by JL Wilson
"I could mix up some bicarbonate of soda," she said, turning her back on the dog. "That might help him." She winked conspiratorially at me.
Cerberus surged to his feet. I'm okay now. He padded to his water dish and started to lap sloppily.
"Are all animals so messy?" Then I remembered Persa and her dainty ways. "No, I take that back. He's just a mess."
"I knew threatening him with medicine would do it. I swear, animals know when they can't fool you anymore." Lucinda laughed then patted me on the arm. "You sound so discouraged. It certainly looks like he's recovering. But you might want to watch what he eats. That is, if he's going to be staying." She looked around the room. "What a beautiful kitchen. It certainly puts mine to shame."
I remembered her old-fashioned countertops and the enameled white cabinets. My kitchen sparkled with custom-made cherry wood cupboards and the granite counter, set off by the Italian tile floors. Sunlight flooded into the room through the big bay window and the skylight, glinting off the stainless appliances. "It's just new," I said modestly.
Cerberus blew bubbles into his water dish. Are you done with me? Can I go nap?
"Are you sure he'll be okay?" I asked, leaning over the counter to regard the enormous dog as he inspected the kibble chunks in his dish.
"The worst is probably over. Are you going to keep him? I'd understand if you took him to the Humane Society. Not everyone can take in a dog. It's a lot of work." She was so short she had to stand on her tiptoes to see Cerberus, who shook his head, dashing drops of water all over.
"Damn it." I glanced down at Lucinda, who was struggling not to grin. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just..." She looked around the kitchen. "Well, you're so fastidious and to think you took in that awful dog." Lucinda lowered her voice. "It's so nice."
Ha! If she only knew. Cerberus scratched one ear then thundered into the living room, saying over his shoulder, And who is she calling an awful dog?
"Did I offend him?" Lucinda asked with a quizzical expression. I drew back, surprised. Cerberus poked his head around the doorframe to stare at her. "I'm sorry."
Apology accepted. Cerberus vanished.
I gestured toward the living room. "Please, come in. I feel guilty now for dragging you out here when the foolish animal is fine."
Hey! Watch with the slurs. I have feelings too.
"I was glad to get out of the office." She preceded me into the living room, going to the windows that overlooked the yard. "You have such a lovely home." She looked around. "Where's Cerberus?"
I touched the control panel near my armchair. Her voice was now stored. "I don't know. Maybe he's in the office. The fire is going in there."
She moved through the living room to the open door on the far side. Sure enough, Cerberus was inside, sprawled on the braided rug. "Oh, Nico. This is such a marvelous room," she whispered as she edged inside.
It wouldn't be everyone's idea of marvelous and I was pleased that she recognized it. Bookcases lined one wall with a sliding ladder moving between them and up to a reading nook in an overhanging loft. The windows and window seats took up most of one side with a set of centered French doors leading outside, to the pond. I had no curtains so it appeared as though an expanse of woods was within touching distance. Two deep, overstuffed chintz-upholstered chairs were nestled near the fire, not far from my massive L-shaped desk, allowing me to work at any surface and still see the view outside. My model train tracks wound through and around furniture, in and out of the door to other rooms of the house and through a hidden tunnel up to the reading loft.
Lucinda ran one hand along the edge of my mahogany desk then went to stand by one of the chairs. Cerberus looked up at her. Go ahead. Sit down.
I touched the control for the train and it tooted. Startled, Lucinda craned her head to peer up at the loft and overbalanced, sitting down with a thump. The train began its looping, spiraling descent down the track next to the circular staircase. "Isn't that fun? I love toy trains." She tilted her head to look up at me as I peered over the chair back.
The impulse to bend down and kiss her was strong. Her lips were parted with laughing astonishment, her eyes danced with amusement and her flushed cheeks made her appear so luscious. Her eyes took on a misty, soft quality that made my heart thunder in my chest, a sensation so unusual I almost gasped. Then she caught sight of the train and her attention was diverted again to the load of candies piled in the coal car's bin.
"Peppermints." She snatched one from the car as it trundled by her. Cerberus, who'd already investigated the train and its cargo, breathed out an impatient sigh. He informed me that he didn't care for mints. After seeing what chocolate did to him, I was happy I didn't stock the car with M&Ms.
I jammed my hands into my jeans pockets to hide their tremor. "They're my vice. That's why I put them on the train. If the bowl is near at hand, I just eat them one after the other. This way I have to wait for the train to arrive at the station."
She popped the mint in her mouth then went to the French doors. "It looks like..." Her head tilted to one side as she regarded the tall pines, mulch-lined shrubs and expanse of lawn. "It's Augusta." Her face reflected her startled recognition. "The golf course at the Master's. I've seen it on TV."
I clenched my hands. She saw the resemblance. "Yes, it is." I'd been a caddy in the 1920s and 1930s at Pinehurst and Augusta. I modeled my landscaping on two of my favorite holes. I touched the desk, taken from a bank where I worked in the 1840s. The train came from my time in Switzerland, as a toy designer. This house held many artifacts from my past. The true artifacts were at my cabin, though, located on the remote Lake of the Woods, which straddled the Minnesota/Canada border. The cabin was my true home.
Cerberus switched his gaze from me to Lucinda, still staring at the woods and deep shadows there. I felt surrounded by two hundred years of memories as though they were vines reaching out to suffocate me.
Lucinda turned and looked at me. "What a beautiful place this must be in the spring. Do your rhododendrons all bloom in bright pink, like in Georgia?"
Her words pushed the melancholy away. "Yes. It's great to sit here and see all that color."
She walked to my desk and looked down, then froze. Her eyes were inquisitive as she picked up the papers about Delacroix Labs that I left lying there. "Are you investigating me, Nico?" she asked in a soft, accusing voice.
Chapter Seven
She took the bait. Good.
"Not at all." I stood close to her, looking at the financial statements I printed earlier. "I was interested in you and your company." I stared into Lucinda's eyes, wondering if she'd see the duplicity there.
Apparently she didn't. I could tell she was flustered by the way she dropped the report, a flush spreading up her neck. "Really?" Then she cleared her throat and looked anywhere but at me. Cerberus was the recipient of her attention where he watched us from the rug near the fireplace. "Are you going to keep him?" Her voice sounded a bit high pitched.
"Lucinda."
My quiet tone made her head snap around. I snared her with my eyes. "Are you worried that I was interested in you?" I moved closer to her.
She took a step back, but Cerberus had come up behind her, preventing her escape. Her cheeks were very pale except where a blush pinkened them. I saw the small lines around her eyes and the dark circles under them. I realized then that she was worried and not about romantic advances from a handsome stranger. "Is something wrong?"
Her curls bobbed as she shook her head. "No. Well, yes, but there's nothing you can do. It's my problem."
I touched her shoulder. She seemed very frail and tiny next to me. Despite my better judgment she awakened my protective instincts. "Let me help."
"Why should you?" The words seemed to blurt out of her.
I smoothed my hand over the soft denim of her jacket sleeve. "Because I want to."
"But you're..." This time she stopped her thoughts from escaping.
"I'm what?" Only inches separat
ed us. I saw Cerberus's snout, poking out from behind her legs. His blue eyes met mine and I saw wry humor in them.
Proceed carefully, he cautioned. She's ready to flee at any moment.
Don't tell me how to seduce a woman.
"You're..." She tore her eyes from mine. "You're...I don't know, you're pressed." Her gray eyes swept down my shirtfront to my black jeans, then back up my khaki shirt. "Your house is pretty and stylish. You drive an expensive car. You--"
I did the only thing I could think of to halt her tide of words. I pulled her nearer and kissed her. For one humiliating moment Lucinda didn't move, standing stone still, her body rigid. Then with a charming little "oh" sound she softened, her lips warm and smooth against mine. Longing, lust and love all swept through me in waves. Her response flowed through me as well. Perhaps we were becoming attuned to each other, but this time when we touched it wasn't a staggering shock. It felt more like a piece of a puzzle drifting into place as images entered my consciousness, merging with my own memories. My body reacted and I knew she felt it, knew she sensed the desire that pulsed in me. She struggled feebly, but my hands were clamped on her upper arms, holding her in place.
Let her go.
Cerberus's quiet voice brought me back to my senses, reminding me of where I was and who I was with. I loosened my grip but didn't release her. Instead I pulled back, our lips parting with aching sweetness. I looked down into her dazed eyes. "Is that you talking or your sister?" I touched a bouncy curl and it sprang away as though fueled by electricity. "Lucinda, why shouldn't I be interested in you? Why shouldn't I want to be with you? I think you're very pretty. You're gentle and good-hearted."
She ducked her head, almost hitting me with her chin as she did so. "It's Robert," she whispered.
"What?"
"It's Robert talking."
Robert Meyer. I heard the hurt in her voice. A face flashed across my mental memory screen--Meyer as she knew him, his hair sandy blonde and with a rugged, handsome face. I wondered what the bastard had done to make her sound like that. He was capable of just about anything, from simple callousness to rape. My fingers tightened on her arms and she winced. "I'm sorry," I said, loosening my grip again. "Robert? The man you've been seeing?"
"Robert Masterson. And I'm not seeing him. I did see him, very briefly. Sort of. Well, not really." She took a long, ragged breath. "We stopped seeing each other when I found out he was working on a project I thought was--" Jerking away from me, Lucinda stumbled toward the window, narrowly missing Cerberus.
He followed her, snuffling at her knees in sympathy. What's wrong? Tell us. We'll help.
She put a hand on his head as he leaned against her side. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell by her downcast shoulders that she was upset. "Lucinda?"
"It's complicated. I don't want to bother you with it. It's my problem."
It's not just your problem, Cerberus said, pressing against her legs. It's our problem. We'll help. He swiveled his head to regard me. Right?
"Silly dog," she murmured, rubbing his head. "You can't help."
I considered then discarded the thought that she actually heard him. She was just interpreting his actions. I briefly thought of Persa. Was some remnant of her personality still there, in Lucinda? Did she remember what it was to be an animal? I shoved the idea aside for later consideration.
"I'd like to help." I tried to inject interest, warmth and concern into my voice. "Really, I would." I'd do anything to get close to Robert Meyer.
Cerberus shot me a reproachful look, but Lucinda didn't see it. She stared at the trees beyond my window, where sunlight shot through the branches and highlighted the rhododendrons I planted. The angle of the sun, the warmth of the light and the dappled shadows all spoke "Spring" despite the pockets of snow still visible.
"It must be awkward for you." I leaned against, the desk, affecting a casual pose. "After all, you're in charge of personnel and the man is working at your company."
"It's not that." She sighed, her shoulders rising and falling with the action. Cerberus sighed too and sat down on her right boot, covering it with his haunches. She staggered from the effect of a creature who weighed almost as much as she sitting on her foot. "It just pissed me off so much. I hate it when people treat me like an idiot."
I blinked at this blunt comment. "I beg your pardon?"
"Robert. He thought he could take me out for dinner and convince me to fund his damn project." She gave a ladylike snort. "As if wining and dining would make me compromise my morals. When I made it clear our relationship could only be business, he informed me I wasn't the sort of woman who could hold the interest of a man like him. He was so mad."
"Like him? What kind of man is he?" I, of course, knew. A man like him was a sociopath with no conscience--a murderer, an amoral animal.
"You know. Rich, sophisticated, intelligent." Lucinda peeked over her shoulder at me, her gray eyes mischievous as she assessed my crisp shirt and pressed denims. "A good dresser. I mean, he's handsome, but..."
I crossed the room. "But?"
She looked down at Cerberus, who lounged on the floor over her feet, pinning her in place. "I can't imagine Robert taking in a dog like this."
Not unless he wanted to conduct experiments on me, Cerberus commented with a yawn.
I put my arm around her shoulders. "So why are you so concerned?"
"When Robert found out he couldn't sway me, he went to my sister, Cara, and got the extra funding he wanted for his research." Lucinda leaned against me, much as Cerberus leaned against her. I doubt she even noticed. "She doesn't have--"
I gave her shoulder a squeeze. "She doesn't have your moral compass?"
Lucinda grinned up at me. "I was going to say my good taste, but your expression is more polite. Cara likes to collect men. I've never understood that about her."
"Perhaps it's a validation of herself as a woman."
"Phooey. No offense, but most men are too easy. It doesn't mean squat."
I chuckled. "I'll have to remember I need to play hard to get to impress you."
Lucinda turned and put her arms around my neck. My arms automatically enclosed her as she stood on her tiptoes to reach my face. "You've already impressed me, Nico. After all, I don't know many men who have toy trains in their office and who bother to research my company on the strength of a few minutes of conversation."
"I was hoping I'd have more than a few minutes." I drew her to me as our lips touched again. This time passion flared between us, hot and immediate. I felt it in her body as she pressed along me, her soft breasts molding to my body, her legs parting slightly. I pushed hard against her, fitting myself to her curves. She was very small and petite but perfectly formed, a tiny Venus who merged so beautifully against me.
The psychic sharing was deeper, more intense this time. Perhaps it was because I trusted it and her. Or maybe I was hoping to find Persa within her, to experience that psychic sharing Persa and I had enjoyed. No matter the reason, this time I distinguished specific events in Lucinda's memories as well as her reactions to me. I sensed her excitement, disbelief and her enjoyment. All of it merged with the emotions I was experiencing. I was inundated by a tide of feeling.
A ringing noise impinged on my consciousness.
Phone, Cerberus said as though from a distance. The speaker in my ear buzzed for my attention. It could have a fire alarm for all I cared. All I wanted was this woman in my arms. I wanted to touch her bare skin, taste her essence, inhale her fragrance. All I wanted was...
She pulled away. "Your phone is ringing," she murmured against my lips.
"I don't care." I leaned back to her, but my answering system came on the speaker. I recognized the voice saying, "Mr. Haidess, this is Parker Madison. I need to--"
I relaxed my hold on Lucinda. "I'm sorry. I have to take this call."
She nodded in understanding and stepped aside as I went to the desk. I picked up the receiver. "I'm here, Mr. Madison." My use of a formal greeting told
him I wasn't alone.
"Ah, good. Can we chat?"
I could imagine Parker, distinguished and white-haired, sitting at his executive's desk in the Hancock Tower in downtown Chicago, staring at Lake Michigan in the distance. "Yes, we can talk."
Lucinda wandered to the window seat, twisting at an angle to look out. Cerberus jumped up on the cushion to join her. They were silhouetted against the sun-dappled yard, leaning against each other, her arm around his shoulders. I felt a brief spurt of jealousy at the sight.
"We may need to shift our travel dates. My client prefers to leave sooner rather than later. Perhaps as early as Friday."
Friday? They wanted Lucinda killed on Friday? Today was Wednesday. It wasn't going to happen, of course. There was no way I could kill her. But why was her death date being hastened?
"Will that be a problem?" Parker asked.
"I'm just curious," I said cautiously. "Who's the client again?" I heard the faint sound of the Beatles' "Fool on the Hill." Lucinda fumbled in her denim jacket pocket, pulling out her phone.
She pressed it to her ear as Madison said, "A family member."
Was Lucinda's sister was paying for Lucinda's death? "That's unusual." I caught glimpses of Lucinda's face as a series of expressions danced across it--outrage, disbelief, impatience--all in quick succession. Her attention was totally focused on her conversation. I smiled at the sight, wondering what her face would look like in passion.
"Mr. Haidess?"
I snapped my mind back to my own phone call. "Yes, I'm here."
"Will that be possible?"
"Changing the itinerary?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
Lucinda stood up, her free hand clenched. "That's crazy, Cara!"
"I'll need to get back to you on that, Mr. Madison." Lucinda began to pace, Cerberus watching her anxiously from his place on the window seat.
"If there's a problem, perhaps I can ask one of your associates to help."
There was no way in hell one of my fellow assassins was going to take over this job. "No problem. Let me get back to you for the details."
