“No, Jake. I was going to tell you about the mask. I was about to tell you everything!” She tried to reason with him, but even she knew how it looked. Maybe if she hadn’t been attracted to him, perhaps she would have told him the story instead of indulging in flirty banter. Oh God, she was never good at relationships!
“Is there any way I can impress upon you enough the amount of lives endangered while retrieving this artifact? Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to remove this item from South America and hide it safely in the states? How I almost died making sure no one would ever lay their hands on it for their own devious purposes?”
“No.”
It was all she could say. It was the truth.
The resulting silence in the room was deafening. Jake collapsed on the edge of the bed, his fingers grasped tightly around the handle of the case. He almost appeared to be defeated, and it troubled her more than any terrible thing he could think about her right now.
She walked near his still form, wanting desperately to set a comforting hand to his shoulder, but even she wouldn’t blame him right now if he slapped it away, or worse.
“Please Jake, I can explain about it all, if you’ll just give me a chance.”
He raised his head and regarded her with his stormy eyes. Danielle had never seen such a poignantly handsome face in all her life, and to see his beautiful gaze so full of doubt and pain was terrible for her heart, but nothing damaged her more than his answer.
“I’m sure you can, Danielle. I’m just not positive I’m ready to believe everything you’re about to tell me.”
The words echoed in her ears like they had been driven there by a sledgehammer. It was the very thing she’d said to Britton Majers when she walked out of his office that terrible day at the University.
If Jake Wilde truly thought her on par with such a person, how could she possibly persuade him otherwise? There was nothing she could do immediately to prove her innocence, and arguing was certainly not going to help.
“It’s time to go,” he said suddenly, rising from the edge of the bed with the black case firmly in hand.
“Don’t go, Jake. Just give me a chance, and you’ll understand what happened.”
He grabbed her hand the instant she finished, and she turned to him with surprise. It wasn’t a comforting grasp, more like a possessive hold, but she wasn’t complaining for the moment.
“I don’t think you understand me, this time,” he growled under his breath, and his fingers crushed hers persuasively. “It’s time for both of us to go. I can’t trust you won’t tell Majers I’m alive, let alone here.”
“Where will you take me?” she asked nervously. Jake had no way of knowing she had never widely traveled in her life, and he mistook her hesitation for distrust.
“Someplace I can keep an eye on you, though you won’t be able to talk to your boyfriend as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Danielle would be a fool not to be frightened and she knew it, but her spirit wasn’t about to die out as he dragged her through the servant corridors of the grand hotel. She could have fought him as he led her on, but she could not bear to have him think of her as Britton’s mistress and so she accepted his forced escort for the moment as an opportunity to persuade him differently.
“I said he’s not my boyfriend,” she said determinedly as he pushed through a grey metal door which abruptly released them into a dark alleyway.
Danielle spun around when she realized they had left the building and searched for a way back inside. To her dismay, she discovered there was no handle for alley access.
“I can’t believe I let you drag me outside the hotel. People will come looking for me, you can be sure,” she informed him with false confidence as he stiffly forced her along. “And what do you think the U.S. consulate will do when they find out you kidnapped a citizen of the United States?”
Though it felt like he had pulled her for a mile down the damp back streets, they had only traveled a handful of yards before the main boulevard appeared. Jake was quick to signal a cab, which pulled up to the curb as if it had been waiting.
He turned to face her finally and released his grip on her as he looked her straight in the eyes.
“Danielle, the paperwork would be endless. You could easily be sold on the black market in Brazil as a love slave before the U.S. even saw the complaint.”
She crossed her arms, not knowing for sure if he was being truthful, but she was more than aware of the fact she was in a little over her head. It even seemed for a moment his face held a look of concern, and her opinion of him softened even further.
“Not that you wouldn’t make a magnificent love slave.”
“You just had to say it, didn’t you?” She narrowed her eyes in response, prepared to make her escape if he did anything she didn’t like.
The taxi driver looked pointedly at Jake and tapped his watch, all the while keeping a careful account of their surroundings.
“It’s against my better judgment, but I will not force you beyond this point.” Jake sighed, fondly brushing her tousled hair from her face in a motion so quick she almost wondered if it had happened at all. The driver dramatically rolled his eyes and turned forward in his seat again.
“Fine, just give me my mask and I’ll go.”
He cast an incredulous look her way.
“This is not your mask.”
“Finders keepers!”
“Look, if you want the mask, you come with me. If you want to stay with your significant other, you are welcome to depart.”
“I told you,” she glared at him as she shoved him forcefully into the back seat of the car. “He is not my boyfriend!”
* * * *
“The situation is far worse than I realized, my friend.” Jake set a comforting hand on the driver’s shoulder as the cab rolled out into the night time traffic of the artistically designed district.
He turned a dark-skinned face to the back seat where the two occupants were managing to be civil for a moment.
“Is it as we feared?” the native asked in a very cultured English accent, which Danielle had not expected.
“He knows about the silver mask,” the professor spoke begrudgingly.
Though Danielle knew she was really innocent in all of this, whatever it was, she couldn’t help but feel responsible. After all, she was the one who’d found it in the garden and brought it to the University where the heir apparent to the Devil was made aware of it.
“So,” Danielle tried to casually begin a conversation in the tense silence that followed. “When do you think it’ll be okay for you to tell me what’s going on?”
“Either you are in on it already, or it isn’t safe for you to know if you aren’t,” he answered cryptically. She was disappointed, though she had really expected that kind of answer.
“So, I can’t get any info from Britton and I can’t get any from you, but I’m in South America doing the Ancient Silver Mask Dance, and you all are just pulling me like a puppet on a string?”
“Oh, Danielle.”
He turned to her and she could see his eyes shine with some kind of emotion in the moonlight through the taxi windows. “I never expected such a temptation and truly, if you were everything you seem, you would be the pinnacle of all life’s journey. But I cannot afford to be distracted at this time.”
“Do you always talk like that?”
The driver sharply turned his head to address her.
“He has given you a magnificent compliment. You should be honored he speaks of such things to you.”
“How do you get the president of your fan club to chauffer you around?” She said smartly from the back seat, making a face at the dark reflection in the rear-view mirror. “Because people buy my paintings, you know, but I can’t even get anyone to drive me home from the grocery store!”
“I can let her out here, Doctor Wilde.” The educated man at the wheel slowed the car to a crawl, and she wondered if he would stop or
expect her to roll out at the curb. “It is most likely safe.”
There was no answer, and she looked with alarm to the professor, thinking he really meant to eject her from the taxi. The heel of his hand was pressed tightly against his forehead, and she noticed a slight sheen of sweat on the handsome curve of his jaw line.
When he didn’t receive a response, Jake’s colleague looked over his shoulder and nearly sent them flying into the front seat when he slammed on the brakes in concern. A dozen or more car horns sounded from all around them, and he edged off the road as much as possible before he shifted in his seat.
“Are you unwell?” He set a practiced hand on the professor’s cheek and frowned.
Danielle recalled the time when Britton was in her parlor and he’d told her the tale of Jake’s recent illness. She wondered just how often the adventurer had come down out of the hills with a fever, or worse. He was even dead once, and that certainly didn’t bode well for one’s social life.
“I’m fine, my friend,” he assured the driver, reluctantly removing the pressure from his face. Danielle noticed the professor wince as the headlights of oncoming cars flashed across their path.
“It’s just another headache. As for the girl…I’m not prepared to leave her behind at this time. If she stays with me I can be sure she doesn’t do any more damage, if she has indeed done any to begin with. She did travel with Majers and may know something of his plans which could be of use to us if she chooses to remain in my company.”
The fact he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt secretly thrilled Danielle, and the knowledge he would still allow her to leave, even now, made her feel a lot more secure about staying. She couldn’t go so far as to say she believed he trusted her, but she knew in her heart if he was open enough to give her a chance to prove herself, she would do everything in her power to earn his respect.
It was also obvious to her the professor wouldn’t tell her anything of importance at this time. At least she didn’t need anyone to tell her how she felt about the situation, or most importantly, about Jake Wilde. Being near him made her entire life in the past pale by comparison, and she felt like she was looking at the world through new eyes with a heart she never knew could feel this way. She wanted to explore this newfound land that Fate had left her in, and she would be as brave as Jake needed her to be.
“I’m staying,” she stated firmly, and the tone of her voice was sure and strong.
“I hope this is a wise decision, Professor.” His associate slowly merged back into the chaotic traffic of the main street, but his eyes watched her carefully in the mirror. “You know how much we have at stake. You know how much everyone has at stake.”
“I have spent my entire life knowing, Seti and I have spent my entire life in the service of it. Do I ever ask anything for myself?”
Danielle covertly watched the driver’s dark brown countenance in the mirror change in a way she never expected. His foreign eyes brimmed with tears as years of sorrow fell upon his face in folds. When he caught her guarded glance, he abruptly put his focus on the road but his brief show of feelings impressed Danielle.
“We have to leave the city,” Jake declared urgently. “We must go north. Take us to San Francisco.”
“I just left the United States,” Danielle said a little tentatively, thinking perhaps he meant to drop her off somewhere after all. “Customs wasn’t bad, but I think I ate some bad fish on the Bay and besides that, I wasn’t planning on going back right away. I had some words with a waiter there.”
It was very late in the evening now but the car was filled with city lights and the cresting moon as she studied the expression on her new companion’s face. His eyes showed her guarded amusement, but his features were drawn with doubt.
Jake sighed and visibly allowed a smile to overtake over his strong, sensual mouth as he shook his head. With slow and determined caution this time, he raised the fingers of his right hand and touched her just below the delicate skin along the edge of her jaw. When she didn’t pull away, his thumb lightly brushed her lower lip which parted in response.
He withdrew as gently as he had advanced, and though his face still did not reveal his thoughts, his action left Danielle completely breathless. She was afraid her heart would leap out of her chest just to be near him.
“The Monastery of San Francisco,” he informed her with patience. “It lies just up the road. By now Majers is aware of your absence and the authorities will be watching the city streets. We’re going under.”
“I thought you said if I had gone missing I’d be sold on the black market before the U.S. consulate was aware of my disappearance?”
“What makes you think you are what they’d be looking for?” Jake asked her.
Danielle turned away from his searching gaze and studied the carrier in his hand. Of course it was the mask they wanted. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he was right. Professor Wilde didn’t really need her any more than Britton did. The only difference was she seemed to genuinely feel a connection to Jake, and long before Britton had ever entered the picture. She couldn’t be absolutely sure he felt the same way she did, but because her heart told her to stay, Danielle was in it for as long as she possibly could be.
The car had been traveling down the side roads for a good distance when she noticed the pavement split off, and they followed a palm tree lined median on the left. It was darker here, the sky didn’t hold the glow of the main city overhead, and the houses were grander and placed more exclusively along the well maintained street.
The white marble in the makeup of the Monastery stood out in the distance with an ethereal glow, and the perfectly quartered gardens that sectioned off the front lawn of the main building were stunning in their detail.
“So, why are we going to church? I thought you said we were going down, or something. I can pray if you want me to, but I was hoping something a little more concrete than faith would deliver us.”
Seti turned in his seat as the car idled to a stop in the dark parking lot at the side of the building. He afforded her a begrudging smile, however brief, and nodded to the professor who promptly got out of the taxi.
Danielle suddenly decided a good prayer never hurt anything and she jumped out of the car, swinging the door wide just as Seti was nearly there to let her out.
“I’m sorry,” she explained hastily as he stepped out of the way. “I never really understood someone who waited for their car door to be opened.”
He nodded to her, and his demeanor was more respectful this time. She wasn’t sure what caused the change, but she was grateful for his momentary trust as she followed both of them into a secluded garden near the rear of the building.
Jake carried a couple of oversized leather bags on both his shoulders, and she could see that worry still lined his friend’s face as they approached the shadowy side of the building.
If she had not been with the professor she never would have noticed the door behind the expanse of palm fronds and tropical brush that lined the exterior of the magnificent Monastery.
“Cover this behind us,” Jake instructed, and clasped the shoulder of his friend in an emotional gesture. Seti returned the farewell, wrapping his free arm around Jake’s shoulder with a brief hug.
“I wish you the best in this.” He glanced past his companion and eyed Danielle cryptically. “As I wish you the best in everything.”
Though it was dark in that part of the courtyard, it was blacker still inside the hidden passage. The professor stepped through first, and Danielle followed closely behind. She knew not to expect Seti on this leg of the journey, thanks to their earlier conversation, but she still felt vulnerable as the exterior door closed behind the two of them and there was nothing but cold darkness all around.
It was too quiet, and Danielle began to feel edgy. She kept very still, listening for the sound of Jake’s breathing or for the shuffle of his shoes on the hard tiled floor. Nothing reassured her or oriented her to his position
until he spoke from just ahead.
“Are you going to tell me who you are now that I have you at my mercy?”
It was clear to her they weren’t going to move forward until she gave him some information, and she really couldn’t blame him for using the opportunity to make her talk.
“Well, I’m an artist. I have paintings all over the country, the world, I guess,” she began to speak nervously. It was so cold inside the passage that the skin on her arms broke out in chill bumps, and it was impossible to tell how big or small the area was where she stood.
“I like that so far.” He sounded closer now, felt closer. “Why did you come here?”
Danielle thought she could feel a slight amount of heat just to the left, and she imagined it was where he stood.
“It all started when I left the city, I hate the city,” she admitted with passionate honesty for the first time since she’d begun her new life. “It’s hard to pick up all the pieces of a broken heart there. I thought I could leave them behind and paint a new one.”
She could hear the sound of metal and glass clattering together, like the front of an old fashioned lantern was being opened. It was amazing what your ears could pick out when you couldn’t see. He was so close, so very close, and she longed to reach out.
“I want to believe you.” His breath was suddenly hot on her cheek, and her knees shook without warning though she desperately tried to stop them.
Maybe he sensed her reaction or maybe he wanted to do it, but his right arm slid around her waist just as she thought she would lose her balance.
Her left hip braced against his upper thigh, and she instinctively turned against Jake for support. He held her up, and she felt the fingers of his free hand run up the base of her neck, wrapping them in her thick, silky hair before he pulled lightly on her curls.
His breath fell in rapid patterns on her neck as his lips reverently caressed the delicate rise of the artery that beat through her entire being with the rhythm of desire. Her fingers clung to his strong shoulders, rubbing deeper into his warm skin as she subconsciously drew him closer and closer.
Through Ancient Eyes (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 9
