Текст книги "Taking Eve "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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“As my prison? What was it before? You mentioned tearing out some kind of coin press.”

“Back in the gold rush days it was a coin factory. There’s a played out gold mine not far from here and the miners liked to turn their gold into actual money before they went to town and blew it.” He smiled. “Blick and I remodeled the storage area for your bedroom and bath. It’s a little dim in there, but you can turn on the overhead lights. It’s pretty small, but you’ll only need the bedroom for sleeping. We’re not going to do much of that. I’m in a hurry to have Kevin finished. I plan on having you work nonstop with only short breaks when you feel you absolutely have to rest for a few hours. I’ll lock you in the room during those rests and let you out afterward. I’ve put a rollaway bed in there that you can open. The walls are thin, and I can hear you very clearly. I’ll be napping on the couch in here, and I sleep lightly. You might keep that in mind. There’s only one door and no windows, so don’t think that you’ll have an opportunity to escape. I’ve planned this for a long time, and I wouldn’t be that foolish.”

Eve’s hands clenched into fists at her sides as she watched him open the refrigerator in the kitchenette. Then she whirled on her heel and strode toward the door leading to the bedroom.

She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it.

Damn, she felt helpless.

Get over it.

So she was at a disadvantage. It was to be expected if what Doane had told her was true about the time he’d spent studying her.

She made a face. And there was the small item that she was his prisoner, and he might be nuts. He was most certainly violent if he’d attacked Ben.

Yet he didn’t seem crazy, and he’d been almost gentle in his dealings with her personally.

Because he wanted something from her.

She had a sudden memory of the blackened skull that had been staring at her when she woke.

She was shivering, she realized.

Why? Because that skull could be that of the son of this man who had been responsible for Jane’s shooting?

Stop analyzing. She didn’t want to think of that skull right now.

She drew a deep breath and turned on the lights. No furniture in the bedroom but a rollaway bed that was folded up and pushed against the wall. She went to the bathroom and found it to be equally small, with a single vanity and an enclosed glass shower a few feet away. Pristine white tiles on the floor and inside the shower. No window, as Doane had told her.

But there was a small duffel resting on the closed lid of the toilet.

She slowly unfastened the case and opened the lid.

Underwear, pants, tunic tops. A plastic bag with shampoos, soaps and other personal items.

A chill went through her. And every brand was the same as she used every day at the cottage. For the first time, the claim that Doane had made about those years of long surveillance actually hit home.

She felt … violated.

She zipped the duffel shut and turned and leaned against the vanity. This privacy invasion was such a small thing in the scheme of what Doane had done to her.

No, it wasn’t. The very intimacy of the act loomed large indeed. It made her want to break something, anything. That’s right, do something stupid just to relieve her feelings. Put things in perspective and be a grown-up. It was the only way to—

She had caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror over the sink.

Her face was pale and dirty, her hair tangled. Her clothes were rumpled and mud-stained. She looked like a victim, dammit.

She was not a victim.

All right, pull yourself together and show that bastard he had not done anything to you that couldn’t be overcome, she thought. Use what he gave you and make it your own.

She locked the door and turned on the shower.

*   *   *

“I’M AFRAID THESE DINNERS ARE cold. You took longer than I thought,” Doane said, when Eve came out of the room forty minutes later. “I wasn’t expecting you to take a shower.”

“No, you probably thought I’d hurry back out and let you make me jump through hoops.” She strode toward the chrome table in front of the kitchenette. “I won’t jump through hoops for you, Doane.” She sat down at the table and gazed at the pot pie on the plate. “You’re right, unappetizing.” She began to eat. “It doesn’t matter. I’m hungry.”

“And you don’t want to become weak,” Doane said quietly as he sat down across from her. “Now I did expect that from you. You’re a strong woman, mentally and physically. You’d have a horror of losing that strength. I just didn’t expect you to bounce back so quickly.”

“Why am I this hungry? How long was I unconscious?”

“It’s been almost twenty-four hours.” He took a bite of his pot pie. “We had a long way to go.”

“And where am I?”

He shook his head.

She hadn’t expected an answer. “I’ll get away from you, Doane. Don’t think you’re going to get away with this.”

“I will, you know.” He smiled. “Things don’t go wrong when you plan as precisely as I do.”

“Evidently, you didn’t plan on Blick’s shooting Jane. That went very wrong, Doane.” She added fiercely, “And you’ll suffer for it, you son of a bitch.”

“I’ll just have to make adjustments.” His smile faded. “And I do regret causing you this upset.”

“Upset? Massive understatement. What adjustment can you make that would make me less upset?”

“I’ve been thinking about that while I waited for you.” He frowned. “You won’t be able to be reasonable until you know that Jane MacGuire and Ben Hudson are not permanently injured. I obviously need you to be put at ease on that score.”

She tensed. “So what are you going to do?”

“It’s difficult. You wouldn’t really believe any hospital or law-enforcement unit, would you? You’d think I managed to rig it.”

“Since you’re so clever about your planning,” she said sarcastically.

“I really am clever,” he said soberly. “I have a talent. But in this case, I believe I’m going to have to risk having you talk to Joe Quinn.”

She inhaled sharply. “Is this a trick? You said it was too dangerous.”

“We can work around it. You wouldn’t trust anyone but Quinn, and I have to have your mind at ease.” His gaze went to the skull across the room. “But we have to come to an arrangement.”

“You want me to do a reconstruction,” she said flatly. “Why? You seem very sure that skull is that of your son, Kevin.”

“I’m almost sure. They lied to me, but I know that he’s my Kevin. I feel it.”

“Then check the DNA.”

“That’s difficult.”

“Why?”

“I’m not ready to share that with you yet.”

“And I’m not ready to do a reconstruction on your son, Doane.”

“But you’ll do it,” he said. “Because you want to talk to Joe Quinn, and I won’t let you do that unless I have your word.”

She was silent. “That’s a high price.”

“No, there’s something else.” His expression was troubled. “I’m having trouble with Blick. He wants to go back and finish the job he started. He said that Kevin would want him to do it. I need to tell him that you’ll cooperate.”

“The job he started,” she repeated. A ripple of pure fear went through her. Don’t let him see it. “You mean Jane.”

“It’s not my wish,” he said gently. “Blick lacks control, and he’s waited a long time. He needs hope, Eve.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit.” She was silent. “You’re saying that you’ll let him kill Jane unless I do the reconstruction.”

“I’m saying that your lack of cooperation might prevent me from stopping him,” he corrected. “I can’t control him from this distance if he gets upset. It’s up to you, Eve.”

His voice was soft, his expression kind … and regretful. It seemed impossible that those words held deadly intent.

She mustn’t pay any attention to his expression. It was those words that counted, together with the actions of the past days. “And what will happen after I do the reconstruction?”

“Why, then I’m out of your life,” he said. “That’s all I want from you. But I must have that one service from you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I can’t help that, but it will be easier if you do.”

She stared at him, trying to think, weigh her options. She didn’t have any options but the one he was offering her. Not now. It would buy her time, and that was a gift in itself. The only gift. “I have to talk to Joe. I have to know that what you’ve said about Jane’s being alive is true.”

“And then you’ll cooperate?”

“As long as I have to do it. I don’t promise not to try to escape if the opportunity presents itself.”

“That goes without saying. Of course, you’ll have to accept that it may be a danger to Jane MacGuire if you try and fail before you finish the reconstruction.”

Eve felt a streak of pure rage sear through her. “I accept the fact that you’re a cowardly son of a bitch for threatening an innocent woman. This Blick may not have obeyed your orders when he shot Jane, but if he hurts her now, it will lie squarely at your door, and I will never stop until I punish you for it.”

He nodded. “I understand. You’re naturally protective of your daughter.” He put down his fork and pushed his plate away. “I knew you’d be like this when I found you and started watching you. It’s natural with your background that you’d treasure and protect the family you’ve created to take the place of the one you never had. It must not have been easy to be illegitimate, with a mother who didn’t even know who your father was and on drugs all the time you were growing up.”

“I made it through. Some people had it much rougher.”

“Did they?” he asked softly. “I know all about Bonnie, the daughter you lost, and your search for her. That was very, very rough. We’re a lot alike, Eve.”

“The hell we are.”

“Oh, but it’s true. There’s no stronger bond in the world than that between a father and child. We both love our children more than life itself.” He added sadly, “And it’s the tragedy of that life that we can’t bring them back to be with us. I loved my Kevin the way you loved Bonnie. I feel your pain, Eve. I hope before this is over you can forgive me enough to feel mine.”

His voice was sincere, and so was his expression. She could almost believe him. “You deserve any pain you feel, Doane. I never tried to victimize innocent people to find my daughter’s remains. And you’ve evidently found your son. Let him go.”

“I can’t.” He cleared his throat. “It hurts me to see him like this. I want to bring him back the way he was. He had such a handsome face. Everyone who looked at him wanted to touch him, be with him.” His lips twisted. “And then they did that to him. I can’t bear it.”

“Who are ‘they,’ Doane?”

He shook his head. “You’re not ready to hear about Kevin. You’d only say you didn’t believe me. We have to become closer.”

“Closer.” She stared at him in amazement. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Yes, it will. I knew when I found it was you that it was meant to be. You’re going to give me back my Kevin the way he was, and I’m going to give you what you want most in the world.”

“I want Jane, Joe, and my friends safe.”

“Yes, you wish that, too.”

“Too?”

He smiled. “You’re much more complicated than that, Eve. I told you that you’re like me.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Of course. I’m disturbing you, and that’s the last thing I want to do.” He pushed his chair back. “It’s time to take your mind off it for a bit. Are you finished eating?”

“Yes.” She leaned back in her chair. “But I’m not doing anything about your reconstruction until I talk to Joe.”

Doane’s brows rose. “But that’s what I’m trying to help you do.” He reached in his pocket and brought out a pair of handcuffs. “But I have to ask you to wear these for a while.”

She instinctively recoiled. “The hell I will.”

“Shh. I don’t have any dire intentions. You can see I have to protect myself if I let you call Quinn. I’m going to allow you less than a minute of conversation. And you can’t call him from here. We’re going to take a little drive on the slim chance that he can trace the call even for such a limited time. I can’t let him trace it back to this place. I’m afraid I can’t trust you once we leave here, so you have to be secured. I’ll fasten the cuffs to the seat belt of the truck and as soon as I get you back here, I’ll take the cuffs off. Isn’t that reasonable?”

She was silent a moment. “Yes.”

“Then your wrists please.”

She reluctantly extended her hands.

“Excellent.” He quickly slipped the cuffs on and snapped them shut. “Now we’ll get this over so that we can clear the decks, and you can get to work. Shall we go, Eve?”

She got to her feet. “Where is my phone?”

“I’ve put it safely away with that gun I found in your jacket pocket. I have one that I made sure couldn’t be traced in the glove compartment of the truck.” He was leading her toward the door. “It’s a shame we can’t use your cell phone. I want this call over quickly, and he’d recognize your ID and pick up immediately. We can only hope he does that with my phone.” He opened the door. “You don’t mention where you are or give him any hint that he might guess. You ask your questions, tell him you’re safe, then good-bye. One minute, Eve.”

“I don’t know where I am, dammit. How could I tell him anything?” But she had to find a way to give Joe something to go on, she thought desperately as she followed Doane from the factory. Where was she? Was there anything distinctive?

Oh, yes. The mountains in the distance. Not soft, old mountains. New, sharp, craggy, reaching for the sky. Probably the Rockies. That meant she was somewhere in the West as she’d already suspected. The coin factory looked more like a large log cabin and appeared to be nestled in a hollow of some sort, no other houses were nearby. The ancient red truck was parked to the side of the factory beside a utility shed of some sort.

“Wait.” Doane stopped her as she was getting into the truck. “One other safeguard.” He pulled a scarf from his pocket and blindfolded her. “We’ll be passing a few landmarks and signs.”

“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll look a little strange to anyone who even casually glances at us?”

“Not much danger. I’ll take the back roads. I know all of them.”

Then this was Doane’s home stomping grounds. It wasn’t much, but she’d take it. She had to gather as much information as she could. She might not be able to use it in this conversation with Joe, but there might be another time, another opportunity.

“I know the blindfold probably makes you feel helpless.” He was lifting her into the truck and fastening the cuffs to the seat belt. “I’d hate it. We’ll take it off as soon as I get where we’re going.”

She did feel helpless, but she wasn’t going to admit it to Doane. He was once again pointing out how similar they were, and she wouldn’t admit that either.

Kevin? Bonnie?

Not the same. Never the same.

Or were they?

CHAPTER

9

“IT MAY BE THE RIGHT TRUCK,” Venable said to Joe as he came out of the farmhouse. “It was an old red Ford, parked down by the barn, and Mrs. Hallet, the farmer’s wife, thought she saw a late-model blue Chevy parked in the woods. It looks like he changed vehicles, but he didn’t leave the Chevy. He must have come back for it for some reason. I got the license-plate number of Hallet’s truck from her.” He handed Joe a slip of paper. “Call your headquarters and put an APB out on it.”

“If he hasn’t already changed cars again.” Joe reached for his phone. “And why ditch a late-model car for a truck that’s much older? All he’d have to do would be to change the license plates.”

“Which he probably did.”

“It doesn’t make sense. Unless he wanted to fit into the background of the countryside at the lake house. He appears to be very careful of details. And what about Hallet, the farmer who is missing? Did his wife hear anything about him yet?”

Venable shook his head. “The neighbors and a couple deputies are searching the woods now.”

“No one saw the thief?”

“I would have told you if they had.”

“Would you?” Joe asked bitterly as he started to dial the precinct. “I’m not sure that—” His phone signaled an incoming call. He glanced impatiently down at the ID.

Unknown.

He punched the access. “Quinn.”

“Joe.”

“Eve.” He froze. “My God.”

“Yes, listen, Joe, he’s only giving me a minute.” Eve was talking softly, urgently. “And I’m having to pay for that.”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t talk about that now. Jane. He says Jane is still alive? Is it true?”

“Yes, she’s at a hospital in San Juan. The wound wasn’t serious. How are you? Did he hurt you?”

“No. Drugs. He appears to be good at drugs. Ben? He said he dropped Ben at an urgent-care clinic. How is he?”

“Concussion. He’s as good as can be expected considering that he also suffered from exposure because the clinic didn’t find him for several hours.”

“But he’ll live?”

“He’ll live. What can you tell me about that bastard? Is he going to—Tell him if he hurts you, I’ll kill him … slowly.”

“He can hear you. I’m not in immediate danger, Joe. He wants something from me.”

“What?”

“The usual. What most people want from me. He’s trying to convince me that he has a heart of gold. I’m not buying it. But he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I can’t talk about that right now. If you want to keep me safe, make sure that there’s no way anyone can touch Jane. Because my cozy little deal with the bastard is off if they do. I’d kill him myself.”

“No, you won’t. My privilege. I’ll hunt him down and castrate him before I cut him into small pieces. Do you hear me, you son of a bitch?”

“He hears you. And he’s not pleased,” Eve said quickly. “I have to go now.”

“Listen, Eve. Don’t let him use us to make you do anything. I’ll take care of Jane and myself. You do what you have to do to get away from him.”

“And he didn’t like that either. My time is up. I love you.”

“And I love—” But she had already hung up. He pressed the disconnect and turned to Venable. “Call up one of your whiz-kid satellite units and see if you can trace that call.”

“I’m already on it,” Venable said. “I started when you picked up the call. I’ve just gotten through to the department. I don’t know if we can do it. She didn’t give us much time.”

“She didn’t have any choice,” Joe said. “Try, dammit.” He turned and started back toward the car.

She was alive.

Relief was zinging through him with a force that was making him dizzy. Why? He had been certain she was alive. He would have somehow known, felt it, if she had been taken from him. But what if fate had played one of her macabre tricks? Life wasn’t always kind, and all he knew was that he had wanted to fall to his knees when he heard her voice.

Now the certainty was confirmed, and all he had to do was find her.

He felt a sudden explosion of hope and ferocity.

And he would find her. He would pull out all the stops, bring in all the help he needed, tap every source.

Nothing would keep her from him.

He started dialing headquarters again to set up that APB on the truck.

*   *   *

“QUINN’S ANGRY WITH ME,” Doane said. “That threat was both crude and violent.”

“And heartfelt,” Eve said. “Joe always keeps his word.”

“So do I. You were hoping to disarm any threat to Jane MacGuire by having Quinn set up extra protection around her. That would free you from the obligation of doing Kevin’s reconstruction.”

“It would help to push away that gun you have pressed to my head.”

He smiled. “But I’ve no gun aimed at you, Eve. I’ve handled you in the gentlest way possible. Anything else would be totally unreasonable. I want you to be free to express yourself without coercion.”

She shook her head. “You actually sound as if you believed that lie.”

“No lie.” He stepped forward with the blindfold he’d taken off her when he’d stopped the truck and given the telephone to her. “It’s important that you and Kevin become one with each other. I’ve heard that’s how you turn out such wonderful sculptures.”

“I’m not going to become one with your son. The idea appalls me.”

“But how will you help yourself?” he asked quietly. “It’s part of your particular magic.”

“Not magic. I’m a professional.” Yet she felt a frisson of unease. She couldn’t deny in the last stages of a reconstruction that she felt as if the soul of the skull on which she was working was whispering, helping her bring that vision to life again. “And I’ll behave as a professional.”

“We’ll see. Give me that phone.”

She reluctantly handed it back to him.

“Time to bid good-bye to this one.” He dropped the phone on the ground, stomped on it with his boot, then ground it into the earth. “That should take care of any signal. I hear those things are real spy machines. I’m not real good with all those fancy gadgets. I don’t like all that technology. I don’t think that Kevin would like it either. Things have changed a lot in the world since I lost him.” His expression was suddenly full of pain. “He made life exciting and right. They shouldn’t have taken him.”

“Who?”

He ignored the question. “Time to put the blindfold back on you.”

She took a quick last look at her surroundings. She hadn’t been able to give Joe a hint other than that vague reference to Doane’s heart of gold, which Joe probably had not caught, but there might be another time. Waterfall cascading to the rocks below. Mountains in the distance. An observation area enclosed in gray rails across the chasm.

Then everything went dark as he replaced the blindfold.

“There we are.” He lifted her back in the truck. “Now we go back and start the reconstruction.” The next moment, she heard the truck engine ignite. “Kevin is waiting for you.”

San Juan, Puerto Rico

“GO AWAY, TREVOR,” JANE SAID. “I don’t need you. We tried a few times to make it work, and it never did. Now you pop up and ignore everything that’s gone before?”

“Now that would make me a fool. I’ve always made a practice of building on the past.” He reached out and touched her cheek. “And we have quite a past to build on. Sometimes I’d lie in bed and think about it. Did you?”

“No.” He was looking at her, and she changed the answer. She had always been honest with him, and she wouldn’t change now. “Yes. So we were fantastic in bed together. In the end, it didn’t matter. Sex isn’t why we couldn’t make it together. It was more complicated than that.”

“You were more complicated. I’m just a simple man with all the usual instincts.”

“The hell you are.”

He smiled. “You’re right, I have my own complexities, but I fought to keep them in check when you came into my life. I wanted you enough to do anything to get you. For the first time, I thought that I’d found a woman I wanted to spend my life with. For a while I thought that I’d managed to pull it off.” He stroked her cheek. “Oh, how good we were together. Remember?”

“Yes.” She couldn’t help but remember. Whenever he touched her, spoke to her, it brought back a thousand memories that were both fiery and seductive. He had always held that power over her emotions. Even when she’d been angry with him, she’d known they were only a shade away from passion. “But we agreed to disagree. I haven’t seen you for a long time. I don’t even know why you’re here. How did you know I was hurt?”

“I’d heard you left London with one Seth Caleb.” His smile faded. “That stirred me to action. I didn’t like it.”

“Who told you? We didn’t exactly publish it.”

He shrugged. “I’ve a few friends who have been keeping an eye on you.”

“What? You, too?” Almost the same answer Caleb had given her, and it struck a nerve.

“Oh, I knew that Caleb had you in his sights. But it was okay as long as he kept his distance. But I had to know where he was taking you, so I checked the flight plan he filed. Then contacted some people I know in this area to make sure you were okay.”

“And to find out what I was doing?”

“Well, that, too.”

“And you found out that I’d been shot.”

He nodded. “And I jumped on the next plane.”

“And now you can jump on the next one and fly back to Paris.”

“I’m not living in Paris any longer. I’m in Barcelona.”

“Wherever.” She had never been sure where Trevor would be at any given time. He’d flown in to see her several times a year and usually from a different home base. His restlessness had caused him to become a jack of all trades. He’d dabbled in gambling, smuggling of precious artifacts, and a dozen other professions, both legal and slightly illegal. Not that he needed the money now. Whatever he touched turned golden.

And he had made her think for a while that their relationship was golden, too.

“I don’t need you. Go back to Barcelona.”

He shook his head. “I’ve been asking questions. They haven’t found the man who shot you.”

“Joe is working on it.” She paused. “It’s a mess, Trevor. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t think it’s about me at all. Eve has disappeared. She’s been kidnapped, and we don’t know—I have to find her.”

“Eve.” He gave a low whistle. “Not good. But not exactly surprising. She deals with some pretty macabre types.”

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically. “That’s really going to make me feel better.”

“You don’t want me to coddle you,” he said quietly. “We’ve gone way past that in our relationship. You’d sock me if I weren’t dead honest with you.”

He was right. She had been grateful that she could always be open and expect the same from him. “I’m just scared,” she said wearily. “Eve deals with serial killers, child abusers, and scum of the Earth. You just put it into words. I guess I didn’t want to hear it.”

“We’ll find her. We’ll keep away all the bad guys.” He reached down and took her hand. “She’s smart, she’ll survive until we can get her back.”

She felt a sudden rush of warmth as she looked down at their joined hands. Comfort. Tenderness. Not passion. Not sex. So much more important in this moment than any other response. “This isn’t your battle, Trevor. Joe and I will find her.”

“You’re closing me out again.” His lips tightened. “When I get too near to that core that shelters who and what you are, you spin away.” His hand tightened on her own. “But I’m following this time, Jane. I’m following and searching, and you’re never going to get away from me again.”

“I don’t want to hear this, Trevor. I’m searching, too, and it’s only for Eve,” she said shakily. “You picked the wrong time and the wrong woman to—”

“My, my, do we have a visitor?” Caleb was standing in the doorway, his gaze on their joined hands. “You didn’t tell me, Jane. Introduce me.”

There was no expression on Caleb’s face, but she could feel the tension.

No, anger, searing, possessive anger.

She instinctively tried to pull away from Trevor, then stopped. Why should she give in to this subtle intimidation? “He was a surprise guest. Seth Caleb, Mark Trevor.”

“Delighted.” Caleb came toward him with hand outstretched. “I’ve been thinking that I should meet you. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. Let me guess, you heard Jane was wounded and decided to come and see if you could help.”

“That about covers it.” He took Caleb’s hand and shook it. “On the surface level.”

“Oh, yes, I imagine there was much more to explore since you haven’t seen each other for a while.” He smiled. “But I’m sure she told you that you’re not needed here.”

“Yes, but I’m not discouraged. Jane knows that I’m a valuable man to have around in an emergency. This couldn’t be more of an emergency for her. Eve is everything to her. Jane won’t refuse my help once I’m in a position to offer it.”

Jane found herself staring in fascination at the two men with hands clasped in traditional greeting. There was nothing traditional in what was going on beneath that gesture. They were like two sleek, powerful cats, backs arched, ready for the fray. No, much more dangerous than cats, and the only thing similar about them was that air of lethal purpose.

Lightness. Darkness.

Trevor was radiating those brilliant movie-star good looks and charm that had first drawn Jane to him so long ago.

Caleb was all darkness and power and magnetism that held you even while you struggled to get free.

She tore her gaze from them and grabbed the arm of the chair to lever herself to her feet. “I’ve had enough. Stop talking about me as if I weren’t here. Both of you get out of here and let me get dressed.” She looked at Caleb. “You’ll still take me to Atlanta?”

“Of course, nothing has changed.” He glanced at Trevor. “Has it?”

“Everything has changed.” Trevor smiled. “You’re going to the lake cottage?”

“I don’t know. I have to do a sketch rendering of the suspect at Rome hospital.”

“Then I’ll be in touch. Would you like me to smooth the way to get you sprung from this place? You don’t look like you’re a candidate for the discharge list.”

“I could arrange—” Why fight him over such a small thing? She needed her strength for the trip. “If you like, it would be a help.”

“I like.” He didn’t move. “And would you let me help you dress? It would be quicker.”

“I can manage.”

“Sure?” he said softly. “It’s not as if I haven’t done it before. Though I’m better at taking them off.”

She could have slapped him.

She was sure that he had a double purpose in that remark. He wanted to stir intimate memories, which he’d done, and he wanted to score off Caleb.

Which he’d also done. She wasn’t looking at Caleb, but she could sense the stiffening, the animal tension.

She turned her back on both of them and took a step closer to the bed and reached for her bra. “Really? I always thought you were a little clumsy. I guess I forgot to tell you.”

She heard Caleb chuckle as he left the room.

But Trevor was laughing, too. “Oh, Jane, how I’ve missed you, my love.”

She kept her eyes on the bra. “I’m not your love.”

“Yes, you are. I’ve dodged the word, and so have you, but it’s time to come to terms with it.” She heard him move toward the door. “Don’t sleep with Caleb. I thought I could be civilized about it if you decided to do it, but that was before I met him. He’s different, he wouldn’t let go. I’d end up by having to kill him.”

“For heaven’s sake, I’m only interested in finding Eve. I’ve no desire to sleep with either of you. But if I were, it would be my choice.”

“Theoretically. But I’m not good at theory. See you in Atlanta…”

*   *   *

“JUST BE PATIENT, EVE. I’ll have that blindfold off you in just a minute. I know it’s uncomfortable.”

Eve heard Doane close and lock the front door behind them.

“It’s like coming home, isn’t it?” He unlocked her handcuffs and took them off. “Just the three of us.”