“Hell, yes.” He pulled her to him and kissed her. It wasn’t the kiss of man who’d just had some awesome sex. It was the kiss of a man who wanted to have awesome sex again.
“Maybe we should move into one of the bedrooms,” she suggested. “While we’re at it, we could take a bath--together.”
His phone buzzed again, and Dana saw Rusty’s name on the screen. “Take the call,” she suggested. “Meet me in the tub when you’re finished.”
She kissed him to remind him of what was waiting for him, and Dana grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and two glasses. She was looking forward to spending a day in the bath and bed with Jack when there wasn’t the threat of a killer hanging over their heads.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“Love you, too,” he whispered back.
And that was something Dana hoped she would hear for the rest of her life.
#
Jack waited until Dana had shut the door between them before he fixed his pants and took the call that was still buzzing. Rusty had left at least a dozen voice mail messages, and that couldn’t be good. Dana had had enough bad news for the day.
For an entire lifetime.
And that’s why he’d wanted to delay this bad news as long as possible.
“Rusty,” Jack answered.
“I know my timing sucks, but something’s come up. Something I can’t handle.”
Hell's bells. There wasn’t much Rusty couldn’t handle. “How bad?”
“I’m not sure.” He hesitated, something else Rusty rarely did. “I had all of Dr. Hartwell’s files removed from her estate. Didn’t want anyone finding anything about her experiments or the Zeus project. I didn’t think you wanted to deal with those kinds of questions.”
“I don’t. But you found a bigger question,” Jack concluded, and he hoped he was wrong.
“I did,” Rusty confirmed. “There’s more.”
At least that’s why Jack thought he said. It took him a moment to realize what he’d actually said was: There are more.
“More?” Jack repeated.
Rusty cleared his throat. “Dr. Hartwell made other sets of clones from Alyssa and Layton.”
Jack felt as if someone had sucked the air right of him. He took a moment, tried to compose himself. Not easy to do. “How many are there?”
“From what I can tell, just two other sets. She created them about three years after all of you. Maybe they were more insurance in case she couldn’t get any of you to continue Zeus. She didn’t name them in her will, but she gave each of their parents a large sum of money set up in trust funds when they were born.”
Jack heard the water running in the bathroom and knew Dana was waiting for him.
“What should I do about this?” Rusty asked.
Jack shoved aside the shock of what he'd just learned and went through all the possibilities. It was a miracle that he’d had found Dana. He didn’t believe in psychic stuff, but he knew what he felt, and she was everything he'd ever wanted.
His soul mate.
“Arrange for them to meet," Jack said. "Not all four. Arrange for one of the men to meet one of the women. Then, do the same for the other couple. After that, destroy all of the records. I don’t want any connection made back to you, me or the others.”
Jack ended the call, got up and went through the bedroom suite and into the bath. There was Dana. Naked and waiting. Her face was dewed with the steam and heat, and she smiled.
Man, it really was dazzling. And to think, he’d get to see that smile for the rest of his life.
“What’d Rusty want?” she asked. She lifted her leg from the water, and let the bubbles slide down her skin.
“Just tying up loose ends.”
Years from now, he might second guess what he’d just ordered Rusty to do, but for now, Jack put it right out out of his mind.
He leaned over and kissed the smile on Dana’s mouth.
THE END
Dead Ringers Page 26