Immortal Trust (22 page)

“Because I’m your brother and this is our endeavor. We can change the rules now and then.”

Chloe affected a sugary-sweet smile. “You are my brother, and I love you dearly, but we’re not bending ethics on a whim.” She looked over Julian’s shoulder and lifted her eyebrows at Lucan. “Are you coming?”

As Lucan took a step forward, Julian’s attention snapped to him. His gaze narrowed to a thin slit of light. Misplaced fury colored his expression with shades of red. He swung around and pointed an accusing finger at Chloe. “You’ve let him cloud your mind. You slept with him, and now you’ve become his pawn. Another person to do the Church’s bidding. I can’t believe you, Chloe—when are you going to learn a pretty face doesn’t equal sincerity?”

At the sully to Chloe’s honor, Lucan’s spirit revolted. The fierce urge to stalk across the room and grab her brother by the throat possessed him. The way Chloe’s eyes widened with hurt and disbelief made Lucan want to squeeze until Julian choked on his own tongue.

Though both urges sorely tempted, he did neither. He would converse with Julian privately, where the choice words he had to spew would not offend Chloe’s sense of loyalty. With all the obstacles they had yet to overcome, he did not intend to throw more barriers between them by engaging her brother in the fight he requested.

Clamping a tight fist against his thigh, Lucan called on his self-control and held Chloe’s gaze in silent support. “Shall I drive?”

“That’s it!” Julian cried. “You have the relic, don’t you? Chloe turned it over to you after you fed her full of lies.”

Lucan cut a sideways glance to Julian. Another word and all the mountains between him and Chloe would not matter. He would strangle the man. Gladly.

She rescued her brother before Lucan could utter a single word.

“Let’s go, Lucan, we have a lot of work to do.” With a nod to her brother, she added, “It’s time to leave my room.”

On a furious hiss, Julian stormed into the hall. In his wrathful wake, Chloe visibly wilted. Her shoulders sagged, and the angry glint behind her gaze assumed the same inappropriate dullness of defeat she had borne the night before. Lucan placed his arm about her shoulders.

She wriggled out from beneath his attempt at comfort. Her voice hardened. “Let’s go. It’s not the first time we’ve argued. It won’t be the last.”

But the flash of shock Lucan had witnessed pass across her face marked her words as bravado. They might have argued, but Julian crossed a line even Lucan could see. Chloe, however, determined to ignore it. As would he. He opened the door, held it while she ducked under his arm.

After mailing their samples at the front desk, Chloe hesitated near the doors.

“Is something amiss?” Lucan glanced around the wide foyer.

“Just…” She gave him an unsteady smile. “I’ll meet you in the car. I need a minute.” She backed away, turned toward the main floor bathroom.

Lucan left her to her business and ventured outside to start the vehicle. He warmed his hands before the heating vents, glanced in the rearview mirror. Disquiet stirred, misplaced worry he knew he should not feel but could not suffocate no matter how he tried.

She should have returned by now.

He reached for the door handle. As he pulled, the passenger door opened. Chloe ducked inside, bearing two paper coffee mugs. She offered him one.

Lucan blinked, first at the cup, then at her. After her earlier hurry to escape his presence, he had not anticipated such a kindness. He took the cup from her, all too aware of the spark that darted up his arm when their fingertips brushed. “Thank you,” he murmured.

Her shy smile tugged at his heart. She looked away, fastened herself in, and drank from her cup. He did the same. To his surprise, sweetness met his tongue. Two sugars—she had remembered from their shared breakfast.

Lucan’s heart rolled over. He could not have recalled so precisely how she took her coffee, and yet she had paid attention. To him. To something as insignificant as two teaspoons of sugar.

He did not know what to do with that discovery.

Silence descended uncomfortably upon them as he drove. Lucan considered the possible reasons for Chloe’s unspoken support of her brother’s unacceptable behavior. He could not convince himself she had not heard the venom in Julian’s accusations. Nor could he convince himself that she ignored it out of unconditional love. They shared secrets, ’twas plain to see. ’Twould be reasonable they shared confidences about their plans for the Veil as well. Only now, as Lucan compared her behavior with Julian’s, he began to question who held the deeper, darker role. Chloe had yet to show the same aggressiveness about the relic. She did not make demands. Julian, on the other hand, was fair manic.

Lucan pulled into the parking area, his nerves more strained than they had been on waking. The pieces of this puzzle eluded him. Each time one came close to locking into place, it lacked the necessary contours. All he knew for certain was Azazel’s presence lurked here. Somehow, the Broussards fit into the unholy design. And no matter how he tried, he could not be certain of Chloe’s precise role.

She jumped out of the vehicle before he could fully open his door, but she slowed on the path to the office trailer when Caradoc bid her good morn. Lucan could not hear her words, yet the quizzical crinkling of her brow, combined with the thoughtful way Caradoc shook his head, told Lucan theirs was more than a simple exchange. He reached the pair in time to hear Caradoc apologize.

“I am sorry I cannot be of greater assistance.”

The spray of gravel beneath tires drew their combined attention to the drive. Julian pulled in recklessly and slid to a halt beside the Templar SUV. He bolted out of the car and slammed the door. “Chloe!”

“Oh, for the love of God,” she mumbled beneath her breath. Straightening her shoulders, she turned away from the trailer and hurried to join her brother.

Lucan’s gaze remained on brother and sister, but he addressed Caradoc. “What did she ask you?”

“’Twas most strange. She wished to know if I knew of a spiritualist in Verdun.”

A spiritualist? When she had two men who represented the Church on hand? Lucan frowned. It did not make sense.
She
did not make sense.

“When will Gareth return?”

“Tomorrow eve. Why do you ask?”

As Julian and Chloe approached, Lucan lowered his voice. “’Tis Julian. He behaves most odd.”

A note of interest crept into Caradoc’s voice. “Most odd how?”

Lucan’s frown deepened into a tight scowl. In a hushed murmur he answered, “He reminds me of my brother.”

Several seconds of silence passed between them. Caradoc knew the tale of patricide. He did not need Lucan to further explain—another reason the bonds of brotherhood tied them so closely together. They knew much about each other, as all the men who once served exclusively under Merrick did. That he did not need to offer more details comforted Lucan. A silence he would not exchange for anything.

Chloe and Julian passed them by, their heads bowed together in hushed whispers. At the steps to the trailer’s door, Chloe threw her hands into the air, and Julian abruptly pivoted the opposite direction. He threw a glare at both Lucan and Caradoc as he stalked down the path toward the excavation site.

Lucan stiffened at the display, his mind automatically leaping to unfair conclusions. He shook his head, annoyed with his inability to objectively view his seraph and let out a sigh. “Be certain you pay Julian heed. I trust him no further than I can see him. And that is stretching my faith a great deal more generously than I care to admit. I suspect he plans to thwart our purpose here.”

“Aye. I have wondered such myself.”

CHAPTER 20

Chloe stormed inside the trailer and hurled herself into her desk chair. Not only did Julian’s insistence on working directly with the Veil push her to the ends of her patience, the mutterings she’d overheard between Lucan and Caradoc sent her plummeting over the edge. Thwart their purpose—how could Julian thwart their attempt to document and oversee the handling of any relics rightfully belonging to the Vatican?

Unless, as Julian claimed, Lucan had only told her enough information to gain her favor so he could follow through on something radically different. Maybe all his kindness
was
just an act. Lord knew she hadn’t been able to see the real Blake until it was too late. Maybe, like her brother had insultingly pointed out, she’d let Lucan’s pretty face sway her good judgment.

She let out a snort and dropped her head into her hands. No maybe about it—she
had
let him sway her good judgment. Nothing else could explain her wanton behavior last night. He’d drawn her in, and she’d been the fool to fall for sweet words and kind gestures.

Damn it, she didn’t have time for this kind of distraction. With such a short time to complete her excavation, she needed to focus on artifacts. On sifting dirt and washing fragments of pottery, and analyzing the craftsmanship on the rocks to establish a concrete time reference. Not worry about men and what a kiss meant or didn’t mean.

Dragging her hands down her face, she let out a heavy sigh. No time like the present to redirect her focus. She smacked the space bar on her laptop to bring it out of sleep mode. Her spreadsheet of relics, locations, and possible references faded into view. Along with it, a folder that contained Andy’s photos popped open. She clicked on the first photograph, that of the reliquary half embedded in the frozen ground, and tossed open her notebook to enter the description of their findings.

As she set her pen to paper, the door opened. Lucan entered, giving her a polite nod as he took a seat in the chair directly behind her. Her heart jumped at the subtle fragrance of spice that accompanied his appearance.

Damn. It would be that much more difficult keeping her focus on work. For one full day she needed him out of her sight. Preferably near the excavation area, where he could bother everyone else with his overseeing and micromanaging.

To escape his nearness, she fled her chair and rummaged through the box of smaller discoveries on the distant countertop.

“Is there anything I can aid you with?” he asked quietly.

Chloe closed a fist around a man’s heavy silver ring set with a large ruby. “I think you’ve done enough.” She set the piece down and stuffed her hand back inside to fish for the dagger she remembered discovering.

A shadow fell over the countertop at her right. She stiffened, Lucan’s unexpected presence fraying her nerves. Good grief, couldn’t he take a hint? She didn’t want him around. Not today. Not until she could control the way her body stood up and took notice each time he came within five feet of her.

“Chloe, I have done naught to deserve your anger. Can we not put this, whatever it is, aside and work together?”

She glanced up as the door opened again, and Julian marched back inside. He threw a glare her way, reminding her once again of his insinuations and beliefs about Lucan. They’d agreed he would keep his mouth shut in front of Lucan, but she didn’t care to push his temper—it was already as out of sorts as hers. When his snapped, he didn’t know the meaning of restraint. Judging by the way Lucan stiffened with Julian’s arrival, it wouldn’t take much to bring the both of them to blows. Not that she could blame Lucan—Julian crossed a line of unprofessionalism, not to mention basic respect. Frankly, he deserved a good fist to the jaw. Problem was, while Julian was by no means weak, Lucan’s presence radiated experience. No doubt, he’d been involved in more than one fistfight, and she doubted he’d been on the losing end.

She lowered her voice to prevent Julian from overhearing. “Just go away.” Gathering an armful of odds and ends, she crossed to the empty table at the front of the trailer and spread her collection across the plywood surface. Tension crackled in the air, every ounce of it directed at Lucan. Her brother’s heavy stare dared him to make one wrong step so he could have the outlet he wanted for his frustrations, adding to the undercurrent between Lucan and herself.

Unable to look at either man, she stared unseeing at the metal trinkets and broken pottery fragments beneath her hands. Both wanted her loyalty, and for the life of her, she didn’t know what to do, or whom to choose. She longed to believe Lucan wasn’t capable of the deceit Julian claimed, but years of having no one but her brother to rely on prevented her from swearing off his protective instincts.

Add into the mix her humiliation about her own behavior, and all she ached to do was find the nearest hole she could crawl into and escape this mess.

“Chloe—”

She cut Lucan off with a sharp glower. “Just go. I’d like to work alone.”

*   *   *

Lucan stared at Chloe’s rigid shoulders, sensing that if he pushed her further she would unleash that anger on him. Yet he could not logic this abrupt change in her demeanor. Clearly he had upset her. How, he did not know. But whilst he would do naught to directly contribute to the obstacles already between them, he would not allow her ire to fester. He frowned at the back of her head. “We are all part of the same team now, Chloe. There is no need for this.”

“Right. Sure we are.” She snatched a notebook off the row of shelves behind her and jerked it open. Bending over the table, she picked up a small bronze cup.

Aware they had an audience, Lucan ground his teeth together. He dared not mention the agreement they had struck regarding the Veronica in front of Julian. But he would not accept her insinuation their purposes differed. “What would make you think otherwise?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the way you’ve imposed your will every time I’ve turned around.” She shrugged her shoulders, her voice becoming harsher. “Maybe the way you’ve taken control of my site and refused to let me make the decisions regarding the relics my team has uncovered.” Turning, she met his frown with bitter accusation, and the meaning behind her words took a more intimate turn. “Maybe it has something to do with finding me at my weakest and then taking complete advantage of my vulnerabilities. Using pretty words to get me where you wanted me. You know—in your bed. Seems to me that’s awfully one-sided.”