See Me in Your Dreams by Patricia Rosemoor

against him."
    Skelly
unlocked the car door for her. "You think his daughter's being held for
ransom could be part of a business war?"
    ... let him know what it's like to have someone else on top
for once...
    The words from
the dream echoing in her head, Keelin nodded and she slipped into the passenger
seat. "Could be. Or it could be more personal. I don't want to overlook
any possibility. I fear we don't have much time to find Cheryl."
    Skelly started
the engine and pulled the vehicle from the parking spot. For once, he didn't
have much to say, merely turned on the radio to a soft rock station that played
tunes from the seventies. Keelin rested her head against the car seat and let
her mind drift.
    Images of
Tyler Leighton floated through her head. She concentrated on his various moods.
Angry. Worried. Devastated. She wanted to see a smile lighting up his handsome
features, happiness radiating from him. She wanted to see his daughter safely
in his arms.
    Halfway to her
hotel, Skelly said, "I hope you know what you're doing, getting so
involved with people who don't mean anything to you."
    But Tyler did
mean something to Keelin. Or at least he was beginning to and not only because
she was attracted to the man physically. Despite his caution with her, Keelin
was convinced Tyler would do anything, put himself in any danger, to rescue his
child. She admired that kind of selflessness, something she had been lacking in
the case of Gavin Daley. And Tyler's deep feeling for family so like her own touched
her.
    While Skelly
wasn't a bad sort, Keelin suspected her cousin had never been the type to put
himself out on a limb for someone else.
    "We're
all responsible for each other," she reminded him, echoing their
grandmother's sentiments. "If you spotted a stranger on the street being
attacked, wouldn't you help?"
    "Sure.
I'd call the police. They're trained to handle violent situations. If I stuck
my nose in where it didn't belong, I'd probably mess things up."
    No surprise
there.
    "But the
authorities might be too late," Keelin argued. "Or unwilling to
believe you. There are times when, knowing someone is in trouble, you're
compelled to act."
    Because not
acting could haunt one for the rest of her life, as she well knew.
    "You're a
better person than I am," he said caustically. "But that's okay. What
would the world do if everyone was like me?"
    Act selflessly in another's behalf, Moira's
legacy had charged.
    Sadly enough,
Keelin couldn't see Skelly living up to their grandmother's finest dreams for
them. She feared that, unless he had a change of heart, he would follow in
their parents' footsteps and never find the personal happiness every human
being deserved.

 
 
    NO SOONER HAD KEELIN STEPPED FOOT in
the lobby of her hotel, when she saw Tyler Leighton waiting for her. Her mouth
went dry and she noted the funny feeling in her chest. Popping out of a
wing-back chair, he appeared drawn. Grim. And very, very determined as he
closed the gap between him to intercept her.
    "We have
to talk."
    Taking her
elbow, he guided her to the elevators. His touch, while not rough, was
unyielding.
    "I'm not
trying to get away from you," she murmured and used her free hand to press
the call button.
    A flush
darkening his features, he let go. "Sorry."
    Before Keelin
could ask him to explain what had happened, a ding signaled a set of doors opening. They entered the empty car
together. Tyler waited until the doors closed and they started their ascent.
    "It
arrived with this morning's mail."
    Her pulse
lurched. "The ransom note?" Somehow, she'd imagined him receiving it
at home.
    "No
postmark, though. Someone hand-delivered it."
    The way he was
looking at her, she had no question as to whom he included among the suspects.
    "You were
with me this morning until you left for your office."
    "Actually,
I stopped home to change first."
    "But I
wouldn't know that, would I?"
    "Aren't
we a bit defensive? I made no accusations."
    " We are beginning to know