Her heart quickened. Was she being followed? Or was someone else trying very hard not to be seen or heard?
She moved off the path and into the bushes. The costume shop loomed just ahead, the cave looking like a dark, squat opening to some strange pit.
In the night, it seemed to beckon.
Reggie bit her lip. She wondered if she shouldn’t just call out, let it be known where she was and what she was doing.
No. She shouldn’t give herself away to someone who hid in the darkness.
The darkness. The same darkness that frightened her had to be her protection. Wes had taught her that. An enemy couldn’t fire at her in the darkness.
With renewed determination, she slipped off her shoes and started moving beside the path. Her footfalls made no sound.
She came around to the entry to the cave.
Then she realized that someone else was also embracing the darkness. Not a single light had been left on. Some illumination was always left.
Her breath coming very fast, Reggie fought the desire to leap for light, any light. She knew the costume shop.
Others might not.
Following the wall, she moved carefully past the rows of shelves and costuming. In another few minutes, she would be at the desk. The Victorian love seat and the chairs would be in front of the desk.
Who would be in the love seat tonight?
She flattened herself against the wall, her heart thundering. Why had she come here? What was she doing?
Max. Max was here.
Wasn’t he?
Yes, someone was here. In the deadly darkness she could hear breathing, she could feel it. The place was silent, yet it was alive.
Then, suddenly, a voice burst out of the darkness. “Wes! Wes, where are you?”
Daphne’s voice. Reggie felt ill. Daphne had set up a secret meeting with Wes. She was alive. It was all some kind of a con, and she was in it with Wes.
“Daphne, shut the hell up!” came Wes’s voice in return.
Then Reggie knew exactly why he had warned Daphne. A shot rang out in the darkness, the flare at the gun’s nose visible for a second.
From where she stood, near the desk, she realized that Daphne had been standing just beside it. She could hear movement. The gun was about to be fired again.
“Daphne, down!” Reggie shrieked out, and she took a flying leap for Daphne, encircling her with her arms, bearing her heavily to the ground.
She didn’t know what had propelled her. She had never really liked her ex-sister-in-law, nor did she harbor any death wish of her own.
It just seemed like the thing to do at the moment.
She moved just in time. A second shot rang out. It grazed her temple, and for a moment, the world went black and spun. But she didn’t pass out. She was aware almost instantly of a burning pain at the top of her head.
Then bedlam broke out. Someone was racing toward them, reaching for her. Daphne screamed.
Reggie managed to look up. A large shadow was looming over her.
Then just as suddenly, the shadow was gone.
There was a loud thudding sound from the center of the room. “Touch her, and you’re dead!” she heard Wes call out.
Wes. Wes had called out those words.
Was he threatening anyone who might touch her … or anyone who might touch Daphne?
And then, at long last, the lights came on.
Reggie looked up.
Max was in one corner of the room, hurrying forward. Wes was on the floor, straddled over Rick Player.
Ozzie Daniels was standing just beyond Wes and Rick Player.
Daphne was beneath her. Reggie pulled her hand away from Daphne’s shoulder in horror.
Blood was soaking her shoulder blade.
“Dear Lord!” Reggie exclaimed. “Someone call an ambulance, quickly. Daphne, Daphne—”
“Reggie! You’re bleeding like a faucet yourself!” Wes exclaimed. He sounded furious. Was it anxiety, anger? And Max. Max had stepped forward and he looked pale.
What was going on? Who had fired the shot?
Rick was on the ground. Ozzie was by the door.
Max was carrying a gun. Wes, too, was carrying a gun. Oh, yes. The military man. The intelligence man. He would have a gun, and he would know how to use it.…
Reggie tried to stumble to her feet. “Get away from me, all of you!” she called out. She was sinking. She tried to pull Daphne up on her lap. She had to be breathing. She was. She could feel her ex-sister-in-law’s heartbeat. “What the hell is going on here!” she cried out in panic.
There was another gun, Reggie saw suddenly. It was on the floor. It had been dropped in the midst of a scuffle.
Had Ozzie been carrying it? Or Rick?
Or did it matter?
Was the real danger facing her the man who had stolen her heart?
Wes’s eyes met hers. They were a golden challenge. Did he condemn her for her fear of him, or simply dare her to interfere?
“Daphne, for the love of the God!” he whispered, low against her temple. “Daphne, you have to tell us who!”
Reggie could see Daphne’s lips moving, but she couldn’t hear what the woman was saying.
“Jesus!” Wes suddenly exploded, whirling around.
Rick Player was still on the ground, looking bruised and sick.
Ozzie Daniels was now the one with the power. His gun was in his hand. And it was aimed at Wes.
“I was right all along,” Wes said, standing. “It was you. It was you, because you were holding some stock. And Daphne was foolish and bitter about her divorce. So if you could make the stock plummet, you thought you could seize control. And then you’d be avenged. Against Reggie—for refusing to find you attractive. Against Max—for hating everything that you stood for. But you didn’t count on Daphne getting cold feet. When she did, when she wanted out, you decided to kill her. Only Daphne found out, and she was afraid of Max by then, afraid of everyone. And the poor woman believed that I could protect her. Damn it. Reggie, call an ambulance.”
“If she makes a move to call anyone, you’re dead,” Ozzie said flatly.
“Screw this!” Max exploded. “One of us can rush him. He can’t shoot both of us.”
“But I can shoot Reggie,” Ozzie said. “Ah, now that will give you both pause, won’t it? Poor Daphne, there on the floor, her life’s blood slipping away. I’m getting out of here. I’m not doing time for this. Reggie is coming with me, and if one of you moves a hair, she’s dead. Reggie—oh, do excuse me, Miss Delaney. You and your lousy crumbs of information. Get up. Get over here. Fast.”
“You sleaze!” Reggie said flatly. But she knew she was going. She still didn’t understand about Wes and Daphne, but she didn’t really care. She loved Max, and she loved Wes. She wasn’t going to let either of them die.
“Reggie, don’t do it!” Wes ordered.
But she was rising, ignoring his command.
“Come on, come on, faster!” Ozzie warned her.
“Oh, shut the hell up!” Reggie retorted. She was drawing his temper, she knew that. She didn’t give a damn. He was walking toward her. He was going to wrench her into obedience.
But suddenly, he didn’t.
A new voice called out. “Get him, Mr. Blake!”
And all of a sudden, Ozzie was tripping.
Wes didn’t need a second invitation. He leaped forward and brought an arm sharply down on Ozzie’s extended wrist.
Reggie heard a sickening crunch as bone broke.
Given a chance, Wes knew his business.
Ozzie’s gun went clattering to the floor. And suddenly, standing before Reggie in the center of the floor was the little boy from the show that afternoon. The young man with the big blue eyes and the shaggy blond hair. He grinned broadly.
“We got him. We got him!”
“Yes, we got him,” Wes agreed, retrieving Ozzie’s gun from the floor. “But what are you doing here, young man!”
His voice was trembli
ng. With fear, Reggie realized. For her, and for this boy.
“Who is this?” she asked.
“Joseph—” Wes began, but he broke off. They could all hear the sounds of sirens.
“It’s Wiler,” Max said to Wes.
“You managed to punch the alarm?” Wes said.
Max nodded. He started slowly toward Daphne, then knelt down beside her. Heedless of the blood at her shoulder, he lifted her into his arms.
Reggie bit her lip as she saw Daphne’s beautiful eyes widen. “I’m sorry, Max,” she whispered. “I don’t know if you can believe me, but I’m sorry.” Tears were filling her eyes.
Max nodded. “You’re going to be all right, Daphne.”
“It hurts like hell, Max.”
“You’ve got a broken shoulder. But you’re going to be okay.”
“Promise?”
“Promise. I’m the magic man, remember? I can see that it’s all right.”
Reggie turned away from her brother’s promise and stared at Wes. “She called me because she trusted me, and that was the only reason,” he told her.
“But—”
“I told Max, but I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want you here. Daphne wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone. I didn’t know who to be afraid of until I had seen her. I suspected Ozzie, because he had stock in the place. That’s what I found out by working at the police station all those hours. It didn’t make sense for a man who had stock in a place to make a scandal out of it. Unless he wanted stock prices to plunge. And that’s just what he was trying for.”
Yes, he had even told her so. He had just wanted her to think that Wes had been the one trying to do it.
“At first he was only trying to scare you, breaking into your house and firing shots at you. He forced Daphne to play the robotronic, and to try to scare you again in the park into doing something foolish. Then she wanted out. And he wanted her dead for real.”
“How did he know that she was meeting you here tonight?” Reggie demanded. The sound of sirens was coming closer and closer.
He shook his head.
“I know!” Joseph announced.
Surprised, Reggie and Wes looked at him.
“You were supposed to be back at the home!” Wes told him sternly.
The boy grinned. “Well, you see, I just thought that you might need me. I told that nice Diana person that the home was sending a car for me. I pretended to run out to a white car, and then I slipped back.”
“Precocious, isn’t he?” Reggie said. She could almost smile.
“Brat!” Wes said warningly.
Joseph grinned. He pointed at Rick Player. “That man was hanging around when Diana called Mr. Delaney, and when Mr. Delaney said that he’d be tied up at the park with you, Wes, until very late.”
Reggie spun around on Rick, who was not looking so rich or attractive, just very, very sick. “I had to know what was going on!” he said defensively.
“And you had to notify—Ozzie Daniels?” Reggie said incredulously.
“We’ve just got to buy his stock!” Wes said.
Then the doors burst open and Wiler, totally irritated, came through.
“All right, where do the explanations begin?”
“I need an ambulance for Daphne immediately!” Max said, standing angrily. “Then you can have all the explanations you want.”
A stretcher was brought in for Daphne. Then a second arrived, and two paramedics with it stood patiently waiting in front of Reggie.
She looked at Wes. “Oh, no—”
“Oh, yes. You’ve got blood dripping down your forehead.”
“But the bullet just grazed me!”
There was no protesting. He swept her off her feet and laid her out on the stretcher.
“But I’m not going to the hospital again!” she wailed.
A little hand suddenly slid into hers. “I think you’d better go, Reggie,” Joseph told her solemnly. “You don’t want to see Mr. Blake tonight. He really wants to tan your hide!”
“Oh, he does, does he?” Reggie exclaimed.
“I told him he should kiss you instead.”
Neither suggestion mattered. The paramedics were taking her away.
“Wes—” she called.
But he wasn’t with her. She closed her eyes and felt the wheels rumble over the concrete path.
It was over. Daphne was alive and, please God, she would remain so.
Max was in the clear.
And she had skirted terrible danger herself, and come out of it alive and fine.
So why did she feel so empty?
He had given her an explanation. At least, a bit of one. But he wasn’t with her now.
She closed her eyes. He would come. He would come.
He didn’t come. She was attended to by the same young physician who suggested she really should take better care of her head.
Wiler came, and she talked to him for at least thirty minutes.
Max came, and he told her that Daphne was going to be all right.
“I think she really did love you, Max,” Reggie said.
“In her twisted way.” He sighed. “I think we may be friends again. Never good friends, but the hatred is over.”
“Isn’t she going to have to face charges?”
“Not unless I press them. Or—unless you do.”
Reggie shook her head.
“The doctor said you needed to sleep.”
“Sleep! I’m going to get out of here. He’s given me two stitches and—”
“He said he’ll release you in time to do the show tomorrow afternoon.”
“I can’t! I have a breakfast appointment with Fran Rainier—”
“I’ll keep it for you,” Max promised. He caught hold of her shoulders and made her lie down. “Oh, Wes said that he’d talk to you tomorrow. Now good night. And Reggie—”
“Yes?”
“I love you. I thought I was going to die when Ozzie threatened you.”
She smiled. “I love you, too, Max. We’re twins.”
He left her. She heard a clock ticking somewhere. Despite herself, giant tears welled in her eyes.
Last time she had been here, Wes had stayed, too. He had slept in the chair beside her.
Well, she had slapped him in the face.
He wanted to tan her hide, that was what Joseph had told her. But then, Joseph had told Wes that he should kiss her instead.
So which would it be?
She bolted up suddenly. Who was Joseph, anyway?
Max picked her up at the hospital and took her to the park just in time for the show. He was in an exceptionally good mood. He’d had another long talk with Daphne, he’d had a talk with Wiler in which he’d had the upper hand at last, and he’d had a great breakfast with Fran Rainier at the hotel.
“Fran will be at the show,” he assured Reggie. “She’s delighted with everything. She says you’ve given her a great vacation—and the exclusive of a lifetime!”
“That’s nice,” Reggie murmured. The whole world was happy.
Why did she feel so empty?
Bob, Stevie and Alise were all waiting for her with cheers and hugs when she came backstage to dress for the show. They demanded details, and she tried to explain everything.
Alise sighed. “And I thought it might be Rick Player.”
“Naw, he’s just a wimp,” Bob decided. Reggie grinned.
Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.
They were being announced, there was no more time to talk. Within seconds she and Alise were running out on stage, fluffing their boas into the faces of their audience and bursting into song and dance. Soon Bob came along on his bucking stuffed bronco-saur, the bad guy, ready to shoot up the saloon. Then Stevie, the blond, blue-eyed hero showed up, ready to save the day.
Reggie went down the aisle, trying to decide whether to ride bucking dino-broncs with Bob and rob banks or to turn him into a man in the pursuit of good or evil. She played with various husbands and w
ives and children in the audience.
She started to stretch out a black-net-clad leg to climb up on the lap of the lean, jean-clad man sitting just behind the support beam.
She paused, her heart in her throat, then slamming there.
Wes was seated in that particular chair. And he was watching her, and his gold eyes were glittering.
She missed a beat.
“Howdy, stranger,” she murmured.
She hadn’t intended to sit on his lap.
Suddenly, she didn’t have any choice. Strong arms were around her, pulling her down. “Howdy, stranger,” he said in return.
She couldn’t think of anything to say. Her throat was dry.
“Oh, Patricia, honey!” Bob called.
He was hot. So hot. She needed to escape.
She was in the middle of a show!
“What’d you find out there, Patricia?” Alise called out to her.
Damn. She’d been silent. Dead silent. In the middle of a show. With an entire audience watching her. Waiting.
She could feel the strength of his arms, the warmth of them. And she could see in his eyes everything that had been between them. Everything tempestuous and sensual and wild and fun …
And loving.
He smiled. A wicked, wicked smile.
She moistened her lips and flung her boa around his neck and pulled tight.
“Oh, I did find a live one out here, I did, I did!” she drawled to Alise.
There was a slight shifting in Wesley’s legs. “Very much alive,” he murmured huskily. “Very much.”
The audience chuckled.
Bob hurried down the stairway.
“Patricia, honey. Remember me?”
She leaned forward, slipping her arms around Wes’s neck, letting her eyes focus hugely on his. “What was that?”
The audience howled. Still …
They had played this scene before. Almost word for word.
“I said, I’m over here, honey!” Bob repeated. More laughter. “Excuse me, sir, would you?” He set a finger under Reggie’s chin, turning her face to his. “Patricia, remember me?” He fell down on a knee before her. “Why, I’m going to cast aside my evil ways and make an honest woman out of you, honey! You’re in love with me, honey—’scuse me, sir, your lap is in the way there! You’ve made an honest man of me, Patricia.”
“Oh, yes!” she exclaimed, blinking. “And your name was what …?”
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