STOLEN HEARTS

by Michelle Martin

  * * *

  "I've read all the newspaper stories of course, but they don't have the inside dope. How did you end up in here?" Tess asked.

  "Greed," Margo grimly replied. "I wanted all of the twenty million, not just my third. And then I went and misjudged Mansfield."

  "How?"

  "I thought I'd neutralized him. I thought he spent his days mourning my loss." Margo shook her beautiful head in self-disgust. "Instead, he had some private investigator watching every move I made. The PI began working on me when Luke took my first case. In fact, he uncovered the evidence I had planted and needed to get acquitted. But he didn't stop there. I guess he somehow found out the truth about Dad and told Luke. Since I couldn't be charged with the same crime twice, Luke had to wait and watch until I made a mistake. The only mistake I made was not knowing I was being followed. When Cindy and Rob were killed in the car accident I'd manufactured, the PI was all over that car and all over the police until they found enough evidence to put me away."

  "The evidence was pretty convincing," Tess agreed. "But Luke didn't testify, did he?"

  "No, he didn't need to," Margo said bitterly. "The cops had enough on me. Mansfield contented himself by sitting in the back of the courtroom every day of the damn trial and watching every move I made. He wanted his revenge, and he got it."

  * * *

  There was a pause. "Okay," Bert said at last. "But don't make any more tactical decisions until you talk to me first, do you hear?"

  "I hear you, Bert."

  "If I see even a hint that Mansfield is causing trouble or using you, I'll remove him. I can even work it to eliminate the old lady and still have you claim the necklace and inheritance. There are options, babe, there are always options."

  "Hey, come on, Bert, there's no need for extremes! I'll get the necklace just like we planned. Why are you freaking out like this?"

  Bert's massive hands gripped Tess's arms in a painful vise. "I want the Farleigh now, babe. One of my former associates is in federal custody and making this country a little too hot for me. It's time to leave, in style. No more rewriting the script, little girl. I want this deal signed, sealed, and delivered by midnight Sunday, or you will wish you were never born. You think on that, Tess baby, and get your tail out of here."

  He stalked to the front door, threw it open, and Tess walked nonchalantly out of the apartment.

  Leroy rose and turned off the VCR.

  There was only silence in the office.

  * * *

  Tess walked slowly back to her car, the gray chill of the prison seeping into her soul. Margo had used Luke for her own terrible con. He had been betrayed. And he had betrayed his own deep love of justice by getting her acquitted at the first trial.

  He would have felt compelled to atone, Tess knew. And Margo was right, Luke would have wanted his revenge, too. No one—particularly a man with Luke's honor—could tolerate Margo getting away with deception and murder. He had set Margo up brilliantly. If she was a writer, Tess could have had a best-seller on her hands with the Mansfield-Holloway story.

  Instead, she had a very dangerous and very devious Luke Mansfield on her hands. Tess shivered beneath the sun. She was using Luke as Margo had used Luke. Did he know? And was he, in turn, setting her up as he had set up Margo?

  * * *

  "At least we know who's directing the other surveillance team," Leroy said at last. "Tess's Bert is Albert Carne, another of Clifton's aliases. I figured seeing it was the only way you'd believe me."

  "Thanks," Luke said, his mouth dry. "Leave me the tape, will you? I'll have to show it to Jane."

  "This copy is yours to keep. I've got the master in my New York office. You going to be okay, Luke?"

  Luke looked up at Leroy and saw compassion in his dark eyes, and concern. "No," he said wearily, "but I will survive. Thanks for stopping by."

  "You want me to talk to the police about this?"

  "No. I want to sit on it a little while."

  "It's your call," Leroy said as he walked toward the door. "But be careful. Like I said, these people play in the big leagues. I'd take Clifton's threats very, very seriously."

  "I'll be careful," Luke replied.

  He sat in his chair for the next hour staring out the windows of his corner office at the magnificent New York skyline—and seeing none of it.

  * * *

  Jane sat grimly in her Edwardian office chair as the VCR ejected the Baldwin video.

  "It will give me great pleasure to put that monster in the deepest, darkest jail cell we can find," Jane said at last, her blue eyes fierce. "Do you think he hurt Tess?"

  "I don't think so," Luke said slowly. "Tess looked as if … she knew how to fall."

  "She's playing a very dangerous game."

  "Yes, and I'd like to know what's at the bottom of it. Wouldn't you?"

  "Very much so. What do you recommend?"

  Luke smiled. "Let's give Tess what Bert wants."

  Jane stared at him a moment and then began to chuckle. "I have always admired your mind, Luke."

  He bowed. "I think the best way to pull this off is to do it in a big way."

  "With a big carrot."

  "Exactly. It's time to take the Farleigh out of its bank vault. I'll have my office contact every news and media agency in the book. I want the return of your long-lost granddaughter to play every newspaper, magazine, television, and radio station in the country. Think that will convince Bert that we're convinced?"

  "Oh yes, but it needs one adjustment."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Why, a party, of course! A very big party to welcome Elizabeth home."

  "I have always admired your mind, Jane."

  * * *

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  « ^ »

  Something was wrong, Tess thought. Terribly wrong. Luke was chatting with Jane at dinner, cheerful and affectionate as always, and yet something was eating at him. His green eyes, usually so forthright, were shuttered whenever he looked at her. There was something different in his voice whenever he said her name. Something had happened to him, changed him from the man she had kissed this morning to the man with secrets in his green eyes tonight.

  Something was about to blow up in her face.

  Tess was overwhelmed by the urge to run, to hide.

  "Don't you agree, Tess?"

  "Hm?" she said, looking blankly at Jane.

  "Do you or do you not agree with me?" Jane said.

  "Oh, I always make it a point to agree with anyone who provides dinner."

  "So you think Catherine O'Connor should win the Tony for best actress in a musical this year?"

  "Um… Isn't she in the revival of Finian's Rainbow?"

  "My dear Tess," Jane said, "she is the star of Finian's Rainbow and you haven't been listening to a word we've said. Are you feeling all right?"

  "Actually, I think I'm a little under the weather tonight. Would you mind if I called it quits and went to bed early? Sleep usually chases away any illness trying to ambush me."

  Jane was instantly solicitous, asking if she wanted Hodgkins to bring her some hot chocolate, and ordering Tess to do what Tess wanted to do: escape. Luke mildly expressed a hope that she would feel better in the morning. She forced herself to smile apologetically at him, thank Jane for her understanding, and then she fled.

  She closed and locked Elizabeth's bedroom door behind her and then leaned wearily against it. Tears welled up in her eyes. It was all she could do to force them back.

  What was wrong with her? What was wrong with Luke? Not once had his emerald gaze raked over her, searing her with his desire. Not once had he laughed or teased her. Not once had he tried to kiss her.

  Not once had he done anything she had begun to rely on.

  That she had begun to need.

  It was the lack of everything he had given her that told Tess the truth.

  She loved the man. She loved Luke Mansfield and that was why her heart was aching and the tears were f
illing her eyes. That was why she couldn't think straight and why her very being throbbed with pain, because he had denied her tonight all that he had given her this morning, and yesterday, and every day since they had met.

  She loved him!

  Legs wobbling, she made it over to the bed and sat down with a thump.

  She had loved Luke almost from the start and that was why she had been afraid of him from the start, and afraid of herself. He held the mirror of truth before her and made her truly see herself for the first time.

  Only a week ago she had believed that love was alien to everything she had ever known and ever been.

  Instead, it was a vital part of her being. It filled her with great waves of light. Unfortunately, the man she loved, far from returning that regard, was about to detonate something along the lines of a nuclear device. She felt it in her bones. Tess had not survived as a thief for so many years by ignoring her instincts. And her instincts were telling her to quietly fold up her tent and get out of the Cushman con now.

  On one side stood all of her hard work, all of her plans and dreams, and all she had hoped to win with his job.

  On another side loomed her guilt at using Jane and Luke for her own ends. Guilt had been gnawing at her every minute of every day for the last week and a half, slowly ripping her apart as her feelings for both of them had grown.

  On the final side of this awful triangle stood Bert, desperate to finish this job. He was dangerous when desperate. There are options, babe, there are always options. Incredibly dangerous.

  "This is wrong," she said as she began pacing the room. "It's all wrong. Are Luke's and Jane's lives worth finishing this con?"

  The answer was obvious.

  "I've got to get out of here," Tess muttered, her hands raking through her hair.

  She should have pulled out yesterday after her little chat with Bert, Tess thought angrily as she dragged her suitcase from the closet. What a fool she was! Jane and Luke had been in danger for twenty-four hours and she'd done nothing. Nothing! Bile rose in her throat as she stared down into the empty suitcase. She should never have taken this job in the first place. It went against all of her ethics. When had she become so ruthless? So driven by greed?

  How could she have used Jane so brutally? How could she have lied to Luke day after day when she loved him?

  The job, the damned job had been all that she'd seen, all that she had wanted until Jane's strong-minded kindness had got under her skin and Luke's gaze had heated her blood to the boiling point. She had betrayed herself by agreeing to this con. She had betrayed them by running it.

  All she could do now was act and hope she was in time.

  She began to pack methodically, her mind racing.

  She'd have to wait until Luke and Jane were asleep before she left the estate, and she'd have to make sure none of the Baldwin Security people or Bert's henchmen saw her leave. The first thing to do once she was clear of the estate was to contact Amanda McCormick at Solitaire to arrange protection for Jane and Luke. Then she'd have to call Gladys and Cyril and fill them in on her plans. They'd been a big help in the past. Maybe they could help her find a way to neutralize Bert. If he could be neutralized.

  Tess shivered, staring down into the full suitcase.

  "I should never have agreed to this con," she whispered, closing and locking the suitcase. "Never, never, never."

  She placed her gowns in her garment bag, did a quick check of the room and bathroom to make sure she had left nothing, and then she sat on the small bed and stared at the clock. Luke usually went to bed around ten-thirty and Jane somewhere between eleven and midnight.

  It wouldn't be safe to leave for another two hours.

  Which meant she had two hours in which to sit and think about what it meant to pull out of the con now.

  To leave Jane now.

  To leave Luke.

  She was about to lose everything she had ever secretly wanted.

  Pain sliced into her and Tess wrapped her arms around herself. "Oh God," she whispered, "never to see Luke again." Never to kiss him, or touch him, or feel the blaze of his green eyes raking over her. Never to hear his low rumbling laughter.

  Nothing lasts forever. It was another one of her mantras. It had been the truth of her life. It was the truth now.

  Tears slipped down her cheeks. Only now did she openly admit to herself that all she had ever wanted in life was a family, to love someone and be loved. Jane and Luke had given her a glimpse of that Shangrila and it had been sweeter and more joyous than anything she had ever imagined. They had given her an incredible gift, and she had repaid them with betrayal. She, Tess Alcott, had deliberately placed their lives in danger.

  She wasn't fit to sit in this room, let alone enjoy their regard.

  Everything that she truly was, all that she had ever wanted, everything that she was now losing, flooded her brain until she curled up on her bed and wept for the next hour.

  It took all of her concentration to finally accept the searing pain, to stop the relentless tears, to get her nerves calmed, and her mind focused on getting away from the estate unseen. No distractions now. She couldn't afford them. Jane and Luke couldn't survive them. Bert would see to that. She could become a basket case after she had insured their safety.

  She demolished a box of tissues and then shuffled into the bathroom to wash her face. She stared bleakly at herself in the mirror. She looked as awful as she felt.

  Feeling like a pygmy holding the door closed against the ravening hordes of her emotions, she wrote a note to Jane and one to Luke. They were essentially identical, explaining that she was a fraud, explaining that it was best she leave before things went too far. Saying nothing of her heart. She sealed the envelopes, began to reach for her box of chocolates, then stopped.

  Chocolates wouldn't help. Nothing could help.

  The pain would be with her always. And the guilt.

  At twelve-fifteen, Tess gathered her things together, opened her door, listened carefully for several minutes, and then moved stealthily down the back stairs. She walked past the library and across the black and white tiles of the Grand Hall, setting her suitcase down to open the front door.

  "Isn't it a bit late to be going for a stroll?" Jane said behind her.

  Still facing the door, Tess knew utter despair. There was a punishment for every sin. This was hers. She took a resolute breath and turned around.

  Jane and Luke were staring at her with friendly interest.

  "Going somewhere?" Luke asked.

  "Sorry," she said, relieved that her voice was clear and firm. "I'm not very good at good-byes."

  "So it would seem," Jane said.

  Tess forced herself not to weep. "You've been very kind to me, Jane. The best way I can repay you is to leave. Thank you for your hospitality. It's been an honor knowing you. I would have liked stepping into Elizabeth's shoes, but they'd never fit. I'm not Elizabeth, Jane. Never have been, never will be. I'm a fraud. Always have been, always will be."

  "I think not," Jane calmly replied, holding out her hand.

  The Farleigh dripped from her fingers, staggering chunks of dark green emeralds and gold glittering in the hall light.

  Cold perspiration broke out on Tess's skin. "What are you doing?" she whispered.

  "Giving you what you said you wanted: your past," Jane replied.

  "I've arranged for a huge press conference to be held this Saturday," Luke said, his eyes boring into her, "to announce Jane's discovery of her long-lost granddaughter Elizabeth. We intend to make this the biggest news story since Armstrong walked on the moon."

  Tess stared at him, unable to see clearly, her vision blurred with unshed tears, her heart shuddering in her breast. What was going on?

  "And I have arranged a major weekend bash to celebrate," Jane said with a smile as she walked up to Tess and settled the Farleigh around her neck. It was heavy and cold against her skin. Tess's breath caught on a little gasp. "A dinner party on Friday night for sixt
y of my nearest and dearest, and then a ball on Saturday night. Everyone will be here. Oh, the music that will fill this house again! I can't wait to dance in that old ballroom."

  Tears slowly slipped unheeded down Tess's face. "Don't do this," she pleaded. "I can't do this. I may not know who I am, or where I come from, or who my people are, but I do know that I am not Elizabeth. You've got to listen to me!"

  "My dear," Jane said with a fond smile as she brushed the tears away, "I understand that you do not yet believe yourself to be my granddaughter. But I am convinced that you are Elizabeth and so is Luke. We plan to act on that conviction. Be a dear and humor us, won't you? It would make me so very happy."

  Appalled, Tess stared blindly at Jane and then turned to Luke. He was watching her, as if studying every tear, every breath. And he was smiling.

  No, she inwardly wept, no. They were doing exactly what Bert wanted. If she went along with it, she would get what she had originally wanted and Jane and Luke would be safe. But, oh, the pain and betrayal they would feel when the truth was forced on them.

  She couldn't do this.

  Her breath suddenly became short, as if the Farleigh were choking her.

  "Don't!" she gasped. "Please don't do this!"

  "My dear," Jane said fondly as she pulled Tess into her arms, "we must. Welcome home, Elizabeth. Welcome home."

  * * *

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  « ^ »

  If she had spent a more miserable night, Tess had blocked it from her memory. After calling Bert with the news of her ascension to Elizabethdom, nightmares old and new had tormented her hour after hour. Guilt had seen her asleep, guilt had awakened her in the morning. A shower brought no relief.

  She hadn't drawn a full breath of oxygen since last night.

  Feeling tattered and fragile and confused past bearing, she left her room and walked downstairs. How was she to act with Jane and Luke now that the pretense of Elizabeth had become entrenched? How was she to devote all of her thoughts and energy to finishing Bert's con when all she could think about was how despicable she was?