Lotus Blossom by Hayton Monteith Page A

that seemed to sit beneath the plane. She didn’t even realize she was sleepy until her eyes closed.
    “Lotus, Lotus, wake up, we’re landing in O’Hare. ...” Dash pressed his mouth to her ear, letting his lips rove over the shell-like surface. Even her ears were perfect! She was a doll! But he was going to show her that she couldn’t jerk him around like this! Leading him on a merry chase to the East when he had a deal pending in Las Vegas! He watched her blink her eyes awake. Then he leaned over and took her mouth with his when she tried to smother a yawn. “Ummm, nice. You yawned into my mouth.” He muttered, watching her angry eyes shoot around them to see if anyone was looking at them. “Pay no attention to what people think.”
    “I happen to come from a respectable family,” Lotus seethed as he pulled her from her seat to the aisle, then reached up into the overhead and took down her duffel bag.
    “Let’s go, darling.” He urged her in front of him. When it looked like she would balk, he gestured to the people behind them. “Do you want to hold them up?”
    “Ah . . . no.” Lotus reached for her duffel bag, but decided not to argue when he shook his head. “Where is your luggage?” she asked him as they walked along the portable corridor to the terminal.
    “Haven’t any.” He ushered her out into the teeming human condition that was O’Hare Airport.
    Lotus was struggling to get her ticket out of her purse. “Are you sure you’re going to the right gate? Ah, there’s an attendant, we’ll ask him. . . .” Lotus felt herself pulled back. Then her mouth dropped open as a golf cart vehicle pulled up to them, and Dash lifted her into the seat, then crowded in beside her. “But we don’t need this,” she hissed at Dash, then threw the driver a shaky smile when he stared at her. “Is it far to the . . . ?” Lotus began.
    “Just get us to the area where we should catch our flight. You’ve been given your orders, haven’t you?” Dash interrupted, gesturing for the man to get moving.
    “Yes, sir.”
    “This is ridiculous.” Lotus tried to wriggle away from Dash but he kept her tight to his side. “We’re leaving the terminal! Why are we doing that?” Suspicion filled her mind. “You are not taking me back to Las Vegas.” She threw herself sideways trying to get away.
    “For God’s sake, Lotus, hold still. Do you want to tip the cart? I am not taking you back to Las Vegas. I am taking you to New York, then we’ll go to Rochester.”
    “I don’t want to go to New York.”
    “I just have to pick up some papers and make some calls. We’ll be leaving for Rochester as soon as I do that.”
    “I don’t want you with me. I have a single ticket. My brothers are picking me up . . .” she babbled.
    “We’ll call them from my apartment and tell them we’ll be a little late. It won’t be more than two or three hours,” he declared.
    “Kidnapping!” Lotus shouted.
    “Stop that.” Dash leaned over and unthreaded her white knuckled hands. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.” His voice was soft. “Even though I felt like killing you at first.”
    “I’m not reassured,” Lotus ventured watching the faces of people flashing past them, curiosity on their faces as they looked at them.
    The long ride seemed to weave in and out of corridors and around corners. By the time the man reached his destination Lotus was lost.
    Dash helped her out of the cart and threw a bill at the man.
    “That would feed me for a week,” Lotus muttered, pulling at his hand on her arm.
    “Would it, darling?” Dash answered her absently as they went along a narrower hall, then out a door, where plane engines were revving up.
    “It’s so noisy . . . and windy. Why are we here?” Lotus raised her voice as Dash bent his head to listen.
    He pointed downward to a sleek Lear jet on the field. Then preceded her down the steep steps to the tarmac, his hand reaching up to guide her behind him.