Free Dancing in the Dark: A Novella by Virginia Kelly Page A

steadied her. "What the hell are you doing here?"
    " Waiting for you." She pulled down the T-shirt she'd dug out of a drawer last night when she'd decided to wait for him. "Where have you been?"
    " What do you mean, where have I been?"
    " Your mom said you'd be here."
    " My mom..." He looked puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
    " I told you—"
    " Waiting for me, I got that. When did you get here?"
    " Late last night before the rain got bad. When it did, I decided to stay. Your mom said it was okay to use the spare room. I should have told her to tell you, not just showed up—"
    " I'm not questioning—"
    " I have no right, I know."
    " That's not what I was going to say."
    Matt wouldn 't say that. Ever. That wasn't who he was. No, Matt had given her carte blanche once. That he'd rescinded his invitation was one of her greatest regrets. But that wasn't why she was here.
    " JP's missing."
    She wished she could see his face clearly in the dim hallway; she did see him tilt his head slightly.
    "Missing?"
    " He's my brother, Matt. Let's not pretend. I know what you do, what he does."
    He didn 't react. Matt was the Sphinx. Inscrutable. That's what JP had always said. Matt was one of the reasons JP had joined the army.
    " He's missing. They called." She took a breath, tried to calm herself and get what she knew out correctly. "He said his name was Brooks. From the Agency, Langley, whatever you guys call it. He didn't say so, but I know."
    " What did he say?"
    " He asked if I'd heard from JP."
    " Did you?"
    " On Cassie's birthday, two months ago. We were at Mom's. He called."
    " Where was he?"
    Janey laughed, knowing she sounded too sharp. "Funny, Matt. Really funny. Like he would tell me that."
    He shrugged. "He might."
    " If he wasn't working. Which he was."
    " Okay."
    " Okay, that's it?"
    " I'll see what I can do."
    " Please, Matt," she paused, squinting to see his expression in the darkened hallway. "Do a lot."
    He nodded and turned. As cool as ever. As untouched as ever. Oh, if she could maintain that sort of poise. But she couldn 't. She was Jane Blackmon, Plain Jane, as she'd been known in high school, and he was Matt Kincaid, known only as Matt, when all the other Matts had to use their last names to differentiate themselves. An enigma even then, but one that drew people to him. As she'd been drawn.
    As she would always be drawn to this man who held a special place in her heart. His visits home over the years had solidified a friendship she hadn 't dared threaten with any reminder of that first time he shipped out. She needed the easy conversation, the laughter. The comfort of being around him. If he knew how she felt, he'd— What? Laugh? No, Matt wouldn't do that. Matt would be kind.
    And that would destroy her.
    He walked down the hall, a tall shadow against the stormy sky beyond the living room window.
    She followed.
    Bare to the waist, all sleek muscle and effortless coordination, he bent to pick up the phone from the coffee table and pressed several keys.
    " You use the phone?"
    " I'm not a telepath," he replied with a smile that pushed at the dimple in his left cheek. That devastating dimple.
    " You know what I mean. Isn't there a special phone or something?"
    " Not really." He listened, waited. Moments later, he pressed more keys. "Yeah, it's me." He paused. "Yep. Thanks. Got a favor," he said. "Friend of mine, JP Blackmon." Pause. "Yes."
    He turned away, the muted light filtering in from the outside made his dark hair look darker and shadowed the straight line of his backbone bracketed by muscle. Janey heard the sound of the tinny voice on the other end, but couldn't make out what was said. "No," he said into the receiver. After a moment, he added, "Let me know."
    He hung up and turned to her. "They'll let me know."
    " He said something about JP, didn't he?"
    " He knew who I was talking about."
    " Why?"
    " That's his job. To know."
    " Cut the crap, Matt. Where's my brother?"
    His attention, so focused on her, made