"Lavene, Joyce & Jim - Mask of the Stranger" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lavene Joyce)

"Sometimes." He shrugged. "You get used to things even when they aren't good. They are safe. You don't know what's waiting for you in that darkness."

"But I want to know," she assured him firmly. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life wondering who I was, not knowing about the life I left behind."

"He'll be here on Thursday," he informed her abruptly. "We should know everything after that."

"I truly do want to know," she told him, sensing his withdrawal from her. She squeezed his hand. "It means everything to me. I want to move on with my life."

"Do you?" He stood up, drawing her with him, and took her in his arms. "I admit that I'm insecure sometimes about us." He kissed her lightly on the lips and smoothed back her hair from the scar on her face. His gray/brown eyes looking deeply, soulfully into her own. "I want us to be free to explore our future together. I don't think we can do that until your past is resting in peace."

"I know." She didn't know what else to say, lost for words. His eyes seemed to mesmerize her, quieting the need to escape that shouted inside her.

He lifted her chin with his other hand and kissed her again. "You want to be with me, don't you, Kelsey?"

"Of course." She replied slowly. "More than anything. You mean so much to me."

"And you mean everything to me," he assured her gently. "Soon, we'll be married and I'll be able to show you how much."

"That will be wonderful," she whispered. Her stomach rumbled and she put a hand to it self-consciously. "It must be that virus again. I'm feeling a little queasy."

"Let me walk you out to your car," he offered, starting to get his coat.

"Oh, I'll be glad to walk you both out, sir," Ellis, the security man from the morning shift, volunteered. "I just stopped by to make sure Dr. Lloyd was okay tonight."

"Was something wrong earlier?" Dr. Abrahms turned to her.

"No, nothing," she lied, feeling stifled in the office. The prospect of being outside in the freezing night air was becoming a frenzy in her. "I have to go, Martin. I-uh-I'm not feeling well at all."

"It might have been the food." He looked at her pale face and fever bright eyes. "Maybe it was too rich. Have you been taking your medication?"

"It's this 'flu bug'," she told him. "I just can't seem to shake it."

"I can walk her out, Dr. Abrahms," Ellis offered.

"Do you need a ride home, Kelsey?"

"No, really." She waved the offer away. "I'll be fine. I just need some air."

"Of course." Dr. Abrahms frowned but assented. "I just have a few phone calls to make and I'll be going as well."

"I'll be right back, Doctor," Ellis promised, zipping up his jacket.

"Good night," Kelsey said, "and thank you, Martin."

"I'll see you tomorrow about setting up the time," he told her with a glance at Ellis.

"All right," she managed before she fled down the brightly polished hall towards the main entrance. The janitor was getting out his floor cleaning machines as she ran past him.

She barely made the parking lot before her dinner came back up. She stood in the snow by the tall shadows of the bushes that rowed the front entrance, trying to breathe deeply and ease the tension in her stomach.