turned.
Fixing her attention on the series of pipe valve shutoffs, she began the task of spinning them closed. She almost didn’t have the strength to turn the big cast-iron wheels and struggled with the screeching metal. By the time she was done, she was shaking from head to toe. At least the second part was easy. She turned the smaller knobs on the system with a quick twist of the wrist, knowing they would trigger the shutoffs for this wholeside of the plant. Instead of traveling through the piping system to the tankers on the river, the oil would stay safely in the tanks. They’d look everywhere for breakdowns before somebody remembered this.
“Ah, well,” she murmured again, and walked to the door.
She opened it … and was face to face with Miles.
Five
“You—!”
Miles got as far as the first word in his furious tirade before Catherine burst out of the building.
“Not now, you idiot!” she whispered fiercely, shoving him out of the way as she ran past him. “The guards are coming!”
He stumbled backward, astonishment and outrage racing through him as fast as she was racing away. Somehow, he hadn’t expected her to make a break for it.
To his further shock, she suddenly whipped around, dashed back, grabbed him by the arm, and yanked him forward. “Do you want to get caught as the Earth Angel? Come on!”
Miles ran automatically, her urgency overriding everything for a few vital seconds. Then he stiffened to a halt.
“Wait a damn minute!” he exclaimed.
Still holding his arm, Catherine was spun around automatically.
“Are you crazy?” he demanded. “How the hell canyou do this to your own company? And just what the hell did you do? I want answers, and I want them—”
“Miles, not now!” She was gasping for breath. In the glare from the floodlights, her eyes were wide and filled with genuine fear. She spun back toward the fence fifty feet away and ran, calling over her shoulder, “The guards will be here any second! After we get out, I promise to explain. Now,
will you come on!
”
He took off after her, determined to get her back to undo whatever damage she had done. He could not believe she was the Earth Angel. He had sat in his car and watched her house all evening, still not believing his suspicions. He had seen her car back out of her garage at midnight, still not believing. And he had followed her to the refinery, under the fence, and to that little building, still not believing what his eyes were seeing.
She reached the fence, lay on her stomach, and scooted under the bent links in the blink of an eye. Leaping to her feet, she lifted the jagged ends even higher. “Come on!”
He set his jaw, then squirmed under the fence, feeling the galvanized steel scrape his back and legs. If his Saville Row suit survived all this, it would be a tribute to his tailor. The moment he stood up, Catherine grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the darkness beyond the refinery’s perimeter lights.
As soon as they were swallowed by the night, she let go of him and ran even faster. He instantly realized that now she was trying to escape from
him
. He leaped toward her, taking her down to the uneven ground.
They hit it with a thud. As she yelped and struggled against him, he scrambled up until he was literally lying on top of her back, stretching her arms up above her head and effectively pinning her underneath him. She bucked and jerked futilely, and he rode her out. He couldn’t quite ignore the primitive surge of conquest at her writhings, and struggled to remember this was about Earth Angel and Wagner Oil, and not about him and Catherine. Finally, she was still, her chest heaving with her exertions.
“Get off!” she gasped. “You weigh … a ton.”
He lifted his body slightly to ease his weight … She instantly slid sideways, nearly getting out from under him. Cursing, he flattened himself on her again, his hips pressed tight against her derriere. His thigh was high between hers.
Fixing her attention on the series of pipe valve shutoffs, she began the task of spinning them closed. She almost didn’t have the strength to turn the big cast-iron wheels and struggled with the screeching metal. By the time she was done, she was shaking from head to toe. At least the second part was easy. She turned the smaller knobs on the system with a quick twist of the wrist, knowing they would trigger the shutoffs for this wholeside of the plant. Instead of traveling through the piping system to the tankers on the river, the oil would stay safely in the tanks. They’d look everywhere for breakdowns before somebody remembered this.
“Ah, well,” she murmured again, and walked to the door.
She opened it … and was face to face with Miles.
Five
“You—!”
Miles got as far as the first word in his furious tirade before Catherine burst out of the building.
“Not now, you idiot!” she whispered fiercely, shoving him out of the way as she ran past him. “The guards are coming!”
He stumbled backward, astonishment and outrage racing through him as fast as she was racing away. Somehow, he hadn’t expected her to make a break for it.
To his further shock, she suddenly whipped around, dashed back, grabbed him by the arm, and yanked him forward. “Do you want to get caught as the Earth Angel? Come on!”
Miles ran automatically, her urgency overriding everything for a few vital seconds. Then he stiffened to a halt.
“Wait a damn minute!” he exclaimed.
Still holding his arm, Catherine was spun around automatically.
“Are you crazy?” he demanded. “How the hell canyou do this to your own company? And just what the hell did you do? I want answers, and I want them—”
“Miles, not now!” She was gasping for breath. In the glare from the floodlights, her eyes were wide and filled with genuine fear. She spun back toward the fence fifty feet away and ran, calling over her shoulder, “The guards will be here any second! After we get out, I promise to explain. Now,
will you come on!
”
He took off after her, determined to get her back to undo whatever damage she had done. He could not believe she was the Earth Angel. He had sat in his car and watched her house all evening, still not believing his suspicions. He had seen her car back out of her garage at midnight, still not believing. And he had followed her to the refinery, under the fence, and to that little building, still not believing what his eyes were seeing.
She reached the fence, lay on her stomach, and scooted under the bent links in the blink of an eye. Leaping to her feet, she lifted the jagged ends even higher. “Come on!”
He set his jaw, then squirmed under the fence, feeling the galvanized steel scrape his back and legs. If his Saville Row suit survived all this, it would be a tribute to his tailor. The moment he stood up, Catherine grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the darkness beyond the refinery’s perimeter lights.
As soon as they were swallowed by the night, she let go of him and ran even faster. He instantly realized that now she was trying to escape from
him
. He leaped toward her, taking her down to the uneven ground.
They hit it with a thud. As she yelped and struggled against him, he scrambled up until he was literally lying on top of her back, stretching her arms up above her head and effectively pinning her underneath him. She bucked and jerked futilely, and he rode her out. He couldn’t quite ignore the primitive surge of conquest at her writhings, and struggled to remember this was about Earth Angel and Wagner Oil, and not about him and Catherine. Finally, she was still, her chest heaving with her exertions.
“Get off!” she gasped. “You weigh … a ton.”
He lifted his body slightly to ease his weight … She instantly slid sideways, nearly getting out from under him. Cursing, he flattened himself on her again, his hips pressed tight against her derriere. His thigh was high between hers.
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