He answered a question she posed, and she then answered one of his. Some of his questions were hilarious, but she didn’t laugh.

“No, that particular disease comes from a parasite found only in the waters of the Amazon, and, no, it isn’t contagious.”

She saw Max roll his eyes, and she shook her head at him.

Max finally took the phone from her when she held it out to him and said, “Simon wants to talk to his white brother.”

“I carry a gun now,” he reminded his brother. “So stop calling me that.”

Ellie listened to the conversation and was shocked at the insults Max was hurling, but then she decided he was giving as good as he was getting. Brothers were so different from sisters. She doubted they whined the way Ava did.

Oh Lord, the party. She was supposed to be at the house fifteen minutes ago.

When she walked down the steps from the apartment, she was glad to see the weather was cooperating. Dark clouds hung overhead, and the air was stifling hot and muggy, but it wasn’t raining. She thought it silly to plan a party outside this time of year, but she wouldn’t share her opinion with Ava or her mother.

Clark and Hershey were checking the backyards on either side of the house and behind it. It was six o’clock when Ellie and Max walked into the kitchen. The house was dressed up with flowers everywhere and candles ready to be lit. Even the worn furniture in the living room looked brand-new because of the roses on the coffee table. Her parents and her aunts were upstairs getting dressed.

Max was being sweet. He gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze and went to the refrigerator to get her a glass of milk. The guests would be arriving soon, and she was ready. She took a couple of steps across the living room and stopped to look out the window.

And there he was… Evan Patterson… pacing on the sidewalk in front of her house. She froze, and so did he, and for at least two or three seconds they stared at each other.

Then he smiled, and she ran.

“He’s here. He’s here.” She couldn’t get her voice above a whisper, but Max understood what she was trying to tell him.

“Where?”

“Front,” she whispered. “He’s in front.”

Max grabbed her and pulled her to the hall closet. He pushed her inside and said, “You stay here until I tell you it’s okay to come out.”

She saw him draw his gun as the door was slamming shut. Ellie was shaking violently now and couldn’t catch her breath, hyperventilating even as she was sinking to the floor.

Anger came like a shot of adrenaline. She wanted to go after Patterson, to hit him and kick him, to hurt him the way he’d hurt her. She realized she was having crazy thoughts, but she didn’t care. She would rather be furious than terrified.

She reached for the door handle and came to her senses. She strained to hear any noise, but the only sound was the running water from the showers upstairs.

Be careful, Max. He’s mean and dangerous and cunning.

It seemed she waited an hour, but she knew her mind was playing tricks. It should be hot in the closet, she thought, but she was shivering.

Max finally opened the door. She threw herself into his arms. “Did you get him?”

“No,” he answered. He could feel her trembling and hugged her. “Clark and Hershey are still looking, but Patterson vanished. Are you sure…”

She tried to push herself away from him. He wouldn’t let her. “Okay, you’re sure it was him.”

“Yes. He was wearing black pants and a white shirt.”