“I’m trying to do the best I can,” Lisa said fiercely. “I’m what I am, and I won’t apologize for it. Seth fought to make sure I wouldn’t have to do that. He might not have always been right, but I won’t have him lose what he gave up for me.”
“But you’re not your brother. You might not be able to do…” She paused. “I just don’t want you to do anything that would cause you to be hurt. Sometimes the things that Caleb does are the stuff of nightmares.”
“And the people he gives them to probably deserve them. And sometimes he saves lives, instead of taking them,” she said defiantly. Then her belligerence faded. “You’re trying to be kind to me.” There was a touch of wonder in her voice. “And it’s not phony. Genuine. You really care, don’t you?”
“I really do. Somehow or other, you managed to make that happen.” She took Lisa’s hand. “And you didn’t even have to use that Persuasion talent. Imagine that.”
Lisa gave Jane’s hand an awkward squeeze. “How do you know? Maybe I’m using it right now.” She released her hand and her smile widened. “Okay, how can I use this to get what I want?”
Jane chuckled. “You can’t. Nice try.” She was silent. “But let me think about it. Maybe we can come up with something.…”
SOUTH GLASGOW UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER
“Good afternoon.” Jane moved brusquely into Lisa’s room with a young black nurse in tow behind her. “This is Beth, Lisa. She’s going to help you dress and pack. Be nice to her.”
“Why?” she asked blankly.
“Because she’s a nice person and is going to help you get what you want.” She turned to Caleb. “Come out in the hall with me. You aren’t going to get exactly what you want and I don’t want you to set a bad example for Lisa.”
“Indeed?” He got to his feet and strolled behind her into the hall. “What are you up to, Jane?”
“Trying to save myself time and trouble.” She turned to face him. “And the possible prospect of having to start drawing any more sketches of Lisa. I can’t let that nightmare happen again, Caleb.”
“The situation has changed. I have her safe.”
“Do you? I don’t think so. You have her safe as long as she wants to stay safe. That’s going to last only while she thinks that her presence doesn’t make you unsafe.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked impatiently.
“She has this thing about wanting to protect you. You saw it at San Leandro. It shouldn’t surprise you. It seems to run in the family.” She met his eyes. “And it’s been ingrained in her since childhood. Did you know how bitter she is that she wasn’t able to help you then?”
“I know,” he said without expression.
“Well, I didn’t. It’s no wonder she was so fanatical about not letting you help her with Santara. It would be her worst nightmare to cause you any hurt.”
“That’s all in the past. What is this about?”
“The fact that she’s not going to let you take her some place and stand guard over her. Not when she thinks she could be thrown into the same position she was in at San Leandro.”
“I’ll convince her it’s best.”
She shook her head. “And she’ll run from you. Just as she would have that night at San Leandro if we hadn’t handled it right.” Her lips twisted. “Only now she might decide to come back when you least expect it and stand guard over you. Since you obligingly lifted restrictions so that she could go out and make people bleed to death or have massive coronaries.”
“It wasn’t like that.” He was scowling. “I was actually fairly moderate … for me.”
“I can imagine.”
“No, you can’t.” He was suddenly smiling. “You would have to have been there. But don’t worry, she’ll understand me.”
“I do worry. That’s why I’m here. You have a major disadvantage in caring for Lisa. She loves you. That could be fatal. She’s afraid of being used to hurt you. But if you force her to run, that has a greater chance of happening.” She looked him in the eye. “And you know it.”
Silence. “Perhaps.”
“No perhaps,” she said. “So I decided to take matters into my own hands.”
“What?”
“I’m taking her to the camp with me. I talked to MacDuff and got permission to let her stay at Loch Gaelkar. He’s going to put on more guards and bring them closer to the camp. Lisa will be more than safe. I’m not even mentioning Jock and MacDuff. You couldn’t ask for a more lethal escort, could you?”
Caleb thought about it. “I guess we could go—”
“Not we. You’re not invited.”
He stiffened. “Bullshit.”
“You can come and visit her occasionally, but you can’t hover over her. That’s what she’s trying to avoid.”
“And that’s what I intend to do,” he said coldly. “Back off, Jane.”
“No way. Do you think Lisa and I don’t know that you’ll be going after Santara? Only you’ll be forced to stay close to Lisa while you’re doing it if you insist on guarding her. Dangerous for her. Let me take care of Lisa. You go do whatever you have to do.”
“She’s not your responsibility.”
“I can’t get out of the habit of thinking that she is. So that must make it true.” She grimaced. “And I believe that she’s fast moving to a place where she won’t allow that to be a factor much longer.” Jane tried to see if she was getting through to him. He was always hard to read. But his eyes were narrowed and they were flickering with intensity. “Let me have her, Caleb. I promise you that I won’t let anything happen to her.”
He didn’t speak for a long time, and she thought she might have lost him. Then he smiled. “Heaven help you, Jane. She’s difficult for me to handle. She’ll put you through hell.”
She felt a rush of relief. “No, she won’t. I actually think she’s mellowing a bit. Just keep in touch with her so that she won’t think she has to go and rescue you.”
“I’ll do that. And you’re not going to get rid of me so quickly. I intend to be the one to take her to the camp and check to make sure that everything is as it should be.” He turned and headed down the hall. “I’ll go to the administration office and sign her out of the hospital. Have her ready to go when I get back.”
CHAPTER
9
“It’s beautiful.” Lisa stood on the road, her gaze taking in the mist wreathing the lake. “I saw lots of cool lakes when I was in Switzerland, but this is … different.”
“Yes, it is,” Jane said. “No other like it.” She started down the incline. “I wanted to invite you to meet Jock and MacDuff, but that will have to wait for evening, when they come out of the mist.”
“That sounds like some kind of horror movie.” Lisa chuckled as she started down the incline. “I think I like it—” She broke off as Caleb picked her up and began the trek down toward the encampment. “I can make it, Seth. Stop treating me as if I’m a baby.”
“You need a couple more days. You could make it and then have to stay in your bedroll tomorrow and rest. Moderation in all things.”
She laughed. “That from you?”
“Do as I say, not as I do.” He was looking around the camp as he spoke. “Four of MacDuff’s guards in plain view. Two more in the trees over there.”
“I told you that I’d take care of her,” Jane said. “MacDuff was very agreeable when I asked him for extra security. He said that he’d been planning on putting more guards on anyway.”
“The treasure?”
“I don’t know. He just said it was going to be necessary right away.” Jane looked over her shoulder. “So does the situation meet with your approval?”
He nodded. “Probably. I’ll still go over numbers and check-in procedures with Jock. I thought it would. I just had to be certain.” He smiled faintly. “It was my responsibility. You’re making me give up control and it doesn’t please me.”
“No one makes you do anything, Seth,” Lisa said. “You only realized that Jane is right and you were wrong.”
“And you had nothing to do with it?”
“I had everything to do with it.” She caught Jane’s look and amended her statement. “But she made it happen, and that’s good, too.”