Read Online Out of Sight Out of Mind by Evonne Wareham - Free Book Online Page B

on the monochrome canvas of lines and splatters that covered most of the wall in front of her. ‘Jackson. Jay Jackson,’ she repeated, louder, as Jay joined her. She saw his eyes widen, then the almost imperceptible nod, to show he understood. ‘He’s going to be helping me for a few days.’
    ‘No problem, Dr Albi.’ The guard thrust the book towards Jay, who slanted her a quick glance before signing.
    ‘I suppose I should be grateful that whoever chooses the corporate art around here doesn’t have a taste for Picasso.’ Jay stood behind her, looking back into the foyer as she punched numbers into the security lock that accessed the main building. ‘Or maybe Caravaggio?’ he suggested conversationally.
    Madison couldn’t help the splutter of laughter. ‘You got that, did you?’
    ‘The
Jackson
Pollock, over by the desk? Difficult to miss. Is it real?’
    ‘Probably – but too big to steal.’ They were through the doors and into the narrow, glass-sided corridor that ran along the entire front face of the building.
    ‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’
    They’d reached another coded door. Something in the way he paused made her look up.
    ‘You can identify a piece of modern art, but you don’t know who you are.’ She’d already got to it. ‘You know how to read, how to write. You just signed the visitor’s book. You didn’t have to think about it.’ She swung open the door. ‘You can probably drive a car and work a computer – maybe you play a sport, or a musical instrument. None of this is affected by the fact that you can’t remember.’ She watched the frustration roll over his face. ‘Don’t push it.’
    Her hand was on his for only a second.
    She unlocked the final door and ushered him into her office, dropping her bag and coat on to a chair. She needed some time to collect herself.
    She headed for the safety of her desk, pointing to the two easy chairs that stood closest to the door and gesturing to Jay to sit, wondering if he would. She wasn’t surprised when he ambled to the window to stare out.
A problem with authority, natural restlessness, used to giving, not taking orders?
    She exhaled heavily and sank into the chair behind her desk. The indicator light on the phone was blinking. She had voicemail. Routine stuff. She listened to her messages, with half her mind making notes automatically, her eyes on Jay’s back. Last night all she could think of was how to hold on to him, to harvest everything she could from him. But now—
    She closed her eyes, briefly. She might have known it would be a lot more complicated than that. Even without the memory loss, this would have been a bigger, slower thing. Last night she’d been on a high of possibilities. Reckless. Now there was reality and issues piling up all around. She was probably already over her armpits in stuff that would keep the lawyers in fits for days. Kidnapping, forgery, using an alias, impersonating a member of the medical profession – but hey, the last three were only aiding and abetting.
Memo to self – stay well away from the legal department.
Thank God the Institute’s director was still in Washington.
    She needed to rearrange her schedule to work with Jay. She reached for her diary, then let her hand drop. Busy work was all very well. The elephant in the corner, visible only to her, wasn’t going away. She could only avoid it for so long.
    Face it now, or face it later.
    This man has the potential to get under your skin.
    She let out a shallow sigh. It wasn’t the physical awareness, buzzing just under the surface. She could deal with that. Simplest thing in the world. Just ignore it.
    But not if your mouth is going to run away with your mind whenever he asks you a personal question.
    In the car just now, she’d started to say that she didn’t have lovers – a subtle warning that she wouldn’t be taking
him
as a lover – and realised, too late, how it sounded. A denial of Neil and all that they’d shared. And then