Free The Fall of Lucas Kendrick by Kay Hooper Page B

blinked again. “Oh.” He turned and went to the door, then swung around to frown at his boss. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked.
    “I’m fine. Go call Kendrick.”
    When his baffled agent had finally vanished, Hagen leaned back in his chair and laughed softly. Every general knew how effective the element of surprise could be, after all. Let them wonder and look over their shoulders for his customary surprise. They would look in vain, he thought happily. And that would be the surprise. It would keep them all on their toes.
    Hagen enjoyed keeping his agents on their toes.
    Kyle unpacked in the luxurious room she had been given in Martin Rome’s palatial house just outside Philadelphia, having politely refused the assistance of a maid; there were some things she preferred to do for herself. She moved around the room briskly, speculating on various things, and wasn’t surprised when Lucas spoke from the connecting door to his room.
    “Is this arrangement supposed to be discreet?”
    She smiled a little as she stood before the dressing table, watching him in the mirror as she removed the pins from her hair. “More discreet, I suppose, than giving us a single room or letting us sneak into each other’s through the hall in the dead of night. Martin obviously assumes we wouldn’t have shown up together if we didn’t want to be together.”
    Lucas leaned against the doorjamb, watching her dark hair tumble down around her shoulders. Absently he said, “Well, Rome didn’tseem too upset when you arrived with me. Think this mysterious Zamara has captured his heart as well as his mind?”
    “We’ll have to wait and see. She might well be ‘indisposed’ at the moment and unable to greet guests, but I’m betting she’s going to make a suitably dramatic entrance tonight.” Kyle turned to face him, leaning back against the dresser. “When are Mr. Long and his wife arriving?”
    “A little later, I think. Kelsey wasn’t sure. Just remember you are supposed to know Josh—and introduce us.”
    “Do I know his wife?” she asked dryly.
    Lucas smiled at her. “Yes, you know Raven. Rome shouldn’t think that odd at all. Josh and Raven will be delighted to see you again, and I’ll be merely your escort.”
    “And lover,” she murmured. Before he could respond, she went on calmly. “Your background is that you’re from a West Coast family in the wine business, we met on a skiing holiday at Aspen, and you swept me off my feet.”
    “Precisely.”
    “So. When do we start searching?”
    “Kyle, we’ve been through this be—”
    “And I say my way makes more sense. Luc, if you’re caught skulking through the house on your own, it’ll look suspicious. As if you were casing the joint, at the very least. If I’m with you, we can always give the appearance we were overwhelmed by passion and had to find a dark corner to neck in.”
    “Don’t tempt me.”
    Kyle slowly crossed the room to stand before him. “Maybe I want to. What happens on Monday, Luc?”
    He looked down at her, thinking of the past days when both had been so careful not to disturb the fragile harmony between them. And he felt the throbbing ache that was always with him now, heating his blood and clouding his mind. It was dangerous, what he was feeling. Dangerous because he would need to be alert and aware and he could hardly think of anything except Kyle.
    But he had made up his mind that he would give Kyle all the time she needed. If he had to take cold showers every hour, he was still determined that the choice would be hers.
    Resisting the nearly overpowering urge to yank her into his arms, he said, “That depends on what you want to happen.”
    “You’ll have to go back to New York, won’t you?”
    “I have weeks of vacation time coming to me. Things are pretty calm at the office now, so I can take the time off if I want. Why don’t we wait until Monday?”
    “Business before pleasure?” she asked lightly.
    “Not necessarily.”