The Fall of Lucas Kendrick (6 page)

She was aware of rough flannel and hard muscles under her fingers as her hands slipped around his lean waist and moved slowly up his back. Her heart smothered her with its pounding, and strength flowed from her limbs as if something inside her, some barrier, had ruptured, given way. The slow, stark possession of his tongue ignited a curl of fire deep inside her where no fire had burned for a decade, and she barely heard the faint, hungry sound that tangled in the back of her throat.

As her body moved to be closer, his hands slipped down her back in a lingering caress that left a trail of stinging awareness. It had been
like that before, she remembered dimly; he had always made her more aware of her body, her senses. He had always been able to bring her alive with no more than a look or a touch. Her body remembered.…

But the touch of his body felt slightly different, she realized. He was harder, stronger. His kisses were rougher, more demanding, his desire more direct. She was different, too, but neither of their differences changed her reaction to his passion. Her breasts were fuller, her hips more rounded in the womanly figure gained by years, but she remembered. And all her senses, frozen for so long, recalled only too vividly sensations known but briefly.

Nothing else mattered. Not ten years, or old and new hurts, or illusions shattered. She didn’t know this man, but her body knew him, wanted him, and willpower was a frail thing overpowered by sheer, burning need.

Lucas tore his mouth from hers with a hoarse sound, and his hands dropped to pull her hips
fiercely against his lower body. “It
is
important,” he said thickly. “I haven’t felt like this for ten years, Kyle. And I’ve learned too much since then to throw it away without a hell of a fight.”

K
YLE TRIED TO
get hold of herself, but it was difficult when she was so aware of his arousal and her own. She wanted to back away, put some distance between them, but her body refused to allow that escape. So she rested her forehead against his shoulder and tried to think. She was so tired and drained, and she wanted him so badly.

But then she thought of everything that had happened between them, and strength returned. There was a slow, grim anger inside her, a resentment
at how he had cheated her, how she had cheated herself. She backed away from him abruptly until they stood apart, and looked at him with her chin lifted.

“I’m not a girl anymore, Luc. And I won’t fall into bed with a stranger this time.”

“Kyle—”

“I mean it! Because it isn’t that easy. Being lovers isn’t an automatic step for us; it may never happen.”

“It’ll happen,” he said roughly. “Don’t try to tell me I imagined your response, Kyle.
I’m
the one who stopped, not you. We wouldn’t have made it to the bedroom!”

Her voice emerged soft and firm, and there was more emotion in that quietness than Lucas would have thought possible.

“I gave you everything ten years ago. No matter what I thought you were, I gave you everything I was. And you gave me
nothing
, Luc. Not even honesty. I won’t let that happen again. I want to find out who you are, and who
you were, and
then
I’ll decide if I want you to have who
I
am.”

After a moment Lucas nodded. She had the right. And he knew he was willing to gamble on something he hadn’t dared to ten years ago. He was willing to gamble that Kyle could learn to love him with the intensity that she had loved that image in her mind.

“I love you,” he said, and he was startled because the words had emerged totally against his will.

Kyle looked at him, a curious, searching look. She didn’t know if she believed him. But whether she did or not, she felt—nothing. “I don’t seem able to feel much of anything about you right now,” she said slowly.

“You want me.” His voice was tight.

“Maybe I want the only thing left of that image.” Kyle shrugged suddenly. “I don’t know. But I mean to find out, Luc. If you stay.”

“I’m staying.” He drew a deep breath. “I don’t seem to have much choice.”

They were strangers, strangers with a past and a strong awareness of physical desire. They were cautious, tentative, both wary of moving too fast. And they were very careful to avoid touching. But they were able to find a neutral ground, and both clung to that prosaic space.

They fixed a late lunch in the kitchen, avoiding getting in each other’s way and being almost painfully polite. They ate, making bland conversation about the weather. They cleaned up after the meal with studied casualness.

This state of affairs might have lasted indefinitely—or might have blown up in their faces. However, a distraction presented itself. Actually two distractions, making a suitably dramatic entrance.

Kyle, more attuned to the sounds of her home than Lucas, heard it first and went out to stand on the front porch. He went with her, hearing what she’d heard as soon as they were outside in the crisp air.

“Helicopter.”

She looked at him. “I’m not expecting company. How about you?”

“No.” But he was frowning, and when a sleek white craft set down yards from the cabin, he wasn’t surprised to see the logo etched in blue.

“Long Enterprises,” Kyle said, sending him another glance.

Lucas slid his hands into his pockets and said nothing, watching while the helicopter lost power and the thumping rotors slowed to silence. Two men climbed out of the craft and approached the cabin briskly.

Kyle watched curiously as they neared, one slightly ahead of the other. The first man was rather large and clearly powerful, his lean face open, almost ingenuous, unremarkable but curiously pleasant. His hair was a rusty shade of brown and his eyes somewhere between blue and gray. The second man was tall and leaner than his companion, with copper hair and light brown eyes. His face was humorous, his smile
somewhat lazy—but he moved with a kind of wired tautness that spoke of an incredible amount of energy.

As the first man reached them he said, “Wow!” rather inelegantly as his gaze swept over Kyle, then he addressed Lucas. “No wonder you didn’t report in.”

Sighing a little but looking annoyed and somewhat impatient, Lucas murmured, “Kyle, this is Kelsey—better known as Hagen’s right arm.”

“I am not,” Kelsey instantly denied, offended. “Snakes don’t have arms. I just slither along beside him sometimes,” he confided to Kyle.

“How do you do?” she murmured gravely.

Just as grave, he replied, “I’m not really sure. I think I win about half the time.”

Kyle found herself smiling and wasn’t surprised.

“And this other character,” Lucas said, “is Rafferty Lewis. He’s Josh’s attorney, and I don’t know what the hell he’s doing here.”

“I flew the bird,” Rafferty said, as if that explained everything. He smiled at Kyle. “Hello.”

“Hi.” She glanced at Lucas, noting his somewhat mutinous expression, then back at the visitors. “Why don’t you gentlemen come inside?”

Kelsey looked at Rafferty. “You see? I told you I was a gentleman, but no, you wouldn’t believe me. Kyle is obviously a woman of great perception.”

“She doesn’t know you yet,” Rafferty chided.

“I want to know what the hell you’re both doing here,” Lucas said as they went inside the cabin, effectively cutting short the discussion of Kelsey’s personality.

“Hagen,” Kelsey said.

“Josh,” Rafferty said at the same time.

They looked at each other and scowled.

Kyle tried not to giggle as she sat in a rocking chair by the fireplace. She remained silent, mostly because she was relieved by the interruption these men presented, but also because they were clearly friends of Luc’s and would therefore give her an opportunity to learn a little more about him. Or at least she hoped so.

“Let’s have it,” Lucas demanded.

Kelsey made an “after you, Alphonse” gesture to Rafferty and then sat down on the couch, looking innocent.

Rafferty used a shoulder to prop up the fireplace across from Kyle and smiled. “Nothing earthshaking,” he told Lucas placatingly. “When Kelsey asked for a ride, Josh just thought I should come along and hear what he had to say.”

Lucas looked at Kelsey. “You mean you had the nerve to ask Josh to lend you a chopper and pilot?”

“Hagen had the nerve,” Kelsey explained, somewhat indignant. “Said he was on a tight budget. Come on, Luc, you know he has the nerve of a burglar. And Josh could have said no. If you people would just
say
no a few times, Hagen might leave you alone.” He mused silently, then said in a wistful tone, “I hope I’m around to hear it, though.”

“Where’s the boss?” Lucas asked Rafferty.

“New York.” The lawyer shrugged. “He’s
tied up with that merger. Jed’s handling it. My partner,” he explained to Kyle, who nodded. Rafferty looked back at Lucas. “Raven and Sarah are trying to find out if our federal friend has his usual little surprise in store for you.”

Lucas sat down in an armchair and looked at Kyle. “Raven is Josh’s wife,” he told her. “She’s also Kelsey’s ex-partner. Sarah is Rafferty’s wife, and she currently works for Hagen’s agency doing research. Unless—” He returned a questioning gaze to the lawyer.

“Her leave starts this week,” Rafferty told him. “The baby’s due next month.”

Kyle looked at the men, puzzled. “Is this a group effort or what?”

“They’re like that,” Kelsey told her in a confiding tone. “Actually they were recruited when Josh met Raven in the middle of a sticky operation. Things just kind of snowballed from there. The bottom line is, Hagen found himself an almost unlimited source of unpaid manpower. He’s been drafting these guys one at a time, but they all get into the act sooner or
later.” Kelsey blinked, then looked at Lucas. “I meant to ask, is Zach still on his honeymoon?”

“Supposed to be.” Lucas lifted an eyebrow at Rafferty.

“Well …”

“Him too,” Kelsey said, unsurprised.

“Dammit, Rafferty—”

“Hey, it’s not my fault,” Rafferty said dryly. “And Josh didn’t tell him. He and Teddy got back to New York yesterday, and when you weren’t around, Zach knew you’d been drafted. Hell, he expected it.”

Lucas shook his head but said, “Well, this time it can hardly be a group effort. Kyle can get me into Rome’s house, but the rest of you—” Then he looked at her. “You know, you never said you would.”

Ignoring the deeper question in his eyes, she said lightly, “I’m getting intrigued. So, why not?”

Plaintively Kelsey said, “And I’ll have to skulk around as usual.”

“On the estate?” Lucas asked him, looking
away from Kyle with an obvious effort. “What about Rome’s security?”

Mildly offended, Kelsey said, “You forget. Unlike you amateurs, I am a professional. Highly skilled and trained. With years of experience. I can pick any lock, disarm any bomb, finesse my way through any security system. My talents are vast, my stealth unsurpassed—”

“Thinks he’s the Shadow,” Rafferty murmured.

Finding himself the focus of fascinated eyes, Kelsey grinned suddenly and descended to normality. “And if all else fails,” he said cheerfully, “I’ll just shinny over the fence.”

Lucas stared at him for a moment, then said suspiciously, “Just why’d you want a ride out here, anyway?”

Kelsey linked his fingers together over his flat stomach and leaned back, looking innocent again. “Well, Hagen just recently found a new bit of information he thought you should have. So that you’d be fully aware of all relevant facts in the case,” he said blandly.

Lucas looked at Rafferty. “Did Raven and Sarah find out anything surprising?”

“Just one thing,” the lawyer muttered, watching Kelsey.

Kelsey appeared hurt. “Stop staring at me like I’m on the witness stand,” he told Rafferty severely. “I don’t know what Raven and Sarah found out, but Hagen
has
promised to come clean this time.”

“He usually doesn’t,” Lucas told Kyle.

“Never
does,” Rafferty amended.

“Well, this time he will,” Kelsey stated. He looked at Lucas. “What he found out is that you may have to deal with a rather unpredictable character at Rome’s estate. She appeared on the scene before the artwork was stolen, and she seems to have Rome completely under her thumb. But we have no idea what—if anything—she has to do with the theft.”

“Who is she?” Lucas asked.

For the first time Kelsey seemed honestly uncomfortable. “Well, she apparently claims to be a reincarnated Aztec princess.”

Lucas blinked. “Uh-huh.”

“I swear.”

Lucas looked at Rafferty, and the lawyer nodded. “It’s true enough. Calls herself Princess Zamara. A somewhat flamboyant personality, to say the least.”

“I thought Rome was supposed to be a hard-headed businessman,” Lucas said in surprise. “You mean, he’s buying her act?”

“How d’you know it’s an act?” Kelsey asked.

Lucas stared at him.

Kelsey grinned. “All the way to the bank,” he said. “He’s spent a fortune on the woman in just a few weeks. She seems to have convinced him that his destiny is tied to the fortunes of the Aztecs. Or something like that.”

Lucas turned his gaze to Kyle. “Does that sound like Rome?”

“No, not really. But I haven’t seen him in six months.” Kyle thought for a moment, then added slowly, “He always seemed to have a strong belief in fate, though. And after his first wife died about five years ago, rumor had it
that he was consulting mediums pretty often. Still, I wouldn’t have said he’d believe in reincarnated Aztec princesses.”

Running a hand through his thick, silvery hair, Lucas muttered, “How’s all this going to affect my job?”

“Beats me,” Kelsey replied.

Rafferty stirred. “Zach had information for you. When we found out about this Zamara, he remembered that one piece of artwork stolen was a solid gold Aztec death mask. And Sarah did a little research. It seems this mask is supposed to confer enormous power on whoever owns it. It has quite a history too. Several owners—including two who stole it—amassed a great deal of wealth after it came into their possession. But the last owner lost everything he had, and the mask ended up in a museum. He was rumored to have said that the thing was cursed rather than blessed. It gathered dust in the museum until a couple of months ago when it was stolen, along with a truckload of other priceless gems and artwork.”