Fountain of Secrets (The Relic Seekers) (3 page)

“You run away whenever you see me coming.”

“Nonsense.”

“Last night you darted into your bedroom the minute you saw me.”

“It was late. I was going to bed.”

“And when I saw you in the kitchen earlier that evening, you ran off like you’d seen a mouse. Guess you weren’t avoiding me then either?”

“I had finished eating.”

“You threw a whole slice of cake in the trash.”

“I decided I didn’t need the calories. I’m watching my weight.”

One brow lifted, and his dark gaze raked her head to toe. “Like hell. You’re perfect.” He looked disgusted with himself and turned away. He walked to the refrigerator and opened the door, critically eyeing the contents. “You need to go shopping. You’ve got crap for food and you’re out of Coke.”

“I had three cans when I left.”

“Not anymore.”

Kendall shut the door. “What are you doing here besides drinking my sodas? Did Nathan send you to spy on me?”

“He doesn’t need me. He’s watching you twenty-four/seven.”

“The black SUV? I figured it was one of his guards.”

“I don’t know about that, but he has a camera on you.”

“A camera? Where?”

“On the building facing you.”

Kendall went to the window and looked through her wooden blinds. Todd’s curtains were open. She saw a movement at his window, as if someone had stepped out of sight. Had he been watching her apartment? She looked at the box on the corner. “I thought that was some kind of cable box.”

“Nope. Camera,” Jake said, inspecting her cabinets.

She wasn’t really surprised. Nathan kept a tight net on his employees. “So you came to tell me that Nathan’s watching me and to find food?”

“I came to tell you we’re going back to Italy.”

“We just got home two days ago.”

“Nathan called me right after we left his bedroom. He has a team at the castle to keep intruders out, but he wants us there to make sure no one gets nosey and finds the treasure. Guess he’s afraid someone might decide to take a souvenir.”

Considering the objects they’d found hidden underneath the chapel, it would be tempting. “When are we leaving?”

“He said soon. You can follow me. My house is on the way. I need to pick up a couple of things before we leave.”

“You have a house?”

“Did you think I lived in a cave?”

“I wouldn’t have been surprised.” She hadn’t realized he lived in Charlottesville. “I can just meet you at the mansion.”

“I’d rather keep you in sight.”

“Why?”

Jake looked out the window toward Todd’s apartment. “Nathan never should have let you come here alone. I don’t know where his head is.” He started to leave the room.

“Nathan doesn’t control me. Where are you going now?” Surely he wasn’t planning to help her pack. Having Fergus’s help was bad enough. She didn’t want more males pawing her underthings.

“I need to use the little boys’ room before we leave.”

Kendall gave him a quick glance from worn jeans hugging muscular hips and thighs to his soft button-up Levi’s shirt with rolled-up sleeves revealing muscular forearms. He’d long since outgrown little boy. “You shouldn’t have drunk all my soda.”

“It’s here or in your yard. I promise I won’t take a dump.”

Kendall rolled her eyes. “Hurry.” While he was in the bathroom, she threw some clothes in a bag. After a few months working with Nathan, Kendall was proficient at packing. She looked at the box holding the camera as they walked outside to her car. Was Nathan concerned for her or just protecting his interests? From the corner of her eye she saw something move in Todd’s window again. If he was watching, maybe he would think Jake was a brother. Not likely. No one would look at Jake and think
brother.
He was too hot.

“I’m there,” Jake said, pointing to his Jeep parked on a side street. She hadn’t noticed it when she pulled in.

Kendall followed him across town to an older section with restored homes. He pulled up in front of a brick colonial with black shutters. It even had the white picket fence. Of course the fence was eight feet tall, so all she could really see was the second floor, but the house was obviously beautiful. She pulled up behind him and waited as he got out of his Jeep. He walked back to her car and opened the door. “You coming in?”

“Uh, sure.” She had to admit she was curious to see what the inside looked like. “I didn’t see you living in a house like this. It looks like one of those historical homes that would be on a walking tour.”

He shrugged as he led Kendall up the sidewalk. “It was my grandmother’s.”

She hadn’t pictured him with a grandmother either. When she was growing up, she’d always wished she had a grandmother. And a mother. She had adored her father, but she’d always wondered about the woman who’d given life to her. Who was she? What was she like? There was only one picture, a small one, not very clear. Her father said the others had been lost in a fire. Kendall hadn’t asked many questions since it seemed to trouble her father to talk about it. Her aunt said something once that made Kendall suspect her parents hadn’t been married.

“How long have you lived here?”

“A few months. She left it to me last year when she died.”

“Sorry.” She didn’t have a grandmother to lose, but she couldn’t imagine losing Aunt Edna.

“I’d planned to rent it out, but after I started working for Nathan, it made sense to have a place nearby.”

“The yard is lovely.” There were boxwoods and shrubs, very well cared for.

“Can’t take credit for that. I’m hardly here.”

She knew that feeling. The house was lovely, but she could see signs of Jake. The lock on the gate, the tall fence, the security system.

He opened the door and let her inside. “I just need to grab a few things. Won’t be a minute. Make yourself at home.”

No invitation to come upstairs? Maybe ignoring him was working. “Take your time.” She wondered if his bedroom matched the badass mercenary or the grandson. After he disappeared, she gave herself a tour of the downstairs. It had been carefully restored. Hardwood floors and trim looked old but well maintained. The kitchen was clean, large, and had an island
in the middle of the room with copper pots and pans hanging overhead. Did he cook too? The dining room was uncluttered and had a wooden table large enough to fit a big family. On one wall, an antique china cabinet—probably early nineteenth century—held Wedgwood china and Waterford crystal glasses.

The living room looked more like Jake. Oversized leather furniture with a blanket tossed over the back of the couch. Solid wood coffee and side tables. A Coke can sat on one next to a pizza box. Her fingers itched to touch things, to see what she could pick up on him, but it wouldn’t be fair. She looked at the bookshelves and noticed that there were no pictures. Not of him or anyone else. She couldn’t imagine his grandmother not having pictures. Kendall’s aunt had pictures everywhere. Had he put them away? She explored more and found a laundry room, a study, and what appeared to be a guest bedroom. Back in the foyer, she glanced at the stairs. Where was he?

A loud crash sounded upstairs. Kendall raced up the stairs. A door was open in the hall. Kendall looked in and saw Jake’s duffel bag open on the bed. The room was neat, but more masculine than the rest of the house. She got there in time to see Jake go out the window and drop down from the rooftop, landing on his feet in the backyard. He ran toward the fence.

Kendall started to go after him, when she felt someone enter the room. She turned and saw a woman standing in the doorway, dressed in a long robe. She was beautiful, blond haired. There was dirt on her face and hands, as if she had been gardening. The woman stared at Kendall, not speaking. Kendall was equally shocked. She knew Jake’s flirting was mostly a front to distract her, but she was surprised—and disappointed—that he had tried to get her in bed when he obviously had a… what? Wife? Girlfriend? She must be wondering what Kendall was doing in Jake’s bedroom.

Before either of them regained their voice, Kendall heard a yell outside. A sense of danger hit her hard. She ran to the window and saw Jake go over the top of the fence. “We have to help him.” She raced from the room and down the stairs to the back door she’d seen on her tour. She ran across the yard. “Jake?”

A moment later, Jake’s head appeared on the opposite side of the tall white fence. He climbed to the top and dropped over. “Bastard got away.”

“Who was it?” Kendall asked, finding her voice. She was still in shock that Jake had a gorgeous woman in his house and hadn’t bothered to mention her.

“Don’t know. He was watching the house from the trees. He got away before I could get close enough to see his face.” Jake looked angry. One sleeve of his T-shirt was torn and there was a rip in his jeans.

“Should you call the police?”

“No. I doubt they’d find anything.”

“You think it was a burglar?” Kendall asked.

“I doubt it. More likely someone I’ve pissed off.”

“Have you pissed off a lot of people?”

“In my line of work, you make a few enemies. You go inside,” Jake said. “I want to look around for prints, just in case.”

“What about… Who’s the… I’ll just wait in the car,” Kendall said. It would be awkward waiting inside with the woman. The first time Kendall met Jake, when Nathan summoned them to the mansion to tell them they were going to Italy, she was almost certain Jake had been with a woman. The one upstairs?

“No. You’re not sitting out in the car alone. Go in the house. I won’t be long.”

Kendall was too rattled to argue. She went inside but didn’t see the woman. She must be showering or getting dressed. She had looked dirty. Kendall sat on a chair, her head spinning with
confusion. Jake had come on to her fifteen minutes ago. He was coming on to her constantly. If Nathan hadn’t interrupted them at the inn in Italy, she and Jake wouldn’t have stopped at a kiss. But she had no claims on him; nor did he have any claims on her. The front door opened and Jake stepped inside. “Did you find anything?” Kendall asked.

“Nothing useful. Let me grab my clothes and we’ll go.” Still no mention of the woman. A minute later, he appeared in the living room, duffel in hand. He’d changed into a pair of camo pants and a T-shirt, but there was no woman waiting to be introduced. “You live here alone?”

“Yep.”

So the woman didn’t live here, but it was obnoxious for him to come on to Kendall at her apartment while he had another woman in the house. Even if she was someone he picked up in a bar after sneaking out of the mansion last night. Of course he wouldn’t know that Kendall had been upstairs and seen the woman. She was a little peeved that his attraction to her was obviously nothing more than just a thing for blondes.

“Ready?”

“You’re just going to leave her here after someone broke into your house?”

He frowned. “Leave who here?”

“The woman?”

His brows did a strange tilt. “What woman?”

“The woman upstairs. Who was she? Girlfriend? Hooker?”

“Hooker? What the hell have you been smoking?”

“Stop playing dumb. I saw her in your bedroom. Did you pick her up in a bar?” Kendall shrugged her shoulders. “Not that it matters. I’m just curious.”

“I was starting to think you were sane until now. There’s no woman in my house, other than you.”

“Yes there is.”

He stared at her for several seconds. “You’re serious?”

Kendall was the one frowning now. “Yes. She was upstairs.”

“Hell.” Jake bounded up the stairs. He searched the whole house, but the woman wasn’t there. “She must have been working with the guy out back. A lookout.” He picked up his phone and made arrangements for someone named Clint to come to his house and handle things.

“Who’s Clint?”

“A buddy.”

“Is he a mercenary like you?”

“I’m not a mercenary. I contract to the highest bidder just like any business would.”

“You carry a lot of muscle and weapons for a business.”

Jake’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and answered. After a short conversation, he ended the call. “Marco’s awake,” he told her. “Fergus says if we want to talk to him, we need to hurry.”

“Then let’s go.” She jogged to her car. If it weren’t for Marco, she probably wouldn’t be alive. It wasn’t just gratitude, or guilt. She was fond of the old man, even though she couldn’t remember seeing him at the castle when she and Adam were kids. And she had questions for him. If there was a curse that had caused Adam and both their fathers to die, why hadn’t she died?

Jake didn’t knock on Nathan’s door. He went right in. Nathan and Fergus were standing in the atrium. From their dour expressions, they appeared to have been arguing. Since their return from Italy, Fergus seemed as distracted as Nathan. Not such a surprise, Kendall thought since Fergus had been out of his element in the past week. He was a butler, not a fighter, though he’d done a darned good job fighting off bad guys.

Nathan’s dark gaze followed Kendall, and she wondered if he was thinking about this morning in his bedroom. Her gaze went to the arm that sported a tattoo, now hidden by an expensive suit. Fergus stepped forward when he saw them. “Kendall, Jake. The nurse says Marco won’t be awake for long.”

“Has he spoken at all?” Kendall asked.

“We haven’t seen him yet. The doctor just left. This way, if you please.”

Fergus led them toward the bedrooms on the second floor. Nathan followed, his face dark. Kendall considered prying. She wouldn’t get anything from Nathan, verbal or intuitive, but she might pick up something from Fergus.
No fair, Kendall.

Marco lay in bed, hooked up to tubes. He looked old and weak, not the spry man with bright eyes. He still had his beard. The doctor had wanted to cut it, but Fergus of all people had insisted he keep it.

“We need privacy,” Nathan said curtly.

“Don’t be long. He’s tired,” the nurse said. She gave Nathan a sour look and walked to the door. She left and they all approached the bed.

Marco’s eyes fluttered open. They weren’t bright now. He looked frightened. When he saw Kendall, his gnarled hand reached for hers. “You are alive?”