Free Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound by authors_sort

Lev out into the open so he could be terminated. Now, he knew his reticence was more than that—it was also about this particular woman.
    “I love living here,” Judith admitted, as she slowly straightened, the books in her hands.
    Stefan knew he was giving her the idea that something tragic and personal had happened to him to make him want peace—to make him decide to turn his back on city life. She was looking at him with just a little bit of compassion. She didn’t want to be interested, but she couldn’t quite help herself. He made the observation with intense satisfaction. Thomas Vincent had to make his pursuit of Judith low-key or she would run.
    “I think I would as well.” He was a little shocked to realize he spoke the truth. Settling down had never been something he considered, or even imagined, yet the conviction in his voice was real. “Do you get many strangers in town?”
    “The locals all know one another. We’re a fairly close bunch—our livelihood depends on one another. But this is a tourist town. Many people vacation here. It’s beautiful and all the artists settling here have attracted visitors as well.”
    That wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Petr Ivanov could very well blend in to the many vacationers and tourists, making it more difficult for Stefan to ferret him out. Ivanov was good at blending and even better at disguises.
    Stefan let his gaze slide away from Judith’s again. He drew his finger around his collar as if it had become just a little too tight. “I have a confession to make.” He hesitated just a moment and then sent her a quick, apologetic grin—a wolf in sheep’s clothing. “I saw one of your early paintings at a friend’s house. He’s a collector out of New York. It was titled Moon Rising, and I was awed when I saw it. I tried to buy it from him but he wouldn’t budge. I offered a quarter of a million dollars, and he still wouldn’t sell.”
    It was easy enough to sound honest, because he was telling the absolute truth. As part of his cover as an American, over the years, he had cultivated high-profile friends. Steven Cabot was the owner of a prestigious international law firm. He also was a collector of art—both paintings and sculptures. It was pure coincidence that when Thomas Vincent had mentioned he was interested in artist Judith Henderson, Cabot had become extremely excited. He raved over a painting he’d acquired some years earlier and took Thomas in to see it.
    Stefan’s reaction had been that same physical one he’d had the first time he’d viewed her paintings in her file. Gut-wrenching and totally ensnared. He saw far more than the moonlit sky spilling down on a field of white flowers. The piece was breathtaking. Marvelous. Ingenious. The painting was filled with passion, sensual and innocent—just like the woman standing before him. It wouldn’t have mattered so much if Steve hadn’t stood staring entranced up at it.
    For the first time in his life, Stefan Prakenskii experienced black jealousy. The emotion shook him, descending like a dark cloud when he was someone who refused to acknowledge feelings. For one terrible moment, Steve Cabot’s life had hung in the balance. Judith’s painting was all about life and living, not about death, and he respected that, forcing himself to turn on his heel and walk away from dark temptation. He had known then he needed to retire, to disappear, before he no longer knew the difference between right and wrong.
    Contrary to the beliefs of his superiors, he had a code he lived by and he was too close to crossing that thin, blurring line. For good or bad, this was his last mission and he’d taken it for two reasons. He was going to know once and for all if his brother was alive—and he meant to keep him that way. And he’d wanted to meet her—Judith—in person.
    “That’s insane. He didn’t pay anything near that for it.”
    She looked both pleased and a little horrified. He liked her all the more