Knock, knock... (26 page)

Pappy grinned. "That's why she didn't. If she'd let you know ahead of time, she'd be leaving the door open to you trying to get out of the inheritance."

"Damn right I would have," Shay muttered.

"Not many people would turn down a fortune." Roman's deep voice interrupted them.

She turned to see him standing at the end of the bed.
When had he arrived?
And damn, he looked good. She blinked and forced her gaze back to Pappy. Unfortunately, Pappy had caught her look and winked at her. Heat washed up her neck, again. She glared at him. She was so not going there with him.

Speaking of such things… "Pappy, the receptionist at the law firm said you were meeting a special lady for lunch. Who was it?"

His face went blank.

Her heart ached. This couldn't be much fun for him. She smiled down at him. "I figured it was me."

"We tried to convince her, Roman and I, that you were entitled to your flings just like any man," Gerard said a little enviously. "I hope you had a dashing afternoon."

Pappy laughed. "Damn, I hope so. Too bad I don't remember a blasted thing."

Gerard grinned. He leaned forward and whispered, "You might have to check your supply of the little blue pills to see how successful you were."

Shay rolled her eyes and caught Roman's big grin and barely hid her own smile. Men were men, no matter what age they were. And if this conversation put a smile on her grandfather's face, then she was all for it.

***

Monday evening…

Due to the lateness of the hour, and the fact that the tests hadn't all come back, Pappy was admitted to the hospital overnight. He started to show signs of exhaustion so Shay waited for him to fall asleep. Bernice disappeared hours ago.

She was pondering the unusual amount of time she'd spent at hospitals lately when a nurse came in and nudged her arm.

Startled, she followed the nurse's movement to see Pappy was sound asleep.

"He should sleep through the night. Go and rest yourself. You look like you've had a tough day."

Standing up, Shay nodded. "I think I will. It has been tough. Tough and long."

"Go. You can't look after him if you aren't strong and healthy yourself."

With a last glance at her grandfather, Shay walked out of the hospital into the cool evening air. She had totally lost track of time. It wasn't just evening, it was pitch black outside, the dark of night. She pulled out her cell phone and realized it was past midnight. No wonder she was tired.

The thought of driving home didn't appeal, but the lure of her own bed was enough to push her forward. The streets were empty.

Her apartment was cool and dark. Not that she cared at this point – she just wanted her bed. She dumped her purse on the couch and kicked her shoes off at the front door. Walking to her bedroom, she started undressing, intent on becoming horizontal as fast as she could.

She only made it three steps inside her room when she felt it.

Something.

Off.

And damn scary.
Blackness like she'd never seen before surged up in front of her. She stepped backwards. Then she turned and ran for the door.

But not fast enough.

She collapsed on the living room floor. Out cold.

***

Stefan bolted upright in bed.
Shay?

He gasped, choked, his hands flailing at his chest and neck. A haze of blackness filled his room, strangling him.

He pounded his chest, trying to get oxygen into his lungs. Only to realize he had no trouble breathing.

With that he understood he was caught in a vision. Someone else's vision.

Shay's vision.

He closed his eyes, took a steadying breath, focused on Shay and jumped into her mind. Her soul stirred.

Stefan?

Yes, it's me. You're unconscious. I don't know why.

Blackness. It came out of nowhere. Surrounded me. Smothered me.

Yes, I felt it. But it's an illusion. Like a cloaking energy again. It's not smoke. It's not fire. You can breathe. You need to wake up.

She groaned.
It's hard to move.

I'll get help.

Stefan walked throughout Shay’s apartment in his astral form. He couldn't see any immediate danger, but...he didn't want to leave her alone either.

He zipped back into his body and shrugged into his skin suit, as he liked to call it. Feeling the normal, yet confining sensation of being reoriented back into the right reality, he opened his eyes. He needed to track that energy back to the source – but first things first.

Stefan opened his phone and called Roman.

"Hello." Roman growled into the phone. "You better have a damn good reason for calling."

"Shay's been attacked. You need to go her apartment. I don't have time to explain." Stefan closed the call and tossed the phone on the bed, and then lay down and jumped free again.

He slipped into predator mode…and went hunting in the ethers.

***

"
Shay's been attacked? What the hell? Stefan. Stefan?
" The dial tone rang endlessly in Roman's ear, and he knew Stefan was gone.

Shay.
She was in trouble and Stefan had called Roman to deal with it. A fact that disturbed and delighted Roman. He threw back the covers and quickly dressed. Five minutes later, he was heading for Shay's apartment.

The next problem was security. How was he going to get inside the building and inside her apartment?

Luckily, the doorman recognized him, called up and buzzed him in. So Shay was talking at least. Or someone was with her who'd answered the call. With a casualness he was far from feeling, Roman strode over to the elevators and caught a ride to the twelfth floor. Once outside the right apartment, he pounded on the door. Stefan didn't say if Shay was hurt or unconscious. Roman presumed he'd have called for an ambulance if she couldn’t get to the door.

The door opened in front of him.

Shay, still dressed as she'd been at the hospital, rubbing the side of her head and looking dazed, stared up at him. "Roman? What's the matter? Why are you here at this hour? I couldn't believe when the doorman called up to me." Her gaze widened. "Oh my God. Is it Pappy? Has he died?"

She grabbed his shirt with both hands and shook him – or tried to. He had close to a hundred pounds on her. He wrapped his hands around her much smaller ones and gently disentangled them, but he kept them in his grasp. "No. Pappy’s fine. Let me in, please."

"Oh." She blinked owlishly at him, and then hurriedly stepped back. "Sorry. Of course. Come in." She closed the door behind him.

He ignored her for the moment, looking around to see what had caused Stefan's worry. The apartment looked as normal as he'd seen it last time. He walked further in. Nothing unusual.

He spun around and studied her. She looked like she'd come dashing out of bed with a pounding headache. Except she was still fully dressed in slacks and blouse. Just a little scattered.

"What's the matter?" she asked, confused. She walked over to her couch and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chin and staring at him. She blinked several times, as if having trouble focusing. "I don't understand what's going on."

"Neither do I." He ran his fingers through his hair and sat down on the closest easy chair. "I can only tell you that Stefan called me fifteen minutes ago and told me to get over here. He said you'd been attacked."

"Attacked?"
She gazed at him in shock. "I did wake up a few minutes ago on my living room floor, but why would Stefan call you?"

He glared at her. "I don't know. Ask Stefan." He looked around the apartment. "I can't see anything wrong. So I don't understand… What did Stefan mean?" He spun back. "
You woke up on the living room floor?"

She looked at him from under her lashes. What was she thinking? Was she trying to hide something? And if so, what? Groaning he leaned forward, placing his forehead on his hands. How could he get her to trust him? Damn it.

"Are you okay?" A warm hand landed softly on his. "I'm sorry Stefan worried you like this. It's late. Go home."

He snorted and glared at her. But his hand ensnared her fingers. "Stefan told me you'd been attacked. I have to trust that he didn't make that up and that means, for whatever reason, either you don’t remember the danger, or you don't want me to know. Either way, that pisses me off."

She tugged her hand free. "Stefan shouldn't have called. There's nothing you can do."

"Nothing?" he snapped, jumping to his feet. "I can stop whoever attacked you from coming back and trying again. Surely that's something." His hands clenched and unclenched in frustration. "Good thing that security system is being installed in the next couple of days – it’ll be tomorrow if I get my way."

"That won't help.

"Why not?" he roared.

As the last words left his mouth he watched her lower lip tremble, her eyes begin to shimmer with tears. "

"Oh God. I'm so sorry." He sat down beside her and gathered her into his arms. "Why do you fight me so?"

"Because you don't believe in me. In us. Because you have walls and are keeping secrets from me." She whispered the last bit so softly he struggled to hear, even then doubting what she'd said. He leaned back slightly and stared down at her. He didn't get it. Cautiously, he asked, "Believe in you? Of course I do."

"No," she whispered from against his chest. "You don't."

"Then explain it to me, so I
can
believe." He reached down and tilted her chin up. "Make no mistake, whatever other parts you are confused about, know that I believe in you." He paused, waiting until she looked up at him, and added, "And I believe in us."

She studied him, as if trying to peer into his heart.

He let her. Something major was going on, and he needed to know what it was.

She dropped her lashes.

"Don't." He said roughly. "Don't shut me out like that."

Her gaze flew open again, this time she had a dawning realization in her hazel eyes. The colors swirled with mystery. If only he could put that on canvas.

"Are you saying...?" She tilted her head slightly, locking her gaze on his face. "Are you saying that you
care
?"

He opened his mouth to give a trite answer. And her eyes narrowed. As if she knew. He bit back the words and thought about what she'd asked. "Yes, I care."

And he left it at that.

But she wouldn't. She studied him for a little longer. "As a fellow human being, as a friend...or as something more?"

"You already know I want much more."

"Yeah?" she leaned back and stared, pinning him with a deep mysterious gaze. "How much more?"

Shit.

He felt his body freeze. While he understood something momentous was happening, he hadn't been thinking about bleeding out truths himself. Or baring
his
emotions. More like she should be the one telling the truth. Instead he'd been put on the spot. With options. And he hated this type of conversation, so full of hidden land mines.

And what should he say? It was hardly the time to tell her about his paintings. And he doubted she was ready to hear how much he really cared. Not when she'd been playing the nervous avoidance game.

He didn't want to send her running. Not now. Her life was in danger and he needed to be here. He couldn’t take the chance.

***

She watched Roman freeze mouselike, as if sensing a predator. She was no predator, but she dealt in truths. Ones he had no idea even existed. She had to know where he stood before she discussed this any further.

She had the option of watching his energy, and that reassured her like nothing else could. It swirled around her, around
them
gently. His, caressing her energy and blending with hers with loving attention. That was one truth she could count on.

That he took time to answer meant he was trying to determine the level of involvement he wanted or was willing to admit. No one had trouble saying ‘friends’...unless there was something more... Perhaps neither of them had taken that path mentally.

His energy said his all was in this relationship. If she had to, she could let him off the hook and take it on faith. But – and this was a different problem – if she wanted him to commit, she had to be prepared to say the words as well.

She’d known him as an email friend for months. And he’d intrigued her then but now it was different. He'd come into her life personally with Bernice's death. Her life had been crazy since. But he'd been there every step of the way. She hadn't been exactly open and straightforward with him either.