Dark And Dangerous (19 page)

 
"I know you're right. But it's just not
that easy for me."

 
"Take it one step at a time. That's all
you can do." He bent and kissed her forehead gently, before releasing her.

 
"We're about done." Klein stepped
into the room.

 
"Did the doctor tell you when Miss
Kans
could come home?" Kayley asked Klein.

 
"He expected to let her get home in
about a week. He said she should be well enough in a couple of days, but he
wanted to make sure she is completely healthy first. And there's a guard
stationed outside her door."

 
"What about the cats?"

 
"Miss
Kans
'
friend said she would take care of them."

 
"Okay." She wrung her hands
together. "Do you think it was
Schnyder's
men
who did this?"

 
"Yes." Klein looked at her, his
eyes sympathetic.

 
"Then it's safe to presume that it was
also
Schnyder
who sent someone to kill Joe."

 
"Yes." Klein admired anyone who
could see facts clearly, despite their own feelings.

 
"There was no evidence pointing towards
anyone, but we recognize the MO."

 
"So you know who did it?" Hope
flared in her heart.

 
"The MO fits with a man known under the
name of 'The fox'. He's as silent and sneaky as one, and we have never been
able to discover his true identity."

 
"Is he known to work with
Schnyder
?" Nathan asked.

 
"We think he has worked with
Schnyder
before, but as far as we know he works as a
professional assassin. Anyone can hire him."

 
"But you haven't been able to catch him
yet?" Nathan slipped his arm around Kayley to warm and comfort her. She
looked pale and strained.

 
"No. We have had a man under cover for
several months, but he still hasn't gotten close to 'The fox' yet."

 
"If you discover anything new, will you
let us know?" Kayley asked.

 
"Yes."

 
"We're all set," Brown said from
the other room.

 
"You can just lock up when you're ready
to leave." Klein threw the keys to Nathan, who caught them in
mid air
.

 
"You're not going to seal off the
apartment like they do in the movies?" Kayley asked surprised.

 
"No." Klein laughed. "There
wasn't much evidence anyway, and what there was is bagged and tagged. The
apartment is clean, so you're free to clean up or anything else you want."
Klein nodded at them and left the kitchen. Moments later they heard the front
door close.

 
"You want us to clean up the apartment
before we leave?" Nathan asked.

 
"You don't mind?" Kayley asked
surprised. She had been sure he wanted to get back to Monterey as fast as
possible.

 
"No, I don't mind." He framed her
face with his hands and bent to kiss her gently. "Okay, let's see what has
to be done."

Chapter 21

 
It took
a couple of hours before they had made the apartment look like it did before
the ransacking. By the time they were finished and back in the helicopter on
their way to Monterey, Kayley felt beat.

 
While Nathan made a few business phone calls,
she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. It felt good to
relax, she thought. To just empty her mind for a moment and not think about the
whole mess with Joe.

 
She listened to Nathan's deep voice and
drifted slowly off to sleep. Her dreams were blurry and unfocused, a turmoil of
her childhood and her present.

 
"Kayley."

 
She heard her name as if it came from far
away and felt warmth spread through her. Her lashes fluttered open and she
found herself looking into Nathan's dark blue eyes.

 
"Hey." He touched her cheek gently.
"We're landed."

 
"Are we?" Surprised she looked out
the window to find they were safely back on solid ground. "I must have
fallen asleep."

 
"You did." He had been careful not
to wake her. He wanted her to sleep as much as she could. When they were
finally finished with the apartment she had looked dead on her feet. But she
had refused to stop until they were done.

 
"How long did I sleep?" She climbed
out of the helicopter behind him.

 
"Not that long." And not nearly
long enough, he thought, taking her hand as they walked to his car. She still
had dark smudges under her eyes, but at least her color was looking a little
better.

 
"I have to attend a meeting."
Nathan held the car door open for her while she climbed in.

 
"Okay." She waited while he walked
around the car and slid into the seat.

 
"I tried to postpone it, but it wasn't
possible." He looked at her and started the engine.

 
"You don't have to postpone it for
me."

 
"The problem is, I don't want to leave
you alone."

 
"I've been alone all of my life. It
doesn't bother me," Kayley said uncomfortable. She wasn't used to anyone
making such a big deal out of her.

 
"It bothers me." Nathan cast a
glance at her as he drove.

 
"It bothers you to be alone?" she
said, deliberately misunderstanding him.

 
"You know what I mean."

 
"I'm not going to fall apart,
Nathan."

 
"That's not what I'm worried
about." Or at least not all he was worried about. "
Schnyder
might still be after you."

 
"But Joe is dead."

 
"Yes, but they still think you have what
they are looking for. They don't know that we handed it over to Klein, or that
so far there has been nothing really incriminating on it."

 
"You think they are still looking for
me?" She swallowed hard. The thought hadn't crossed her mind.

 
"We can't rule it out yet. Which is why
I want you to stay with me at the resort. I have a suite that is always at my
disposal. I thought maybe you could take a nap, or paint in my office if you'd
like."

 
She tried to shake of the first shock of
realizing
Schnyder
might still be out for her, and
considered Nathan's words. "I think it would do me good to paint."
Anytime there had been trouble in her life, painting had always been the thing
that got her through it.

 
"Just don't strain yourself too
much."

 
"I'm not an invalid," she said
exasperated

 
"I can personally verify that." He
sent her a look that made her forget everything else and had her pulse
scattering. She cleared her throat and changed the subject quickly.

 
"What is your meeting about?"

 
"The new resort." He parked the
car. "The architect is coming in to show us his first drawings."

 
"That was quick."

He took her hand as they
walked towards the resort. "It's just a rough sketch to see if we like his
work and his ideas."

 
"But you liked the work he had already
done?" Kayley ignored the knowing smiles on the
employees
faces when they passed the front desk and stepped into the elevator.

 
"Yes, very much. The work samples he
sent me was very interesting."

When they stepped out of
the elevator, they found Damian talking to David.

 
"Hey." Damian turned around and
grinned at them. "What have you two love birds been up to?"

 
"Shut up," Nathan said mildly.
"Any messages for me, David?"

 
"Nothing that can't wait. I left them on
your desk."

 
"Thanks." He looked back at Damian.
"Everything ready for the meeting?"

 
"Yes." His smile disappeared when
he studied Kayley. His instinct told him there was something wrong there. Very
wrong. "Early morning?" He followed them into Nathan's office.

 
"Yes," Nathan said shortly, closing
the subject.

 
"I heard the chopper come in,"
Damian continued, refusing to stop.

 
"We took a little trip to San
Francisco." Nathan sat at his desk and turned on the computers.
 

 
"Something wrong?"

Uncomfortable, Kayley went
to her aisle and picked up her paint brush. She needed to keep her hands busy.

 
"Just visited a friend of
Kayley's."

 
"That was early," Damian commented.

 
"Kayley, I want to show you my suite
before the meeting," Nathan said changing the subject, and gave Damian a
warning look out of narrowed eyes.

 
"Okay." She put down her brush and
followed Nathan past a scowling Damian, out of the office and down the wide
hall. She kept quiet until Nathan let them into his suite and closed the door
behind them.

 
"Nathan, I don't want you to argue with
your family because of me."

 
"That wasn't an argument, Kayley."
He pulled her into his arms. "We can disagree without it being a major
deal. Damian might not appreciate me shutting him out, but then I don't
appreciate him butting in."

 
"He does it because he loves you."

 
"I know." He smiled down at her.
"And that won't change. For either of us." He kissed her tenderly and
then released her.

 
"I better not touch you, or I'll just
forget about everything else."

 
"Will you?"

 
"Haven't you noticed?" he asked and
gave her a smoldering
look, that
had her insides
twisting.

 
"Why did you choose to buy a
house?" she asked quickly changing the subject. "You had everything
here."

 
"Except privacy."

She understood that
perfectly.

 
"It began to annoy me that there was
always people here. I couldn't leave the suite without running into
someone."

 
"So you bought a house," she
stated.

 
"Yes." He thought he knew the
answer, but he asked the question anyway, "What would you have done?"

 
It made her smile. "I think it would
have driven me crazy to be surrounded by people, probably within a week."

 
"I thought you would feel that
way."

 
She wandered over to the floor to ceiling
windows and looked beyond the balcony to the stunning view. "I don't even
think the view could make up for it." She turned and studied the large
suite. It was grand, she thought. More like a luxury apartment. At the moment
they were standing in the beautifully decorated living room. A large open
doorway led into the kitchen and from there
there
was
open to a dining room that also opened into the living room. A door in the
other side of the room led to what she assumed was the bedroom.

 
"Do you feel tired?" Nathan asked
watching her closely. She could use some sleep, he thought.

 
"No. I don't think I could sleep right
now," she said, reading his thoughts.

 
"If you feel like it I want you to take
a nap. The bedroom is through there." He pointed at the door and cast a
quick glance at his watch. "My meeting's about to start. You sure you
don't want to stay here and relax?"

 
"Yes. Painting is always the best way
for me to relax."

 
"Okay. Here's the key if you change your
mind."

She took the electronic
key he handed her and followed him out the room.

 
"The meeting shouldn't last more than
two hours." Nathan took her hand as they walked.

 
"I probably won't even notice you're
gone."

 
"Ouch. That sound you just heard was you
breaking my ego."

She laughed at him.
"I didn't mean it that way. It's just that when I paint I don't notice
anything else."

 
"So you'll miss me?"

 
"I didn't say that," she protested,
feeling suddenly flustered.

 
"So you're claiming you won't miss me
then?"

 
"Who won't miss you?" Damian asked,
appearing from his office.
 

 
"Kayley claims she won't notice it when
I'm gone."

She could feel a blush
climb her cheeks. "I didn't say that."

 
"So you will miss me?" Nathan asked
grinning at her.

 
"No, I
…
" Caught she threw out her hands and
looked pleadingly around the room, hoping to find help in either Damian or
David. But they were both grinning at her.

 
"I suppose I'll have to make you notice
me, so you can miss me while I'm gone."

 
"No, you
—
" She took a quick step back, but not
quick enough. He caught her face in his hands, and cut off her protest with a
heated kiss. Her knees nearly buckled as heat swept through her. She lifted her
hands to his wrists intending to remove them, or at least to try.

But instead she found her
hands wrapping around them, gripping tightly.

 
As if from far away she heard the low hum of
the elevator, and she felt the hard beat of Nathan's pulse under her fingers.

 
Then he stepped back and looked down at her with
eyes that were nearly black with passion. "I think that should do
it," he murmured.

Damian laughed beside
them. "Better finish. The elevator is on its way back up."

 
"You think you can remember me
now?" Nathan asked her and gave her a smile that said he wouldn't mind
making her notice him some more.

Both Damian and David gave
a strangled laugh.

 
Kayley opened her mouth to say something,
then just shut it again and simply nodded. She wasn't sure she could make any
coherent sounds at the moment.

 
"Stay out of trouble," he murmured
and released her with a slow caress of fingers against her cheek.

 
If she had been sure her voice would have
worked, she would have made a sarcastic comment at his words. Instead, she
turned and hurried into his office, and shut the door behind her. She was
relieved that she could make her legs work. They felt like jelly beneath her,
and her eyes still felt crossed from the onslaught of his kiss. God, the man
could kiss, she thought, letting out an explosive breath. He should come with a
warning label. She leaned back against the door and breathed deeply for a
couple of minutes, until her blood began to cool and her world settled around
her again. It still surprised her that anyone could make her feel this way.

 
And she had to admit it satisfied her deeply
to know that he felt the same.