And no applauding members of the academy offered him a little gold statuette, no grateful studio head offered million dollar contracts to acknowledge his wonderful talent. His face would go unrecognized, his name unknown. Kelsey, a man who could have been anything or anyone he wanted, had simply picked up a sword and gone about the dangerous business of slaying dragons.
“I didn’t fit in that world anymore.”
Kelsey. Her beloved Kelsey, who honestly didn’t know he could fit into any world he chose.
And that was it, really. The bottom line. The role didn’t matter—only the performance that was as instinctive to him as breathing. Kelsey would always relish the roles, enjoying each for its own sake … because, to him, they weren’t roles.
They were pieces of himself.
If he chose to fit himself into her world, he would adapt instantly like the chameleon that could have been his namesake. She could see him so clearly in her mind as he went about learning peaches—and sisters. Small town life. The responsibilities of a settled home. Maybe a family.
The question was … would Kelsey come to terms with himself enough to realize that he could fit?
“Beth?”
Jo’s voice brought her back to the job at hand, and she shook off the question, knowing that only time and Kelsey could answer it. “Ready?”
Sighing, Jo began removing her clothes. “I can keep on my underwear, can’t I?”
“Well, of course. I would never ask my own sister to parade around stark naked in front of a strange maniac!”
“Gee, thanks.”
Elizabeth hefted the unfamiliar weight of the gun, studying it uneasily. That was the safety, wasn’t it? And this—you pulled this back to—to chamber a round … or did you? Throwing the matter into the lap of the gods, she took a firm grip on the gun and trusted to luck.
“I’m ready,” Jo said.
They left their former guard trussed up neatly, and moved between the wall of crates and the partition which had been erected to shape several small rooms.
“The door isn’t locked?” Elizabeth whispered.
“No, never. I go in first, right?”
“Yes. Try to turn him so he faces away from the door—and get him away from the missile if you can.”
Jo gave her a mock-haughty look, following her sister’s lead in being very calm about all this insanity. “If I can? Hey, sis, Mata Hari’s got nothing on me.”
“I hope not,” Elizabeth said. “She got shot.”
“Great,” Jo muttered. It was insanity, after all.
Elizabeth turned her head slightly, hearing the rumble of male voices. “Hurry,” she urged in a whisper.
Jo took a deep breath, and vanished through the doorway.
Kelsey knew damned well that Thorn was leading them in a carefully thought out, very confusing path through the maze. The trouble was, neither he nor Zach could very well protest until they were sure they knew exactly where they were. Mallory had admitted that Thorn could have shifted the moveable partitions to change the rooms around. He had before.
And then, following along behind Thorn, Kelsey felt Zach touch his arm and followed the other’s gaze to see, beyond a tall stack of crates, a faint glimmer of light.
The skylight.
But before they could act, they all three saw a slender figure leaning casually against the crates just ahead. A beautiful blond woman who smiled gently as Thorn stopped dead in the aisle.
“Hello, Major,” she said.
And it wasn’t very hard, after all, to finish the job. While Thorn was still paralyzed, Kelsey coolly disarmed him and Zach produced a pair of handcuffs that were put quickly in place.
“Federal and military agents, Major Thorn,” Kelsey told him. “You’re under arrest.”
Zach looked quickly at Elizabeth. “The missile?”
“This way.” She led them to the virtually hidden room, and pushed open the door.
And Kelsey knew that never, to his dying day, would he forget the scene presented to him.
A very lovely blond woman stood with a businesslike automatic in one small hand, pointing it steadily at a man who was positioned just a few steps away from a missile.
The man looked less unhappy than he might have under the circumstances, possibly because the lovely lady was naked except for panties and a bra.
Kelsey heard a chuckle from Zach and watched while he moved toward the missile and pulled a small bag of tools from inside his shirt with which to defang a particularly ugly dog of war. And Kelsey was saved from having to remark on the situation when Derek appeared suddenly beside him and firmly took a subdued Thorn’s arm.
“Hi,” he said casually.
Kelsey stared at him blankly. “How did you get in here?”
“Hell, we own the joint.” Derek grinned. “Josh pulled rank, and by the time he explained to the soldiers that their CO was cozying up to a nuclear missile, they were ready to strap him to it and bury them both.” He eyed Jo with interest as she came to the door. “Hello.”
She smiled at him. “I have clothes around here somewhere.”
“Don’t find them on my account,” he begged politely.
Jo looked at Elizabeth. “Which one is yours?”
“This one,” Kelsey said in a low, raspy voice while he reached for Elizabeth’s hand.
Jo eyed him. “Yes, of course you are.”
“Why don’t you get dressed, Jo?” Elizabeth asked, a bit wary of Kelsey’s impassive expression.
“Yes, why don’t I?” She glared at Thorn, then looked at Derek. “Would you please remove this creature?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Derek went in the room quickly to remove Max so that Zach could concentrate on his defanging, then hustled the major and Max away.
Jo strolled back to her former jail to retrieve her clothes, and her voice sang out a moment later. “There’s another one in here, dammit!”
“Tied up,” Elizabeth murmured.
Kelsey took a deep breath. “You do realize you could have been killed?” he asked in the calm tone of a man who wanted to get the facts straight.
She nodded. “It occurred to me.”
“Then why in hell did you come here?” Kelsey’s voice was strained now, thickened. “You knew we were about to move.”
“Yes.” She looked up at him gravely, her lovely eyes very direct. “I knew. But I didn’t know what it felt like to slay a dragon. And I needed to know that, Kelsey.”
He looked at her for a moment, then pulled her abruptly into his arms and hugged her. “Dammit,” he muttered.
Elizabeth burrowed closer, holding on to what she could of him.
NINE
“A DEBRIEFING.” KELSEY stood on the bottom step, looking at Elizabeth with restless eyes. “Josh and his crew can get away with just vanishing, but Derek and I have to report in. A few days.”
“I understand.” She glanced past him, watching a low-slung sports car turn onto the main road from her driveway. “Derek’s leaving now?”
Kelsey smiled. “Riding off into the sunset. Like the Lone Ranger.”
Elizabeth kept her arms crossed, looking relaxed. The sun was indeed going down. The military men—those who had helped to evacuate Pinnacle—were now in charge of Meditron, with Blaine and Jo remaining there to answer official questions. The missile had been disarmed. Josh Long and his “crew” had departed quietly. The newspapers had yet to hear of the story and, with luck, would find it uninteresting now that the shouting was over.
“Will you drive all night?” she asked steadily.
He shook his head. “Josh pulled a few more strings. I’m meeting Derek in Charleston; there’s a military transport waiting for us.”
She nodded. “How do I thank you, Kelsey?”
“For what? In the end, I didn’t do very much.”
“It all happened because of you,” she told him quietly. “I never would have found the courage to—to do something if it hadn’t been for you.”
??
?Elizabeth—”
She lifted a hand to stop him. “You have to be debriefed, remember? We can talk—later.”
“I’ll be back,” he said.
Elizabeth smiled. “I’ll be here.”
She watched him move slowly to his car and get in. Watched him drive out to the main road and turn toward Charleston. When the sun was gone and the breeze turned chilly, she went inside the house.
The girls would be home soon, she realized. The soldiers hadn’t wanted to release any of the citizens—including the students—until they were sure the threat was gone. But now they knew the town was out of danger. They would release the people, and the girls would be home soon. Elizabeth went into the kitchen, turned on lights, and began cooking.
When Ami and Meg burst through the front door about an hour later, Elizabeth turned to greet them with a smile.
“Beth!” Ami was flushed and excited. “Soldiers came to school and made us leave. They made the whole town leave!”
“Somebody said there was a bomb,” Meg explained. “And we had to wait for hours near Charleston in that big park with all the shelters.”
“Jo’s coming home,” Elizabeth said.
Both Ami and Meg went still, their eyes widening.
“From her vacation? Sure,” Meg said dismissively.
But Ami’s eyes were very bright. “Kelsey did it, didn’t he?”
Elizabeth smoothed the fine, pale hair of her youngest sister, and smiled. “Yes. Kelsey did it.”
In the cool early morning mist of a spring day, Ami fed the horses and then headed back to the house. She was a little troubled because Kelsey had been gone for over a week now, and Beth had been very quiet. Even Meg, generally not one to notice other people’s feelings, had said more than once that “that Kelsey” would be turning up here soon.
But Beth was very quiet.
Ami sighed, then tilted her head as she heard a faint sound from the front of the house. Curious, she walked around from the back, and when she stopped, she could feel her smile growing.
“Hello, Kelsey.”
He looked up from his work, smiling in return. “Good morning, little fawn. You’re up bright and early.”
“The horses,” she explained, watching solemnly as he continued working.
“Demanding beasts,” he agreed gravely.
“Yes. You’ve been here awhile.”
“It takes time to do this right,” he said with a note of apology in his voice.
“I see it does. How long do you want me to wait before I send Beth out?”
He looked up to wink at her. “Give me another half hour, all right?”
“Got it.” Ami turned away, then hesitated and looked back at him. “Kelsey?”
He looked up questioningly.
“I’m glad you came back.”
Kelsey smiled. “I was always coming back, honey. Elizabeth just didn’t know that.”
Trying to wipe the silly smile off her face, Ami returned to the house.
And, exactly half an hour later, Elizabeth came out onto the front porch, a puzzled frown on her face. She went very still as soon as she saw, and she stared in wonder.
Lining the front walkway were a dozen rose bushes neatly set out, already budding.
“There isn’t a letter.”
She turned slowly as Kelsey stepped up onto the porch from the side and regarded her seriously. “Why—why not?” she asked unsteadily, remembering that she had asked him not to send cut roses with the Dear Jane letter.
He stepped closer, his face still grave. And his voice was quiet, reflective. “Because I could never say good-bye to you. I’ve always known that was true. Even when I didn’t know if I could stay here, I knew I could never say good-bye.”
Elizabeth took a deep breath. “I realized a few things when I tried my hand at … dragon slaying. I realized that it wasn’t your fault I wasn’t seeing you clearly. You were always there, Kelsey. I just didn’t know how to look. But I’ve learned how to do that. I can see you now. And even though I believe you could fit yourself into any life you wanted, I’ll still understand if you have to go.”
“I resigned from the agency,” he said.
Elizabeth could almost hear her heart pounding, and she had to swallow hard.
He smiled tenderly. “Haven’t you realized it yet? I’m in love with you.”
Her heart caught in her throat, and Elizabeth was in his arms with no memory of moving. He held her tightly, and his voice was husky now, a gentle, rasping sound.
“There’s a word for what I feel for you. Stronger than love. Stronger than caring. Stronger than passion.”
“What is it?” she whispered.
“Forever. I recognized it from the first, I just didn’t understand what it meant. Then I read that note you left, and thought of you in danger. And I understood. Forever, Elizabeth. No matter what. No matter where. Nothing else is as strong as that single reality. I’ll love you forever.”
She lifted her head from his shoulder, and her eyes shone wetly. “That night in your car,” she said softly, “when I realized I loved you, that’s what I felt. That, no matter what happened, I’d always love you. Even if you left me. I never had a choice.”
He framed her face in warm hands and kissed her, a gentle touch that rapidly became something fierce. Lifting his head at last, he said somewhat hoarsely, “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m planning on all the proper flourishes for this relationship. Starting with an engagement ring and very quickly followed by a wedding.”
Elizabeth gazed up at him lovingly. “Oh … I think I can live with that. But are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life,” he responded, and the truth of his words was in the fervent tone of his voice.
She kissed him. “We should tell the girls,” she murmured.
“Tell us?” a voice exclaimed from the door, where Jo stood with Ami and Meg at her side. “You think we’re blind or something?”
EPILOGUE
HAGEN STUDIED THE coded message in his hands for a long time, then methodically tore the paper into tiny pieces.
He burned the pieces in a brass ashtray.
Then, almost idly, he said to the empty room, “I suppose it could be considered kidnapping. But maybe not. And I do owe the man a favor.”
He sighed.
And he sat for a long time in the silent office, thinking about Kadeira.
BANTAM BOOKS BY KAY HOOPER
THE BISHOP TRILOGIES
Stealing Shadows • Hiding in the Shadows
Out of the Shadows
Touching Evil • Whisper of Evil
Sense of Evil
Hunting Fear • Chill of Fear
Sleeping with Fear
Blood Dreams • Blood Sins • Blood Ties
THE QUINN NOVELS
Once a Thief • Always a Thief
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Amanda • After Caroline
Finding Laura • Haunting Rachel
CLASSIC FANTASY AND ROMANCE
On Wings of Magic • The Wizard of Seattle
My Guardian Angel (anthology)
Yours 2 Keep (anthology)
Golden Threads • Something Different
Pepper’s Way • C.J.’s Fate
The Haunting of Josie • Illegal Possession
If There Be Dragons • Rebel Waltz
Larger than Life • Time After Time
In Serena’s Web • Raven on the Wing
Rafferty’s Wife • Zach’s Law
The Fall of Lucas Kendrick • Unmasking Kelsey
Kay Hooper, Unmasking Kelsey
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