Lotus Blossom by Hayton Monteith

said.
    “So you did, but you didn’t tell me you were going home today. I hope you haven’t cost me a multimillion dollar deal on the club I was trying to buy.”
    “You shouldn’t have come,” Lotus muttered, finding it hard to inhale.
    “You shouldn’t have left me. Tell me why you did.”
    “No,” was all Lotus managed to say.
    “Oh, but you will. I’ll insist on that.”
    “You can’t threaten me.”
    “So you’ve told me. Do you often repeat yourself?” he asked her with clinical interest.
    “I don’t want you on this plane.”
    “Do you own it?” Dash settled back in his seat, his eyes glittering. Then he smiled at the puzzled flight attendant when she approached them. “I’m sitting back here for the time being, trying to convince my friend to join me in first class.” He explained to the curvaceous redhead who leaned toward them “Oh, you should, miss. Mr. Colby has two seats in first class.”
    “No, thank you.” Lotus tried to smile, but her lips felt like cement. She could kill him for finding her! And how did he know how to find her? She was just beginning to deal with the sense of loss she had felt at leaving him. Now he was here! Was he here to arrest her? Was this his way of entrapping her? All her paranoia resurfaced in one balloon of pain and uncertainty.
    “Suit yourself.” The flight attendant flashed a big smile at Dash, then wandered up the aisle.
    “You can’t be traveling on this plane all the way to Rochester.” Lotus enunciated each word, trying to control the quaver in her voice.
    “No. We change planes at O’Hare,” Dash said pleasantly.
    “Don’t sit next to me. . . Lotus cleared her throat, hearing her voice rise. She caught the curious glance of the man across the aisle and spoke in a whisper. “This seat belongs to . . .”
    “Me. I had my security people track you down. The L. Sinclair threw them for a moment, but not for long. They’re very efficient. It didn’t take them long to track down a very slim, attractive Oriental . . .”
    “I’m as Yankee as you are,” Lotus snapped.
    “. . . Looking woman who moved like a dream. They had you pegged in minutes.”
    “Oh? What do you have? A private F.B.I.?” “Something like that. I couldn’t run casinos and
    not have a thorough security system. That would be stupid. And I’m not stupid.”
    “You are if you think that I’m going to allow you into my life,” Lotus snapped, turning her head to look at him for the first time.
    Dash faced her, his lazy smile not masking the silver fury that had turned his eyes to lava. “Too late. I’m already in your life. Would you like me to refresh your memory? We could start with the tiny, sweet mole you have on your backside, darling.”
    “Stop . . . sadist . . she hissed, her glance sliding away from him and hitting the man across the aisle who was looking at them.
    “Settle down, Lotus. I’m going to nap.” Dash slouched in his seat, his long leg hooked over the arm of the aisle seat. “Damn short seats here.”
    “Then go back to first class. Your seats are there.”
    “These two are mine also.” His eyes closed.
    “You bought four seats on an airplane? That’s disgusting.” Lotus exhaled brimstone.
    His eyelids fluttered up, a pained look on his face. “I thought Orientals were inscrutable, silent types. How is it that I never noticed how you chatter?”
    “I am an inscrutable, silent Oriental when I’m with normal people, not . . . not plutocrats . . .” Lotus sputtered, wondering for a moment if she would ever be back on even keel. In a few short days, Dash Colby had reduced her cool, calm demeanor to that of a gibbering idiot. She could kill him!
    He squinted at her. “Are you relaxed now? I’d like to rest.”
    Lotus fulminated at him in silence wishing she could blacken those blue eyes of his as she watched them flutter shut. How could he sleep when she was so upset? Then she hunched her shoulder and stared out at the cloud blanket