Between the Lines

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  He swung around, his eyes narrowing. If she hadn’t known better, Amber could have sworn he looked surprised for a brief instant. But that wasn’t possible because he obviously already knew about her seeing Roarke today. After all, what other reason was there for him to bring up the subject again?

  The odd expression in his gaze vanished, and the cool steel returned. “All right, I’m listening. Explain.”

  Flustered now, Amber struggled to regain her sense of self-control. Her ridiculous reaction to Gray’s grim mood was unsettling. She was exasperated both with herself and with him. She was also undeniably nervous. Her palms were damp with the evidence of her anxiety. Unconsciously she dried them on the fabric of her jeans, unaware that Gray was watching with a deep, speculative interest.

  “There’s not much to tell.” Amber lifted her shoulders helplessly. “Cynthia and I went into Seattle today to do some shopping and we had lunch on the waterfront. Roarke showed up during lunch. We left immediately. End of story.” She frowned. “I can’t see how you knew about it. But I assure you I had no intention of keeping it secret.”

  “Didn’t you?” He stood there with his shirt unbuttoned, his hands on his hips and his feet slightly braced. His eyes were enigmatic.

  “Of course not. But I still don’t see how—” She broke off staring at him in shock. “Roarke didn’t contact you, did he? Has he... has he said anything? Implied anything? If he has, you can be sure it’s nothing but lies. I give you my word of honor that nothing happened today and I didn’t encourage him in any way.” She took a deep breath and said in a surprisingly steady voice, “Tell me what’s going on, Gray.”

  “Nothing I can’t handle. Alone.”

  Her eyes widened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Gray regarded her intently for a long moment and then stripped off his shirt and walked to the closet to pull out a casual dark pullover sweater. The strong muscles of his shoulders rippled easily with the movement. “I want you out of town for a few days, Amber.”

  “Out of town!” She was so startled she couldn’t find anything else to say.

  “I’m going to send you to Vancouver for the rest of the week.”

  “Vancouver?” This was getting crazier by the minute. All she seemed to be able to do was echo his own words. “Vancouver, Canada?”

  “That’s right. I’ve got friends up there. Mitch and Lacey Evans. I’ve mentioned them. You’ll stay with them.” He had the sweater on now and was facing her once more.

  Amber was staring at him, openmouthed with shock. “You’re sending me up to Canada? To get me away from Roarke? I don’t believe it. Gray, I assure you, you’re overreacting. This isn’t like you. What on earth did Roarke say to make you threaten this sort of thing?”

  “I’m not threatening anything,” he told her quietly. “I’m simply going to put you on the plane to Vancouver this evening. You’d better go pack. Mitch and Lacey will meet you at the airport.”

  Amber finally managed to fight her way through the fog of unreality that was on the verge of swamping her brain. For the first time anger came to her aid. She drew herself up proudly and confronted her husband. “Your friends can go to the airport if that’s what they feel like doing, but I’m not going to be on the plane and that’s final. You are not sending me out of town simply because Roarke Kelley is telling lies. Cynthia was with me this afternoon when we ran into Roarke. You can ask her what happened. I will not stand here and be accused of... of infidelity on the basis of the word of a man like Kelley. I’ve told you his word isn’t worth much!”

  “I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m simply taking precautions. Go pack, Amber.” There was a quiet command in his voice that was utterly shattering. “I’m going to call Mitch.”

  Amber stared at him as if she’d never seen him before. This wasn’t the man she had come to know in the past three months. This was a stranger who was actually beginning to frighten her. “I won’t let you do this to me, Gray. I won’t let you do it to us.”

  “We’ll be leaving for the airport in fifteen minutes.” He stepped past her, heading for the telephone in the office.

  “Gray, please, listen to me.”

  The desperation in her words finally seemed to get through to him. He paused halfway down the hall in the doorway of the office. For a moment Amber felt a brief, flickering sense of hope that was soon extinguished. The slight softening of his eyes must have been an illusion.

  “We’ll talk about it when you return from Vancouver. I give you my word, Amber. But right now I want you out of town. I’ll handle this on my own.”

  “Be reasonable,” she pleaded. “What good will it do to send me away?”

  “You’ll be out of Kelley’s reach.”

  “Has he threatened to run off with me? That’s idiotic. I wouldn’t go!”

  “I’m not taking any chances. As your husband I have a responsibility to take care of you. I’m doing what I think is best under the circumstances. You’ll have to trust me.”

  He disappeared into the office leaving Amber to stare after him. Her mind was churning with pain and panic. She couldn’t seem to think straight. The sense of unreality was overwhelming now. None of this could be happening. Not to her and Gray. She wasn’t an errant wife to be packed off to some distant location because she was threatening a scandal. And Gray was not a heavy-handed, domineering husband who saw himself as his wife’s lord and master. None of this made any sense.

  Amber was still telling herself the same thing much later that evening when she got off the plane in Vancouver. She was dazed and must have looked it. The couple who came forward to greet her had concerned expressions on their faces.

  “Amber Grayson?” The woman, who was about Amber’s age, was small and petite, her short blond hair done in a stylish flounce that framed wide, intelligent eyes. “I’m Lacey Evans and this is my husband, Mitch. Gray asked us to meet you.”

  “How do you do,” Amber replied woodenly. Mitch was a few years older than his wife and had started to put on a little weight around the middle. It didn’t soften the blunt lines of his tanned face, however. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were a curious shade of green. He was smiling at her, but there was something in his eyes that reminded her briefly of Gray. There was no logical reason for the similarity. The men were not at all alike. Amber frowned at the impression and dismissed it. She clutched her shoulder bag, aware of a terrible sense of awkwardness. These people must know why she was here.

  It was humiliating. If she’d stopped to think just how embarrassing this situation would be, she would have found some way to avoid Mitch and Lacey. Instead, she’d walked off the plane like a dazed victim of combat and straight into the arms of the strangers Gray had sent to meet her. The truth was Gray had given her very little opportunity to think through the situation.

  Somehow he had taken control completely. She had been on her way to the airport before she’d had time to muster any real resistance. For the first time she wondered what kind of friendship Gray had with Mitch Evans that could be imposed on to this extent.

  “You must be hungry,” Lacey was saying with a determined cheerfulness. “It’s only a short hop from Seattle, and they don’t serve much on board the plane, do they? We usually drive between Seattle and Vancouver. We’re going out to dinner in town, unless you have any objections. There’s a wonderful new Indian restaurant that Mitch and I have been wanting to try. Having a guest gives us a great excuse.”

  “Is this all your baggage?” Mitch said, hoisting the carryon Amber had been holding.

  “Yes, that’s it. There wasn’t much time to pack and I... I don’t expect to be here long.” Amber heard the lost quality in her own voice and mentally gave herself a fierce shake. She had to pull herself together. She was acting like an idiot.

  But Mitch seemed unaware of her dazed condition. His green eyes flickered over he
r with unconcealed curiosity. “No, I don’t imagine you’ll be here long at all. Gray will take care of things in his usual style, and you’ll be safely on your way back home very soon. Came as a real surprise to hear he was married. It’s about time.”

  Lacey grinned at Amber. “We’d begun to think he’d never get around to finding the right woman. But we should have known better. Gray always does things in his own time and in his own way, but they do seem to get done, eh?”

  Amber nodded, bleakly aware that she couldn’t think of anything to say. She was too busy coping with the knowledge that Mitch and Lacey Evans seemed to know all about her and the reason she was here. Embarrassment was Amber’s dominant emotion at the moment. It blanketed even the anger that was simmering deep inside her.

  Neither of her hosts made any reference to Roarke Kelley as they drove into the city. They both kept up a lively conversation as if sensing Amber wasn’t yet able to hold up her end of things. Amber was oblivious to the spectacular array of lights that in the daytime would give way to an even more spectacular view of mountains and sea. The city of Vancouver was framed in a setting of natural grandeur that almost never failed to impress. Under normal circumstances, Amber was as susceptible to the beauty of the scenery as every other visitor. But tonight did not constitute a normal set of circumstances.

  She sat in the back seat of the car and nominally tried to pay attention to the friendly strangers chatting in the front seat. But her mind was still churning with questions that had no answers and fears that couldn’t seem to focus.

  By the time Mitch had found a parking spot downtown and led the way into the beautifully decorated Indian restaurant, Amber was finally beginning to pull herself together. She realized for the first time that Gray had given her no chance to think or react in a logical manner. He had simply issued his orders, made it clear he expected total compliance and then swept her off to the airport where he’d made certain she’d boarded the plane. Amber had never before witnessed that particular side of his nature. It had thrown her for a loss. Coolly and deliberately, Gray had taken full advantage of her confusion.

  Seated at a table across from. Mitch and Lacey, Amber opened the elaborate menu and eyed the selection of tandoori dishes, curries and distinctive breads. Forcing herself to choose a meal was the first attempt she had made in the past few hours to concentrate her thoughts on a single point. The exercise proved useful. When she set down her menu, she was able to meet Mitch and Lacey’s perceptive gazes for the first time.

  “I assume you both know exactly why I’ve been thrust on you like this?” she began politely.

  Mitch didn’t answer. His green eyes were thoughtful. It was Lacey who leaned forward with a gently understanding, sympathetic expression. “You’re not to worry about a thing. Gray told Mitch all about that horrible Kelley person who’s been bothering you. He’s going to take care of everything and in the meantime you’re very welcome here. Gray is art old friend of Mitch’s, you know. Mitch would do just about anything for him.”

  “Is that right?” Amber assimilated that bit of news. “How long have you known my husband, Mitch?”

  “Years,” Mitch said easily. “Gray and I worked together a few years back. We were a team.”

  “You’re a U.S. citizen?”

  “That’s right. I came here on a visit after I quit my job. I met Lacey here. She’s Canadian, as you can tell if you listen to the accent, eh?” Lacey shot him a spirited look of protest as he gently mocked the lilting “eh” that ended many of her sentences. “After that, there wasn’t much point in moving back over the border.” He smiled at his wife. “We have a condo out in the West End near Stanley Park. Lots of room, so don’t worry about imposing. With any luck maybe Gray will join us for a few days after he’s handled things down in Bellevue.”

  “There is nothing down there for Gray to handle,” Amber said pointedly. “Except his overactive imagination.”

  Lacey blinked in surprise. “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I,” Amber said thoughtfully. “And the more I think about it, the less I understand it. He must know that Kelley is no threat to our marriage.”

  Mitch eyed her. “Why shouldn’t he worry about the guy? I’d sure as hell worry if some ex-boyfriend of Lacey’s took to hanging around her.”

  “A husband and wife should trust each other,” Amber said sadly. “I thought Gray trusted me.”

  Lacey bit her lip. “I’m sure Gray doesn’t mean for you to think he lacks trust. He’s simply trying to protect you.”

  “From Roarke Kelley? That’s ridiculous. I’m hardly likely to run off with the man. I’m married to Gray, and I’m completely committed to the marriage. He knows that. Or at least I thought he knew it.”

  Mitch looked distinctly uncomfortable. “I’m sure this doesn’t have anything to do with a lack of trust,” he said gruffly. “Gray just wanted you safely out of the way while he deals with the matter.”

  “I’d like to know exactly what Gray thinks he can do to Roarke,” Amber muttered.

  “Don’t worry about Gray. He knows what he’s doing,” Mitch assured her, more cheerful now, as though he felt on safer ground. “He always did have a way of knowing what he was doing. That man has the patience and the perseverance of the devil or a saint. I was never sure which. Occasionally he has the same kind of luck, too.”

  “He doesn’t need any of those things to deal with Roarke Kelley,” Amber said darkly. “All he has to do is ignore Roarke, the same as I was doing.”

  * * *

  Nearly two hundred miles away in Bellevue, Gray paced through the house and thought about how lonely it seemed now without Amber. He walked from room to room, aware of the deep hunter’s patience that had settled on him. There was no need to go looking for his quarry. Roger and Ozzie would come to him, if not tonight then tomorrow night at the latest. Neither of the young toughs would be able to wait much longer than that. Gray would be ready. The moment they stepped over his threshold, they would be taking one step too far. They would be well and truly into the trap.

  In the kitchen he made himself a cup of tea and then he wandered back out into the living room. His gaze fell on the paper-wrapped parcel lying on an end table. Idly he went forward to investigate. It must have been something Amber had bought this afternoon in Seattle.

  He unwrapped the package and found himself looking at a heavy brass-trimmed volume. Immediately he was intrigued. Setting down his mug of tea, he opened the book and saw the inscription on the flyleaf. He stood gazing at it for a very long time and then, with great care, he carried the book over to the black sofa and sat down with it.

  Some of the patience in him gave way before a sense of great eagerness. He wanted Amber back where she belonged as quickly as possible.

  But first he had to handle Roger and Ozzie.

  As a connoisseur of such places, Cynthia would no doubt have loved the huge underground shopping mall, Amber thought wryly as she obediently plowed along behind Lacey Evans. Under normal circumstances, Amber had to admit, she herself would have had fun exploring the collection of small shops and large department stores that formed the maze in downtown Vancouver. But it was impossible to take any pleasure in today’s shopping trip, although Amber was doing her best to hide that fact. Two phone calls last night had proven to Amber just how abnormal the situation really was. She was no longer just angry with Gray. She was worried about him.

  The first call had been frustrating. Mitch and Lacey had insisted on phoning Gray after dinner to let him know that Amber had arrived safe and sound and was settling in nicely. Mitch had dialed the number, but after a few jovial comments he’d abruptly handed the receiver to Amber. There hadn’t been much else she could do except get on the line.

  “Everything okay, Amber?” Gray had asked gently.

  “I want to come home.”

  “Soon. I promise. Do you like
Mitch and Lacey? They’re nice people.”

  “I want to come home.”

  Gray had sighed. “I know. I’ll come up there and get you in a few days.”

  “You don’t seem to be listening, Gray.” Amber had been fiercely aware of Mitch and Lacey trying not to listen. They had taken themselves off to the kitchen. Staring at the lights of Vancouver outside of the high-rise condo window, Amber had said, “I’m hurt and I’m angry and I want to come home.”

  There had been a pause on the other end of the line. “You want to come home even though you’re hurt and angry?”

  “I want to come home so that I can wring your neck.” Amber had not waited for a response. She’d quietly slammed down the receiver. When Mitch and Lacey had wandered cautiously back into the living room, she’d greeted them with her most brilliant smile—the one that fairly radiated high-voltage charm. “Gray assures me everything is under control and I’m to have a good time.”

  Mitch and Lacey had appeared quite relieved at her obvious change of mood. For the rest of the evening Amber had made it clear that she was going to enjoy her short stay in Vancouver. She had become the quintessentially charming houseguest. By the time she had finally gone to bed, Lacey had made plans for taking her shopping the next day.

  The second phone call had been made hours later. If Amber hadn’t still been lying wide awake staring at the lights outside the bedroom window, she would never have heard Mitch Evans pad quietly down the hall and dial the number.

  At first she had assumed he was merely going to the kitchen for a glass of water. But something about the nearly silent way he had moved had alarmed her. If the floor outside her door hadn’t squeaked faintly, she probably wouldn’t have heard him at all. She had lain still for a moment or two trying to figure out just why his passage had disturbed her. Then it had come to her. Mitch had moved with the same near-silent tread that characterized Gray’s footsteps. She had remembered how her first impression of Mitch’s watchful green gaze had also put her in mind of her husband.