But she was alone. Had a door just closed? Had their guest been out there, watching her, as she had watched the night? She squared her shoulders. She was no easily intimidated child.
She could handle whatever came her way.
She wouldn"t give way to whispers on the breeze that seemed to touch her with fingers of ice.
"A life," she said softly out loud.
Determined, she walked inside. No shower tonight. A bath. As hot as she could take it, long and sudsy and relaxing. And if she still had that old brandy decanter in her room somewhere, she would sip while she soaked.
She wouldn"t think about what had happened.
Yes, she would.
Because she was obsessed.
"I think I want this man on my team all the time!" Stacey exclaimed.
"What can I say? I know my European history," Bryan said with a shrug. He had been wondering how to get to know both women better when Stacey had surprised him with a knock on his door and an invitation to play Trivial Pursuit.
The owner of the house, however, had yet to make it downstairs. But they had decided to play a few practice rounds, so he had pinched up with Stacey, while her boyfriend, a cop named Bobby, had teamed up with the ma.s.sive sax player.Big Jim gave a deep, rich laugh. "You do seem to be something of a walking encyclopedia, MacAllistair."
He offered the sax player a rueful smile. "Occupational hazard," he explained. He had liked the other man from the moment he met him. There was a serenity about him that seemed to come from wisdom rather than simply from knowledge. He had the ability to make a stranger feel as if they had been friends for life. Bryan thought he would be good to have around in an emergency.
"You"re no slouch yourself," Bryan commented.
Big Jim"s smile was vast. "I do all right." He laughed again. "Maybe, when the nights are too quiet, I just study all the cards and learn all the answers."
"Do you?" Stacey gasped.
Big Jim"s deep laughter boomed again. "No, but maybe I should start."
"He comes from a long line of voodoo priestesses," Stacey said, as if that explained something about the man"s abilities.
"Yeah, and I just come from a long line of cops," Bobby said with a sigh.
"But you have all the sports stuff down," Stacey said, patting his hand.
"Yeah, I"ve got all the answers," Bobby said, and rolled his eyes. "That"s why you ditched me for the professor."
"Yes, and I"m sticking with him," Stacey said firmly.
"You"re giving up on me?" a new voice, feminine, rich and melodic, chimed in.
Bryan turned to see who had spoken, and it was as if he had been struck by lightning.
She was a beautiful woman, but then again, the world was filled with beautiful women. She was about five six, slender but curved, with golden-blond hair that swept sensually down her back, and deep blue eyes. It wasn"t just her appearance that was arresting; it was the way she moved, her casual ease.
It was the fact that she seemed to touch a distant, forgotten chord in his soul, the fact that she was so very much like...
Someone long gone. Someone who should have been entirely erased from his mind by time gone by. He had met women before who had touched a core of memory in him. Something about them the same, the way they looked, spoke, moved.
But nothing like this. Never like this.
He stood, ready to introduce himself.
"Hey, you made it down at last," Stacey said.
"Yeah, sorry, the hot-bath thing was more seductive than I"d imagined," Jessica Fraser mumbled, coming into the room.
Then she saw him.
She stopped. And stared.
"You two haven"t met yet," Stacey said. She was clearly amused, enjoying her friend"s hastily concealed reaction to him. There was an I told you so smirk on her face.
"Hi," Jessica murmured, stepping forward with a welcoming smile and extending a hand. "Welcome to the Montresse House. I must say, you don"t look like...well, what I had imagined." She blushed, then added, "Sorry."
He took her hand. The feeling of being touched by lightning, shot through by a bolt of fire, hit him again. He stared back at her, forcing a casual smile and an apologetic shrug. "No apology necessary."
Jessica nodded and chose a chair at the other end of the table.
Big Jim smiled at her. "We"ve been practicing, getting into the groove while we waited," he said. "We can start for real now. I"ll have you and Bobby."
"Three against two," Jessica said.
"Gareth turned us down," Stacey commented. "But that"s okay. I"ve got the professor."
"Feeling confident, aren"t you?" Jessica asked Stacey, but she was staring at Bryan, and he knew he was staring back.
There was something about her....
He shrugged and leaned back.
"Let the game begin," he said softly.
5.
W ith Big Jim and Bobby gone home and their one lodger safely out of the way upstairs, Stacey closed the kitchen door, staring at Jessica, who was rinsing dishes at the sink before putting them in the dishwasher.
Jessica arched a brow.
Stacey burst into laughter.
"What?" Jessica demanded.
"And you were making fun of me."
"What does that mean?" Jessica asked.
"I was about to suggest that the two of you get a room," Stacey teased.
Jessica shook her head. "Stacey, I was at the other end of the table all night."
"Yes. And it was like an electrical storm was going on over the board. It was cool, and, hey-we won."
"And I"m so glad."
"No, you"re not. You were dying to beat him."
"Stacey, it was a game."
"Yes, but I could see it in your eyes. He"s a challenge to you. He interests you. I know you checked out his credentials."
"Yes, I did. I called the university. He"s new there this semester, and they"re thrilled to have him. He lectures all over the world.
We should go hear him sometime. I wonder what his schedule"s like."
"You didn"t ask him?" Jessica flushed. "Of course not."
Stacey laughed. "Fine. I"ll ask him tomorrow. There"s some excitement for you. An academic lecture. Except...I bet his lectures are exciting."
The two women finished cleaning up in silence, then headed upstairs.
At the landing, Jessica said good night, heading for her own room. She was aware of Stacey watching her until she closed and locked her door.
Inside, she hesitated, then walked out to the balcony. The nicest guest quarters were next to her own, and she was all too aware that he was there.
The French doors of his balcony were closed, the curtains drawn. The room was dark.
She looked at the sky.
There was still that flush of red that deepened the darkness of the night. A cool breeze swept by her. She sighed, closing her eyes, feeling the chill.
Yes, it was coming....
And he...
What did he have to do with it, if anything?
She walked back into her bedroom. As she lay down, she realized he made her think of the past, of a time when she had believed in life and love and commitment, a fight for right and all good things. When she had been young, she"d been such an idealist. And so naive.
She punched her pillow. Good Lord, that was ages ago.
Still, as she lay there, she was bizarrely disturbed by his nearness. He lay just beyond the wall. It almost seemed she could hear his heartbeat, feel the pulse of his vitality, as if he were nearer still.
She adjusted her pillow again. It didn"t help. Sleep was a long time coming.
He watched.
From the shadows, from the darkness below, he watched Anger and hatred raged through him as he cast his head back, relishing the feeling of power growing in him.
He"d waited so long.
Vengeance had been long in coming, but time, as they said, made it sweeter. All the charades, all the deceptions, revealed at last.
And now, in an arena of pain and torture, it would all be over. Foolish creatures, so armored in righteousness. They did not see the truth blinded as they were by their own ignorance.
He moved, a shadow himself, a shadow that flowed like blood, and neared the house. How easy it would be to end it all now....
The temptation to move closer and prove that statement true filled him. He embodied the power of the ages, the greatest power ever known.
His will was far greater than their pathetic belief in themselves, he was certain.
And yet...
Rage exploded in him as he tried to enter the house. It was a bastion, fully secured against him. A complete bastion. In his raw fury, he attempted entry again and again, but it was fruitless.
He forced himself to remember that soon enough, he would walk right in. Soon enough, the invitation would come. He had taken care to grow close to one who was close to her, and he didn"t need to be angry, he just needed to be patient. The time wasn"t right, not quite yet. He had been very patient thus far, beginning his quest in distant places, knowing that soon enough, she would arrive, knowing that through the subtlety of his actions it would slowly dawn on her that she was being targeted, that he was touching those with a connection to her, no matter how slight. And she would begin to wonder....
Soon.
Soon enough, the last mocking lure would be cast, havoc would reign, and then...in his realm, on a ground of his choosing...the end would come.
Bryan awoke with a jolt. Something disturbing had shattered his sleep, just as surely as a fire alarm clanging in the night.
He rose instantly and threw on a robe. He stepped onto the balcony but saw nothing that could have disturbed him so deeply. The window of the room next to his was open, the breeze blowing the curtains back so he could look inside Jessica"s room. She was asleep, blond hair like a gleaming halo against the bedding, features as perfect as if they had been sculpted by Michelangelo.
Excitement like lightning ripped through him, and he shook his head. He"d never seen anyone more angelic.
Nothing, he was certain, haunted her room.
He forced himself to retreat, back to his room, into the hallway, down the stairs. Nothing. Nothing at all.
He stepped out the back door.
The scent of something rotten filled the air. But was it real, or was he imagining it? Was he creating something wrong where nothing was amiss?