She could get on the bus and go home without a messy confrontation. He’d probably appreciate that, since her I love you declaration had gone unanswered. Besides, she hadn’t said it to him, she’d said it to Marshall.

About Mike.

After he’d shut the door on them.

Amber was many things but she wasn’t a martyr. She knew he cared for her, but he’d made it clear he could never forgive what she’d done. To stick around where she wasn’t wanted wasn’t her way. Mike had saved her and she was grateful. Beyond that, there was nothing more to say.

IT WAS OVER.

No sooner had Mike grabbed Marshall’s gun from the sidewalk than the local cops took over. They cuffed Marshall and read him his rights. The paramedics, who’d been called out along with the police, presumably by someone who’d witnessed the standoff, had reached Amber before Mike had a chance to get close to her. It was just as well. Anything they had to say to each other was best done in private.

At that moment, Mike hadn’t a clue what he was feeling beyond relief and an overwhelming desire to kiss her until she melted into him, his body joined with hers, and he forgot the fear that had consumed him watching Marshall holding her in one hand, a gun in the other. But as Amber had pointed out earlier, that was just sex. Anything physical between them had always been spectacular. He wasn’t ready to delve deeper.

So with the paramedics seeing to Amber, Mike put all his energy into making damn sure Marshall Banks didn’t slip through any procedural cracks. Although Stewart wasn’t his jurisdiction, Mike prided himself on being thorough, and he wanted the local cops to handle this booking the same way.

Only when the squad car carrying Marshall had pulled away did Mike turn to look for Amber. He glanced around, but he didn’t see her anywhere. The ambulance had left and only one cop remained, scrawling notes while he sat in his car.

“Hey, man. Do you know where Amber went?” he asked.

The guy shook his head. “No clue.” Then his radio beeped, capturing the cop’s attention.

Mike headed for the bus station. He asked a few people if they’d seen her based on description, but no one had. Finally, he walked over to the young woman selling tickets behind the counter. “Have you seen the woman who was being held hostage earlier?” he asked.

“Yep. She took the number ten.” The woman hooked her thumb toward the bus stop far from where the drama had taken place.

Mike’s heart nearly stopped. “She what?”

“Bought a ticket before the ruckus and took the bus after.” The woman glanced around him. “I’m sorry, but you’re holding up the line.”

Mike looked over his shoulder. One person stood waiting to buy a ticket. Some line. “Sure, sorry.” He stepped aside and glanced toward the front door, slowly making his way out.

Gone.

She’d up and left him.

Because he’d told her they were through.

Because even after Marshall had released her, he had avoided dealing with his feelings for Amber by immersing himself in work.

Because…he was no better than his father. The truth hurt. In trying to avoid the trap his father had fallen into, Mike had landed there anyway and he’d probably lost his only chance at happiness. The only difference was that Mike claimed sanity while avoiding what frightened him. Only now that Amber was gone did Mike have the courage to face his fears.

Her words, the ones she’d used when she’d refused to tell Marshall she loved him, “I don’t love you, I love him,” ran through his mind nonstop.

Taunting him.

I love him, she’d said.

And at the moment when Mike thought he might lose her to Marshall and his gun, Mike had gone cold inside. Because though he hadn’t verbalized it, he’d realized he loved her, too. And that love scared him, causing him to avoid her. He’d still been running, holding tight to the reasons he’d sent her away-the fear of instability, roller coaster and insanity.

Mike looked at the empty street where the bus had once been and realized those reasons suddenly meant very little when compared to losing her forever.

He’d been a fool, he thought, running a frustrated hand through his hair. He’d been too afraid to face his feelings before, because if he let himself love her…His thoughts trailed off and he broke into a sweat.

Afraid if he let himself love her…what?

Alone, Mike walked to the end of the sidewalk where the bus station ended. He and his friends used to hang out in the empty lot here. For Mike, the place had been an escape from his tense family life-at least until he and his mother had moved out. An escape from the arguments between his parents and the uncertainty of his father’s mood swings. Mike had never known what he’d come home to. He’d always been afraid of ending up just like Edward, pushed to the edge by the curse. Or loving someone too much.

Amber had pushed and pulled. She’d abandoned him in Vegas, taken his money, left him alone only to show up again in Boston. With every lie by omission, every little truth finally revealed, Mike had suffered one punch to the gut after another.

He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. His father had the power to put him on that painful roller-coaster ride because Mike loved the ornery old man.

Amber had the same power over him, he realized now, because he loved her, too.

He glanced at his watch and wondered if he could get to Boston before her bus. If not, he’d probably be able to head her off before she boarded the next bus out West.

He ran for his car only to be stopped by the cop he’d questioned earlier. “Corwin!” the other man called.

“Yeah?” Mike turned, trying not to sound annoyed.

Now that he’d made his decision, he wanted to find Amber immediately.

“Dispatch just radioed in. Your father was taken to the county hospital. Possible heart attack,” the officer said. “I’m sorry, man.”

“Thank you.” Mike glanced up at the sky and swore aloud. When in the hell would he catch a break?

He dialed Amber’s cell phone, but it went directly to voice mail. He didn’t leave a message. What he had to say could only be done face-to-face.

After he made certain his father was okay.

With the police car leading the way, Mike sped to the hospital, raced into the emergency entrance and ran through the doors leading to the patients. All the while, his heart was lodged dead center in his throat. Because, for all the aggravation that went along with being Edward Corwin’s son, Mike loved his father. And he did not want to lose him.

He heard his family’s voices immediately and zeroed in on his cousin Derek’s, the one person he could trust to be a voice of reason.

“What’s going on?” Mike asked, winded from his panic.

“He’s okay,” Derek assured him first. “After you took off, his agitation increased. He started complaining of chest pains in between his ranting about the damn curse again. I brought him right over.”

“Thanks.” Mike sapped his cousin on the back. “What’d the doctors say?”

“They ran some blood work and said Edward hadn’t had a heart attack. But they need to check it two more times. Some kind of protocol. He’s hooked up to a monitor.”

Not a heart attack. Thank God.

“What do they think it is?” Mike asked.

“Too early to say, but my guess is a panic attack.” Derek shook his head. “I’m only surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.”

“I know. I’m sure it was the stress of being in public with Clara, the reporters surrounding them…”

“Finding out about Gabrielle’s pregnancy, Amber leaving, you going after her because she was in trouble,” Derek continued. “Your father’s had a lot to deal with today in the one area of his life he doesn’t cope with well.”

Mike nodded. “I’m just glad he’d okay. I’ve made an appointment for him with Dr. Shelby.”

“You might not need to go. Dr. Shelby was called in to consult. She’s going to evaluate him before they let him go home, assuming the rest of the tests come back negative, too.”

Mike exhaled a long breath. “I need to see him.”

Derek pointed to the closed curtain. “They gave him something to calm him down and he’s sleeping. Gabrielle’s standing watch outside as you can see, and Clara’s sitting beside him inside.”

“I take it there was no telling her ‘family only’?” Mike asked, laughing. The other woman had reinvaded his father’s life and obviously decided she was staying.

Mike was grateful. His father needed someone to love him. After all his years alone, he deserved that. Mike just hoped Edward would be able to enjoy it someday.

“I hate to bring this up, but what happened with Amber?” Derek asked.

Mike shook his head, still in shock himself. “When it rains, it pours, my cousin.” He filled Derek in on the events of the last hour, including how Amber had taken off before they could connect.

“In other words, she bolted before you had the guts to face her.”

He laughed at Derek’s uncanny accuracy. “That’s right. Now shut the hell up and let me think.”

“About?”

“About the fact that I can’t get out there until I get Edward settled. Which means Amber’s going to have a three-day bus ride to build up her walls and begin to hate my guts.” His stomach tightened at the unavoidable thought.

Derek hung his arm around Mike’s shoulder in a how of support. “Look, she’s smarter than you are. Maybe she won’t hold it against you.”

“Funny. She’s female, isn’t she?”

Derek grinned. “Last time I looked.”

“Then she’ll hold it against me,” Mike said. He’d earned any grudge Amber chose to hold on to.

She’d offered him everything and he’d turned her away. Why would she believe in him now?

THREE DAYS AFTER Edward was admitted and evaluated, Dr. Shelby discharged him. Mike was relieved and met the doctor in his father’s room when she told him the good news.