Page 9 of Magnificent Folly

  Lily closed her eyes. "Ill think about what you've said."

  There's one more thing I wanted to say to you."

  "I said Id think—"

  "I love you."

  The words came out of the darkness with stun­ning force.

  Her eyes flew open. "You never cease to surprise me."

  "I wanted you to know. IVe been afraid to use the word love before, but now it doesn't matter if it scares you off. The situation couldn't be any worse than it is." His hand clenched on the drapes. "Things are going to happen tonight that you won't understand, things that you may hate." He paused. "Lord, I hope you won't hate me too."

  "I don't hate you." Her emotions were in such turmoil, she wasn't sure what she was feeling for him at that moment. "I don't think I could hate you. Though heaven knows I wanted to cut your throat when I found out you knew something about Cassie's kidnapping."

  "But you won't let yourself love me, either." His tone was strained. 'You may never love me. IVe known that all along, but I had to try. Since the

  moment I saw you I knew there would never be anyone else for me."

  "That was only a few weeks ago. Hardly enough time for a permanent—"

  "A few weeks?" He shook his head. "It's been over eleven years since I saw you the first time."

  She stiffened, gazing at him in bewilderment. "You saw me?"

  He nodded. "Henry had requested I come to Franklin University to help with one of his pa­tients, and I saw you walking across the campus. I just stood there, looking at you, and I thought: Here it is. This is mine."

  Lily swallowed to ease the sudden tightness in her throat. "How Impossibly romantic. Just what I would expect of you."

  "I didn't feel romantic. I felt"—he paused—"as if everything had come right, as if all the parts of the puzzle had come together, letting me see the entire picture for the first time." His tone became bittersweet. "And what a picture It was. I was just a kid whom you wouldn't have looked twice at even if you hadn't been undergoing the fallout from that nightmare with Baldor. Everything was against us: time, circumstances, my work. So I had to take the only chance that would assure me a place in your life."

  "Cassie."

  "Cassie." Andrew straightened his shoulders as if shifting a burden. "I just thought you should know." His hand released the drapes, and he turned away from the window. "Will you ask Gun-

  ner to come in now? Well have to make a few plans while I dress."

  "A few plans? You can't expect to walk in and overpower those men without a struggle."

  He turned on the lamp on the table beside the bed. "Don't worry—it will be over in a matter of a few minutes once we're in the room. We just have to be sure that neither man Is near Cassie when Gunner attacks."

  She shook her head. "You're making it sound too easy. These are vicious men, Andrew."

  His lips tightened as his gaze went to her cut and bruised temple. "I know. They hurt you. I didn't think I believed in revenge, but I was wrong. Ill see that they suffer for it, Lily."

  "I don't want anyone to suffer. I just want Cas­sie safe." She turned and opened the door. "And then I want answers to a few hundred questions."

  "You'll get those answers," Andrew said quietly. "But you probably won't like what you hear."

  "I should have gone along." Lily paced the length of the room. "Andrew said it would onfy take a few minutes, and—"

  "It's onfy been fifteen minutes," Quenby said soothingly. "I'm sure they'll be back soon. There's truly very little danger, Lify."

  "How can you say that? Those men hit me over the head and kidnapped a helpless little girl."

  "Gunner will take care of them. He's handled men far more dangerous than they." Quenby hes-

  itated. "It should be over by now. Do you want to go see what's holding them up?"

  Lily stopped short. "Could we? There would be no danger to Cassie?"

  Quenby got to her feet. "We can at least walk over toward the chalet and see if there's any sign

  of-"

  The door opened, and Gunner walked into the room.

  Lify whirled to face him. "Cassie?" Her gaze searched eagerly over his shoulder. Andrew wasn't with him. Her heart lurched sickeningfy. "What's happened to Andrew?"

  "They're both still at the chalet," Gunner said. "She's not hurt, Lily. Andrew will bring her as soon as he finishes working with her."

  "Working with her?" Lify ran toward the door. "You're not telling me the truth. Something's hap­pened to her."

  "No." Gunner stepped in front of the door and grasped Lily's shoulders. "Andrew will fix it. You don't want to go there now."

  "The hell I don't." Lify tore herself from his hold and ran out the door and down the path toward the chalet next door. The lights were streaming from the casement windows, and the chalet looked as innocent and cozy as a gingerbread house. What had happened to Cassie In that house? She threw open the front door. "Andrew? Where's Cas­sie?" She entered the foyer. "I have to see Cas—"

  Two men were fying crumpled on the floor of the living room.

  Lify froze, staring down at them. She recog-

  nized the scar-faced man at once as the intruder in the cottage. The other man was heavier, older....

  They were dead, she thought with sick horror. They had to be dead. No one could be alive and still be so rigidly inert. And their faces . . . fea­tures contorted with pain, mouths open in a si­lent scream, eyes glassy and staring straight ahead.

  "You shouldn't be here." Andrew stood in the doorway across the room. "Dammit, I told Gunner to keep you away."

  "They're dead," she whispered.

  Andrew shook his head. They're only locked." But they look ..." She tore her gaze away from the pain-racked bodies on the floor. "I want to see Cassie. What's happened to her? Did they hurt her?"

  "No, they didn't hurt her." Andrew hesitated. "It would be better if you'd go away and leave me with her for a while longer. I may be able to—"

  "How can I leave her?" Lily strode toward him across the room. "I have to see her." She pushed past him into the bedroom. "Gassie, I'm here. Are you—Oh, my God." v

  Cassie was lying on the bed, still dressed in the pajamas she'd worn the night before when Lily had tucked her into bed at the cottage. Her ap­parel was the onfy hint of similarity between that child and the effigy lying before her. A waxlike pallor clung to Cassie's face; her eyes were wide open and unseeing, her muscles locked in the same deathlike rigor as those of the men in the living room.

  "Cassie?" Lily whispered as she moved slowly across the room toward the bed. "Baby?"

  Cassie didn't answer. Her gaze remained un­flinchingly fixed straight ahead.

  Lily sat down on the edge of the bed, unaware of the tears rolling down her cheeks. She brushed a lock of sandy hair gentry back from Cassie's temple. "Answer me, love."

  Cassie showed no reaction.

  "What have they done to her?" Lily asked dazedly.

  "Nothing." Andrew was standing beside her, his hand clasped comfortingly on her shoulder. "She's done It to herself. Lily. She's withdrawn inside and locked everything out."

  "Locked. You said that about those men out there."

  "It's not the same," Andrew said gently. "There's no pain where she is. It's as if she's sleeping."

  "Comatose."

  "A little like that."

  "Why?" Lify asked brokenly. "How could this happen?"

  "Shock. She loves you more than anything in the world, and she saw you lying on the floor hurt and bleeding. She called to you, and you didn't answer. She thought you were dead. There was too much violence, too much horror, and she had to shut it out." Andrew's hand moved to rest gently on Lily's head. "But it's not permanent. I can bring her out of it."

  "You?" Lify shook her head violenuy. "We have to get her to a hospital. She needs medicine, doctors."

  "It wouldn't help. She wouldn't respond. They wouldn't know how to help her."

  "And you would?"

 
"I'm the only one who could know," Andrew said quietly. "We're alike. I can reach her. I hoped I'd be able to wake her before you had to see her, but she's very stubborn."

  Lily's hands tightened on Cassle's blanket. "I know you mean well, but can't you see that Cassie has to have professional help? Look at her."

  Andrew nodded. "Cassie will have professional help, Lily. This is what I do. This is my job."

  "You're a doctor?"

  He smiled. "No, but I fix things that are broken. The way Cassie is broken." He gently pulled Lily to her feet. "Now we have to get Cassie out of here and back to the cabin. Gunner and his men will be here soon to pick up Kalom and Baharas."

  "What will they do with them?"

  "Put them on a plane for Sedikhan. Gunner has a jet standing by at a private airport near here."

  "You said the Clanad was more efficient," Lily said abstractedly, her gaze moving yearningly over Cassie's face. "Sweet heaven, I don't know what to do. This is all so crazy."

  'Then trust me. You know I care about Cassie and would never hurt her. I can fix what's wrong with her. Just this once, trust me, Lily."

  She gazed up at him and was caught by the sheer intensity of his plea. He believed what he was saying. He believed he could help Cassie. Why not let him try? "What do we do first?"

  Relief brightened the gravity of his expression.

  "YouVe already started." He bent and lifted Cassie in his arms. "You've given me your confidence. That's always the most important step. Now let me do the rest. Well take her back to our cabin, and 111 get to work."

  He turned and carried Cassie toward the open door.

  Andrew placed Cassie carefully on the bed and turned to Lily and Quenby. "I need one more thing from you, Lily. Leave me alone to do my job."

  "Why can't I stay?"

  "You wouldn't understand, and you'd undoubt­edly be upset. Andrew smiled crookedly. "I can usually close everyone out, but I wouldn't be able to do that with you. My concentration would be blown."

  Why do you have to concentrate? You're not performing brain surgery, for Pete's sake." She ran her fingers nervously through her hair. "Or maybe you are. How the devil do I know?"

  "Come with me, Lily." Quenby put her arm around Lily's shoulders. "It will be better if we wait in the living room. Andrew will call us when Cassie wakes up."

  If she woke up.

  No, Lily wouldn't even consider the possibility that Cassie wouldn't be all right. She let Quenby propel her toward the door. "How long?"

  "As long as it takes." Andrew was no longer looking at Lily, but at Cassie. He dragged a chair

  close to the bed and sat down on the cushioned seat. "You can turn out the light. I won't need it."

  Quenby switched off the light as she drew Lily from the room and closed the door.

  "Why am I letting him do this?" Lily asked as she dropped down on the couch in the living room. "For all I know he's one of those acupuncture specialists and he's going to stick pins into Cassie."

  "You're doing it because you believe more in instinct than you think you do," Quenby said gently. "Just as you believe in Andrew."

  "What's he doing to her?" Lily asked, her gaze meeting Quenby's. "For heaven's sake, tell me. I deserve to know. How would you feel if it were Jed who was tying in there?"

  Quenby sat down in a chair opposite the couch. "Terrible. I thank God every night my son's never gone into this kind of shock. Gunner and I were lucky. Jed isn't nearly as sensitive as most half-breeds. Gunner says it's due to my very pragmatic genes."

  "Half-breed?" Lily gazed at her in bewilderment.

  "Gunner is Clanad and I'm not."

  "What difference does that make? The Clanad is a corporation, not a . . ." Lily stopped and sat up straighter. "What are you telling me?"

  "The truth," Quenby said. "Or as much of the truth as I think you can take right now. IVe de­cided we're all being ridiculous. Gunner thinks it's Andrew's place to tell you, and Andrew doesn't want you frightened any more than you are al­ready." She made a face. "It's' typical muddled male thinking, and IVe been going along with it.

  In the meantime, you're suffering more from con­fusion than you would be from facing the facts."

  "And what are the facts?"

  "That Andrew is not sticking pins into Cassie but is still performing in-depth surgery. He's cut­ting through the barriers arid splicing and knit­ting up the raveled ends. He's healing her." Quenby paused. "Telepathicalfy."

  Lily gazed at her in stunned disbelief. "I beg your pardon?"

  "I know. I know." Quenby pulled a face. "Now you think we're all a bunch of escapees from the cracker factory."

  "The thought did occur to me." Lity started to get up from the couch. "I think 111 just go in and tell Andrew IVe changed my mind."

  "Don't do that." Quenby said, her tone sud­denly urgent. "Interrupting him now could be dan­gerous for Cassie. He knows what he's doing."

  Lily sat back down. "You're telling me Andrew is a telepath?" she asked carefully. "You're either joking, in which case you chose a lousy time for it, or you're demented. I don't believe in telepathy."

  "Then you'd better start," Quenby said simply. "Andrew Is a telepath, and so is Gunner. My son, Jed, also has certain telepathic powers." She paused. "And so does Cassie."

  "No!" Lity shook her head violently. "Now I know you're crazy. Don't you think I'd know if my own daughter were a telepath?"

  Quenby shook her head. "Cassie's talent Is la­tent. She probably shows flashes of intuitiveness,

  but without training she might never reach full potential."

  "And what is her potential?" Lily asked caustically.

  "It's different for everyone. Perhaps her telepathic ability will remain submerged by her other talents all her life. Perhaps later it will dominate." Quenby shrugged. "Personalty, I'm hoping Jed's telepathy remains latent. Having powers like Andrew's can be a curse, not a blessing."

  'T can't believe I'm sitting here listening to you."

  "You're listening because those instincts you're so skeptical about have been sending out signals since the moment Andrew appeared in your life,"

  Lily's fingers dug into the cushions of the couch. "You're saying Andrew has been reading my mind since the moment I met him?"

  "Absolutefy not," Quenby said instantly. "An­drew has a very strong code of honor. He would not invade anyone's privacy. Only under extreme conditions would he go underneath without your consent. But he can't help knowing things about you, picking up vibrations or feelings. With Cas-sie, the bond's even stronger. She has the same powers, and therefore sends actual thoughts to Andrew and receives them from him."

  His name is Andrew, Casste had said.

  Someone must have called his name.

  Andrew brought hack the music.

  Lily fought back the avalanche of memories. Coincidence, she thought desperately. It had to be coincidence.

  "It's not coincidence, Lily."

  Lily's gaze flew to Quenby's face in horror.

  Quenby laughed and shook her head. "No, I'm not telepathic. Just an educated guess. I felt the same way when Gunner told me about his tele­pathic powers." She wrinkled her nose. "However, he doesn't have quite as strict a code as Andrew, and provided a demonstration that startled the heck out of me."

  "What did he—" Lily broke off. "Now I'm the one who's crazy. I was actually starting to believe you."

  "You'll believe me," Quenby said confidently. "It will take time to sink in, but then you'll start remembering things and putting the pieces to­gether,. I'm not going to overload you with infor­mation right now. I think you have enough to deal with."

  Lily shook her head dazedly. Quenby Nilsen ap­peared so down-to-earth and practical. It seemed impossible that she would spout this nonsensical voodoo. "You mean there's more?"

  "We've just uncovered the tip of the iceberg." Quenby leaned back in her chair. "But you've ac­tually taken the little bit IVe given you quite well."

  "Becau
se I've heard it's better to humor nut cases."

  Quenby chuckled. "I assure you I'm not vio­lent." She suddenly sobered. "There's one more thing you should know about Andrew right now. He's not blundering blindly with Cassie. He's been doing this kind of work since he was a small boy."

  "Telepathic healing? You'll forgive me if I find that concept impossible to accept."

  Quenby shook her head. "He can't work mira-

  cles. He can only go underneath and reinforce the will to live, he also can teach—he can straighten out most of the snarls and tangles the human mind makes for itself." Quenby added simply, "He can bring light into darkness. But to do it he has to go down and live in that darkness, feel the pain and the torment. That's what he's doing with Cassie now."

  Light into darkness. "That sounds like pretty much of a miracle to me," Lily said wearily. "And too far-fetched for me to accept."

  "Then why are you still sitting here? Why aren't you marching in and snatching Cassie away from Andrew? It's because down deep you want to be­lieve in Andrew."

  "I don't believe any of this," Lily said quickly. "And I certainly have no faith Andrew will be able to—" She broke off, and her head turned toward the closed bedroom door. "What's that? I thought I heard—"

  Music! The silver cascade of notes from Cassie's music box.

  "It's the Bach," Lily whispered. "He's playing Cassie's music box." She jumped to her feet and ran toward the door.

  "Lily, he may not be ready for—"

  Lily threw open the door. The lights were still out, with the room still in darkness.

  The melody of the Bach prelude wove silvery ribbons of beauty through the shadows.

  Cassie laughed in the darkness.

  "Turn on the lights, Lily," Andrew said.

  Lily's hand trembled as she fumbled for the light switch on the wall.

  Cassie was sitting up on the bed. "Hi, Mom. Can I have a cheeseburger? I'm starved."

  "It . . . could be arranged." Lily scanned Cas­sie's face hungrily. Bright eyes, good color, she was blessedly, wonderfully normal. Lily's knees felt rubbery as she walked across the room toward the bed. "How do you feel, baby?"

  "Great." Cassie looked at her in surprise. "Why shouldn't I feel great? You're the one who got knocked on the head." For an instant a shadow crossed Cassie's face. "I thought those creeps had killed you. I called and called, but you wouldn't wake up. You okay?"