Laughing, Liz took a drink from a water bottle someone had handed her. “Thanks. We didn’t suck, huh?”
She was still in costume, and he had to make a conscious effort not to stare—and drool. Her skin seemed to glow against the garish spangles and beads sewn to the shimmering material that hugged her curvaceous body. A girdle of amethyst jewels and gold coins rode low on her hips over a skirt of silken material that was both modest and revealing.
“You were amazing. And you look gorgeous.”
Her brown eyes seemed alight with joy—and some residual passion he’d felt during her solo. He’d never been much of theatergoer and could only name one or two live performances that he’d attended in his life, but her dance had touched him in a way he hadn’t expected. He’d felt almost as though she’d been dancing for him.
She licked her lips and smiled. “I think we pulled it off. A couple of little mistakes, but not bad, huh?”
“Mistakes? I didn’t see any. That last song—where you and your niece were telling a story—was amazing. Even though I couldn’t understand the words, I felt the tragedy and the happiness.”
She dipped her head modestly. “Thank you. I’d never danced that part before. Alexa used to handle the lead, but she’s had some health issues the past couple of years and her stamina isn’t what it used to be, so, since Grace and Maya danced the Dulce Pontes song together, Alexa thought Maya and I should do the one about the mother and her little girl.”
“No one could have danced it more convincingly. When your sisters pulled the child from your arms, I heard the women around me gasp and cry out. I think several wept.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “It was very moving.”
“It’s supposed to symbolize a daughter getting married and leaving her mother’s house, but having a child dance Kate’s role changed the tone, I guess. I couldn’t help thinking about what it would feel like to lose a child. To know that I wouldn’t get to watch her grow up. Never dance at her wedding.” She blinked rapidly and looked away.
He stepped closer, needing to comfort and reassure, but knowing anything he said would be a lie. The pain she’d imagined was the worst thing he’d ever known. Powerless to stop himself, he put his arms around her and pulled her tight.
She sighed then melted against him.
He wasn’t sure how long they stood like that, but finally it crossed his mind that music was playing and they weren’t dancing. He cleared his throat. “Tell me about this music,” he said softly, drawing her hand to his chest.
She put her other hand on his shoulder and moved in step with him. “My cousin Gregor—you met him, right?” David nodded. “He arranged for the DJ. Joaquin something. A distant relative, I think. He teaches at the college and has traveled all around the world collecting and recording indigenous music. I guess because the Romani have lived in so many diverse lands over the course of history, our taste in music leans toward the exotic.”
“What’s playing now?”
She tilted her head. “I don’t know, but I brought him a CD from India. He promised to play my favorite later. It’s slow and romantic. Maybe I should change first.”
His fingers splayed wide across the middle of her back, touching both silk and bare skin. “Are you cold?”
She tossed her head and laughed. “Are you kidding? Between the adrenaline and the exercise, I can’t feel a thing.”
“Not even this?” he asked, softly strumming a spot in the hollow of her low back with his thumb.
She stilled in his arms, even though everyone around them was laughing and dancing to the Calypso beat. Their gazes met, and he read the look in her eyes all too easily. She was falling for him. Maybe even telling herself that no matter how busy her life was or how unmotivated he might be—career-wise—they might be good together.
And if things were different—if he were a different man—she might have been right. He desired her. A part of him felt a pull toward her unlike anything he’d ever felt before. But the masquerade would end, sooner or later, and David had no intention of making Liz pay for his mistakes.
He knew what he had to do.
One more dance. Then, I’ll call a cab and get out of here. No harm. No foul. Just one more dance.
Liz stepped away, shivering. She sensed something changing between them, as if a vein had been opened and the blood that raced in anticipation of the hot sex to come was slowly seeping away.
“Breeze,” she said, rubbing her bare arms. “Night on the desert. Gets you eventually, doesn’t it? I’d better get dressed.”
David cocked his head, obviously surprised by the sudden change of plans. Close, sexy dancing one second, partner on the run the next. But he graciously escorted her to the sidewalk, where she left him with a stupid little twitter.
What is wrong with me? she silently asked herself as she dashed into the first-floor guest room where she and her sisters had changed into their costumes. Why do I always pick guys who are emotionally unavailable?
Three glittering outfits were hung up, draped over a chair and tossed on the floor, respectively. One hanger and empty plastic dry-cleaning bag waited beside her party dress and high-heel shoes.
She changed quickly. No use putting off the inevitable. She couldn’t explain exactly how she knew that David was planning on telling her that they didn’t have a future together, but she did. She would do her best to enjoy what was left of the evening then she’d take her guest home. No hot and sweaty sex in his tiny house. No detour to her place.
Disappointing? More regret than one date and a couple of conversations together should warrant, she told herself, but the pain was very real. She liked him. A lot. And strange as it sounded, something had happened during one of her dance numbers that told her her father would have liked David, too.
She hung up Maya’s and Grace’s dresses then turned to leave, but a sudden sadness stopped her. Tears welled up in her eyes. Her knees wobbled. Feeling unsteady and a bit overwhelmed, she sat on the end of the bed.
The door opened and her mother walked in. “There you are. I knew I’d find you here.”
Liz discreetly wiped her tears. “Those Gypsy mind-reader correspondence courses are finally paying off, huh?”
Yetta laughed lightly and sat down. “That sounds like something Grace would say. You’re supposed to ask me what’s wrong.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, but that’s what you usually do—try to fix whatever is bothering someone else.”
Liz didn’t bother to disagree. “I guess I’m having some kind of personality meltdown tonight. I didn’t even dance like myself.”
“I agree. You are usually more like me—self-conscious. Tonight, you were inspired. I’m sure your father was grinning from ear-to-ear.”
Liz hiccupped. “I saw him, Mom. For a moment. In the back. He was clapping, the way he always did.”
Yetta put her arm across Liz’s shoulders and hugged her. “I know you miss him, dear. We all do, but it’s probably different for you since you tried so hard to stop the inevitable.”
“I tried to save him. Like my prophecy said. But I failed.”
Liz felt her mother go still. “Your prophecy?”
Liz nodded. “Daddy was in a dark place after his stroke. I tried to bring him back into the light, but I couldn’t.” She decided it was time to share her secret. “But, the good news is, I have a handle on the other part of my prophecy. I found the child of light.”
“You did?”
“Her name is Prisha. She lives in the orphanage in India where I worked after Daddy died. I can save her, Mom. I plan to adopt her and bring her here.”
She looked into her mother’s eyes and saw such pain her throat closed up and she couldn’t swallow. “What?”
Yetta put her forehead against Liz’s. “Oh, my dear girl, what have I done?”
“Mom, what are you talking about? Have you seen something? Is it Prisha? Is she okay? She was sick last week, but s
he’s better now. Mom, what is it? You’re scaring me.”
“Darling, take a deep breath. I have no information about the child. I sensed that you had some secret that you weren’t sharing with us, but I didn’t want to pry. I knew you’d tell me when the time was right. I’m sure the child is fine.”
“But something is wrong. I can feel it.”
Yetta folded her hands in her lap and looked at them. “I hadn’t realized that you blamed yourself for Kingston’s passing. You left here to mourn him, and I was glad for that. I was too incapacitated to be much help to you. But, Elizabeth,” her mother looked Liz straight in the eye and said, “your father is not the man in your prophecy.”
Liz’s heart made a funny, painful twitter. “Sure he is. It fits. Think about it. He was the light of our world and after his stroke everything changed.”
Yetta slowly shook her head.
“But, Mom, if Dad wasn’t the one then…”
The door to the room suddenly flew open. Alexa rushed inside and looked around. “Liz, thank God, come with me. We have to find your date.”
“Why?”
“Zeke just got a call. Apparently, David’s house is on fire.”
Liz looked at her mother. A man of darkness. A child of light. You’ll only be able to save one.
“Oh, God, no. Not David.”
Her mother nodded, almost imperceptibly, but the truth suddenly seemed so obvious.
What did she know about David? Practically nothing. He was an intriguing puzzle, a wounded soul who had appealed to that part of her that was always on the lookout for someone to fix.
She’d played right into fate’s hand, hadn’t she? She’d let herself believe that she was safe from her potentially tragic either-or prophecy. That she finally had a chance at the whole enchilada—a decent man who really mattered to her and a child who needed her. But no. Life was never that simple, was it?
“Liz, snap out of it. David is going to need your help.”
Liz looked at her mother. It was on the tip of her tongue to say, “No way. Help him yourself.” But she suddenly knew the gesture would be futile. She’d welcomed the man of shadows into her life. There was no turning back.
“Your sister is right,” Yetta said, standing up. “You need to do the right thing by him. You brought him to Katherine’s wedding and that makes his concerns our concerns. We aren’t the kind of people who turn away from someone in need.”
Liz started to protest—one date didn’t mean they were bound for life, but her mother turned to look at Alexa. “Alexaandra, I want you to go with them. I need to stay for the rest of the festivities. This is my place, but Elizabeth needs your help. Make sure she brings David back to the Compound. If the fire is bad, he’ll need a place to stay.”
“No. Mom. No. That’s not a good idea,” Liz protested.
Her mother gave Alexa a look both sisters knew meant they’d better do as she said…or else.
Alexa took Liz’s hand and led her toward the exterior door. “Come on. Let’s get this over with. I don’t know why I have to be the one to go with you, but, at least, my date left early so I don’t have to worry about abandoning him.”
Liz didn’t have time to ask about the story there. She’d spotted David talking with Zeke and knew that he’d already heard the news. This wasn’t about her or her prophecy anymore. This was about a man with very little to lose finding out he’d just lost everything.
Chapter 11
The fire was pretty much out by the time she, Alexa and David arrived on the scene. The smoke in the air was strong enough to bring tears to her eyes. Or maybe the tears were from the loss that she saw everywhere. Most of the roof of the house had fallen in. The blackened timbers that remained were still smoldering.
David had rushed off to check on his landlady, an old woman with frizzy red hair who was clinging to his arm as if he was the last person on earth. Liz was standing alone near the eight-foot-tall hedge waiting for Alexa, who’d returned to the car to call Yetta with an update. She’d lost track of Zeke, who had followed them in his own car.
She wasn’t sure what to do or how to help, and was startled when a voice said, “Liz? Hey, it is you. This is a shock. What are you doing here?”
Liz wiped her eyes and turned to look at the man addressing her. His regulation turnout jacket was open to reveal street clothes. His voice was familiar but it still took a few seconds to place him. “Mark,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t recognize you. When did you become a fireman?”
“Arson investigator. I sort have one foot in both camps.”
Mark Gaylord. Alexa’s ex-fiancé. The man who broke her sister’s heart by marrying another woman. His partner. Who’d been pregnant with his child.
No way. The chances of Mark Gaylord working a fire where she and her sister were both present…in a city the size of Las Vegas…on the same night their sister got married. She let out a low groan. Mother.
“Seriously, Liz. What are you doing here?”
Liz didn’t know where to begin. Instead of trying, she asked, “You suspect this was arson?”
“The neighbor who called it in—actually, I guess she owns this place, too—said she saw a man running away just minutes before the explosion.”
“What explosion?”
“Gas water heater is my guess. My team is going to be sifting through the rubble trying to figure out if there was a faulty switch or something.”
Or something?
She looked to where David was standing—near the burned-out shell of his pickup truck. Outwardly, she couldn’t tell what was going on in his head. He hadn’t seemed panicked when she and Alexa approached him and Zeke. In fact, he’d insisted on going with Zeke alone. “Both of you should stay. This is a special night. I don’t want to ruin the occasion.”
Alexa, in her usual take-charge attitude, had overridden his concerns by producing Liz’s purse and keys, which Yetta must have handed to her, and hustling them all to the street. Cars were everywhere, but Liz’s little SUV was conveniently parked and ready to go.
Alexa had even volunteered to drive, as if sensing that Liz’s usual rock-solid grace-under-pressure was missing. Stoic and calm. Usually, those were her strong points. But not tonight. Not after the revelation her mother had dropped in Liz’s lap.
Finding out that her comfortable belief about her father being her “man of darkness” was a lie had been like being told the bomb in her purse was live after all. And could go off at any second.
“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here,” Mark said, pulling her attention back to the present. “How do you know this guy?”
“He’s a landscaper who did some work in my subdivision and he was my date to the wedding.”
“A wedding, huh? Who got married?”
Although the question carried no real inflection of emotion, Liz sensed that Mark’s curiosity was more than professional. “Kate. She married a lawyer. Grace is next up in the spring. She’s marrying a cop. Strange twist of fate, huh?”
They both knew how much Kingston had lobbied against his eldest daughter dating Mark, who had been a rookie police officer at the time. Liz hadn’t been around during the tumultuous period of Mark’s defection, although she’d heard all the devastating details after the fact. Mark was a jerk, in her family’s opinion, but at this moment, he was just a guy doing his job. And the sooner he left to do that job, the better for all concerned.
She looked around him toward the street, hoping Alexa was still on the phone. The last thing her sister needed was to bump into her ex. Alexa had moved on. Mark had married his partner. They had a kid together. End of story.
Or was it?
“A gardener, huh? What else do you know about him? How long has he been in town? Does he gamble? Any known enemies? Any reason someone would want to kill him?”
She suddenly wrapped her arms around her middle to ward off the chill. “Kill?”
His right shoulder lifted and fell. “Small place. Water
heater’s right next to his bedroom. If he’d been sleeping, he’d be dead.”
The words seemed to echo in the night. She didn’t want David dead—just out of her life so that she wouldn’t have to choose. A man of shadows. A child of light. You can only save one.
“He grows cactus,” she said, mostly to herself. Looking across the open space that just two days earlier had seemed so peaceful, she couldn’t locate David at first, but a second later he and Zeke walked out from behind a large pumper that blocked her view of the greenhouse. Someone had told her the larger building had sustained some water damage, but thanks to its metal roof had escaped complete destruction.
Both men looked serious, and appeared to be arguing. Forgetting about Mark, she started toward them.
“Whoa, stay here, Liz,” he said, grabbing her arm. “It’s easy to trip over a hose or get run over during a mop-up. Your boyfriend will be here in a minute.”
“He’s just a friend. An acquaintance,” she stressed, wishing the word could make it true. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to show up at a Rom wedding without a date?”
His scowl told her the question had hit home.
“No, of course, he doesn’t,” another voice answered. “The only Rom wedding he was invited to was called off, remember? After he found out he’d gotten another woman, someone other than his fiancée, pregnant.”
Mark blanched visibly and turned to look at Alexa, who was standing a foot away, arms crossed like an Amazon warrior who was about to crucify her enemy. Liz was sure she heard a very soft groan coming from Mark, but before either could speak, Zeke joined them, David at his side.
“Liz,” Zeke said. “Your mother said to bring this guy back to her place. I’m not wild about the idea.”
“You’re taking him to the Compound?” Mark asked. “Why?”
“That’s none of your business,” Alexa answered.
Liz could tell Mark thought David’s presence in the Parlier family was a mistake, and she had to agree. Even if the fire had been an accident, it was becoming increasingly obvious that David had secrets, and everyone knew that secrets flourished in the shadows. A man of shadows. She couldn’t afford to become involved in his life, his problems. She had to stay focused on her goal. Her main goal. Her only goal. Prisha needed her. If she could only save one…
Risky Baby Business Page 12