Men of Intrgue A Trilogy (39 page)

“I don’t believe this,” he said. “Remember me? I’m the guy who saved you.”

Karen smiled. “As I recall, I already thanked you for that.”

He shook his head, half laughing. “This can’t be happening,” he said. “Women are crazy about me.”

Karen didn’t doubt it. She reached up and touched his cheek. He opened his eyes.

“Can I give you my sister’s address and phone number?” she asked softly.

“Why?” he inquired, studying her, his expression sober now.

“In case you ever feel like you want to talk to somebody.”

“Talk?” he asked.

“Talk.”

She took a slip of paper from her purse and wrote down the information. He folded the sheet in half and stuck it into his breast pocket.

“I have to tell you that ‘talking’ isn’t the reason I usually take a girl’s number,” he said dryly.

“I know that,” Karen replied. “Make an exception in my case.” She felt the sting of tears behind her eyes and was suddenly afraid she was going to cry. “Steven, please take care of yourself.”

“I always do.”

“Who else was it who used to call you Steven?” she asked, delaying his departure. She didn’t want to let him go.

“One of the nuns at the foundling home. She was.. .good to me.”

“Do you ever see her now?”

He shook his head once. “She’s dead.”

Karen put her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. “I’ll be thinking about you,” she murmured.

He tucked his hand under her hair, lifting it off her neck. “Don’t think about me, Karen. Go back to New Jersey and get married and have a couple of kids. Years from now I’ll be that guy you kissed on a beach someplace. You probably won’t even remember my name.”

“I’ll remember,” she whispered.

He took hold of her arms and held her off, disengaging her embrace. “Good night, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“Goodbye, Steven.” Karen was blinking rapidly, seeing him through a mist of unshed tears.

“Goodbye.” She watched him walk to the elevator, which responded instantly when he pressed the button. He saluted as he stepped through the doors and she didn’t go into her room until he was out of sight.

Karen sat on the edge of her bed and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Had she done the right thing? She told herself that she had, but already she was regretting her loss.

It was several seconds before she noticed that the red call light on her phone was blinking. She picked up the receiver and asked for the message.

Her plane ticket and traveling papers were being held for her at the desk. She asked for them to be sent up to her room and had just hung up the phone when someone tapped at her door.

“Darling, it’s me,” Linda’s voice said. “May I come in?”

Karen got up and opened the door. Linda breezed past her in an elaborate lace peignoir set and high heeled lounge slippers. She was carrying a tray holding a teapot and a plate covered by a cloth napkin.

“So how was the big date?” she asked, setting down her burden on the end table. “Tell Mother all about it.”

Karen faced her.

“Oh dear,” Linda said, observing her friend’s expression. “He really got to you, didn’t he?”

“I guess so.”

“What happened?”

“We ate dinner, and he ordered me some fish dish with clay in it, and then we had a fight, and he kissed me on the beach, and then he wanted to sleep with me but I said no.”

Linda nodded with relish. “Well,” she said briskly. “I knew he wouldn’t be dull. Was that ‘clay,’ darling, or is my hearing failing?”

“Yeah, but it’s not worth going into,” Karen replied wearily.

Linda poured herself a cup of tea and settled comfortably on the bed. “Why did you say no? To sleeping with him, I mean. Just as a matter of academic interest, you understand.”

“He’s so alone. It seemed like it would add to that loneliness if I became another sexual statistic in his life. Does that make sense?”

“Don’t ask me,” Linda said dismissively. “You don’t make sense half the time but I love you anyway. What was the fight about?”

“I asked why he was a mercenary when there were so many other things he could do.”

“My, that was impertinent. What did he say?”

“He told me to mind my own business.”

“Quite right, too. Advice I never take, by the way, but well worth repeating.” She removed the cloth from the plate of biscuits and held one out to Karen. “These are very good. They’re something called
dulcettas
, which as near as I can make out means ‘sweeties.’ I’ve been eating them all evening while watching a Brazilian soap opera on television. I didn’t even know they had soap operas in Brazil—did you? How about some tea? ”

“Okay, thanks.”

A bellboy knocked and delivered Karen’s envelope as Linda was pouring her drink. She was booked on the noon plane back to Newark, nonstop, the next day.

“British efficiency,” Linda said when she saw what Karen had received. “I got mine this evening. They’re certainly giving us the boot in short order, aren’t they?”

“I guess they figure that the sooner we’re home, the sooner all of this will be forgotten.”
 

“I picked up a little tidbit about your friend Colter after you left tonight,” Linda said mysteriously as she handed Karen her cup.
 

Karen stared at her.
 

“What?”

Linda batted her eyelashes.

“Linda, tell me.”

“Well, you know that man from the embassy, the friend of my father’s?”

“Yes?” Karen said impatiently.

“He told me that Colter is a specialist in the type of rescue work he did for us, going into siege situations and breaking hostages out. Apparently he’s called in on that sort of thing constantly and it’s about all he does. As you can imagine with the state of the world these days, he’s in great demand.”

“He never told me that,” Karen said, almost to herself. “Even when I questioned his ethics, he didn’t say a word about it. He led me to believe he was just a soldier of fortune—you know, a guy who would do anything if the price were right.”

“Well, darling, I’m sure he’s well paid. I doubt if he’s running a charity bazaar for the anti-terrorist set.”

“Still, it’s not the same. He’s really an expert at getting people out of trouble, isn’t he?”

Linda studied her closely and sighed. “‘Better drink that cuppa, Karen; this could be worse than I thought. This may indeed be love, the big one, with a capital L.”

“Oh, stop making fun of me,” Karen said impatiently, “and listen. If what you’re telling me is the truth, I can’t understand why he would deliberately let me think the worst of him.”

“Testing you, perhaps?” Linda asked.

“Maybe,” Karen replied thoughtfully. “You could be right. He’s a complex man.”

“That,” Linda said, sitting up and setting her cup in its saucer, “I gathered.”

“I get the impression he’s afraid to want things, or people, too much, because that would make him vulnerable.”

“You figured out a lot about him in one evening,” Linda observed.

“He’s not as clever as he thinks. He gives some things away if you watch for them. And I was watching. Besides, it was two evenings. I spent the night on the boat with him too.”

Linda’s green eyes widened. “So that’s where you were! And you told me you fell asleep on deck. Naughty girl.”

“I did fall asleep. When I woke up in the morning he was gone. You see what I mean? We had kind of an intense conversation, and I think it took him by surprise, made him uncomfortable. He ran from it then, but later he asked me out. He was drawn to me, but not enough to overcome his past experiences. He believes that if he remains aloof he’ll never have to let down his guard.”

“He’s right, isn’t he?”

“Sometimes you have to take that chance.”

“No, you don’t,” Linda replied simply. “You can choose to be alone.”

“That’s what he’s done,” Karen said. “Or maybe it wasn’t a choice at first. He was an orphan and raised in a home. That might be why he’s so wary. I volunteered to give him my address, something I’ve never done before, because I knew he wouldn’t ask for it. And at the same time I could tell he really liked me, but he wasn’t willing to get that involved.”

“Sounds like you might have gotten to him, too,” Linda said quietly. “That’s a pretty defensive reaction for a man who doesn’t care.”

Karen shook her head sadly. “He won’t call me. I just know it.”

Linda stood and put her cup down on the tray. “I would love to continue this fascinating conversation,” she said, “but I have to be up at a beastly hour to catch my plane.” She went to the desk in the corner of the room and picked up a blank notepad. “This is where you can reach me, both in town and at our place in Sussex. Ring up any time, or come and visit. I shall miss you. I doubt if things in Almeria will ever return to what they were so we probably won’t get together on the job again. Promise me you’ll keep in touch, now.”

“I promise,” Karen said dutifully.

Linda kissed the air next to her cheek. “I must run, good night.” She paused in the doorway to look back at Karen. “Darling, I know he’s damnably attractive, but you’d best forget him. He sounds like walking heartbreak to me.”

Karen didn’t answer.

Linda sighed. “Well, off to the wars. I’ll have to whip these people into shape early if I’m to make my flight.”

Karen smiled to herself. Linda would make her flight. With her imperious voice and “Rule Britannia” manner, she always got the staff scrambling to perform for her in hotels and restaurants. Karen, on the other hand, stood in lines, lost her luggage and could never get a sandwich sent to her room before she fell asleep waiting for it.

“Goodbye.” Linda waved and pulled the door closed behind her.

“Goodbye,” Karen murmured. It was her second farewell of the evening. She undressed slowly, thinking about Colter and her conversation with Linda.

She knew Linda was right about him but it would be difficult to put him out of her mind.

Karen climbed into bed and left a wake up message at the desk. She had thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but the events of the past few days caught up with her. She fell into a deep, dreamless slumber that wasn’t broken until the phone rang in the morning.

She dressed quickly and sent a cable to her sister telling her when she would arrive at Newark. There was no message from Colter. She had a late breakfast in the hotel dining room and then left by taxi for the airport.

In a couple of hours she was on her way home.

Chapter 3

Karen’s sister Grace was waiting at the arrival gate in Newark, her face a mask of anxiety. When she saw Karen making her way through the crush of people she surged forward and threw her arms around her younger sibling.

“Oh, Karen, are you all right?” she said worriedly. “Ken and I were just frantic when we heard the news.” She drew back and peered at Karen closely, biting her lower lip.

“I’m fine, Grace; let’s just get out of here,” Karen replied, glancing around her furtively. “I really don’t feel like running into a reporter who wants an interview with the returning native. You never can tell who might have gotten wind of my flight schedule.”

“Of course,” Grace said hurriedly, almost running to keep up with Karen’s brisk pace. “But what about your things ?” She glanced toward the crowd waiting for the luggage return.

“There are no things, Grace. Just what’s on my back, and in this tote. I didn’t even have my passport, the British embassy in Caracas arranged my travel visa.”

“Oh, you poor dear,” Grace said, overcome again. “Ken and I watched it every day on TV. I couldn’t believe the story when I first heard it. I was at the supermarket and when I came out and got in the car, the report was on the radio. Then on the five o’clock news there was a film of it, and later they started interrupting the programming to give special bulletins.”

“Grace,” Karen said patiently, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really don’t want to talk about it. I lived it for five days and I’d rather forget it, okay?”

“Fine, fine,” Grace said hastily. “I understand. We’re just glad you’re home safe and sound.”

Since her marriage Grace had a tendency to use the editorial “we,” including her husband and two children in her opinions.

“Where are the kids?” Karen asked, remembering them. Tommy, five, and Mary, three, were conspicuously absent.

“Oh, Tom’s in school and I got a sitter for Mary. I figured you might not need her Big Bird imitations today.”

“Thanks,” Karen said, “I appreciate it. You know how much I love her, but a peaceful ride back would be nice.”

“I made up the spare room,” Grace said as they passed through the outer doors and headed for the short term parking lot. “You feel free to stay just as long as you want. Do you have any plans about what you’re going to do?”

“Well,” Karen said dryly, “it’s pretty obvious that I’m out of a job.”