Darren shrugged. “Katy can deal with Justine. At least sometimes.”
“Is that so? How often have you asked Katy to get money for you?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever asked her to help me come up with cash,” Darren muttered. “I was desperate. Don’t you understand?”
“Yeah, I understand,” Luke said softly. “You got into a bind, so you turned to the Gilchrist guardian angel for a little help.”
Darren’s mouth kicked up at the corner. “Guardian angel, huh? I guess that does sort of describe Katy, doesn’t it?”
It was Darren’s smile that did it. Luke moved.
He slammed Darren up against the brick wall and pinned him there. Then he leaned in close. “One thing you’ve got to watch out for in a situation like this, cousin. Before you decide to use someone like Katy, you’d better damn sure find out who’s guarding the guardian angel.”
“What the hell?” Darren stared at him, eyes stunned, mouth open in shock. “Are you crazy?”
“Not crazy. Just real irritated.”
“Damn you, you think you can just walk in the front door and take over Gilchrist, Inc., don’t you? You think you can have the whole company, just because Justine decided she wanted to end the feud. Well, I’ve got news for you. You’re not going to get away with it. One way or another, we’re going to find a way to stop you.”
“Not a chance.” Luke smiled. “I’ve got the guardian angel on my side.”
“You think this is some kind of joke? Let go of me, you goddamned bastard.” Darren lashed out with his foot in a well-trained kick.
Luke barely had time to avoid the blow. He spun away from it, using his grip on Darren’s shoulder to jerk his cousin off balance.
Darren staggered, caught himself, and aimed another savage kick at Luke’s midsection. Luke sidestepped it and went in low before Darren could regain his balance.
He used the edge of his hand and with a short series of blows sent Darren crumpling against the alley wall.
Darren sank slowly to his knees, gasping for breath.
Luke took a step forward but stopped abruptly when he realized he and Darren no longer, had the alley to themselves. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a middle-aged couple standing in the entrance. Their faces showed the shock that had frozen them in place.
“Run, Ethel,” the man finally managed in a mid-western accent. His eyes locked on Luke’s face. He grabbed the woman’s arm and took an unsteady step back toward the safety of the street. “For God’s sake, run. Find a policeman.”
Luke stared at the couple as his mind produced an image of what the tourists were seeing. Two men dressed in black locked in violent hand-to-hand combat in an alley. Luke smiled reassuringly.
“It’s okay. Take it easy.” Luke took a couple of steps away from Darren and flashed another grin at the horrified tourists. “We’re with the film crew. He’s the star. I’m his stuntman. Just running through a couple of routines.” He glanced down at Darren. “Isn’t that right?”
Darren stared up at him in amazement. Then he looked at the couple and grimaced. “Yeah. Right.”
The woman brightened immediately. “Really? And you’re the star?” She plunged a hand into her bulging purse and withdrew a pen and a small notebook. Then she freed herself from her husband’s grasp and trotted forward. “Can I have your autograph?”
“Film crew? Was that the best you could do?” Darren glowered at Luke as he poured beer into a glass. The busy lunchtime crowd in the small restaurant created a hum of conversation that made it possible to talk without being overheard.
“Sorry. It was the only thing I could come up with at the time. What are you complaining about? I made you the star, didn’t I?”
“Big deal. You weren’t the one who had to invent a name to sign in that lady’s little notebook. I could barely think straight, let alone dream up a fake name.”
“What did you put down?” Luke asked.
Darren made a face. “Luke Darren.”
“Not bad. Sounds Hollywood.” Luke leaned back in his chair and eyed his cousin. “Where the hell did you learn the karate?”
“I’ve been studying it for a couple of years. I was just coming out of a class at the club when you found me.” Darren winced as he picked up the glass. He put it down again and gingerly touched his rib cage. “Something tells me you’ve been studying it longer than I have.”
“I’ve got a few years on you,” Luke pointed out.
“Right. More time to get sneaky and mean.” There was grudging admiration in Darren’s voice. “I didn’t recognize some of that stuff you used on me. How long have you been studying?”
“Since I was a kid. I got into a fight once when I was in my teens. The fight turned into a brawl, and a bunch of us got hauled off to the police station. Dad came down to get me. Instead of yelling at me he took me straight to the nearest martial arts academy and signed me up for lessons.”
Darren nodded in understanding. “Wanted you to learn how to take care of yourself properly, huh?”
Luke smiled faintly. “Not exactly. He said a Gilchrist needs to learn how to avoid trouble in the first place. He figured the martial arts training would teach me self-discipline and self-control.”
“No shit.” Darren grimaced. “Guess it didn’t work.”
“Sure it did. I left your head on your shoulders, didn’t I? If I hadn’t been exerting so much discipline and self-control, I would have ripped it off.”
“Jesus. You’re really pissed that I went to Katy about the money, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. Really pissed.”
“I tried everything else I could think of first,” Darren muttered. “But the broker says the guy who put the deal together is really putting on the pressure. Says we’ve got to come up with the cash or we’ll all wind up in jail. What the hell was I supposed to do?”
Luke wrapped his hand around the cold glass of beer. “It’s time you learned something, cousin.”
“What?”
“If you’re going to go around getting yourself into messes like this one, you’d better damn well learn how to clean ‘em up. Don’t rely on a guardian angel.”
Darren scowled at him. “How am I supposed to clean up this mess?”
“You don’t use karate to defend yourself in the business world,” Luke said. “You use information. Tell me about this real estate partnership.”
Darren hesitated. “Why?”
“Because you are apparently ass-deep in alligators. To prevent future annoying incidents such as this one, I am going to teach you how to drain the swamp.”
Katy gazed into the glowing bowl, lost in the brilliant, swirling color that had been captured in the glass. Graceful and elegant, the bowl stood nearly three feet high. It shimmered with light.
This particular piece was one of the most beautiful Hayden had ever done, Katy thought. It sat in isolated splendor on a plain white pedestal in the center of the gallery. There were several other spectacular pieces arranged discreetly on other white pedestals in the white-on-white room.
Maureen knew how to display Hayden’s work to its best advantage.
Katy walked over to another pedestal to examine a red and gold glass vase. At the back of the room Maureen, dressed in a black silk jumpsuit that made a striking statement in the white room, talked softly to a young couple.
In the end, the couple decided on a small amber and green bowl. Maureen smiled with satisfaction as she entered purchase information into the computer behind the white-tiled counter. She waited until her clients were out the door before she bore down on Katy.
“Thank God you got my message,” Maureen said without any preamble. “I was afraid you might already have left town.”
Katy glanced at her watch. “Luke is picking me up at the hotel in an hour. What’s wrong, Maureen?”
“I want to talk to you about Eden.” Maureen’s mouth tightened ominously. “I am extremely worried about her. I was going to call you, but when I found out you were in town on business I decided I would discuss the problem today.”
“I saw Eden yesterday in her office. She looks a little tense, but otherwise she seems all right.”
“She is not all right,” Maureen snapped. “There is something very wrong, and she won’t tell me what it is. But I think I know. Something she let slip to Darren makes me think she may be seeing that awful Nate Atwood again.”
Katy frowned, remembering what Fraser had said about seeing Eden get into a cab with Nate. “That doesn’t make any sense, Maureen. Why would she get involved with Nate after everything she’s been through?”
“God knows. You know how much she wanted him a year ago.”
Katy smiled wryly. “Believe me, I haven’t forgotten.”
Maureen peered at her. “Good Lord. You’re not still upset about that unfortunate business, are you?”
“No, Maureen. I’m not upset.”
“I should think not. You must be reasonable, my dear. Eden thought she was in love.”
“And that says it all, doesn’t it? Nothing gets in the way of a Gilchrist who has her heart set on something.”
Maureen drew herself up. “If you ask me, Eden is quite right. You were the lucky one. It was my daughter who suffered. That dreadful man married her solely because she was a Gilchrist.”
“It does appear that was a factor,” Katy agreed dryly.
“He thought that by marrying her he could get his hands on a chunk of the company. He used my daughter.”
“Yes, I think that’s a fair assessment of the situation.” Katy tilted her head and gazed thoughtfully at Maureen. “But Eden knows that as well as anyone. She said something just yesterday about the way Nate used her. There’s no reason to think she would take him back.”
“But she’s apparently seeing him again.”
“You don’t know that for certain.”
Maureen shook her head. “Something is going on. I know it is.”
“Even if it is, what do you expect me to do about it?”
“I want you to stop Nate Atwood from whatever it is he has in mind.”
Katy stared at her. “Stop him? Me? How on earth am I supposed to do that?”
“It’s quite simple. A man like that understands only one thing. Money. I want you to go to him and offer him a large sum of money to stay away from my daughter.”
Stunned, Katy stepped back swiftly and collided with a white pedestal. The green and orange bowl on top swayed precariously and started to topple.
Maureen shrieked in dismay. Her hand went to her throat. “Catch it before it falls.”
Katy whirled around and stretched out her hands. The bowl fell straight into her arms. She breathed a sigh of relief and set it carefully back on the pedestal. “Sorry about that.”
“My God, that’s one of Hayden’s finest pieces. Be careful, Katy. I’ve got a five-thousand-dollar price on that bowl.”
“Five thousand? Maybe you could just offer Nate a few of these bowls instead of cash.”
Maureen nodded seriously. “It’s a possibility. The thing is, I don’t know how much it will take to make him go away. He is a very greedy man, and he got virtually nothing out of Gilchrist at the time of the divorce.”
“Thanks to Justine’s lawyers. Maureen, if you think there’s a real problem with Nate, why don’t you go to Justine and tell her?”
Maureen’s eyes widened. “Are you mad? She would be furious with all of us if she thought Atwood was still a problem. She hasn’t forgiven Eden for marrying him in the first place.”
Katy sighed. “I know.”
Maureen closed her eyes in brief anguish. “Nor has she let Hayden and me forget that she blames us for not putting a stop to the relationship before it led to marriage. That old witch will probably never forgive or forget.”
“Typical Gilchrist,” Katy said with a poor attempt at a smile.
“This is not funny, Katy. I am scared to death of what might happen if Nate Atwood gets his hooks back in my daughter. It would be the final straw as far as Justine is concerned. She might disown all of us.”
“Oh, come now, Maureen, she’s not going to disown ninety percent of her family.”
“Why not? She doesn’t need any of us now that she has her precious bastard grandson. She’s made it clear she would rather have him than us anyway.”
“It’s the prodigal son syndrome. Luke was the one she didn’t have, so she focused on him. But that doesn’t mean she wants to disown the rest of you.”
Maureen gave a soft, despairing exclamation. “She’d do it if she got sufficiently angry, Katy. She’s disowned family before. She’d do it again.”
Katy frowned. “Are we talking about what happened when she kicked Luke’s parents out of the fold?”
“Yes. You weren’t even born. But I had just gotten engaged to Hayden. I was there that day at the wedding when Luke’s father failed to show. I saw how angry Justine was. I have never seen such rage, not even in another Gilchrist.”
Katy bit her lip. “I guess it must have been a dreadful scene.”
“Just as dreadful as the scene she made a month later when Thornton brought Cleo to the mansion. He wanted to introduce her to Justine and the rest of us.” Maureen lowered herself onto the small white bench near the wall. Her fingers shook, and her face was strained.
Katy sat down slowly beside her. “It must have been terrible for everyone.”
“Cleo was the one I truly felt sorry for, if you want to know the truth,” Maureen said quietly. “That poor woman couldn’t have known what she was getting into. I shall never forget the way she just stood there as Justine turned on her. Justine called her the most terrible names. Told her no child of hers would ever be acknowledged as a Gilchrist heir.”
“What did Cleo say?”
Maureen shook her head. “She stood there so bravely while Justine pronounced sentence. When it was over she looked at Justine and said she felt sorry for her. And then she said the Gilchrists were their own worst enemies. Thornton took her by the hand and led her out of the living room. We never saw either of them again.”
“How very sad.” But a typically dramatic Gilchrist moment, Katy thought.
Maureen stared straight ahead at a wide bowl that glowed pink and green in the light. “I learned my lesson that day. I knew then that Justine would not forgive a daughter-in-law who transgressed. I vowed to myself that I would never give her cause to turn on me the way she turned on Cleo.”
Katy looked at Maureen’s set profile. “I know this is none of my business, but why did you even go through with the marriage to Hayden? Why would you want to marry a Gilchrist after seeing what happened that day?”
“I loved Hayden, and I saw the genius in him. I knew I couldn’t walk away and abandon him to that old battle-ax. Justine would have tried to crush the talent in him, tried to force him to take his brother Thornton’s place.”
“So you married him to protect him from Justine?”
“I loved him. I married him so that he could grow and develop as an artist. He would have hated running Gilchrist, Inc.” Tears glittered in Maureen’s eyes.
“Yes,” Katy agreed softly, knowing it was the truth. Without stopping to think about it she reached over and put her arm around Maureen.
“You have no idea what it’s been like trying to shield Hayden and at the same time placate Justine all these years. I was so certain that once I produced grandchildren she would be pleased with me. I thought she would focus her attention on them. It worked for a while. I think she was even starting to view Darren as a successor.”
“Then Thornton and his wife died in that crash, and everything changed,” Katy concluded s
oftly. She patted Maureen’s shoulder.
“Suddenly nothing would do but to get Luke to take over the reins.” Maureen sighed. “That bastard. After all these years, Cleo has had her revenge, hasn’t she? Her son is now at the helm of Gilchrist, Inc. And I’m still struggling to protect my family from Justine.”
Katy sat silently for a long while, thinking it over. “Are you absolutely certain Eden is involved with Nate Atwood?”
“No.” Maureen removed a hankie from her pocket and blew her nose. “Not absolutely certain.”
“See if you can find out for sure,” Katy said gently. “Call me when you’re positive. I’ll see what I can do.”
Maureen blinked away her tears and smiled tremulously. “Thank you, Katy. I knew I could count on you. You’re always so helpful at times like this. You won’t say a word about this to anyone, will you?”
“No, of course not.”
Katy waited until Luke had the black Jaguar heading north toward Dragon Bay that afternoon before she tried to talk to him. One glance at his grim profile had already warned her that he was not in the best of moods. But she was accustomed to Gilchrist moods.
“How did your meeting with Darren go?” she asked anxiously as the Jag merged seamlessly into the heavy traffic on the interstate.
“Cousin Darren and I came to what is often termed a meeting of the minds.”
“Oh, good. I’m so glad, Luke.” Katy relaxed in the seat. “I was very concerned. He meant well, you know. He was only trying to prove himself.”
“Uh-huh.”
Katy glanced at him. “So what exactly is the plan?”
“He’s still working on it.”
Katy frowned. “But you’re helping him, aren’t you?”
Luke’s brows rose as he pulled out to pass a truck. “Let’s just say I’m pointing him in the right direction. He’s going to have to do the work.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’s in this mess because he got suckered by an expert named Milo Nyle. It has all the earmarks of a scam designed to set up naive fools like Darren who think they know how to wheel and deal in the business world.”