Romancing the Crown: Max & Elena: The Disenchanted Duke. Marie Ferrarella

sure,” Max told him. He realized that Cara was moving toward the driver’s side. “Where do you think you’re going?”

      She stopped, her hand on the driver’s door. “I’m driving.”

      “Not attached to him you’re not. Besides, it’s my car, remember?” He could see that she was debating unhandcuffing herself so that she could take control of the vehicle. But her desire not to lose control of the prisoner won out.

      “I’ll get in the back,” she muttered.

      Max nodded. “Good idea.”

      She pushed Weber ahead of her into the vehicle, then slid in after him. It was going to be a long trip, she thought.

      She shouldn’t have had the extra large cola.

      Her thirst had been overwhelming and gotten the better of her. When they had pulled into the last drive-through, over two hours ago, she hadn’t really cared about getting anything to eat, but she had been eager to get something to drink.

      Now she regretted it.

      She needed to go to the bathroom. Bad. But there was no way she was going to bring Weber into the rest room with her. Neither did she want to leave him outside with Ryker and take a chance on being left stranded at some rundown gas station on highway 25, halfway between Colorado and hell.

      Cara squirmed as discreetly as possible, telling herself it was merely a case of mind over matter. If she could just wrap her mind around something else, this urgent feeling she had wouldn’t matter.

      They’d driven in relative silence for the last hundred miles, rock songs from the eighties on the radio filling the emptiness within the car. The emptiness outside the car was almost overpowering.

      In the distance, to the far left, Max saw what looked to be a vulture circling over something. It didn’t give him a warm feeling.

      This truly was a desolate country, he thought. At least, large sections of it were. His own country was little more than the size of New Mexico itself, with about as many people. It filled him with awe to be within a country that was so large, it could fit scores of countries within its borders.

      Max looked in his rearview mirror, not at the road he’d just passed, but at the woman in the back. Unaware of his scrutiny, she appeared to be in a great deal of discomfort. He smiled to himself. It undoubtedly had to do with that huge container of soda she’d consumed.

      He was beginning to know the way she thought. She was probably afraid that if she took off her handcuff and made a stop at a rest room, he’d take off with the prisoner. The way, he had no doubt, that she would—unless he actually got her to give him her word. The fact that she had called room service before they left with the prisoner had shown him that she was honorable in her own way. It just took a bit of doing to tap into that honor.

      As he’d told her earlier, he really wasn’t sure just what to make of her.

      Max glanced at the fuel gauge on the dashboard. The needle was beginning to dip below the quarter of a tank mark. They could definitely use a refill at the next station. Looking at the GPS monitor on his dashboard for his location, he hit the sign to locate the closest gas station in the area. The answer came up almost immediately. God, but he loved technology.

      “There’s a gas station five miles down the road.” He watched her face for a reaction as he added, “What do you say we get some gas and get out to stretch our legs? I’m getting a little punchy playing chauffeur up here.”

      To his surprise, she looked more distressed than relieved. That didn’t make any sense.

      A gas station. That meant a bathroom. Oh God, why had she thought of that?

      She pressed her legs together beneath the white dress, the gun digging into her skin. Cara shifted uncomfortably. “Okay by me.”

      They were there almost before the conversation was finished.

      Pulling the car up to the pump, Max got out first. Instead of beginning to fill the tank, he opened the rear door.

      “What are you doing?” she demanded.

      He took her arm and ushered her out. She was forced to pull Weber in her wake, but Max stopped her before she allowed the man to get out.

      “Why don’t you uncouple yourself from Weber and use the facilities?” Max suggested, lowering his voice. “Maybe change out of that dress into something a little more practical?”

      Although, from where he stood, he could just as easily watch her wear that dress all the way back to Shady Rock. The perspiration had the material sticking to her breasts, reminding him just why God had gone to work so diligently on Adam’s rib.

      She looked at him knowingly, a frown curving her mouth.

      “While you take off with Weber? I don’t think so.” To her surprise, Max handed her the keys he had just taken out of the ignition. “What’s this?”