"Oh, who really knows the truth about such old tales?" Sergei interjected, sounding regretful and patting her hand anxiously. "We don't need to talk about--"
"You're in enough trouble, Sergei, without adding insubordination to it." Kriloff glared at him, not used to having a bodyguard voice an opinion to his face. Elena clutched Sergei's hand. He would probably be demoted for letting her get away that night at the hotel in Richmond. The night she'd met Audubon. Her throat burned with tears. "What are you trying to tell me about Audubon?" she asked Kriloff coolly. "I know everything that's important."
"Elena, you are so naive. The man murdered his own mother and father."
She sat back slowly, as if a giant invisible hand were flattening her against the seat. For a second.
she couldn't breathe. Sergei leaned close and whispered, "Accused but found innocent."
"Sergei, be quiet," Kriloff said. He went to the seat across from them and sat down casually, crossing his legs. "Audubon was responsible for his own sister's death too. Imagine. A twelve-year-old boy deliberately pushing his younger sister off of a ski lift."
Sergei squeezed her hand. More lies, he was telling her. Elena shoved her fists into the pockets of her baggy gray jacket. "I'd like to have heard the true story from Audubon. Not your version." Her fingers closed around the funny wooden turtle she'd managed to keep. The smooth surface had been polished by Audubon's fingers for years. A sense of certainty and peace flowed from it.
What a tragic story he would have told her, if she'd been able to stay with him. She would have been a sympathetic listener. She hoped, wherever he was right now, that he could feel her loving him.
All conversation stopped as a tall, slender young man wearing a flight attendant's uniform stepped inside the cabin. "Good afternoon," he said in French. His teeth flashed white against an olive complexion. His features were handsome and unusual, a puzzling mixture of nationalities. His hair was glossy black. But when he smiled at Elena, she wasn't sure if she smiled back. She was already lost in thoughts about Audubon again.
"The crew will be boarding soon," the handsome attendant continued. "But in the meantime I'd like to tell you about our inflight movie." He reached inside his jacket, produced a pistol, and pointed it at Kriloff. "It's called Return of the Dove. Ms. Petrovic, I'll be happy to escort you out."
She stared at him. Kash Santelli. Of course! But where was Audubon? They lied to you. He's dead. Kash had dutifully come here to fulfill his dead father's wishes.
"I'll simply follow you back to America and retrieve her again," Kriloff said.
Elena stood. She spoke slowly and calmly, because she was hollow inside. "No, you won't. I have nothing left to lose. I'll tell everything. I'll create the most terrible scandal you can imagine. I'll let the whole world know that you keep people locked up and study them like laboratory animals. And I'll be sure to tell them that you make your prize subjects produce children together, to see if miracles are genetic." She nodded at the anger in Kash Santelli's dark eyes. "If I go back to the institute, I'm scheduled to be artificially inseminated, like a cow."
"Are you ready to leave?" a man behind Kash asked, stepping into the cabin. Elena didn't recognize him. He was brawny and auburn-haired, and he held a gun against the front of his baggage handler's jumpsuit. He didn't look as if he needed the gun to terrify people. "I'll keep this nice little group seated."
Elena eased past Sergei, stroking his mottled cheek as she did. He kissed her hand. "I'm going to defect! I'll get off the plane here, after you leave."
"Come to America and meet me," she told him. "We'll be family."
"Yes!"
She looked at Kriloff. He was grinding his teeth and shivering with fury. "Follow me, and I'll ruin you," she whispered.
A few seconds later she was walking swiftly across the tarmac with Kash Santelli, not speaking, afraid freedom was an illusion that would end before it began. Like her life with Audubon. She hugged herself as Kash guided her into a small car. "We have a flight to catch," he said cheerfully, driving like a madman between planes and baggage carts.
She looked wearily out the window, unconcerned. "Is Audubon dead?"
"Dead? Of course not! Why did you think so?"
She jerked to attention. "But why didn't he--oh, I'm so greedy. Of course, he didn't have to meet me here, himself."
"Put your head on your knees. I don't want anyone to see you."
She clutched her knees for several minutes, swaying with the car, humming under her breath. He was alive! If he hadn't made a dramatic rescue in person, what did it matter? Her blood froze. This was not like Audubon at all. "He's hurt," she said numbly.
Kash slid the car to a squealing halt. She glanced at the small jet next to them, then turned toward him. "Tell me."
"Yes, but he'll be fine, now that he's got you back."
She was full of questions and fear as she climbed the jet's stairway. Kyle Surprise grasped her hand and pulled her in. "Welcome to Audubon Airlines. We'll be on our way to Scotland in about sixty seconds."
"Traynor's holding the fort," Kash said. "He'll meet us later."
She looked around fervently, seeing nothing but the cockpit door, Kyle, Drake Lancaster, and thick curtains that closed off the jet's cabin. She reached for them wildly.
"Be careful when you hug him," Kash urged, pulling the curtains back. "He'll need at least a month before he's huggable--wait!"
But she was already running toward Audubon, who was propped up in a thronelike pair of cushioned seats, smiling at her and holding out a hand as best he could. His face was covered in bruises, and the thick binding around his rib cage showed through his white shirt.
She shrieked something, his name or a blessing, or both, she didn't know, but she was making hoarse little sounds in her throat as she climbed into a corner of one seat and pressed as much of her body against him as she could.
"No, love, don't," he begged hoarsely, as she ran her hands over his chest, pouring her warmth and energy into him.
"Elena, you're hurting him," Kash said firmly. He took her shoulders. "Come sit down..." His voice trailed off. "It feels as if I just put my hands into a warm bath. My God."
She murmured Audubon's name and put her hands on his face. Audubon kissed her hands but kept repeating desperately. "I'm all right. Don't make yourself sick. I love you. I don't want to hurt you."
"I know," she whispered, feeling his body mending, bound to him with an energy that she knew, for the first time, she could control because of him. "I'm fine. I'm free, and I'm with you. You'll be able to hold me while I sleep."
"Elena." He put his arms around her, moving with a limberness he hadn't been capable of only seconds before. "I'll hold you forever."
She knew she was in trouble before she opened her eyes. She was in another sinfully plush bed, in a room scented with flowers. And Audubon was sitting beside her, tracing her mouth with his fingertip.
She blinked lazily and looked up at him. "You're perfect again," she whispered. "Inside and out."
The smile he gave her had its own sensual power. She glanced lower and saw that he wore a heavy, blue satin dressing gown. A handsome portion of his chest showed between the lapels. The leg that was drawn up beside her was deliciously bare.
"I hope that we're someplace decadent," she said.
"Not decadent, but definitely Victorian. We're at Elgiva and Douglas's estate on the Scottish coast."
"I missed everything."
"Yes, you put on quite a show, draped in my arms like Sleeping Beauty. All the servants are probably gossiping about the way I carried you straight up here. And Kash kept staring at his hands, then at the two of us, particularly me. On the plane, when I took off my rib bandages, I thought he was going to need help with his jaw. It seemed to be permanently hinged open."
She touched the voluminous flannel gown she wore. It was buttoned up to her neck. "Elgiva's?"
"Yes. She said she knows it's not appealing, but that old Scottish ma
nors are drrrafty. Hmmm." He ran his fingers down the buttons at the center of her chest. "Actually, the interesting texture and deceptively proper appearance are very appealing."
Elena took his hand and held it against her cheek, loving the feel of the weathered skin. The tenderness inside her was reflected in his own eyes. They sat quietly, smiling at each other. "You saved my life, Elena."
"You saved mine."
"Clarice said you didn't hesitate, even after you learned the truth."
"About you intending to trade me to the State Department to get help for your son? That's not such an awful truth to learn, Audubon."
"Even if I'd gone through with it, I would have made certain you weren't sent back to Russia."
"I know." She stroked the back of his hand, making her touch intentionally soothing. "I know the truth about your family also. I don't have a very clear picture of what happened, but enough to understand how terrible it must have been for you."
He gave her a troubled look. "Who told you?"
"Kriloff. He investigated your background."
"What did he say?"
"That you were a murderer."
"You didn't wonder if--"
"No, I didn't. Sergei said you were found innocent, but even if he hadn't told me that, I wouldn't have thought you capable of harming your own parents."
Audubon took her hands and held them against his chest. She felt the steady, slow beat of his heart. It was a wonderful heart, incapable of anything ugly. She knew that without having to touch him. "I trust you," she reminded him.
He exhaled slowly. "My family went skiing in Switzerland every winter. By the time I was twelve and my sister was ten, we were experts. We were also Audubons, which meant that we were arrogant, hard headed, and spoiled. Our parents always went their own way and left us under the watch of some poor, abused nanny. On this occasion we sneaked away from her and went to the slopes by ourselves."
"We should never have been allowed to ride up on the lift without an adult, but we were the rich, overconfident Audubons, and none of the ski lodge employees wanted to risk making our parents angry. So they let us go."
He shut his eyes. Elena saw the pain around them. "We were pushing at each other, just playing, nothing foolish, I swear. One second Melinda was beside me, and the next... she was falling."
"Oh, Audubon."
"I could never decide if I caused her to fall or if it was just a freak accident. For years I played it over and over in my mind. It nearly drove me crazy."
"It was an accident."
He looked at her curiously. "I found one of my paperweights in the pocket of your suit. Why did you pick up that particular piece?"
"I wanted something of yours that was personal. I took it on my way downstairs to hide, when the government men came. I'd just learned that you might be killed in Mexico. The wooden turtle looked warm and friendly to me. And quiet, as if it had been around for years and had nothing to prove."
"My sister carved it. She was so creative. I'm sure she would have been an artist or sculptor if she'd lived."
"I think she loved you very much, and you loved her, and that what happened wasn't from carelessness on your part. It could have been you who fell, just as easily."
"I learned to believe that, eventually." He looked at her sadly. "My parents never did, though."
"They blamed you?"
"Yes. I was the older child, and the boy. That made me responsible for what happened. My mother, who claimed to be psychic, said that she'd dreamed that I hated Melinda. That was the opposite of the truth. Melinda and I were so obnoxious in all the same ways that we adored each other. But Mother trusted her dream more than she trusted me. I was banished, you might say, to one of the strictest military academies in Virginia. From the time I was twelve years old, I came home only for holidays and a few weeks during the summer. I can't say that there wasn't some relief in being away from them. I think they'd disliked each other for years before the accident. Afterward, the relationship only got worse."
"And when you were eighteen..." Her throat closed. She stared at him, waiting.
"I was home temporarily, getting ready to leave for college. It was the first time I realized how violent my parents had become toward each other. Throwing things, screaming at each other. One night I came home from a party and... found them. There was a gun." She saw a muscle flex convulsively in his throat. "Both of them. Dead."
Elena sat up and put her arms around him. "How could anyone accuse you?"
"There was never any serious case against me. not even an indictment, just lurid newspaper articles and a lot of gossip about the bitterness in the family. The coroner's report made it clear that no third party was involved in what happened."
Audubon hugged her hard and said with strained lightness, "So that's the sordid story of my family. Honestly, it won't hurt my feelings if you double check the details."
"I've already seen the proof. I declare you innocent. Case closed." She sat back, wiping her eyes. "And now I understand why you don't think much of the idea of marrying and having a family."
The old memories faded from his eyes. His expression gentled so much that she became very still, almost enchanted. "I was afraid you wouldn't think much of marriage--at least not in connection with me--after hearing my story."
Under the solemn flannel, her heart began to race. "I remember a discussion once about bookstores, dogs, and cats. Marriage was mentioned briefly, but it never stood a chance."
"Bookstores, dogs, cats, marriage, children. It all goes together in my mind."
"But you have a very manipulative mind, dear man."
"But I thought you'd learned to enjoy that about me, dear woman."
"Is this a marriage proposal?"
"I've never been involved in one before, but, yes, I believe that's what it is." Growing serious, he took her face between his hands. "Elena, please marry me."
"Please kiss me." He did. "Yes."
"Please say yes again, and dress it up."
"I love you with every bit of my heart, and I'll make flowers bloom for you as long as I live."
"Nice," he whispered, pulling her into his arms. "Very nice dressing up."
Much later, in the quiet, she reminded him that he'd promised to tell her his full name. He smiled against her lips. "I promise to tell you on your eightieth birthday, when all of our children and grandchildren are gathered around to hear. It should be a dramatic moment."
She laughed softly. This fox would always be sly. Still, she wouldn't mind the wait.
Table of Contents
10
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Unnamed
Silver Fox and Red Hot Dove Page 17
