God only knows. Ryland sounded utterly weary.
Lily silently cursed her father. She looked around for a chair to sit down. How could one man have done so much damage to so many people’s lives? And how could she not have ever suspected?
“Lily?” Arly caught her arm and guided her to a chair. “You’ve gone pale. You’re not going to faint on me or anything stupidly female like that, are you?”
Lily laughed softly, the sound bitter and distant. “Stupidly female, Arly? Where did Dad ever find a woman basher like you?”
“I don’t bash women, I just don’t understand them,” he countered, hunkering down beside her chair, his fingers loosely circling her wrist, taking her pulse. “I’m brilliant and handsome and can talk circles around most guys and women shudder when they see me coming. Why is that?”
“Could be the way you curl your lip every time you say the word ‘woman.’” Lily pulled her wrist away from him. “You’ve worked with Dad for years. I grew up with you, following you around…”
“Asking questions. Nobody asked as many questions as you.” He grinned suddenly. She caught a brief glimpse of pride in his eyes. “I never had to tell you the same thing twice.”
“Did you ever help with his experiments?”
At once Arly’s face closed down, the smile fading. “You know I don’t discuss any of your father’s business, Lily.”
“He’s dead, Arly.” She kept her gaze fixed steadily on his, watching for a reaction. “He’s dead and you can’t protect the things he’s done.”
“He’s missing, Lily.”
“You know he’s dead and I think one of his projects got him killed.” She leaned toward him. “You think it too.”
Arly drew back. “Maybe, Lily, but what difference does it make? Your father knew people most of us hope we never meet in a lifetime. His mind was always working on ways to make the world a better place and in thinking that way, he managed to find the dregs of society. He thought it would help him understand how people worked.”
“Did you like my father?” She asked it directly.
Arly sighed. “Lily, I’ve known your father for forty years.”
“I know you have. Did you like him? As a person? As a man? Was he your friend?”
“I respected Peter. I respected him a great deal and I admired his mind. He had a great mind. He was a true genius. But no one was his friend, expect perhaps you. He didn’t talk to people, he used them for sounding boards, but he couldn’t be bothered knowing anyone. He used people to further his own interests—oh, not for monetary gain, he didn’t need that, he already had enough money for a small country, but for his endless ideas. In all the years I knew him, I doubt he ever once asked me a personal question.”
She lifted her chin. “Did you know he adopted me?”
Arly shrugged his thin shoulders. “Since I never saw him with a woman, I figured he had to have adopted you, but we never discussed it. If you weren’t his biologically, he would have made damn sure you were his legally. The only thing he loved in his life was you, Lily.”
“Did you know he had other children here?”
Arly looked uncomfortable. “That was years ago, Lily.”
“And the men?” She took a stab in the dark, watched his reactions closely.
Arly held up his hand. “Anything to do with the military I don’t see or hear. That’s just the way it is, Lily.”
“This is important, Arly, or I wouldn’t ask. I think whatever this project he was working on at Donovans, something for the military, got out of hand and someone killed him for information he wouldn’t turn over. I’m being asked to take over that project and find the missing information. I need to have all the pieces of the puzzle. Were there men here recently? Men he may have been working with?”
Arly stood up, paced across the room. “I’ve kept this job and my home here for over thirty years because I knew how to keep my mouth shut.”
“Arly,” Lily said softly, “my father’s dead. Either your loyalty swings to me and you’re working for me and you’re a part of my family and my household or you’re not. This is information I need in order to stay alive. You’ll have to make up your mind which it’s going to be.”
“My loyalty swung to you the moment I laid eyes on you.” He said it stiffly.
“Help me then. I intend to find out what’s going on and who murdered my father.”
“Let the police handle it, Lily. They’ll find a lead eventually.”
“Did he bring men to this place? Military men? And did they stay here for any length of time?” Lily’s gaze was steady on her security man’s face, not allowing him to look away from her.
Arly took a deep breath. “I was certain he brought three gentlemen in and I know they didn’t leave that same day. I never saw them again, and I never saw them leave. He didn’t take them to his office, but up to the second-story rooms in the west wing.”
“Are you in my employ or that of the United States government?”
“Damn it, Lily, how can you ask me that?”
“I am asking you, Arly.” Deliberately Lily reached out to take his hand, settling her fingers around his wrist. Lightly. Yet her fingers found his lifeline, searched for his emotions. Searched for the truth in him.
Arly instinctively attempted to pull away from her but she tightened her fingers.
She reached for Ryland. Can you read him?
No. I have no ability to do that, not even with you enhancing his emotions for me. He would have to be in the room, touching me, or me touching something of his to tune him in so clearly. Be careful, Lily, he’s going to know you’re acting out of character.
“I don’t work for the government.” There was heat in Arly’s voice.
“Do you work for the Donovans Corporation?” Lily pursued.
Arly did jerk his arm away and stumbled backward, nearly tipping over. “What the hell’s wrong with you? Do you blame me for this? Maybe it is my fault, maybe your father’s disappearance is my fault too. I let him drive that old beat-up car he loved so much when I knew he could be a target of any number of whackos.”
Lily dropped her head in her hands. “I’m sorry, Arly, I really am. Everything in my life is off-kilter right now. I don’t blame you for Dad. No one could have made him stop driving his car. He loved that old thing. He just didn’t see himself as rich or famous or working for something others might take exception to. You know that. It wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine. But someone in this house is leaking information and we have to find out who it is.”
Arly sat on the floor and regarded her with steady eyes. “It isn’t me, Lily. You’re the only family I have. You’re it. Without you, I’m completely alone in the world.”
“Do you know why my father brought me here?”
“I imagine he wanted an heir.” He waved his hand at the huge house. “He needed to leave it all to someone.”
She forced a smile. “I guess he did.”
“You look tired, Lily, go to bed. I’ve reported the break-in and I’ll handle the police. There’s no need for you to talk with them.”
“Arly, I want complete control of the east wing of the house. All the rooms on every story of that wing. I want security on the outside but not a single camera or motion detector on the inside. I want complete privacy. One place I can go where I have absolute privacy after I lock it down. And I don’t want anyone else to know. You handle the work yourself.”
He nodded slowly. “Will you at least consider a bodyguard?”
“I’ll think about it,” she promised.
“And wear the transmitter. I went to the trouble of putting it into your watch, the least you can do is wear it.” Arly hesitated then took a deep breath. “There’s an underground tunnel below the basement levels. It runs beneath the estate and leads to two separate entrances. Your father used the tunnels to bring in people he didn’t want you or the staff to see.”
“I should have suspected something like that. Thank you, Arly. Will
you show me the tunnels?”
He nodded reluctantly. “I’ll take you there after the police leave.”
SIX
RYLAND was waiting, his mercury-colored eyes hot with emotion. The moment her gaze clashed with his, the memory of his mouth crushing hers rose up to taunt her. Her body instantly grew hot and uncomfortable. Became soft and responsive. Her breath caught in her lungs and she tasted him. Felt him. She felt him deep inside her, filling her, a part of her.
Stop it, Ryland.
He was angry with her. She had cut herself off from him. He had been unable to reach her even in her sleep. Ryland had resolved to let her know just what he thought of her behavior, but the moment he saw her he changed his mind. He detested seeing the dark circles under her eyes, shadows that hadn’t been there before. She was suffering and he wasn’t about to add to it. Forcing down the tidal wave of emotion he spoke softly. It isn’t me. I swear to you, I don’t do this.
Yes, you do. You have a…vivid imagination and you broadcast very loudly.
He saw it then, her need to push him away from her. He had thought it would be the erotic dream they shared, embarrassment or shyness with him. He could get around that. Persuade her. Tempt her. But Lily couldn’t believe in him because she couldn’t believe in anyone. Whitney had done that to her. Damn the man for leaving her with nothing. “Lily.” He said her name gently. Enticing her. Coaxing her. “Thank you for coming when I know it’s so difficult for you right now.”
Her blue eyes widened. It was nice to see shock instead of wariness. Ryland tried a smile. “Come here, talk to me.”
Lily stared up into his face, studied his feathery lashes, his strong jaw, the black hair spilling across his forehead. His strict military cut was long gone, replaced with shaggy unruly waves that left him immensely attractive. I do need to talk to you, but not like this. I need to arrange it so we can go someplace where the recorders and cameras won’t pick us up.
His cool gray eyes rested thoughtfully on her face. Lily looked away from him, faint color stealing into her cheeks in spite of her determination to appear serene. She had dreamt of this man. Hot, steamy dreams of sinful sex and passionate responses. She hadn’t been alone in that dream. Ryland had somehow been with her, sharing her every fantasy, touching her, kissing her. She closed her eyes, remembering how she had straddled him wildly, without inhibition. It had been a dream. She had needed to escape and she threw herself into it with everything she was. And he knew it.
“Lily, it was beautiful.”
“I’m not discussing it.”
Ryland let it go because she didn’t need to be uncomfortable. The moment he’d laid eyes on her, he knew she was the woman born for him. She might not know it, but it didn’t matter. He did, and he was relentless once set on a path. I can shut down the cameras and recorders. I’ve been doing it for a while, on and off, at first for the practice, now to get them complacent about it. They’re used to it enough now they don’t come by right away to check on me. You don’t want to talk with me this way.
She didn’t. It was too intimate and she didn’t trust the intensity of what they shared. She feared every time they spoke telepathically, it strengthened the bond. But more than that, she feared for his health. She could feel his constant pain, felt the drain on his strength. And she had no idea of the consequences of prolonged use of a telepathic connection. If he could remove the threat of the cameras, it was better for them. Better for him. The desire to keep him from harm bordered on obsession. And she couldn’t trust that someone else might not be listening.
Lily looked up at Ryland, drowning in the stark need in his eyes. No one had told her it would be like this, a wild craving that crawled over her skin, heated her blood, and created hunger so deep, so elemental she could hardly bear being separated from him.
She turned away from him, unable to continue looking at his face. He would know, he could read her easily. The chemistry between them was storming out of control. Sometimes she was afraid if he were out from behind the bars, she would do anything with him, right there, cameras or not.
“Stop it,” his voice was husky, a raw ache in it. “I can’t move, not a step. Now you’re the one projecting. You’re messing me up until I can’t think straight.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered the words, knew he could hear her. She didn’t turn around, keeping her face averted. “You haven’t slept in days, would you like something to help you?”
“You know why I can’t sleep. You can’t sleep either. Damn it, you’re afraid to sleep.” His tone was pitched so low it smoldered. It played over her skin, seeped into her pores, stroked her body so that every cell was alive with a hunger that was edgy and needful. When I sleep I dream of you. Of your body beneath mine. Of my body deep inside yours.
She knew he dreamt of her, of their bodies tangled together. She shared his erotic dream, his wild fantasies she couldn’t hope to match in reality. “It’s a complication we didn’t expect.” She cleared her voice, it was hoarse and unfamiliar. “That’s all it is, Ryland. We can get past it if we’re disciplined enough.”
“Look at me.”
Lily lifted her gaze to his. She couldn’t stop herself from crossing the distance to his side. His hands found hers through the bars even as she felt the heightened awareness of energy, his outpouring to interfere with the equipment.
“What is it, baby?” He moved beside her, silent, calm, his larger, heavily muscled body brushing against hers protectively right through the iron bars. “Talk to me. Tell me what you found.”
Lily listened to the sound of the ocean, in the background, the water soothing, even though the waves sounded angry. She imagined them rushing toward the shore, crashing against the rocks. Foam gushing into the air, spraying white water high. She wished she could roar like the waves, escape out onto the wide raging sea with her wild emotions, not just listen to a tape being played.
“I was an experiment, Ryland.” She said the words so low he had to strain to catch them. “That’s what I was to him. An experiment, not his daughter.” She tasted the bitterness of betrayal as she spoke the words out loud, her world crashing around her.
He remained silent, holding her through the bars, feeling the pain in her like a living, breathing entity. Ryland didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing. Lily was close to shattering like glass, so he stayed silent.
Lily took a deep, calming breath, let it out slowly. “I found his secret laboratory. Everything was there. Videotapes of me, of other children. A room where he kept us, where we ate and slept and did his tests. I had a very regimented diet, all the best nutrition, watched only educational tapes. I was given only educational material to read. Every game was designed to strengthen my psychic abilities and further my education.” She pushed an unsteady hand through her hair. “I didn’t know any of it, he never let on, not once. I never suspected, I really didn’t.”
Ryland desperately wanted to take her into his arms and shield her from every hurt. He silently cursed the bars between them. This was the biggest blow Lily could have suffered. Peter Whitney had been her father, best friend, and mentor. Ryland leaned closer, rubbed his jaw along the top of her head so that her hair caught in the stubble of his shadow. It was a small caress, a gesture of affection, or tenderness.
Lily was grateful he remained silent. She wasn’t certain she could have told him everything if he had protested or sympathized. Her faith and trust were shaken. The foundation that had been her world was cracked. “He said…” Her voice wobbled, trembled and broke.
Ryland’s heart broke right along with her voice. He found he was gripping her hand far too tightly and made an effort to ease his strength. She didn’t seem to notice. She cleared her throat and tried again.
“He tried the enhancement of psychic ability first on orphans. He tested young female children from countries where orphans were plentiful and neglected. He had the money and the connections and he brought the ones into the country he thought would suit his nee
ds. I was one of them. No last name, just Lily. The female subjects”—she cleared her throat—“that’s me, Ryland, a female subject. We were taken directly to his underground laboratory. We were tested and trained every day much like the regimen you were put through.”
She did look at him then. Her eyes swam with tears. Before she could blink them away, Ryland bent his head to hers and took them with his mouth. Tasting her tears. Kissing her eyelids gently. Tenderly. Lily blinked up at him, confusion in her gaze.
“Tell me the rest of it, get it out, Lily.”
She lifted her head to study his face, her blue eyes so grief-stricken he felt sick. But something in his steady gaze must have reassured her. Lily took a breath and continued. “He felt the other girls and I were unwanted anyway and he was providing a decent home, medical care, and food. It was more than we had where he found us, that’s how he excused his behavior. He couldn’t be bothered with our names, so he called us flowers and seasons and things like Rain and Storm.” She tore her hand from Ryland’s, knotting her fist against her trembling mouth. “We were nothing at all to him. No more than rats in a lab.”
There was a small silence while they stared at one another. “Like me. Like my men. He repeated the experiment on us.”
Lily nodded slowly, paced away from the cage and back to him, a restless anger growing. Ryland watched the shadows chasing across her pale face as she paced back and forth, unable to remain still, and his heart went out to her. She was fighting back in the only way she knew how, with her brain, thinking things through logically.
“And the worst of it is, all the same problems he had here, with you, he already knew about with us. My God, Ryland, he just sent those little girls out there, unprotected, unwanted, when they became too much trouble.”
Her voice was so low he could barely hear her. She was too ashamed, as if she were to blame for what her father had done.
Ryland reached through the bars of his cage, tried to catch her arm, to pull her to him, but she was already pacing away, withdrawn, pulling her emotions in close.
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