Hold Me (31 page)

Luc shifted to the balls of his feet. “Liza, baby, listen—”

“No!” Liza’s voice was shrill. The gun quivered. Behind him, Katie drew in a sharp breath. His own breathing was shallow and forced. “No, don’t you call me that. Don’t you call me anything nice. I protected you. I went out on a limb for you. Daddy would have killed me if he’d known I was keeping things from him. But I never told him about you. I love you.”

There’d been a time when Luc had believed Liza really did love him. Now he knew that whatever sick emotion she felt, it was a far cry from love. Now he’d seen love, obvious and glowing in eyes as blue as the sky.

Love was Katie.

“Come on, Liza,” he said as gently as he could. “Put down the gun. We’ll go talk. Just you and me. We’ll talk and figure things out.”

Liza stared at him and licked her lips again. For a second he thought she would do it. The Browning even dropped a little. Then she shook her head and her hand steadied. “You left me for her,” she murmured. “You could have me, but you want her.”

Yes, Luc thought. Yes. He wanted Katie. She was everything.

“What happened between us doesn’t have anything to do with Katie,” he said desperately.

“I think I’m going to make you watch me kill her,” Liza told him, taking another step forward. She was getting close now. She smiled again. “Frankie taught me how to play too.”

“No!” Katie leaped out from behind Luc, grabbed a handful of gravel from the driveway and threw it into Liza’s eyes. She was too far away to do much damage, but the action, the bite of the small stones distracted Liza, and she turned instinctively.

Luc threw his knife.

The small blade caught Liza in the forearm. She cried out in pain and frustration. She shot her gun, but the bullet went wild.

Luc was already moving. He grabbed Liza, getting her in a chokehold while he twisted the weapon away from her. She clawed at him. Finally he knocked her legs out from under her and smashed her face-down into the dusty stones. He sat on her, twisted her arms behind her back and held them there.

Liza bucked and screamed and cried. Then she lay still, weeping into the earth.

Luc looked at Katie to make sure she was okay and found her standing, her breath coming in sharp gasps, her wild hair a curly red mass around her face. She had his gun and it was pointed at Liza.

Luc grinned. “You’d better call the cops.”

Katie nodded and dropped the weapon to go back to where she’d left her purse. “If that food goes bad,” she said, “I’m really going to be pissed.”

Luc laughed. He just couldn’t help it.

What a woman.

His woman.

His.

After the police had come and taken away the still-sobbing Liza, after statements had been made and the crime scene investigated, after a startled jazz trio had been sent home with apologies and a substantial tip, after the irate Spot had been released from her kennel to roam free on the grounds and make sure all was well, Katie sat alone with Luc in his kitchen, sipping champagne. He’d rescued the food and drink when he’d sprung the jazz trio, and what looked to be some very nice chicken florentine was heating up in the microwave.

Katie was quiet. She didn’t know what to say to him now that the frenzy of the past couple of hours was over. She didn’t know what he wanted to say to her. She sipped champagne, sparkling bubbles tickling her nose and throat. He’d brought a vase of delicate pink roses back with him from the ballroom. They were sitting on the kitchen table, their sweet fragrance filling the room.

“Some date, huh?” Luc said finally.

“You do know how to show a girl a good time,” she agreed, trying to keep her tone light.

“Yeah.” He downed about half his glass in a single pull. “Freaking romantic.”

“Frankie and Liza were quite a pair, weren’t they?” she said.

“I guess. Both of them were totally screwed up. Probably screwed each other up too.”

“Yes.” Her eyes travelled over him. He’d lost his tuxedo jacket and bowtie somewhere along the way, and his pleated shirt no longer gleamed white. It was filthy and ripped. He’d rolled it up to show strong forearms sprinkled with dark hair, the little snake tattoo wrapped protectively around one of them. His scar stood pale against the dusky gold of his cheek.

Dear God, she loved him.

Luc looked up, caught her staring, and smiled just a little, more with his eyes than with his mouth. He put down his glass, stood up abruptly. “Come on.”

Katie set her own glass on the table and took the hand he offered, palm sliding against palm, skin against skin. “The ballroom?” Her voice sounded wispy and she swallowed.

“Another time. Mood’s ruined.”

“Not necessarily.”

He smiled at her again, and the grooves on either side of his long, delicious mouth put in a brief appearance. She let him lead her out the back door into the evening, to the terrace where once they’d talked on a hot summer day.

To her extreme disappointment, he dropped her hand as soon as they were outside and stepped back, dark hair gleaming in the light that fell through the open kitchen door.

“Did you call David?” she asked eventually, just to be saying something.

“Yeah. He’s pissed off that Liza gave him the slip. It won’t happen again.”

“Good.”

They were both silent. Luc massaged the back of his neck. Katie linked her fingers together, not sure what to make of his sudden apparent awkwardness.

“Did Melanie tell you that Vinnie in the motor pool fixed Kato?” he asked finally, shifting on his feet, hands in his pockets, then hanging down at his sides, then back in his pockets. As if he didn’t quite know what to do with them.

“That’s what she’d said. I assumed it was an excuse to get me out here.”

“No, it’s true. He looks like a brand new car. We’ll go pick him up sometime so you can turn in the rental.”

“Oh. Okay.” We’ll go pick him up. What did that mean?

The silence stretched out between them again, so long this time that Katie thought she was going to go insane. Or scream. Or bash him over the head with a blunt instrument.

“Luc—”

“Katie—”

They both started talking at the same time, then stopped.

“Me first,” Luc said. He took a deep breath, let it out, and looked at her.

Katie froze, mesmerized by what she thought she saw in his eyes.

“I tried to stay away from you,” he said. “I meant to stay away from you.”

“And yet you sent for me. Asked me out on a date. I didn’t stand you up.”

“No.” He moved until he was standing very close, staring down at her, his breathing harsh and difficult. “Katie. Damn it, you could have died today. Liza could have shot you and you could be dead and I’d never…never have—” He broke, pulled her hard into his arms, buried his face against her hair. She felt him shuddering. Felt him holding her as if he would never let her go. “Christ, Katie. You could be dead! You could have died in Atlantic City. You could have died today.”

Katie clung to him, let her hands roam over his broad shoulders, his strong back, let his scent and heat seep into her pores until she could hardly think for wanting him. “But I didn’t,” she pointed out.

“I love you,” he whispered right into her ear.

And her heart simply stopped.

He laughed softly, a little nervously. “Breathe, why don’t you?”

She obediently gulped for air.

“What?” she gasped. “What did you say?”

He pulled back slightly, looked down into her face, and smiled.

“I love you.”

“Oh.” The words. The beautiful, beautiful words.

Luc watched her, obviously concerned. “That’s it?” he asked, his face tight. “Have I, um, left it too long? Have you changed your mind about me?”

“No.” Her laugh was more like a sob. “No. I love you too.”

Luc grinned, relief and love and pure male arrogance dancing across his face.

“I know,” he said, just like he’d never doubted it. “I heard you on the beach.”

He kissed her before she could tell him that he was a jerk. Deep, hard, wet, their lips blending, tongues searching and finding.

“But you were going to walk away from me. You tried to push me away,” she said when he let her up for air.

“Yes.”

“Tell me why, goddamn it!” She shoved at him, angry.

“You deserve a lot better than me,” he said, sincerely. “I was going to let you get on with your life.”

“Gee, thanks a lot.” She tried to pull away from him, but he held her tighter. “You’ve got some weird picture of yourself in your head, Lucas Vasco, you know that? I don’t need you to be noble. How many times do I have to freaking tell you? I just need you.”

“I’m sorry that I hurt you.”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Do me a favor and lose the guilt, okay? You sent for me.” She smiled as the wonder of her own words dawned on her and her voice was softer when she continued. “You sent for me. You want me.” She felt like her face was one big smile. “You love me. And you told me so.” She looked around. “On your beautiful terrace. Outside your beautiful house. After your ex-fiancée tried to kill us.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“We have something to remember. It’ll make a great story,” she said, giddy. She had a great story. With Luc.

“Wonderful.”

They kissed some more. His hands roamed over her body, one crept up to massage her breast and she moaned. Then he kissed her again, gently now, just like she was precious and fragile, when she knew perfectly well that she wasn’t.

“I was afraid,” he whispered the confession into her neck. “I am afraid.”

“Afraid of me?”

“No.” He took a deep breath, pulled away to look at her. “I’m afraid of us. ‘Us’ terrifies me.”

Katie laughed, but it was a little shaky. “Me too,” she admitted.

“I’m no prize,” he warned. “I’m sure I have deep psychological problems that are going to come out at the most inopportune moments.”

“Hmmm. Good thing I’m perfect then.”

She reached up, traced his jaw, the grooves that lay dormant beside his mouth, his lips. He kissed her finger, then took her wrist and kissed her palm.

“Maybe it’s the wrong thing to do, maybe it’s stupid, but I swear you’ll never regret loving me, Katie.”

“I know.” Her voice was soft and he kissed her again. They were both breathing hard when he stopped.

“I can’t believe this has happened so fast,” she said.

He laughed. “Fast? Hell, no. I’ve loved you for twenty years.”

“Oh, I’m so sure. You didn’t even know me twenty years ago.”

Luc reluctantly took a step away from her and reached into the pocket of his tuxedo pants. “I knew you.” He pulled out an old dog-eared photograph and handed it to her.

She dragged her eyes away from his face to look at it, and her mouth fell open with shock.

“Hey, I remember this picture. Someone took it at school before Melanie moved in with us. It was the last photograph she ever let anyone take of her. How did you get it?”

“She gave it to me when I skipped town. And I fell in love with the little imp standing next to her grinning out at me.”

“I can’t believe you kept it all this time.”

“Yeah.” He took it from her and slipped it back into his pocket before grabbing her again. “Stupid and pathetic, I know, but I could never let it go.”

Katie looked at him and a deep sadness swirled through her.

“Melanie loves you.”

“I know.” His eyes were sad too. “I’ve always known.”

“I have to tell you…you have to know,” she took a deep breath. “I was driving the car the day the day she got so hurt…”

“I’ve always known that too. It was an accident.”

Katie stared at him. “You knew?”

“Mel told me when it happened. She never blamed you.”

“I blamed myself. I…” she hesitated, started again. “When she came to you, back at the hospital, I thought maybe I should just go, leave her with a clear field. She’d been so hurt, and she obviously loved you and I owed her so much.”

Luc held her slightly away from him. “It’s you I want, Katie. Not Melanie. You.”

“I’m glad. I’m sorry for Melanie, but I’m so, so glad.”

His eyes moved over her hair and he touched it, smiling when the curls tugged at his fingers.

“I think I fell in love with your hair first,” he murmured. “Your wild, exuberant hair.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m glad one of us likes it.”

“So much life. There’s so much life in you. In your hair. In your smile. How could I not fall in love with you?” He drew in a deep breath. “Marry me?”

Katie smiled up at him. “I’m afraid my family comes with the package,” she warned him.

“A daunting prospect.”

“My brothers will want to meet you officially.”

“Are you trying to scare me off?”

“And my parents are separating. It’s bound to be a little weird for a while.”

He was beginning to frown. “Are you going to marry me or not?”

“Well, of course I am. You may be stupid, but I’m not. Now kiss me again.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Hold me.”

“Always.”

“Can we have our reception in the ballroom at the Museum? With a string quartet instead of a jazz trio?”

He winced. “Jesus. Okay. Sure.”

She laughed at him, her joy bubbling like the champagne. “I love you, Lucas Vasco,” she said, almost shouting it. Somewhere in the distance, she heard Spot bark.

“I love you, too, Hornet.”

“Then kiss me, you fool.”

So he did.

And in another minute, Spot exuberantly tackled them both down to the ground.

February…

Up and down.

Up and down.

“Mmmm,” Katie said.

“Quiet,” Luc panted. “Concentrating here.”

Up and down. Faster.

She laughed. Then she groaned.

After a long and extremely satisfying interlude, they lay together in the middle of the marble and gilt ballroom on a mattress Luc had dragged in from somewhere.

Katie looked around at all of the mirrors glittering in the morning sunshine and grimaced. “Well, that certainly showed me a side of myself I’d never seen before.”

“You wanted me to claim the house.” Luc yawned. “This room is claimed.”

“It wasn’t precisely what I had in mind.”

“Fifty rooms to go. More or less.”

“Luc…”

He grinned at her sleepily. “You want me to be comfortable in my own home, don’t you? Remember how sensitive I am.”

Overcome with love, she tunneled her fingers into his thick, black hair. “I just want you,” she whispered.

He looked at her, beautiful eyes glowing.

“Only a few hours now. You’re not going to get away from me, Hornet.”

“Yes.”

At three o’clock in the afternoon, in one of the grand parlors of the Museum, in front of their friends and her family, Katie would make her commitment to Luc and he to her. Then she would be married.

Katie and her mother and sisters had pulled the wedding together as quickly as they could, but things still took time and her mom had insisted on certain standards. When it was obvious the earliest they could have the ceremony was February, Katie and Luc had talked about delaying to the spring, but neither one had wanted to wait two more months just because of a chance of bad weather. Even though she’d basically moved into the Museum, they’d both been ready to make things legal.

But as it happened, there hadn’t been a reason to worry. The day was glorious, clear and bright and cold. Katie wouldn’t have cared if there’d been a blizzard as long as the license and the minister were both on hand.

Only one thought dimmed her happiness.

“I hope Melanie—”

“She’ll be fine,” Luc said. “We’ll make sure of it.” He kissed her again and, of course, one thing led to another.

“We should get up,” he murmured some time later. “The string quartet will be here soon to set up for the reception and the caterers will need to do whatever it is caterers need to do. And we need to get dressed, damn it.” He raised his head to look at her, stretched naked beneath him on the mattress. “I’m going to be thinking of you like this all day today. Remember that.”

She moaned and shifted, a shiver traveled along her body. Luc shivered too.

“Maybe…a few more…minutes?” she breathed.

“Maybe…” He kissed her again.

The wedding started a little late.

The caterers were annoyed.

The guests were amused.

The bride and groom were too happy to give a damn.