The Fall of Lucas Kendrick (8 page)

“Then tell me about it.”

He tore his gaze from her face, staring at the beamed ceiling. After a moment he said, “It was the first time. I suppose after that—God help me—I got used to it. There was a woman—a kid, really—busted for possession. The D.A. promised to go easy on her if she’d give us her supplier. She agreed. But he found the wire, and we were too far back to help her. We … found her in a garbage dumpster. He had stabbed her.”

Kyle’s surface recklessness had taken her into some wild places these last years, but what he was telling her about was a part of life she had no experience of, except in fiction and coolly reported news stories. She felt a little helpless, overwhelmed by the pain she heard. “Luc, it was your job.”

“It was a war of attrition,” he said bitterly. “But the problem was, the other side kept on growing. Fourteen-year-old pushers, twelve-year-old
prostitutes, pimps who’d kill one of their girls without a second thought because there were always more so easily found.”

Kyle was silent.

“There was no way to make a difference,” he went on quietly. He pulled her hand over to rest on his flat stomach, holding it with both his own and looking at it. “Maybe I could have kept on trying, I don’t know. But too often I’d be told to stop nosing around a certain party. Somebody rich enough, or powerful enough, to have
friends
in the department. Too many people playing too many games. I couldn’t take that.”

“No one could blame you,” she ventured hesitantly.

He was toying with her fingers, stroking her skin as if the texture drew him irresistibly. “Feet of clay,” he murmured. “I couldn’t be the white knight, so I just quit.”

“Don’t do this to yourself.”

His mouth twisted a little. “It never bothered me so much before. Then I saw you again and
had to face up to why I left you. And now I’m dreaming of things I saw all those years ago and wondering how I can live with myself.”

Kyle searched for something to say to him and found it. “Luc, you told me about the work you do for Long Enterprises. You’re helping people now where you
can
make a difference. You help keep all those companies running by investigating problems. You and your friends helped destroy a white slavery ring, brought information against terrorists out of a hostile country, and stopped that gun shipment before it could be used to hurt people. And now you’re about to go into a house and find stolen artwork. You
are
helping. There are over half a million police officers in this country; you’re doing things they can’t do.”

After a moment he turned his head to look at her and smiled a little, a smile that made him vulnerable. “You gave me a wonderful illusion ten years ago when I really needed one,” he said huskily. “But I don’t think I could stand it if you gave me another one now, Kyle.”

“I don’t do that anymore,” she said, her own voice unsteady. “All I can give you now is a picture of a real live man. One I’ve talked to and watched these past days. An extremely bright, intricate man, with more facets than a diamond.” She drew a deep breath and met his shimmering gaze squarely. “I don’t know how I feel about what’s behind us. But there is something I know now about you, Luc.”

One of his hands moved to brush a strand of dark hair away from her face, his fingers lingering on her cheek. “What’s that?”

“There isn’t a selfish or dishonest bone in your body,” she said with certain knowledge. “When you realized yourself why you’d left me, you didn’t have to tell me. But you did. And I see now that you couldn’t be honest with me then, first because you were undercover and later because of the way I was. The way we were. You were in a terrible position. And I believe I understand why you left.”

“You do?” he asked gently.

Her laugh was shaky, almost inaudible. “I’m
not painting you noble again, I promise. And I still don’t know how I feel about you now. But we were both escaping into illusion, I think. We’d both felt things we didn’t want to feel anymore. You in your job and me …”

“Your family?”

“Poor little rich girl,” she said wryly, mocking herself.

“Don’t do that.” His hand slid beneath her hair to lie warmly against her neck. “Don’t think it’s your fault in any way, that you should have been happy just because you had all the so-called advantages. Material things are never enough.”

He pulled her toward him and kissed her, a gentle kiss with no passionate demand. Then he held her there, against him, watching the firelight shimmer off her silk pajamas and awaken the red tint in her dark hair.

Kyle could feel tremors deep inside her, circling outward slowly, like ripples in a pool. She didn’t know what had caused them and didn’t care. The wind whined outside, moaning
around the eaves, stirring the porch swing so that the chains creaked. She heard every sound more clearly than ever before.

And she could see awareness flickering in his eyes. It was as if something were moving with hushed force inside both of them, slowly and inexorably. Fascinated, she watched his face change subtly, become leaner, tauter. She felt that gentle hand on her neck tighten a little, and underneath her own hand his stomach tensed.

Very softly he said, “Kyle, go back upstairs.”

“Why?” she asked huskily.

He seemed to be having trouble breathing, but his voice was steady. “Because I love you.”

Kyle slowly rose to her feet, compelled by something in his eyes or his voice, or both. She turned away and went silently back up the stairs, sliding into her bed and drawing the covers up. She lay there for a long time with her eyes fixed on the dark ceiling, listening to the wind outside. And thinking.

What would they have lost if they had become
lovers again tonight? Kyle wasn’t sure, but she knew Lucas thought he was, and that was why he had sent her back to bed alone. What was it? A new and fragile thread of trust between them? A delicate bond forged in the quiet, soul-baring moments after a nightmare?

Kyle turned over on her side and closed her eyes, hardly aware that she was smiling.

“I
DON’T TRUST
you,” Kelsey told his boss roundly. “You’re just acting too damned straightforward.”

Hagen, sitting behind a desk that held nothing but a thin sheaf of papers and a telephone with several lines, looked up to smile angelically. “You have a suspicious mind, my boy.”

Kelsey saluted him mockingly. “Learned at the master’s knee.” He leaned back in the single visitor’s chair in the room and stared broodingly at Hagen. “As far as I can tell, you’ve
been completely straight with Lucas. So what gives?”

“Nothing at all, I assure you.” Hagen feigned humility—something he didn’t do too well. “Kendrick deserves all the facts; I merely supplied them.”

“Uh-huh.” Kelsey pointed at the sheaf of papers on the desk. “Just out of curiosity, whose idea was it that Josh innocently call Rome to inquire about the possibility of buying that Rubens and subsequently try to get himself invited to the party?”

“His. And sound strategy, I must admit. His interest in the painting is quite real; he’s known to acquire anything by Rubens that becomes available. And, of course, it was a good thing he got invited to the party. Should Rome be suspicious, he will keep a sharp eye on Long.”

“Leaving Luc free to search for the stolen art?” Kelsey kept his gaze fixed thoughtfully on the revised guest list for Martin Rome’s party.

“That is the plan,” Hagen told him.

“And you don’t think Rome will panic and
move the stuff because he knows Josh is coming?”

“Not enough time. And if he does attempt to move the artwork, we’ll have him dead to rights.”

Kelsey lifted his eyes to Hagen’s cherubic face. “A nice, simple plan. I must be asleep and dreaming.”

“Why don’t you go and call Kendrick,” Hagen suggested. “He should be told that Long and Raven will attend the party. Also, you must arrange your nightly rendezvous with the lady and him. All those little details to work out, my boy.”

Rising slowly, Kelsey frowned at his boss. “You missed the human element again,” he reminded him with a certain satisfaction. “Whatever happened between Luc and Kyle years ago, I’d say they’re busy mending fences now.”

Coolly Hagen said, “An entirely anticipated development.”

Kelsey blinked. “You mean this time you deliberately set the scene for a romance?”

“Certainly.”

After a moment Kelsey asked, “You decided to stop matchmaking by accident and do it on purpose?”

Maddeningly impervious to his agent’s surprise, Hagen merely nodded.

“Why?”

“To find out if I could.”

Kelsey blinked again. “Oh.” He turned and went to the door, then swung around to frown at his boss. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Go call Kendrick.”

When his baffled agent had finally vanished, Hagen leaned back in his chair and laughed softly. Every general knew how effective the element of surprise could be, after all. Let them wonder and look over their shoulders for his customary surprise. They would look in vain, he thought happily. And that would be the surprise. It would keep them all on their toes.

Hagen enjoyed keeping his agents on their toes.

Kyle unpacked in the luxurious room she had been given in Martin Rome’s palatial house just outside Philadelphia, having politely refused the assistance of a maid; there were some things she preferred to do for herself. She moved around the room briskly, speculating on various things, and wasn’t surprised when Lucas spoke from the connecting door to his room.

“Is this arrangement supposed to be discreet?”

She smiled a little as she stood before the dressing table, watching him in the mirror as she removed the pins from her hair. “More discreet, I suppose, than giving us a single room or letting us sneak into each other’s through the hall in the dead of night. Martin obviously assumes we wouldn’t have shown up together if we didn’t want to be together.”

Lucas leaned against the doorjamb, watching her dark hair tumble down around her shoulders. Absently he said, “Well, Rome didn’t
seem too upset when you arrived with me. Think this mysterious Zamara has captured his heart as well as his mind?”

“We’ll have to wait and see. She might well be ‘indisposed’ at the moment and unable to greet guests, but I’m betting she’s going to make a suitably dramatic entrance tonight.” Kyle turned to face him, leaning back against the dresser. “When are Mr. Long and his wife arriving?”

“A little later, I think. Kelsey wasn’t sure. Just remember you are supposed to know Josh—and introduce us.”

“Do I know his wife?” she asked dryly.

Lucas smiled at her. “Yes, you know Raven. Rome shouldn’t think that odd at all. Josh and Raven will be delighted to see you again, and I’ll be merely your escort.”

“And lover,” she murmured. Before he could respond, she went on calmly. “Your background is that you’re from a West Coast family in the wine business, we met on a skiing holiday at Aspen, and you swept me off my feet.”

“Precisely.”

“So. When do we start searching?”

“Kyle, we’ve been through this be—”

“And I say my way makes more sense. Luc, if you’re caught skulking through the house on your own, it’ll look suspicious. As if you were casing the joint, at the very least. If I’m with you, we can always give the appearance we were overwhelmed by passion and had to find a dark corner to neck in.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Kyle slowly crossed the room to stand before him. “Maybe I want to. What happens on Monday, Luc?”

He looked down at her, thinking of the past days when both had been so careful not to disturb the fragile harmony between them. And he felt the throbbing ache that was always with him now, heating his blood and clouding his mind. It was dangerous, what he was feeling. Dangerous because he would need to be alert and aware and he could hardly think of anything except Kyle.

But he had made up his mind that he would give Kyle all the time she needed. If he had to take cold showers every hour, he was still determined that the choice would be hers.

Resisting the nearly overpowering urge to yank her into his arms, he said, “That depends on what you want to happen.”

“You’ll have to go back to New York, won’t you?”

“I have weeks of vacation time coming to me. Things are pretty calm at the office now, so I can take the time off if I want. Why don’t we wait until Monday?”

“Business before pleasure?” she asked lightly.

“Not necessarily.” He wondered what she was feeling. As always, it was impossible to tell from her lovely face or turquoise eyes. With a sudden intuition he knew that when he
could
find some hint of her thoughts just by looking at her, the past would be buried for good. The knowledge was little consolation. She was as enigmatic as a cat, and those creatures had kept their secrets for thousands of years.

She was looking at him now, her expression still unreadable. “Well,” she said, “I’m unpacked. How about you?”

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t we explore a bit? Martin did offer us the run of the house.”

Lucas thought about that and had to admit it sounded like a good idea. There would be about fifty guests during the weekend, most of them scheduled to come during the next few hours. The activity of arriving guests and servants provided them with the perfect time to explore.

“Fine.” They went out into the hall from her room—and found themselves face-to-face with their host.

Martin Rome was slender and just over six feet tall. He had black hair with wings of silver at the temples, rather penetrating dark eyes, and a handsome, distinguished-looking face that appeared a decade younger than his forty-five years. He also had a pleasant, deep voice and charming manners. And those manners
were evident when he said nothing at all about their exit from Kyle’s bedroom or about the inherent possessiveness of Luc’s hand resting at the small of Kyle’s back.

“Settled in?” he asked graciously.

Kyle smiled at him, a smile that was a little more than social manners and a little less than intimacy. “Yes, thanks, Martin. I wanted to show Luc some of your wonderful art collection, if that’s all right.”