Double Take (21 page)

He seized her wrist. “I told you this morning.
I’ve had it with your games.
”

He was furious. He was also upset. She looked from his eyes to Rafe’s. His look was hardly any better. “Wh-what?” Had they figured out that she was Kait London after all?

Rafe stepped between them, forcing Trev to release her wrist. “Ran a check on Sam’s gun,” he remarked, with relish.

And Kait knew an ax was about to fall. She knew it was Lana’s head that was supposed to roll. She knew her own head would roll instead.

“An’ guess what I found? A Mrs. Trevor Coleman purchased the gun in Halifax—six years ago.”

Kait reeled.

He shoved his face against hers. “You got a permit to carry a weapon... Mrs. Coleman?”

Kait felt weak in the knees. Rafe’s words were like a severe blow, one knocking the air from her lungs.
The gun was Lana’s
. Despite the fact that someone had threatened both Lana and Marni, Kait was stunned. Suddenly she recalled Sam’s surprise when she’d been asking questions about the gun. And now Gabe’s comment that she knew whose gun it was made sense. She realized that Sam must have taken the gun, the way she had taken the sweaters and the jacket.

But Lana had had the gun since early in her marriage. Why?

“How could you do this?”

Kait flinched and looked up at Trev.

“Bring a gun into the house, not telling me. And why?” He stared. “Why the hell would you buy a gun right after we were married?”

Kait was speechless. She simply had no idea.

People bought guns—kept guns—for a reason. The most usual reason was for protection. Had Lana felt, even six years ago, that she needed protection? And why?

Kait didn’t like her thoughts now.

“I can see you trying to come up with an answer,” Trev snapped.
“Why the hell did you bring a gun into my home, Goddamn it? What the hell is going on?”

He was furiously angry with her. Kait cringed. His reaction was out of proportion to her—Lana’s—crime, and she didn’t have to be a psychologist to know that he was using the gun as an excuse to express all of the anger he harbored against her. In fact, since they had spent the night together, he seemed angrier than ever. She had to think, and fast. But no coherent excuse came to mind. “Trev, it’s not what you think. The gun was for self-protection.” She touched his sleeve, quite certain he would never buy such a pathetic excuse.

He jerked away. His cold eyes held hers, however. “Why would you think you needed to protect yourself? We live in one of the safest counties in Virginia! The Skerrit County population is under five thousand, and we have one of the lowest violent crime rates in the country!”

She bit her lip, consumed with guilt for telling yet another lie. “It was for all those times when you travel, when I’m here alone with the girls.”

“Half the time you come with me so you can show Pride,” he said sharply. “In fact, now that I think about it, you’re on the road more than I am. Can’t you do better than that?” He was sarcastic now.

She shook her head in negation, suddenly so tired of all the lies and the accompanying burden of guilt. But if this man was furious over the deception of her having had a gun for so many years behind his back, he would be even more enraged over the real deception she was participating in—and over her posing as Lana even while he touched every inch of her body and made love to her. Kait wished her mind would stop wandering back to the events of last night. “Can’t we let it go?”

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me you’ve run out of lies?”

Their gazes collided. She inhaled sharply. In that simple moment, she had the striking feeling that he knew she wasn’t Lana and his words were about her masquerade. Suddenly she was cold—chilled to the bone. If this man already knew the truth, it would explain his fury and hatred.

Kait backed up, horrified.
But surely he hadn’t made love to her all night while knowing she was someone other than his wife?
She could not meet his eyes now. It was only Friday—she had an entire weekend to survive. Kait didn’t know if she could do it—not after last night. After being in his arms with such passion, she was no longer capable of parrying with him, or holding up her end of this terrible deception. Every time she met this gaze, inwardly she cringed. “I’m sorry about the gun. You’re right. I should have asked your permission before buying it.”

Somehow, he heard her. The look he gave her was a skeptical one. “Really? Since when do you ask my permission for anything?” Then he was looming over her. “Sam could have gotten in terrible trouble because of you and that gun. If something had happened to her, I would never forgive you.”

Kait wouldn’t have forgiven Lana—or herself—either.

Trev was now disgusted. He turned and slammed into the house.

Leaving her alone with Rafe Coleman. Kait slowly turned to face him, then looked away from his careful and searching look. “Are you going to arrest me?”

“Possession of a firearm without a permit is only a misdemeanor.” He smiled, without any mirth whatsoever. “But selling or dealing arms to a minor is another thing, sweetheart.”

“Dealing arms to a minor?” Kait gasped.

He was enjoying himself. “That’s a felony.”

“Sam took the gun without my knowledge and you know it!” Kait cried.

His put his hands on his hips. “You know what I think?” he asked, but it wasn’t a question. “I think you’d better turn over a new leaf, and fast. But then again, that won’t change the past, now, will it?”

Kait hugged herself. “What have I ever done to make you hate me so?” She dared to whisper, because she felt certain she knew. He had been another one of Lana’s sexual targets, although she had no doubt that this man would have turned Lana down in one second flat or sooner.

But she was wrong.

He started. Then he was in her face. “Are you kidding me? My brother comes home with the cheating bitch of the century, and you have to ask? You been fucking around behind his back for six years—no, in his face! Worse, you’ve done nothing but hurt him, Sam, and your own daughter! Do you think I’m some redneck oaf? I know the truth, baby, the entire truth.” He was livid with his rage.

“I have to go,” Kait cried, whirling—because she simply did not have the courage to hear any more.

He gripped her wrist and spun her back around. “We both know that this entire marriage was a setup.”

“What?” she gasped.

“You married him for his money—his position—for legitimacy. This was a setup from the day you first appeared in his life. In fact, I get the feeling you knew where he’d be that day—and that you were there, waiting for him.”

“No,” she whispered, praying he was wrong.

Rafe gripped her chin and tilted it up, frightening her with the strength of his grip and the ugly look in his eyes. “I’m on the inside track, and I’m bringing you down, baby. You can count on it.” He released her.

Kait backed away, breathless and trying not to tremble.

He saluted her with the tip of one finger to his wide-brimmed hat, and it was mocking. He strode out.

Kait stared. And when her brain began to function, she thought about the lunch Trev had never shown up to, the one six or seven years ago, the one where she’d planned to ask to use Fox Hollow for her client’s charity event. But he had never shown up and they had never met.

Kait tried to think.

It had been so long ago.

When was the last time she and Lana had been in contact?

Kait was grim. By her best recollection, it had also been six or seven years ago, but whether it was six months or so before her marriage to Trev Coleman, she simply didn’t know. But it might have been longer than that or less than that—she couldn’t be certain. What she did recall was that Lana had been in New York and they’d actually had dinner together. It had been one of her brief, breezy, pop-in visits, with lots of charm and very little substance. At the time, Lana had been living in Miami. What Kait did remember was getting her call out of the blue and being thrilled to be able to see her sister.

That stopped her racing brain right in its tracks.

Hadn’t it always been that way with her and her sister? Lana appearing at her bedroom door when they were kids, quite unexpectedly and with a grin, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, inviting her to the mall or for a pizza. But it wasn’t natural, because Lana was always busy with her friends, with her sports, with boys.

And from the moment they had gone off to different colleges, it had been even more of the same thing. No word for months, and a sudden call or an out-of-the blue visit, with Kait experiencing sheer delight merely at being with her sister again, with Kait hanging on to every word and detail of her sister’s exciting life.

Kait was grim. She suddenly felt so detached from the past, as if she were an observer watching those old memories on a played-back tape, and she felt sorry for herself.

Had she been that desperate for her twin’s attention?

After the past few days at Fox Hollow, Kait no longer felt like the same person. In fact, she was sad, but wary and cautious now.

Kait was disturbed. She hoped Rafe Coleman was very wrong about Lana seeking Trev out after already knowing who he was. Instinct propelled her now. Kait decided she’d use Trev’s desktop computer later and check her own on-line calendar. She was very organized, and she would find out the last time she had seen her sister in New York for that dinner. She also was curious about the exact date of the lunch Trev had never shown up for.

While she was at it, she would find out their wedding date, too.

She was persona non grata now. Kait was in disbelief. She stood in the living room, a scotch in hand—yes, a scotch—trying to stop shaking like a leaf. Trev had appeared in the foyer. As he wore a suit and tie, it was obvious that he was going out.

She closed her eyes, afraid of where he was going—and stunned that after the intimacy they had shared, he would not invite her to join him. But mostly, her mind had reduced itself to a single litany—what kind of trouble was Lana really in?

Rafe Coleman was a cop. Rafe Coleman was after her sister, big time. He looked like the kind of man who rarely failed at anything he set his mind to. To state that he intended to bring her sister down either meant that he intended to see her out of Fox Hollow on her ass, or it meant that he intended to send her to jail. Kait had the horrible feeling that he had meant the latter. He had also said that he knew the entire truth. Somehow, Kait felt certain he was not referring to the fact that she was Kait and not Lana.

So what had he meant? What did he know? Did he intend to send Lana to jail?

Rafe also claimed that Lana’s marriage to Trev was a setup. What did that mean? A setup for what, exactly? A setup to become a rich and wealthy wife?

Kait didn’t know what to think, except that the county sheriff was after her sister, and nothing would stop him, as far as she could see.

Her instincts warred with one another—she wanted to protect Lana from Rafe Coleman, but she also wanted to protect Trev and the girls from any fallout involving her sister and their deception.

And she finally came to one striking conclusion—Lana’s life had not been ordinary, and whatever she was mixed up in, it wasn’t simple or uncomplicated either. Kait was afraid, but she was also angry at her sister for inflicting her trouble on the family—and on her twin.

Kait realized that Trev’s footsteps had stopped. She opened her eyes and found him regarding her, the tight, angry expression from earlier gone. And for one moment, as their gazes met, she saw confusion and bewilderment and something very, very serious there on his features, there in his eyes.

And the moment she met his gaze, his expression hardened, closed.

Clutching the scotch—which she truly hated, Kait came forward. “Out to dinner?” She tried to make her tone light, but it came out as a hoarse and undignified croak instead. She felt certain his intention was to now avoid her.

He nodded. “That’s right.”

Oh, how this was hurting her now—especially after last night. “Let me guess.” She wanted to be pleasant—how bitter her tone sounded to her own ears, instead. “Alicia and John? Mitch and Sara?”

He eyed her. “Do you care?”

She cradled the scotch to her breasts. “Yes,” she whispered, “I do.”

She saw him start—she realized she had genuinely thrown him off balance. It crossed her mind that she did have, after all, some power over him—that she might try to use it, dissuade him from going, so they could spend the evening together.

Dangerous images flooded her mind.

In each and every one of them, they were passionately entwined.

How could she control her own sexual attraction for this man? And that was
all
it was. It was physical, nothing more.

He made a disparaging sound. “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”

She swallowed, turned, set the scotch down. Then she slowly—carefully, approached. “I am filled with regrets,” she said unsteadily. “Trev...I am so sorry about everything.”

He didn’t move. Then, “Why are you even bothering?”

“Because I don’t think it can ever be too late,” she said, and as she spoke, a terrible plot appeared in her mind. He didn’t ever have to know about the switch. Lana could return and divorce him, and later, when things had cooled down, she, Kait, could appear in his life. Kait was horrified with her own sudden urge to save herself as far as Trev Coleman was concerned. With her sudden urge to save them.

She reminded herself that there was no “them.” And she was not a liar except in this one instance—lying was wrong. She hated lying, and she hated lying to him. Kait had to face the fact that after all was revealed, she would lose any chance of a friendship with this man. But he was going to have to learn about the switch. She wished she had never deceived him in the first place.

Trev seemed incapable of moving. “This is about last night, isn’t it?”

She hesitated. He might believe her to be Lana, and she might be trapped for now in a lie that had become as much her own as her sister’s, but she would be herself. She wouldn’t even attempt to be like Lana now. “Yes...and no. It’s about everything. But... last night was special.”

And he threw back his head and laughed. “You can do better than that!” he exclaimed. Then he moved closer to her. She tensed as he said, “Last night meant nothing, Lana, nothing. It was raw sex, pure and simple. Do not keep throwing it in my face!”

She didn’t move away from him, bewildered. Did he protest over-much? She certainly wasn’t throwing anything in his face. “If it wasn’t special for you, it was for me. I’ve never been with anyone like that.”

“Is this a bad joke?” he demanded.

She ignored that. “Why not spend the evening here?” The words just popped out. She held his gaze and he couldn’t seem to look away. “I can whip up some gourmet sandwiches, or we can order a pizza and crack a great bottle of wine and...we can talk.”