Risto said quickly, “I meant no offense. She is—”
Jane interrupted. “He knows you didn’t, Risto. He’s obviously a little bad-tempered at the moment. And no one has the right to make objections but me.” She smiled at him. “Take your sketch and go back to the kitchen. Maybe tomorrow you can play against my friend here and beat him, too.”
Risto nodded quickly, grabbed his sketch, and vanished in the direction of the kitchen.
She turned to face Caleb. “That wasn’t necessary. You didn’t need to intimidate him. He’s only a boy.”
“Who kept you entertained.” He shrugged. “You’re right: I’m a little bad-tempered at the moment. The sight of you spinning your web and drawing him to you annoyed me.”
“Spinning my web?” She gazed at him incredulously. “I’m no vamp and you know it. I was being me and trying to do exactly what we agreed I’d do.” She drew a deep breath. “Okay, why are you so bad-tempered? What went wrong?”
“Nothing. I accomplished everything I set out to do.” He paused. “And perhaps a little more. I just knew that you were going to fight me on a couple things.”
“What things?” She stiffened. “We’re still going after her tonight?”
“Yes.” He turned on his heel. “But not right away. You got a room for us? What floor?”
“There are only two floors.” She headed for the stairs, which curved upward on the left side of the reception desk. “No elevator. It reminded me of the hotel I stayed at when I was a student.” She unlocked the door and preceded him into the room.
He glanced around the room at the simple white wrought-iron bed with its blue-and-white embroidered spread, the rocking chair, the mirror over the sink in the corner, the white-framed French doors leading to a balcony against the far wall. “Nice. I can almost see you sitting there on the balcony drawing. I would have liked to have known you then.”
“Are you stalling?” She turned to face him as he closed the door. “What aren’t I going to like?”
“I have to know everything about that tower room and where Santara is in the house and his schedule. And I can’t rely on waiting for Lisa to reach you using those sketches anymore. I’m going to need the information fast and clear so that I can act.”
“What are you saying?”
“You’re going to go visiting. Visual. Auditory. The works.”
“No,” she said flatly. “You said that could happen only if you were there to link us. Tonight’s going to be difficult enough. I told you what her reaction would be to you.”
“Yes, you did.”
“So I won’t do it.”
“Yes, you will.” He paused. “Because I lied.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“I lied. I thought it was important that I be there to influence Lisa, so I lied to you.”
“You son of a bitch.”
He nodded. “I thought it was worth a try. I was going to give it a day or so and then give in on the link if I didn’t get what I wanted. Or sooner if I saw an urgent reason for it.”
“But it was going to be your decision. You were tying my hands and anchoring me to those sketches.”
“For a little while.”
She was struggling to smother the anger tearing through her. “Damn you, I don’t know if I can forgive you for this, Caleb.”
“That was the chance I took,” he said simply. “But I should point out that it was important to me or I would never have done it. I knew it might take me a long time to regain what little trust you have in me.”
“That goes without saying.”
“But I said it anyway because you have to realize that I knew exactly what I was doing. I have to get Lisa out of there no matter what I have to give up.”
He meant every word. No mockery. No mask. Jane could see that for once Caleb’s emotions were raw and visible for her to see. She stared at him for a long moment and then turned and walked toward the French doors that led to the tiny balcony. “A very long time, Caleb.” She looked out at the moonlight shimmering on the dark sea. Get a grip. She couldn’t afford this anger. “But there’s no way that I’d punish Lisa because I’m furious with you. I believe you were aware of that. So tell me what’s going to happen tonight.”
“In about two hours, we take the speedboat to an inlet on the beach at the foot of cliff. It’s about a mile and a half from the house. I located the three men Lisa mentioned. Actually, there were four more. Four on sentry duty on the path leading to the mountains, one patrolling along the cliff, the other two in the back garden.”
“You went over there to San Leandro already? You said you wouldn’t do that.”
“I said I wouldn’t go after Lisa without you. I had to see what we were up against. Now I know.”
She kept her gaze fixed on the sea. “Only half a lie this time?”
“Yes.” He went on quietly, “You wait in the boat while I take care of Santara’s men. Hopefully, you will already have found out where Santara is in the house, so then you go in and bring Lisa out to me while I take care of him.”
“All by yourself?” she asked. “What the hell do you mean? I thought you intended to try to recruit a couple men on the island to help.”
“I did. But that’s for later. They’d get in my way during this initial bit.” He added soberly, “And if they made a mistake, they could get Lisa killed.”
“‘Initial bit’? It doesn’t seem like a ‘bit’ to me.”
“I can handle this, Jane. It’s not as if I’m going to have to defend myself from an assault by those men. It’s just a matter of picking them off one by one.”
“That’s right, you’re a hunter,” she said bitterly. “You know all about things like that.”
“Yes, I do. I’m an expert. And we’re both going to be grateful that I am.” He was silent. “Are you ever going to turn around and look at me?”
“I don’t want to look at you.”
“But I want to look at you.” He was close behind her now. “It’s going to be a rough, hard night and looking at you makes me remember all the good things and not the ugly ones. Do you know, I actually feel as if you fill me and complete me. Isn’t it bizarre you would have that effect on a man like me?”
“I have no idea, since I don’t know if you’re telling me the truth.”
“Ah, there’s the rub.” He turned her around to face him. “But let’s pretend that I’m telling you the truth this time.” His dark eyes were holding her own and she thought she could see a reflection of the sea in them. “Yes, that’s what I wanted.…”
“Let me go, Caleb.”
“I’m only indulging myself a little,” he whispered. “I wouldn’t be fool enough to take more than you’d permit at a time like this.” He was pulling her across the room, toward the bed. “But you might as well be comfortable when I link you with Lisa.”
“Now?” She couldn’t look away from him. That overpowering persuasiveness and charisma were in full force. He was smiling and she felt as if he were wrapping her in dark velvet. “It’s time to do it?”
“Yes.” He was pulling her down on the bed and holding her with the most exquisite gentleness. “It’s time.” His fingers were moving with mesmerizing tenderness on her throat and then up to stroke her temples. “Find out everything I need to know. Prepare Lisa.”
“And how … do I do it?”
“I have no idea. That’s up to you.” The velvet surrounding her was no longer dark, but glittering and swirling around her. “You don’t trust me, but I trust you, Jane.…”
CHAPTER
7
The tower room was darker than Jane had drawn it in her sketch.
That was the first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes. She drew a deep breath and tried to get her bearings. It was like Caleb to throw her into this situation where she had no experience and no way to judge what was real and what was not.
Okay, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t been down this road before. Except that then, the entire scenario had been orchestrated by Caleb as a sexual fantasy. This time, that wasn’t the case. But she still felt everything about her was absolutely real, nothing dreamlike about it. So assume that and accept it, she told herself.