Free Promises in the Night: A Classic Romance - Book 2 by Barbara Bretton Page A

of the show.
    It made sense to Larkin. The situation was too serious to risk turning it into a grandstand ploy for publicity.
    So it shocked her when Alex, still on camera, said, “Keep that camera running, Marty. This is too important.”
    “Damned fool!” Marty motioned for the camera to keep rolling. “He’s asking for nothing but trouble.” He turned to look at Larkin. “Have you ever seen him do anything this stupid?”
    “I haven’t known him long enough to see him do anything at all,” she said. “You know him better than I. Have you ever seen him do anything like this?”
    “Hell, this is a little local show. The most urgent calls I’ve seen him handle are referrals to AA or a cocaine hotline. This is a hell of a lot more than we bargained on when we went live.” He shook his head. “I hope he can handle it.” •
    Despite her disappointment in Alex’s choice of methods, Larkin had little doubt that he would be able to handle anything that came his way. She had only to look at the way he commanded the camera to know that Alex understood his power and how to use it.
    She hadn’t suspected that he was a man like Vladimir—a man who liked the spotlight and wasn’t about to relinquish it without a fight.

----
    W hen Marty threatened to turn off the cameras, Alex had nearly vaulted across the desk and put a stranglehold on his director. If she had really taken a bottle of Seconal, the woman on the other end of the telephone line was probably no more than one hour away from death, and the only thing Alex had in his favor was the fact that she was able to see him on her television, to watch the look in his eyes as he tried to pull her back from the edge.
    That human contact, however distant, was his only hope to keep her awake, keep her alive long enough to find out who she was
    “Where are you calling from?”
    “Now, you don’t really expect me to tell you, do you, Doctor?” Her voice faded away at the end of her sentence. He could hear her take a long, shuddering breath. “I’d hate for you to try a melodramatic rescue. You’d really ruin my weekend plans.”
    He motioned for the camera to move in closer. “I think you want your weekend plans ruined.” His gaze was steady, unyielding.
    “You’re nuts.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Why would I want you to find me?”
    An opening. He motioned for the camera to move in closer. “If you didn’t want me to find you, you wouldn’t have called Helpline.”
    “Maybe I just want to help your ratings.”
    Marty groaned, and Alex looked over at him. Larkin Walker stood to Marty’s left, watching. Alex intently. Once again, his professional responsibilities had to take precedence over his personal desires.
    “If you’re really concerned with boosting my ratings, why don’t you give me your name so we’ll know whom to thank when the Nielsens come in?”
    She took longer to respond this time. Damn it! The pills were beginning to take hold. Why in hell was it taking so long to trace the call?
    “You have me at a disadvantage,” he continued, marveling at his understatement. “All of my callers at least give me a first name.”
    There was a pause. “Karen,” she said finally. “Not much help is it, Doctor?”
    No, he thought, glancing quickly at the studio crew, who all seemed to be staring back at him, as if waiting for instructions. Not much help at all.
    She said something else, but her words were lost in a flurry of background noise on her end. Loud strains of opera filtered through to him.
    “Do you have a radio on, Karen?”
    “I don’t have a radio.”
    “Turn down your stereo then,” he said, trying to control his anxiety as she slipped further out of his reach. “We’re getting some more feedback from the opera you have on.”
    He waited for a response. Nothing. He could feel Larkin’s eyes riveted to him. Sweat began to slide down the back of his neck. “Karen! Answer me, Karen! Did you go to turn off the