Twist of Fate

  “Hannah! Damn it, do you have to twist everything I say? I have never used you.”

  “Are you sure of that, Gideon?” Her eyes were almost wistful. He didn’t trust the expression one bit.

  “Of course I’m sure of it. The old business between your brother and myself had nothing to do with you.”

  “You played games with me over it.”

  He paused with a forkful of salmon and aimed the prongs at her. “No, Hannah, you tried to play games. I only went along for the ride. You’re the one who came to Vegas and tried to maneuver me into agreeing to leave your brother alone.”

  “I was out of my league with you, wasn’t I?”

  He shrugged and swallowed the salmon. “You’re a guidance counselor, not a financial consultant.”

  “As a guidance counselor I’m out of everybody’s league. That’s one of the reasons I’m getting ambitious.”

  “Christ, you’re getting paranoid.”

  She nodded. “Possibly. I prefer to think of it as ambitious, though.”

  He glared at the necklace around her neck. “You know, that thing gets uglier every time I see it.”

  “I love it. I wear it with everything now. I think I’m ready to go home now, Gideon.”

  His mouth hardened in frustration. He didn’t know how to reach her verbally. She was beyond him tonight, dancing just out of reach and determined to stay there. That left only one other approach. “All right, Hannah, I’ll take you home.”

  The drive back to her apartment was made in silence. Gideon’s rented Ford climbed the hills through the financial district, past the high rise office buildings. The rain was returning as a light mist, forcing Gideon to use his wipers about every third block. They crossed over Interstate 5, which cut through the heart of the city and then they were into the quieter neighborhoods of Capital Hill. Here, grand old brick apartment buildings reigned, their windows warm with light. Gideon frowned to himself, trying to remember the layout of the streets. He wasn’t that familiar yet with Seattle. Many more trips like this one, though, and he’d soon know his way around. There was definitely a question as to how many more trips he’d get. He had to do something about that tonight.

  He hadn’t been able to reach Hannah with words, but he doubted that her body would let her forget what they’d shared physically. It had been almost three weeks now since they’d returned from the Caribbean. As far as he could tell there was no other man in the picture. Surely she must be a little hungry for him tonight in spite of her shiny bright facade of indifference. He sure as hell was starving for her.

  Gideon found a parking space in the same block as Hannah’s apartment and slipped the Ford into it with a skill he took for granted. Without a word he opened the door for Hannah and waited while she climbed out.

  He couldn’t just jump on her the moment she opened the door. Maybe she would give him the opportunity he needed by inviting him inside for an after-dinner drink. She didn’t say a word as she walked beside him along the tree-lined sidewalk. Gideon decided he’d give a great deal to be able to read her mind at that moment. He was struggling for some comment to break the silence when he spotted her Toyota.

  “Did they get it painted for you while you were down in the Caribbean?” In the street lights he paused to examine the vehicle.

  “Yes. It looks decent again.” She fumbled for her key and kept walking.

  Gideon had to take a few quick steps to catch up with her. The mist was getting thicker. Soon it would turn back into real rain. “Here, I’ll take that.” He reached for her key as they walked into the entrance hall of the apartment building and started up the stairs.

  “It’s all right.”

  “Hannah, for pete’s sake, I’m supposed to open the door for you after a date. Let me have the key.”

  “I said, it’s all right, Gideon. I can manage my own door.”

  She promptly stumbled slightly on the stairs, and Gideon reached out to take her arm and the key. He had both before she could protest further. At the top of the stairs he opened the door and pushed through behind her even as she was turning with a polite good night on her lips.

  “Hannah,” he whispered, shutting the door behind him, “you don’t want to send me away.” Gideon tugged her into his arms, determined to find the response he’d tapped that afternoon when he’d arrived. Once he had it he was sure he could build on it.

  “I’m not interested in going to bed with you tonight, Gideon. If you’ve come all the way from Tucson expecting a casual roll in the sack, you’ve really wasted your time.”

  “Nothing is ever casual with you.” She started to respond, but he cut off the cold words as he bent his head and kissed her.

  She didn’t actively fight him. Instead she merely remained passive beneath his attempts to find the answers he wanted. Gideon gripped her arms, pulling her closer. He could feel the soft thrust of her breasts beneath her dress and when he slid his hands down below her waist he found the lushness of her hips.

  “Kiss me, Hannah,” he said against her mouth. “You remember what it was like between us. You can’t have forgotten.” Gideon didn’t wait for an answer. He moved his lips coaxingly on hers, urging her lower body against his. He wanted her tonight and he wanted her to know it. She had responded so beautifully to his need for her during their stay in the Caribbean. He couldn’t believe she wouldn’t respond that way again.

  He had left Tucson convinced that in this one area, at least, their communication was almost perfect. Gideon had been certain that regardless of what passed between them on a verbal level, taking Hannah to bed was a sure thing. Once he had her in bed he could relax and give himself up to the satisfaction he found so easily with Hannah.

  Slowly he felt her mouth soften under his. With a rising sense of relief and anticipation, Gideon tightened his hold. He flicked his tongue along her full bottom lip and then probed intimately between her teeth. She lifted her arms almost reluctantly to encircle his neck. Hannah didn’t want to surrender, Gideon realized, but she was as much at the mercy of the passion that rose between them as he was. Triumphantly he groaned, cradling her completely against him. Memories of her lying nude beside him in the darkness had been haunting him for three long weeks.

  She was responding more fully now, her body soft and pliant against his. Her tongue slipped delicately into his mouth, seeking to return the intimate, probing kiss. Gideon felt her shiver in his arms and took harsh pleasure from the knowledge that she was falling back into his hands at last. He should have taken this approach the moment he arrived that afternoon. All the talking at dinner had achieved nothing. The way to handle Hannah in her present mood was to take her to bed. Catching her gently by the nape of the neck, Gideon used his free hand to find the fastenings of her dress.

  “No, Gideon.”

  The words shocked him with their clarity and certainty. She didn’t try to pull away. She simply refused him access to her clothing.

  “Hannah, you want this as much as I do.”

  “I told you earlier I won’t go to bed with you.”

  “Why?” he asked softly, drawing his hand gently down over her breast. He could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra. “Why fight something this good, honey? We’re lovers. There’s no need to send me away tonight.”

  She looked up at him, her arms still circling his neck, and it seemed to Gideon that her hazel green eyes were deeper and more unfathomable than he had ever seen them. Her lips curved very slightly.

  “I’m not going to get involved in an intellectual debate on the subject. The answer is no.”

  “Are you afraid of me, Hannah?”

  “Maybe.”

  He stroked her cheek lightly. “You know there’s no need. I’d never hurt you.”

  “I’m afraid that I’m still not in your league, Gideon. I’m getting tougher and I’m getting stronger, but I’m not quite ready for you yet. I took a risk down in the Caribbean and I lost. I won’t take any more risks for a while.”

 
He stared at her fiercely. “What kind of risk did you take?”

  “I thought you were changing, softening. I thought you were beginning to need me and that we could find some common ground together. But you’re never going to change, Gideon. You’re always going to be as hard as nails. Until I’m also as hard as nails I can’t afford to get involved with you. Good night, Gideon.”

  “Damn it, Hannah, you’re not making any sense tonight. You talk as if you have to transform yourself into some sort of super woman before you’ll risk going back to bed with me.”

  “Before I risk going to bed with you or any other man. I’m going to learn to set the rules. The games will be played my way, and I will be the one who always wins or at least I’ll break even. Come back and see me in a year or two, Gideon. No telling where I’ll be by then.”

  “You can’t send me away that easily, lady.”

  “Why not? Because you saved my life that day in the cove? You can’t hold that over my head as a means of getting me into bed. Besides, I’ve already thanked you for that.”

  “Well, what about what I’m doing for your brother? You haven’t thanked me for that.” The rash, challenging words were out before he could stop them. Gideon swore silently as he saw her eyes narrow. Why the hell hadn’t he kept his mouth shut?

  “You’ve made it perfectly clear that your business with my brother excludes me. The last time I got involved I made a fool of myself. I wouldn’t dream of interfering again. Not unless you use your consulting position to hurt him somehow. Did you make the deal with Nick as a way of convincing me I owed you another couple of nights in bed?”

  “No, damn it!”

  She nodded, satisfied. “I didn’t think so. After all, you’re probably not that desperate for a woman. There must be plenty of females available in Tucson. Lots of sun-streaked blondes who like to hang around successful businessmen. No, it’s as I said. You’re here for your own, private reasons. I don’t think those reasons really include me except in a peripheral way. Let’s not argue, Gideon. There’s nothing more to discuss. Dinner was lovely. Thank you and good night.”

  “I don’t believe this.”

  “That’s because you’re so accustomed to winning.”

  “This isn’t a game we’re playing.”

  “Everything that has a winner or a loser can be classified as a game.”

  She slipped out of his arms. He made no attempt to stop her. Hannah moved out of reach, aware that she was seeking a sense of safety by putting some distance between herself and Gideon. She knew that the only reason she had succeeded in sliding away from him just now was because he was too surprised by her actions to stop her.

  “Hannah, listen to me.”

  She smiled bleakly. “You thought it would be so easy, didn’t you, Gideon? Don’t worry, you’ll live. Maybe you’ll even discover that you don’t have to win every time.” She was standing by her desk, idly toying with a page from her aunt’s journals. Earlier she had left the book open to an entry detailing the women’s cult on Revelation Island. “You know, these Revelation women certainly had a foolproof method of handling men. Nothing like being the chief intermediaries between the gods and the males to keep the males in line. You should read what went on during these all-night celebrations. They had a huge, carved vessel that they filled with a fermented liquor they made themselves. Everyone drank from it during the ceremony. The theory was that when it was empty the most important goddess could be reached. I’m afraid Aunt Elizabeth got tipsy right along with the rest of the women. I don’t think she mentions that in her books but it’s here in her journal.” Hannah broke off in surprise as she realized that the page she was looking at was from a much earlier section of the journal.

  “Hannah, I don’t give a damn about Nord’s studies on some female cult.” Gideon stepped closer, his expression intent and forbidding. “I want to talk about us.”

  “When it comes to us, the conversation is closed for the evening, Gideon.” She flipped the pages in the journal, searching for the one she had been reading earlier. “I could have sworn I left this open at a different place. Maybe a breeze came through. But I didn’t have the window open.” With a curious sense of unease she glanced around the room. Something was wrong and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

  “What is it, Hannah?” Gideon was alert now, watching her in a different way.

  “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.” She wandered over to look down into a box of books she still hadn’t unpacked. “I left this carton closed.”

  “It’s closed now.” Gideon followed her, glancing down at the cardboard box which had all four edges wedged under each other.

  She drew in a breath, calming herself. “But not the way I left it. I didn’t feel like struggling to get the corners locked together that way so I just left the edges folded shut. Gideon, I think someone’s been in here tonight.”

  “Hell. And we’ve been standing here in the living room yelling at each other as if we were involved in a charming little domestic quarrel.”

  “Hardly yelling.”

  “Get out into the hall.”

  “But, Gideon…”

  “Now.” He was already yanking her toward the door, opening it and stuffing her outside. “Scream if you hear anything at all or if I’m not back in three minutes.”

  “What are you going to do?” She stared at him in confusion.

  “I’m just going to check to make sure we haven’t trapped someone in the bedroom.” He was gone before she could argue.

  Feeling foolish and suddenly quite worried, Hannah obeyed, listening intently to the sounds of Gideon’s movements. The search didn’t take him long. It was a very small apartment. He was back at the door within a few minutes, his expression thoughtful.

  “It’s all right. If there was anyone here, he’s gone now.”

  “Why would anyone be interested in that carton of books?”

  “I doubt if he was. Probably didn’t know what was in the box when he opened it. You’d better have a look at your valuables and see if anything’s missing. Whoever he was, he was neat. I can’t see any obvious signs of the place having been tossed. There aren’t even any signs of the door being forced.”

  Hurriedly Hannah went through her drawers, checked her stereo, counted her few items of jewelry and made sure the small stash of emergency cash was still hidden in the freezer.

  “The freezer? You keep cash in the freezer?” Gideon looked appalled.

  “It’s for emergencies.”

  “It’s probably the second place a burglar would look. Right after he’d checked your bedroom drawer.”

  “Well, he didn’t find it, did he?” She closed the refrigerator door with triumph.

  “No. He doesn’t seem to have found anything, in fact. Hannah, are you absolutely sure that box was closed a different way?”

  She grimaced. “I’m having a few doubts now. If someone had been through the apartment there ought to be more evidence. I didn’t think the average burglar was this neat.”

  “I don’t think he is.”

  “What about the average corporate spy, Gideon?”

  “Huh?” He swung around to face her, his brows drawing together. “Corporate spy? You think one of Ballantine’s people went through this place?”

  “If I ever find out Ballantine had my apartment searched, I’ll sue until kingdom come.”

  “You won’t have to sue. I’ll take him apart. He’s got no business dragging you into this.”

  The new level of tension in Gideon was almost palpable. Hannah experienced a flicker of uncertainty. It occurred to her that Gideon Cage could be a dangerous man. She had sworn to herself that she would not get involved in his battles and that she would keep an emotional distance between them, but some of her old habits were proving hard to break. She felt an unfortunate urge to protect Gideon from himself.

  “I was only talking off the top of my head, Gideon. It’s highly unlikely that Ballantine would have my apart
ment searched. What could he possibly hope to find? He’d hardly expect you to store corporate secrets around here. The truth is, you were undoubtedly right about my incipient paranoia this evening. Nothing is missing. All I have to go on is the fact that I remember leaving the journal open to a different page and that box closed in a different manner. Neither of those two facts is enough to warrant hysteria. I’m sorry I mentioned them.”

  “Now you’re trying to convince yourself that no one was in here after all?”

  She smiled brightly. “Doing a good job of it, aren’t I? You said yourself that any burglar worth his salt would have found my cold cash. And even if he hadn’t thought the stereo sufficiently high tech he would have been interested in the bits and pieces of jewelry I’ve got. As for Ballantine, he simply has no reason to want this place searched.”

  “Unless he knows I’m here.”

  “Even if he knows you’re here, why would he want to have a look around my apartment?”

  Gideon ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated and concerned. “I don’t get it.”

  “Neither do I. But I expect it’s because there’s nothing to get. Closing the door probably caused enough of a draft to turn the pages in the journal.”

  “What about the carton?”

  She lifted one shoulder. “I must have forgotten how I left it. I’m sorry, Gideon. A woman living alone sometimes gets a bit nervous about small details.”

  “You’re still nervous, aren’t you? All your rationalization hasn’t really convinced you that no one was in here tonight.”

  “As I said. A woman sometimes gets nervous. There’s certainly nothing here to warrant calling the cops. Don’t worry, Gideon. I’ll be fine.”

  Thumbs hooked into his belt, Gideon sauntered over to the desk to look down at the journal. “You’ll feel better if I spend the night.”

  She went still. “No, I will not feel better. I will feel like a fool.”

  His head came up, his gaze hard. “I’m not going to seduce you.”

  “I know,” she said easily. “I don’t intend to let you.”

  “I’ll sleep on the sofa.”