A Kiss in the Dark (11 page)

“What are you doing?” he rasped softly against her mouth, but his hand was firm and warm against her heated flesh.

“Seducing you,” she whispered back. “Is it working?”

“Here?” His voice sounded slightly strangled.

In answer, she shifted to give him better access and nearly came off the seat as he stroked her once. She’d never done anything so bold before. This man made her do things that she’d never thought herself capable of.

“No,” she murmured against his mouth. “Let’s go home.”

10

C
OLE
GRIPPED
THE
steering wheel of the truck and tried to control his growing concern. After they had returned from the fair, they’d spent several long, memorable hours in his bed. Then he’d shown Lacey the blueprints of the mine. He’d explained his suspicions to her without revealing that he was working undercover for the Department of Labor. When she’d asked how he had obtained such detailed plans of the mine, he’d fibbed and told her they were from five years earlier, when he had first worked for Buck as a new engineer.

He’d shown her where each of the accidents had supposedly occurred, and how they all taken place near the old, vacated mines. She’d been skeptical about his theory that Buck was working the closed sections, but had been willing to consider the possibility. In the end, they had agreed that she would meet with Buck and talk about the field test, but she would not utilize any tunnels that Cole considered to be dangerous.

Cole would spend the day at Black River Mine No. 2 with a team of engineers, inspecting the internal support structures of the tunnels. He hoped that as the lead engineer, he would have access to the blueprints for all the Black River mines, including Rogan’s Run No. 5, which had been closed for more than fifty years. He was convinced those closed portions, deemed unsafe by any standards, were being secretly but actively worked. He was certain Buck was paying the miners an exorbitant hourly wage in order for them to work those areas and keep their mouths shut.

Now he just needed proof.

But it would take time to gain the trust of the miners, especially since many of them still remembered the horrible rescue effort that had taken the life of his friend five years earlier. No doubt there were those who still associated his name with that disaster, and maybe even blamed him for it.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked now. “I could bring you to any number of mines over in West Virginia. You don’t need to meet with Buck Rogan.”

Lacey looked over at him and he could see that she wasn’t nearly as confident about this as she pretended to be. But she tipped her chin up and gave him a smile.

“It’ll be fine,” she assured him. “The only thing that has me a little nervous is the fact that I’m showing up unannounced. He’s not expecting me until tomorrow.”

“Just say that you have a conflict tomorrow. He’s not going to tell you to come back some other time. If nothing else, Buck Rogan is a gentleman. You’re only going to talk about the test parameters and look at the blueprints.” He cast her a stern glance. “Under no conditions are you to let him take you into the mines.”

Lacey smiled. “I’ve got it, Cole. Relax. I’m not going into any mines today. I didn’t even bring STAR with me, so there would be no point to it anyway, okay? Don’t worry about me.”

But he did. He knew she was stronger than she appeared, and yet he still worried about her. He didn’t want her to meet with Buck Rogan, but he also knew how important testing her GPS unit was to her. He wouldn’t stop her, as much as he might want to.

“Okay, fine. You have my cell phone number. I’ll be on the other side of the complex, so call me if you need me.”

They were emerging from the thick, impenetrable woods that enclosed the road for most of the twenty-minute drive, and turned onto a wide, gravel lane. Tall wire fences lined the perimeter, marked with No Trespassing signs and directions to the mine entrance.

The route wound upward until they entered a large parking lot ringed with work trailers and wooden structures. Cole drew the truck to a stop in front of a large, concrete building and switched off the engine. He turned to face Lacey. “This is Buck’s office.” He indicated a work trailer on the far side of the parking lot. “I’ll be over there. Call me when you’re through, and I’ll drive you home.”

She gave him a grateful look before she slid out of the cab and closed the door to the truck. As she climbed the steps to the office, the door opened and Buck’s massive bulk filled the door frame. He exchanged a few words with Lacey but they were too far away for Cole to hear them. Buck stepped back and Lacey brushed past him into the house. Buck raised a hand in greeting to Cole, and he gave a brief nod in return. Buck stood in the doorway for a scant second longer, before he stepped back and closed the door.

Cole checked his cell phone to ensure he would hear any incoming calls, before he thrust the truck into gear and punched the gas pedal down with his foot, gaining no satisfaction from the sound of the tires as they squealed in protest.

* * *

L
ACEY
WAITED
AS
B
UCK
closed the door and then turned to face her. As always, he wore a well-cut sports jacket over a crisp, white dress shirt. He looked every inch a successful executive.

“I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow. But no matter. Come into my office,” he invited, and indicated she should precede him down a short corridor. They passed an older woman sitting at a desk, who Lacey guessed was his secretary. “Patty, could you bring us some coffee, please?”

“Of course, Mr. Rogan.”

Buck opened the door to his office, and Lacey saw it was richly appointed with mahogany furniture, including a desk and a large conference table, and a wall of deep filing cabinets. The desk itself was covered with papers and blueprints, and one wall of shelves contained what looked like more rolls of drawings. He had samples of coal and other minerals displayed in glass boxes on one shelf, and framed photos of miners covered two walls. A window at the rear of the office overlooked the entrance to the mine itself, and Lacey could see a group of workers preparing to go down into the tunnels.

“Have a seat,” he invited, indicating the conference table. “So what, exactly, are you looking for?”

Lacey opened her presentation case and withdrew the specifications for STAR and spread them out on the surface of the table. “Here are the specs for the unit I’d like to test. If you look here, you’ll see the optimum conditions that we need to achieve in order to perform a successful test.”

Buck studied the sheets for several moments. “You need to be at least five hundred feet below the surface, and at least one quarter mile into the tunnels.”

Lacey nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

Moving away from the table, Buck opened a drawer in one of the file cabinets and withdrew several blueprints. When he spread them out on the table, Lacey saw they were similar to the ones that Cole had shown her.

“These blueprints show the Black River Mines No. 2,” he said indicating one set of tunnels. “I think they would suit your needs perfectly.”

Before Lacey could respond, there was a light knock on the door, and Patty came in with a small tray of coffee and muffins. She set them down on the conference table near Lacey.

“Here you are,” she said brightly. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

Buck thanked her, and as Lacey prepared her cup of coffee, she listened to Buck explain the various attributes of the mine, and had to agree that the conditions sounded perfect in which to test STAR. She wished now that she hadn’t been so quick to promise Cole that she wouldn’t go into the mines.

“Does this mine have a good safety record?” she asked.

Buck sharpened his gaze on her. “Why would you ask that?”

Lacey decided that honesty was the best policy. “My father died in a mining accident when I was a little girl. I helped to design STAR for NASA, but there is a huge commercial potential for the unit, as well. These could be utilized in the mining community to accurately pinpoint the location of miners in the event of an accident.” She gave him a wry smile. “I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the project by getting killed during the testing phase.”

Buck’s face was somber. “I’m sorry for your loss. I won’t lie and tell you that we haven’t had our share of accidents over the years, but I can promise you that the No. 2 mines are absolutely safe.”

Lacey also knew they were located miles away from Rogan’s Run Mine No. 5, where Cole thought Buck might be mining illegally. There would be no chance of her seeing anything down there that she shouldn’t see. At that moment, there was another knock on the door, and then it was thrust open to reveal a man wearing an agitated expression.

“I’m sorry for interrupting,” he said, speaking directly to Buck. “But I need to speak to you.” His gaze flicked to Lacey and then back to Buck. “It’s, um, urgent.”

As Lacey watched, Buck’s gaze flew to something on his desk. Lacey looked, too, but saw only rolls of blueprints. For a moment, Buck hesitated, as if he would snatch them up. In the next instant, he nodded at the man.

“Excuse us for just a moment,” he said to Lacey.

Lacey murmured her assent, but she didn’t miss the deep concern and something else in Buck’s eyes, before he left the office, leaving the door open a few inches. But Lacey recognized that expression.

Fear.

She listened as the two men moved away from the door, and then quickly walked over to his desk, her eyes scanning the blueprints that lay scattered across the top. Technical drawings were very familiar to her, and blueprints were not much different. Keeping an eye on the door, she thumbed swiftly through the documents, wondering which one Buck had wanted. Then she found it.

A blueprint of Rogan’s Run Mine No. 5, and the date at the bottom was current, from less than a year earlier. He obviously hadn’t been prepared for her visit. If he’d known she was going to show up unexpectedly this morning, he never would have left these documents out in the open. Lacey quickly scanned the blueprint and saw that access to the closed tunnels could be gained through the Black River Mine No. 6. Quickly, her heart thudding, she folded the blueprint in half, and then in half again. Walking back to the conference table, she had just shoved the document deep into a zippered pocket on her presentation case when the door opened and Buck came in. He schooled his features into a polite smile, but Lacey could see the anxiety etched onto his features.

“You’ll have to forgive me, but I need to excuse myself. Perhaps we can continue our conversation at another time?”

Lacey gathered up her specifications and replaced them in her presentation case. “Please, there’s nothing to forgive. You weren’t even expecting me this morning, so I appreciate the time you were able to spend with me. I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you out. Can one of my men give you a ride somewhere?”

Lacey followed him back through the office to the front door. “No, thanks. I’m all set.”

After he closed the door, she stood for a moment, acutely aware of the pilfered document in her case. What if he returned to his office and realized it was missing? He would know she had stolen it. She made her way quickly across the compound toward Cole’s trailer, expecting to hear Buck Rogan coming after her at any second.

Cole opened the door immediately when she knocked. He took one look at her face and dragged her inside the trailer, closing the door quickly behind her.

“What is it?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

“You were right,” she said without preamble. “I think he’s working inside the closed section of the mines.” She unzipped her presentation case and pulled out the folded document. “Here. I found this on his desk. There were other blueprints, too, but I didn’t get a good look at all of them.”

Cole took the paper from her and unfolded it, before swiftly scanning it. He gave Lacey one astonished look and then quickly refolded it and shoved it into the back of his jeans, pulling his jacket on to conceal it. He glanced through the window toward Buck’s office.

“C’mon,” he said, taking her elbow. “Buck is leaving. Let’s get out of here before he figures out what you’ve done.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as she followed him to the truck. “I don’t know what made me take it. I should have just left it there, but I thought you would want to see that your suspicions are correct. “

“No, you did the right thing,” he assured her, handing her into the cab. “Did Buck say where they were going?”

Lacey shook her head. “No. A man came into the office to talk with him, and I got the sense it was urgent. Buck seemed pretty anxious to get rid of me.”

“That was his foreman. There must have been an accident in one of the tunnels.” Cole thrust the truck into gear and accelerated out of the compound. Behind them, a group of workers were jogging toward the entrance to the mine. “Yeah, something is definitely up. Listen, I’m going to drop you off at the house, okay?”

“Where are you going?”

“I have something I need to do. There’s food in the refrigerator. I may not be back until late, but don’t wait up for me.”

There was something in his expression—something calculated—that kept Lacey from asking any questions. Reaching over, she covered his hand with her own.

“Be careful.”

11

A
S
C
OLE
HAD
PREDICTED
,
it was late by the time he returned to the cabin, but not so late that Lacey would be in bed. He noted with satisfaction that the porch lights were on, as well as the living room lights. He parked the truck and bent to greet Copper, who bounded down the steps, tail wagging.

Cole had met with two Department of Labor agents in Roanoke, a drive that had taken him nearly three hours each way. But before that, he’d headed over to the entrance of Rogan’s Run Mine No. 5, but there had been no telltale activity outside the long abandoned entrance. On a hunch, he’d also driven past the entrance to the Black River Mine No. 6, where the pilfered blueprint indicated there was access to the closed mine. As he’d suspected, there was a flurry of activity at the entrance to the mine, but there hadn’t been any rescue crews or ambulances.

He’d returned to his work trailer and had made some discreet inquiries, but his questions had been met with blank stares. Nobody had heard of any accidents occurring that morning. So he’d left word that he needed to take the rest of the day off, and had headed to Roanoke with Lacey’s blueprint in his pocket. But the diagram alone wasn’t proof that Buck was using the mines, and after a lengthy discussion with the agents, Cole had returned home with instructions to continue with his undercover surveillance.

He found Lacey curled up on the sofa in the living room, reading a book, wrapped in his terry bathrobe. She looked relieved when he crossed the room and dropped a light kiss against her mouth.

“You look tired,” she commented as he crossed to a small wet bar and poured two glasses of bourbon. “Where have you been?”

He handed her a glass and lowered himself onto the cushions beside her. “I had to drive out to Roanoke today.”

She stared at him. “Roanoke? But that’s hours from here. What was so urgent that you needed to go all the way out there?”

“Business,” he said, and tipped back his bourbon and drained the glass.

“Want to talk about it?”

Cole shrugged. “I gave the blueprints to the Bureau of Mine Safety, thinking they would be sufficient evidence for them to send a team of safety inspectors into the abandoned mines, but I was wrong. They won’t go in without more substantial proof. Having updated blueprints of an abandoned mine isn’t an indication that those mines are being worked. In fact, the Bureau was impressed that Buck had the good sense to have the mines properly documented.”

“Aren’t you afraid that Buck will find out? I don’t want you to lose your job over this.” She pulled a face. “What if he realizes that I took the blueprint? He won’t let me into the mines. Now I’ll have to come up with another plan to test STAR.”

“Hey,” he murmured, and pulled her into his arms. “Everything will work out. I told you I would take you to another mine, and I meant it. Whenever you’re finished with the search-and-rescue team, we’ll drive over to West Virginia and I’ll take you into one of the coal mines there.”

She let him hold her for a minute before she pulled away. “What about you? Will Buck be upset that you took off like that today?”

“He probably doesn’t even know.”

“What if he finds out that you gave the blueprint to the Bureau of Mine Safety?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

He didn’t want to tell her that his job with the Black River Mines was just a cover. Or that until today, he hadn’t been able to figure out how Buck could be accessing the mines without anyone knowing. But thanks to Lacey, he finally knew.

Buck had done a good job concealing whatever illegal mining he was doing. The tunnels extended through the mountains for miles. Only someone involved in the scheme could pinpoint the precise location of the illegal activity. He wanted to tell Lacey the truth, but he’d maintain his secret until he had the irrefutable proof he needed.

* * *

D
ESPITE
THE
WARMTH
of the evening, Lacey leaned into Cole and savored the heat and strength of his body. His fingers absently stroked her upper arm. Lacey thought she could easily spend every night just like this. But she knew that couldn’t happen.

Too soon, she would return home and Cole would remain in Black Stone Gap. Despite telling herself it was for the best, she found the thought left her feeling depressed. But she couldn’t stay in Kentucky. Even if she had the fortitude to accept what he did for a living, she had her own career to think about back in New England. She loved her job, and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t find anything similar in Kentucky.

“So what happens tomorrow?” she asked carefully. “You’ve just started a new job, and I still need to test STAR. How are you going to drive me to West Virginia if you’re working?”

He blew out a hard breath. “I’ll take care of it. Why don’t we plan on heading out on Wednesday morning?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll finish up with Carr and the others tomorrow, and then give my boss a call and see what he wants me to do. He has the final say.” She gave a soft laugh, and then groaned and covered her face with her hands. “I still can’t believe I stole that blueprint. You should have seen me—I felt like a spy stealing top secret documents. What if he had caught me in the act?”

Cole hugged her briefly. “He didn’t. He may still have no idea that the document is missing, and even when he does realize, I doubt he’ll suspect you.” He hesitated as if debating his next words. “I hope I’m wrong about the closed mines, but I don’t think I am. But I want you to know that not all mining operations are corrupt. Your GPS unit could still make a difference.”

“I know it will make a difference. What if I told you that I first became involved with StarPoint Technologies because of a miner?”

“I’d say that I’m trying very hard to suppress my jealousy.”

“There’s no need to be jealous. He died a long time ago.”

Cole sobered instantly. “I’m sorry. Tell me about him, and how you got involved in the GPS business.”

Lacey swallowed and looked down at her hands, wondering how much to share with him. She hadn’t talked about her father to anyone in years. Even her mother never spoke about him, as if the memories were still too painful. But a man like Cole would understand. She took a deep breath.

“My father was killed in a coal mining accident when I was eight years old. His body was never recovered.”

There was a shocked silence. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

“Which mine was it?”

“The Spruce River mine in West Virginia. They lost eight men in a tunnel collapse. They survived the initial event and at first the owners were optimistic that they could rescue all the men. But after a week, when two more cave-ins occurred, they discontinued the rescue effort and sealed the mine. I can still remember…” She gave herself a mental shake, unwilling to dredge up those old memories. “Anyway, after that, my mom and I moved to New Hampshire and we’ve been there ever since.”

Cole shook his head, his expression one of dismay. “Wow. I can’t believe you lost your dad in that accident. I remember studying that disaster in school.”

“I still have nightmares sometimes,” she confessed. “About him being alive in the pitch-dark, knowing that nobody would be coming to save him.”

Cole’s arm tightened around her. “That’s why you prefer to keep the lights on.”

Lacey nodded. “Logically, I know that he couldn’t have survived, and that he was already gone when they stopped the rescue efforts, but sometimes at night…I wonder.”

“So you devoted your life to developing a tool that would prevent another tragedy.”

“Well, maybe not my life,” Lacey replied, “but the last five years, anyway. I was really hoping to field-test STAR while I was here in Black Stone Gap. Even though we’re developing the unit for NASA, I can’t help but think of all the other applications it could be used for.”

“I’ll make sure you get your unit tested,” Cole promised. “It won’t be here in Black Stone Gap, but you’ll have your test results.”

“I feel like my whole life has led to this,” she said. “If STAR can save even one miner’s life, then all the years of research and lab work will have been worth it.” She raised her eyes to his. “Maybe I’ll even be able to sleep without the light on.”

“Speaking of which, it’s been a long day.” Without giving her time to object, he stood up and pulled her to her feet. “Time for bed.”

The combination of cool sheets and warm, hard Cole sounded like the perfect antidote to the long day she’d spent worrying about him. She wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around her. She followed him to the loft area. Her room was only dimly lit from the hallway until Cole flipped on the small bedside lamp. In the soft light, his expression was inscrutable. Lacey stood by the bed and waited for him to touch her, to pull her close and slide his hands beneath the edge of her bathrobe and over her bare skin.

Instead, he leaned over the bed and held the blankets up. “C’mon,” he said. “In you go.”

Lacey was too surprised to protest. She didn’t even remove the robe. Obediently, she slid beneath the covers and watched as he pulled them over her, tucking them neatly at her sides.

“Aren’t you—”

“Try and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned toward the door.

“Cole…”

“I’ll be downstairs if you need me. Get some rest.”

He left. He pulled the door almost completely shut behind him, leaving a crack of light to spill in from the hallway. Lacey lay still for a moment and wondered what had just happened. She had been so sure he was going to make love to her, or at the very least spend the night in the same bed with her, even if it was just to sleep.

With a small sigh, she shifted onto her side and bunched the pillow beneath her cheek and thought about the events of the day. Cole had driven all the way to Roanoke, Virginia and back. Of course he was exhausted. The man hadn’t gotten much sleep since he’d met her.

Tomorrow she would wrap up with the search-and-rescue team. They had their GPS units, and although she suspected they knew perfectly well how to use them, she’d agreed to spend one more day with them. On Wednesday, she and Cole would drive to West Virginia to test STAR. Lacey expected she would need two days to conduct the field test. She would stay in the area long enough to do the follow-up analysis, and then she would return home.

Home.

She thought about how, in the space of just a few short days, she’d begun to think of Cole’s house as home. He hadn’t actually asked her to stay in Kentucky, and she wasn’t sure what she would do even if he did. She’d never intended to stay. So why did she feel so let down because Cole had opted to sleep in a different room? And if she couldn’t get through one night without him, how in the world was she going to get through all the nights to come?

* * *

C
OLE
STOOD
IN
the doorway of Lacey’s bedroom and watched her sleep. Her hair fanned out on the pillow behind her, and she slept with her hands tucked beneath her cheek, like a child.

With a sigh, he looked down at the small glass he held in his hand, and then tossed back the remnants of the bourbon he’d been nursing. He told himself he should just go back downstairs and go to bed.

It had taken all his willpower not to climb into bed with her earlier that night. He’d just wanted to hold her; to reassure both her and himself that she was safe. But he knew from experience there was no such thing as just holding Lacey Delaney. It seemed whenever they touched something flared, hot and urgent. He had no illusions that if he climbed into that bed with her, he’d have to make love to her. He was incapable of keeping his hands off her. But at some point during the past several days, what he felt for Lacey Delaney had changed. Maybe in the beginning it had been about sex, but not anymore. He was falling for her, and falling hard. When she’d told him about her father, he’d been floored. He still had trouble getting his head around the fact that she came from a coal mining family. That her father had died in the tunnels. No wonder she was so determined to test the prototype.

He’d been shocked by the revelation of her background. Given her innate elegance and conservative nature, he’d been certain she came from wealth and privilege. At least, he amended silently, she was conservative outside the bedroom. The things she did to him when they were alone together completely blew his mind. She’d rocked his world in ways he couldn’t even comprehend. But she’d also forced him to face some hard truths of his own.

He’d come back to Black Stone Gap for just one reason—to shut down Buck’s mining operations. He held Buck personally responsible for the accident that had killed his friend, Drake Wilson, some five years earlier. He wanted answers. He needed to know why Drake had been working a part of the mines that should have been closed. Buck insisted that Drake had gone into the closed area without permission, but Cole had his doubts. And, of course, there was the part he himself had played in Drake’s death.

He rubbed a hand across his eyes, recalling the events of that day. Drake had been trapped in a small cavern as a result of a cave-in. Cole had been so certain his plan to drill a vertical shaft alongside the cavern, and then tunnel horizontally to where Drake was trapped, would work. Instead, the drilling had triggered another cave-in, and Drake had been killed.

After the initial investigations were over and Buck had been cleared of any wrongdoing, Cole had left Black Stone Gap. He hadn’t planned on coming back until he’d received a phone call from his former professor Stu Zollweg.

But meeting Lacey Delaney had never been part of the plan. As he watched her sleep, she murmured incoherently and then turned onto her stomach and kicked the blanket aside with one leg. At some point, she’d removed his bathrobe and it lay crumpled on the floor. By the light from the bedside lamp he could see her perfect rear, smooth and round beneath a pair of pale blue panties.

“Jesus,” he muttered, all thoughts of maintaining his distance completely gone. He turned to leave before he could act on his desire to join her, but was stopped short when he heard his name.