As the car moved up the long drive, she could see a woman standing on the steps of the huge, sprawling mansion. The house belonged in Europe with its enormous design and many wings. Dahlia watched as the woman shaded her eyes and clutched at the man standing close to her. He put his arm around her.
“That’s Lily, isn’t it?” Lily. She was beautiful and very real. Dahlia hardly recognized her own voice. She held Nicolas’s hand tighter.
“Yes, with her husband, Ryland.” Nicolas wanted to gather Dahlia in his arms and hold her to him. She was trembling with excitement, gripping his hand and he could see her pulse pounding frantically in her neck. She was very pale, her eyes enormous, almost too big for her face. “Dahlia, my love, she’ll love you. How could she not?” Dahlia still didn’t believe herself lovable. He could see the hesitation in her gaze every time she looked at him. Her confidence in their relationship had grown over the two weeks he’d kept her to himself at his home, but coming to Lily’s house had shaken her.
He stopped the car, barely getting it in park before Lily rushed down the stairs toward them.
“She’s limping,” Dahlia said.
“An accident, when she was a child,” Nicolas answered. “During an experiment.”
It was the right thing to say to propel Dahlia out of the car and into Lily’s arms. Nicolas slipped from the car and took Ryland’s outstretched hand. Ryland tugged and gave him a warrior’s embrace, releasing him abruptly.
“She’s been on pins and needles all morning,” Ryland reported. “I’ve never seen her like this. She even gave the staff orders left and right. That’s never done.”
“Dahlia’s the same. I didn’t think we’d make it here. She’s a bundle of nerves. She’s very afraid she might hurt someone or at the least, start a fire.”
“Believe me, Lily could care less. I think Dahlia’s like a long-lost sister to her.”
“Dahlia feels the same way,” Nicolas said. “Any news on Trevor Billings? Has the NCIS finished their investigation? The admiral came out a couple of weeks ago, but we haven’t heard since.”
Ryland shook his head. “Not completely. Billings has been arrested, and, of course, banned from Lombard Inc. Lombard is denying any knowledge of the things he was doing and they’re still investigating. Their lawyers dropped him like a hot potato. They want the company to come out of this squeaky-clean.”
“It’s possible they didn’t know anything at all about what he was doing,” Nicolas pointed out.
“Possible, but not probable that someone at the top didn’t have a clue,” Ryland said. “In any case, it isn’t our problem.” He put his arm around Lily, a signal for an introduction.
Lily pulled herself out of Dahlia’s arms, tears running down her face. “Dahlia, this is my husband, Ryland Miller. He’s a GhostWalker as well.”
Ryland ignored Dahlia’s outstretched hand and pulled her into his arms, giving her a hard, welcoming hug, completely ignoring her slight hesitation. “It’s great to finally meet the woman who conquered Nicolas.”
That made Dahlia laugh. “Is that what I’ve done?”
“He says so,” Ryland said, gently wiping the tears from Lily’s face and leaning in to kiss the corner of her mouth.
That small gesture won Dahlia’s heart. She couldn’t stop staring at Lily, at the beloved face, the eyes she remembered. And Lily was looking at her the same way.
Nicolas swept his arm around Dahlia’s waist. “You know you have.”
“Are you ready to go in the house, Dahlia?” Lily asked uncertainly. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. We’re very good at guarding emotions, so we can keep you from overload, but facing the house may be too much.”
Dahlia shook her head. “I thought I’d remember so much more. Nothing looks familiar to me.”
Lily took Dahlia’s hand. “The room will. The moment I found his hidden laboratory, I recognized our rooms. I hadn’t even remembered until that moment. I don’t want you to feel alone and violated and confused the way I did. I want to be with you, if you don’t mind.”
“I came to see you, Lily. I came to terms with my past a long time ago.” Dahlia wasn’t certain if that were completely true. She wanted it to be. Now that Lily was standing in front of her, she wasn’t certain she wanted to confront her past. She had a future. She still had one foot out the door, and thought of her relationship with Nicolas as tentative, but she knew he was fully committed and would do his best to help her. She thought having Nicolas would be enough. Now she wanted a family. She wanted to be part of something, and the GhostWalkers were welcoming her, treating her as a valued member. And there was Lily. Wonderful Lily.
“Have you spoken to Jesse Calhoun?” Lily asked as they turned to go into the house together.
Dahlia ignored the sudden tripping of her heart. “Yes, several times. He’s very upbeat. He told me he’s always written songs and plans to continue with that. He mentioned something about owning a radio station in his hometown. He’s going back there as soon as the hospital allows him to go. He didn’t tell me, but the director said he wouldn’t walk again.”
“I’ve spoken with him several times, and I’ve already begun working with him on building barriers in his mind.” Lily sighed. “It’s such a tragedy. Jesse is a good man. Ryland and I spent a great deal of time with him. He just doesn’t let anything get him down. I know he’ll come through this, but it’s sad.”
“The man I feel sorry for is Martin Howard,” Dahlia said. “He loved his brother. I saw it on his face. I think he might have let his brother kill him.”
Nicolas pressed a kiss to her temple. Dahlia had been so close to Roman Howard that his heart had been in his throat. He hadn’t dared to take his eye from the target, and there’d been no way to protect her from the raging violent energy that had surrounded her. He never wanted to feel that helpless again. “I wasn’t going to let that happen,” he said matter-of-factly, pushing away the memory of her convulsions and his fear of what kind of damage her physical response to violence might occur.
They walked through the enormous, intricately carved oak door into the entryway of the house. Dahlia found her mouth was dry. An older woman stood uncertainly, wringing her hands together and smiling, although she looked suspiciously close to tears. “Dahlia, this is Rosa. She’s been a mother to me all these years and keeps the house running,” Lily said.
Dahlia didn’t recognize the woman at all, but the name stirred memories. Of a nurse named Rosa who always took care of Lily. Milly had stayed with Dahlia just as Rosa had opted to stay with Lily. “I’m so pleased to meet you,” she murmured around the lump in her throat. She couldn’t quite decide how she felt. Her emotions were welling up out of nowhere, struggling to be recognized, but it was the last thing Dahlia wanted. She was not going to set fire to Lily’s house.
“It’s good you’ve come back to us, Miss Dahlia,” Rosa greeted.
The voice was in her head. She remembered it calling to Lily, pulling her away from Dahlia in the middle of the night. She remembered the pain in her head, nearly splitting it open, the shards of glass being driven into her skull. At once her temperature began to rise and the pressure in her chest increased. Dahlia halted. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. It could be dangerous.”
“This house belongs to all of us, Dahlia,” Lily said firmly. “It’s stood up to all of our various problems and it can stand up to yours. Won’t it, Rosa?”
“Of course. Can I offer you anything to eat or drink?” Rosa asked.
Dahlia shook her head. If she tried to eat, she might get sick.
Lily seemed to know how she was feeling. They just wanted it over. She led Dahlia and Nicolas to the room that had been her father’s office. The door was securely locked. “I don’t let anyone come in here,” Lily explained. “There are too many sensitive documents.” She approached a tall, beautiful clock and opened the glass door.
“If this is too difficult, Lily,” Dahlia began.
“No, I want you to see. It helps that there were several of us. We started together. I found you, and together, we’ll find the others.” The clock revealed a hidden door. It slid open and revealed another door in the floor itself.
Dahlia’s heart was pounding out of control. For a moment she couldn’t move. Lily started down the stairs, calling back to her. “I can help you shield yourself from the amounts of energy you draw, not all, but it should allow you to be in public, maybe go to a show once in a while or shop for clothes when people are in the store with you.”
Nicolas reached for Dahlia’s hand, pulled her tightly against him, ready to take her out of the house the instant she indicated it was too much for her.
With Nicolas touching her, Dahlia’s emotions could be kept in check. “How? I’ve worked all my life to control it, Lily,” she asked, wanting to believe, but not daring to. “All of you do seem to have such control.” She didn’t set a foot on the stairs, but watched Ryland follow his wife down.
“Everyone suffers headaches, and other physical repercussions when they use their talents, but you’re the first energy magnet,” Lily replied. “I didn’t realize I’d been experimented on, and I thought my father had provided this house with its massive walls and soundproofing to protect me. Of course, he was protecting his experiments for the most part.” She stopped on the bottom stair and looked back up at Dahlia.
“It must have been terrible for you to discover the truth,” Dahlia sympathized. She felt physically ill at the thought of Lily finding the tapes of their terrible childhood. Nicolas had told her how Lily had gone looking for a way to help save the GhostWalkers and found the evidence of her father’s betrayal. She felt physically ill at the thought of joining Lily in viewing those tapes.
“You don’t have to do this,” Nicolas reminded.
Dahlia took a deep breath. She did have to do this. Dr. Peter Whitney was the monster in her nightmares. She’d believed she might be crazy because she had such vivid impressions of this laboratory, yet she’d been told repeatedly it didn’t exist. But most of all, she had to go see her past because Lily was grounded there. She wanted Lily in her life. She wanted to claim her as family. And she wanted to help Lily find the other women Whitney had experimented on. She couldn’t bear to think they were out there somewhere in the world, alone, feeling as if they might be insane. It had started in the underground laboratory and she needed to confront it. She put her foot on the narrow, steep stair, and made her way down.
She stared at the one-way expanse of glass. At the door leading to the small dormitory rooms. Her hand went to her throat protectively. “It is real. I’m not crazy.”
Lily wrapped her arms around Dahlia. “No, of course you’re not crazy. I’ve got all the tapes of our childhood. I’ve got investigators looking for the other girls as well. I think I may have found one. We’re not certain yet, but it’s a possibility. I’ll show you everything, Dahlia.”
“Do you remember the other girls? I’ve been trying to remember them. Flame, with her red, red hair. She’s very vivid in my memory.”
“Iris,” Lily confirmed. “And there was Tansy. She was very quiet and introverted.”
“That’s right.” Relief was flooding through her. She did remember the other children. Girls, all of them with their own nurse. “There was the baby, Jonquille. She was so tiny. And Laurel. Who else?”
“Wasn’t there a Rose? I remember her laughing.”
Dahlia nodded. There wasn’t much laughter in the laboratory. She should have remembered Rose. “I know there are others.”
“We’ll think of them together,” Lily consoled. “We’ll find all their tapes, and we’ll find them.”
They looked at one another and smiled in understanding. Lily held out her hand. Dahlia took it. “I’m so glad you’ve come. Ryland is wonderful. I love him so much, but I felt alone sometimes. You make that go away.”
“That’s exactly how I feel,” Dahlia admitted. “Is this where Dr. Whitney brought Jesse and the others when he experimented on them?”
Lily nodded. “He didn’t want Colonel Higgens to know about them. He suspected Higgens was trying to kill the GhostWalkers, and he wanted to make certain his experiment was carried on.”
“Basically,” Ryland said, “Dr. Whitney used my group as a decoy to keep Higgens from knowing about his other group. He worked here at this laboratory and the men used the tunnels to get in and out.”
“So if you all died,” Dahlia reached for Nicolas, “he’d still have someone to continue his research on.” She bit back the rest of her thoughts when she saw Lily’s face. “I’m sorry, I know you must have loved him.”
Lily leaned against Ryland for comfort. “I think of him as two men. The monster who did all this to us, and to the men, and the man who was my father.”
“Have you found his research on Calhoun and the others?” Nicolas asked.
Lily nodded. “A couple of days ago. I haven’t gone over it, but once I do, I should be able to find all the problems and start working up a program for them.” She turned to Dahlia. “Just as I will for you.”
Dahlia looked up at Nicolas—her rock, her anchor. The man that had provided a life and now a family for her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her first real spontaneous demonstration of affection in front of others. “Thank you. Thank you for giving me back my life.”
He kissed her, uncaring that Ryland had a silly grin on his face and that Lily was looking too pleased with herself. “I love you, Dahlia Le Blanc. I always will.”
Her black, haunting gaze drifted over his face. “It’s a good thing, because I love you very much, Nicolas Trevane, and if you trifle with my feelings, you’re playing with fire. Literally.”
* * *
Don’t miss the first book in this sizzling series
SHADOW GAME
A New York Times bestseller by
Christine Feehan
They are Ghostwalkers—men whose natural psychic
abilities have been scientifically enhanced, enabling them
to carry out the most dangerous of missions.
When something goes terribly wrong, Captain Ryland
Miller and his men suddenly find themselves locked away
without explanation—and, one by one,
dying inexplicably.
Lily Whitney, daughter of the scientist who began the
project, felt an immediate connection with the handsome
captain and became determined to free him and his
squad. What neither realizes is that she is at the heart of
the secret people are killing to keep hidden.
0-515-13596-8
Available wherever books are sold or at
www.penguin.com
* * *
Turn the page for a sneak look at
Christine Feehan’s new Carpathian novel
DARK SECRET
coming in February 2005 from Jove
Prologue
“Come on, Colby,” Ben Lassiter yelled, feeling like a fool running alongside the tractor. “You have to be reasonable. Get off that damn thing and listen to me for once in your life. You’re being stubborn!”
The ancient tractor bounced along in the gathering dusk, shooting up clouds of powdery dirt to spray over Ben’s immaculate sheriff’s uniform. Colby waited until he was totally out of breath and at a complete disadvantage before she stopped the tractor and sat staring moodily out over the field. Very slowly she pulled off her leather work gloves. “I’m getting tired of these visits, Ben. Just whose side are you on, anyway? You know me. You knew my father. These people don’t belong here and they certainly don’t have the right to try to force me to turn over my brother and sister to them.”
Ben swiped at the dirt covering him, gritting his teeth against his frustration. He took several deep breaths before he answered her. “I didn’t say it was right, Colby, but they have money and power. You can’t just ignore them. They aren’t going to g
o away. You have to talk to them or they’re going to take you to court. People like the De La Cruz brothers don’t lose in court.” He raised his hands to grasp her small waist before she could jump off the tractor by herself. Resisting the urge to shake some sense into her, he lifted her down easily, retaining possession for a moment. “You have to do this, Colby. I mean it, honey, I can’t protect you from these people. Don’t put it off any longer.”
Colby pushed away from him, a small gesture of impatience, swinging her head so her disheveled hair spilled out from under her hat, hiding the sudden sheen of tears swimming in her eyes. Ben quickly looked away, pretending not to notice. Colby in tears was lethal either way. A man would kill for her if she cried, and anyone else witnessing her tears would very likely take the brunt of her anger.
“Fine,” Colby began moving across the field at a fast pace. “I presume you have the entire lot of them camped on my porch?”
“I knew Ginny and Paul were gone tonight.” Ben had ensured that his sister-in-law invited the two kids over for homemade ice cream.
“Like that was hard to see through,” Colby tossed the words sarcastically over her shoulder at him. She had known Ben since kindergarten. She was certain he persisted in thinking of her as a wild, untamed little girl, not quite bright, when she was perfectly capable of running a ranch all by her little lonesome and had been doing so for some time. She wanted to box his thick skull for him.
“Colby, don’t go in there like a powder keg. These people aren’t the type to be pushed around.” Ben easily kept pace with her.
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