The Seductive Impostor (21 page)

“So if you believe that's all that's going on here, why were you were rifling through Alder's files?”

“How do you know what I was doing?”

“That's what Matt said,” he told her, shaking his head and smiling. “You really aren't a very good burglar, Rachel. You should close the blinds before you start snooping. And when you're hiding in a closet, wait at least ten minutes after you think the coast is clear before you try and sneak out.”

“Thanks for the advice,” she said sweetly, patting his chest. “I'll remember that the next time.”

His arms tightened around her. “There won't be a next time,” he growled. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Where?”

His sigh moved her hair. “At the boatyard,” he said, squeezing her.

“Oh. No. No, I didn't.”

He pulled her back to his chest, resting his chin on her head and tucking her tightly against him with another deep, long-suffering sigh. “You need to trust me, Rachel,” he whispered.

“I trust you just as much as you trust me,” she whispered back, snuggling into his embrace.

His chest shook with a chuckle. “What in hell kind of answer is that?”

“An appropriate answer, considering.”

“Considering what?” he asked, pushing her away again—just enough to glare at her.

“Considering that I've known you less than a week.”

That was the wrong answer if his expression was any indication. He looked so confounded, Rachel had a moment's worry that he might take a lesson from Ahab and throw her in the ocean.

“Are you in the habit of sleeping with men you don't trust?” he asked softly.

“I'm not in the habit of sleeping with men at all,” she shot back, getting defensive. “Do you sleep with women you don't trust?”

She snorted and pulled free, holding up her hand. “Never mind. That was a dumb question to ask a guy.” She turned and started back to the house, but stopped, turned again, and walked back to him.

“Let me ask you this instead. How come you knew the emeralds I put in the vault were real, and that they're worth over a million dollars and had been stolen seventeen years ago? And how come you knew the other items were also stolen?” she asked, crossing her arms under her breasts again, waiting for his answer.

“I'm in the lost-and-found business, Rachel,” he explained, his smile almost—but not quite—indulgent. “They weren't on Sub Rosa's inventory list, and it was a simple matter to log on to a database of stolen and unrecovered art.”

She took a step closer, uncrossing her arms in surprise. “So there really is a database for that stuff?”

“Yes. And there's a reward. A ten percent finder's fee is the standard, payable to anyone returning stolen items to the insurer of record.”

She stepped even closer. “And how does one go about returning stolen items without any questions being asked?” She suddenly frowned and stepped back. “And why didn't you mention this little finder's fee this morning, when you and I and Willow were discussing it in the kitchen?”

He shrugged. “It's not like it's a big secret or anything. Why? You want your stuff back?”

“No,” she said fiercely, turning on her heel and heading for the house again. “You are more than welcome to it.”

He caught her before she'd taken three steps. “Rachel,” he said, turning her around and pulling her back into his arms so he could kiss the tip of her nose. “I'm giving you my daughter. Doesn't that say I trust you?”

“No. It only says that you trust I would never do anything to endanger her, and even then it comes with six watchdogs and a wolf. But it's also a very convenient way for you to tie my hands and keep me out of the way.” She made a face, lowering her voice. “Put the womenfolk together and circle the wagons, and let the menfolk take care of business.”

He threw back his head in laughter, pulling her tightly against him and hugging her fiercely. “You little impostor,” he said with a bearlike growl. “You hide behind a nunlike demeanor, but you are a little feminist who is royally pissed that you've found a mystery but have promised to stay out of it.”

He kissed her now flushed-mad forehead, refusing to let her wiggle out of his arms. “I don't think you're trying to protect Willow nearly as much as you're enjoying the adventure.”

“That's not true.”

“Then tell me right now, Rachel, that sneaking into my library and opening that vault didn't get your blood humming,” he softly entreated. “And that you didn't enjoy bringing Sub Rosa back to life while disappearing into the tunnels right under our noses. And still that wasn't enough. Today you rifled through Mark Alder's files while spying on his mother.”

He lifted her, bringing his mouth down on hers in a kiss so consuming that Rachel's senses reeled. She clung to him, kissing him back just as fiercely, wishing she could simply crawl under his skin and put out the fire raging in the pit of her stomach.

“Sleeping Beauty's been awakened,” he whispered as he continued to rain kisses over her face. “And she doesn't want to go back to bed.”

Oh, yes she did. Right now, to Keenan Oakes's bed, with no wolves or sisters or apostles to disturb them. And definitely no five-year-old hellions.

“How about giving me a tour of your boat?” Rachel suggested.

“There're two crewmen on watch,” he told her. “How about you show me your camper instead?”

There was a sudden scream from the house, something crashed to the floor, and the screen door slapped open. Willow came running out onto the porch and down the steps.

Mickey was one step behind her, and Duncan was one step behind the wolf. Mikaela ran onto the porch, hopping up and down and waving her spoon, yelling at Mickey.

Willow ran to her car, jumped in, and slammed the door shut, peering out through the window with eyes the size of dinner plates glowing in the porch light.

Rachel wasn't sure if it was Mickey that had Willow so riled or Duncan. Willow was looking from one to the other, shaking her head. She pushed down the car door lock.

Which meant it must be Duncan.

Kee set Rachel away with a sigh and went to the rescue. Rachel trailed behind and walked over to the passenger's side of Willow's car and climbed in.

“Hi,” she said to her startled sister.

“Lock your door,” Willow all but shouted, and pushed the button on her side of the car that locked all of them. “You left me alone in a house full of strangers,” she accused. “And you could have warned me they had a wolf. And this brute,” she added, nodding toward Duncan, who was now leaning down and grinning in the window. “Actually came upstairs looking for me. And he had a bowl of strawberries with him and was muttering something about eating the hair of the dog that bit me.”

“That's Duncan,” Rachel told her, waving at him past Willow. “And he and Kee are going to help us put Puffy in the town park tonight.”

“We don't need his help!” Willow snapped. “He's a brute.”

“Yeah, but you said we need
manpower.”

“That is not a man. That is a mountain of testosterone. He's probably got muscle where his brain should be. He…he came into my bedroom,” she whispered.

“Oh, come on, Willy. We'll go back inside, and you can just ignore Duncan, and I'll introduce you to the others. They're very civilized, I promise. And you'll meet the tyrant and Ahab.”

“The whole house smells like strawberries,” Willow said. “And the table has enough sugar covering it to frost a cake. And it's
full.”

“What's full?”

“The house! It's full of men.”

Rachel patted her arm. “You're an assistant state's attorney general, Willy. You can handle it. Just think of them as a jury you're determined to charm.”

“They all look like they should be behind bars,” she said softly, finally lifting one side of her mouth in a half smile. “I think I'll run background checks on them.”

Mickey reared up and set his paws on the window, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, his head canted inquisitively. Mikaela had come down from the porch and was now in Kee's arms, and the others had come out of the house and were all gathered around the car, watching.

“Bet you wish your date hadn't fallen through,” Rachel said, unlocking and opening her door. “Come on. I'll make the introductions, we'll get Mikaela settled in bed, and then we'll load up Puffy.”

Willow's tentative smile suddenly turned brilliant. “Maybe Puffy will fall on the brute and kill him,” she said, finally unlocking and opening her own door, taking a deep breath, and then getting out of the car.

Rachel had just walked around the hood to stand by her sister and start the introductions, when several of the men suddenly stiffened. They all grabbed their belts at their sides, and Duncan swore softly under his breath.

Kee handed Mikaela over to Rachel and turned to Luke. “Luke, you and Ahab stay here. Matt and Peter, head to the front of the house and wait for my signal. Jason, you go in through the terrace. Duncan and I will use the cliff tunnel.”

“What's happening?” Rachel asked as they turned to leave. “What's going on?”

“Daddy!” Mikaela demanded loudly.

Kee turned and took hold of Mikaela's shoulder. “You stay with Rachel, sweetheart. We'll be back in a little bit.” He looked at Rachel. “Someone's in the tunnels,” he said softly, pulling a vibrating pager off his belt, holding it up for her to see and then shutting it off. “We're just going to check it out,” he said, somewhat absently, already turned and heading toward the cliff path.

Rachel handed Mikaela to Ahab and ran after Kee. “Wait,” she said, catching up with him at the edge of the trees. “It might be Mary. You're going to scare her to death. I'm coming with you. She knows me.”

Kee shook his head. “It might not be Mary,” he said evenly, taking her by the shoulders and turning her around. “Go inside with the others, Rachel. Now,” he ordered curtly, one large hand nudging her along when she didn't move fast enough.

Completely disconcerted by the don't-mess-with-menow tone in his voice, Rachel crossed her arms and hugged herself as she walked toward her house without looking back. Dammit, it was probably only Mary.

Then again, it could be the owner of the male footprints.

And that meant Kee and Duncan and the others were heading straight into danger.

She spun back around, but Kee had already disappeared into the woods. A large warm hand touched her shoulder.

“Come on, Rachel,” Luke said, gently pulling her back toward the house. “They'll be fine.”

“Why doesn't he just call the police and let them handle this?” she asked.

He chuckled softly. “That's not how we work.” He stopped her when they reached the porch. “He'll call the police, Rachel, when it's time. Until then, let him have his fun.”

“This is not fun,” she snapped. “It's dangerous.”

He waved that away. “Naw, it's definitely fun,” he said, smiling—somewhat longingly—as he looked toward Sub Rosa.

“And you're mad because you're stuck here with us,” she said, drawing his attention again.

He shook his head. “I'm right where I need to be, Rachel. I can tell you from personal experience that pulling guard duty can get pretty exciting all by itself,” he said, rubbing his ribs just below his chest.

“What kind of personal experience?” Rachel asked softly.

He stared at her, his expression uncertain, then suddenly he sighed and rubbed his ribs again. “Six years ago I was left to watch a woman and her three children while Kee and Duncan and Peter went looking for her husband's kidnappers,” he quietly stated. “Only the kidnappers weren't at the camp like we'd been told. They were watching the house.”

“What happened?” Rachel whispered hoarsely.

“I spent the next month recovering in a hospital in Brazil.”

“And…and the woman and her children?”

He smiled apologetically. “She spent a month in the same hospital. The children didn't get a scratch on them.”

“And what happened to the husband?”

“Duncan came walking out of the jungle with him two days later.”

“And…and the kidnappers?” she asked, hugging herself against a shiver.

Luke merely shook his head and opened the screen door.

Rachel mutely walked into the kitchen ahead of him. Luke walked in behind her only to stop her by the shoulder again. “That's why Kee left me here, Rachel,” he said softly, his voice not reaching the others gathered in the living room. “Because he knows I never make the same mistake twice. Please don't worry. Everything will be okay. They'll be back before you know it, hopefully with the answer to our little mystery.”