He didn’t want to know what this was, so he remained silent, knowing she was probably going to tell him, anyway.
The alcohol was beginning to fuzz his brain. And for the first time since he’d taken that first drink he wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. Suddenly he needed his intellect, and it wasn’t anywhere to be found. “You can’t deal with me because you don’t have the guts to tell me the truth.”
“Don’t lecture me about guts.”
“Then talk to me, damn it. Tell me why you let me think you were dead for twenty-one months. Tell me why you had a son with another man. Tell me why we’re not together right now, Lily.”
She crossed to him. For a moment he thought she was going to poke him in the chest with her finger, but she didn’t. “I can’t get involved with you. I don’t want to get involved with you. There’s no way we can just pick up where we left off. Is that clear enough for you?”
She was standing so close he could smell the clean scent of her hair. A hint of the forest. The warmth of sunshine. And the sweet scent of mountain air rolled into a single, intoxicating aroma. The combination was beginning to make him feel woozy. “I got you loud and clear,” he managed to speak.
“I expect you to respect my feelings while you’re in my home. If you can’t do that, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Are you getting this?”
Her eyes were luminous in the soft light coming in through the kitchen window. Robert stared at her, shocked that he could want her even as she trounced him with that sharp mouth of hers. Frustration coiled and burned in his gut like barbed wire being pulled ever tighter. The voice of reason called out for him to turn and walk away before he did something stupid, but the need to touch her was much more powerful.
She winced when he raised his hand and brushed a lock of hair from her face. Her eyes widened. Her full lips parted as if she were about to protest, but she didn’t. Robert looked at her, aware of the color riding high in her cheeks. That her pupils were dilated. He stared, knowing those things weren’t the reactions of a woman who wanted a man to stay away.
“If you want me to stay away from you I suggest you stop looking at me that way,” he growled.
“I—I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re sending out mixed signals like a Las Vegas marquee.”
“I’m ticked off.”
“Yeah, and maybe I’m the only one who has the guts to acknowledge what’s really going on.”
“You’re out of line,” she snapped.
“You’re damn straight I am.” He started to brush his fingers over her lips, but she slapped his hand away.
“You know better than to drink alcohol,” she said.
Robert didn’t think his reaction to her had a damn thing to do with the alcohol he’d consumed, though she was right in that he’d never been able to handle much in the way of drinking. When he was in high school, he’d been diagnosed with a rare blood disease he’d inherited from his father. One of the effects of the disease was that his body couldn’t break down alcohol. He was able to drink in moderation, but the effects were magnified. Lily had teased him about it when they’d been together.
“I know better than to do a lot of things, but I do them anyway.” He shrugged. “Here I am.”
“I’m still wondering about your motives.”
“I thought that was obvious.”
“I might believe you if the pieces fit.” She shook her head. “They don’t.”
Scowling, Robert walked into the kitchen and dumped the remaining cognac down the drain. Since Lily didn’t know about his being an agent for ARIES, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to let her think his motives were of a more personal nature.
Cursing under his breath, he rinsed the glass then set it to drain and walked into the living area. “Talk to me about DeBruzkya.” He didn’t miss the irony in that the most dangerous subject they could possibly discuss was the only safe topic to breach.
She glanced at him from the chair where she was sitting, her expression perplexed and perhaps a little suspicious. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything. Anything you can tell me.”
The lockbox lay open on the floor in front of her. Lily slipped from the chair and knelt. She lifted a well-used folder and a brown envelope, then held both out for Robert. “This is everything I’ve been able to document in the last couple of years.”
Taking the chair next to hers, Robert took the folder, and opened it and skimmed the contents. “You’ve been busy.”
“So has DeBruzkya.”
He picked up a photo, set it down quickly. “Not the kind of stuff he would want the rest of the world to know about.”
Frowning, she gestured toward the file. “There are some things going on that I don’t understand.”
“Like what?”
“From the information I’ve been able to gather, he’s suddenly become very interested in acquiring gemstones.”
The hairs at the back of Robert’s neck prickled. “Gemstones? How do you know?”