by Kay Hooper
After a moment Lucas nodded. She had the right. And he knew he was willing to gamble on something he hadn’t dared to ten years ago. He was willing to gamble that Kyle could learn to love him with the intensity that she had loved that image in her mind.
“I love you,” he said, and he was startled because the words had emerged totally against his will.
Kyle looked at him, a curious, searching look. She didn’t know if she believed him. But whether she did or not, she felt—nothing. “I don’t seem able to feel much of anything about you right now,” she said slowly.
“You want me.” His voice was tight.
“Maybe I want the only thing left of that image.” Kyle shrugged suddenly. “I don’t know. But I mean to find out, Luc. If you stay.”
“I’m staying.” He drew a deep breath. “I don’t seem to have much choice.”
They were strangers, strangers with a past and a strong awareness of physical desire. They were cautious, tentative, both wary of moving too fast. And they were very careful to avoid touching. But they were able to find a neutral ground, and both clung to that prosaic space.
They fixed a late lunch in the kitchen, avoiding getting in each other’s way and being almost painfully polite. They ate, making bland conversation about the weather. They cleaned up after the meal with studied casualness.
This state of affairs might have lasted indefinitely—or might have blown up in their faces. However, a distraction presented itself. Actually two distractions, making a suitably dramatic entrance.
Kyle, more attuned to the sounds of her home than Lucas, heard it first and went out to stand on the front porch. He went with her, hearing what she’d heard as soon as they were outside in the crisp air.
“Helicopter.”
She looked at him. “I’m not expecting company. How about you?”
“No.” But he was frowning, and when a sleek white craft set down yards from the cabin, he wasn’t surprised to see the logo etched in blue.
“Long Enterprises,” Kyle said, sending him another glance.
Lucas slid his hands into his pockets and said nothing, watching while the helicopter lost power and the thumping rotors slowed to silence. Two men climbed out of the craft and approached the cabin briskly.
Kyle watched curiously as they neared, one slightly ahead of the other. The first man was rather large and clearly powerful, his lean face open, almost ingenuous, unremarkable but curiously pleasant. His hair was a rusty shade of brown and his eyes somewhere between blue and gray. The second man was tall and leaner than his companion, with copper hair and light brown eyes. His face was humorous, his smile somewhat lazy—but he moved with a kind of wired tautness that spoke of an incredible amount of energy.
As the first man reached them he said, “Wow!” rather inelegantly as his gaze swept over Kyle, then he addressed Lucas. “No wonder you didn’t report in.”
Sighing a little but looking annoyed and somewhat impatient, Lucas murmured, “Kyle, this is Kelsey—better known as Hagen’s right arm.”
“I am not,” Kelsey instantly denied, offended. “Snakes don’t have arms. I just slither along beside him sometimes,” he confided to Kyle.
“How do you do?” she murmured gravely.
Just as grave, he replied, “I’m not really sure. I think I win about half the time.”
Kyle found herself smiling and wasn’t surprised.
“And this other character,” Lucas said, “is Rafferty Lewis. He’s Josh’s attorney, and I don’t know what the hell he’s doing here.”
“I flew the bird,” Rafferty said, as if that explained everything. He smiled at Kyle. “Hello.”
“Hi.” She glanced at Lucas, noting his somewhat mutinous expression, then back at the visitors. “Why don’t you gentlemen come inside?”
Kelsey looked at Rafferty. “You see? I told you I was a gentleman, but no, you wouldn’t believe me. Kyle is obviously a woman of great perception.”
“She doesn’t know you yet,” Rafferty chided.
“I want to know what the hell you’re both doing here,” Lucas said as they went inside the cabin, effectively cutting short the discussion of Kelsey’s personality.
“Hagen,” Kelsey said.
“Josh,” Rafferty said at the same time.
They looked at each other and scowled.
Kyle tried not to giggle as she sat in a rocking chair by the fireplace. She remained silent, mostly because she was relieved by the interruption these men presented, but also because they were clearly friends of Luc’s and would therefore give her an opportunity to learn a little more about him. Or at least she hoped so.
“Let’s have it,” Lucas demanded.
Kelsey made an “after you, Alphonse” gesture to Rafferty and then sat down on the couch, looking innocent.
Rafferty used a shoulder to prop up the fireplace across from Kyle and smiled. “Nothing earthshaking,” he told Lucas placatingly. “When Kelsey asked for a ride, Josh just thought I should come along and hear what he had to say.”
Lucas looked at Kelsey. “You mean you had the nerve to ask Josh to lend you a chopper and pilot?”
“Hagen had the nerve,” Kelsey explained, somewhat indignant. “Said he was on a tight budget. Come on, Luc, you know he has the nerve of a burglar. And Josh could have said no. If you people would just say no a few times, Hagen might leave you alone.” He mused silently, then said in a wistful tone, “I hope I’m around to hear it, though.”
“Where’s the boss?” Lucas asked Rafferty.
“New York.” The lawyer shrugged. “He’s tied up with that merger. Jed’s handling it. My partner,” he explained to Kyle, who nodded. Rafferty looked back at Lucas. “Raven and Sarah are trying to find out if our federal friend has his usual little surprise in store for you.”
Lucas sat down in an armchair and looked at Kyle. “Raven is Josh’s wife,” he told her. “She’s also Kelsey’s ex-partner. Sarah is Rafferty’s wife, and she currently works for Hagen’s agency doing research. Unless—” He returned a questioning gaze to the lawyer.
“Her leave starts this week,” Rafferty told him. “The baby’s due next month.”
Kyle looked at the men, puzzled. “Is this a group effort or what?”
“They’re like that,” Kelsey told her in a confiding tone. “Actually they were recruited when Josh met Raven in the middle of a sticky operation. Things just kind of snowballed from there. The bottom line is, Hagen found himself an almost unlimited source of unpaid manpower. He’s been drafting these guys one at a time, but they all get into the act sooner or later.” Kelsey blinked, then looked at Lucas. “I meant to ask, is Zach still on his honeymoon?”
“Supposed to be.” Lucas lifted an eyebrow at Rafferty.
“Well …”
“Him too,” Kelsey said, unsurprised.
“Dammit, Rafferty—”
“Hey, it’s not my fault,” Rafferty said dryly. “And Josh didn’t tell him. He and Teddy got back to New York yesterday, and when you weren’t around, Zach knew you’d been drafted. Hell, he expected it.”
Lucas shook his head but said, “Well, this time it can hardly be a group effort. Kyle can get me into Rome’s house, but the rest of you—” Then he looked at her. “You know, you never said you would.”
Ignoring the deeper question in his eyes, she said lightly, “I’m getting intrigued. So, why not?”
Plaintively Kelsey said, “And I’ll have to skulk around as usual.”
“On the estate?” Lucas asked him, looking away from Kyle with an obvious effort. “What about Rome’s security?”
Mildly offended, Kelsey said, “You forget. Unlike you amateurs, I am a professional. Highly skilled and trained. With years of experience. I can pick any lock, disarm any bomb, finesse my way through any security system. My talents are vast, my stealth unsurpassed—”
“Thinks he’s the Shadow,” Rafferty murmured.
Finding himself the focus of fascinated eyes, Kelsey grinne
d suddenly and descended to normality. “And if all else fails,” he said cheerfully, “I’ll just shinny over the fence.”
Lucas stared at him for a moment, then said suspiciously, “Just why’d you want a ride out here, anyway?”
Kelsey linked his fingers together over his flat stomach and leaned back, looking innocent again. “Well, Hagen just recently found a new bit of information he thought you should have. So that you’d be fully aware of all relevant facts in the case,” he said blandly.
Lucas looked at Rafferty. “Did Raven and Sarah find out anything surprising?”
“Just one thing,” the lawyer muttered, watching Kelsey.
Kelsey appeared hurt. “Stop staring at me like I’m on the witness stand,” he told Rafferty severely. “I don’t know what Raven and Sarah found out, but Hagen has promised to come clean this time.”
“He usually doesn’t,” Lucas told Kyle.
“Never does,” Rafferty amended.
“Well, this time he will,” Kelsey stated. He looked at Lucas. “What he found out is that you may have to deal with a rather unpredictable character at Rome’s estate. She appeared on the scene before the artwork was stolen, and she seems to have Rome completely under her thumb. But we have no idea what—if anything—she has to do with the theft.”
“Who is she?” Lucas asked.
For the first time Kelsey seemed honestly uncomfortable. “Well, she apparently claims to be a reincarnated Aztec princess.”
Lucas blinked. “Uh-huh.”
“I swear.”
Lucas looked at Rafferty, and the lawyer nodded. “It’s true enough. Calls herself Princess Zamara. A somewhat flamboyant personality, to say the least.”
“I thought Rome was supposed to be a hard-headed businessman,” Lucas said in surprise. “You mean, he’s buying her act?”
“How d’you know it’s an act?” Kelsey asked.
Lucas stared at him.
Kelsey grinned. “All the way to the bank,” he said. “He’s spent a fortune on the woman in just a few weeks. She seems to have convinced him that his destiny is tied to the fortunes of the Aztecs. Or something like that.”
Lucas turned his gaze to Kyle. “Does that sound like Rome?”
“No, not really. But I haven’t seen him in six months.” Kyle thought for a moment, then added slowly, “He always seemed to have a strong belief in fate, though. And after his first wife died about five years ago, rumor had it that he was consulting mediums pretty often. Still, I wouldn’t have said he’d believe in reincarnated Aztec princesses.”
Running a hand through his thick, silvery hair, Lucas muttered, “How’s all this going to affect my job?”
“Beats me,” Kelsey replied.
Rafferty stirred. “Zach had information for you. When we found out about this Zamara, he remembered that one piece of artwork stolen was a solid gold Aztec death mask. And Sarah did a little research. It seems this mask is supposed to confer enormous power on whoever owns it. It has quite a history too. Several owners—including two who stole it—amassed a great deal of wealth after it came into their possession. But the last owner lost everything he had, and the mask ended up in a museum. He was rumored to have said that the thing was cursed rather than blessed. It gathered dust in the museum until a couple of months ago when it was stolen, along with a truckload of other priceless gems and artwork.”
For long minutes the only sound in the small cabin was the crackle of the fire. Then Lucas sighed and shook his head. “I don’t believe in coincidence,” he said. “Has anyone suggested Rome may have wanted that truckload of art just because the mask was one of the pieces?”
“It seems incredible,” Kyle said. “You told me he’d paid for the artwork with a shipment of illegal arms. That sounds like an awfully complicated way to get his hands on the mask.”
Rafferty said dryly, “Well, here’s the kicker. Zach found out where Ryan was being held and went to see him this morning. Ryan,” he added to Kyle, “was the ringleader of the art thieves. He and Zach have an odd sort of enmity. If it weren’t for Zach and his new wife, Teddy, Ryan would probably still be running around loose, but he talked to Zach this morning.”
Musingly Kelsey said, “We really should use Zach to interrogate prisoners more often. He scares me when he smiles.”
Lucas gave him an impatient look, then asked Rafferty, “What did Ryan say?”
“He said—off the record—that he’d been commissioned to take everything in a certain room of the museum. Just for the hell of it, he took more, then upped his price. Originally he was supposed to be paid in cold, hard cash. He decided he wanted guns instead and demanded them.”
“And got them?” Kyle asked, intrigued.
“Actually we’ve got them,” Kelsey answered absently. “Thanks, I regret to say, to these clowns.”
“I should have left you in jail,” Rafferty told him.
“I wasn’t in jail. I was being held incommunicado as a political prisoner.”
“In a room with bars on the windows. That wasn’t jail?”
“Just a highly security-conscious hotel.”
Rafferty said something impolite.
“Can we get back to the point, please?” Lucas asked with awful patience.
“Gladly.” Kelsey frowned at him. “What was it?”
Kyle choked back a laugh. Since Lucas seemed too irritated to respond, she murmured, “Um, I think it was that Martin apparently wanted just the mask.”
“Well, he kept it all,” Kelsey told them, serious again. “He hasn’t moved anything larger than his car keys out of that house in weeks.”
“Sure?” Rafferty asked.
Kelsey winced, as if the mild question had jabbed a sore spot. “Yes, dammit, I’m sure! Three agents have had the place under surveillance around the clock since the shipment got there.”
“Don’t you two get started again,” Lucas warned the men.
Instantly transferring his attention to the blond man, Kelsey said, “You know, I’ve never seen you like this, Luc. Who licked the red off your candy?”
Kyle choked on a laugh.
Kelsey looked at her. “Have you been irritating our Lucas?” he asked sternly. “He’s usually such a cheerful soul.”
“Dammit, Kelsey!” Lucas snapped.
Undeterred, Kelsey said to Rafferty, “You’ve known him longer than I have. Is it the mountain air, d’you think?”
With a wary eye on his fuming friend, Rafferty said, “You’d carry a torch into a room full of gunpowder, Kelsey. Kyle, the only real talent Kelsey can claim is the ability to make coffee. I think we could all use some, if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course.” She rose and led the way into the kitchen, curious but a bit wary of the sudden undercurrents in the room.
When they were out of earshot, Lucas murmured, “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Rafferty’s voice was equally low. “He’s right, though. You seem a little frayed around the edges.”
Lucas didn’t say anything for a moment, then sighed a bit roughly. “Ever have something from your past come back to haunt you?”
“We all have, I think.” He studied his friend’s suddenly haggard face, then said softly, “So Kyle’s the one. I always thought there was someone you couldn’t forget.”
Lucas grimaced. “My great poker face.”
“No, not your face,” Rafferty told him. “Something in your eyes, maybe. This isn’t going to be easy for you, is it?”
Gazing off toward the kitchen, Lucas murmured, “No more than I deserve.”
“Can I help?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But thanks.”
In the kitchen, Kyle found that she was entirely comfortable with Kelsey, as if she’d known him forever. And that, she decided shrewdly, was probably a part of the man’s effectiveness as an agent. He had the instinctive knack of putting people at ease, which made his behavior toward Lucas all the more surprising.
“Do you alway
s needle Luc like that?” she asked, too curious to avoid the subject.
Kelsey was measuring coffee into the percolator and didn’t answer until he’d finished. Then he leaned back against the counter and smiled at her. “Who, me? I was just making an observation.”
She realized quite suddenly that despite his cheerful demeanor and his mischievous personality, this man was dangerous. She wasn’t afraid of him but began to feel a bit wary because a part of his danger, she decided, lay in perceptiveness. She had the uneasy feeling that he saw people much more clearly than they would find at all comfortable—including herself.
“I’m harmless,” Kelsey murmured.
Kyle started, then managed to hide her surprise. “That isn’t the word I would have chosen,” she said slowly.
He made a slight grimace, a bit wry but otherwise cryptic. “Maybe not. Doesn’t fit you, either. You’ve got poor Lucas tied up in knots.”
She stiffened. “That isn’t your business.”
Coolly he said, “I’m a government agent, Miss Griffon, and I take my job very seriously. I do my homework.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that I know very well you and Luc have a history. Now, that is none of my business, except where this assignment is concerned. There’s just one thing I wanted you to be aware of. He probably made it sound simple, but for Luc to go into Rome’s house is one hell of a risky proposition. If Rome finds out who he is and what he’s doing there, things are liable to get just a little ugly.”
Quite suddenly Kyle felt cold. “What do you mean?”
“He could get killed.”
“Martin’s civilized,” she objected instantly. “He wouldn’t kill a man just like—”
“He has before.”
She stared at him.
Kelsey nodded. “Oh, yes. We can’t prove it in court, you understand—no evidence. And he didn’t dirty his own hands with murder; he had it done, which, to my mind, is the same as pulling the trigger himself.”
“Why did you tell me?” she asked after a moment.
“Because I knew Luc wouldn’t.”
