“I love you, Jordan.”
“Tara, you’re very beautiful, you’ve the entire the world in your hands and—”
She kissed him, swallowing his words. She was, and always had been, a practiced lover. She could seduce and sway. He had loved her in his way; he didn’t want to hurt her. Her kiss was coercive, evocative.
For a moment, the bitterness of the past settled over his shoulders. Kathy had left him. Called it quits. He had told himself then as he told himself now that he wasn’t going to spend his days pining after a woman who didn’t want him anymore. Life went on. And there was solace. Solace such as he held now.
Yet in the midst of both bitterness and seduction, he opened his eyes, and looked out the window. Kathy was alone—except for Larry Haley. Larry’s hands were on her shoulders.
He clasped Tara, lifting her out of his way in a single, swift motion. “Excuse me,” he told her distractedly.
“Excuse me?” she whispered indignantly. “Jordan Treveryan, there is no damned excuse!”
But he had already started across the room to the front door, the closest route to the pool.
“Tara, Kathy was threatened at knife point. I have to keep an eye on her.”
“Oh!” Tara sighed. “Of course you do!” she added sweetly, a change in her attitude. Real? Feigned? She only followed him halfway out. “I’ll be here, Jordan. I love you. I’ll be patient—and understanding.”
Oh, God.
But it didn’t matter. As long as he reached Kathy.
If they couldn’t both stay alive, none of the rest of it mattered!
“The drugs!” Larry said.
“Drugs?” Kathy squeaked out in lieu of a scream. Oh, Lord. He wasn’t admitting to murder. At least, she didn’t think so.
“I don’t believe I’m doing this, saying this. It’s almost as if I’ve been dying to confess to someone. I wish I would have done so back then. I was the one with the drugs, Kathy. God, I didn’t want anyone to know when we were caught with them. I was terrified that Jordan would find out. I let Keith take the heat for it because, hell, he had talent. I didn’t. I was hanging on.”
“What?”
Miserably, Larry nodded.
“Don’t you remember? The last real big blowout when Keith was still alive was over the drugs found with the group’s equipment when we were just coming back into the United States. Jordan all but went for Keith’s throat. Keith denied it all. Remember?”
Kathy nodded painfully. “Yes, of course, I do.”
“I had to tell you. But”—he paused—“I don’t think I’m ready to tell Jordan yet. Give me time, huh?”
She frowned, wondering why he had suddenly started speaking so hastily. Then she glanced up to see that Jordan was headed back around the pool in their direction.
“Kathy, please, be my champion, like you were Keith’s.”
“I wasn’t anyone’s champion, I tried to be a peacekeeper, that’s all. We were good when we were together. We fell apart because we all had a habit of acting like children.”
“Keep my secret for now?”
“Why did you feel compelled to tell me this now?” Kathy demanded with exasperation. Did he have other little “secrets” that he wasn’t sharing with her? And how could she not tell Jordan, with everything else that was going on.
Jordan had almost reached them. If Larry had been about to attempt a drowning, at least Jordan had made it before paramedics. But then, she had been foolish to be so afraid. If Larry Haley had been about to confess murder and then kill her, he’d probably not have done so here. She’d felt alone at the pool, but she was visible from both the main and guest houses. She stared at Larry hard. “Tell me,” she demanded quickly. “Does anyone else know your secret?”
He frowned. “What?”
“I said—”
“Kathy, shh!”
He either hadn’t understood her question, or had pretended he didn’t. He was rising, smiling as Jordan reached them. “You know, this is great. I haven’t had so much fun since I filmed mating chimps in the wilds of Africa. Seriously, thanks for having us. I hope this get-together accomplishes all that you wanted it to.”
“Yeah, I hope so too,” Jordan said dryly.
“Which is?” Larry asked bluntly.
Jordan arched a brow to him, then shrugged. “With the movie and all the interest, I thought it was time we all got back together.”
“We need to give the movie a good ending, huh?”
“We’re going to benefit the burn center,” Kathy reminded him.
He smiled ruefully, then stared straight at her. “He died from the smoke, you know. He never knew what hit him. There were probably benefits to being a druggie for Keith.”
“How can you say that?” Kathy demanded. “He’d have put out the fire or run away from it if he hadn’t been wasted!”
“Well, that’s true, too,” Larry admitted. He shivered. “But at least he didn’t feel it. God, I can’t think of a worse way to die. You know what? I think I’m going to call it quits for tonight. You did say you wanted to start practicing early tomorrow morning, right?”
“Ten o’clock,” Jordan agreed.
“’Night, then. Let’s hope we don’t all stink. Well, you won’t. And Miles won’t. Shelley will probably be okay. I’ll be as rusty as an old door handle, and Derrick will surely squeak a little. How about you, Kathy?”
“I’ll be an old door handle, too.”
“No recent performances?”
“Only in my shower.”
Larry grinned. “Who’s taking the drums?”
“Miles.”
“Ah!” Larry said thoughtfully. “Well, we’ll see, huh?”
“We’ll see.”
He grinned, waved, and left the two of them at the pool. Kathy was still sitting. Jordan came down beside her, staring at her anxiously. “What the hell was going on?”
She returned his stare, lifting a brow, fighting an inward battle. She should tell him what Larry had said to her. But Larry had said he wanted to tell Jordan in his own time. Didn’t she owe him that much?
Or did she?
She hadn’t asked for any confessions from him! Hadn’t wanted any.
And far too recently she’d been brutally held in an alley, a knife at her throat.
“Kathy?”
She lowered her eyes. Larry might be a murderer. Then again, he might not.
She had to give him a little time.
“I think he’s nervous,” she said.
“What?”
Kathy shrugged and offered him a rueful half-smile. “Well, you kept working on your own after the band split up. I found work I liked better. Larry—”
“Larry has become a very successful film maker,” Jordan said somewhat gruffly.
Kathy looked at him curiously. He was staring out over the water of the pool.
“He might be a successful film maker, but he loved being a rock musician more,” she said softly, then realized that Jordan knew it. And deep inside, he might be feeling just a little bit guilty because his decision to end the group had influenced the lives of those who had been in it with him.
“Maybe,” he agreed huskily. Then he turned his sharp green stare on her again. “But the way he was looking at you scared the hell out of me for a minute there. And he had his hands on your shoulders...”
“He’s excitable, you know that.”
Jordan cocked his head. “Think you know who was whispering in the bathroom yet?”
She shrugged, shaking her head.
“Kathy,” he told her sternly, “don’t forget what happened last night! This is a serious situation.”
“I’m not forgetting anything. I just...”
“What?”
She hesitated, forming her words haltingly. “I don’t know if this makes any sense or not, but, well... Larry has been a sleazeball upon occasion—maybe even the sleazeball of the Western world—but that’s just about it.”
“Being sl
eazy exonerates him?” Jordan demanded skeptically.
She shook her head impatiently. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You’re just a soft touch,” he told her.
She shrugged uncomfortably. Was she? Falling for both Larry’s confession and his plea?
But then, wasn’t her falling for Jordan just the same?
She leapt to her feet, suddenly yawning. “I guess I’m a little tired, too. Considering that I’m probably the rustiest one of all, I’d best get some sleep since we start practicing tomorrow.”
She was afraid for a minute that he’d stand up beside her, try to waylay her. He didn’t. He continued to stare broodingly at the aqua water of the pool.
“Good night,” she told him.
He nodded, not looking up.
Kathy turned around and walked from the patio to the house. She turned back. He was still staring at the water. She walked on up to her room without seeing anyone else, closed the door behind her, locking it, and then sighed and went in to shower, still thinking about what Larry had said to her. Did the fact that he was such a sleazeball mean he wasn’t a murderer. Larry could be slick, sly—he had let Keith take the blame for his illegal activities.
She dried herself vigorously when she stepped from the shower, her mind a jumble of nerve-racking thoughts. She slipped into a cool satin nightgown, pacing the room, remembering the whispered conversation she had overheard. If she hadn’t been distracted by her daughter...
But she had—she’d nearly jumped out of her skin at hearing that cry. Was she a fool for not telling Jordan what Larry had said to her?
Idiot! she chastised herself. After all, with no effort, she could recall exactly what it had felt like to have the sharp blade of a knife against her throat.
She groaned out loud, turned out her light, and slipped into bed, determined to sleep. But she tossed and turned.
So much for determination.
Exhaustion finally began to creep over her. She wasn’t really sleeping, but she dozed.
Then she... woke.
Prickles seemed to dance upon her skin, and her blood ran hot, then cold throughout her body. She didn’t know how she sensed that someone was in her room, she just did.
Had she heard... a click?
She bolted up, looking around, certain she was about to face a murderer, ready to shout.
Her shout died. There was no one there.
Shakily, she lay back down. Fool! She was becoming paranoid. Well, she had the right.
But she had to sleep. She must will herself to sleep.
She must have done so, because again she awoke. Aware. Feeling with every pore and cell in her body.
A scream rose in her throat. Someone was with her, watching her. Someone...
A hand fell over her mouth, stifling her scream just when it was about to rip fervently and harshly from her throat.
“It’s me!”
Jordan!
Damn him!
Shaking like a leaf, she sat up, thrusting his hand away from her face.
“What the hell’s the matter with you?” she demanded furiously.
“Shhh! Dammit. I didn’t mean to startle—”
“Scare the hell out of me!”
“Damn, Kath, I just now stepped in here. I couldn’t bang on the door and announce my presence!”
It was dark in the room. She could barely make out his form at first. He was wearing a knee-length terry robe. She looked at his face. His features were hard and taut in the night. Unnerved, she leapt out of bed, staring at him. Not that she could see much.
Shadows.
“Jordan you can’t keep doing this to me.
“I was worried. I couldn’t leave you alone.”
“My door was locked.”
“It wasn’t.”
“It certainly was! I locked it!”
“Kathy, it wasn’t.”
“Jordan—”
“My God, what do you want me to do? Swear on the lives of my daughters? Well, I do. And that’s exactly why I was so worried about you. You’re a trusting little fool—”
“Don’t you dare call me a fool!”
“Shhh!”
She fell silent, aware that she was still shaking. She was losing her mind in this house. She suddenly remembered the click she had heard. Someone opening her door? Or closing it? Had someone other than Jordan come into her room, and stood there staring at her? She had thought it had happened before, on the night she had first come. But none of the others had been in the house then, only Jordan.
That was it. He was trying to convince her that she was insane. Jordan had hated Keith, he had tried to get Keith to take more drugs, he had killed Keith...
God. She was losing her mind.
“Jordan, I swear to you, I locked my door.” Had she? Or had she only thought so?
“The point is, you didn’t.”
She opened her mouth to argue with him, then didn’t. She swung around, pacing to the window, parting the drapes, staring down to the patio, hoping the tranquil aqua water of the pool would ease the tumult that had claimed her. “The point is,” she said in a firm, angry whisper, “you shouldn’t be here!”
He was silent. His belated reply was a stark and angry whisper. “I was worried. I had a right to be.”
She looked at him. “Worried?”
“You don’t want the girls alone; I’m worried about you being alone.” He indicated the connecting door to Jeremy’s room with an inclination of his head. “Even if Muscleman is sleeping yonder.”
“Jordan, damn you, he could come in—”
“Will he? I thought he didn’t enter without knocking.”
“Which is more than I can say for you!” she muttered, looking back absently to the patio.
“He has no reason to worry about your well-being.”
“You’re not helping it any.”
“I just came to stand sentinel.”
“But—” Kathy broke off, stunned, as she suddenly saw a figure move fleetly across the patio.
A woman’s figure. Slim, wraithlike in the night, running from the main house to the guest house.
Long, dark red hair trailing behind her. White nightgown flowing in the moonlight.
“Jordan.” She tried to give sound to his name. She had no air in her lungs. She had to inhale before gasping out his name again.
“Jordan!” She motioned furiously for him to come to the window.
He arrived just in time to see the figure disappearing around the side of the guest house. Maybe she was seeing things. No! She could tell, staring at him, at the tension in his features, he had seen the woman, too!
The woman...
Her. That long-ago night.
He pushed away from the window, striding quickly for the door to her room. She raced after him, frantically grabbing his arm. “Jordan, wait!”
“Kathy, let go of me! I have to find out who it is!”
“No! You could get hurt.”
“By a woman in a nightgown?” he demanded.
“Jordan... it’s... me!”
“Right. But it’s not you.”
“It may not even be a woman. It may be a man. An armed man. An armed woman. Someone who hopes you will follow, someone—”
“Kathy, I have to go!”
He wrenched free of her. “Lock your door. This time really do it, and don’t open the damned thing until you hear my voice, got it?”
“Jordan—”
“Lock it! Dammit, I’m armed as well. I’ll be all right. Don’t make me worry about you! It could be my downfall, Kathy. For the love of God, do as I say!”
“Jordan—”
But he was gone. As if he were a wraith himself, he had disappeared from the room.
She wanted to follow him.
But he had told her he was armed. Would he really be better off without having to worry about her? She bit into her lower lip, closed and locked the door. Carefully. Certainly. Then she raced back to the window, just i
n time to see Jordan streaking across the patio area.
Then around the side of the guest house...
Eons passed. An ungodly time. She aged a thousand years. She kept staring at the guest house. Watching, waiting, afraid to blink. She felt like screaming, like dialing 911, bursting into Jeremy’s room and waking him up.
Just when she thought she could bear it no longer, she heard a tapping at her door. She nearly leapt a mile, right out of her skin.
But then she heard his whisper.
“Kathy!”
She flung open the door. He stood alone, a small pistol shoved into his pants. He quickly stepped into her room, quietly closing the door behind him.
“Well?” she demanded breathlessly.
But he shook his head in disgust. “No one.”
“But—”
“I looked all over. Inside the guest house, outside the guest house. I walked around the halls, the bushes, the dock—everywhere.”
“But we both saw—”
“Yeah, we both saw,” he agreed quietly. He walked back to the window himself, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall, staring down at the patio. “We saw what I must have seen ten years ago,” he said softly.
“But who... what?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“It’s like my book,” Kathy said, walking over to look out at the now still night once again.
“What?”
She looked at him. “You know, the manuscript I just bought. What we see with our own eyes isn’t really the truth—circumstantial evidence means nothing. And sometimes things are just so damned evident that we can’t see them.”
He arched a brow, a slow, crooked smile curving his lip in the shadows of night.
“Nothing is evident to me. I admit to being more baffled than ever, so if anything seems evident to you—”
“Not really,” Kathy said. “It’s just that... I think, what we saw, wasn’t—”
“We’re really making sense now.”
“It will make sense, at some time, I think.”
He shrugged, then glanced toward the door. “Lock it again.”
“You’re staying here?” she demanded.
“Me and my trusty pistol.”
She sniffed. “You’re lucky you haven’t shot your balls off, the way you’re wearing the damned thing.”
For All of Her Life Page 26