In Serena's Web (18 page)

“I didn’t get much of a chance.” The slightly bruised condition of his knuckles seemed to indicate a slight exaggeration, but his face was solemn.

She blinked. “You mean Brian—?”

“He went berserk,” Josh said dryly.

Serena’s eyes widened. “Brian? But I’ve never seen him lose his temper, and he’s had plenty of chances to. I’ve driven him crazy for weeks!”

“Did I say he lost his temper?” Josh looked and sounded quite mild.

“Well, then?”

“I said he went berserk.” Reminiscently Josh elaborated. “We crashed in—and there you lay, apparently lifeless. I suppose Brian could be forgiven for instantly assuming you’d been treated badly at best, and that you were dead at worst. He acted accordingly. One of the dogs was whirling around looking wonderfully surprised, and the other seemed to be trying to get rid of a Thermos. Were you responsible for that, by the way?” he added curiously.

“I threw it. Just before I dived.”

“Nice going.” Josh nodded approvingly. “He apparently caught it by reflex and was trying to unload it at about the time we got to our feet.”

“And then?”

“And then things started happening rather quickly. Brian, as I said, took one look at your fallen body and went berserk. I’ve never seen a man move so fast in my life. One of the guys got off a couple of shots, but missed. Brian took his gun away from him—it looked pathetically easy,
although I know damned well it wasn’t—and then lit into them both. If I hadn’t managed to make sure you were still among the living and convinced him of that, he would’ve killed them.” Josh didn’t add that he’d nearly been decked himself in the attempt.

After a moment Serena began to smile. “I suppose it must have been his sense of responsibility working overtime,” she murmured. “Or something.”

“Or something,” Josh agreed gravely. “The man obviously has a ridiculously short fuse. Anyway, we left the dogs to Paul, gathered you up, and came back here. The hotel doctor said you didn’t have a concussion, but he thought you should sleep for a while. Brian sat with you until I threatened to get the doctor after
him
a few minutes ago.”

“You called Daddy?”

“First thing.” Josh smiled. “He was, predictably, calm. Brian talked to him, as a matter of fact. Or, rather, yelled at him. He didn’t make much sense. I took the phone away from him and explained to Stuart that you were alive and had
done great credit to him as a teacher of the art of survival. He said to tell you that he loves you, and to please come home before you get into any more trouble.”

Serena took a deep breath. “Then, it’s over?”

“It’s over.”

“Did Brian say anything?”

Josh smiled slowly. “Yes, he said something. And repeated variations of it all the way back here. But I think you should hear it from him, don’t you?”

“I certainly do.” Serena smiled, tossed back the covers, and stood, being carefully still until the dizziness subsided. It went away quickly; Serena had a hard head. “Can you give me a few minutes before you tell him I’m awake, Josh? I want to shower.”

Her brother got to his feet and stretched. “Sure.” He started for the door, then paused and turned back to her. “Serena …”

“Yes, Josh?”

“You couldn’t have
known
it would turn out this way. I mean, not in the beginning, when you were plotting to make him jealous.”

Serena gazed at him with limpid, mildly astonished eyes. “Josh, how
could
I have known?”

“That’s what I thought.” He shook his head, and left the room. But he was vaguely—just vaguely—dissatisfied with her answer.

Smiling a little, she headed for the bathroom. Serena took her shower, feeling elated and impatient to see Brian. She was finished, dressed in a fresh nightgown, and brushing her hair before the mirror above the dresser, when he came in.

For a moment they stared at each other. Brian looked a little tired. His knuckles were considerably more bruised than Josh’s had been, and a swelling along his left cheekbone testified to the fact that at least one of the bookends had managed a bit of self-defense.

Serena put down her brush and turned to face him, saying softly, “It isn’t often these days that a woman can be saved from peril. How do I thank you?”

“Marry me,” he said deeply.

She swallowed hard and managed a shaky laugh. “You aren’t the marrying kind. You told me so. The debt isn’t worth such a sacrifice.”

Silently Brian came to her. He touched her face with his hand, his lips seeking hers. He kissed her with passion and relief and tenderness, and with a possessiveness Serena could feel branding her indelibly. She felt herself lifted into his arms and carried a short distance, and when she opened her eyes she discovered that Brian was leaning back against the headboard of the bed and she was in his lap.

“I love you,” he said softly.

S
ERENA FELT AS
if she had just released a breath she’d held for a very long time. She rested her forehead against his briefly, her hands at his neck. She smiled slowly, gazing into shining green eyes. “I love you too.”

“And you’ll marry me?” he asked huskily.

In a grave tone she asked, “Are you sure about this, Brian? We’ve been through a lot today, and I’d hate to catch you with your guard down.”

“Answer the question.”

“Of course I’ll marry you, darling.”

He smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

“You knew I would,” she observed critically.

“I knew.”

Serena smiled, and waited. She was reasonably sure of just what else he knew, but she wanted to hear it from him.

Brian held her tightly and kissed her again. When he finally drew back to stare down at her, his eyes were very bright. “I’ve figured out a couple of things,” he said.

“What things?”

“Us.” He smiled crookedly. “You and me.”

Serena laughed unsteadily. “You first.”

He agreed with a nod. “Me. Well, the shock of nearly losing you made me realize something. I was so hell-bent on not having a future with you that I never stopped to ask myself a simple question. I never asked myself
why
it was impossible.”

“And now?”

“Now I know the answer. You were right about the strong habits of bachelors, Rena. In my twenties I made a decision—a logical one. I was going to build a company, and I didn’t have the time or
emotional energy for a lasting relationship. So I established a certain lifestyle based on that decision. After a while it became sheer, blind habit.”

He shook his head, amazed at himself. “And that habit was so strong, I wouldn’t let myself realize I was in love with you.”

Her smile glowed.

Brian kissed her quickly, hard. “And you knew that. You’ve known it all along. I’ll bet you’ve known since the day—” His gaze was suddenly speculative. “When did I fall in love with you, Rena?”

She didn’t hesitate. “The morning you bailed me out of jail.”

He laughed, delighted. “I was sure you’d know! But how did I give myself away? I was mad as hell that morning.”

“Yes, you were.” She laughed softly. “You swore like the devil. But before you started swearing, you hugged me. You didn’t even seem to realize you’d done it. I knew then.”

“So you decided to marry me?”

“I loved you too,” she said solemnly.

“But I was the victim of my blind habit.”

She nodded. “You certainly were. And you weren’t even aware that it was a habit. It seemed to me that what you needed was a shaking. And since I could hardly shake you physically, well …”

“You shook me emotionally. By very sweetly announcing that you’d decided to marry Josh, and making me believe you, dammit. And then you shook me further by asking me to teach you the arts of seduction, after innocently confiding that you were a virgin.” Dispassionately he added, “Lord, you’re ruthless.”

“You turned me down,” she reminded him.

“And you,” he retorted dryly, “claimed to have lost control, and contritely admitted your plotting. You admitted to loving me. You stopped flirting. You trapped me in a web so devious, I didn’t know which way was up!”

“But I’d stopped plotting,” she said innocently.

Brian smiled. “My darling, you never stopped plotting.”

Serena smiled her enigmatic Mona Lisa smile, and he nodded firmly.

“Never. Having maneuvered me neatly until I could barely think straight, you then dropped
your bombshell. Our relationship wasn’t going to progress—obviously. You’d be hurt eventually, and I’d feel guilty, and so, stalemate. But we could pretend. And you very affectingly offered to do just that, which gave me one hell of a sleepless night, witch!”

“I had to seduce you,” she admitted.

“And very nicely, too.”

“Thank you.”

Brian cleared his throat. “Now. We had reached the turning point in our relationship, and all according to plan. We were lovers, and you wasted hardly a moment in absolving me of guilt. Presumably so that I wouldn’t turn into a gibbering idiot.”

Serena giggled.

He went on. “After which you embarked on the final phase of your plan. Which was: no demands. You were so damned
un
demanding that I was always conscious of it.”

Deciding a comment was called for, Serena said gravely, “It seemed to me that a man would realize what he
really
wanted if he was given what he
thought
he wanted.”

“So you gave me what I thought I wanted. A nice, uncomplicated affair.”

“It
was
what you thought you wanted. No strings. No ties.”

“And that was when my mind—very belatedly, I must say—started to work again.”

“What sparked it?” she asked curiously.

Brian could hardly help but grin at the question. “When I found out about your foundations and your keen business mind. Josh, who was responsible for most of the facts I was trying to piece together, said something once about your being made up of layers and layers. Well, I kept seeing your different layers. But I had the odd impression that the
order
of the layers was wrong, in my mind, I mean. I’d started with a false assumption, you see. Something else Josh said—and which he believes—was that your basic core was one of trusting vulnerability.”

“And you don’t think so?” she asked, wounded.

He grinned again. “No, darling, I certainly do not.”

Serena tried to look offended, but laughed instead. “All right. And so?”

“When I decided that perhaps your brother didn’t know you as well as he thought he did, I started to make progress. I started adding together the pieces I was certain of, the facts I knew to be true.”

“Which were?”

“First and foremost was the fact that Stuart was perfectly content to let you run your own life. He’s no fool, which meant that neither were you. That, plus your degree and your involvement with foundations and the like, added up to more than a brilliant mind. It added up to brilliance, yes, but also common sense, logic, and a knack for organization.”

“I see.”

“Yes. And since I’d seen ample evidence of it, I also knew that you controlled what you could, when you could. Another point: You had an uncanny knack for understanding people, which springs from genuine interest and genuine compassion.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. At that point I started arranging your layers in my mind. Don’t laugh!”

“It sounds funny. Sorry. You were saying?”

“Layers. I started with the surface, which was simple. Tranquility. Whoever named you, by the way, performed a master stroke and perpetrated a huge joke on mankind.”

“I’ll tell Daddy you think so.”

“I’ll tell him myself. Along with a few other things.” He cleared his throat. “You were tranquil, serene. Under that was your interest in people, and your understanding of them. Compassion. A willingness to help, whatever the cost to yourself. If you had it to give, you gave. If you didn’t have what was needed, you found someone who did.”

“Am I being canonized?”

“The worst is yet to come.”

“I was afraid of that.”

Brian kissed her, then cleared his throat again. “Under the compassion was something more complex. Your tendency to plot. It was as natural for you to take the devious way as it was for the Borgias to poison dinner guests.”

Her expression was pensive as she said mildly, “I don’t like the comparison.”

“I call ’em as I see ’em.”

Serena stared at him. “The next time I have you at my mercy, you’re going to regret saying that.”

“Consider me warned.” He swallowed a laugh. “Where was I? Oh, yes. Your plotting. Entirely natural. And, coupled with the layer under it, your need to control, it makes for a truly frightening combination. With absolutely no malice, you very gently went about arranging things to suit you. People, as well as situations. The more tangled a situation became, the more you enjoyed it.” He lifted a brow at her. “No comment?”

“I’m waiting to find out what my basic trait is,” she said politely.

“Bear with me. Under the control, I decided on a layer of vulnerability. You are vulnerable, you know.”

“I was beginning to wonder.”

“I’m not surprised. But you do have that layer. However, under that is your basic trait. The trait that, in effect, influences every other trait. The strong, basic core of your personality.”

“I’m afraid to ask.” But she wasn’t, because she knew that he understood her now.

Brian smiled very tenderly. “You can’t bear to lose.”

Serena returned his smile. “When I was six, Daddy explained about graciousness in the face of defeat. I didn’t get it. I never have.”

He laughed. “It was the only thing that made sense. And after that everything else fell into place. There was never one plot, there was a series of plots. All woven into a web I couldn’t have escaped from no matter what I did.” He sighed. “Once you’d made up your mind to catch me,
you never gave up
. Every step in every plan was based on that single determination. I nearly had it figured out this morning in the garden. I’d realized you were still plotting, but I hadn’t realized what drove you.”

“And I caught you,” she murmured.