Guarding Raine (Security Ops) (33 page)

There was a roaring in her ears. Wild scrabbling in her chest. This was a scene from her nightmares, a stranger in back of her, touching her, the very real element of evil surrounding her. Her frozen state lasted only for a moment, until reaction set in, and she fought wildly to free herself.

“Damn you,” Joe cursed, as one of her backward kicks made contact with his leg. She raked her fingernails over his arms, her actions fueled by panic and renewed adrenaline. “Stop!” He removed his arm from her neck and grasped both her wrists, yanking them behind her.

A flashlight clicked on, and Joe and Raine were caught in its beam. “Joe, let her go!” Sarah insisted. “This isn’t going to work.”

“Of course it will work,” he retorted, panting from his struggle with Raine. “This solution will be a more permanent one, is all. We don’t need to worry about ruining the pictures. We can get rid of her once and for all. I failed in the car, and the fire didn’t do the trick. But this is almost too perfect. It can be arranged to look like an accident. Poor Miss Michaels got locked in here at night and got disoriented in the dark. She panicked. Surely there’s something in here she could trip over and hit her head. Head wounds are so dangerous, you know.”

“Sarah, for God’s sake,” Raine choked out, the horror of the situation too much to comprehend. “You can’t possibly want to go along with this!”

Sarah sounded dazed. “The fire? And the accident? God, Joe, you swore to me you weren’t involved with them! I told you I wouldn’t be a party to anything that would really hurt Raine.” Her voice was beginning to rise. “I told you that from the beginning!”

“You don’t
tell
me anything!” he lashed out. “If it hadn’t been for me, you’d still be crying in your vodka martinis about your career going to hell. Remember how well you were doing when Harold Bonzer was sponsoring your shows, before he’d ever heard of your dearest friend? You can’t even get a commitment from him to plan another, now that she’s on the scene. Isn’t that what you told me when the money your sculptures brought in started to slow to a trickle? Didn’t you cry and curse Raine Michaels for being the cause of your career drying up?”

The words swirled through Raine’s mind, chasing through the panic-induced fog. “No,” she said disbelievingly. She wished frantically to see Sarah’s face. But the ray of light was the only clue she had to her friend’s location. “That’s not true, Sarah. Tell him. You’ve done great these last few years, you’ve told me yourself.”

“I told you.” Sarah’s laugh sounded a little wild. “That’s just it, don’t you see? But what I told you and what really has been happening are two completely different things. You don’t know how many times I’ve cursed the day you met Harold at one of my shows. He was interested in
me
. It was my career that was taking off. And then, once he met you, it was all over. He started concentrating on you. Everything was for you.”

“But you just had a show last year,” Raine insisted desperately. Her fear left a cold, metallic taste in her mouth. “Harold sponsored that. He’s still interested in your development as an artist. That proves it.”

“He told her that he wouldn’t be doing another,” Joe said then, his voice tinged with malice. “He was going to concentrate on Raine Michaels. The great Raine Michaels. She thought she was well enough established to make it on her own, but she overestimated herself. My life-style can’t afford another year like the one she just had.”

“But . . .” Sarah’s voice seemed disjointed, coming from the darkness. “This isn’t the way, Joe.”

“It’s exactly the way,” he disputed her words. “Without her to concentrate on, Bonzer will switch his attention back to you again. Especially when you tearfully show him the sculpture you’ll do of your dear friend. The old fool won’t be able to resist it. And when it becomes known that he’s again sponsoring you, the money will start flowing once more.”

Raine shook her head, dazed. “Sarah, I can’t believe you arranged all of this.” She was filled with incredible pain at this evidence of her friend’s deceit.

“No!” Sarah cried, “It’s not my fault! I didn’t mean for all of this to happen!” Joe laughed, an ugly sound. “I told Joe about the letters you were getting. It was my idea to copy them and step up the pace, but I never wanted to hurt you! I just thought you’d be too shaken up to work. And then when your show couldn’t come off on schedule, you’d lose credibility with Harold. He’d turn to me once more.” Her voice turned petulant, colored with hysteria. “You have so much already! I just wanted my turn again!”

Mac was still several yards away from the building when he noted a light in the office.
Good girl
, he thought with relief. Raine had managed to walk through the dark hallway to the office to get to the lights. He knew the kind of courage that had taken. He’d barely finished the thought when the light went out. He paused, frowning. Though he had the utmost respect for her strength, he couldn’t believe that she would have made a call from her cell in the office and then blithely walk back into the shadows. Something was wrong.

Suddenly the feeling he’d had all night made terrifying sense. In his mind’s eye, he saw the office again when Raine had spoken to André. And remembered the window shade flapping. The window had been open.

He crouched down and sidled along the building to the window. It was still open, and he could hear voices inside. What he heard was enough to curdle his blood.

Damn it, Sarah Jennings was involved in this? He’d never really considered her a serious threat to Raine, but from the conversation drifting through the window, she’d been storing up resentment toward her friend for some time.

He’d heard enough. Turning from his post, he ran softly toward the front of the building. There was no time to waste.

“Forget the acid, we’ll come back for it later,” Joe told his sister impatiently. “Lead the way with that flashlight and let’s find a good place for Raine’s accident.”

The light’s beam turned away from them, and Joe used his grip on Raine’s wrists to propel her forward. The adrenaline that had been pounding through her for the last several minutes had her heart beating wildly in her chest. How long could it be, she wondered wildly, before André or Harold missed her? Had Macauley joined them? She knew without doubt that he would come for her, if he had.

She had to try to buy time, to allow an opportunity for help to arrive. Her body needed no commands from her brain to progress slowly through the hallway. She was encased in her two worst nightmares, and in her panic couldn’t determine whether her greatest fear was the darkness around her or the man behind her.

“Move, bitch,” Joe said in her ear. He forced her forward more quickly until they were standing with Sarah in a corner of the gallery’s large room. “All right, Sarah, find one of those little tables they have scattered around here. We can arrange the scene to look like she tripped over it.”

The flashlight beam shone in Joe’s face, illuminating Raine’s at the same time. She welcomed the glare in the otherwise dark room.

“I’m not going to let you do this, Joe.” Sarah’s voice sounded thin but determined. “It’s over. It never should have started.”

“Don’t start babbling now,” her brother growled. “It’s over, all right—for Raine Michaels. I’ve already told you how it’s going down. Don’t make me repeat myself, Sarah!”

The beam of light moved away, and Raine could hear something scrape across the marble floor.

“You got it?” Joe asked. “Dammit, give me that light. I can’t see a thing.”

“Sarah, think,” Raine blurted out, still unable to believe the extent of her friend’s duplicity. “Whatever you blame me for, you can’t want me dead! We’ve been too close. For God’s sake, think!”

“She’s right, Joe.” Sarah’s voice wavered. “You know she’s right.”

“There’s no choice now. Do you think she wouldn’t tell what went on tonight? She has to die. And when she does, it won’t be long until the money from your sculptures starts rolling—”

The beam of the flashlight bounced crazily as Sarah brought it down on her brother’s head. Grunting in pain, he stumbled, letting go of his grip on Raine’s hands. With a snarl of rage he turned and backhanded his sister with a vicious slap that sent her reeling. The flashlight flew in an arc across the room, before shattering at its contact with the marble floor.

The gallery was once again completely dark, and Raine started to run for the faint light that beckoned from outside the front doors. She hadn’t gotten more than a few feet before her arm was grabbed and she was pulled backward.

Joe’s voice panted in her ear. “You’re not leaving yet. Or ever.”

She screamed with all the pent-up tenor and adrenaline inside her, and then a force knocked both of them to the ground. She lay stunned for a moment, and then rolled as far away as she could before climbing to her hands and knees, peering frantically into the darkness. She could hear Sarah sobbing somewhere in the room, and the sounds of a struggle taking place.

Disoriented in the tomblike room, Raine tried to head away from the action. Then there was the unmistakable sound of a fist making contact with human flesh, and the struggle came to a conclusion.

Raine’s head jerked up, and she forced herself to go completely still. Scarcely daring to breathe, her ears strained for the next movement. She’d have to be quick. Once she had a clue where Joe was, she’d have only one chance to get to the office window to make her escape.

“Raine? Where are you?”

She swayed a little at the sound of the voice coming from the shadows. “Macauley,” she whispered tremulously, disbelievingly.

He found her in the darkness and captured her in a tight embrace. Then, with unerring accuracy, he tipped her head back and sealed her mouth with his own.

She clung to him tightly, welcoming the almost bruising strength of his arms. Her mind was still confused by his presence here, dazed still further by the sensation of being held by him again.

“It’s going to be all right, Raine,” he murmured huskily, rocking her slightly in his arms. “It’s going to be all right, I promise. Do you trust me?”

Her answer was immediate, and aching with tenderness.

“Always.”

Epilogue

The waves were gentle, rocking the boat like a large cradle. The aqua waters off the shore of Cancun sparkled in the sunlight. The boat’s distance from the white beaches turned the people into brightly clothed specks.

Mac handed Raine an icy-cold glass of lemonade. He dropped down on the deck mattress next to her with a can of Dos Equis in his hand, supremely, confidently naked.

She blushed and looked away, but not before her eyes had painted him with a quick, thorough glance. “You could have at least dressed when you went to get the drinks,” she scolded feebly. Unable to prevent it, her eyes snuck back to him, and she gave silent thanks that he hadn’t. What he lacked in modesty he made up for in sheer masculine beauty.

“No, thanks. I don’t want any tan lines.” He cocked an eyebrow. “You were working on a cute little all-over tan yourself until a few days ago.”

“Yes,” she retorted in a scandalized voice, “until Alberto left the steering wheel and came back here to ask you something.” She put her glass down and punched him with a gentle fist. “You assured me that would never happen.”

He laughed appreciatively in remembrance. “I covered you up in time, didn’t I? And I explained to him once more that he must never do that. It won’t happen again.”

“I’m not taking any chances,” she said loftily. Leaning back on her mattress, she gave a contented sigh. “You know, in some ways this has been the most perfect month of my life.”

His voice was quiet. “I’m glad.” He hadn’t left her side since that nightmarish night in the gallery. He’d arranged this trip quickly, with ruthless efficiency. They’d dealt with the police swiftly, and after a few days he’d had Raine on a plane heading south. He hadn’t known how long it would take for the ghosts to fade from her expressive golden eyes. They hadn’t disappeared completely, but they’d definitely faded.

Yes, they’d faded, he thought with satisfaction. And sometime since he’d met her, his own ghosts had started to fade, too. He’d been much too busy taking care of her in the last few weeks to spend any time on regrets. In his concern for her, he was finding it surprisingly easy to let go of some of the guilt he’d borne for so long.

“It still hurts,” she whispered softly, gazing pensively at the water. “Sometimes I catch myself thinking of things to remember to tell Sarah about, and then I remember. . . .”

“I know,” he responded quietly.

“I’m glad she won’t go to jail,” she said, her eyes meeting his.

He nodded. “You were right about the kind of help she needed. The judge must have agreed, too. Trey says she’s been remanded to a psychiatric institution.” He hadn’t liked listening to Raine defend Sarah to the police. But the results attained by the court-appointed psychiatrist had supported Raine’s long-time suspicion of abuse. Raine was convinced that the years of physical abuse Sarah had suffered from her brother had taken a serious emotional toll on the woman. “After Burnett had begun the threats, Sarah must have decided to copy the idea. When you were completely terrorized, she figured you wouldn’t be able to work. But I think it was definitely Joe’s decision to take the idea to the extreme.”

“Getting rid of me completely.”

His face went harsh at her words. “Yes.” God, the final episode in the gallery still had the power to wake him at night, sweating at the realization of how easily he could have lost her. It had been the most difficult thing he’d ever had to do, to wait in the darkness, knowing Joe had his hands on Raine and being aware of the man’s intentions. It had been impossible to tell in the darkness whether Joe had a weapon, so he’d had to wait for his chance to take him off guard. Sarah’s action had given him the opportunity he needed. He hadn’t expected her to come to Raine’s rescue and strike her brother with the heavy flashlight. It had provided the opening he’d been waiting for. Joe had turned Raine loose, and Mac had sprung.

He smiled grimly. Getting his hands on Joe had been primitively satisfying. If it hadn’t been for his need to hold Raine again, he couldn’t be sure Joe would have left the gallery alive.

“What will happen . . .” her voice faltered a little, and she made a visible effort to steady it. “I mean, to the others?”

He frowned, fiercely wishing she’d leave the subject alone. But he knew better than to shield her from unpleasantness, had learned his lesson well from her. Still, it was with visible reluctance that he answered. “Burnett will go back to prison,” he said with certainty. “With his record, there won’t be any plea bargains. And there’s an awful lot of circumstantial evidence linking Joe to the physical attacks on you. The hairs found in the abandoned car matched his. His girlfriend drives a late-model sedan that matches the description of the one Anderson saw the night your porch was set on fire. I think they have enough to send him away for a long time.”

He fell into a brooding silence, and she could read his thoughts from the ferocity of his expression. It wasn’t in his nature to forgive easily, and he’d taken his role as her protector very seriously. But she’d learned a long time ago the fruitlessness of dwelling on the past. She turned to her side, facing him, and reached out to smooth her hand over his hard shoulder. “It’s over now,” she reminded him gently.

He turned his head slowly to gaze at her, and the intensity in his eyes made her breath catch. He raised himself up on one elbow, bringing his face very close to hers. “No, it’s not over,” he said, his low voice giving her words a very different meaning. “If there’s one thing I’ve decided in the last month here with you, it’s that I don’t want it to be over. Not for us.

“All I’ve thought about in the last twenty-nine days has been you. And if I was honest with myself, I’d admit that I thought of damn little else for quite a while before that.” He leaned closer and pressed a long, deep kiss to her mouth. Raising his head slightly, he rasped, “My life had been empty for a long time before I met you. I deliberately kept it that way. But I have a feeling that if I let you walk away, I’d find out what true emptiness is.”

Her lips parted, wonder skating over her features as hope unfurled its fragile bloom within her. “I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered, her lips near enough to brush his as she formed the words.

“You told me once that your love was there for the taking. Are you still offering it?”

She wrapped her arms around his sun-kissed back. “It’s always been yours, Macauley,” she told him achingly. “All you had to do was reach out for it.”

His mouth grazed hers as he said shakily, “I don’t know much about love, Raine, but I figure you have about the next seventy years to teach me.”

She stroked his cheek lovingly and saw the pure emotion blazing in eyes that had once been so expressionless. “You know more about love than you think.”

He gazed steadily at her, wanting to freeze the moment into his memory. If he had her talent he would paint her like this, sunlight spilling all around her. “I like to see you like this,” he murmured, “surrounded by light.”

She smiled serenely against his lips as they claimed her own. He was thinking of her fears, she knew, and the shadows that had tormented them both. But somehow she didn’t think she would mind the darkness anymore, now that Macauley would be there beside her.