Double Take (28 page)

She wanted to slam it closed in his face. Instead, she stared in dis-belief. “You!”

His grin vanished. He took in every inch of her appearance—her bare feet with their sheer pink toenails, her low-rise jeans, the daisy-sprinkled apron, the lemon-yellow T-shirt, and the fact that she wore not one stitch of makeup, not even mascara.

Kait felt panic. “What are you doing here?” If Trev saw him, he would never believe that he and Lana were through. But did it matter? Because this was the end of the game; they had come to the end of the road.

With no sign of the abundant amusement Kait had witnessed the night before, he said, “Do relax. Coleman just drove off to town. And you’re not her,” he stated flatly. “You are not Lana, now, are you, love?”

Kait felt the floor tilt wildly beneath her feet. “Are you insane?” she gasped.

“Lana would never, ever, be caught dead in jeans and an apron and without her face on. Not ever,” he stressed, his gray eyes wide and riveted upon her.

“Just get out,” Kait said. Then she changed her mind and grabbed his arm, dragging him inside. “No—we have to talk!” She slammed the door and lowered her voice. “I want you to return that ring!”

“Like bloody hell,” he said. He slowly circled her, studying every inch of her. Then he stopped short. “Good God—she told me so long ago that I’d completely forgotten. You’re her twin!”

Kait inhaled. There was no escape hatch now.

His hands were on his hips. Today, he wore a navy blue sports jacket over tan slacks with a paler blue polo shirt beneath. “She told me once, shortly after we moved in together, that she had a twin. A physically identical carbon copy of herself.”

Her lips had turned into wood. “She told you?” Lana had told this man, but no one else. She had told Colin Farrell, but not her husband, Trev.

“She told me once, in passing. I do believe she mentioned you were as different as night and day and that you spoke rarely. And that was the end of that conversation.” He was suddenly reflective. “What the bloody hell is going on? What is she up to?” Now he was grim and concerned. “Where is she?”

In that moment, Kait instinctively knew she had an ally in her quest for the truth, never mind that he was a thief. “I don’t know where she is,” she said.

He gave her a long look. “You must tell me what’s going on,” he said warningly.

Did she dare bargain? “Will you return the ring?”

He nodded.

“Lana asked me to cover for her so she could borrow or raise the money she owes,” she began.

He grabbed her arm. “Hold right there. The
money
she
owes?
” He was incredulous.

Kait stared. But she had known since discovering that her sister was a thief and a pro that her story was a lie.

“I’m going to throttle her,” he said with a disbelieving shake of his head.

Kait wondered if he meant it. He wasn’t all that angry, and he seemed somewhat amused. “So then why
did
she ask me to come here and switch places with her?”

“You’re a fool,” he said with a laugh that wasn’t humorous. His gray gaze was direct. “Believing that rot. But what I cannot believe is that she did not tell me what she was doing.” He was finally annoyed. But he still didn’t seem angry, and Kait couldn’t decide if he were a cool, cool cucumber or a very good actor. It was probably a combination of both.

“What is going on?” Kait asked grimly. “Please, Colin. Please. I have been going crazy pretending to be her—not to mention that someone shot at me—her—and also drove me off the road.”

He studied her for a long moment. “She’s conned you. Quite thoroughly, it seems.” And he did smile, suddenly amused.

Kait felt like smacking the smile right off his handsome face. “It’s hardly funny.”

He gave her a look she could not decipher. “I find it rather amusing—she’s even conned me. Not for the first time, I might add.”

Kait stared. “So then why are you with her?” Her previous thoughts assailed her. “Did you guys break up when she married Trev?”

He eyed her. “Romantic, eh, love?”

“Yes,” she said, and the single word hissed out on her breath.

“We’ve never broken up. I’m with her because she is the most exciting woman I have ever met. And we are partners. Neither one of us could survive without the other one.”

Kait walked away to sit down. Her worst suspicions were right. “She never loved Trev.” It wasn’t a question.

“No. Although I do think he amused her for a while. You
are
romantic.”

Kait didn’t look up. “But what about Marni?” she whispered, finally meeting Farrell’s gray eyes.

For the first time, Farrell hesitated. “Some women are better mothers than others,” he said.

That was an understatement. “I need to know the whole...” She hesitated.

“Scam?” he supplied.

She nodded. “So she married him for his money?”

“My, you are a bit of a terrier.” His white teeth flashed. “We were looking for a mark. A nice, rich chap with nice rich friends—and then Lana learned about Trev Coleman. She came to me one day extremely excited, because he was old money, recently widowed, with a daughter, and lots of old-world friends. We both felt that he’d be vulnerable and easy to manage. We were right. He fell for her like a sack of rocks.”

Kait couldn’t move. Her earlier suspicions returned. “How did she find out about Trev?” she managed.

“I have no idea. But she knew he’d be at a certain restaurant for a business meeting, and she intercepted him there.” His expression changed. “What is it?”

And suddenly, Kait knew the truth.

“Tell me,” Farrell said.

Kait looked up. “Lana had dinner with me. I was working on a charity event and I told her I wanted to hold it at Fox Hollow. I had a lunch meeting scheduled with Trev two weeks after. But he didn’t show. When did they meet, Farrell?”

“May of ninety-seven. They were married the following September—Labor Day weekend, in fact.”

“He was supposed to meet me. She fixed it so that she met him instead.”

Both of Farrell’s brows lifted. Then, “She’s very good,” he said suavely.

“She’s horrible,” Kait cried, standing.

“I begin to see. You are the moral sort, aren’t you?”

Kait could imagine what Lana had done—call Trev, pretend to be Kait, change the time and place of their meeting, then waltz in and attract his attention. Kait London had never showed up. Lana had been there to pick up all the pieces.

Kait was furious.

“Oh, come, Kait. It’s hardly the end of the world that Lana messed up your business meeting with Coleman. Oh, wait! I begin to see.” He was wide-eyed now.

“There’s nothing to see,” Kait snapped. She hurried out of Trev Coleman’s office with Farrell at her side.

“No? You’ve fallen hard for the fellow and you’re thinking that if Lana hadn’t interfered, right now, you’d be the proper mistress of Fox Hollow.”

“That’s not what I’m thinking,” Kait lied.
But it was exactly what she was thinking
.

In the living room, Kait faced him, her arms folded across her chest. “I still don’t understand why. Why con me into covering for her?”

Colin Farrell smiled. “Isn’t it obvious? She wanted to pull off a job without me. Either that, or she’s setting one up.” He didn’t seem angry, but he was no longer very amused. “She’s never cut me out before. Where is she?”

“I have no idea.”

“When did you last hear from her?”

Kait told him. “She intends to return on Monday. That’s tomorrow,” she added.

His gaze narrowed as he absorbed that. Suddenly he held out his hand. “I’ll take that ring now,” he said.

Kait couldn’t wait to get rid of it. But she still had questions—lots of questions. “Not yet. What about Rafe Coleman? He knows, doesn’t he, what Lana really is?” Now, his hostility and threats made sense. “And is Zara an undercover cop?”

Farrell laughed, but not with mirth. “Zara’s a PI working for Trev.”

“What?” Kait gasped, completely surprised.

“That’s right—he’s gathering dirt on Lana so he can divorce her without handing over the keys to the kingdom. As if she gives a damn about this place.”

Kait sat down, in shock.
How much did Trev know?

How long would it take for a good private investigator to discover that Lana had an identical twin?

“What does Rafe know?” she managed then.

“We don’t know. I think he despises Lana for the obvious reasons, but she started worrying a few months ago that he was on to her—to us.”

“He knows she’s a thief,” she said. “I’m certain of it.” She stopped herself from adding a warning that he was pursuing Lana with a vengeance.

Kait stiffened. Which side was she now on?

She couldn’t be on her sister’s side, but Lana faced a serious indictment if caught, and hard jail time if convicted.

“Well, if that is so, this is the perfect time for Lana’s divorce—and our departure from the area.” He was impatient now. Clearly he was interested in leaving. “It was nice meeting you, Kait.”

He was about to leave. “I’ll get the ring,” Kait cried.

His hand clamped down on her shoulder before she could rush for the stairs. “No need.”

“What?” she gasped, meeting his eyes with a sinking sensation.

His smile was wide, his eyes sparkled. He leaned close. “Tell me. You just stole your first bauble, Kait. How does it feel?”

“I didn’t steal anything!” she cried in a frantic whisper. “Now let me go so I can get that damn thing!”

He didn’t release her. “No rush? No high?” He was now amused. “There is a rush, love. It’s almost better than sex.”

“Let go!”

He obeyed. “You
are
taking the ring.”

“No, actually, I’m not.” He turned to leave.

She ran after him. “Are you nuts? I can’t keep it! It needs to be returned. Immediately—Rafe saw us, Farrell!”

He paused at the front door. “You’re keeping it. It’s called insurance, love.”

Kait felt her mouth drop open and hang there.

He flashed his brilliant smile and walked out.

Kait stood in the doorway, staring after Farrell, when Marni came dashing out of the house. “Colin!” she squealed with delight.

Kait stiffened with amazement; Farrell turned, smiling, and the next thing Kait knew, Marni was high in his arms, being swung wildly around. “How’s the most gorgeous girl on the planet?” Farrell asked, grinning, as he set her firmly but gently back down on the ground.

Marni’s cheeks were bright red. “Mommy made waffles for breakfast! They were the best!”

“I’ll bet they were,” he said, tugging on a curl. “I have a surprise for you, sweetheart,” he said.

“Is it a present?” she asked eagerly.

“Did I also say you were the cleverest girl on the planet?” He laughed.

Marni giggled, and glanced back at Kait. “What did he bring me today, Mommy?”

Kait was reeling. She prayed now, with all of her heart, that Marni was not Colin Farrell’s child. She was so aghast that she could not speak.

Hand in hand, Farrell and Marni walked over to his big black Mercedes sedan. Kait closed her eyes, knowing how he could afford Mercedes’s most expensive luxury car. She was going to have to return the ring herself.

Marni’s squeals made her eyes fly open. “Look, Mommy, look, a real necklace!” she shouted.

“Hug first,” Farrell said, squatting.

Marni obeyed and they hugged like dear old friends—or like an uncle and his niece—or a father and his daughter. Marni dashed back up the veranda, while Kait stood there like a statue. Farrell grinned at her and slid into the sedan. As he drove away, Marni showed her a small necklace with her name hanging on it. “It’s beautiful,” Kait said, hearing another car approaching. She tensed, afraid it was Trev. And if it was, he and Farrell would pass one another in the driveway.

But it wasn’t a spanking-new oversized cobalt blue Dodge Ram, and it wasn’t the trim, sexy tan Jaguar either. It was Elizabeth’s dusty old Land Rover.

Kait and Marni walked into the house. “Does Farrell—Colin—give you lots of presents?”

“He never comes here without one,” Marni announced. “He loves me. He told me so. He thinks of me like the daughter he doesn’t have.”

“I suppose he told you that?” Kait said, sickened.

Marni grinned and nodded. “Can I wear it? Please?”

Kait helped her put the necklace on, clasping it closed for her. The front door opened and closed. Kait did not want to deal with Elizabeth Dorentz now. She straightened and turned.

Elizabeth looked as if she’d swallowed a jug of turpentine, in spite of her navy blue Sunday church dress and peach lipstick. Had her expression been different, she would have been a very beautiful and elegant older woman.

“Good morning,” Kait said with a big, false smile.

“I never thought to see Colin Farrell in this house again,” she said.

So her sword was drawn. “It wasn’t my idea,” Kait said grimly.

“Mommy?” Marni asked in a small worried voice.

Kait bent, clasping her shoulder. “Why don’t you go upstairs and show Sam that beautiful necklace.”

Marni grinned and ran off. Then she stopped. “But can we play with my horse models later?”

“We can do that, and more. Why don’t we go see
Beauty and the Beast
again?” Kait smiled.

Marni agreed eagerly and dashed up the stairs. Kait faced Elizabeth, her hands on her hips. “As she is fond of Farrell, you shouldn’t be speaking of him in that manner in front of her.”

Elizabeth paled. “How dare you tell me how to behave in front of that child! I am more a mother to her than you will ever be!”

“You are not her mother,” Kait spat. Fury enveloped her now—fury at Lana, fury at Farrell, fury at this woman and everyone else who hated Lana and had to have their fingers in the messy, carved-up pie that was Lana’s life. She was even, dear God, angry at herself.

“And you are?”

Kait straightened. “What the hell does that mean?” Her ears rang.
Elizabeth knew she wasn’t Lana
. And this woman couldn’t be trusted with her secret—she would use it against her—Trev would never look at her again once Elizabeth got to him. Speech failed Kait.

Should she explain? Beg? Threaten? Cajole?

“We both know you came back here expecting divorce papers—and once you got them you decided to use Marni to protect yourself against Trev! If he hadn’t decided to throw you out, you wouldn’t be taking her to a movie this afternoon, now, would you, Mrs. Coleman?”

“You’re wrong,” Kait said.

“And to have that lover of yours here! Right under Trev’s nose!” Elizabeth shouted. “He thinks it’s over with you two, but I’m on to you, Mrs. Coleman!”

Kait looked up and saw hatred in her twisted expression and in her baleful eyes.

“I am not keeping your dirty secrets, Mrs. Coleman. It was different before he decided to divorce you, but now, I will do everything I can to help him stay to his course—as it is a course he should have taken years ago!”

Kait didn’t respond—she was staring into the blond woman’s blazing blue eyes. Did this woman own a gun? Could she have driven her off the road two nights ago? Was she capable of making such threats—or of really trying to take her life?

Kait was suddenly jolted into a very harsh and frightening reality. Her instincts said yes. In fact, they shouted at her now. She slowly stood. “You can tell Trev whatever you feel you must. Farrell came by of his own accord; I had nothing to do with it.”

Elizabeth made an angry and disparaging sound and strode away, toward the stairs. Kait felt her knees weaken once the horrid housekeeper was gone. Trev would be furious about Farrell’s visit. She did not know if she could talk her way out of it.

And what about the damned ring? Should she flush it down the toilet? Throw it in the lake? Or could she try to rectify a wrong and actually attempt to return it?

The answer was obvious, but Kait was afraid being caught while attempting to return it to Georgina Parker. And if she did get back into the Parkers’ house, where would she leave it? On a table downstairs? Or did she dare try to steal into the master bedroom, and leave it there, perhaps on the vanity in the bathroom? Clearly, Kait couldn’t get it back into the safe.

Her temples throbbed. Damn Farrell and her sister for their reckless criminal escapades. And what about Lana?

She had never loved Trev Coleman. She didn’t seem to really care about being a mother either. She had married Trev for his money, his position, his social set—so she and Farrell could steal from his friends.

It was stunning... unbelievable, but it was now a fact.

And Lana had found out about Trev Coleman from her, Kait, in the first place. She’d diverted him from his business meeting with Kait, and then strolled in to seduce him, con him, marry him herself.

Kait felt the loathing for her sister again.

She needed air. How could she hate her twin, no matter what she had done? Kait ran outside, and once strolling down the hill toward the stables, she fought for emotional control. Lana had done too many unconscionable things to count—Kait could not forgive her for using Trev or for being a thief—but she was her twin. Kait loved her. She had loved her all her life. And as hard as it was reconciling the woman Lana had become with the wild child and reckless teen she’d once been, Kait knew she had to do so. Something was terribly wrong with Lana, because Lana was a liar, a criminal, a cheat.

Kait reminded herself that she hadn’t heard Lana’s side of things. Surely Lana had a dozen excuses to make for her behavior. Then Kait gave up. She was only trying to fool herself. There were simply no excuses to make, not anymore, not now. Lana was sick.

But Kait knew Lana wasn’t bad. She wasn’t evil. She wasn’t a killer. She was selfish, and she had somehow gone astray. Lana needed professional help.

Kait’s emotions had calmed. She could not hate her sister for very long, thank God. Amazingly, for the first time in her life, she felt sorry for her twin. For the first time in her life, there was no more envy, and no admiration.

But nothing could change the feeling Kait had had for some time now, of being in deep and treacherous waters. No amount of effort or skill could keep her afloat for much longer.

What should she do now? And what was she going to do when Lana returned tomorrow?

Kait’s steps suddenly slowed. Max Zara was standing outside the stable, leaning against the hood of his battered pickup truck.
He was a PI, hired by Trev, to get the dirt on Lana
. How much did he know?

He was sipping from a can of soda. Kait didn’t veer away. His intent blue eyes settled on her. He tilted the can of Dr Pepper up and drank thirstily. When he was done, their gazes met, he crushed the can of soda with his fist, and tossed it into the back of the Toyota truck.

He was actually a good-looking man. He seemed to go out of his way to make himself look disreputable—he wasn’t shaved, and he wore a blue chambray shirt that had had its sleeves ripped off, over a tissue-thin white T-shirt that showed off his body. Kait bet anything he drank too much, ate burgers and fries, but had quit smoking cigarettes. She’d bet anything that, shaved and in a suit and tie, he’d turn more than a few female heads.

At least she now knew that he had not tried to kill her. If he was a legitimate private investigator, working for Trev, then he was gathering information, and that was all.

Did he know she was Kait London?
If so, Kait knew Trev also knew the truth. She shuddered to think that Trev had known who she really was for some time now and hadn’t said a thing. The idea was frightening. She had to be the one to tell him the truth.

“Nice mornin’,” he said.

“Have a little hangover?” she asked sweetly, noticing his red eyes.

“Just a teensy-weensy one. Nice visit from Farrell?”

She tensed. “Not really.”

“No? That’s a first.” He appeared amused.

“I asked you this a few days ago, and now I’m asking again. What do you want from me, Zara?”

His regard moved over her slowly, but not insultingly. “Maybe not much.”

Kait didn’t like his answer. “A few days ago, you told me to watch my back.”

“Still think you might want to do that,” he said.

“Am I in trouble? In danger?”

“Gee, only if you think being shot at and driven off the road is fun.”

He wasn’t going to open up. “A few days ago, you told me you meant to bring me down.” Her heart beat hard now. Surely he could see how frightened she was. “That’s changed, hasn’t it? Why?”

He lolled back against the truck, propping both elbows up behind him, on the hood. His biceps popped. “Has it changed... Mrs. Coleman? Now what makes you think that?”

She stared into his eyes. He stared back unwaveringly. He was impossible to read. “I know you were in New York when I was there last week.”

“Bravo.” He clapped his hands once, twice, three times. “I’m from Brooklyn, remember? I got a girl there.”

“Liar,” she said.

He started. “My, you’ve grown back your balls, Mrs. Coleman. Now why would I have been in the Big Apple if not to see my girl?”

She wet her lips. “You were following me.”

He came close. “Do you have something to hide, Mrs. Coleman? Because you’re sweating like a pig.”

She meant to tell him that she had nothing to hide, but it was such a monstrous lie that no words came out.

He leaned back against the hood of the Toyota. “Thought so.”

“How much do you know?” she whispered.

He smiled at her. “Do you really think I’d tell you...
Lana?
”

As he seemed intent on lolling against his beat-up pickup in the autumn sun, Kait escaped into the barn. It was empty, as all the horses had been turned out. The moment she was inside, she collapsed on a stall door, on the verge of tears. The way he had said her sister’s name made her almost certain that he knew she wasn’t Lana.

Why would Trev go along with her charade?

Kait knew why. The answer was glaringly simple. To see what she was up to.

And it meant that he was also in the throes of a theatrical performance—it meant he was pretending to have fallen in love with her.

Kait was ill. She flung open the stall door and went down on her knees, throwing up her meager breakfast. And when her retches became dry heaves, she remained there on her hands and knees. The tears fell profusely now.

She loved him so much, but their entire relationship was built on lie after lie. Maybe it was better that he knew the truth and was a liar too. Because maybe they would then have a chance: two liars together, instead of one.

But then he wouldn’t be the man she had fallen in love with.

And they didn’t have a chance. The moment Lana returned, it was over. Trev would never forgive her and he’d never even look at her again, much less speak to her.

A door slammed shut.

Kait didn’t think about it, assuming it had been the wind. She sat back on her calves and wiped her eyes with her fingers, then brushed wisps of straw off her face. Maybe, just maybe, she was wrong and Zara didn’t know anything incriminating yet.

Kait suddenly tensed, thinking she smelled smoke. She sniffed, felt reassured, and started to stand. But before she was even fully upright, the acrid odor returned, intensified.

Kait ran out of the stall, and saw smoke curling at the barn’s far end, where she had recently come in. And as she stared, she saw a stall burst into flames.

And the door she had come through was closed—while the catty-corner door, through which all of the stables’ vehicles entered and exited, remained closed as it had been before. Kait ran to the small side door and tugged on it to open it—but it refused to budge.

A huge whoosh sounded.

Kait jerked on the door again, but it was stuck and did not budge.

She turned.

In her corner of the barn were six stalls, three on each side of the corridor. Now all three stalls on the far side of the corridor were on fire. The entire barn was going to go up in flames.

Kait screamed and ran away from the fire and down the corridor toward the indoor arena, past another dozen stalls. As she did so, she heard the fire claiming stall after stall, racing after her, almost on her heels. For the first time since arriving at Fox Hollow, she saw that the door in the passageway leading to the indoor arena was also closed, and before she even tried to open it, she knew it was closed for a reason—she knew it was locked.