Free Hooper, Kay - [Hagen 09] by It Takes A Thief (V1.0)[Htm]

tip her chin up, and leaned over the
open car door, kissing her firmly and thoroughly. And that kiss left
her in no doubt that desire was still very much present, and still
very real.
    "Don't forget me," he said softly.
    Silently, she got into her car and started it as he
closed the door. Then, with a last half-baffled look at him, she
drove slowly off down the rutted track toward the main road.
    Dane remained there until he could no longer see or hear
the car, until the forest swallowed it – and her. Then he
turned slowly and started back toward the house. A glance at his
watch told him he still had time before dinner, that the interlude
with Jennifer had spanned minutes only.
    He wondered if he was being a damned fool.
    A soft whistle caught his attention just as he found a
way back into the overgrown garden near the side of the house, and he
paused, looking around.
    "Here," Skye said in a low voice, stepping out
from the early evening shadows beneath what might once, In an era of
garden parties, have been an arbor.
    Dane looked at him for a moment, then glanced around to
make certain they were alone. There was no one in sight, no sound to
be heard. Joining his partner in the dimness of the arbor, he said in
an equally quiet tone, "Taking a chance."
    "Couldn't be helped," Skye said. "Mind if
I ask you a question?"
    "You will anyway," Dane muttered.
    "You're so right. When are you going to tell your
lady the truth?"
    Dane didn't answer for a moment, or look at the other
man. Instead, he gazed toward the house, senses automatically probing
to alert him in case someone approached. "The truth?" he
said finally. "Ten years of lies, shadows, and half-truths. What
can I tell her?" Then, realizing, he shot his partner a sharp
look. "You saw us out there."
    "Sorry. Purely unintentional, I assure you. I was
looking for you. And you didn't answer the question."
    "Yes, I did."
    "Cut it out," Skye said roughly. "You
know what I'm talking about."
    They stood gazing at each other, two men who had been
partners for a decade and best friends much longer than that. Both
big men, both with bright eyes and shadows inside. Men whose shared
pasts formed a bond rarely put into words. Men who knew each other
too well to be able to dissemble; between them, there was little left
except the unvarnished truth.
    "She talked about honor, Skye," Dane said
tautly. "What could I say to that, except more half-truths? What
could I tell her? If I have any honor left to me, it's been hacked to
pieces over the years."
    "That isn't true, and you know it."
    "I don't know anything anymore. Except that I am
what she thinks I am. A gambler and a thief."
    "No. That's the masquerade."
    "Is it? When does the actor become the role? We
both know it happens sooner or later. Maybe I need Jenny to remind me
that I crossed that line a long time ago."
    Skye drew a deep breath and released It slowly. "So.
You're in love with her."
    It hit Dane like a physical blow, a fist driving into
him, bruising some integral part of him. But he didn't deny it.
Because the unaccustomed tangle of emotions suddenly made sense, and
he saw what his partner had seen first.
    He was in love with Jennifer. At some moment during
the past twenty-four hours, she had become vitally important to him,
as necessary as his next breath. He didn't know when it had happened.
Perhaps minutes ago, when he had held and kissed her. Or before, when
she had so comically related her mother's intention of poisoning his
wife, if one existed. Or even last night, when a lady in a red dress,
a stolen bracelet in her slender hand, had gazed at him with panic In
her eyes.
    "Damn," he said softly.
    "All this talk about honor," Skye murmured,
"because you're a gambler, and her father lost her home in
a poker game. So she asked you – or you're asking yourself –
If there are any lines you won't cross. There are, Dane. You think I
don't know after all these years?"
    "How can you, when I don't?"
    "But you do know. That