The perfect mother strode forward and didn’t even seem to worry about stepping on her hem. “Jane, you’re beautiful. Drew said you’d found just the dress.” She kissed Jane’s cheek.
“Kemble actually picked it out,” Jane demurred. But she was secretly pleased.
“Well, he did a great job,” Brian said, coming up behind his wife.
“Hey,” Tamsen said, skipping down the stairs as though she were wearing jeans instead of an emerald green tight little dress with a mandarin collar and short sleeves. It had embroidered gold chrysanthemums on it. “We clean up nice, don’t we?”
“You look great,” Maggie said, taking her very handsome husband’s arm. All the Tremaine men looked like they were born in a tux, even blond-haired surfer-boy Devin.
“Passable, little sister. Positively passable,” Lanyon called. “Don’t think I’m going to escort you though, just because we’re the odd men out. I’m going to be busy tonight.”
“I wouldn’t want to be escorted by my brother anyway,” Tamsen said, making a face. “I’d rather have Lancelot take me.” A bark was heard at the top of the stairs as the dog responded to his name. He came galloping down the stairs, grazing Tamsen on his way by.
Jane noticed Mr. Nakamura hovering in the background. He was looking drawn and unhappy too. Was he ill? Maybe there was something going around. As the women shrugged into their wraps, she sidled over to him. “Are you all right, Mr. Nakamura? You’ve been looking very strained lately.”
“I’m fine,” he whispered, looking even more upset.
“It isn’t Elaine, is it?”
Mr. Nakamura paled. “No, no. She’s fine.” He was practically stuttering. Was he nervous at attracting her attention? He was usually a hover-in-the-background kind of guy.
“Come on, everybody, it’s time to go,” Brian said. He was beginning to gather the chicks.
“Well, I think we’d better have a talk tomorrow. I think something’s wrong.”
Mr. Nakamura managed a wavery smile. “Not necessary. Things are fine. I . . . I think being isolated on the estate is difficult for all of us.”
That was strange. Mr. Nakamura got out more often than any actual Tremaine. He went shopping to a church in San Pedro every week, accompanied by one of Mr. Edward’s escorts, of course. “You’re right,” she smiled as Kemble came to take her arm. “But we’ll still talk.”
Kemble waited for the rest of what he called “the Brood” to file out behind Brian and Brina into the waiting motorcade of limos and Escalades. They fell in behind Drew and Michael.
“You and Mr. Nakamura both look like you’re coming down with something,” she whispered to Drew. “Are you okay?”
Drew didn’t get a chance to answer. Michael frowned. “She’s having visions.”
“Upsetting ones?” Jane asked, alarmed.
Drew patted her arm. “Just confusing. I never get enough to know what’s going on.”
“Well, it will probably make you feel better to talk about it. After the party tonight. . . .”
“I don’t think that will make me feel better,” Drew muttered as she ducked into the limo.
“We good to go?” Kemble asked.
Mr. Edwards gave Kemble a mock salute. “Roger that.”
Jane knew they’d done everything they could to make this expedition safe. She should have been comforted by the almost imperceptible bulge under Mr. Edwards’ arm. But she wasn’t. It was a stark reminder of the risk they were running tonight, no matter that Brian swore the Clan was in Athens.
Suddenly, Jane had a very bad premonition. Drew was having nasty visions. They were leaving the estate. Those two things in close proximity might be very bad news. She climbed into the limo next to Drew. Kemble slammed the door and went round to the other side.
Maybe stepping on her dress wasn’t the biggest disaster looming tonight.
*****
The main lobby of the museum was lit by glittering chandeliers. Jane squinted against the light. The crowd spun with all the colors of the women’s dresses, alternating with the black of the men’s tuxes. The murmur of conversation around her was punctuated by tinkling laughter and the clink of the champagne glasses. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her thoughts and relieve the pain of the brilliant chandeliers. A waiter offered a tray of sushi, served with a tiny flower-shaped cup filled with dipping sauce. Jane waved him way, but Kemble said, “I’ll take your share, Jane.” He looked around. “These things always unnerve me.”
She looked up at him. “Really? You always seem so sure of yourself.”
“Not exactly.” His gaze moved over the room. “And tonight. . . .”
“I know. It’s hard to have a good time when you’re thinking the Clan might pop out of the champagne fountain at any moment.”
He looked down at her and his eyes crinkled. “Even besides the fact that they’re in Athens, I don’t think they’d pop out of the champagne fountain,” he said with mock severity.
“Well, you know what I mean.”
He nodded. “I do.” He scanned the room again. “Who was that woman who came up to you earlier?”
“The one with the skin like leather on her chest?”
“Not like leather,” he admonished. “Very tanned.”
“It will be like leather someday,” Jane predicted darkly.
“You don’t like her.”
“She . . . was not kind when I was in high school.”
“Then I bet you were glad she was consumed with jealousy that you landed a Tremaine.”
Jane pursed her lips in order not to smile. “I was, I admit. Though I hate to think I ‘landed’ you.” She grew serious. “That’s not what you think, is it?”
He stopped scanning and looked down at her. She liked it when his eyes went soft like that. “No,” he said simply. “And I am going to take you over to that buffet and force you to find something you want to eat. All this bright light must be giving you a headache. Food helps.”
“Men think food helps everything,” Jane grumbled. But she liked how he took her arm.
As they made their way to the buffet, she saw Lanyon chatting up not one but three beautiful young things that were so slender and elegant in their evening gowns Jane had a pang of jealousy. She, and her figure, would never be twenty-one again. “I hope he gets their phone numbers,” she whispered to Kemble. “We can invite them over to the Breakers.”
“He may do more than get their phone numbers. We’ll be lucky if we don’t find them behind the potted plants doing the nasty,” Kemble muttered, grimacing.
Jane didn’t disagree. “Your mother and father are entirely in their element,” she remarked as Kemble loaded up a plate with anything she’d agree to try. The elder Tremaines were surrounded by couples almost as elegant and sophisticated as they were.
“Holding court,” Kemble agreed, glancing over to them.
“Is that . . . is that Senator Reynolds and his wife?”
“Yep. And look, here comes the governor, trying to hog the spotlight.”
The governor! Jane sucked in her breath.
“Won’t work,” Kemble continued. “Not even the CEO of Barkshire-Harcourt can steal Senior’s platform in a crowd like this.”
“Jim, you old lion,” she heard Brian say. “Campaigning at the museum? The election is still a year and half away.”
“Got to come where the money is, Tremaine. Speaking of which, who are you backing?”
“Early days, Jim, early days. You’d better talk to David, here. All that money sloshing around at Barkshire has got to go somewhere. I have a feeling you two would sympathize on a number of issues. You’re both more sensible than all your money would suggest.”
Jane knew she couldn’t possibly belong in this room, with these people. And yet this was Kemble’s world. She’d always known that. She wanted Kemble. These people, this milieu, came as part of the package. If she were ever going to give him a comfortable life, she’d damned well better get used to being
here.
She did her best. She contributed to conversations when he guided her over to people influential in the museum’s benefactor program. She tried not to say anything horrendously stupid. Brian gave a brief welcome speech to the crowd and she clapped along with everyone else. But she was very glad when the doors to the museum proper swung open.
Brian said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. You are the first in the country to experience this one-of-a-kind exhibit on loan from the Academy of European Museums. I’m looking forward to the big reveal myself. Christian has kept those exhibition catalogues close to the vest.” Brian chuckled and glanced over to the young curator, who was looking sheepish. “Rumor has it you can get your precious copies on the tables just inside.”
The crowd moved toward the doors. Jane was swept from Kemble’s side along with them. She looked back, a little panicked when she couldn’t see him. Then she felt a hand close on her upper arm from behind. The shock of his touch was almost soothing. She looked up.
“Don’t get away from me, there,” he said, his voice gruff as he frowned down at her. He looked almost confused. People flowed around them like surf around the rocks at the beach below the Breakers. He was her anchor in the maelstrom. He examined her as if he’d never seen her before. Then he gave a nervous smile. “I’m not letting anybody cut in on my action tonight. We’re seeing this exhibit together.”
Keelan and Devin passed them, moving toward the doors. “You two coming? Or are you just going to moon over each other like. . . .” Keelan looked back over her shoulder.
“Like newlyweds, maybe?” Devin chuckled. “Come on.” He waved them forward.
Jane gave an embarrassed smile. She had been mooning over Kemble, of course. “Guess we’d better go,” she murmured.
Kemble turned her into the protection of his arm. Tristram and Maggie, Drew and Michael were several yards ahead of them. Everyone in the room looked great tonight, but Drew could stop traffic. You’d never know she hadn’t been feeling well earlier tonight. Every man here had cast surreptitious glances at her more than once. Red didn’t look like it belonged in a bordello when she wore it. It looked like it belonged to a queen. The graceful updo revealed her slender neck. The diamond drop earrings and choker cost more than Jane’s house, she was sure. Michael’s look of devotion just capped off the image of the perfect life of a beautiful woman.
And yet. . . .
She glanced up at Kemble. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t need to look like Drew. She only needed to see that look in Kemble’s eyes. Confusion and longing. As stunning as that seemed, that’s what it was.
She’d never expected to see that look on him. Never. At least not when he was looking at her. She felt herself flushing. But she didn’t care. It was a good flush this time. She stood a little straighter as he moved them in through the doors into the dim interior of the museum.
Jane let out a sigh of relief. The indirect lighting in the display cases and the very dim overheads left the gallery in twilight. The guests became half shadows moving from case to case, clustering, exclaiming and then moving on.
Kemble drew her over to the less crowded side of the gallery. “According to the catalogue, a collection of jewelry belonging to Eleanor of Aquitaine is in this first gallery somewhere. I thought you might like to start there.”
He’d been thinking about what she might want to see? “That would be wonderful.”
Since Kemble was taller than most people around them, he found what he was looking for. “There,” he said. Since he was broader of shoulder than any man she’d seen except his brothers and his father, when he put her behind him and moved forward through the crowds, she was spared any anxiety about people stepping on her dress. He towed her over to a large case.
“Oh my goodness,” she exclaimed, coming out from behind him. Collars and rings, crosses, pendants, and small, delicate earrings—the cases contained a whole host of beautiful things. Most had cabochon stones—polished rather than cut. In the light of the cases the jewels glowed. The gold was worked intricately. Jane exclaimed over each new find. “However did they preserve all these? I mean, wasn’t Eleanor twelfth century?”
Kemble had his catalogue out and was consulting it. “1122 to 1204. You know your history, Jane.”
“She went on a crusade. That was very unusual for a woman of her time.” Jane felt the need to explain why she knew about Eleanor.
Kemble raised his brows then peered at the jewelry. “And lived to be a ripe old age. No mean feat back then.”
Lanyon arrived with his female entourage, who cooed and giggled over the jewelry. He gave Kemble and Jane a wink and a smirk.
“Having a good time?” Jane asked, teasing.
“I might do, later,” he whispered conspiratorially. “We’ll see.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Kemble said, in his sternest voice.
“Tris told me the stories about when you were young,” Lanyon said. “I’ve got a lot of leeway.”
“Ouch,” Kemble whispered to Jane as they exited Lanyon’s harem. “When I was young?”
Jane laughed. “He meant that to sting.” They made their way past jeweled belt buckles, golden dinner plates, even a suit of armor said to have been worn by William Wallace. It was all a little overwhelming. Suddenly, Jane felt lightheaded. Was it all the people in the room? This really was a crush. She looked up to find a rather queasy look on Kemble’s face, which he immediately masked. “Up for some more? The next gallery has some real treasures,” he said, pulling her forward. Jane shook herself ever so slightly and resolved that she was not going to be the one who spent tonight in the ladies’ room.
On their way through the archway separating the galleries, they met Brian and Brina coming out. Brian held Brina’s elbow almost as if he was half supporting her. She looked a little green. Brian looked grim. “Would you mind letting my wife sit for a moment?” he asked two young men who had taken up residence on one of the benches in the center of the gallery.
They vacated with murmured deprecations and Brina sat. “Don’t let me spoil your fun,” she breathed. “I’ll be okay in a minute.”
“Might be the shrimp they served,” Brian muttered. “I’ve got a touch of it myself.”
At that moment, Keelan and Devin hurried up to the party.
“Daddy,” Keelan said, her voice an urgent whisper. She only called her father Daddy in times of stress. “Are you feeling okay?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Mom?” Her eyes got big. “You’re not!” She looked around frantically. “Where are the others?”
“Lanyon’s over at the jewelry with his harem,” Jane offered. “I haven’t seen Tamsen.”
“No, no,” Keelan protested. “They wouldn’t feel it. I mean Drew and Michael, or Tris and Maggie.”
“What is it?” Brina asked.
Keelan gasped and turned to Devin. “They wouldn’t know. They’ve never felt it.”
Devin got a grim look on his face. “Talisman,” he said. “People with . . . you know. . . .” Here he looked around to see who might be listening in. “What we’ve got . . . feel its power.”
“It makes you feel like you’re sick,” Keelan whispered fiercely. “We felt it up at Pendragon’s house in the presence of the Wand.” She put her hand to her lips, obviously trying to quell her queasy stomach.
“What?” Brian barked. Then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “You’re telling me there’s a . . . Talisman here?”
Both Keelan and Devin nodded, big-eyed. “That’s what we’re saying,” Keelan said.
“Somewhere back there,” Devin added, jerking his head back toward the second gallery.
Brian shook his head. “Nonsense. Pendragon didn’t look sick when we saw him wielding the Wand. And you two never mentioned anything like this before.”
Keelan shrugged helplessly. “It never came up, and we had other things on our minds.” She squeezed Devin’s hand. It reminded Jane that she and Kemble weren�
�t the only newlyweds in the bunch. “And . . . I don’t know . . . maybe you get used to it or something. Pendragon had the Wand for nearly a century.”
“Kemble and I didn’t feel anything up at Pendragon’s castle,” Brian said.
“Well, you were far away from the Wand. And Kemble . . . wouldn’t.”
Jane squeezed Kemble’s arm as she felt him stiffen.
“Maggie felt it.” Devin always cut to the point.
“We got some bad shrimp,” Brian insisted. “We’ll never hire that catering company again. Now if you’re not feeling well, let’s collect the children and the others and head home.”
“I’ll go get Lanyon and Tamsen,” Jane offered. “But—don’t you think you should at least, uh, check it out?” Brian’s one weakness was that he sometimes didn’t give others enough credit for ideas he didn’t originate. Understandable, since he was usually pretty omnipotent.
Keelan and Devin were holding their breath. They only let it out when Brian’s shoulders relaxed and he said, “Kemble, stay here with your mother. This is only to satisfy everyone that it’s preposterous that there would be a . . . you-know, here.”
He strode off into the next gallery. Jane saw him run into Tristram and Maggie. Maggie whispered urgently to him. If possible, Brian’s expression grew even darker. Beside Jane, Kemble stood over his mother. “Father’s right. It’s the shrimp,” he said to her. “It’s got to be.”
Jane glanced over to where Lanyon looked in seventh heaven, dividing his attention between beautiful girls. Best let him enjoy it while he could. She’d go after Tamsen first. Where was she? Jane caught a glimpse of emerald green in the next room. “I’ll just tell Tamsen,” she murmured to Kemble and Brina. “I’ll be right back.”
As Jane went into the next room, she realized that might have been a mistake. Her stomach rolled. Determined, she made a beeline for Tamsen.
Things seemed to slow down. She turned her head. Drew and Michael stood before a display case, blocking Jane’s view. Maggie and Tristram were turning away from Brian. Brian looked up. Keelan and Devin got a strange look on their faces and began to drift toward Drew and Michael. Brian followed slowly, Tristram and Maggie in his wake.
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