Twice Kissed by Lisa Jackson

sponge over the sink as he said, “I have a favor to ask of you.”
    “Shoot.” She was ready to say “no,” to deny him anything he might want from her, because she knew deep in her soul he wasn’t a man to be trusted, wasn’t a person she wanted anything to do with. “What is it?”
    “I want you to drive back to Denver with me.” Eyes never leaving hers, he nodded slowly. “I think I might need you as a character witness.”
    If he hadn’t been so deadly earnest, she would have laughed. “You’re kidding, right?” she said. “Me? A character witness for you?”
    “I’ve never been more serious in my life.”
    In an instant she believed him. The expression on his face was determined: his jaw set, his eyes steady, his lips blade-thin and unforgiving. Not a hint of the man who had joked just a few seconds before.
    “I don’t think I owe you anything,” she said slowly, folding the cloth, eyeing the pan of cold, burned stew, and ignoring it. She wasn’t hungry, hadn’t been since Thane had walked back into her life.
    “This isn’t a matter of payback.”
    “Then why?” She walked into the living room and took a seat on the arm of the sofa.
    “You know I would never lift a finger to hurt Mary Theresa.”
    Her heart squeezed painfully. Oh, how she knew it was true. From the minute Thane had set eyes on her more seductive twin, he’d been smitten. She suspected that Thane had never stopped loving Mary Theresa. He’d only stopped loving Maggie. “Of course.”
    “The police don’t know it.”
    In an instant, she understood. “You mean, not only do the police suspect foul play in Mary Theresa’s disappearance, but they think you’re involved.”
    “That’s about the size of it.”
    It was Thane. He did this to me. Mary Theresa’s cryptic message crept through her brain again, chilling her blood, causing her stomach to cramp.
    “I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t have to,” he said, and she knew he meant it.
    “I just can’t up and leave,” she began, then heard herself. This was her sister they were talking about. Her twin sister. The person most like her on this earth. And she was in trouble. “There’s Becca to consider and…” She let her thoughts trail off. What if Mary Theresa needed her? The coffeemaker dinged, and she returned to the open kitchen to pour two cups with hands that weren’t quite steady. “I…I don’t know,” she admitted, carrying the mugs of steaming coffee into the living room and handing one out to him. “There’s sugar or milk in the kitchen…”
    “I take it black. Thanks.”
    She remembered. Not that she wanted to. Not ever. She settled into a corner of the couch, tucked her feet onto the cushions, and blew across her cup. “Tell me exactly what you want me to do,” she suggested. Maybe if she heard what he had on his mind, she would better understand the situation.
    “I don’t know what happened to Mary Theresa or Marquise or whoever you want to call her,” he admitted. “No one seems to. Some people think she was kidnapped; there’s even talk of murder, you know that.”
    Maggie nodded mutely.
    “Then there are those who think this is some kind of publicity stunt, or that she just left because the pressure was so great, and she needed some peace of mind.” He took a swallow from his cup, studied the dark liquid inside, and frowned. “I’m not sure I believe that one, though.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because whenever the rat race got too much for her, the ratings were down on her show, her latest lover had taken a hike, or she needed to get away from the high-profile life she was living, she’d show up at my ranch.”
    “Your ranch?” Maggie repeated, dumbstruck. She’d thought that Mary Theresa hadn’t seen Thane since their divorce. Never had her sister confided that she’d spent time with her ex-husband.
    “Sometimes the ranch in California, other times the one outside of Cheyenne.” Setting his cup on the window ledge,